April Ten on the Tenth

The idea is to take ten photos on the tenth of the month and share it, documenting a day of your life and the ordinary moments. There is beauty in the ordinary.

hello April 10th!

Wednesdays, Ross and I take a mid-week break and have breakfast together before he goes off to work. It is always something to look forward to. So, before we head out, we both drop the kids off at school.

It's finally light out when we drop them off again. I love Zoey's expression here. Funny and silly.



And then we head to Panera Bread. We go there a lot. Hi Ross!



When I got back home, I checked on our duck friends (definitely more on that later). Zoey built them a nest...


And a favorite appointment of mine! Love my chiropractor. And Yellow Springs is always fun.


I did a little blogging. This was my view on our lovely day... Doors open;)


One of the things I am loving about living in our apartment is walking to get the kids from school and then walking home. We couldn't do that from our house at all. It is just such a nice transition from school to home...



And, last week, it was 20 degrees when the kids went to school. Today...



I like the warmth, for sure. It was a drastic change though. Back to 40s on Friday! Ohio in the spring, I guess.
I dropped the kids off at their religion class, headed to Target for a quick errand, picked up Ross and headed to...



We normally go to Chick Fil A after the kids religion class, but today we got it to go because we had to get to Zoey's soccer game!



she played well, and had a good game, but her team lost.

Italian Ice after a hot soccer game... fun treat... Zoey matches the umbrellas! And we weren't alone. Soccer and softball players galore!!



Happy April!

Ross's Birthday!

Ross had a birthday in March (Dad, too!!) and Zoey made some confetti that we rigged up to fall on him as he came through the door! He opened and entered a little too fast! Our set up worked, sort of!



And Ross's birthday treat of choice? Bill's Donuts. A local yummery (yep, that is yummy bakery right there)

Happy Birthday Ross, we love you!



ENNNNJOYYYYYY!!!

Easter Eggs 2013

As I have been mildly alluding too... we have had some changes around here. Starting in November, Ross and I were working hard to get our house ready to sell... Long story, short, we got it all ready, put it up for sale, it sold really quickly, and we had to move out... Even if it was going to sell fast, we didn't think we would have to move so quickly, but that is how it worked out, so we had to rent an apartment for a couple of months. The kids spent Spring Break with the movers! and not feeling 100% so that was really stinky, but we got it all done and are temporarily settled? Usually you have the movers pack you up and boom! your done! So this is a little weird.

One thing we learned a lot while getting ready for our house to sell was about organizing and decluttering and just realizing what we had (in excess!). We are welcoming a downsizing challenge and empasizing a more mindful, simplifying set up for the future. We are so thankful for our lovely house and the fun times we had here.  It served a great purpose, and all the good things about it will be a sweet memory.  But, it is also a little big for us personally.  The space was nice during the winter, and if we had visitors (but nobody wants to come to Ohio after they visit once -oops did I say that out loud?, sorry Ohio)  So, with that in mind, we had enough furniture to keep for the apartment, that we were planning on selling or donating when we moved anyway. I love this quote and I think it works for our family,

Love grows best in little houses, with fewer wall to separate. Where you eat and sleep so close together, you can't help but communicate. And if we had more room between us, think of all we'd miss. Love grows best in houses just like this.

All that to say... Easter came upon us at the end of our mover's week, so we didn't do much. We had Easter Sunday planned with church and then lunch with friends.











Our friends have an egg breaking competition... See that egg with the silver halo stripe? Yeah, that was my big winner! WAHOO! Egg champ!


And then Ross and Max had a wrestling match...



real men wrestle on pink blankets...







And you will have to take it from me... Zoey and Max looked lovely in their Easter outfits. I was too sleepy to think to break out my camera the whole day. Max wore his tie the entire time which always makes me smile;) Wishing you a blessed Easter season. Alleluia!

Ross vs. SUB

Ross and his team at work, try to break things up a bit from time to time and come up with food challenges. They have done a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts, the hottest wings at Buffalo Wild Wings, TWO burritoes from Chipotle... you get the idea. Well, a local sub shop was having their annual contest, official rules and all, and they decided to join in. The shop's rules was to eat this 16 inch triple meat cheesesteak sub with everything on it in 16 minutes or less. If you do that, you get the sub for free and a T-shirt. BUT, they also have a leaderboard, and if you come in the top ten times for the store, you get to come back and compete in further competitions. I actually was their to witness this undertaking!


Here's the waiver they had to sign... no fear, apparently...


Here's the sub. The 16 minutes wasn't a huge challenge, as everyone made it in time. The bigger challenge was to make the top ten leaderboard. Most people just wanted a free sub. Ross set his sights a little higher.





(i had a 4 inch sub, if you are wondering. it was tasty)

the clock didn't start until they had it in their hands and took the first bite. The waitresses were so sweet. I am sure they didn't enjoy watching people do this all the time, but they gave tips of what others do (stand up, pour water on bread)


Ross just ate it...



They actually all stopped to comment about how tasty the sub was! funny...

Here's Dan, enjoying his sub.


Ross with the serious face, having doubts?


No way...


Almost done...


All clear!


and he had to stay there to be watched for five minutes after!
Victory t-shirt!



and he made it on the board! He actually got called back to compete for the store winner, but we had our movers at the time, so he couldn't go. And although the time of 5:03 is impressive... the winners in years past are in the 2-minute range... which borders on crazy and gross and all that considering the measures needed to get it down that fast...



i'm such a proud wifey...


Success! Two others were also successful, but I had to leave before they got a shirt.



here's a big recap...

A gift from Zoey

Zoey loves playing in the snow and she wanted to make that snow storm last as long as she could. After playing outside for hours, everyone else went inside, but she stayed out. She decided to build a present for Ross's birthday. She made me make sure he didn't look out and see what she was doing. She built him a cute snowball fort sculpture... her snow was limited and melting, but she is sweet and thoughtful in this way...

March Family Date Night

Our annual family date night came again where we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. The kids are usually really good with this family outing. They know we do it every year and that I really look forward to it, so for the most part, they are pleasant with each other and we enjoy our dinner. Picture taking still turns into a chore, however...





Ross must have made some comment here to make her mad...



But she's back to her normal self quickly...




this is our 14th year:)


Here is a funny series of pictures, trying to just get one good one...







Ross must have said to just smile, and Zoey's mad because that's what she was doing!!!





Almost there...


hooray...


And we ended by sharing dessert. I wanted to take a picture of it, but forgot and then... all gone!



until next year, cheers!