lately

There really isn't a whole lot going on here,

except for work on the house

and ordinary life.

We got to babysit Hadley over the weekend.

She was much grumpier than usual,

but we still had some fun times.

She loves her Mimi, Aunt Lily, and Uncle BranBran the most.

We've made it to The River every Wednesday,

and bring home all sorts of trash and treasures.

meet Pepper. Our river cat...

I'm not sure what we'll do as it continues to get cooler.

It's been the highlight of our weeks,

and each time

feels a little more restful than the last.

Last week, 

we thought we were going to be rained out,

but I checked the weather around 11,

and it wasn't supposed to rain until 1:30

so we quickly got our things together 

and made it to the river before noon

and got to enjoy a peaceful hour and 10 minutes 

before it started sprinkling.

We stayed another 10 minutes or so,

but left before the sky opened up.

I've had very little time to quilt,

and my machine is getting increasingly belligerent,

making what time I do have not as productive as it could/should be

so it will need to go back to the shop,

but what I've managed to get done,

I'm very pleased with.

I'm especially happy with that heart motif, as that is my own design!
And - I didn't even test it first - I just quickly drew it out on paper
to make sure it would work like I thought it would.
and it did!

Our new porch has been seeing some use

as the temperature drops a bit.

We play backgammon out there with our weekend coffee

and it's Tyler's favorite place for Bible study.

We are sooo looking forward to being able to move in

and slow down just a bit 

(though there will still be quite a bit of work to do for a few years)

The kids worked together to make dinner last night

so Tyler and I could get a little more done on the floors.

People tell me often,

"I don't know how you do it all."
It's very simple.

I don't.

I so totally don't.

the bonus of our yard /property being overgrown:
lots more wildflowers - which means lots more bees and butterflies

p.s. just a reminder - I'm now on Instagram.
I tend to post a bit more often there, as it is much quicker than blogging,
and I never post exactly the same things as I do here,
so you might want to follow me there.....