Little Climber

Yikes! The other day I was blow drying my hair and I thought to myself that I hadn't seen Samuel in awhile, usually he's in and out of the bathroom. I went to find him, walked around the corner and there he was sitting on the table! I had left crackers, gum, and a few other fun things up there for him to get into. When did he learn to climb? Now we keep the chairs turned upside down, it's a great look for your house if you're looking for some new decorating ideas!

Date Night

So a few nights ago Pete and I went out on date - a very rare thing for us these days. I got dressed up (which for me is a blouse with jeans rather than a t shirt with jeans) and we were on our way. Unfortunately when I got into the car I didn't see the blue fruit snack lying on the seat. I didn't even notice I sat on it until I was adjusting and I could feel that I was stuck to the seat! So I decided to lay a piece of paper on the seat and sit on it instead of the melted fruit snack. Bad idea - I just made the problem worse. When I got out of the car the paper stuck to my butt. I got off as much as I could - but as you can see it was still all over my shorts. But hey this was a rare night out with my husband and I couldn't let a little fruit snack ruin the night. So I wore it proudly :) This is what life has come to as a mom I guess. . .

jOuRNal jAr #2

Question: Describe you yard. Did you help with the yard work? What are your memories.

So growing up we had a big beautiful yard. We lived on just over an acre of land and it was a great place for kids to roam around and play in. And the view of the valley and mountains was incredible. I LOVED where I grew up and I love going home. Did I help with the yard work?? Ha Ha is the Pope Catholic!?! Yes, my parents believed in teaching their children the value of hard work. So I weeded every morning for a couple hours during the summers, mowed the lawn, and one summer I helped my dad put up a chainlink fence around the entire yard. So yes I did help with the yard work :) My yard now. . .mmm I'm not sure you can call it a yard. It's tiny, but it'll do for now. At least the landscaping is nice.

I took this picture this past spring when I was home visiting my parents ~ beautiful!

This is my humble back yard. . .a far cry from the yard played in as a child :)

The front yard is bigger, but unfortunately it's on a busy street so we don't spend too much time here.

Eyes of Blue

My friend Sarah took these pictures the other day and I had to share them. She is such a great photographer!! Enjoy grandmas and grandpas :) Thanks again Sarah!

soggy graham crackers

When I was living in St. Louis, I had a dear friend who was a mother of two beautiful little girls. One day Karla was telling me that her little toddler wanted Karla to take a bite of her soggy graham cracker and so she did. I about gagged when she told me this story! I am a huge germ freak - plus it just sounds SOO disgusting. She said "Lori I promise when you have kids you'll eat their soggy crackers, they just look at you so cute and you love them so much it won't even matter." I assured her that it wouldn't matter how much I love my kid, I would NEVER eat a soggy graham cracker! YUCK - just having the conversation made my stomach turn!

Fast forward two and a half years. . .

I mean how could I possibly say no to this face?!

I didn't stand a chance and so today when Samuel offered me some of his graham cracker I took a bite without even hesitating. Suddenly I could hear my conversation from 2 years ago replaying in my head. Okay, okay Karla you were right.

jOUrNaL jAr

Many years ago, when I was in Young Womens, one of my leaders gave us a "journal jar". It is full of slips of paper with questions on them, I was supposed to take one slip of paper each day of the year and write down an answer to the questions. I started doing this a few times over the years and now I'm going to attempt it again. Only I think I'll do a question a week rather than everyday - I wouldn't want to be an over achiever :) ha ha!

Question~What kinds of foods do you consider picnic foods? Where do you like to go to eat it?
Fixings for sub sandwiches, chips, lemonade, grapes, watermelon, cantalope, chocolate chip cookies. If I were near mountains that's where I would go. Out here we go to the beautiful parks. We just went on a picnic to a local park a couple nights ago and I was thinking (now try not to die!) that Cleveland is just SOO beautiful and I'm so grateful I have had the chance to live in different parts of this great country. So there is my perfect picnic.

4th of July (a favorite)

The 4th of July has always been a favorite holiday of mine. I love getting together with family and friends, enjoying the great weather, oh and lets not forget the FIREWORKS! This year we got together with some friends at a park. The weather was perfect and the food was delicious. Then later that night we walked a few blocks from our house to watch the fireworks. I must admit I was a bit disappointed in them, maybe the city had to make cuts on the "fireworks budget" this year!? After watching "Stadium of Fire" fireworks all growing up and then watching the display in St. Louis (under the arch!) I suppose I'm a bit spoiled :) Despite the mediocre fireworks it was still a great 4th! Hope you all had a nice day too.





Samuel couldn't care less about the fireworks. He was going from group to group saying hi and he especially loved the dogs!

Moments I love

The other day I walked into my room and found Samuel had climbed up onto a chair and was staring out the open window. He climbed up using the vent. Such a cute little guy. (Notice our lovely view from the window! The houses are just a little close together here.)

My two guys taking a nap together. I'm so in love with these two!