Writing down the bones

It's been about a month since I got up early in the morning to write. Now that I'm feeling better I was able to do some writing this morning, and it felt so good.

Window box

I finally got the brackets and Joe put up my other window box. It almost distracts from the fact that the paint is chipping off the house.

Late night baking

Baked some granola bars tonight while watching "The Bachelorette." I'm obsessed with that show.

Walkin'

My friend Tom and I often walk instead of taking lunches. Today we walked through Mt. Hope Cemetery, where Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony are buried.

Playdate

We had a playdate at our friend Sarah's house this afternoon and our friends Jay, Carolyn and little Lee came by, too. (Carolyn is pregnant, although it's hard to tell here.)

My weekend project

I painted our bathroom over the weekend. We still need a new mirror to replace the gaping hole in our wall. But I'm so happy with the results.



Before...

After

Neighborhood cookout

Went to a fun cookout tonight. Drank beers with our friend Mary Ann, who is also Yoshi's babysitter. She is awesome.

Hanging with my other girls

We went outside and played in a sprinkler today. Parker didn't like the sprinkles much, so she spent more time doing this:

And this:

And this:

(I know I cheated and posted too many, but she was just so darn cute in that silly swimsuit and it was the first time I put it on her and I don't think I can get it on her again. It was TIGHT!)

Sushi with the girls

For supper club tonight we had a sushi roll party with saketinis. : ) I love how we both hung out with our girls tonight.

Friends & drinks

My friend Joy had a few of us girls over tonight. Her new fence gave us lots of privacy while we drank yummy drinks and her gardens are looking gorgeous!

Sushi and grilled cheese

I was on my own for dinner tonight. I couldn't decide between sushi and grilled cheese, so I ate both. It sounds gross but both dishes were very satisfying. : )

Mean mommy

Not only do I make her do dishes, but I make the slightly sunburned kid cook over a hot stove. ;)

Contents

Did I mention how much I love my new purse? It's the biggest purse I've ever owned. I can fit so much crap in it!

We got ranked

U.S.News and World Report ranked our hospital as one of the best in the nation for pediatric orthopedics. Very exciting.

Work

Work almost looked inviting today.

My new purse

Sometimes all it takes is a new purse to make you feel better. (It's so big that I couldn't fit it in the whole frame.)

Teething

She bit two kids at day care today and stuck anything chewy in her mouth today. Poor kid. (Please don't tell my friends at the Poison Center that I let her walk around with the Tylenol. Very dangerous, but the rubber dropper was exactly what her gums needed.)

A quiet lunch

Ate a quiet lunch at a picnic table in my favorite park. Read my magazine and called my sisters.

Paint chips.

We're starting to pick out a new color for our kitchen. Goodbye hideous paisley wall paper!

Father's Day

For Father's Day, Joe made us pancakes.

Landscape planning

We read through our gardening/landscaping books this morning over breakfast. We're trying to drum up ideas for the backyard.

Floppy pizza

Usually when I get the Wegmans wheat pizza dough, it's pretty good, but it was really floppy tonight, even after I put it back in. :(

Blue-eyed monsters

The plan was to make chocolate chip cookies. I screwed up the recipe and ended up improvising. We got something that tasted like a muffin. Toaster says it's my best cookie ever. Then he got the idea to stick a blueberry in them. We named them blue-eyed monsters.

Child Labor

She dusts and sometimes sets the table, but I hadn't thought about having her do the dishes. Awesome. (And now I'll make a concerted effort not to post about Anna for at least two days!)

All better

She's all better, but we're not allowed to take her back to day care. So, we went for three long walks today to keep from killing each other. ;)

Corona and soaps

Toaster is recording tonight, so it's beer and soaps for me tonight. : )

Late night writing

I was up late tonight writing my column for next week. Check out Yoshi under the table. : ) He loves to watch mommy work. : )

Bathtime surprise

This one was constipated. "Was" is the operative word. And now we have a very clean bathtub. Parenting is so fun.

Tomato Soup

It's been rainy and dreary here all day today, so I made some tomato soup for dinner. I thought of Anna too; maybe she would have liked to eat this.

What a difference a day makes

She still hasn't eaten real food, but she ate some caramels and some jelly bellies. Also, the doc called back and she was positive for influenza A, which means it was either seasonal flu or swine flu. She said 80 percent of the positives right now are actually swine flu. Really, it doesn't matter. She's getting better. That's all that matters!

Brothers

Yoshi and Buckles are total brothers; they love each other, but they pretend to hate each other when they're in each other's presence.

Swine flu

We get the test results Wednesday, but all signs point to H1N1.

All done -- for this trip

And now we can rest until the next festival... in four weeks.

Cupcakes!

I finally got to try out my Martha Stewart cupcake cookbook today. I made these: apple spice cupcakes with brown sugar frosting (i.e. one stick of butter, 8 oz. of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Yikes!) Toaster tasted them and said: No THAT's an icing.

Success!

Our first day was pretty good with the new tent set up. The best part was not having the kids there, as much as we missed them.

Bride-to-be glow

Today was Katie's bridal shower. She has that wedding glow! She got a little weepy, too.

Thinking

I caught Yoshi gazing out the door, day dreaming this evening. I always wonder what Yoshi is thinking about. He looks deep in thought.

First art fest!

All packed and ready to go to our first art fest of the summer. Wish us luck at AllenWest in Buffalo!

Grown up

I can see the 30 year old in her.

What's for dinner daddy?

Toaster was cooking up pork chops for dinner tonight. Yoshi patiently waited by his side, hoping for a scrap or two.

Artist

She finished it with orange arms and legs, but you get the idea from the curvy body and bright blue eyes that this kid has a future in wacky, interesting art.

Dad's guitar

This is my father's old guitar. This morning it looked so pretty, resting in the corner of my office. It brought back happy memories of him teaching me to play and of him singing to us around the dinner table in the evenings, me and my sisters in our pj's coloring in our coloring books while we listened.

Turtle

(Joe took this one -- it's probably better than mine anyway.) When we were leaving, we saw three turtles. This one was digging a hole to lay eggs right outside the park office. It was exhausting just watching all the work that goes into it for these guys. It's heartbreaking to know that raccoons have probably already dug up those eggs and eaten them.

Risotto

This is the risotto I was talking to you about on the phone tonight. I made this a lot in Michigan but haven't made it since. Toaster helped with the stirring. : )

Hiking

We woke up to beautiful sunshine and were able to fit in a hike before lunch and naps. This is Ashley, Anna's BFF.

The Giggles

Jesse stopped by tonight. She's getting married in October, so we did a lot of wedding talk, which I love. Toaster was all giggly when I took this photo of them. I can't remember what was so funny.