July 29, 2014

I found this gem of a post in my drafts- just warm sunny pictures of family at our neighborhood beach.  It was a great summer for the beach, even though we weren't living in the neighborhood- we spent the summer at my parents' while our house was remodeled.  It was supposed to just be a kitchen remodel, but then the basement flooded.  We ended up touching every room in the house except the three upstairs bedrooms, and even those our GC went in and wired smoke alarms for us.

Mimi also lost her first tooth.  She really thought the tooth fairy was going to bring her a toy, and she moved the tooth after I shut off the lights.  I don't think the tooth fairy found the tooth until breakfast time, when Mimi was chattering about how the fairy never came even though she moved the tooth so it would be easier to find!

July 23, 2014

J decided that yesterday was "Spoil Myrnie Day."

He made an amazing meal for us all- extra bonus points for the plating effort!

He sent me out on a walk after the kids went to bed- thunder woke Cocoa and I up at 6:00, and it rained steadily all day long.  There was a brief lull in the evening long enough for me to get a mile in.

We had a slow day here.  Cocoa and I watched Totoro before everyone else got up.  I supervised the morning cereal, packed lunches, and cleaned the kitchen.  We dropped the girls off at drama camp and went back to our house to pick up some carpet samples my aunt left for me.  Cocoa and I watched a bit of "The Music Man" and I fixed us lunch before taking him up for camp.  I went back to the house, at request of my aunt, to check and make sure the colors all made it into the correct walls.  Boy.  Being inside all those blue walls is like being in a aquarium!  It will be totally fine once art, curtains, furniture, etc. goes in but it feels pretty humorous right now.

I spent my alone time (90 minutes) tweaking piano studio policies, practicing piano, ordering the light fixture for our dining room, and stress eating while looking up pictures of blue rooms to find out if it's possible to make it look not like a crazy lady picked the colors.  It is.

I got the kids from camp, put Cocoa down for his nap, let the girls play screen time, and I looked at possible schedules for us next year as well as a few art classes in the area.  Nothing is fitting perfectly- one is part of a co-op that I haven't decided we want to jump into again, one is at the wrong time, and one is close and a great price but may really mess up nap time.

We finished watching Music Man and J got home shortly after that.

Slow day!

July 22, 2014

Two little spotted deer, trotting after Mama.

BLUE.  So blue.  I love it!  Painters arrived at the house Monday, and will keep working until everything is done.  Basically the entire house is being painted, except three bedrooms and a hallway bathroom.  The only walls they are painting that didn't get drywall work done  are the hallway walls upstairs.  There was a prodigious amount of drywall work done, between replacing moldy drywall, fixing horrible patch jobs, new can lights installed, moving doorways, and such and such and such!

Everyone is still settling into summer it seems.  I kept Cocoa home from day camp today- it runs into his nap time and today was the "splash day" with water guns, sprinklers, and swim suits.  The weather was cool and misty, he's three, and big boys with water guns seemed like a bad idea.  His nap ran almost two hours longer than normal, the kid was tired!!  The girls had a blast at camp and came home with stories about play practice, trampoline squabbles, and capture the flag drama.  Perfect.

Ernie Turns Nine

J's parents were in town, and it happened to coincide with E's birthday.  Lucky girl!

We went to our local zoo.

The girls played "reindeer" to Santa's sleigh.

The kids fed the alpacas and deer.

Nana and Grandpa built marshmallow guns for a SUPER fun activity- it's four generations of men right here!

We celebrated E's birthday with J's grandparents and parents.  I stopped by Costco on the way over and let Ernie pick out dinner for everyone- we ended up with rolls, chicken salad, fruit, her beloved sushi, and a big platter of shrimp.  Girl knows what she likes!  Nana and Grandma made a beautiful cake for the birthday girl.  I am sorry  I did not get a picture before the candle was taken out!  They did such a beautiful job.

For E's party this year I booked slots in an art class for my two girls and their two cousins, and took everyone out to sushi for lunch.  It was a great birthday week for our big girl.

What have the kids done this summer?

Cocoa has informed me "That can't be serious." when I told him the chocolate milk was gone.

Cocoa sneaks into my room and plays with beads.

Cocoa has to take his stroller for a walk, just to burn off enough energy to go to sleep.  It didn't work, he was up for hours.

The girls are learning to clean bathrooms- they fight over who gets to clean the toilets.  Weirdos ;)

The girls showed off their architecture skills with marshmallows and toothpicks.  Never underestimate Mimi.  

The girls found flowers for all of us in my flower beds.

Ernie pulled a few potatoes from the garden after running through the sprinklers.

We've spent plenty of time at the beach.

We picked up a few kiddy kayaks- the kiddies are more than excited :) 

Cocoa potty trained... And thoroughly enjoys his reward treats.

Sea Glass Necklaces

Mom has been collecting sea glass at the beach cabin for a few years, and now it it time to do something!  

She really wanted a sea glass pendant, with sparkly silver wire and sparkly silver chain.  Obviously, it was time for me to learn to wire wrap.  I think I did OK.

My necklace is blue glass with a sea star, Mom's is similar.  My twin sister got a clearer piece of glass and a hammered ring to balance the shape and add structure to the form.  Ernie had her very own piece of glass, and Mimi got a clam pendant and a whole lot of glass pearls.  My kid sister got the chocolate brown glass with what looks oddly like a Cthulu.    Heehee.  I had fun matching the designs to personalities.

Independence Day Weekend

Independence Day was beautiful and wonderful this year- we biked up to the annual church breakfast in this neighborhood and watched the kids re-enact the Boston Tea Party (throw it overboard!) and ate lots of great fruit.  

We needed some bike supplies, and I convinced everyone that was we needed was Chinese buns for lunch to celebrate the holiday. They made an awesome lunch while we watched a World Cup soccer match on my parents big screen. 

A quiet afternoon, I slept through a few party invitations (what?  I have friends that throw parties now??) and we watched fireworks all around the lake from the deck once the sun went down.  It's my favorite place to be on the Fourth of July, and it's been years since I got to sit there.  I loved it, the girls were entranced.  Cocoa fell asleep in my lap, long day for a little dude!

My brother surprised us with a visit over the weekend, it was great to have everyone together for a meal.