Birthday Fun

Happy 2nd Birthday, Hadley! Harrison had such a good time playing in the pools (yes, multiple), tonight he kept saying "go to Hadley's party." I'm pretty sure he believes there's always a pool party at her house.

Goodbye Walkway

Next step, load up the truck with the concrete. Seems easy enough, but man it's exhausting!

Here's only the first load. Ryan's truck wouldn't carry anymore so we loaded the wheel barrel and moved the rest to the back section of the fence. 

Harrison can be so hard on his dada. This rock isn't level, no snacks until it's perfect (okay, he was only thinking this).

Yard Crashers

Welcome to our version of yard crashers. Ryan gets all the credit on this project. I came home to a sidewalk full of crumbled concrete and I couldn't have been happier.

Here's a view from the porch with a sneak peak on what's to come.

Website Wednesday - Armstrong Photography

I believe food is one of the hardest subjects to photograph. There are so many factors and elements that could easily go wrong or in this case right. Click HERE to browse through the wonderful photographs of Armstrong Photography. EJ and Scott are definitely some of the best in the business.

As a bonus, click HERE for their blog. You'll have to check out the blog often b/c each week Jane features her top Ebay art pieces. I've seen the studio in person and the art collection is very impressive AND she purchased a great deal of it from Ebay. Enjoy!

Flea Market

On my LONG drive home today, I made a pit stop at a small town flea market. Don't you love this spice cabinet? I don't really have the room for it OR the budget but I still think it's cool. Maybe next time. I did find two more rolling pins for my collection which were both under five bucks. I'll show a pic of them once I find one more.

$1.99 Per Gallon!

I had to do a double-take when I saw the price of Regular Unleaded Gasoline. Then I saw the line and knew what I had seen was correct. How long has it been since it's been this low? Five years? Longer?

Summer Beauties

While traveling north today, I was lucky enough to spend a lovely evening with Lily and Stella. The dusk light was shining through Stella's hair and I asked if I could take a few snaps. Unfortunately, I only had my point-and-shoot but I'm pretty pleased with the results.

Three generations . . . I'm glad I finally got one with baby smiling.

Zoom, Zoom, LuLu

Lucy promised Harrison she would play cars with him as long as he let her nap through it. They're finally learning how to play with each other :)

Harrison has been talking up a storm lately. Instead of saying "no", he'll say "I don't know about that." I asked him what he was reading and he said "I'm just looking at a Lego thing." A grandmother complimented Mimi on how well he could talk and he said "I talk AND walk."

High Tech Office

It's amazing how much computers are part of our daily lives. Mr. H had a follow up doctor's appointment today. I walked over to the reception area to check in and she informed me I needed to use the touch-screen on the other side of the wall. It's similar to the airplane kiosk with all your information stored in the system. The patient's name will appear on the large black screen (see above). On the right side is the status "Not Here," "Signed In," and "Registered." I wonder what it's going to be like in another five years.

Postcard Day

It's a beautiful day in the capitol city. It's a good thing you can't tell how hot it is here!

Website Wednesday - Gawker

My pick for this week's website is FoodGawker, click HERE to view it. My friend Heather turned me on to this site. It's a gallery where food bloggers can showcase their food and photography skills. It's a place for you to discover new sites, dishes, recipes and ingredients to inspire your own cooking. The cool part is, anyone can submit pictures (if they follow the site rules).

As an added bonus, check out CraftGawker HERE and WeddingGawker HERE. I'm starting to become addicted to the craft one. 

Front Yard Update

We spent part of last weekend sweating buckets and getting eaten up by mosquitoes but it's starting to be worth it. We decided to remove the two front boxwoods, they just didn't seem right there. They found a new home in the back by the other three. The yard desperately needed color so we hunted for the perfect red pot and found it (plus it was on sale). Also, we purchased three pots for the stairs which will look great with mums in them for this autumn. Our next plan is to tear out the black railing and concrete sidewalk. We have several large stones which will become the walkway. Slowly but surely, we'll get it done.

