Cabin fever

With school out, there is still a lot to do - outdoors! Matt and Brenner have been taking multiple trips down to work on the cabin. Nola and I have not been down - mostly because Brenner wants Matt all to himself! Otherwise, we are all well (and continue to social distance for our loved ones and yours).

Nice catch, Brenner!

Brenner is a pretty good gopher during construction.

Cabin profile.

The stairs to the loft was placed!

While the boys were building, Nola was getting bit/scratched. She was carrying Mr. Tickles and his tail got caught in a door. While trying to free him, Nola's foot got clawed and her hand bit. She was ok - mostly worried about Mr. Tickles! We got to have our first zoom meeting with our doctor and antibiotics were prescribed. All are healed - including Mr. Tickles and Nola's relationship. No hard feelings.

Nola eating her pizza New York style!

Let's be honest - siblings pester. So when I see small glimpses like a shared computer it makes me happy!

Nola made strawberry lemonade slushes - very tasty!

When my dad died two years ago, I chuckled at so many of his friends talking about “Val and the girls” during the visitation. When my church family (Foundation Sunday School class) presented me with a gift certificate to a nursery to honor him, I picked up these peonies. Peonies remind me of my mom (you can tell by the beautiful row of blooms along her fence line when you drive by) and my dad (who couldn’t wait to mow them down in August!). I hadn’t ever seen a yellow peony, and my Grandma Hilbrenner had dark red when I was a kid. So what better way to honor (and be ornery) my dad than to create “Val and the girls” with the peonies?!

The yellow finally bloomed this year and it is amazing (just like my mom)!

Nola's bike attire cracked me up. Love this picture of my beautiful girl!

What are they looking at?!

A slug!

Nola fixed her hair on her own - lookin' good kid!

Brenner did his hair too!

I brought in these peonies before the rain hit. They are so antique looking! So delicate and girly :)

We spent the time not going to Lake of the Ozarks being dummy like you may have seen on the national news. Rather we partied by testing our soil in our raised beds!

Dueling weedeaters! Brenner is a big help with this task.

Nola driving "like an old lady"....in my car....hmm.....

School is out!

We made it - school is over for the year! It is hard to believe that we did the entire last quarter of school at home. I admittedly did a happy dance on Thursday! The rest of week was spent at Grandma Val's house and fun time outside watching birds and flowers blooming. I am loving this relaxed pace!

The kids stayed with Grandma Val Sunday through Wednesday. She helped to wrap up school work and Matt and I marveled at working in the quiet! Grandma had the kids dig up thistles in her yard - $1 a pop. The dug up 303!!!!!! She made good on her word and said it was worth every penny. Thanks again, mom, for giving us a parenting break!

The girls being silly!

The first and last day as a 6th and 3rd grader. They have grown so much. Very glad to have had the "extra" time with them as I see how fast that they are growing!

The kids begged for Frito chili pie for dinner one night. You would have thought that I gave them a million dollars lol!

My peonies are blooming - my favorite flower!

Nola enjoys exploring the yard with me.

Saturday we headed to my hair stylist to get our hair cuts. I did an after but we all pretty much looked the same - except for Matt! Brenner opted out of a hair cut all together as he says he wants a mullet. Nola says that he is reconsidering it - I am staying mum - not a battle I will take at this point!

With Brenner, shirts seem to be optional these days!

My orange irises blooming! It has been a couple of years so very excited to see them!

Nola suggested that we bring some of the peonies inside - because they smell so good!

Thank you, Grammy Vo, for the fun book. We can't wait to try some of the recipes!

Happy Mother's Day!

We are in a final week of school - woohoo! Things are going well here - staying healthy and continue to keep social distancing - hope you are too!

We had a great Mother's Day this year. I also received a really interesting gift. Brenner walked in with a yellow five gallon bucket, a package of white terry cloths, a new spray nozzle for the hose and a bird seed storage container. I must have had a look on my face because Matt busted up laughing. Who knew the selection of Mother's Day gifts would be limited the Friday before the special day! We laughed and laughed but I did need to ask why a bucket? Matt said he needed something to carry everything in. Ok - how about the terry cloths? Matt responded they were on sale. So the bucket is like the gift bag and the cloths were the tissue paper bahahaha!

We had lunch with Mom on Mother's Day! Notice who isn't actually wearing a shirt?! #battleselection

Nola made cupcakes for Grandma's lunch. Bake sale pie cupcakes where the "fruit" was skittles.

Brenner found a tote of old keepsakes in his closet and decided to model for us!

Strawberry fencing when up!

This guy grew like an inch in the past month! It explains many things......

Mr. Tickles being Mr. Tickles

A rose-breasted grosbeak at our feeder!

Our glorious spring

Loving this spring weather that we are having! Plenty of outside time. With sports cancelled, we are getting so many projects completed and just enjoying nature. Blessings for sure!

A absolutely gorgeous rainbow after an evening storm. Reminder of God's promise in these times!

Flowers make be smile.

The boys went to work on the cabin so "girl time". Nola taught be a lot about the game Prodigy.

Zoom class outside for Nola.

The boys at the soon to be cabin.

After a bit of a set back (figuring out the foundation wasn't square!), Matt and Ken made great progress.

Brenner relaxing at camp.

Nola had an assignment to make a bird feeder - and here it is!

Nola's beta fish Doc finally passed away. He had been on his last fin for months so it was not too much of a shock for Nola. Ironically, Brenner was really worried about Nola. So he made sure to call Nola Friday morning to check on her - ahh siblings!

Nola placed maple seed pods around Doc's grave because they reminder her of fins.

On Saturday, Nola and I headed to Grandma Val's to help her with her flower beds.

Matt, Grandma, Aunt Lynnie, and I discussed that hugs would be ok. The kids are likely the least germy they will be given that Missouri is opening back up. Nola couldn't wiat for the car to stop to jump out and give her a hug. Here is the after for the bed - I brought her a bunch of my perennials from my house which are hard to see!

Nola driving the gator. Both hands on the wheel please!

CreeMee Freeze was open so we went through the drive through for a sweet treat. We parked and watched the traffic on Main Street. Nola said "this is boring" and I said "this is what old people do!" We also made a quick stop at Aunt Lynnie's house to say hello!

Nola wanted to make chocolate cupcakes - she did an awesome job!

Nola was engrossed with her bird books. She read that if you stand still birds will eat out of your hand.......

.......Nola got tired......

Nola is changing looks!

Nola asked me to take a picture of her and Baylee one evening as we were watching the hummingbirds. Baylee - such an odd dog!