so far this week

camping in our backyard

1. monday we didn't do much except celebrate one of my nieces 10th birthday. i brought over buffalo ranch dip which was a hit. except i got told that i must always bring my jalapeno stuffed peppers too.

2. yesterday mike + kaylee wanted to go camping so we headed over to our next big city and bought a tent from dicks sporting goods.

3. we also ate lunch at the olive garden since its one of two places kaylee loves to eat at. [the other is the buffalo store as she calls it]

4. after lunch we went to best buy to look at appliances.

5. i love how its ok to upgrade the kitchen now that mike is needing a beer fridge. we found what we want so later this week we will go back and make the big purchases.

6. grilled a yummy dinner of bacon wrapped filets, grilled corn on the cob and risotto. later we had s'mores for dessert.

7. kaylee + mike did the camping. i got to sleep in my comfy bed all by myself. what a treat! [and i think i get it all to myself again tonight]

8. today was a boring day for me. mike did some tinkering around the house but i didn't feel like doing anything on my "to-do" list so i just followed him around and watched him.

9. kaylee was busy playing with her neighbor friend.

10. both of my trips have been canceled this week. :[ my friend who i was going to indy with had some horrible news with her family. and since we're making big appliance purchase- no ikea for me.

i love summer weekends!

1. this little guy is no longer by our mailbox.

2. wonder if that was him by our front door window showing off how beautiful he turned out.

3. friday twilight night was wicked FUN! definitely loved the second movie and we had some great laughs. [i have to admit that i did some improper immature behavior when jacob showed up on screen]

3. saturday we were bored so we went to laporte to have mike's parents feed + entertain us.

4. sunday started slow and lazy then at last minute we decided to head up to chicago to see the white sox continue their winning streak. [11 consecutive games]

5. we dropped kaylee off at mike's parents house since we were scalping tickets. its easier getting 2 tickets instead of 3.

6. while mike was waiting for me while i was waiting in line for the bathroom. a lady asked him if he knew anyone who needed tickets. what luck! we sat in section 153 which is close to 3rd base.

7. and i have to say it had to be men who engineered building a women's bathroom with only 2 stalls. [outside the ball park. inside it was better]

8. the game ended up being really exciting even though we lost.

9. today we're lazy again but isn't that what summer is all about?

10. mike + kaylee are now at the driving range hitting some golf balls. we hope to turn kaylee into the next michelle wie but better :]

call me a cougar

1. but i find taylor to be HOT! is that wrong?

2. this morning i noticed 95% of my closet is full of clothes thats too small. mike's responds- just work out a couple of months, you will get back down to that size. if only it could be that easy!

3. i won my ebay bid on a stainless steel cooler. really didn't need one but they sure do look cool.

4. i'm making hamilton wait at the car place for an hour- wooo- so he can get his car aligned. [he wanted me to pick him up]

5. yes, hamilton is up before noon today. he finally got up when he got sick of my singing for him to wake up. i'm a horrible singer!

6. chantale- i wish you were my indy shopping friend too. my friend might bail out on me.

7. i do not feel like cleaning or cooking today. i want to go appliance shopping instead.

8. mike finding his beer fridge isn't working out so well so we will just upgrade the kitchen [been wanting too anyway] and the fridge thats in the kitchen will go out to the garage and he gets the old, crappy one for his beer.

9. my sister is a nutcase. and i say that with love. she needs help but won't stay to get it. hopefully her husband will make her stay.

10. hope everyone has a great weekend!

needed: vacation: alone

all the girl cousins playing. kaylee is behind cate on the double swing

1. my little nugget was crying a few minutes ago because she has to clean her room so i gave her a choice. clean your room + keep your toys or watch tv but the toys will go to someone who wants them.

2. she's cleaning her room.

3. hamilton is on my last nerve too. his car has cost us $400 just so he can put some coil overs on them. don't ask. and yes. i know. he needs a job. he gets no more money.

4. can't wait for my twilight movie party tomorrow night. finally came up with a menu: veggie pizza, buffalo chicken dip w/chips, brownies, popcorn, rice krispie treats and watermelon margaritas besides a few other beverages.

5. my afternoon "tea" went well yesterday afternoon. proud of myself for getting all fancy and using the amish tray i bought strawberry picking and my ikea bottles for serving.

6. at some point in the conversation i mentioned that if a tree should fall i hope its on the north side of the house so i can redo my bathroom, closet + laundry. [i'm definitely making space for a craft room]

7. thought it was going to come true last night. we had a short but horrible storm. our second in a week. thankfully our electricity just flickered off and on a few times.

8. need to get an emergency kit made with working flashlights, batteries, candles + matches for kaylee. [her first storm that she fully understood]

9. mike, kaylee and i are loving this song. of course mike is loving the video more. and i want nothing more than to be a california [or hawaiian] girl.

10. mike's taking next week off so i've planned, to his delight, a day trip to ikea and another to indy. though i'm hoping the trip to indy is just me + a friend.

on my mind wednesday

kaylee with her bff's strawberry picking

1. i've been waking up early this week. [WTH!] like before 7am.

