Friday was a normal working day.  Russ and I have both been very busy with work and our days are filled with tasks.  We come home tired, but at least we know that our day is spent working in an appreciative environment. 

 

The weather has been just beautiful.  Friday was warm, and the forcast was for temps above 85. 

 

The boys played in the cool basement while I mowed the lawn.  It was warm, but because it's so early in the season, I didn't really mind at all.  It didn't take long, and I figured it would make the work we'd planned to do the following day a little easier. 

 

We had a great dinner of Ham and Pineapple.  I've been getting fresh pineapple, slicing it, putting a little salt, pepper and butter on it, and then throwing it on my beloved griddle.  It's SO good, and goes great with ham steaks.

 

Saturday morning the temp was creeping up unusually fast.  Before breakfast was even over the thermometer read 70. 

 

Russ and I headed outside.  He started scrubbing the mold off the front of the house, while I fired up the new chainsaw to work my way through the big tree drebris pile.  Russ tried to use our powerwasher, but it's apparently missing an important seal.  I began consolidating the brush piles to one big pile near the basketball hoop.  We planned to rent a U-haul next weekend to get that to the landfill.  When done with the scrubbing, Russ went out back to till up the garden.  Liam helped him pull weeds.

 

 

 

As a reward, I let the boys set up the little pool since it was so hot.  Little did we know it was nearly 95 out! 

 

Needless to say we'd been outside for most of the day.  Finally, once we'd found a good stopping point, we decided to reward ourselves with a trip to Brewsters for ice cream!  This was great fun.  It was so pretty out, even though it was hot.  Seems like half the county felt the same way.  It was still lots of fun.  On the way home we stopped at Target for a couple of things and came up with the idea to cook hot dogs over the fire pit for dinner... with S'mores for dessert, of course!

 

  

 

 

We'd litterally been outside all day long... and though we were tired, it still felt good.

 

Sunday morning, we figured we wouldn't work so hard.  It was still hot outside, but I started burning a big pile of leaves in the backyard.  Jax played in the sandbox while I sat and made sure I didn't catch the neighborhood on fire.  Liam - the indoor kid - enjoyed some quality time with his dad as they set up the slot car track. 

 

 

I thought Rosalia's birthday party was at 3, but when I called to make sure, her dad, Bill, told me that it was at 1:00!  A little sooner than I expected, but I quickly doused my burning leaves, got the kids bathed, the gifts wrapped, and  - with Russ's help - actually ended up making the party on time.

 

As expected, the Go-Kart place was a mad house of frivolous kids.  Jax made a beeline with his Dad for the Go-Karts, while Liam dove into one of the many moon bounces.  We greeted the birthday girl, and chatted with other party going parents. 

 

   

 

 

After a couple hours of bouncing, racing, cake-munching, air hokeying, and pinata poking, it was time to go.  Jax was exhausted.  Russ wanted a few crabs for dinner, so while he detoured into the grocery store, the boys and I killed a few minutes in the bookstore.  We even found a cool kids' geocaching book!  Russ bought it to give to the MD Geocaching Society to use as a raffle prize for this year's picnic. 

 

The rest of Sunday afternoon was pretty laid back.  I kept the laundry going steady, and did a few indoor chores.  The boys played quite well with all their Star Wars action figures, and Russ enjoyed his crabs while watching the Indy Car race.  The boys and I joined him a bit later with some Fish Tacos.  When the race was over, Russ helped me put laundry away.

 

Some weekends I feel like I do a lot, but accomplish a little.  This weekend, I felt like we did a lot, and we accomplished a lot - but with some nice fun stuff thrown in too.

Friday was a busy day of running around. We kept the boys with us.  Friday morning Erin had a group of women stop buy to inspect the remaining baby wearing items she had left. She has had quite a few sales to go into our “vacation” fund for this year. She is quite busy at work and the boys are bigger now so  she is sharing her collections, at a price, with others.

 

While that was occurring I let the Sears guy in. We got a free upgrade on the computer in the washer because it is still under warranty. It was a$300 dollar value that supposed to help the load balance and shimmy. After everyone left we were starving and went to Long John Silvers for lunch.

 

After lunch we went up to a little store called Milt’s to get a new chainsaw. Chainsaw Lloyd who we bought our old Craftsman from and tried to repair it recommended them. He felt bad he could not fix our old one so he offered his discount to us from the place.

