cloudy creative kinda day

While Michael is off at the men's campout, I figured Kate and I would try some new things. We started off our day with breakfast smoothies, which we took into the living room, had a "picnic" on the area rug and watched the songs from Mulan...


Grandma Beth then picked us up and we went to a great mom2mom sale just down the street. Kate was well behaved and I was able to get a head start on Christmas shopping...an adorable animal train that sings and travels, a never opened fisher price Noah's ark, a little keyboard that plays all kind of different instrument sounds and rhythms, Bible songs cd and a few cute books...all for less than $15


After naps, we tried homemade play dough...a little sticky, but still fun



Much against my instinct to keep my child clean, I allowed her to "plant" with her shovel in our new raspberry bed. She had never been so dirty and she loved it!





More fun with piano playing...and our day is not yet over!

hip 2 save

ok so some of you may already know this sight, but i must say it is amazing! sandra told my mother in law about it and now she is addicted. the blog site basically does all your coupon saving for you, you simply have to check it and click print. the lady who does the blog is a super cute mom who must do this as a full time job. anyway just thought i would share my new find...hip2save.blogspot.com

big girl bed!

so thanks to our good friend nina what i thought would be a long weary search is now over and we have a toddler bed for kate! thanks nina for lookin out for us! she LOVES this thing, won't get off and thinks it is her new play ground!

ohio day trip

kate and i drove for 6 hours yesterday to visit granny in ohio for her 85th. papa t and uncle justin were there too, which kate was super excited about. although mama lynn couldn't come, she sent a new book with a lullaby cd (kate adores books and music) for the long drive home. by the 3rd song she was sound asleep...too cute! granny's yard was like the garden of eden. we just went from one thing to another. from blueberry and raspberry bushes, to yummy concord grapes, apples and pears!
polishing off the last of the raspberries


the infamous blueberry patch (i can remember so many good memories collecting berries as a little girl from this olf cage)


uncle justin and kate: much more comfortable with the whole hugging thing this time aroud


a raspberry bush my dad dug up so i can transport it home! now i will have a plethora of yummy berries next summer!


mini vinyard









ice cream at welches. she has never had this much sugar EVER! and she throroughly enjoyed it all!




Dear Jesus, thank you for ice cream and for Papa who will give it to me!



good times! i love these two!


her own private tour of the copley fire trucks with uncle chuck

TexAs fUn

Kate was able to join me in an annual get-together with some of my dearest college friends. This time we met up in Dallas. Kate and her new friend, Elliott, had a blast playing together. We went to a fabulous splash zone and liked it so much we went back the following day. Kate had an amazing experience at the Dallas Aquarium. She saw sea turtles, Nemo, crazy seahorses, penguins, a manatee, crocs, and so much more. She was in awe and rather verbal about her excitement too! All in all - a great trip! She was amazing on the plane and entertained me by saying "cheese" all the way home.

We just had our 5 year anniversary! Crazy how fast time goes. We are soon celebrating with a trip to Boston, but on the actual day we played tennis together (well, Michael played while I attempted)

Backpack (with love from Mama Lynn): this has become Kate's sticker book and stickers container. Anything heavier causes this peanut to fall over backwards. Kinda funny the first time it happened. It was like a movie and no we didn't let her fall.


Busy weeding the backyard.

A much needed break from all that hard work

Who knew an empty box could provide so much enjoyment? She sang Row, row, row your boat immediately upon sitting inside with all her farm animals.

Safety hazard, but too cute to correct

I have an idea!

Don't let Satan blow it out, I'm gonna let it shine