First Biter Biscuit deemed a success!

I spy the Biter Biscuit!

He's into everything!

Painting continues.....

The house is gonzo'd now as the painters are still working on the interior. Hopefully this will all be done early next week.

Pink Bunny Milk

So today Matthew was caught with Madeline's sippy cup of Pink Bunny Milk and drinking it down just as fast as he could (Madeline very clearly pointed out the spit on the sippy that was NOT hers and now she could not drink any more). He's decided it tastes pretty good! Too bad he can't have real milk for another 1 1/2 months! Guess he got a good preview! ha ha

I should have listened to my mother.

My mother warned me about planting this. She couldn't believe I was actually going to buy and plant honeysuckle in my yard when they spent so much time trying to get rid of it when I was growing up. It has taken over the little spot by the fence and is now growing through the fence over into the neighbor's....... Oh well. It smells wonderful and I've enjoyed teaching Madeline how to suck the juice out of the blooms like Aunt Nancy and I did when we were little. =)

Summer Fun

Madeline started her Summer Fun program at school today. This summer they will be swimming every Thursday at the Y and then have pizza days every Friday. Every Wednesday is a field trip day. They are going to the movie theatre, roller skating, the zoo, the McWane Center, Laser Tag, Vacation Bible School one whole week, Jump Zone & Chuck E. Cheese. She is very excited!

Matthew had his first day in the 1yr class today. He's begining to eat table food from the school lunch, use his sippy cup for snacks, etc. I couldn't believe it when his sheet said he ate a fruit bar today! He's growing up too fast!

"Hand over the bottle and no one gets hurt."

The Many Faces Of Madeline

Sweet.....

Sassy.

Check out that cool Solid Gold Dancer shirt! Wonder where she got that!

LOVE IT!

Miss Fashion Accessory.

Daddy's little helper

Poor Jeff has to try to get my burgers machine press thin & well done. Hot dogs have to be burned black but not split open- grosses me out if they've burst!
ha ha

From our neck of the woods...

Crazy weather started out a little scary looking....

and ended up pretty.

I admit defeat:

-professional painter is coming tomorrow to finish what I tried to start (this is already 2 coats of primer) and go ahead with the rest of the interior.

The almost finished fence

Some favorites from earlier in the year:

Snug as a bug in a rug! (Jan 09)

Testing out their new sunhats for Disney (Mar 09).

Hashbrown Casserole

I've been asked to post my recipe for hashbrown casserole. Word of warning, this is in no way diet friendly!

1/2 c butter
1 32oz package of frozen shredded potatoes- thawed
1c sour cream
1 can cream of onion soup
8oz shredded cheddar cheese

Melt butter in a 9x13 baking dish, mix in thawed potatoes. Mix together other ingredients in a separate bowl and pour over potatoes. Blend well. Bake uncovered at 350 for 45 min.

Mommy's Little Helper

If paint is involved Madeline is ALL about it!

Madeline helped me prime the bathroom walls. We decided prospective home buyers might not love my 'pizazz' red wall color so it's going to a boring beige. =)

Jeff's project 2

The fence is coming along.... he's actually already well past this point but I haven't taken another picture. Today was busy. Jeff worked on the fence (Madeline went back & forth between handing nails to Jeff and playing in the hose), I layed some miscellaneous sod pieces, we took more things (crapola) to storage and I started on painting the bathroom.

Helping Daddy with the dishes Sunday morning...

note the fabulous new hardwoods in the background! =)

Picasso Bryan

These are the latest of Madeline's masterpieces. She loves to paint.

Backyard fun

Wait for me!!

What are you doing Big Sister? Can I have some of that??

Jeff's current project:

We are putting the house up for sale next month and one of the projects we had to do was replace the gate..... turned into replacing whole sections of fence.
Oh my.

This holly (bush or tree?) has really grown. It was a little clipping in a paper cup from my grandmother's house in Lexington. How in the world can I transport this when we move? Anyone know the correct way to instruct me on transplanting a clipping?

My mom's tiger lillies will be ready to bloom in a month or two! They are my favorite flower and have come all the way from our house in Lexington when I was little. =)

Thank you Aunt Nancy!

This fishbowl toy from Aunt Nancy is one of his favorite things to play with!

Flashback:

Where did the time go??? Can't belive she's a first grader now.

We love the babysitter!