2. each time with the same symptoms: sore throat, runny/stuffy nose, my eyes glued shut-yup. stuff is coming out of my eyes too!, sore back, headaches. oh the sinus pressure headaches!

3. enough whining though. i've got some baking to do this morning!

4. 3 of my neighbor ladies are coming over for "tea". i'm actually making prickly pear cooler and mini pecan pies and a small texas sheet cake that i bought. [i can't find the link for the pecan pies]

5. and my twilight party has been rescheduled for this friday evening- HOLLA!

6. on our way to monday night dinner kaylee mentions something about ham staying out of trouble with the police. uh oh! guess we need to watch what we say around her from now on. hate for that news to get to my mom. [she's so judgmental as is + somehow that will be my fault]

7. if you haven't seen this cool family time line you must! {be sure to click on the two arrows on 2010] via hither and thither

8. been trying to work on my blog making it look pretty etc but its failing me.

9. thought of about going light brown with the hair. then decided to keep it al naturale this year.

10. and i just remembered i have a gallon of black paint that i don't know what to do with. still debating whether i should paint my bathroom cabinets with it.

the weekend

1. sunday evening kaylee and i relaxing on our new to us hammock. [thanks friend!]

2. saturday we enjoyed a birthday party for one of kaylee's bff's.

3. are we the only ones with a 5 year old who does not want to stay the night at her grandparents house??? [they do everything and anything for her]

4. it ended up working out anyway because we heard the whole town of new buffalo was out of commission because of the big storm from the night before.

5. we were one of the few lucky ones whose electricity never went out. some of our friends were out till sunday afternoon.

6. is it bad that we didn't get mike anything for fathers day? not even a card.

7. we did say happy fathers day and gave him lots of hugs and kisses and took him out to lunch and a 10pm dinner. [ham even said happy fathers day. i had kaylee remind him]

8. sometimes i wonder if i should make it big deal for the kids sake.

9. sad i cant find anyone to go to the jack johnson or black eye peas concert.

10. i want to take a road trip around michigan. start on lake michigan side and go to the top then back home on lake huron side.

its friday and i'm loving!

kaylee eating a pushpop [remember those?] last sunday at her uncle nick's graduation

1. hot weather followed by thunder + lightening storms

2. that ham has been coming home earlier than his curfew

3. the feeling that my family is safe

4. a birthday party + kaylee wanting to sleep over at nana's tomorrow night.

5. my homemade strawberry pie turned out to be delicious and someone said it could be better than moms :D [my sister]

6. my 3 mile walks and feeling great afterwards

7. though not loving trying on swimsuits and looking like a stuffed sausage

8. these pretty ballerina flats seen all over blogs world. [reminded me of an old friend from high school. she had the best flowered pumps, wish i had kept them]

9. this blog, this blog and this blog because they have great things for kids to do in the summer. i know i shared them before.

10. spin art introduced by our wonderful friends, katie, sean and michelle. they make great birthday presents. kaylee is really upset that she doesn't have one yet we keep buying them for other people. [i might let her do this one rainy afternoon]

in love with squirrelbunny

i'm in love with squirrelbunny. how cute are these necklaces? and if you order the whale [my fave] $15.00 from the sale will go help clean up the bp oil spill.

strawberry picking and some other stuff

1. i remember strawberry picking when i was a kid and wanted to share that experience with kaylee so that's what we did on monday.

2. went to a cute little farm in a nearby town with bff katie, sean, ben and lil' cameron. we even got to see +pet some of the animals. they had horses, turkeys, chickens/hens, bunnies and puppies.

3. afterwards i asked kaylee what she wanted to eat for lunch. with no hesitation she shouted "olive garden!" but i didn't want to drive from one end of town to the other so we came home.

4. yesterday my sister came by with her two girls and my other 3 nieces to play.

5. she ended up taking some of the girls + kaylee home with her.

6. so hamilton and i went and got him a new cell phone since his other phones stopped working. of course its just a "temporary" one because he wants a new iphone.

7. mike said we can both get one as long as our monthly bill is under a certain amount. [going to sell my old iphone to help with the cost]

8. so i've got some homework to do. want to see if we can lower our very expensive comcast bill.[we get cable,phone and internet through them]

9. then mike and i had a dinner at granite city.

10. then i got myself some birthday donuts for dessert. [used my birthday gift card. thanks michelle!!]

summer

this past weekend is what summer is all about:

boat riding

food eating

drinks drinking

going on a whim feeling

bonfires on the beach burning

stories sharing

football catching

dogs chasing

sandcastles building

cool rock finding

new people meeting

more food eating

and drinks drinking

mosquitoes biting

late night driving

sleeping in sleeping

life loving

impressed

1. i'm really impressed that kaylee drew all of these. she got this book for her birthday and she copied what she saw.

2. hamilton was the same way except with lego's. wonder if that has anything to do with him becoming an engineer?

3. finally got mike to agree on a small desk to add in the kitchen.

4. except this might take awhile since i have something specific in mind and now have to find it. [its a small table and chair]

5. disappointed in myself right now. haven't done anything on my to-do list with kaylee this summer.

