Five on Friday

It's time for Five on Friday!

1. We enjoyed some cooler evenings this week with outside playtime after dinner.  The kids LOVED being outside, and it's a relaxing way to wind down to bedtime.  Lots of giggles.  Lots of smiles.  Sweet moments to soak up. :)

2.  Among our evening outside activities has been preparing the play house we bought Anna Reaghan for her birthday.  I found it on a local buy/sell/trade group on Facebook.  A friend had found the exact same play house--also in "well-loved" condition like ours--awhile back at a thrift store for the same price we paid.  I saw how hers was transformed to looking new again with a good washing and replacement decal stickers.  We borrowed a pressure washer, and Matt got the house all cleaned up.  Then I applied the decals yesterday.  It DOES indeed look new again!  The kids are thrilled to play firehouse/school house/mechanic/gas station/bank/house. :)  More pics to come, but here's the standard picture from Amazon.  I love that it has a peaked roof so Asa doesn't have to duck to stand inside it, and I love that each side has a different "theme"--they are eating up all the ways to use their imaginations! :)

And a few of Asa and the playhouse

3.  Our big "adventure" of the week was the oven dying--in the middle of me trying to prepare dinner for friends with a new baby!  Ack!  I thought the main dish didn't look quite as golden brown as I'm used to, but I attributed to still learning a new oven (at our new house).  Then I went to preheat the oven later to cook dessert, and after 15 minutes it was still room temp.  Uh oh.  Mom to the rescue!!!  She came to get my ready-to-go brownie batter and popped it in HER oven for me.  And then I steamed green beans instead of roasting them as I originally planned.  I was struck again by what a BLESSING it is to be back home.  In Ohio, if I'd been cooking dinner and the oven went out--during nap time, so there would be no running to the grocery store to buy different ingredients to change plans--I would have had to forgo parts of the meal or pick up take out for the family!  I am getting spoiled being able to call my mom and have her help less than 10 minutes down the road.  What a difference a year makes (well, and 7.5 years of being away)!  Thank you, Lord, for this season of being settled at home!

4.  We are getting the garage cleared out.  Matt took loads of boy clothes bins up to store in the attic.  Woo hoo!  We are going ahead and getting baby gear--swings, etc.-- up there as well.  We'll need them this winter, but I'd rather have them out of the way the next 4 months and just get them back down when we get our Christmas decorations up or down.  We can almost park both our cars in the garage and soon the 3rd stall will be cleared out as well.  Soooo close!!  I am very excited to have almost gone through EVERY brown cardboard box in that garage.  Woo hoo!  I might also have taken some sneak peeks into our bins of tiny baby girl clothes. ;)

5.  Tonight I finally get to see my dear friend, Ashley!  We have tried to get together other times she has been in town, but my kids have always ended up sick and I've had to cancel at the last minute. :( :(  But we are WELL (so far today!!) and get to have Ashley and her little Samuel over to play this afternoon.  I am sooo excited!! :)

Have a great long weekend!! :)