Tonight was Date Night for Jeff and I. Enter the babysitter, Miss Lindsay who happens to be one of Matthew's teachers at daycare (she's 19). When we got home everyone had been fed, bathed and here are the pictures of how we found them! We love the babysitter! ha ha And to top it off she said they were both angels- gotta love that! While we were out Jeff said he hoped that Madeline wasn't being a 'Calvin' while we were gone- if any of you are familiar with the Calvin & Hobbes comic strip when the babysitter came. Turns out she was being a very sweet girl. Matthew was SO excited to see Miss Lindsay at his house he didn't know what to do! He was jumping and laughing and couldn't stop looking at her! =)

Kindergarten Graduation

Kindergarten Graduation was Tuesday night. It started out GREAT, about 3/4 of the way through it started going downhill. Fast. In a handbasket. It ended horribly. Sigh. Tomorrow is another day. Think happy thoughts. These pictures are from the happier hour prior to the ceremony.

She's wearing her special necklace that Grandaddy gave her the day she was born. He gave me a matching one in a larger size.

Aloha End Of Year Class Party

Aloha Kindergarten!

About 1/2 way through she wanted the icing scraped off. It was a little TOO much of a good thing!

How low can you go!

Girls Just Want To Have Fun

Madeline being silly with her cousin Sidney on Mother's Day.

You're an 80's child if.....

- You had a crush on one of the New Kids on the Block members.
- You wanted to be on StarSearch. (Come on, we all did)
- You wore a banana clip or one of those slap on wrist bands at some point during your youth.
- You wore french rolls on the botom of your jeans.
- You had slouch socks, and puff painted your own shirt at least once.
- You owned a doll with 'Xavier Roberts' signed on it's bottom.
- You knew what Willis was "talkin' 'bout."
- You know the profound meaning of "Wax on, Wax off."
- You can name at least half of the members of the elite "Brat Pack."
- You can remeber watching full house and saved by the bell for endless hours.
- You have seen at least 10 episodes of Fraggle Rock.
- You know that another name for a keyboard is a "Synthesizer."
- You hold a special place in your heart for "Back to the Future."
- You know where to go if you "wanna go where everybody knows your name."
- You thought Molly Ringwald was REALLY cool. (Was there an 80's movie she WASN'T in?)
- You know what "Sike" means.
- You fell victim to 80's fashion: big hair, crimped, combed over to the side.
- You wanted to be a Goonie ("Goonies never say die.")
- You've heard of Garbage Pail Kids.
- You actually saw Ted Danson as the MacDaddy he played "Sam" to be.
- You ever wore flourescent -neon if you will- clothing...(or nailpolish)
- You know who Max Headroom is.
- You remember when ATARI2 was a state of the art video game system. (Remember Pong)
- You can still sing the rap to "Fresh Prince of BelAir".
- You own any cassettes.
- You were led to believe that in the year 2000 we'd all be living on the moon.
- You remember and/or own any of the CareBear Glass collection from Pizza Hut.
- Poltergeist freaked you out.
- You carried your lunch to school in a Gremlins or an ET lunchbox.
- You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the ONLY female smurf.
- You wanted to communicate with some being named Cinergy, or you wanted green hair like that lead singer of the Misfits.
- You know what a Doozer is.
- You wore biker shorts underneath a short skirt and felt stylish.
- You ever had a Swatch Watch.
- You had a crush on one of the Coreys (Haim or Feldman).
- You had WonderWoman or Superman underoos.
- You Believed that "By the power of Greyskull, you HAD the power!"
- You know what a "Whammee" is. ("No Whammy, no whammy, stop!!")
- Partying "like it's 1999" seemed SO far away.
If you can identify with at least half of this list then you, my friend,are a "Child of the 80's."

5 Things I Bet You Didn't Know About Me...

1. I have 171 movies in my Netflix Queue. Now if I watch 3 a week (and that's pushing it) it will take over a year to watch them all. And I constantly add new releases and old finds. I am always working on and checking my queue to plan out which one I want to come when.

2. I love peanut butter & pickle sandwiches. My grandmother used to make them when I was little.

3. I have to go to my 'special place' mentally before I can try on shoes in a store. (They have been on countless other feet! Yech!)

4. I probably check People.com about 20 times a day to get the updated celebrity news and gossip.

5. If I get a sandwich, say from Subway, I without fail have to redo the stacking on the inside. I have to have everything proportional so there is just the right amount of everything in each bite. It's a sickness.

Camping With Daddy

That's her Tooth Fairy doll she took into the tent- teeth go into the fairy's purse and the Tooth Fairy trades it out for $.

This particular time Madeline and Jeff cooked marshmallows on the grill after we grilled out hotdogs and her 2nd loose tooth came out! She was so excited and could not believe that the Tooth Fairy was going to come into the tent to get her tooth!!

Madeline loves to camp out in the tent in the backyard with her Daddy. They take the DVD player, the fan, a flashlight, sleeping bags etc. Matthew and I hold down the fort from the comfort of the house.