Family Fridays # 2

 

Yesterday was a pretty neat day for me. I usually try and leave Fridays open so that we can do some fun things instead of going here and there or loading the kids down with school work. We school year round and I'm the world's worst at taking days off just to have fun. The way the heat has been in this part of TN lately, I was in no mood to do much of anything outside but was in the mood for some fun! So, when the opportunity arose to have Belle, the daughter of my good friend Jenny ,over for the day, we jumped on it!

Belle is about 6, I think, and my youngest is 8. The girls get along fabulously. You'd never know they were around really. Jenny and her family came by and dropped Belle off around noon and we jumped right into having some fun. We started with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Afterwards, I ran to Burger King and picked up some shakes for the girls. Logan joined the two younger girls for Monopoly and Bunco. Later, there was much playing with Barbie's along with sidewalk chalk, Play Doh, and various other toys. It was about six hours of nonstop fun. I loved watching all of the girls interact. Logan was quite the picture of maturity as she helped keep fun things going. I loved how Caroline's naturally dominant personality became gentle and giving with Belle. As for Belle, she's just a sweet, soft spoken little girl that you just want to scoop up and cuddle. It made my day and I know it blessed my children to have her here. It also made me slow down and enjoy life a little more today. It allowed me time to listen as the kids played, as they laughed, and as they told stories to one another. I think alot of times, I busy myself with unimportant things and I don't take time to appreciate the simple, beautiful things in life. Today, however, I did slow down and these are a few of the things I was able to enjoy:

A nice chat with a good friend: (Jenny (L) and me (R):

Two little girls playing with Play Doh (they even taste tested it!):

Using one of the new knives I won from Capturing Today during the Dog Days of Summer Giveaway (thanks Paulette!) Also using the butcher block cutting board I found at a thrift store recently for $2! I love that thing!:

Watching as the hubster piled the cheese on his pizza: (We copied the make-your-own-pizza Friday from someone in the bloggy world (can't remember who though):

It seems that the simple moments are the most special to me. I just have to remind myself to slow down and enjoy them!

Thanks to Liz over at Monkey Kisses for hosting Family Fridays! Never mind that I'm a whole day late in posting it!

 

Family Fridays # 1

Liz, over at Monkey Kisses, is hosting a new carnival on Fridays called Family Fridays. Here's a description from her web site:

On Fridays join us for Family Fridays for some Fantastic Family Fun. Write about something You and your family have done together over the past week or plan on doing, whether it be watching a family friendly movie, a fabulous family recipe, a fun family recipe your child(ren) helped with, a fantastic family game, products your family thinks are far out, or just simply taking a family trip out and about. Whatever it may be we would love to hear about it! **This is a new carnival so please pass the word on to fellow friends and readers, and please feel free to use the button, so graciously created by Trista over at The Pumkin Patch. The first Family Friday will begin Friday April 27th.

I thought I'd give this one a go. I wanted to share what we've been doing as a family this week. I've mentioned that we are building a new deck onto the back of our house. The old one was way to narrow and we didn't use it very much. We are adding a 12x16 covered portion, along with a 10x16 uncovered portion. Since we love to have our church family over, this will be much easier to entertain on. Our kitchen is small and it's hard to fit a large dining table in there. This covered deck will give us plenty of space for adults and children too. We like to have our children with us at the supper table and afterwards for conversation. This will be perfect! Things are going slowly since we are doing the work ourselves. Actually, my BIL, FIL, MIL, husband, myself, and both of our girls have participated in some way. Last week we tore down the old deck, framed the deck, and finally got the flooring down for both parts of the deck. This week we got the plywood on for the roof and today got the felt on top of that. We need to put shingles on as soon as the rain stops. Here are a few pics from our time together on this project this week.

Here's Caroline doing her part of the work:

Logan especially likes the goofy glasses:

Jeff needed some support so I was happy to lend my arms:

We got the roof finished soon after this photo was taken:

The uncovered part just needs stairs and railings now:

I had to love on the girls too, for their hard work. Caroline loved it:

Logan was even happier about it:

It was a great way to spend some quality family time. Something else we plan on doing as a family this weekend is watching the A&E version of Pride & Prejudice on Sunday evening. Well, almost all of us....Jeff will be flying his rc plane while the girls and I watch it :-o) To join this carnival, head over to Monkey Kisses and sign Mr. Linky!