Permitted...

We officially have a new driver in the family....

Quinn and I headed to the DMV yesterday to get her driver's permit.  She had to take a road sign test, and eye test, and a written exam. She was extremely nervous to take her written test, which in turn made me super nervous for her.  But in true Quinn fashion, she had no problem at all.  She did amazing!

In this great state, you have to make an appointment nearly two months in advance.  That said, I was expecting a mad house at the DMV and a very long wait.  Here is my view of the waiting room as Quinn took her test.

Me. Myself. And I.   That is in no way a complaint.   In fact, it was amazing.  We were in and out of there in a jiffy!  Who can usually say that about the DMV?! Now we begin the practice driving. 60 hours and then she can move to the next level of permit.  Let the good times roll!

Fun with Friends...

We were so excited to have the Boyles come to NC to visit us this weekend.  Great friends are most definitely food for the soul, and this visit with them was no exception.  

We spent lots of time hanging out - talking, reminiscing, playing games.  Some games even got so heated that by the end, all the players were standing and hovering about.

Scott came out victorious during this contentious game of Monopoly.  

We also traveled up to Chapel Hill....

Nate has added UNC Chapel Hill's campus to his potential college bucket list.  So when you are only 40 minutes from the campus, it is worth a looksy.  We wouldn't be sad if, in the future, there was a Boyle here in the Carolinas!

We had a great time milling about, checking out the campus, having some lunch and enjoying the cute town of Chapel Hill.  It was a gorgeous campus and definitely was worth the drive.  

We also went to Drive Shack - which is similar in nature to Top Golf.  

None of the kids had golfed before, so there was definitely a learning curve at first.  By the end though, the kids had a blast and were asking to add more time to our adventure.

We also ventured downtown Raleigh and showed the Boyles the Morgan Street Food Hall.  

It is a great place with all sorts of food vendors with a good atmosphere.  The kids filled up on food (and perhaps a few sweets too)!  

The weekend flew by and time passed too quickly.  We were so thrilled though to spend a few days with our dearest of friends!  Already looking forward to their next visit here!

Can You Feel the Love Tonight?

 Valentine's Day proved to be a good day for the Pooleys.  We were all showered with love.  

I got a couple of my favorite things...tulips and Crumbl cookies!

You can see I sampled a little before I could even get a picture! Yum!

Sullivan was showered with a litany of goodies from her friends at school and some clothes from us...

Sam sent Quinn some Dunkin' Donuts and she got books from us...

And Ryan got chocolates and a new Logo set that he had been eyeing for awhile...

His reaction and surprise was priceless...

Since Valentine's Day, I have walked by Ryan's office on a few different occasions and caught him busy at work.  Not work work.  Lego work. Ha ha!

I would say that we were all spoiled beyond belief.  One more Valentine's Day for the books.

A 'Super' Weekend....

This weekend was super.  We settled in for some family time by watching a favorite TV show together.  Q is a little hard to see in the background, but I promise you she is there...

We did a little shopping for our youngest child who has the clothing/shopping bug.  I also had a little help from that same child in preparing the Super Bowl food...

We had a quiet Super Bowl, but skipped supper in lieu of all the yummy appetizers that you'd have for the Super Bowl.

As soon as the food was devoured, the girls scrammed and didn't even stay for the kick off of the Super Bowl.  This was my Super Bowl friend....

Sullivan also spent the evening getting Valentines together for all her friend.  She might have the biggest heart...

As you can see, the weekend was low key.  That didn't make it anything less than "super!'

A Great Accomplishment...

You are looking at the new co-editor of the HSHS Golden Hawks Yearbook for the 2022-2023 school year.

Quinn's yearbook teacher asked her today if she would be willing to take on this new role next year.  She has been impressed with Quinn's strong work ethic and dedication this year and thinks Quinn would make an excellent co-editor.  I'd have to agree with her teacher.  Way to go, Q!  We are so proud of you.

Another Fun Project...

Since we moved into the house, Quinn has been determined to rid her bedroom of all "unnecessary" furniture. By that, she means her dresser and her bookshelf.  We found an alternative to a dresser that she has in her closest, but we need to tackle the bookshelf situation. 

Quinn has wanted a set of floating shelves in her room, similar to the ones that we had in the basement in IN.  I got to work on making them, and Ryan had the pleasure of installing them this weekend. 

We added a chair to the corner of her room and once they were installed, Quinn got to work on making it look great.  

The final result... she did an incredible job making her room look homey and a reflection of her!

One more project done.  Check, check.