Merry Christmas!

November Pics

Painting!

Making pie crust!

Skating for the first time!

October Pics

September pics

J went to Canada for his favorite trip of the year.

Buddy picked out his pumpkins (very stylishly I might add).

We played lots on his swing set.

Waiting for me to come running along at my race.

Seeing me and meeting up at mile 8. Gotta hold up the pants! Very happy to say that I survived my first half marathon and might do it again next year...that's not a promise I am making though!

August Pics

Here is August at a glance.... B learned all about blokus, and sorta understood what was going on. He likes to place with the pieces for sure!Don't worry it's not peanut butter. It's sunbutter and B will eat it at least once a day if left to his own devices!Riding on the train at the zoo all by himself, what a big boy! Speaking of big boy things. He officially started wearing big boy underwear in the beginning of August! Fun times!

The carousel at the zoo!!

Baking...our new favorite hobby we do together.

House Projects

In honor of accountability and this post (that I am delivering on as we speak), I thought that I would list some home projects that might be happening. Maybe they will get done??We have been thinking about changing our roof line in the back to cut out that little dip in the center. It would allow us to turn our attic space into living space (it's above the room on the left) and there are some roof leaking concerns that haven't happened yet. Also, B's room (the one with the air conditioner) is right next to the attic and is the hottest room in the summer and coldest in the winter. We need to get quotes and really weigh this. It could turn into a master suite, studio, walk-in closet space.

We need to do something with both of our fireplaces. The one above isn't really useable because the chimney is sorta sketchy.

We did put the insert into this one so we would want to keep it and do something with the surround.
Still have to do the steps and railing in the back. I would like it to match the front porches which will also need to be redone. All the doors need screen doors and the front doors also need to be painted. I'm thinking black, but is that too conservative for me.

The entrance we use the most but considered the side door.

Front door blah. We need some general curb appeal updates. Any suggestions would be helpful on any of these ideas. I know that things need to change. I just haven't been struck with anything brilliant yet...

The Rest of July

A pretty visitor, named Auntie, who was so exciting to B that refused to nap. On her last day here he couldn't take it and fell asleep at lunch.

Another pretty visitor

Eating s'mores for the first time

Happy Birthday Sis!

Today was the day we celebrated Ginger's birthday. We brought her home on July 5, 2005 from a local shelter in Utah. These pics are some of the first ones we took of her.

Missing her...

Happy 4th of July!

These were the fireworks last night. B is on the right and a little friend he made is on the left. We had to move our blanket because he wanted to sit with the little friend's family. He snuggled right up to the mom and told her about everything he saw that evening. "I saw the moon, and a plane, and a firetruck, and an excavator, and fireworks." We were all cracking up.

Playing and

waiting for the fireworks!

During the day we went to Hidden Valley Animal Adventures. We always enjoy ourselves when we go there. Who doesn't love to feed massive animals that can poke your eye out with their antlers?

J and B attempted to camp in the backyard friday night. The kid had to be bribed to take a 2 second picture (jelly beans in his lap). I gave them a half hour at best. They lasted an hour in the tent and came in at 11pm. I was very surprised. J said he was all over the place and wouldn't lay down. I am getting the feeling that this is all payback for J...

Dig In

This is dated 4/3, and must have been started a little sooner than that. Jeffrey and Benji have been digging hard. J through sun, rain, and a pretty bad cold. Benji said to me one day, "Daddy works harder than a dumptruck in the dirt and the rocks." Couldn't have said it better myself!
He also tells his that the "patio looks great, and it looks awesome."

On the rainy days the supervisor had to relocate to inside.

Here is the final product without the furniture that J is staining and sealing.

This picture does not do justice to the gardens. I went away to work for the weekend and J and his mom had it all put in. It looks amazing! Those chairs are B sized and he picked out bright red spray paint for them.

So the stairs will be refaced and the wrought iron and door will be replaced. J has been given free reign to do what he pleases. We'll see how this story ends up.

Here is a garden that myself and a neighbor put in last night (into the dark of 9:30). Its along our driveway. I'm just trying to tame and clean up some of the wild that I have to look at everyday! Maybe I'll post a patio picture of us sipping something soon...

On Our Mind In May

Underwear
www.circleandsprout.com

Rocks

Flash dance

B's Day Out With Thomas

Sorry, I got the order all wrong. This is the ride home from B's day out to see Thomas. He ended up being really sick and had to go to urgent care later that day. Sorry to all the children that got infected...

I can just hear it now, do do do do do do doooo (Thomas theme song). J said he was pretty excited even though he wasn't his peppy self.