go ahead...make my day.

today i got to take trout and annslee for a walk.  and let me tell you...to try to take pictures while holding the leash with a 50+ pound dog on the other end...leaves something to be desired.

but.

i did get some good ones.  if i do say so myself.

but then again...when you are working with subjects such as this...

what does one expect?

this coat was mine, when i was a little girl.  and it may just be my most favorite thing to see her in right now.

today...

it was cold enough for her to wear.

she walked slightly behind me with her baby buckled safely in her stroller...as all good mothers do.

****

we took chad's dad and his wife to shops in the "old town" area of where we live that were quaint and unique...making you feel warmth as soon as you opened the antique door and stepped foot over the threshold of what used to be houses.  when i meander through the shops, i admire the hand stitched aprons and the smocked children's dresses and the smell of the specialty candles that burn at the entrance and marvel at the quality of someone's work.  while walking through the old shops...i can't help but wonder about the people who lived there once.  i just know they were happy.  i just know it.

there is a tea room that stands in the corner of the shops that used to be houses.  it was there that we ate lunch.  it was really too bad that aiden was in school...because this place is her favorite.  it was this place that she chose for me to take her to for her "start kindergarten" celebration.  there is a picture of us at this place that is framed in her room.

i'm convinced.

no one can be unhappy in a tea room.

****

later tonight...the girls donned their aprons and helped me make homemade salsa and guacamole to go with our taco dinner.  we thought that the iowa folk should have some traditional tex-mex..

sister can seriously crank out some salsa.

and here is proof of a successful hobby lobby mission:

i've instructed chad that when he makes his coffee in the morning...he can pour the creamer into that little jug there...by the sugar...where it will wait for me to get up.

and that's where it will make my day.