Day 1847 | Painting

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My mom and I spent a good portion of the day painting my new office (which used to be my closet). I’ll be sure to post an after pic once everything is put back together but you can enjoy this “during” pic for now. Chase kept me company during the final coat by reading his book while I painted. Everyone was happy.

Special thanks to my mom for bringing most of the supplies and offering the extra boost of motivation I needed to tackle this project. I think I’ll actually start working in this space this week. So exciting!

Day 1841 | Birthday Bonanza

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It’s been an epic weekend. Even more epic than we had hoped. We’re still living the dream on the waning hours of Chris’s big day, but I’ll drop this quick breakdown of the weekend.

My Birthday

  • I made these delicious muffins.

  • We visited this local museum and enjoyed the little art exhibit.

  • We stopped at Saver’s for some treasure hunting…and came out with a couple of books, a couple of games, and even a little accessory for our bathroom shelf.

  • After a quick stop for lunch, we headed to the big outing for the day (none of those other ones were the big outings, FYI). We stopped at the Eau Claire Humane Association to visit the kitties. No, we didn’t adopt one. It was a just an opportunity to hang out with some furry friends. And all four of us met our purr-fect feline companions (Me: Neville, Chris: Floyd, Chase: Ella, Robbe: Amelia). It was a lot busier in that tiny cat room than I would have expected, but I guess that’s good.

  • We got home to play one round of our new board game before opening gifts and cards (thanks for spoiling me!).

  • The night rounded out with spending a ton of time with some of our favorite people eating way too much food and playing boardgames (Catan and Scattegories) as our little ones happily slept upstairs.

  • My birthday treat (which we ate at around 10:45pm) were these amazing brownie ice cream sandwiches.

Chris’s Birthday

  • We gathered the children and headed to Hardee’s for Chris’s favorite fast food breakfast. The kids weren’t quite as impressed.

  • Then present time for our favorite guy.

  • Onto the bowling alley for a quick game. The birthday boy won, don’t worry about him.

  • Home for some lunch and some down time before the boys and I headed to a 4-H meeting while Chris took a wintertime walk and joined some friends out on the town.

  • We got home just in time to pick Chris up and take him out to dinner at a hibachi grill. It was the boys’ first time at a restaurant like that and they loved it! Yay for new experiences.

  • We made it back home with just enough time to eat Chris’s birthday dessert of choice—dirt dessert—before putting the boys to bed and snuggling down for a movie.

See? Epic, right? Also, are you exhausted by reading all of this? Me too. Also full. Very full. Both with food/drinks and love. So much love crammed into one weekend. I’m feeling all sorts of lucky tonight.

Day 1840 | Happy Heart Day

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Valentine’s Day 2020 was pretty great. I made some delicious cookies for Chris. The boys enjoyed being spoiled a bit. I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers. We even brought back our old [pre-kid] tradition of celebrating with pizza and video games.

When v-day is on a Friday, my birthday is on a Saturday, and Chris’s is on a Sunday ahead of a day off on Monday…you know it’s going to be epic. Woohoo!

Day 1831 | A Bathroom Renovation

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At long last, I’m ready to share some after photos. Renovation projects are no joke, you guys. But—without hesitation—we LOVE our new bathroom. It is exactly as functional and beautiful as we had hoped it would be.

There’s more to say about our renovation experience (some takeaways and what not), but for now I’ll just share [all the] photos. And then come and see it in person. We’ve got a legit guest “suite” now!

The Before.

As you’re looking at these, the toilet/shower/vanity room pictured here turns into the walk-through closet in the finished product. And the jacuzzi tub/closet room pictured here turns into the new shower/vanity space/toilet room in the after photos.

The During.

And without further ado…

The after.

Day 1830 | Sledding

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Temps in the mid-30s and the sun making an appearance meant another fun winter activity for us. This weekend’s adventure? Sledding. But not just any sledding. Giant, steep, really slick sledding. Two of us loved throwing caution to the wind and zipping down the hill full speed. Two of us prefer a bit smaller scale and more manageable speeds. Can you guess who fits into which category? Yep: Chris and Robbe are the risk-takers and Chase and I prefer to be in a bit more control.

Nevertheless, a fun time was had by all and it sure was nice to get outside and enjoy the sunshine.

Look at us…we’re turning into winter people!