Around Here: Week 29

Enjoying... Josh taking all four boys to Vancouver for Grandma's Camp with his mom.  She wanted to have them, and Josh wanted to help his dad build a fence, so it was perfect.  They were gone for four days, three nights, and I had Carly and the house all to myself for the weekend.  It was absolutely as glorious as you imagine it was, and I enjoyed Carly so much.  I did a lot of reading, a lot of movie watching, and a lot of sleeping.

Painting... Carly's nails for the first time.  While the boys were out of town, we had some girl time.  I painted her nails, tried a new hairdo, let  her take long baths full of toys & bubbles, and took her to the pool.

Getting... a surprise sliding glass door.  Upon Josh's return, he surprised me with a trailer toting a sliding glass door for our dining room.  The one we had was original to the house and didn't open anymore.  Josh and his brother put it in (thank you Samuel!) and you can already tell the difference in how efficient it is at keeping the cool air in and the hot air out.  Plus the frame is white now instead of black, so the whole room seems fresh.  I am in love!

Painting... the dining room and kitchen.  Followed by the office and touching up the rest of the house.  You know the saying, "If you give a girl a slider..." Haha!  As soon as I saw the new molding go up around the window I told Josh, I am finally going to paint the dining room & kitchen walls that I haven't done yet.  When I finished that I decided since I had paint left over, I should go ahead and do the office.  I finished the office this morning and I am so pleased that I did it.

Rearranging... the living room to accommodate a desk so we can have our family computer out in the open. We are setting clear boundaries about screen time at a young age so that we set the kids up for success in the future.  (Bonus, I love rearranging furniture and bookshelves, so this project was right up my alley.)

Starting... a new journal. #101 :)  I just love the feeling of all the empty pages, all the memories yet to be recorded. And this journal is just beautiful with gold flecks in it...

Slowing... down on my summer reading. I have sort of stalled out in Bold Spirit and The Island and am instead only listening to The Hate U Give, which I should finish today. I'm not sure if I'm going to force myself to finish the two I started, or if I'm going to move on. I guess we'll see what the week holds.

Laughing... as I finished up Freakonomics and they listed the Top 20 Whitest Girl Names and the Top 20 Whitest Boy Names, and literally every single one of my kids names was on it.

Logan.
Jack.
Wyatt.
Carly.

Celebrating... Josh's birthday with our neighbor who shares his birthday.  They spoiled us with pizza and brownie sundaes, and the boys loved the box of toys they pulled out for them to explore.  It was a lovely way to spend an evening.

Wondering... after reading Modern Mrs. Darcy's Reader Survey Results: What is the BEST BOOK you have read this summer? And what is the BEST BOOK you have read EVER? Comment here or on Facebook or Instagram (on any picture, it doesn't matter!) to tell me what book I should be reading!

And if you're curious... My BEST BOOK this summer was a tie between The Identicals and The Stars are Fire.  My BEST BOOK EVER is American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld.

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