Always re-arranging and looking for ways to fit a craft space into our teensy house, I hit Ikea with mommy furor last week.
I took all three kids. Dropped oldest two at Smaland. Dragged CC through the 2nd floor to determine my exact worktop needs. Jetted downstairs armed with aisle and bin numbers. First stop, home organization. Second stop, self-serve section to obtain 78" tabletop and legs. At this point, an Ikea employee suggested that I get a hand truck. He navigated the hand truck to the checkouts while I pushed the cart (and CC). Upon completion of payment, I remembered the stools (that I had forgotten). whoops. The Ikea checkout lady watched CC while I scrambled to get 3 stools. Separate purchase of stools, CC never even cried while I was gone. At this point, I had to consolidate all of my purchases onto the hand truck. This is the glory moment. I pulled the hand truck behind me all the way to the van while balancing CC on my hip. I put her in her carseat while loading the van. Remember the 78" table top? It fit! Ha! Once everything was packed in tight I got in the van and drove away. Just kidding, my beeper from Smaland went off signaling that Robert and Esther's time there was up. I picked them up, took everybody upstairs and had lunch- kids ate free that day.
Once they were full, I brought everybody home and got them into "room time." While they were in their rooms, I assembled all of the furniture I had just bought and re-arranged the playroom to accomodate it. And now, ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the craft space:
What the playroom looks like now:
Later that day, an Ikea employee called from Sweden asking if I would like to compete in the 30-40 year female events in the upcoming Ikea Olympics. I am still considering. . .
Esther drew aliens that had swirls for heads kinda like this symbol: @.
Day one of first grade at Hirsch Academy.
What a handsome kid! Could his backpack be any bigger?
This year Rob and I have decided to keep Esther home with me and CC. It simplifies the school commute and is much easier on the wallet. Look for plenty of "mommy school" adventures to come.
Pierre and the ladies.
Luc played early on Sunday morning and won. We left church early to catch the final match at 11:45.
Cool action shot.
Rob, Robert and Pierre.
More action.
Esther and Robert take it all in. Did you know that you must always were pearls to watch tennis?
Luc won his final match and took home a huge 1st place trophy. Way to go Luc!
Luc and his proud godfather.
This is a shot of the cupola on top of the barn.
I really like these detailed shots taken in Dan's workshop.
The tractor, with improvised shade, the farmhouse is directly behind the tractor.
The barn and a beautiful cloud.
Henry the cow.
I am not crazy about this photo, but it shows the ancient ladders housed one level ABOVE the hayloft in the barn. I climbed two old rickety ladders to find. . . more old ladders.
Anna models our ingenius and successful schedule. She penned it by hand after she, Stephie and I came up with the plan. Really, the schedule made this vacation much easier. More about that and CAMP MAINE later.
Rob, Stephie and Jen at dinner.
Anna, JP, and Dan.
I don't know how Esther got wet.
Dan and Robert on the ATV.
Megan (girlfriend of JP and friend of mine) and JP lounge with Jeter (black dog on Megan's shoulder) and Dickens (other dog).
We stayed with JP at Westover school in Middlebury, Connecticut on the way to Maine and on the way back to Georgia. Westover is idyllic. See below.
Esther runs on said lawn. Rob took these photos of the kids. nice, honey!
Yes, it really is that beautiful there.
Rob and Esther in deep left background, Robert and ball in deep right background.
Girls on lawn. Sigh.
3 1/2 hours after leaving CT, we ended our journey to Maine at the Remick farm. They invited us for dinner and we happily stayed. In fact, we ate dinner every night with the Remick family for about 2 weeks straight (minus 1 or 2 nights). Thank you for spending so much time with us on our vacation. Now, will you move to Georgia? Really, what kind of crazy people live in Maine in the wintertime? :)
Rob and CC under another tree.
After a while, Jen Remick broke out the sidewalk paint.
It all started innocently enough. . . 
Then it became body paint.
The rest is history.
Robert stayed busy shooting hoops. No mess.
Later, I visited the pigs.
Yep, it's a farm.
