A little of this and that while Kit was away...

This week has been a little different for us because Kit is out of town.  There is a HUGE hole that is created by his absence.  So here is the little bits of this and that has been going on in our little world... It's nothing big, but it's the stuff that I want to remember...

On Sunday, he left for the conference in Florida, but before he took off, we went out to breakfast!

 Since she had JUST turned 5, the sweet waitress spoiled her...

It doesn't matter if he is traveling to the other side of the country or to the other side of the world, I still feel the same way about it: I'm homesick for him until he gets back...

Each morning, Eden will usually stay with Kit while I do my carpool run with Ryder:

It was sweet to have her company in the car this week while Kit was gone:

This week, Ryder's school celebrated Dr. Seuss!

He would come home home with treasures like this:❤︎

Eden's preschool does a special presentation at chapel for all the birthdays in that given month and they make a little momento to hang on a "Birthday Candelabra":

 Eden calls chapel "Chap-Apple", and she will tell you it's one of her favorite things of preschool:

They sang to all the kiddos that had a February birthday... 

It could not have been sweeter!  Then they get to make chocolate chip cookies for their snack time...

Eden is currently shortening her naps, so there is more opportunities for her and quiet play time:

(It is not lost on me how AMAZING it is that my kiddos napped until after 5 years old... I'm hanging on as long as I can...❤︎)

  Eden got a pedicure set for her birthday and her little toes were the CUTEST thing ever!

(She insisted on using the set...)

 Then she sits while they dry...

Crafting this week:

The dollar section at Target is such a fun place to look.  We found these kits and we put together some centerpieces for our Easter celebration!

 We added the yellow pipe cleaners and we LOVE them and we can't wait to use them!

Ryder and I LOVE watching kids cooking shows! Our favorites are Chopped Jr., Master Chef Jr., and the Kids Baking Championship.  We either eat salted caramel chocolate or salt and vinegar chips, both from Trader Joe's...  This week we stepped it up a notch and we made a big bowl of guacamole and snuggled up while it rained!

 We have a few family weddings coming up and I gave myself the challenge of thrifting a dress for under $15.  I have so much fun thrifting and I walked out of the store for $9.50!

We had our Life Group and we did a Prayer/Lent experience to go into the next 40 days:

Since Kit was gone, the evenings were spent on things like scrapbooking and Gilmore Girl reruns and reading novels from the library...❤︎

The Little Miss received new tap shoes and dance clothes for her birthday and she was SO excited to wear them to her class:

We took a trip to Ikea for cinnamon rolls and colorful napkins, did homework, practiced baseball, went to the Discovery Center, hosted Life Group, and read books to practice our reading.
We cooked together and laughed together and had movie nights all snuggled up and went one night for Frosty's and fries at Wendy's after dinner.
It was a good, full week and we were so ready for Kit to be home!

A morning of Eric Carle...

We decided to go check out a new local exhibit on Eric Carle.  Before we left, we watched a short movie on Netflix that used his illustrations in animated short films: 

 Then we read our favorites:

 Then printed our a coloring page of her choice:

 It was called his "Very..." series... 

 Her favorite was the grass to walk through...

 Craft time!

 We ended our time with a stack of his books in a cozy chair and read...

 Time with this girl is so special to me and I know that I will blink and she will be all grown up...

Oh Deer...

Awhile back during this last archery hunting season (2016) here in California, Kit got his first buck with his bow.  It was Kit's first deer since we have been married, which made this the first deer that was brought home to prepare as food for our family.

We truly desire to teach our kids where food comes from, to honor the experience and the animal that will feed our family:  a tradition that was passed down from Kit's Grandpa Pierce...

 Including the antlers, there was about 80 pounds of meat that Kit hiked out.

Which was quickly turned into a freezer full of this:

(Italian sausage)

The antlers went through a process that Kit worked with Ryder on called a European style mount:

(This was Ryder's first experience with any type of skinning of an animal.  Kit walked him though it just like Grandpa Pierce had done with him...)

Turning it from this:

After skinning and boiling:

After being boiled in peroxide and stain applied to the antlers when there was fading from the peroxide:

The finished product:

Ryder didn't want it anywhere but his room:

Ryder is so proud of it and I'm thankful for the the experience that this gave our family.
Now I am off to find the best recipes for venison!❤︎