Papa's Birthday

This weekend was papa's birthday and it was a good one. :)

We headed up to my parents' house for the weekend and then on Saturday we went to visit our friends who are awaiting their new baby.  It was soooo good to see them.  Their little family is so sweet, their house beautiful, their company ever so encouraging in the "oh you are still my dear, dear friend" kind of way, and the cupcakes superb. :) Thank you "O's" for having us for a visit this weekend.  We love you. 

We ended the day with a nice supper with the grandparents and some cozy bedtimes.  Perhaps this doesn't sound like a sparkly kind of day to some of you, but it was for us.  The whole weekend was really good actually and it is still finishing up tonight. (the boys are getting ready for our Sunday night "Nature" episode on pbs right now....come on boys... get those teeth brushed!) 

Some other things that I haven't had time to mention to you...from the past few days.... 

making sandpaper letters for Owl.....

cracking nuts at Grandma's...who knew that would be so much fun?

and....good conversations on the drive....good playtimes & walks with grandpa....making apple pie with grandma....hot cocoa with peppermint sticks....drawing with grandma...chess with grandpa....and other cozy times.

and then.... home again... to the pleasant surprise of opening the front door of our house and realizing how much I love it here.  I have the tendency, you see, to love beautiful things and this sometimes can lead to discontentment.  Our friends' house is so lovely....grandma's house is so lovely....and our house is....well....old.  And we have never bought real furniture, not to mention artwork for the walls.  For the most part, I am usually proud of us for this as it is really important to both J & I to live within our means.  And truly we do have so very, very much.  We have gotten very good at making do with what we have and making something beautiful out of not much at all.  I am grateful to learn this.  Yet, sometimes the grass does seem greener, if you know what I mean.  And I'll admit that the last part of the drive home today, I was thinking about how our house still needs so much work and thinking about what color to paint the walls as if that would somehow help.  So.... I was indeed pleasantly surprised to find my feelings do a complete turn around as I walked in our home... as I realized that our house is lovely too.  Just the way it is.  I love it here.  I love the space we've been given, and I love what we've done to it too.  

That's all for now.  Time to settle in for cozy bedtimes.