Wha-choo laughing at?

I was in dire need of something light-hearted. They knew it. They came, they saw, they left, they plotted, they returned,they conquered.

'Tis merely a glimpse into my daily life with "Thing 1 and Thing 2"....


-cin

Of Family, Friends and Fun on Easter 2012

It was one of the most loveliest Easter Days and Easter memories I can remember in years. Everything was just perfect and simply easy and relaxing with no-worries/no-stresses. Ed and I hosted Easter Dinner/Easter Day this year and had some of our best-est old-est (not old)  “friends-that-are-really-like-our-family” join us for the day. Col and John and their girls, Jessie and Kelsey..and Piper!…. plus Kim and Bill and Maddy and then new friends, Kelly and Brandon, spent the day with us.
The weather was perfection beyond belief, the yard is now in great shape for playing (frisbee, bacchi ball, croquet,Easter Egg Hunts) and the screened porch was in sparking clean shape….though one minor (but amusing) glitch was the seat cushions were still damp from the power-wash treatment so we first got damp-dupas (dupa = bottom in Polish…you pronounce it like this….dew-pah) but then just plied on the beach towels and did fine.
So….now on to pictures. I have a ton but each and every pic is very special! I am especially proud of the glamor shots I snapped of all the girls…..Kelse/Jess/Mads/my duo. Girls, I hope you like some of them!! Let me know what you think about them. Leave me a comment if you can.
First a great group shot….even with the dogs!! I’ll be framing this one. Does everyone realize how hard it is to get this kind of group shot with the doggies?!

Now the lovely young ladies, (Mads, Kelse, Jess on back row, Sammi and Nicki)
Kelsey up next…..Isn’t she lovely….? I’ve known K long before she was even a glimmer in John and Col’s eyes…(we’re all old friends from grad-school days..!)


And then here comes the ‘next oldest’ lovely teenager, Mads (Maddy/Maddie/Madison/Cutie-Pie….etc).Mads is Kim and Bill’s daughter. She is the same grade as Kelsey. We met K/B/M many years ago at Col’s house and now we have a great tradition of spending Thanksgiving and Easter celebrations together when we are all in town.


The pic below will be PERFECT once I get the frisbee arm out of there. Anyone know how to do that? I’m not that great with Photoshop as my photoshop efforts always look so funky doctored up. I’d like to just do free-range cropping (almost like I was cutting with scissors) to remove the arm-frisbee. Advice, anyone?


And now we have delightful Jessie. Ah, now she is looking so grown-up this Easter……Isn’t she lovely, too? Jess and Kelse are sisters but I guess you really did not need me to tell you that!


All three wonderful teenage treasures….we love these girls!!


And then the two sissies (as we like to say in our house!)

Here’s a fun picture of our new friends, Kelly and Brandon….Aren’t they a cute couple? They are friends and neighbors of Kim and Bill….we had the pleasure of meeting them last Thanksgiving when Kim and Bill hosted the dinner and we were delighted Kelly and Brandon were able to join us for our Easter celebration!

Now over to my little dynamic duo. We’ll start with Nicki-Noodle. No, she does not have pierced ears….they are stickers. In our house, no pierced ears until age 12.

And then to Sammi-Poodle:

Both together now….I love this pic….Nicki carefree and Sammi reflective….captures them perfectly…

Here are a few pics from the morning…





Last but not least, here are the guys. We tried to get them to lie on the blanket with their chin in their hands and their faces cheek-to-cheek but “no-go” on that photo-op idea. They actually did end up posing cheek-to-cheek but I’m not going to post up that pic. (yes, it was still family appropriate but not really a pose that I personally think is so…um….flattering). Instead, we’ll just go with these two…..

I sure do hope you had a joy-filled Easter day with your loved ones, too.
Hugs,
Cin

Pink Boots make me SMILE….

