Our Layed-Back Day....

Normally, on most Wednesday mornings, Ollie and Lily are here. However, this morning, poor Ollie was sick. So, Luke and I ended up at home alone this morning.

I decided to spend some time catching up on a few very minor projects -- you know, the ones that just sit and sit until you just do it....

Less than a week before Christmas, our Community Life Group had a party (I made a post on this if you look back a bit). At that party, we had a White Elephant Gift Exchange. I received a frame -- for a collage of photos. I wouldn't at all call it a White Elephant Gift, but my friend Sarah said it was something she had in her house that she'd never used.

I decided I was going to create a collage of Marc and Luke photos...That's one thing I completed this morning.



Thanks Sarah for this gift!

We have two fireplaces in our house -- one in the kitchen and one in the family room. I normally keep framed photos on each mantle. However, for Christmas, I have a Santa display (that I forgot to photograph this year). Anyways, we took all of our Christmas stuff down New Year's weekend. Sadly, I hadn't yet gotten the photos back up.

I did today, however. But first, I updated a few photos -- which required a trip to Walgreen's for Luke and me. So, here are the current mantle displays in our home -- as of this morning.

The kitchen....



And, in the family room....



And, if you're into decorating, I know you could find some cool things to do with our home. However, decorating is not my gift, and we're very content with what we have at this point in time....Just had to throw that in there in case your mind is just churning with ideas.

While I was doing all of this, Luke entertained himself fairly well -- a few times, however, he came to me for some "Mommy Attention Time" -- which I DO NOT mind at all :) But, here's a photo of him playing with a Christmas present from his Aunt Amber and Uncle Joel.



During Luke's nap, I managed to clean a bathroom (I'll tackle the other two tomorrow), mop the kitchen floor, and do a little vacuuming. I also managed to get a couple of loads of laundry done.

There's my productivity for the day....

Then, after Luke's nap, the ultimate happened....



Yes, it warmed up to the low 50s today, and so, Luke and I took a MUCH-NEEDED walk -- for me to exercise and for Luke to get some fresh air as well as look at cars, trains, and people.

We ended up walking a nice fast four miles. It was absolutely wonderful to be outside with that stroller again. Luke was SOOOOOO very good. I think he too just really enjoyed the outdoors. It's been so long.

Yes, we did find a couple of icy patches in the shaded areas.



Yes, I was careful to not fall while pushing the stroller. Our stroller has this (look on the left side of the photo)....



It's a strap to attach to your wrist. That way, if the stroller gets away from you while running, you're still attached to it. Marc generally uses the strap when he runs with it.

Well, since I don't run with this stroller, I generally don't use the strap. Today, however, I did. I had this bad vision of me slipping on some ice and losing control of the stroller and it flying into the street....Bad thought, I know :(

So today, I used the strap.

One thing that is so true in this world is that after snow starts to melt and the temperature warms up, the carwashes get busy.

Today was no exception. I did manage to capture this photo of one line here in town.



And, the best part about walking across this town we live in is all of the people we see when we're walking...I LOVE the waves.

So, thank you Jennalee and Lindsay for waving at me.

And Jess -- was that you who was waving at me at your husband's favorite restaurant? The sun was in my eyes. I couldn't tell. If it was you, I wasn't trying to be rude. If it wasn't you, please disregard this paragraph.

After walking, I fixed dinner. Then, Marc came home at his regular time -- he's been working A LOT of late nights over the last couple of weeks. So, it was nice to have him home to eat dinner with us.

Luke played nicely with us in the family room this evening. He's now in bed. I'm blogging. Marc's reading.

What an end to a nice day!

But Ollie, we do hope you get well soon!