6. or my to-do list in getting stuff organized so i can work on hamilton's scrapbooks. [i know school just got over but graduation will be here before i know it!]

7. mike's mom is driving mike's brother + girlfriend to gaitlinburg, tennessee as we speak for his graduation gift. they wanted to go river rafting and hiking. [he didn't want a huge party]

8. kaylee and i got invited and it was tempting but i didn't want to invade nick's space.

9. hamilton's curfew has been reduced to an earlier time this summer because of all the times he was naughty last summer. i'm impressed that he hasn't been giving me much grief about it. [knock on wood]

10. then again, there really isn't much to do around here.

random tuesday

hot box pizza using my hipstamatic app

1. thanks for all the anniversary love! we didn't do anything to celebrate. i think it means more doing something special on a normal day or on a whim.

2. i will have to post more about it though. it was such a fun day and people still speak about to this day.

3. after seeing nikole's sneak peak on design sponge via bonjour this morning been yearning hardcore for hardwood floors, painting and shopping for cool stuff.

4. till i started doing the bills. why do bills always ruin the fun?

5. while i don't usually get all geeky over gadgets or electronics [unless its photography related] loving the new iphone. sure does look purrdy!

6. ham won't use my current iphone because its 6 months old even though the phone he's using is my really old phone. [his broke awhile back]

7. called our local post office yesterday. in short, horrible customer service!

8. debating on going to wisconsin dells for a mini-cation. should stay home because that is one of the reasons for buying this house.

9. and i want to go someplace where i can hike and hit the beach. speaking from experience meowie [kayleeism for maui] is the perfect place to do both.

10. and i'm craving chocolate chip cookies again. [i haven't made any since my last craving for them. might have to to stop the cravings!]

we

1. met at a bar.

2. were both "wingmen".

3. dated for 3 years before he engaged [friendism] me.

{he asked my dad for my hand a week or two before]

4. sent out cook-out invitations.

5. went to florida with friends.

6. had one week to finalize everything.

7. surprised our guests when mike's uncle announced why they were really there.

8. loved hearing the ooo-'s, ahhh's and clapping while changing our clothes.

9. had hamilton be my best man while nick, mike's now 18 year old brother, was his.

10. are celebrating 7 years

i saved a chick-munk today

favorite photo of my friend christine taking total delight in licking the spoon full of dirt pudding. {photo via my friend michelle}

1. today was mike's friday off [he gets every other friday] so we went garage sale shopping looking for golf cart and fridge.

2. didn't find anything so we went to our local mall to find him some shorts. his 16 pairs isn't enough. in his defense he says he's going to goodwill some of them.

3. we hit the jackpot! he found 5 pairs of shorts, 2 dress shirts w/matching ties [hopefully for an interview soon. more on that later] and some new sneakers. everything but the sneakers were on sale. ON SALE! men's clothes are hardly ever ON SALE!

4. besides hair envy, i'm having photography envy- she's only 17 and so is she. and either one can date hamilton, they are both beautiful.

5. want to make a homemade striped t-shirt like these from here and of course here.

6. i want these tv cabinets that she found for $2! i would paint them white and green and use them to house kaylee's books in her bedroom.

7. wish this would be one of those nights hamilton comes home before curfew. mike runs a half marathon tomorrow which means we leave the house by 6:15am.

8. sunday mike's brother graduates high school.

9. while folding laundry on my bed, hamilton announces that our pesky cat, booah, has brought in a dead critter and is now playing with it. i run getting ready to be grossed out when mike chases him outside with it.

10. it was a chick-munk [kayleeism] and it was still alive! i screamed at booah to let it go but he was showing off and didn't let go till mike started chasing him. the chick-munk got away and ran up a tree while booah looked at me with disgust.

thursday already???

one of my favorite photos from saturday [i've got many]

1. currently hating blogger. it won't let me load up more than one photo

2. busy, crazy weekend. friday evening was spent in the kitchen and cleaning the house. saturday morning mike ran a 15k which he came in second in his age group.

3. saturday we had all of our favorite people over for a cookout. lots of food was eaten. it was the most delicious spread. [chicken, ribs, pasta salad, thyme potatoes with sausage, snicker apple salad and dirt pudding. others brought veggie pizza, corn on the cob, potato salad, lemon bites and wine]

4. kids had fun playing in the sprinklers while the adults chatted and/or played and/or watched a friendly game of corn-hole.

5. i got dizzy and sick spinning the kids around and still felt ill on sunday so we chilled till we got bored. had mike text some people to see if they wanted to come over and play corn hole instead some friends took pity and invited us over.

6. monday went over to my parents house for another cookout and got to see my dad's side of the family which we don't do enough. hopefully this will be the start of a new tradition.

7. made crunchy asian salad and bayou bourbon baked beans and mike said they got the most compliments.

8. monday night kaylee stayed the night at nana's house so mike and i decided to go out.

9. decided to get a small bite to eat then see a 8:40pm movie. though after mike's drink we decided warm-ups and comfy sweatshirt sounded better so we went home.

10. a true sign that we are getting old.