Weekend Joy

There was lots of joy to be found at the end of last week.  The weather is getting warmer which means we are venturing out more and more, meeting friends at the playground for first teeter-totter rides:

Or are they see-saws?  Either way, this was a playground winner.

We have a decent sized fenced yard at our rental house and we have been enjoying spending time outside at home as well…  

barefoot!

It’s actually warm enough that little Miss Z got to experience walking with pavement under her feet and grass between her toes for the first time, and I have been loving making use of our clothes line.

This may be one of my favorite things about out new house.

I’ll admit, we were more than a little sad to leave behind the play set my step-dad slaved away to build for the girls last summer.  Unfortunately, though, with parts of it buried in January snow, the thought of having to take it apart in freezing Wyoming winds, and the limited space in the truck, there just was no way we could move it; thus it was left with our house in Wyoming.  I feel really bad about that, especially because of the work that my dad put into it, but also because I know the girls would have enjoyed it very much.  We’re going to wait longer to make another permanent commitment, but I do have some fun ideas for our yard this summer, and I already have one very eager little helper.

Another exciting thing about warm weather is being able to take advantage of our location in town.  Tonight we loaded the girls into a stroller and walked 1.5 miles to have dinner at a new restaurant.

(little goof ball)

It was so much fun to get to walk home under the stars and moon after a delicious dinner.  I’m hoping that spring will stick around we can keep up with all this time outdoors.  I might cry if we get an April snowstorm like we did last “spring” in Gillette.

Besides warmer weather, the other joy of this weekend was a meal shared with friends.  We went over to my friend Chantry’s house for dinner Saturday night and it was so much fun to get to eat (drink!) and spend time with another couple.  It was especially wonderful because Chris was there too.  If anything, I will always be able to thank our year in Gillette for making me realize just how precious family time is.  I hope you won’t get too sick of me saying it, but I just can’t get over how wonderful it is to have my husband home and participating in our family.  Nothing can beat sitting around a living room with good friends, watching our girls play with their little friends, and knowing that Chris gets to have that experience too rather than just hearing about it later.  

I mean, as cute as ^that^ picture is, it just doesn’t do any justice to seeing firsthand two tiny girls loving on baby dolls.  And watching Nora running about with Miss M is so much better than the blurred pictures I brought home with me:

(She told me my pictures would be blurred because she is “too, too fast, Mom,” and she was right.)

I hope this joy of a new season, experienced together as a family, never goes away.