The Best Part

Darrin and I both had to work this morning, so we asked a friend for help with Carson. Her daughter and Carson go to daycare together. They haven't seen each other in quite a while and we knew they'd love it.

Carson was nervous about Darrin leaving him there. Last night, he kept asking if Darrin was going to stay with him. This morning we told him that he should take Candyland to play with Mary Cameron and he was good with that plan. When Darrin got him out of the truck at her house, he said, "Okay Dad, you can leave now."

I think they had a great time and she said Carson was really good. I figured he would be. He saves all his best moments for us :) Miles used to do the same thing. No one could ever imagine Miles acting how I said he did. That reminder gives me much hope for the years to come with Carson.

Darrin picked Carson up around noon and then the boys worked in the yard. We don't let Miles drive Carson on the 4-wheeler...they were only going a couple yards. It's supposed to be beautiful all weekend and I can't wait to soak up some sunshine.

When I got home, Darrin took Miles to Academy to shop for fishing stuff and Carson and I chilled at home. Carson is always so enjoyable when you are one on one with him. He loves to have us to himself. We played, ate snacks, and watched Paw Patrol.

He is the sweetest snuggler.

Miles was paid his first salary today. He tithed & saved (our stipulations) and then he spent all but $5 on fishing stuff. His original plan was to spend all his money on a fishing pole for Carson. Very sweet thought even though I think his motive was to keep Carson entertained so he can continue to fish. In the end, he decided that Carson was too young, and we did not disagree with that reality. He was so happy with his purchases and came straight home to organize everything. I'll be curious to see if he has any regrets about spending all his money on the day he got paid. That's part of the learning process and there are no loans while you are waiting on your next paycheck.

We ended the night watching American Idol after Carson went to sleep. It was such an interesting episode watching all the contestants sing from their homes. I actually really enjoyed it.

The best part of quarantine has been the free time I have at night when I get home from work. Usually we are running here or there most nights of the week. Because there's nowhere to be, and Darrin and Miles are home during the day to get stuff done around here, I am able to spend most of my nights relaxing and hanging out with the boys. This is definitely one thing that I will try to make time for when things get back to normal.

Wordless Wednesday

Weekend Wrap Up

I took off work last Friday, so it was a nice three day weekend for me. We actually packed a lot into our weekend, but I didn't take a ton of pictures, so our weekend can best be summed up as fishing, cleaning, and planting.

First, there was a lot of fishing. Carson caught his first fish!

Miles caught two fish on one hook. And, it was his last cast of the day! His smile says it all.

I think this is the cutest. I guess Carson got cold and Miles shared his jacket with him.

They were able to get away while Carson was napping to go fishing by themselves.

We need to buy Carson a life jacket, but until then, his floatie from the beach last year will work :)

I've been trying to organize and clean a little at a time while we've been home bound. Carson had fun playing in the empty cabinets.

I organized my cleaning closet over the weekend. I have a ton of mason jars that I use for random things. In my before picture, the jars are on the bottom shelf and all over the floor.

I asked Darrin to add a half shelf on the bottom just for the jars.

 

The after picture isn't all that amazing, but I do like my little shelf and at least it feels a little less cluttered.

Last, we planted our garden. It went super fast b/c Darrin and Miles had already built the raised beds and filled with all the right dirt, soil, and compost. 

This is our third year to have a garden. The first year was more successful than last year. I think there was too much rain, but who knows for sure.

Darrin did a lot of research about the raised beds and the soil We are very hopeful that it will pay off.

We planted zucchini, squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, green onions, lettuce, carrots, and lots of peppers. The zucchini, squash, cucumbers, carrots, and green onions were all seeds, and everything else was plants.

This is the first year that we aren't putting up a temporary fence around the garden to keep deer and other animals out. I sure hope they leave it alone.

We are excited and hopeful to see how it goes!

Wordless Wednesday

10 Things

1) Most mornings when I leave, Carson is crying for me to stay or standing there looking very pitiful as I pull away. He's very attached to both of us, but at different times. He wants me in the morning and Darrin at night.

2) We learned a new card game called Garbage. Darrin's sister sent us a video showing us how to play. I'm sure you can Google it. It's very simple and easy to learn. I would like to play it more, but the guys only want to play Catan.

3) My new shirt feels very appropriate for home and work these days. Chaos everywhere.