They were very personable there and sold us a Stihl 14 inch. Erin and I were both satisfied with it and got the easy start feature. We would have like the 16 inch but the cost was a bit high.  The boys had a good time looking at all the stuff in the store. We got the price knocked down so the regular price would be with tax. They also threw all the oil in for us.

 

We left there and headed to Target for a Microwave. We were shocked that our sharp bit the dust and are a little worried about surges downstairs as we have had many light bulbs burning out to soon in the den. We will need to get an electrician soon to investigate. Anyhow we bought a surge protector for the Panasonic we bought. We have that brand at work it has worked well with heavy use for a couple of years.

 

 I also bit the bullet and went to WalMart and  finished off the upgrade of what Erin calls our Technology Corridor in the house. I bought a new LexMark Printer, scanner, copier that is wireless. We both love it because we can now print from anywhere in the house from our Laptops. Liam now has a little flat screen monitor that freed up desk space on his little computer stand. We packed up the old scanner, printer and Dell monitor for an upcoming garage sale.

 

While Jaxson and I were doing that Mom took Liam in to get the Mohawk he has been begging for for months. It was a compromised one that Mom and Dad could live with. They met us at Target and honestly it doesn’t look too bad.

 

We got the exhausted kids home right in time for ordering pizza. Erin was pretty tired so she nodded off early and I caught up on taped shows on the DVR. I also printed some stuff for my Mom she had asked to read about.

 

Saturday we went stopped at the Post Office to mail Mom’s package as well as many Baby Wearing packages out including two to Canada. We then went to see a lady I used to work with. She almost lost her life a week after having a baby. She has been diagnosed with Peripartum cardiomyopathy and went to the doctors a couple of weeks ago in the throes of congestive heart failure. Her old co-workers were I work and also another building where her husband worked had taken up donations for the family.

 

Erin and I dropped the boys off to play at Ms Lisa’s house with Eric, William, and Ashton. We then went on down and visited with the family. Their new born son is so handsome. Also they are big time dog people. So Erin and I enjoyed their dogs especially their pug and also their cat who acted like a dog. They are on good spirits and feel fortunate that she made it through to talk about it. She is on a very strict diet and still has a tear in her heart. She will need to be vigilant for the rest of her life. It is sad to see a 26 year old new Mother go through this but they are good people with faith in their lives. I was happy to be able to visit and show them how much people remembered them and cared for what they were enduring. Erin was particular struck by the situation and got the dogs a PetCo card and Mommy some baby related items.

 

After the visit we picked up the kids and had lunch. They were pretty whooped so had a naptime. I even nodded off on the couch for a bit while Erin prepped coupons. We decided, since it was the first major coupon grocery shop, I would watch the kids. We saved 88 dollars on the bill and the new pantry area in the basement is allowing us to see our inventory much more easily. It is good practice when our boys will be teenagers and eat a lot more. I played Star Wars with the boys. Jaxson is a real rough houser and tougher than nails. I have to reel him in when we play sometimes, usually after he knocks his brother flat.

 

After we got the groceries in we had dinner and watched the HGTV house shows.  After the boys were to bed Erin and I watched TV including a pretty blue roast of Larry the Cable guy which we need to finish at an appropriate time. 

 

On Sunday Erin cleaned the bathrooms. I know I am slacking. While she did that I worked on the computers. I am still installing software on the laptops and trying to improve the performance of the desk top and prep it for Liam’s use this fall.

 

In the afternoon we drove to Leonardtown to visit their Earth day celebration. The last time we were up there was 2005 I believe. We met Lisa and her boys Eric and William. We walked around together for a bit but split up when we went into a place called Chillin Time for some lunch. The hot dogs were good but service erratic and slow as they seemed overwhelmed by the crowd at Earth Day.

 

We dropped off some collars and muzzles for Greyt Expectations that were Dakota and Hayrides. This is the organization that started from our Last Lap Greyhounds. It has grown into a larger rescue who does great things for the Greyhounds in our area.

 

We ran into a few people we knew while walking around and chatted. We also saw turtles, owls, bugs, dancers, a tired of being in a crowd bald eagle, an old fire engine and many green related vendors.

 

The boys really enjoyed making their sand bottles. Jaxson was very cute. He was riding in one of the last slings for sale and said to his Mom very clearly “I want to make that Mommy.” How could she deny that? I was in a long line with Liam to get his face painted when Erin said Jax and her were going there. Liam quickly changed his mind. They both had a blast although Liam has shaken his up to the point it is a colorful blur.

