BFF

They were the best of friends, and the worst of friends . . . have I heard that somewhere?

Little Graham and buddy Grey. They love to play together, but oh, the competition. It's Grey's toy, no! Graham's toy! Graham's Grandpa, no! Grey's Grandpa. So on and So forth. Over & over.

Janelle, & Darren, and Ry and I are watching the 2 boys closely. a little healthy rivalry doesn't necessarily hurt anything, but these two little guys are pushing it. And Graham, such a stinker! I would never have believed it, had I not heard some of the stuff come out of his angelic little mouth. He knows exactly how to push Grey's buttons, and he revels in doing it. For example, Little Grey was trying to make conversation, he mentions how very fast lightning McQueen is (the talking red race car) But Graham, who is CONSTANTLY making car noises, racing toy cars across the wood floor, watching nascar and repeating "Cars! Fast! Cars!" looks at Grey with a straight face and says "Is not fast".

Overheard

While bickering over toy cars, Graham to Danny

"You obey me the first time!!"

Darren's 40th Birthday

We had an 80's themed party for Darren's 40th Birthday. Above is Darren, the birthday boy, Janelle (his wife) and Kate (his sister) I have found new love for the 80's. While I don't necessarily believe we all looked good, I think we all had fun thinking we did.

In the 80's I was too young to be really cool, but I was adoring those who could. (my cool aunt Mary, cousin Trish and Jan, that beautiful cheerleader Cindy) Plus, in the midwest we hang on to trends that have long gone by the rest of the country, so even in the 90's the 80's were still lingering. I have good memories of this era and have been playing my 80's Party playmix since. It's Totally Awesome!

waterpark

A couple weeks ago, Ry and I packed up the fam and headed to Mpls/st.Paul, our old stomping grounds, now referred to as "the city" since we've become small town folks once again. We wanted to do some serious furniture shopping and visit my sister Sabrina, and her husband, Boyd, and also Toodles (savanna). The whole weekend we taunted Graham about the waterpark we would be visiting. Sabrina, the coupon collecting maven, had a free night at the Marriott on Washington Ave. Anytime he whined, "Graham you need to be happy, pretty soon we'll go to the waterpark." "No, Graham, we can't go to the park right now, but there will be lots and lots of slides at the waterpark." You get the idea.

Of course on the ride to the hotel, we put it in high gear. We were practically singing songs about the fun to be had at the glorious waterpark. But of course, in full Chevy Chase/Vacation reminiscant style, when we walk by the tinted windows pearing into the waterpark, even though it was hard to see in, we were a bit suspicious. There is noone playing at the waterpark, we aren't seeing alot of running water on the slides . . . and by the time we get to the front desk, we are not completely surprised when we are told that the waterpark is closed.

So, we punt. And Graham has no idea that the "waterpark" in an entirely different Marriott, was a sorry excuse for entertainment. He loved every minute, and Hey! noone had to wait in line.

What a relief

This is not in anyway husband bashing. On his worst day, Ryan is more productive than I. So, when we asked my parents to babysit Graham on last Saturday so that we could get somewhere on the house, I was a little surprised when he decided to work on the GARAGE the entire day. (no need to mention that I found the time to take a nap) But, come on! The garage?

He was busy, busy, busy. And at the end of the day, he proudly displayed the fact that the garage was ultra tidy, he had moved most of the boxes yet to be unpacked in to the laundry room. I imagine he assumes that if I trip over them doing laundry, I may get to unpacking a thing here and there. Silly, boy. After all of these years he should really know that I can avoid doing laundry almost indefinitely. Ryan's camoflauge is neatly hung inside our old armoir, his tools organized on the workbench, he even put a seagrass rug on the floor as a homey touch. (note: by the time I took this photo G had found his bin of toys)

But the eensy part of me that was slightly miffed at his choice of project in the midst of the many ways the inside of our home needed attention was completely diffused. Why? Because the conversation I was nervously anticipating, the one where he starts asking where I think we should display his deer head is no longer a threat. Isn't it beautiful?! there in our tidy garage. Hallelujah.

Little Boy's Room

This room will eventually be shared by the boys. Right now, we have Owen in the guest room since he still needs the crib. Isn't this such a fun bunk bed?! My aunt (er, actually, my mom's first cousin) Aileen is letting us borrow it. The first time Graham saw his new bed he was like a cat with catnip. He LOVES it! I do too.

