Spring Break: Our “Staycation” Comes to An End

Guess who let us sleep in until 8:00 the last TWO mornings! 

{sorry it’s dark and blurry, but I was NOT going to turn the flash on when she was just waking up!}

After yesterday’s fun giveaway, I have to catch you up on the last 2 days of our Spring Break!

On Thursday, my sister Ashely {the one home from college} hung out at our house for the entire day and entertained Nora while Dave and I both worked outside. It was so much fun for me to be back outside doing yard work again — especially since I hardly did any yard work last summer.

Apparently, they played pretty hard, because Nora was exhausted after just a couple of hours and actually took a few naps!

Meanwhile, Dave was outside cutting just about everything he could cut with my dad’s chainsaw!

{we have about 30 of these trees lining our property and ALL of them needed to be trimmed!}

I was trimming smaller bushes and working to clean up our mailbox area… don’t even get me started on how ugly those yellow press boxes are (and no, we can’t get rid of them.)

Here’s what it looked like after about an hour of digging out rocks and transplanting a few other plants from around our yard.

{the plants are still really low to the ground, but it’s a mixture of day-lilies, sedum, coral bells, and creeping purple phlox}

Of course, it will look much better once these perennials grow over the summer — and once I add in a few annuals. It’s good enough for now though.

After a very long afternoon of yard work we dropped Nora off at my parent’s house (they just got back from vacation and NEEDED their Nora fix) and headed to Akita, a new Chinese restaurant in town.

We treated my sister to dinner since she watched Nora ALL day long — and I know how stressful that can be!

We love Chinese food, and this buffet even offered a full Sushi bar! We decided that we will definitely have to bring Sarah (our international student) back here.

Oh, and I thought my fortune cookie was very fitting for this week (mine is on the bottom)

Looks like Grandma and Grandpa also played a little too hard with Nora… she was out cold in the 10 minutes it takes us to drive home from their house!

After a quick bath, Nora was sound asleep by 8:00pm… and I was sleeping by 9:30. I think I’m FINALLY starting to catch up on my enormous lack of sleep from the first 4 months of her life!

 

Friday was another super relaxing day… especially since we got to sleep in again (thanks Nora).

Unfortunately, our toaster somehow broke over night (yes, that makes 3 malfunctioning appliances over break!)… and that meant Dave couldn’t have his regular breakfast of toast, waffles, or poptarts.

I made French toast and scrambled eggs instead — he was thrilled!

Complete with real maple syrup… my favorite!

 

It’s been such a great week for being outside (sunny and mid 60’s all week) and we are so thankful for that! Dave took Nora for a walk in the afternoon so I could finish up some yard work — she just loves her stroller!

 

Oh, and thanks to come cute hand-me-downs from Dave’s cousin, Nora is all set for Easter!

Isn’t it adorable! 

My mom recently found a little sweater and some cute sandals (at a garage sale) to complete the outfit.

 

Since I haven’t been cooking all week, I surprised Dave with Culver’s for dinner — it’s his favorite restaurant and I figured it just wouldn’t be Spring Break without a trip to Culver’s!

And just because I’m the nicest wife ever (and because I had a gift card and a bunch of BOGO coupons) I even splurged on dessert 🙂

It’s been really nice not cooking all week, but since we rarely ever go out to eat, I think I’m ready to get back to our normal (and much more healthy) weekly meal plans next week!

After dinner, we gave Nora a bath and then enjoyed a bit more fresh air via the back porch swing (one of my favorite places to hang out).

She was in bed by 8:30, which gave me just enough time to do two quick loads of laundry, clean up the kitchen, sweep the floors, and quickly pick up the main areas of the house before heading to bed myself.

I’m a little sad that our week-long “staycation” is coming to an end… but I think I’ll be ready to get back into more of a routine next week. Plus, I’m really ready to start making my to-do lists again!