 

On the way out of town I stopped at the used book store and found a few books for Dad Day, my Mom, and my B-I-L Brian. I will try to get them mailed out soon. We also stopped in the Good Earth. They have moved to a larger store and expanded their inventory. Erin can’t wait to take her Mom there.

 

Erin managed to try out the new chainsaw on the last two downed trees while I watched the Indy Car race. Next weekend I will get it all stacked up to dry for next year. She likes it except it still, like most chainsaws, takes a bit to get started. 

 

Sunday night we had Chinese for the first time in a while much to Erin’s delight. I read for the boys while Erin got there clothes around for this week. We then watched a Netflix on the history of Apple Computers. It was a decent documentary.

 

Monday night we should be able to pick up the Love Seat for the den.

 

The weekends keep filling up. Next weekend we should get some yard work done Saturday in preparation for a load to the dump. I also need to till the garden. We need mulch for the front too.  We need to have a garage sale and we still plan on reorganizing the garage but Paul has some shelving for us so we are delaying that until after we pick up the shelving and have a garage sale. So we are in the throes of the busy spring season.

 

 

Good Friday was a pretty good Friday indeed.  Russ and I split the workday because daycare was closed.  Russ did the morning shift, and I left work at noon to do the afternoon shift with the boys.  It was a beautiful day outside, and believe it or not, the lawn needed mowing, so I commenced to performing the first cut of the season.  A lady came to purchase the Learning Tower that I’d gotten from my friend, Tammy a couple of years ago.  You use it in the kitchen instead of a chair for safer cooking, but in all honesty, it was just too big, and the boys did fine with a chair.  So I sold it.  A little while later, one of my co-workers came to take our old couch and loveseat.  He and his girlfriend are new to the area and needed furniture.  So I got a lot done that afternoon, and we had a nice dinner together when Russ got home.

Saturday we took a slow start but they boys and I cleaned up the toy area, and I moved some of our tools off the shelves by the sink so I could use them for pantry storage.  We’re really going to try to use more coupons and stock up on some groceries, so our food bill might come down a little. 

After lunch we decided to visit the library.  We hadn’t been there in a while and Russ had a couple of books in.  After the Library visit we found ourselves running a few errands.  We ended up at Best Buy because Russ wanted to just “look” at laptops.  Since I got mine, he’s decided they aren’t so bad, and has been itching to get one.  So, it was no surprise when he decided to go ahead and get one.  I was happy for him because he’d done a lot of research and was looking forward to passing down the desktop to the boys.  We were all pretty hungry so we had an early dinner at Wendy’s.  That evening we didn’t do anything special that evening.  Since we’re currently between couches at the moment and getting really tired of lounging in camp chairs, we dug out one of the blow up beds that we used for camping.  Once the boys were in bed, Russ and I snuggled in to watch a movie.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before our comfy spot ended up not so comfy … and flat.  Apparently it’d sprung a leak. 

Easter Sunday we got to sleep in just a little.  The boys were up and wondering if the Easter Bunny came, but I told them that he had a lot of yards to visit and ours was one of the last on his trip.  I told them that he’d probably be here when they were napping. 

While the boys played, Russ and I got the old desktop computer moved on to the little cart that we put together.  This was a big job considering the amount of dust that had grossly accumulated on everything.  But we managed to get everything situated.  Russ’s wouldn’t be able to get his new laptop until the next day because he was having a lot of the promotional software removed from it by the Geek Squad. 

 

While the boys were taking a little nap, we went outside to chat with the Easter Bunny a little and help him hide a few eggs in the yard.  He brought the boys some nice Easter Baskets this year, but said that he couldn’t stay to see them open them because he had so many other yards to visit. 

We got the boys up from their nap and, understandably, Liam immediately asked if the Easter Bunny had come.  He peeked outside and saw a few eggs, so they got their shoes on and we headed out in the back yard to do some collecting.  They were pleased with their bounty, and we let them eat a few pieces.  They both wanted to open their paint sets and do some painting, so I got them all set up in the kitchen. 

  

Meanwhile, I’d put a chicken in the oven.  Marcie, Russ’s mom, had gotten me this interesting piece of pottery for Christmas.  It is a dish with a well in the middle.  You put any sort of liquid in it (beer) and put the chicken on top.  It takes a couple hours, but we certainly enjoyed the result.  So we actually ended up having a really nice dinner in the dining room to celebrate Easter. 

Since the movie, “Bedtime Stories” with Adam Sandler, came in the mail, we thought it would be a nice treat to blow up the GOOD blow-up bed and let the boys snuggle in it as we watched the movie.  It was a really cute movie.  Jaxson got really sleepy mid way through, so I took him up to his own bed.  Liam made the whole movie though, and really enjoyed it.

