Keeping Busy

Jaxie taking care of Ellie

Our new laundry room


At the park today

feeding the birds

books books books

Ellie loves her daddy

new favorite book...we've read it 20 times!

Silly Ellie

playing dress up

new toy

our spring flowers bloom!

our tree in front yard

Well, we are already halfway through April and I am a bit behind on my blog. I have some new pics to share and hopefully they will give a good picture of our day to day. Dan and I have been busy with home improvement projects. Most recently, we fixed up our laundry room. My awesome husband endured endless trips to IKEA and LOWES and hours of painting, building, and organizing but in the end it was well worth it. I have drying racks that fold down flat on the wall, tin buckets and clear bins for storage, and a beautiful robin egg blue color to calm my nerves as I frantically try to get chocolate pudding stain off of Ellie's newest white sweater. :) My favorite part of the room is hanging our clothes on the drying racks using the clothes pins. I know I sound crazy but honestly, I have a secret love for hanging clothes with clothespins. It makes me think of my grandma Gladys (mom, did you show me a picture of her hanging laundry once???).

What else is new? Ellie is sick...again. She has only been well for a little over a week and already, we are back to a terrible cough and sniffles. Poor thing. Luckily for her, Jaxie takes good care of her, always keeping her entertained when she is quarantined to the house and snuggling by her when she is resting on the couch. God, I love that dog.

Otherwise, we are just enjoying our time at home. The flowers are in full bloom and we go for a walk every day. Ellie insists that we bring Jaxie even though she is so unruly for the first ten minutes of the walk (it's exhausting!). She loves to laugh at Jaxie when Jaxie isn't listening to me. I say "Whoa Jaxie, heal" and Ellie cracks up and repeats it. This is the highlight of our walks and a surefire way to hear Ellie's cute belly laugh. We always stop in at the Milton Library. Jaxie sleeps outside and Ellie and I sit in the "big girl" rocking chair and read a few hundred children's books. :) I love the quaintness of a small town library. I feel like I am in a kindergarten classroom...it's about that small. Today we ventured to Celebration park to feed the birds. Ellie had a great time but couldn't grasp the concept that the birds wouldn't eat the bread until she walked away. She kept charging at them every time they showed up! It was so cute and I enjoyed being a mom in that moment. It was so simple but Ellie thought it was magical. :)

These days, Ellie is more content to just play; perhaps because the windows are open and the sun is shining. Nevertheless, it affords me some much needed time to read. I am reading LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA (which I am having the hardest time finishing) and ME AND MR. DARCY (which I can't put down) as well as the daily newspaper (my newest addiction), and of course Ellie's stack of books that she makes me read to her several times throughout the day. All in all, not a bad way to pass the hours.

Hope all is well with each of you. We will be visiting Spokane at the end of the month and I will have new pics and stories to share. Love to all!