The Rickard Family: Learning & Love & Laughter

Well, Friday we wrapped up our first day of school. We survived!! The week went pretty smoothly, except for Friday, which was a big surprise. I thought that since Matt was home it would be much easier. Well, it was....kind of. He mopped the floors for me and laid the little ones down for naps after lunch. Jacob just got so distracted, constantly wanting to know what Matt was doing. So we' ll have to work on that. Plus I don't think it helped that they knew they were going to Grandma & Poppo's (Matt's parents) for the weekend. They LOVE going there!! They were originally going to just stay Saturday night, but my wonderful mother-in-law said, "Why not bring them over Friday night instead?" We've learned to accept when those opportunities arise...with 4 kids we don't get too many offers to watch ALL kids ALL weekend. They even kept Cerianna (our niece), so all the grandkids got to play together all weekend...so nice! Here is a pic she sent of all of them having a picnic

So what did we do on our kid-free weekend? We ate dinner at Carraba's. Slightly pricey, but oh so delicious!! Our dinner was FREE b/c we had a few gift cards to cover it!!! Doesn't get much better than that! It was our first time there and we'll definitely visit again...need a gift idea for us?? LOL! Then we did a little bit if shopping and came home. In the morning we walked to the bake shop (we ran out of milk, so what else were we to do for breakfast? ;) ). Then we ran a few errands...the car battery died in the Walmart parking lot so we didn't get everything done, but thankfully got that taken care of and it didn't hinder the rest of our weekend plans. We went golfing in Clyde...I don't golf, but I love to ride along in the golf cart. We ate lunch on the golf course and that was fun. Maybe some day when I have nothing else to do I may try golfing, it seems relaxing...but I don't forsee that happening anytime in the near future. Although I did see a pair of sweet ladies golf shoes in the shop. After golfing, we went to some friends' house for a bonfire with a bunch of other couples. So many laughs were had that night...my face hurt from laughing so much! Laughter is definitely a good medicine! We had such a great time and blessed with such great friends.

Sunday was my mom's birthday so we went over there in the evening to celebrate with her. We visited and my brother in law made homemade ice cream. I made a delicious apple crisp to go with that. It was a fun time and here are some family pics.