Shopping on Monday afternoon

Here is a continuation of our adventures with grandma and grandpa!

On Monday afternoon, we went shopping. First to grandpa's favorite store, Harbor Freight. It was hard keeping all the coupons in order but we ended up with 3 free things including a nice flashlight. I was most happy that we bought an outlet timer...we will set it up with a nightlight, and instruct the kids that they are to stay in bed in the morning until the light goes on at 7am. Then they can come out and start playing. Hopefully no more 5am wake-up requests.


Next we went to the mall for Macy's sales and a clinique bonus. While the guys did do a little bit of shopping (a tie for grandpa) they felt the urge to move on to the Lego store, where we caught up with them.








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Lazy morning

Monday before lunch. I love how in a 3000+ sqft house, everyone usually ends up all together.








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Pear sauce

Today (Monday):


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Marcus & Marcus brunch

Brunch day at last. Here is Marcus and Marc(us), the two chefs:


I had bought some china at the auction, to use for this event. It is a beautiful orange and gold pattern that is perfect for autumn. We borrowed linens from my MIL and everything was lovely:


Marcus made individual shrimp cups:


Omelets were on the menu (along with lots of other great food!):


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Dahlias

On Saturday we also picked dahlias to decorate the house for the brunch.











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Cruise-in Country Diner

Grandma and grandpa are here! The kids have been counting down the days. They came in late Friday night--Mariposa, Bunny, and I went to the airport to pick them up. On Saturday we cleaned all day for a brunch that we were hosting on Sunday, so to keep the kitchen clean we ate out. The Cruise-In Country Diner was a great choice! For a "burger joint" the food is very fresh, mostly organic and all-natural. They have very good burgers and shakes. Mom said the chicken was good too.


Ice cream after the meal:





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Playtime

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Funny kids

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Grammae's bday party

For grammae's birthday, we all got babysitters and headed out to a fancy restaurant in Portland. Marcus and I went out to drinks before dinner, totally worth the extra $8 in babysitting. We haven't been seeing a lot of each other because his traveling, so it was nice to have a little time out just the two of us. After Bartini we made our way to Wildwood for a delicious dinner and great company. :o). If I remember correctly, I think I had the duck and Marcus had the pork. After having so many family dinners WITH the kids, it was great to change it up a little. Happy birthday grammae!


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Chicken nesting boxes

Father and daughter, doing farm work.


Bunny had taken real ownership for the chickens. They are now laying up to 7 eggs a day, and every day at 10 am Bunny goes down to let them out to pasture, feed them table scraps, and collect the eggs. This is "recess" for our school morning...usually Mariposa is done with her lessons and James is well on his way. Anyway, Bunny usually takes all the kids down to the barn while I work on chores, something that we all very much appreciate and love Bunny for. Gemma feels like such a big girl helping out, and James and Mariposa stretch their legs a bit. Bunny is always very kind and gentle, with Gemma at least, and she is teaching all of us some great lessons in patience. :o).

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Bunny's 9th birthday

Bunny's actual birthday was mid-week so we had our own little celebration at home. You can tell by the "cake" that this was much more low-key. But she still liked the special attention we gave her, especially the fact that she had no school. She also got to choose her meals, and pretty much call the shots all day.

Trying to hold James away from her candle:


Thank you, grandma and grandpa! The book and the color-changing Crocs are awesome!


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