just a few days around here…

what day would be complete without a couple loads of laundry folded on my bed… hey, at least it’s folded! (the putting away part – that’s another story.) and notice that it’s not a load of whites… I HATE folding whites. HATE IT. in fact, one of my favorite ways that my wonderful, handsome, irreplaceable husband demonstrates his love for me is when he sees the basket of whites (that’s been sitting there for 3 days) and folds it for me! (nevermind the fact that he’s out of socks…)

sophie desperately needed a bath. I hate bathing her. she desperately needed to be brushed. I hate brushing her. but I had procrastinated long enough and she wasn’t getting clean OR brushed by herself, so I admitted defeat and decided to do something about it. on saturday morning, while shane and I were out for our weekly coffee date, we stopped by petsmart to inquire how much a proper grooming would cost. I got impatient waiting in line, and I decided to go see what kind of really good de-shedding shampoo products they sold. I saw that the furminator shampoo and conditioner were on sale, the frugal/practical side of me took over, and I walked out of the store without ever knowing how much it would cost to have her professionally groomed.so I went home and put her in my shower, to give her a good scrubbing. she looks SO pathetic when she’s getting washed. I told dave to grab the camera and take a picture. so sad. but then I noticed that he was still taking pictures…

dave! are you taking pictures of my butt!?!

no……

nice.

after that, I wanted to take advantage of the sunny, not-quite-frigid day and do some yard work. dave was going to fix the brakes on the toyota, and was heading out to the auto parts store to get some new pads. on the way out the door, I shouted at him, “how much do wheelbarrows cost?”apparently, not too much. he returned with a shiny red wheelbarrow for me, and after doing the brakes, put it together. micah helped…  what a star of a husband I have! LOVE HIM!

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening raking leaves, picking up the 4 million fir branches littering our yard, cutting out all of last year’s dead raspberry bushes, building a fire in our backyard fire pit, and burning them... this was a very good thing, because at this point in the day, it was FREEZING out, so it kept me warm. besides, the yard waste bin was full…finished off the day in the usual way… apparently dave found this to be a cute moment and grabbed the camera. with impeccable timing, micah inserted a finger into his nose… oh well, I still think it’s cute, and such is life, right?

sunday, I was going to do some more yard work, but we wound up at the park instead.

dave took micah on a bike ride, and I met him, with layla and her friend, at a park that is along the trail.

and a few other random shots…layla had a sucker in her valentine box that had white writing on it… I have no idea how she manages to do this, but it’s a physical impossibility for her to eat a sucker (or anything else, for that matter) without sliming it ALL OVER her mouth.

and in a more shining moment, one morning, layla managed to get her bed made, entirely by herself. if you’ve ever made a top bunk, you know what an accomplishment this is… especially if you’re 5! so she, of course, wanted to make a sign and have me take her picture. this is what you do if you are layla. you make a sign, and you take a picture. for everything.

and then we had some snow…

shane was super excited to get to take his cat out in the snow… especially since it was deep. as usual, toby tolerated it with little resistance, but it was apparent that this was NOT his favorite thing.

he then spent the rest of the day making a HUGE pile of snow in the middle of the yard, and hollowing it out from the inside to make an igloo. it also has a back door, a window, a skylight, and room inside for two children.