The World is Not Enough

Anya got a globe Puzzleball for her birthday.

(We ignored the "for ages 12-99" label on the box.)

She worked on it a little Saturday night...

a little bit more early Sunday morning...

more on Sunday afternoon...

and after her schoolwork was done on Monday...

she finished it!

***

And now she wants the moon...

Anya is EIGHT!!!!

Happy Birthday Anya!

Lofty Progress

It's not done yet, but remember the loft we were using for storage?

I covered the plywood floor with blankets from Goodwill (a temporary fix until we get around to putting in actual flooring), and we moved the music room/office up into the loft.

With all of the electronics moved upstairs, what was formerly the guest room/office/music room is now just a guest room,

except that we moved the (rarely used) TV in there too, along with all of Stella's paperwork, cleaning supplies, and spare parts.
Now that the TV is no longer taking up space in the living room, there is room for our favorite chair and a lamp!

I'm not sure which is the best part: the newly created favorite reading spot in the living room, or the fact that I now only get on the computer once or twice a day. It's not so convenient to "just check email really quick" when I have to climb two sets of stairs and a ladder to do it!

Reading Record: February

Our Vacation: A New Favorite

Over the long weekend, we went to one of our favorite vacation spots...

Grandpa Pat and Grandma Suzie's!

The view from our window:

(my husband tells me the mountains are even more spectacular by dawn's early light, but I'm just going to take his word for it on that one...)

The girls rode every day,

so of course Isaak did too.

The trip home included a long detour to Multnomah Falls,

which were beautiful as always,

even though the weather and the attitudes weren't!

Our Vacation

The kids and I spent this last week at one of our favorite vacation spots.

It's the place where my mending gets done,

the fire in the wood-stove (almost) never goes out,

and I get to go to my favorite bookstores

all by myself,

because we're staying with my parents!

***

Now that's a vacation!

Reading Record: January

Just for fun, I'm going to show you what I've been reading.

(And in the months to come, when you wonder why I haven't posted anything on my blog lately, you'll have a pretty good idea of what's eating up my "spare" time!)