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Stay-cation: Rayna’s Day!

Matthew was pretty excited when he drew Rayna’s name from our Stay-cation-name-cup.  Being that he’s super thoughtful towards all of us, he thought-out and secretly planned ALL of Rayna’s favorite things!

  • The morning started with Matthew’s pancakes!  (Matthew doesn’t mess-around when it comes to pancakes!  Forget the thick, healthy, fluffy ones.  He makes them thin… buttery and crispy-on-the-edges!  Delicious!)
  • A trip to the new Whole Foods in Fayetteville!
  • Discovery time at Terra Studios (A FREE “Art Park” with an amazing gift shop!)
  • And PIZZA for lunch!
  • raybforestI think Ruthie loved it too… loveUntitled-1

    Whole Foods & Rayna watching the glass smith working… Untitled-1j

    What’s a day for Rayna without climbing her favorite tree?!?!?CMP_1349nCMP_1357n

    Sweet Ruthie tried and tried and tried to JUMP high enough to grab the tree.  (Unfortunately, she never made it.) jumpCMP_1356ntteree

    It’s made me SOOOO happy to hear others say they wanted to use this idea for their own family too!

    Remember, it’s NOT about how much money you spend.  Actually, like I wrote about on the first day, it’s actually FUN to have a BUDGET.  It fuels creativity and teaches the kids about a budget.

    Thanks for dropping by!  I’d love to hear if YOU decided to do this too!

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Stay-cation: MY Day!

I was just about to dump Rayna’s small trash container when something told me to open-up the crumbled-up piece of paper at the bottom.  I took out the piece of paper and saw the list she’d been working on since she drew MY name for our Stay-cation week at home (during the kid’s Spring Break).  It was so sweet to see how much love and thought she had put into making MY day so special…
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And, yes… She CERTAINLY included ALL of my FAVORITE spots!

After a DELICIOUS breakfast at Rick’s Bakery and a WONDERFULLY-greasy lunch at Station Cafe in downtown Bentonville, Rayna had Matthew drop the two of us off at Crystal Bridges Art Museum– on of our FAVORITE places to hang-out together!

Although it NEVER feels like enough time there, we had over 3 hours to ourselves and were able to:
* make crafts!
* walk through the art museum (for the 428 time in 2 years)!
* hang out in the ‘secret’ library!
* visit their GREAT gift shop!
* take pictures!
* and, this was Rayna’s BIG surprise to me, tour the new, “Open Road,” photography exhibit!  Admission to Crystal Bridges is sponsored by Wal-Mart and is NO cost.  However, certain exhibits do require a fee.  So, Rayna budgeted her money well (aka: skipped taking me to ONYX Coffee Lab) in order to buy tickets for the photography event I’d been really wanting to see!
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As Rayna and I sat in the quiet, beautiful, tucked-away library at Crystal Bridges, I snapped a picture of her because I knew THIS was a moment that I NEVER, EVER wanted to forget.  After recently listening to Dr. James Dobson’s letter to his wife (he begins the beautifully written letter around 8:40 minutes into the recording if you’d like to skip to it), I did exactly what he modeled many times in his life when he felt over-whelmed with love and gratitude for the blessings and gifts God gives- I prayed and thanked God for this moment AND for Rayna

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Rick’s Bakery and Station Cafe… If you haven’t been, add BOTH to your list of things to do in NW Arkansas!  ray

Thank you for stopping by!  We have 1 day left… Matthew‘s day for RAYNA!

If you missed it, Matthew’s day is HERE
Ross’ day is HERE
And, Ruthie’s day is HERE!

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Stay-cation: Ruthie’s Day!


 

“Ruthie…  After YOUR day, you’re gonna’ need surgery to get the smile off your face!”
-Ross


 

 

It was true.
Ruthie DID have an INCREDIBLE Stay-cation day planned by Ross.

He thought of EVERYTHING she LOVED
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He started the morning off RIGHT with a dozen {HOT & FRESH} Krispy Kreme donuts!