4) Some of our friends came over and hid Easter eggs in our yard the Friday before Easter. Several of the eggs had a picture that related to the Easter story, along with a Bible verse. Both boys loved it, but Carson was especially excited. We had good intentions to pay it forward to someone else, but never got it done.

5) I worked from home one day last week. While I was home, my doorbell rang. I was on the phone for work, so I didn't answer it. When I checked later, I had the best surprise. My team left me the nicest card and a huge basket of goodies.

The theme of the basket was relaxation b/c they know I've been stressed (true story!). There were all kinds of snacks, drinks, a devotional book, and even bath bombs & soap from Buff City. They are the best.

6) I got ready for work and crawled back in to bed with Carson before leaving the other day. He snuggled right up next to me and said, "you smell good". Melt my heart.

7) Miles is so ready for baseball. He's been practicing a lot. Sometimes I've wondered how much he actually loves the game of baseball. I know he enjoys the team and being with his friends, but I've questioned how much he truly enjoys the game. I've seen a change in him this year. He is missing it and I can tell he's missing the competition. He's ready to get the season started again and we are ready to watch him! He wears his boots 90% of the time, even when practicing baseball.

8) Darrin and Miles have done some work for a lady in our church the last couple of weeks. While they've been working, Carson has enjoyed being spoiled by her. She feeds him snacks and even gave him two cars that were her grandson's. She has a new puppy that Carson loves playing with too. He's loving the attention and I think she's enjoyed him too.

9) We tried to Facetime my mom the other day, but she wasn't able to answer. I took a screen shot and told her we missed her. Those are some cute faces to Facetime with.

10) I had to work from home one day, so Darrin could actually go to work. That was no easy task. They wanted to be near me all day. It was sweet, but it wasn't the most productive day. Thankfully, Darrin has been able to stay home with them every other day. 

Weekend Wrap Up

I didn't take very many pictures this weekend, but I do have a few to share. The boys went fishing on Friday afternoon while I finished up the work week. Darrin sent me this pic and said we must be doing something right b/c Miles wanted to finish his book in the car on the way to go fishing. He's hot and cold with reading, but right now he can't get enough. He's reading Last Kids on Earth series. He's on the last book in the series and then he said he's excited to get back to the John Grisham books he was reading.

Darrin has started taking Carson fishing more and more (b/c they have to if they want to go!) and he's been pretty good. I don't think he was great on this day, but he sure does love to go.

Darrin and Miles each caught really big ones and Carson was excited to throw them back.

Fishing ranks up there with baseball for Miles. There is nothing he'd rather do more right now. He's been watching fishing videos on YouTube and taking notes.

It's either the practice, the research, or the new lures that he's bought on his own, but something is paying off. I think this is the fish that Darrin caught, but they tell me that his was really big too. Around here, they actually have fishing teams in high school and college. We like to imagine what he will do as he gets older and this is definitely a possibility. He's a country boy at heart.

  
The weather has been really nice around here and they are living it up. 

Carson picked out his clothes and got dressed all by himself. I just told him to go to his room and put on some underwear after he got out of the bath tub. I was shocked when he came back fully dressed. He could not have been any happier with himself. He said, "I do that again a-morrow??"

We used six cans of black spray paint and gave a lot of our outdoor furniture a face lift. Miles was a huge help. Carson was actually decent at it, but definitely slowed the progress down.

We had four chairs that were faded green or brown. Everything is matching and neat now.

When Carson concentrates on anything, you can bet his tongue is sticking out.

It was a rainy day today, but I snapped a few pics of the patio. It's amazing what some spray paint can do.

We had the prettiest fire. I still love our fire pit. Building that was one of the best things that we have done here. We use it all the time, whether it's for fun or just burning trash and debris. 

We had to stay inside all day b/c the rain. Since grocery pick up isn't working during these times, I spent half my day driving to Kroger and Sams to get groceries for the week. I'm not a huge Kroger fan, but Walmart is out of everything right now, while Kroger seems to stay fully stocked. Darrin did have to go to Walmart for a few things after I got home. After spending a ton of money at all three stores, we had most of what we needed to meal prep for the week. Feeding four people every meal at home takes a ton of groceries. We are ready for Monday through Friday.

We played our usual game of Catan every night. Playing games is hands down the best part of quarantine. Work is slightly less stressful these days, but it's still not fun b/c I'm confined to my office. I sure hope we are getting closer to reopening and getting back to normal. Fingers crossed and lots of prayers!