How Bizarre Is This!

This is by far the strangest dog toy I have ever seen!

Excuse Me Monsieur

I think Harrison has been reading the blog lately. He's gearing up for next year's Moustache Championship. 

Saturday Dates

Harrison has been waiting all week to attend the local Train Show with Bob and Dada. He said Mama needed to stay home. I'm glad I was able to see the photos from it.

Ryan and I escaped tonight for dinner and movie. We were enjoying the atmosphere here until we had to wait 45 minutes for our pizza. They forgot to make it, not once but twice. They truly were sorry and gave us extra beverages, free gelato and a $20 gift card. So we're going to give it a second chance.

Front Bed

We changed our landscaping plans for the front right bed. So far, we've planted two Juniper trees which will grow a maximum of 12-15 feet. The hydrangeas are finally finding a home here too. 

I still have the gray bottom trim on the windows. I just can't decide what color. I've posted about this before. Now I'm thinking maybe the yellowish cream color might be best . . .

Yard Work

The boys are building a rock border around one of our trees tonight. Harrison loves uses all of his tools and  assisting Dada.

Wednesday Website - Knock-Off Wood

Click HERE learn about all Ana White. She's a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom) with expensive taste and no money. She has no formal carpenter training but it's her passion. In her own words, "I believe true talent is not just building furniture, it's making furniture easy. What I strive to do is enable an average woman like myself to build outstanding furniture with minimal tools, time and money."

I'm thinking the Vegetable Bins for Toys will be perfect for Lincoln Logs and Legos.

Built-In

I'm finally getting around to painting the built-in cabinet in my office area. It's one of those things that has been on my list forever. Currently, it's a bright white and some areas have a yellow tone. I'm going to give it a fresh clean look with Calming Cream. 

I See Potential

Check out this diamond in the rough located in Los Angeles. I have a feeling a certain family member will soon be the proud owner of her first house. I can't wait to see what she does with it!

A Star is Born

Mr. H thought it was hilarious to put his head through the arm hole of Mimi's shirt. I turned it around so it made the perfect black cape.

Peak-A-Boo

Just down the road from Bob and Mimi's house is a petting zoo and a few little kiddie rides. Harrison was enjoying playing peek-a-boo with this goose.

Flora

Who can resist the flowers this time of year? I certainly can't.

Homemade Salsa

I found the perfect salsa recipe from The Pioneer Woman. It combines Ryan's favorites Rotel and jalapenos (fresh from our garden). I made one batch with her ingredients (except I used canned diced tomatoes, no seeds from the jalapenos and both Rotel cans were Original) then another special batch for Ryan. His included 3 jalapenos with seeds and one can Rotel Hot and one can Original. After he tasted it, he put his entire face in the bowl and licked it clean . . . okay, only kidding but he did love it.

Website Wednesday - Pioneer Woman

Click HERE to learn more about The Pioneer Woman and her fabulous website. I read about her a couple of months ago but it wasn't until I heard her on the radio that I really was interested. She was living the high life in Los Angeles until she made a brief trip to her hometown and fell in love with a cattle rancher. As she puts it "Now I live in the middle of nowhere on a working cattle ranch. My days are spent wrangling children, chipping dried manure from boots, washing jeans, and frying calf nuts."

Another Find

Have you ever seen the Harajuku Lovers perfume dolls? I don't have any yet but my niece has a few and they are too cute. I found this wooden doll at the LA flea market and it reminds me of them.

Water Baby

Harrison is chillin' pool side enjoying this long holiday weekend. FYI, Ryan was just to the right of him keeping a close watch :)

Happy 4th!

We hope everyone is having a safe and wonderful Independence Day!

Hold Still

What's scarier than a 2-year with an electric razor . . . NOTHING! Now that's what I call trust and love.

More Work

Harrison is inspecting Grandpa and Mimi's veggie garden. Unfortunately for them, he said it needs more work.

Phasmatodea

Walking Sticks (aka Phasmatodea) are the coolest of cool bugs. According to wikipedia, they make good pets!