the count down is on...

we are getting mighty closes to our big brawny man coming home... just a few days out now. yahoo!!! the house is mostly clean, maybe not to stan-standards, but certainly much better than noel-standards. the signs are all made, the sign hanging team is on call, the nails are up for the banners on the house, the kitchen table is full of flags ready to put out... we're very nearly there! {a few more from today}

the girls and i have been praying for safety for stan's trip home, sunshine for his homecoming day and that the dresses i ordered for them would come in on time. (thank you to my mama who has been praying hard, too!) the dresses arrived on saturday. (i ordered them well over a month ago.) and this is how the box arrived. i couldn't help but think of the opening scene of ace ventura. definitely not my favorite movie, but this box IS that scene! thanks to the good prayers, and a strong plastic bag inside, the dresses survived their journey through the usps system! hurray for answered prayers!

friday night the girls had a little sleep over with a pair of sweet sisters. isn't it fun to find wonderful families with wonderful kids the same ages as your little ones? yah, i think so too! i caught this scene when i got up in the morning to make a hello kitty waffle feast for the girlies. as long as i live, i'm not sure i'll ever witness anything sweeter than a sleeping child. {love}

friday was our school's annual carnival, complete with bouncy houses, carnival games and more. what's not to love about that, right?

in all of the prep getting ready for stan to come home, i've been looking at pictures of the girls from around the time he deployed... i can't believe how much they've grown in the time he's been away. i figured now was a good time to get a couple more face shots of them. (not that i don't have bunches from along the way, also.) it has truly been one of the greatest blessings of project 365 to share our daily life in pictures with stan while he's been away. to see life happening, to watch the girls grow, to be a part of us... even when he's so far away. what a blessing technology & creative genius can be! to whomever came up with project 365 - i thank you so very much.

and this... well, it's sort of a surprise for  my husband... (no, not the tractor!) so i can't really say what this one is all about. :)

the last days

the last days

the last weeks of school are always filled with a flurry of activities. friday was the 3rd grade field trip to the zoo. i love that each grade has one special field trip that they get to look forward to through the years. we spent most of the day with the first family we were lucky enough to meet at the school. i met her at weight watchers just before school started. for torrey it was a huge relief meeting someone at her new school before it started. and man, we've been so thankful for their friendliness, and heart this year. the girls had a great time checking out the animals, especially the snakes and nocturnal exhibits. i even snuck in a few pictures (never mind the root beer hard candy torrey's packin' in her bottom lip here. lol)

gorillas, penguines and giraffes... oh my!

then after school... the annual school carnival complete with dunk tank, bouncy houses and carnival games. we ran around all evening watching the girls flit from one bunch of fun to another. torrey got to dunk her teacher (who was such a great sport)! they both came home with bags of goodies and memories to last a lifetime.

{thursday}

thursday stan and i did some more work on our fountain. (by more work, i mean, a lot more work! we redid the whole thing!) he did most of the work getting it taken apart (i.e. moving big rocks) and cementing the bottom. then i came and helped move the rocks back in, and arranging them so they'd cascade the water down. if you want a sure fire way to find out if you're aging... moving lots of big rocks is an excellent indicator. with all of that rockin' fun, we ordered a pizza for dinner, and ate it outside in the fabulous sunshine.

to balance out all of that work... well, a little bit-o-fun. i mean, what else should you do after you clear a bunch of rocks off your tarps, but load them with dish soap and water and turn them into slip-n-slides?! now that's good, clean fun. we're trying to figure out a better sliding surface for turning our "double black diamond" sledding hill into a slip-n-slide hill. anybody have great ideas for making a super long slip-n-slide?