A Quiet House

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Our house is quiet today.

Dan and Laura flew home Monday. Nana and Papa left this morning. Bella is out running errands with Jess. Lucy is asleep.

I wanted to share a photo of my new "Happy Wall" with you. I printed out a bunch of photos from our travels taken with the ShakeItPhoto app on my iPhone. Matt hung some ribbons on the wall and then we secured them with some clothespins. I love having our favorite memories out there for us to see every day!

Speaking of photos, I don't even want to think about how long it's going to take to edit all the photos I took this weekend! :) We're slowly getting back into our normal routine after having such an enormous amount of fun!

And now, I think I will put down the computer and settle into my corner for a cup of hot tea and a good book.

Busy and Beautiful

Bella turned SEVEN today...so the morning started with a celebration!

We had breakfast, a candle, and presents... and Jess surprised Bella and drove up from Boulder with her favorite treats from Starbucks!

The next stop was dropping Bella off at "Raccoon Clan"... her nature/survival day school.

The land where they meet is so beautiful! I will be blogging about it soon...

Nana and Papa arrived from Iowa while she was gone...so they went with us to pick her up. It was a fun surprise!!

When we got back to the house, Laura and Dan had arrived from Minneapolis and were waiting impatiently in the front yard :)

Such sweet reunions...

We went out to the Pumphouse Brewery for supper. We laughed, ate delicious food, drank margaritas, teased each other, encouraged each other, and just had a fabulous time together. Everyone is in town except for my brother Michael (we miss you!!) :)

We ended the evening with a "family viewing" of last night's American Idol performance and tonight's results show. I feel so blessed that my family is so stinkin' amazing...we have such fun together. It's like spending time with my best friends.

Looking forward to an amazing weekend with them! I'll be taking the weekend "off" from the Internet to focus fully on my family. Can't wait to connect with you all next week!

Days With Lucy

Oh little one...you steal my heart each and every day. You and Bella spend every morning getting dressed together. My little fashionistas. In fact, every move and expression that Bella makes...you mimic. You love to sit up in our porch window. You call me out there every 30 seconds to show me something new. Seeing squirrels outside makes you giddy with excitement. When you want to get my attention...you scream. LOUD. Your favorite food is ketchup. Eggs and ketchup. Avocados and ketchup. Oatmeal and ketchup. Even in my most weary mama moments... Your bright, wide eyes and your infectious laugh bring a smile to my face. But I think if we asked you about your favorite part of the day...

....you would say it's when your Daddy comes home.

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