Monday, we were back to work.  It was a long, dreary day.  Two good things that happened in the evening were that Russ got his laptop and we all got our new couch thanks to our friend, Eric, who brought it to us in his pickup.  It felt so good not to have to sit in the camp chairs again.  We’ll save those for football season. 

Friday Erin took the kids on to daycare as we had a few things we needed to do. We got a flyer that Thompson’s furniture was going out of business so we stopped up there to see the sale. It was a bogus sale. One of the brothers is retiring and they need to buy him out. Things were only marked down 25% off their incredibly overpriced original process. We did not stay long. Our den couch and love seat is on its second of slip colors and we had boards in both for support. We bought them used about 8 or 9 years ago. We decided to go look at Big Lots since they now carry name brand furniture at fractions of furniture store prices. We decided to delay the den flooring for a few years until the boys get bigger. Big lots had a really nice sofa and love seat with a one year warranty so we were interested but decided to take measurements at home and sleep on it. We did find a hockey game for Liam and Jaxson’s friend Caroline for her birthday party the next day.

 

After leaving there we stopped at Asahi for a late lunch. I had a 25 gift certificate from my company for my birthday so we decided to use it there. We ate at the Sushi bar, which Erin loves. I got steak and shrimp. The lunch portions are about a third smaller but the prices are half.  

 

We then stopped back at the house to get Rita. She is becoming very incontinent and we saw a little blood in the urine earlier in the week. We the mast cell tumor she has had for a couple years we can’t take chances. We were relieved that the Doctor feels the two are unrelated. We did get a urinalysis and blood work we should know more about later this week. Rita is now on medicine to help her bladder now but there were numerous accidents this weekend. It will take a little time for the medicine to start working.

 

 

After getting Rita we picked up the boys from Daycare and went to Target to find a birthday card for Caroline and a present Jaxson could give her. Jaxson got her a strawberry plant Caroline can prepare with her mother. We then went to Chick-Fil-A for dinner. We had two minor melt downs when the kids had to leave the playground at the restaurant.

 

That night we measured for the sofas and I played this new game I have about horse racing on-line. It is a lot of fun but pretty challenging. We caught up on some of our DVR shows.

 

Saturday we headed up to Leonard Drill Hall for Caroline’s birthday party which was Roller Skating. My co-worker Steve (Caroline’s Dad) did a great job hosting as his wife Carla was sick and could not make it. The kids were tentative at first but by the end of the party were skating or at least standing a lot better than the start. Caroline was very excited to have all her friends. We have a couple more parties coming up as all the kids are turning 5 right now. They are all a little different and a great time for the parents to visit and the kids to play.

 

Also we learned on Saturday that a former co-worker of mine and pet rescue acquaintance of both Erin and I was rushed to the hospital with congestive heart failure. She is only in her late twenties and just had a baby one week ago. This may have caused the problem. Pretty sad deal.

 

Our friend Lisa offered her husband Eric and his truck to help us go get the sofas after the kids napped. We dropped the kids off at their house and went to Big Lots. They sold all three sets that day. So we went ahead and bought a set coming in the next two weeks. The sofa is due in next week and the love seat the following. Meanwhile we had already moved out the old set and put them on the local classifieds. Since we have a few nibbles we decided to leave them in the garage and now have a lawn chair den.

 

Erin was nice enough to baby-sit Lisa’s kids  and let Lisa and Eric see a movie and go to dinner. I had done that before so got the night off to eat crabs and watch the Indy Car time trials.  I talked to my cousin Chris  in Kentucky and we caught up a bit. I had pulled out the fire pit and got it started for when the kids arrived home.

 

Once they arrived we roasted some weenies and I put the kids to bed. Erin and I then sat out and enjoyed the fire.

 

On Sunday we went to Annapolis to get some ladders my buddy Paul bought on Ebay. He called the day before and asked if we could pick them up and bring them up in May which we were glad to do. The day was nice and the trip up and back uneventful. Well uneventful except for the 1964 Chevy II Nova in mint condition totaled in a wreck we drove by.

 

When we got home I watched the inaugural Indy Race in St. Petersburg. Danica got taken out in a nasty wreck. I can’t wait when we all go to Richmond in June to see the race.  We had yummy steaks for dinner and then watched Horton Hears a Who with the kids. After that Erin and I watched our home shows on HGTV we like. It was a busy but good weekend.