We snuck off! Kidless! Just the two of us!

I adorned my stoop with my new rug, shook out my checkered tablecloth for the picnic table, hung some lace and ribbons, and hubby and I officially took our Tabitha glamping at The Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington.

The Gorge hosts a spectacular concert and sunset too!

We had a wonderful time and can’t wait to take our Tabitha out with the whole family in a few weeks,

Piles of books. I have them all around. Some are mine, some are my hubby’s, some are for the girls, some I want to pass on to friends and family, and some I keep in my collection because I have plans to get to them soon. They give me a sense of anticipation, all those stories waiting to be told, all those new characters waiting to be met.

Almost every reader I know has at least one pile of books that stares at them, and it appears that these staring piles of books are a “thing” shared round the world. In fact, the Japanese have a word for it. Tsundoku is a noun that describes a pile of unread books, or refers to a person who buys books and doesn’t read them, and then lets them pile up on the floor and shelves. It is believed that the word entered the Japanese language in the late 1800s as a pun. The story goes that the original word, tsunde oku, meaning to let something pile up, got swapped out for tsunde doku, which literally means reading pile. The two words were eventually combined and shortened to make them easier to pronounce.

While my piles of books have all been boxed up while we get ready to move from one home to the next, I left out the reading pile … Just in case I have a moment with a cup of tea and a new book.

I love it when my girls spend time with the elderly nuns who live in a nearby convent. I’ve found myself loving the interaction and wished it happened more often.

sweet hands via PresentPerfectFilm.com

So when I learned of an assisted living facility in Seattle that also houses a preschool within its walls, I had no doubt that it was an excellent idea. The 400+ residents of Providence Mount St. Vincent assisted-living center interact on a daily basis with the children, age birth through 5, who attend The Intergenerational Learning Center. The broad purpose of the ILC is to help children learn about the elderly, specifically naturalizing the aging process, accepting people with disabilities, reducing their fear of older adults, and just relishing the plain old joy of receiving unconditional love and attention.

reading a book via PresentPerfectFilm.com

It’s a total win-win situation, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. Check out what filmmaker Evan Briggs has put together at PresentPerfectFilm.com. Briggs hopes that her beautiful film will spark more discussion about how to expand the model further. The film’s title, “Present Perfect,” refers to the fact that while these two groups of people have no future or past in common, their relationships emerge and exist entirely in the present and are absolutely beautiful.

doing a puzzle via PresentPerfectFilm.com

Maybe you didn’t expect to see this post include pics from our local pool and water park. The title of this post doesn’t really fit, does it?

Except Mia is certain that their swimsuits are not actually tankinis or bikinis because both of those terms sound weird to her. She is sure they are actually zucchinis! Either way, both girls are over the moon that they are officially tall enough for the big slides at our local watering hole this year. Our state-of-the-art Aquatics Center was made possible by a local man who left $7 million dollars in his will “to the youth of Moscow.”

The first time we met Jordan, she was a senior on the girls’ basketball team that my hubby, Lucas, was coaching (they won state that year). Then she nannied for us and traveled to Toronto, Chicago, and Honolulu with us. She also worked in our brick-and-mortar store during her years in college. But she’s officially all grown up now!

Jordan with three of her flower girls on the eve of her wedding day.

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We’re working on Mom’s new bread book. Can’t wait to share more details, but in the meantime, here’s a little behind the scenes …

A professional photo shoot at MaryJanesFarm. Haha! Karina was shooting the girls making biscuits and of course making a mess with the flour. We were shooting under one of our wall-tent canopies, and there was a small hole in the canvas that was making a large sun spot on the girls’ hands. So, using my professional skills, I grabbed a broom and used it to block the sun. And that’s how the pros do it.

We are lucky to have a good selection of little stores in our sweet small town. We also have an amazing, independently-owned building supply store. Moscow Building Supply has a great selection of home goods and plants, as well as hardware, and I’ve always thought that the best thing about MBS is their customer service. There’s always someone there to assist me with any questions I may have, and they’ve even been known to help me with a few brainstorming sessions on how to best tackle a project. That kind of service is one-of-a-kind!

Our small town also has an annual art walk, where the local businesses display local artists’ works and we close down Main Street to traffic and open it up to folks actively working on their art … spray painting, glass blowing, metal working, etc. This year, MBS had their own huge art booth. Their crew had cut about a billion pieces of wood and set up stations with instructors to help kids build and paint their own airplanes.

The kids loved it! There was a long line, with each kid patiently waiting to build their own plane. Did I mention, completely free of charge?!? This kind of service is so far above and beyond, and I can’t express how cool it was that they had put it together for our kids.

The kids worked on their hammering, sanding, screwing, and painting skills. We were probably there for over an hour, with the MBS crew guiding my kids through each step.

So, here’s my huge shout-out to MBS and my own gentle reminder to support my local businesses because they support me. Both girls have their airplanes proudly displayed at our house, and I see them being a permanent part of our décor for years to come. Thanks, MBS!

A busy day at the farm leaves dirt under our nails and unmentionables in the treads of our boots, but also leaves us with content, smiling faces as we crawl into bed after our fun-filled days. We spent the day checking on our gardens we planted.

Our beans are getting bigger.

And the cherries are getting ripe.

Ester Lily is growing fast, too, just like us!