Weekend pictures

This was play doh fun before Pa Pa came last week. Liam wanted a snake and then a tree, so of course we continued the theme and made an apple, too. "Hmm, could it be.... Satan?" Hehehehe!

One of Carrie's very elaborate block and domino castles. She wants you to know that the Care Bears in the back are guards. Not sure what the Prince from Snow White is doing there... must be his castle. She worked really hard on this while Liam was in the bathtub.

My camera lens must have a smudge on it, but otherwise an excellence shot of PaPa with the kiddos. This was after church yesterday.

Then Dada told me to get in there, too. =) Thanks for coming, PaPa. We got a lot of work done with plants and gardens, but not too much "fun" stuff because some little girl resident wasn't being a good listener last week. Plus, it poured on Thursday so we missed the Farmer's Market downtown. =/ Sorry PaPa. Maybe the next trip will be more full of fun outings! And thanks to Grandmama for lending him to us during their 37th wedding anniversary! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxooxoxoxoxoxo

Liam's 1st mini golf experience

We finally remembered that there's a mini golf course down the street from us (it's south of us and everything we ever do is north of us...) so we took the kids after break yesterday. They had a ball! It was pretty windy, but other than that it was perfect!

This boy is all business when it comes to ice cream. Definitely his father's son ;)

Nobody ever said doves were bright...

I realize this isn't the best shot as it was taken through the screen of the kitchen window, but check out the doves all along the new fence. Notice that there are NONE in the feeder, but they're all sitting there very patiently... for... something...

Funny business

Today on the way to preschool we had this conversation:

Mama: Lookie! That's a beer truck. It says Bud Light. See? Dada helps make the bottles for that beer.
Carrie: *excited* Yeah! Bud Light almost spells Buzz Lightyear!
Mama: *cracking up* You are right.

(really think MAS will appreciate that one)

Anyway, here's Liam as Snow White. Just because.

Here's an early morning block and domino tower with a goose on top. Also just because. And the builder, naturally.

Carrie being her cute self.

And Liam being his cute self. Uh dude, did you forget something? Like your pants?!

Father's Day fun

Carrie made Dada a fancy plate for Father's Day. She drew our family on it. He was so pleased!

Then we went to the beach after church. The kids love sand.

And Carrie, thanks to her swim lessons, wanted to go way out in the water. No fear! We were so excited for her =)

Liam with his octopus watering can. Dee looking for sand treasures.

I think this one looks like they're at the edge of the world. You can't tell from the angle, but there's a pretty wide swath of sandy beach before you hit Lake Erie. And the sky was so pretty!

Polishing off Father's Day...

What better way to end Father's Day than with ice cream and a nap? =D

(For those of you who aren't easily offended or grossed out: this was also Carrie's first time to pee in the woods. Haha! She decided after her ice cream cone that she absolutely needed to pee, looked around and saw no restrooms, and assessed the situation. "I can just pee in the woods!" We looked at each other, tried not to crack up, and went, "oh-kay!" And so she did. Please bear in mind that the "woods" consisted of a ring of trees and bushes that separated these picnic tables from the parking lot of the ice cream shop! Hilarious. This kid is so ready for camp.)

This wasn't Father's Day after all. Oopsie. And the reason she has ear muffs on is because I gave them to LIAM who was complaining the vacuum was too loud. She, of course, had to have them even though there is no more vacuuming going on.

Camp

I took Carrie up to camp with me for the work week. We were only there Thursday, but we got to see all of the Haytock clan, the Caves family, and Skink! We even got to meet the new CEO and the new maintenance man and his family. I hope it shapes up to be a great summer! We also hope to pop in again and see what chaos we can cause. Oops, that was out loud...

Carrie and I did a big trash bash. We hiked all over camp and picked up litter. She has sharp eyes and spotted lots of trash! When we got to the pond, I told her that I thought the water was high and how exciting that was. She promptly tried to stand in it. There's not much shore there, and of course the water went straight over the tops of and down into her boots. I hear, "ack! Help! There's water in my boots!" So she squished around for awhile until we got her dry socks and her clogs. Here she is, air drying her piggies. See boots and wet socks in the bottom of Pepe...

We helped Mr. Dawson scrape off paint. She worked and worked and worked! I never dreamed she'd stay on task so well. She did super!

Future maintenance girl, right there. ;)

Some of it you could just peel off. Doesn't it look like a Truffula tree from Dr. Seuss's The Lorax? She loved peeling off the paint. She'd work a tiny pocket open, wiggle her fingers in it until she could stick her little hand under it, and then it would pocket around her hand, so she called it a "hot air balloon" and kept asking Mr. Dawson and I to find more of them for her. =)

Playing at my parents'

Geoffrey, Liam, Tino and Carrie playing piano. Very impressive!

Carrie and Liam with towers. And just imagine the aftermath...

Lunch with Mar

We met up with Mar for lunch at Eat N Park, otherwise known to Carrie as "the store with the smiley face cookies", and Liam was a complete little stinkwad until his pancakes came. Here he is, hiding under Grandmama's sweater.

And of course Mar is a lot like Yvette, who was encouraging the making of faces at the table. Here's one of Carrie, mugging for the camera.

And this is Mar's reaction. I don't feel bad posting this because she also has a silly face one of ME! Thanks for meeting us for lunch, Mar. Can't wait to do it again. With Jim next time! Love you =)

In honor of Stick Tree, RIP

The tree trunk you see belongs to Stick Tree. He's been a fixture at my parents' house the entire time they've lived there. I'm not even sure how old he is, but he's seen better days. Occassionally he'll lose a limb here, a branch there. He's been looking rather decrepit for awhile, so my dad had a tree surgeon come in. The guy had a hard time even climbing him, but once he got up there, he said, "oh my. He's full of water. And ants." Now, we'd known Stick Tree was hollow for quite some time. But lately Dad has seen birds drinking out of the holes in him! Sadly, they made an appointment to cut Stick Tree down. His last day will be June 30th. =( So sad. Poor Stick Tree. This is Tino and Geoffrey, posing beside Stick Tree, who will be gone but not forgotten!

Tino and Geoffrey climbed up into the bush beside Stick Tree to show another vantage point.

I took this one while I was laying on the sidewalk. Carrie was laughing at me, climbing all over the front yard, hopping off the rock wall, "be careful, Mama! Don't get hurt!" I didn't dare tell her I'd been doing it since I was slightly older than her lest she get any more ideas! Anyway, that line along the bottom is the top of the rock wall. I had to use that to block the sun from the picture!

Farewell, old friend =( RIP Stick Tree ?-2008

PaPa's flowers

This is a "bumblethunderbeast" in my great-grandmother's rose bush. This plant is my very favorite at my parents' house. It takes over most of the garden on the side of the hill and has bazillions of roses. It also has bazillions of the huge, fuzzy bees, which are also my favorite kind! Ernie called them "bumblethunderbeasts" on one of our old Sesame Street records, and it stuck. I still call them that. If a bee is big enough that you hear him buzzing before you see him, then he counts as a bumblethunderbeast!

Look at it trying to take over the world, one sidewalk at a time! ;) I can't wait for our fence to be finished so I can transplant some of this bush to OUR house. I love it!

These are some pretty purple-blue flowers that my mom's best friend gave my parents. They're doing really well on a corner of the sidewalk under a mock orange bush... they're very cheerful!

Some pink roses from my great aunt's rose bush in the front of the house. I need some of these plants too... hmmm... they're not quite as hearty or as full as my great grandma Frances's bush, but they are growing a bit unruly and need thinned out some. That means I get them! Whoohoo! ;)