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Matthew does not love our game; but, the kids and I do a LOT of taste-testing and food-swappin’ between each other… donut

Judging by her smile… Do you think Ruthie approved of our 1st stop?!?!CMP_0972n

 

GOTTA climb our favorite tree…

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She use to call him “Rah-Rah.”  Now, it’s just “Buddy-Boy”!ross

Soooo…. HERE is the problem with photographers…
We post lots of pictures that appear ‘perfect‘.  (Agree?)
It’s SUPER irritating.  (Agree?)

Like THIS one I took with my automatic timer…

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The problem is, to get ONE decent image, there’s probably a TON of pictures that are so BAD we would NEVER share!

So, here’s what it REALLY  looks like when I *attempt* to get a photo with the kids using my automatic timer! 
(Ruthie RUNS away as fast as she can- trying to be hilarious.  But, she’s smart enough to know to run BACK before the last picture takes!)
run

And, in case you haven’t already figured out how much my crew enjoys food, here’s what Ross planned for HIMSELF ‘Ruthie’s special day’ next… CMP_1080nCMP_1085n

For good measure, Ross borrowed on of Ruthie’s furry buddies AND Ruthie got to make a cake with my friend before bed!   details

I was SOOOOOO proud of “Buddy-Boy” for trying SO hard to make Ruthie’s day SUPER-DUPER SPECIAL!  I think he did an AWESOME job!

Thanks for reading about our week(Rayna planned the next day for ME!  I can’t WAIT to share!) 

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Stay-cation: Ross’ Day!

I was excited that I drew Ross‘ name for our family’s Stay-cation!

  • Chocolate chip muffins for breakfast…
  • Barbecue for lunch…
  • Totally surprised Ross by pulling into his buddy’s driveway and telling him he was spending the night with us…
    (Then, they caught a bat.  Don’t ask.)
  • AN ATTEMPT AT HOMEMADE Fried-rice and frozen egg rolls…
    (Don’t ask.)
    ross
    CMP_0954nAnd a trip to see “Zootopia” movie…CMP_0942nHe said he loved his day.  So, I was happy!

    (Tomorrow is RUTHIE… planned by Ross!)

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Stay-cation: Matthew’s Day!

Although we always love the time we spend with our extended family, after three back-to-back trips (MississippiColorado… then, Georgia), we knew we needed to stay home for Spring Break.  As I tried coming up with ideas that all of us would enjoy, it crossed my mind that there were FIVE of us- the SAME number of empty DAYS to fill!

For a moment, I thought I could simply plan an entire day’s events around ONE person.
But then, God planted a little seed in my mind…

Since we’re trying to teach service and love in our home, why not give each person the OPPORTUNITY to creatively and intentionally (and, best yet, secretly!) plan an entire day of SUPER SPECIAL activities JUST for the person they drew!?!?!   So, that’s exactly what we did!


 

Day #1… Matthew!

Ruthie planned lunch at Chick-fil-A…

CMP_0838b hug CMP_0841b

And although Ruthie had planned on taking Matthew to the jumpy-trampoline place, when Matthew found out it was dollar-skate night, he traded out ‘his time’ for something special he wanted to do for Rayna later in the week.  Ruthie didn’t seem to mind the change… skate
Rayna was taking pictures of me and Matthew when Ruthie decided to jump in front of the camera.  (Rayna’s photos are ALWAYS my favorites!) CMP_0919n
Thank you for checking out our family’s Stay-cation!

On a side-note, several people inquired about “the budget” I mentioned on Facebook.  Although I could have let the kid’s imagination’s and planning run wild, I knew that could potentially make for a VERY expensive week.  So, I remembered a stack of money our family had been collecting from all of our recent Craig’s List sales.  I gave the envelope to Ross and let him add all the money up and divide it among the five of us.  The math was done!  We each received $48 a day!  Although I didn’t plan this at the time, it was really great for all of us to plan in advance how much money we were going to spend on everyone’s breakfast, lunch, dinner and any special activities.

Check back tomorrow for ROSS’ special day- planned by ME!

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