Memorial Day weekend

Yeah camping! Yeah beach! Yeah friends! Even the rain couldn't keep us from having a good time on our camping trip. While I am spending Monday night getting sand out of everything, the time we got to be outside was well worth it. I especially liked the surprise cake from Martha and champagne from Marissa! LOVE an early birthday celebration!

remodel happiness

Oh joy! We are 99.9% done with our kitchen remodel! It came out even better than I imagined. I am so in love with it! I hate to get it dirty by cooking (the irony!) so I just wipe the countertops over and over and hang out in it's gleaming beauty! I think the stove and hood is my favorite part but I am partial to the grey cabinets too! And the countertops! And the finished nook. Okay, really, I love it all! I wish I had tons more money to have these guys redo everything in the house!

progress report - kitchen remodel

Progress pictures of our kitchen remodel. The boys have made great progress since I snapped these. I spend ridiculous amounts of time wandering around the dusty workspace, thinking which dishes I will put in each cupboard. Bliss!

the return of the farmer's market

The boys and the biscuits,

We can never pass up on balloon art.
And our happy cupcake girl.

a few of their favorite things!

My cousin-in-law Sarah did the sweetest little interview with her two year-old, capturing all of her favorites of the moment. It inspired me to do the same with E and Em. Wouldn't it be fun to do this every year and see how their answers change?

What is your favorite food?

Em: spaghetti

Ev: spaghetti

What is your favorite color?

Em: red

Ev: light blue

What is your favorite day of the week?

Em: third (we couldn't help but giggle at this!)

Ev: Wednesday - we get library, computer lab, and music at school

What is your favorite toy?

Em: slide

Ev: Xbox 360 (not that he has one)

What is your favorite song?

Em: Signing Time
Ev: Brass Monkey by The Beastie Boys

What is your favorite movie?

Em: Tinkerbell

Ev: Home Alone

What is your favorite candy?

Em: Tootsie Roll

Ev: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

What is your favorite drink? (cringing at the answers)

Em: pop

Ev: Mt. Dew

What is your favorite game?

Em: Dora game (we're aren't sure what this is)

Ev: pretend Dragon fighting

What is your favorite book?

Em: doing signs (any sign language book)

Ev: Diary of a Wimpy Kid

What is your favorite thing to do?

Em: play outside

Ev: Make up video games

What makes you happy?

Em: ice cream

Ev: playing video games

What makes you happy that's not food? (follow up for Em)

Em: soap

What would you do to make the world a better place?

Em: be happy

Ev: Not litter

Where is your favorite place to drive in a car?

Em: shopping

Ev: Ground Control (video arcade

What do you like about your daddy?

Em: like his hair

Ev: he plays dragon games with me

What do you like about your mama?

Em: playing toys

Ev: she plays deserted island with me

What do you like best about Mara? (cruel world - I asked this before Mara passed away)

Em: says Meow Meow

Ev: she's soft and cuddly

What do you want to do when you grow up?

Em: play toys

Ev: work at a candy shop

em the mermaid

This jump video is dedicated to Nana and Jonesie. We wish you could see it in person!

mexico 2010

yeah for Mexico! We had a great getaway last week - days of reading, swimming, sleeping and sipping cocktails.
But most importantly, the debut of Tall House, Double Cup's new haircut! His first short cut in 15 plus years! It's having a new boyfriend! hee hee.

baseball season

Our lives have been given over to baseball for the spring. E is rocking the team - playing his heart out and making a couple of incredible plays! His pop fly catch on Saturday is going to be legend in our family.
Here are some shots.

read to the dogs

Read to the Dogs is such a fun program that I've known only as a librarian - but it was such a treat to see E take part in it as a reader! Read to the Dogs is a way to improve reading skills and make a new friend. The therapy dogs are from the Dove Lewis Animal Assistance program.
E read to Copper - a super sweet basset hound with his own trading card! E read to him for almost a half-hour. He chose books about dogs and other animals, thinking that "Copper would like that." E was really comfortable reading to Copper and said he really liked it. Can't wait to try it again. Video below:

kitchen remodel

It's begun. Here are a couple of shots before and one day into the project.

Check out my crew!

tulip farm

Martha and I struck a deal with the kids - if they frolicked in the tulips long enough for us to get some good pictures, they could hit up the trashy carnival ride fun. It worked! I couldn't help but think about all the the times we'd been there before so I added a few shots from 2005-2009 at the end of the post.

sweet friends at the tuplip field

easter love

We had a fun Easter. Ems was talking a mile a minute the entire day and E was happily alternating between his new army men and working on a video game he and his dad are inventing! I was knocked out with a chest cold so I only had to show up for the good parts, shuffling my way back to bed in between photo ops. Hope your day was full of bunny ears and chocolate too!