It has been a great day spent at home. I began the day by getting up around eight. I checked with the girls to see if they’d like doughnuts for breakfast. “Certainly,” they said. So I drove over to our new Richy Kreme over in Rocky Hill. The drive was so nice. I took Westland all the way over. The parking lot was packed out. I parked in the lot next door. Inside I got in line. For our dozen, I got six classic glazed, two caramel iced, two pumpkin, and two sugar and cinnamon.
Back home I had a classic glazed while I was brewing a cup of coffee. Then I enjoyed a caramel iced one while I sipped. The girls came in as I was finishing mine. Ella and Paige had the pumpkin ones to much applause. Lydia had a classic glazed. Then they got a half doughnut for seconds.
Today was our day to get things done in the house. This Wednesday night will be our first time hosting Ella’s small group. So at the top of our list was cleaning up the bonus room. In addition, we all had various tasks we each needed to complete.
While Beth was enjoying her doughnut, I went up and made sure the girls were getting started with their chores. Lydia’s main task was to clean her room. When I reminded her of this, she scrunched up her face and almost teared up. I said I’d be happy to help, and she was quick to take me up on my offer.
We started attacking the piles of doll clothes and toys strewn across her floor. After a couple minutes of cleaning, Lydia said, “Daddy, I think I can take it from here.” I took her at her word, and the next time I checked later in the morning, she had finished her cleaning.
Meanwhile, my job was to get to some “Daddy tasks” that had been long neglected. To start, Paige had received for Christmas a wall hammock for holding her stuffed animals. I moved her bed, and got to work measuring and drilling into the wall. We got the hooks screwed in, and then I hung up the net. Next Paige commenced to adding stuffed animals to it. Then I pushed her bed back in the corner. I also hung her peg board that used to hang on the wall in the room she shared with Ella back on Branch Hill Lane. Finally I also hung up her painting of the solar system that she also received back at Christmas. Over in Lydia’s room I hung up her peg board too.
By the time I was finished with my tasks, it was almost two, and only Paige had eaten lunch. I warmed up last night’s Donato’s pizza for Beth, Ella, Lydia, and me.
Another fun item from today: I installed an app called DiffusionBee on my Mac. It’s an implementation of Stable Diffusion. You give it words, and it creates pictures for you. Here’s one Ella made with this prompt, “dark forest, foreboding, young redhaired girl sneaking”:
Tonight we went over to the Berry’s for dinner. It was just our family and theirs for most of the evening, and it was a fun and special time with our dear friends. I was able to get the game on my phone, and then Bryan and I got it to play on their TV on the deck.
We roasted hot dogs over a fire in their backyard. After dinner the kids played while Beth and Becky chatted, and Bryan and I chatted while watching the game. A bit later, the Greer family came over. We’ve know them for years at church, and just recently they’ve moved down the street from the Berrys.
