Dueck's Roost

And to finish off April, we have ...  Earth-Day excitement! Porter's promposal to this sweet girl!! Which involved singing to her (with his bro. and buddies) in front of about 75 surprised onlookers. Happy Birthday to G-ma Loo:-) And sunny family day at the park ... Looks like the man bun is still going strong!;)

I feel like I should re-name this post "the man bun b-day" ... that seems to be the dominant theme. Or maybe "crazy Hawaiian shirt b-day" ... or "weird paper swim trunks" b-day. Whatever we call it, w e were all pretty excited to celebrate James' big 16th birthday!!!  Mae seemed especially excited ... which makes me wonder if she was just looking forward to having another driver around for late-night Target runs;). We all had fun giving him prizes like wacky socks, throwing darts, sentimental gifts ..  And swim trunks that hadn't arrived on time for the big day:-). I'm telling you, her excitement is definitely suspicious ... but she really does love her big bro!! Happy Birthday James!!!

Watching the restaurant come together piece by piece was for sure the funnest part of this endeavor.  We loved stopping by regularly to make sure things were on track and see what had changed It's crazy how little things, like vinyl signage on the door, can be so exciting! Kevin teamed with our awesome builder Peter Jones (Pantheon Construction) to manage the project. He also worked hands-on a lot in the beginning with demolition. After that, he would still assist with little things here and there. I helped some with demo as well ... but mostly just admired;). Our amazing kiddos (and sometimes friends;) also did a lot of work!! They were great about jumping in and helping with demo, trucking things back and forth, helping with the heavy lifting (like with this beast of a trash receptacle). It was hard work, but I think they enjoyed it quite a bit as well ... talk about a family project! During this time we were also taking care of a t...

Family-room mini Easter egg hunt, baskets full (but not too full;) of candy, the traditional chocolate bunny, and Cadbury eggs for The Dad ... that some of the kids then try to steal. Must be Easter morning!! These two were definitely the first ones digging in. The olders are a lot more mellow these days when it comes to holiday mornings, but they're still great sports about it and try to make sure it's special for the youngers.  Even if they enjoy teasing each other, more than checking out the Easter baskets.  Mm hmm, there's those Cadbury Eggs. After an Easter worship service, focusing on the purpose and the true excitement of the day--our glorious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ--family bonding and tradition continues. What a perfect combination! Mae baked us a delicious "water color" cake https://preppykitchen.com/watercolor-cake/ And then we finished off with a "cousins" Easter egg hunt ... this time we got super...