Between running around to grab swim suits for our 8:15am Sat morning lesson and fitting in a healthy but quick breakfast and drawing at the art table….and cups of coffee for me…, the girls popped downstairs with pink boots. Couldn’t pass up that photo-op…Pink Boots make me SMILE…

Nicki-Noodle…

and Sammi-Poodle….

Do Pink Boots make you smile, too?

Smiles!

Cindy

Some ‘art by sammi’….

Thanks, Commenters from my last Post, for encouraging me to post some of Sammi’s art work as we do have so much fun with it. If we are indoors, then there is a 90% chance they will be sitting at their art table creating something. I keep it stocked with all sorts of good quality supplies…good paper, variety of nice pens, chalks, colored pencils, rulers, markers, scissors, glue, stickers, water color paints and brushes….etc.

So….few recent art pics from Sammi.

Sammi’s Fashion Show…..lately, she’s telling us she wants to be a dress designer…She did this all by herself…pretty cute, isn’t it…I am a little astonished by the details….

And in the weekly art lessons the girls take, they are now learning a bit of ‘anime’ so Sammi was excited to show off some examples for me….

And have you all heard of Moshi Monsters….? They are very cute and this-Mom-approved! (though the spelling could be a bit improved but ah well….they are just 6 year olds.

Off to Saturday morning swimming lessons….8:15 on Sat morning --- now that’s a way to get your weekend up and running and not waste any time sleeping in!!!

More pics in a bit…..about pink boots…

hugs,

cin

Welcome Spring 2012!

Every Spring I am happy to thumb my nose at Winter (especially February) and welcome springtime and this year’s no different. We’ve had such a mild winter here in the southeast so you’d think that I would have felt differently this year but I did not…..I disliked the winter months as much as ever regardless of the mild temps. But, no worries 'cause…..Spring is here, I’m pulling out my garden books (yay!) and thinking about my plan of attack for this year, Ed brought our boat out of storage (and cleaned it...thanks Ed!),  I’ve cleaned-up my planting beds and we are thinking about pressuring washing the screened porch this weekend to clear-up all the ‘yellow snow’ (pollen) we’ve been deluged with so far. Plus…we have an Easter get together to host this Sunday and the weather is looking good.
Sammi and Nicki are doing great, first-grade continues to be going well (except our challenges with math but I won’t get into that now…), and they are involved in so many fun activities….soccer (Sammi only), ice-skating (Nicki only), weekly art studio classes (both), Girl Scouts (both), Indian Princesses (both), and…oh my this list is long….is that why my life is crazy?….and weekly private swimming lessons (both). Ah well. It’s all good…it really is…and they are just simply delightful wonderful sweet caring awesome little girls. Have I ever mentioned how lucky I think we are?
So….a few pics this afternoon though you’d think I’d have a lot more since it’s been so long since I’ve posted. The issue is that I’ve been using my BB camera-phone and #1) hassle to get them off and # 2) pics are awful…..duh- I need to stop doing that and use my ‘real’ camera. I’m thinking this springtime business will get me back in gear here.
Sammi on left, Nicki on right

Fuzzy but a full family picture for once!!

Nicki-Noodle—see the lovely haircut?

And look at Sammer’s short cut…! :)

They love-love-love to cook….

Soccer-Sammi…she is WILD about playing. I resisted for so long because I personally cannot stand soccer but…..I relented and…..I am kinda sorta enjoying the chatting with the Moms on the sidelines and watching Sammi have a blast…

One of the girls’ best friends (K-K) plays, too….

Sammi at the art table looking at ‘masterpieces’ on the IPAD and doing her best to copy them. She is such an incredible amazing phenom (ok, I’ll stop but gosh) artist for her age. I’ll post some of her work soon.

And then NIcki-Noodle with our beloved dog, Buddy.
s,
All for now. Got to go get the girls off the bus!! (yes, I am now home to greet the bus everyday!…Whole post in itself).
Hugs,
Cin