Friday Favorites: We Bought Furniture!

We had a fabulous week! The weather has been beautiful and we spent lots of time outside. 

I was up early on Friday to bring Alec to school.  The other boys and I flew through their school work and while we had plans to resume meeting up with our hiking group for some small group hikes it was really cold and windy.  We decided to stay home and I spent a few hours on the phone with my mom catching up instead.  I also got dinner all prepped so we could eat at a reasonable time after working in the evening. 

We headed to the shop at 5 to load up scrap.  When we were done Ian wanted to show me the jet ski and what he had left to do to it.  It doesn't look at all like jet ski he started with! 

All painted and ready for the stickers

Saturday morning Ian and my husband headed to the scrap yard while my mother in law took Alec to karate.  Evan and I enjoyed a quiet morning at home.  By lunchtime everyone was back home and then my husband and I headed out to rake the grates at the hydroelectric plant and cut up the huge tree root he had pulled out of the trash racks last weekend.  

We came back home just long enough to change and get ready for date night.  We ended up at 110 Grill; all the restaurants were packed with  super long wait times but we found 2 seats at the bar.  The food was amazing!  We had never eaten there before but I'm pretty sure we'll be back again one day.  We stopped for some groceries at BJ's on the way home.  

All dressed and ready for a casual date night.

I spent my morning Sunday planning a family vacation with the boys and finishing up my latest novel.  Ian and I also enjoyed watching this bird of prey circling the lake in front of our house trying to catch a fish (or maybe even a duck?).  In between attempts it was found perched in the trees around us.

Around 2 o'clock in the afternoon we went on a nice long 2 hour hike; it was so warm that most of us ended stripping off our sweatshirts and hiked in short sleeves! 

Once home we made dinner-- shrimp carbonara and salad for us with the leftover bacon and some waffles for the younger boys.  Alec happily made the waffles from scratch while my husband cooked up the bacon and I made the carbonara and salad.  It was delicious (even if I did overcook it slightly)! 

It was beautiful out on Monday so as soon as the boys finished their schoolwork Ian headed outside to work on our beach area.  The lake is really down right now (as they drain it in the winter to discourage weed growth) and he raked out all the dead leaves and smoothed out all the sand.  

The waterline is usually up to our firepit so it's a perfect time to clean up all the leaves that would normally be underwater. 

 Evan and I headed out for a nice walk before I headed out to pick up Alec. I swung by the grocery store on our way home and debated about starting in some yardwork but honestly I was sore and tired from our hike yesterday so I decided to sit, watch TV, and work on some blogging instead. 

Tuesday morning I drove Alec to school and Ian headed off to work.  Evan and I worked on a bit of schoolwork and then headed out for another hike.  We found a new trail to try at one of our favorite hiking spots-- the dam.  

It was warm enough after picking Alec up from school that I wore my flip flops when Evan and I headed out on another walk.  

Alec had a virtual day of shop on Wednesday and since he had no assignment I had him bake up a batch of Holly's Applesauce Jumbles.  They were delicious!

The other two boys tackled their schoolwork and then Ian headed out to work on a few of the beaches of a couple of our neighbors who asked him to help get their yards ready for the season.  I took the other two boys out hiking.  We only hiked for 45 minutes because Alec still needed to have lunch before signing in for his afternoon class.  

After lunch Evan and I went on a walk up to get the mail and then I worked in the garden for an hour.  

After dinner my husband, Ian, Evan, and I headed out for another hike.  

Alec had school on Thursday and Ian was heading to work so it was just Evan and I home for the day.  It was rainy and foggy and the lake was so still.

Once we had finished all his schoolwork (by 9:30) so we decided to head out furniture shopping once again.  I tried to find a new living room set in the fall and never found anything but we ordered a new set at the first place we stopped today and while we don't get the pieces until June or even July I just love the set and best of all it was 30% off!  

We got a rocking recliner, the sofa, and the love seat.

We stopped for lunch at Panera to celebrate on our way home.  I tried their Asian chicken salad and it was so good!  We spent a bit of time outside after Alec got home from school.  The sun was out again and it was nearly 70!  We saw a pair of swans that have started coming around this week. 

Linking up with: On the Edge,