Appreciation

Dennis and I spent a weekend down at Myrtle Beach SC for our 11th anniversary. We had a great time, and whenever we go away, we try to bring a little something back for the kids. We went to that crazy beach store, Wings, and got them a few trinkets. But one of our favorite treats was getting hot fresh donuts from Krispy Kreme (they don't have them where we live), so while we were in there, I decided to pick up a couple of those funny hats they give away for free. Dennis joked saying, "they won't want those goofy things!" but I took them anyways.

Guess what was their favorite gift we brought back from the trip?????

I think the pictures tell all.

Every time I turned around, one of them was wearing those goofy hats in all seriousness. And they wore them to bed for several nights. You never know!

Also, I cut Leah's hair recently. This is not the best picture, but it is right after I cut it. I had to go back and even it out in a few spots, but it looks better while her bangs grow out, and is nice for the summer.

Eric's Violin Recital

Eric played his first recital at his new teacher's studio. He played Humoresque from Suzuki Book 3. We think he did a great job! It was the best recital we've ever been to because it was short and sweet (45 min. total!).

The whispering during the recording is Granni telling Bay to quick punching her in the back!

***WARNING---IF YOU ARE EASILY GROSSED OUT-PLEASE IGNORE THIS POST***

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I Need More Protein!

I think our cat, Luke, is trying to tell us something! No kidding, he brought this up to the house this morning and dropped it in his bowl! He is the funniest cat ever!

A Mother's Day Bouquet

we had a hard rain last night...hopefully it knocked most of the pollen out of the trees. Some of our flowers looked absolutely beautiful this morning with the rain drops still on them, but the sun shining at the same time. These are two of my favorite types of flower, peonies and gerbera daisies. I hope they bring joy to you like they bring to me!

NoMore Fights over the Bathroom Sink!

Our bathroom countertop is finally in! We are so excited to be using the bathroom. This is everything ready to go last Wednesday...

And here it is installed and quickly filled up with the clutter that has been populating every other bathroom and floor in the house while waiting for a home. Of course, once Dennis gets the drawers made, there won't be so much stuff all over the top of the counter.

We were just so excited how the faucets turned out...more excited at the super bargain clearance price at home depot we got them for, and the details on the faucets match the details on the vanity lights, but only coincidentally!!! So once we put it in, it took me about a week of walking in the room and looking at the whole picture to get a vision of the color scheme I want to do, something that will match and bring out the natural colors in the granite. I only had one suggestion from one brave friend as well, so I had to consider that as well (smile).
It is hard to tell in the photo, but there are splotches of an almost icy blue running through the counter. I think I am going to pick up on that and paint the walls the same color. Then I will stain the cabinetry a darker (but not too dark) brown to pick up on the flecks of brown in the granite. All the trim will be white and the hardware stainless like we have going with the sinks and lights. What do you think? Any suggestions on tile for the floor? (Not that the floor is getting done soon, but it can't hurt to think about it) Should I go with white or something more natural looking? Too many decisions lately.

Anyways, we are enjoying our sinks and the new largeness of the bathroom. It is a wonderful feeling to step out of the shower and not have one foot in the toilet and the other in the sink :)

I have tried to get a picture of most of the whole bathroom to get an idea of the changes. You can obviously see the old bathroom in the back, where the old vanity was, the wall that was taken out and the old doorway (where the thresh-hold is on the floor). The shower is to the right. Right now, there is nothing behind the current door to the right, but eventually there will be some type of soaking tub, clawfoot or otherwise. The opening in the wall between the expanded bath and old bath will have an arch eventually as well. The shower will also eventually be taken out and replaced with tile and glass walls. The goal is to make it look like one large bathroom, and not a remodel.

Haircuts

The boys (well actually just Eric) have been asking for a trim lately. Their hair has really gotten long this winter, and usually they want it all cut off military style for the summer, but Eric requested just a nice trim, so that's what I did. Bay was caught in the crossfire and got a haircut by default.

I couldn't belive how much hair came off of Eric's head..he had inches taken off!

Doesn't he just look thrilled!

Bay is 5!!!

Bay is celebrating his 5th birthday today! He is so happy to be 5 years old :) I think turning 5 for a kid is one of their first milestones...no longer a little kid...but unbeknownst to him, still my cuddlebug!
Bay had a gymnastics party. He has been taking gymnastics for a couple of years now and absolutely loves it. His favorite thing is the block pit at his "old" gym, so our present to him was having a party for him there. He had a blast.
Gramps and Eric lounging in the pit. You can't see the sign on the wall that says "NO ADULTS IN THE PIT". Gramps is always trying to find rules to ignore.
Bay wanted a Star Wars themed cake, so I found this great idea for individula TIE fighter cakes. Here is the stack of wings, made out of foam board, black areas drawn in with a sharpie. This took the longest amount of time out of the whole cake project. Sometimes I wonder what I have gotten myself into.
The whole fleet of them. and then a close up. They are individual bundt cakes (thanks to my friend Alex's mini bundt cake pan), iced, a decorate oreo on top, and the wings inserted with toothpicks covered with straw sections.

Here we are all set up and waiting for guests.

We had a family party for breakfast...Bay's fave..."who-cakes"...which to all you non-Dr. Seuss readers, that is pancakes with rainbow sprinkles baked into them.And then came the gifts. Child laborNow they each have a scooter and had a great time riding together.