I am doing somewhat of a sports theme, even though, I don't really like "theme" decorating, but I ordered a quote that I came up with, "Big G, Little O, Go Team Go!"for the wall. (it isn't up yet) And wanted to use something that corresponded with that.

Anyways, as you can see, there are still many boxes, many bare walls, and awkward spaces in the house. But, I guess it will just take time.

Lakeside in Dakota

I previously had a post titled Lakeside in Dakota. I showed pictures of the house I thought we would be living in, then we changed our mind, bought another place 10 houses down, and Janelle, Ryan's sister, and her family bought the one I had originally posted on. It was so strange, and I had already gotten excited about the 1st. It took awhile to change gears. The houses are somewhat opposite, the one having white trim and being new construction, the house we are in being old with bold oak woodwork. But, once I got my mind around it, I knew that this was where I wanted to be. I think it worked out perfectly. And now we are neighbors, it's wonderful.

This is our home from the lakeside. Notice the yard and how steep it is. Ryan actually thought I should mow it at one point. I thought he was kidding. But he was in one of his moods when he thinks I really should help out more with that sort of thing. (crazy guy:-) Thank God the mower was broken, and when he got it working, he tried it himself. . . we now hire it out.

the view

Living/Dining

Obviously all these photos are works in progress. Here you can see the gorgeous woodwork, we will add the original paned windows between these two rooms eventually. This beautiful maple was hiding under nasty stanky carpet.

teeny-tiny

The front yard is one of my favorite attributes of the place. I love that even though we are on the water, my kids can be properly contained in this fenced in play area. The tree house and sand box are already a favorite. Instead of getting a traditional outdoor playstation thingy (is that the correct term?) we are going to try to add a slide and swing to the tree. I think it will be so quaint.

This Thursday, I invited 4 of my friend's and their kids over to play. It was a beautiful day and we all sat outside while our children teared around the yard, up and down the tree house, in and through the leaves . . . it was alot of fun. Graham loves having his friends over, and I like talking to someone that doesn't make me repeat myself 25 times. "huh? huh? huh?" is heard much too often from my toddler. I am hoping we can all continue to get together every other week or so, but-

there is a small problem. All of the sudden I realized that none of these girls weigh more than a handful of peanuts. In fact, I am pretty sure that the COLLECTIVE sum of their pant sizes MIGHT equal mine. I'm not sure if this bothers me or not. I mean, should I really hold it against them that they all should be models for Levi's despite the fact that they have babies clinging to them? I don't understand why these particular mommy's haven't hung on to the postpardum weight with nearly the gusto I have.

I guess I have a few options.

1: decide I don't care, enjoy being the "big-boned"girl, the one that could serve as a windblock for the "little ones"
2: find other friends, perhaps at McDonald's
3: or maybe the best option is to secretly attempt to fatten them up . . . WaHaHaHa (evil laugh)

Red

Sweat blood and tears to get these cupboards from their 80's-finish to beautiful red. I have found that many people, despite the fact that the stain and style makes the strongest stomach queezy, have a difficult time painting over oak. In fact, the first time I painted over oak cupboards was for my mom during their brief stay in Sioux Falls. She was so terribly distraught that she was allowing us to do anything to the wood finish. I felt like I was trying to push marijuana to a pastor's kid (although, I've known alot of P.K's that actually did the pushing) or maybe vandalizing a Michelangelo. Finally, as Mom fretted about the room wondering if she had made a horrible mistake, my sister, Sabrina (the blundt one) says "Mom! you could have puked on these cupboards and it would have been an improvement!"

The kitchen isn't open to the rest of the house which I would have liked, but the cute little cubby cafe booth makes up for it.

front view

Finally, I have some photos. Our home from the front.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but the roof swings up, like I would imagine the candy house in "hansel and gretel" would be.

Alive and Well

Hi. Here we are, doing great. Can you believe it's October! My newborn is now 6 months old! I'm sure your world has changed too, I can't wait to be back in touch with all of you. I would write more, but Owen is hollaring for me and Graham is playing outside (or in the garage) by himself . . . basically, my kids are needing some adult supervision at the moment.

BUT! I am in my own home, on my own dear computer, and will be updating you all with a summer rundown and pics of the house soon!