Play is Work

 

The last two weekends, we've been having fun up and Grandpa and Grandma Gold's house.  We've been helping to build another deck by the pier so we can eat and sit closer to the water while the kids play on the beach.  Payton took his toy chainsaw, skill saw and miter saw to help.  He even managed to get a little battle wound from the wood but thankfully I'm a wiz with bandaids. ha ha  

He was a good helper and even helped me carry several 16 foot boards.  

  

Halle was such a slacker!! :) Just kidding.  She had fun pulling up unwanted grass and forever playing in the sand.  She loves to make sandcastles and is getting pretty good at it.  I have learned I have to take several pairs of clothes for her since she manages to get them all extremely wet and dirty despite being told not to.  The weather has been pretty nice on the weekends so it's been good to finally get out and work.  

 

This is the beginning of the deck.  It has 3 steps on the other side that go down to the beach.  The top boards aren't attached but you can get an idea.  To the left will be an extension of the deck for a serving table, etc.   Andy's parents always have a lot of people up at their place during the summer and it is gonna turn out  really nice I think.  

Boo is just in heaven up here also.  She gets so excited to see the water and run around as much as she wants.  She is such a good dog!

 

My studly husband was working hard digging out all this dirt.  Don't feel too bad for him though cause his mom and I carried all the heavy boards down there. :) Well, actually that's all I did was carry the boards but whatever. They did the rest. :)

I took off and took advantage of the nice weather and got in 2 good Saturday runs.   It's so nice running in the 'forest' instead of a curbside or the treadmill. 

I'm glad that he has a fun project to work on with his dad though.  They work good together and it's been fun to go up and visit too.  Dad has the whole idea in his head so I'm still not exactly sure how it's supposed to all turn out but I know it will be great.  Now if the weather would just stay nice. :)

 

We had a nice Valentines.  Andy's sisters family came over for a semi-"fancy' dinner. :)  It was a lot of fun and turned out great, despite the fact that I almost ruined the dinner.  We had planned to have one thing and I thought I had it in my pantry until I went to make it 30 minutes before and the item wasn't there.  Thank goodness for not great, but edible bottled spaghetti sauce. ha ha. Could have been worse.  Could have had to eat Spaghetti O's.  :) Everything else was yummy though.  Besides, on Valentines, dessert is the most important anyway.

 

Ash and Jaren were so hot in their formals.  Even little Robin was all decked out. 

 

So where are our 'fancy' clothes?  Good question.  I think they are in a box at my moms. ha ha.  We only have about half our stuff at our place cause a lot of it we stored at moms while in NY and we still haven't got it.  We took such great advantage of all the delicious food in NY that I doubt either of us could fit in them anyway. :)   We combed our hair though and put the sweat pants in the closet. 

 

The little ones were banished to the tot table.  We threw them a little bit of food here and there.  :) JK

I think they did have plates at one time but Robin was such a good helper she kept taking them and putting them back in the dishwasher. :) 

It was a lot of fun and the kids loved doing something different.  We surely don't eat by candlelight every night at our place.  

 

Earlier that week, the kids and I made cupcakes.  We made little heart cakes and they had fun decorating and icing them all by themselves.  We are such icing fans at our place that I don't think they actually even put the decorations on their cakes.  They could barely wait to get the icing on.  

 

 

Halle managed to get some icing on her cake despite licking most of it straight from the bowl.  :)  Pink icing of course.  And here are the sprinkles un-used that she had to have. :)

 

We also made lots of Valentine cards and crafts, but I'm a slacker and didn't take pictures.  Oops!  We even made cards for several of you but remember I just said, slacker.  I think some of you are going to be very happy when you receive a package someday that is full of Christmas cards, Valentines, Green Clovers, and Easter eggs all together. :)  Hey, it's the thought that counts right?  No?  Ok, I'll get on it! :)

Payton had his first kindergarten music concert.  It lasted a whopping 7 minutes!  Hey, short and sweet though.  It was so fun to see him up there smiling and singing.  I had been trying to get him to sing me the songs all week but he wouldn't.  They sang 5 songs and had actions for all of them.  Sometimes I wish I could be invisible and see how he really acts at school.  He is a fun kid and is always making us laugh. 

 

Payton Loves to sing and it's good to see him be able to have fun up there with his classmates.   He did so well, we came home and made ice-cream sundaes to celebrate.   :)

 

So, a week or so ago we asked the kids what they wanted to do that day.  They said, "Go to Old MacDonalds!"  I didn't know what they were talking about at first.  We realized that there is a McDonald's near our house and we pass it every week on our way to church.  It has a play place that you can see from the road.  So...we said, "ok" and we headed to McDonald's.  I'm either the best or worst mom in the world cause I don't think our kids have ever played at McDonald's.  In fact I can count the number of times we've actually eaten there.  To them, this was a big deal.  They  had a blast climbing and sliding with the other kids.  

 

Now, I'm  not a McDonald's expert, but this was one of the nicest McDonald's I've ever seen.  It had dark mahogany wood, fabric wall-paper, flat-screen TV's and several Chandeliers.  Crazy. It even had a Red Box right behind our seat so the kids exhausted themselves and we were able to watch a movie that night. :)