A crisp Saturday morning

Well I have just come in from my front porch to sit down at my computer for a few minutes. We got up pretty early this morning, don't you know the girls always want to sleep in during the week but on the weekend they get up at the crack of dawn!

I made French Toast with cinnamon and after breakfast Katy and Mackenzie wanted to play in the front yard with Ava and Angie so they got them dressed and took them out there. I decided to go sit on the front porch to keep an eye on them. I brought out a cup of coffee and some hand sewing I am doing (something that I will be using for decorating the little girls bedroom, I'll show you more about that on a later post.) It is just a little crisp this morning. I was not wearing a jacket, but I sat in the sun and that kept me pretty warm. The girls all had jackets on. Katy handed everyone an umbrella and they proceeded to walk around the cul-de-sac singing songs from their new show "Oliver". It is cute, I just hope the neighbors enjoy it as much as I do.

I love our front porch, I always wanted one so I could sit out there and drink a cup of coffee or read a book. It stretches across the front of the house and is about six feet deep. It is held up by four stacked stone pillars that are detailed in Craftsmen style like our home. (It might also be referred to as Mission or Prairie Style.) I did not build this home like I did my other one, this one was a spec home, meaning the builder had built it with a lot of extras hoping to make a lot of money on it. It sat empty for a year and then I bought it, so I am the first owner. It has a lot of wood flooring, and the fireplace and surrounding shelving are all carved wood with leaves and other intricate designs. There is only 1 other house in my subdivision that looks like mine, but it is on another street and the porch is smaller. I am really lucky to have it the way it is. I just wish it extended to the side of the house, I think that would really be sweet. I have 2 chairs on one corner that rock and one long bench on the other side of the door in front of the dining room window. I need to make cushions for the bench, but I think I will wait until next spring.

I just dashed upstairs to put in another load of laundry. The girls are straightening their rooms and then I am going to help them take out the rest of their summer clothes. It is time to get rid of the shorts and no-sleeve shirts and make room for more pants and long sleeve shirts. This means a lot of sorting and making sure that things are clean before I store them away. Nothing worse than pulling something out in the Spring and finding it had food or dirt on it and now it is moldy or we have to throw it out! I learned that the hard way!

I also want to clean out my van. It is really filthy! Yuk! Mostly it has a lot of crushed cereal on the floor and in the seats because I give all of the girls their snacks in the car on the way to dance and theater and whatever else we have going on. I like to put a little cheerios, cheezits, mini marshmallows, pretzels and M&M's, etc. in a little snack baggie and hand them out. I hate to buy pre-packaged stuff like chips. In fact I also make cookies and brownies and fill snack baggies with them and put them in the freezer so we have all of our snacks ready for the week.

Well I'd better go check on the girls and see if they've made any progress. I can hear them arguing about who is doing more and complaining that Madyson is not helping...so what else is new. Wait til I go up there and remind them that they need to clean the bathrooms also! Oh they'll be so pleased!