Beauty and the Birds

We've got to soak up these weekday field trips while we can since Ava will be starting school in the fall.  Besides Wednesday morning roller skating I think we'll miss zoo discount days the most.  She cannot get enough of these colorful birds.  She must have had at least ten land on her and take a drink from her little cup.  

 Willa and Ian weren't so sure about the birds but Mama took one (or two) for the team so they could get a closer look.  Such a weird feeling when they're on your arm.

 I think I was audibly shrieking in this photo as one landed briefly on my head and then flew off.

 Joy

 Seeing her in her element makes for one happy mama

 The bird whisperer

 Trying to show Ian how it's done

 He prefers the hands-off approach to bird feeding

 Admiring his big sister as she double fists the lories

 Roar!

 We prefer lion sculptures to actual lions

 Peanut butter and jelly faces

 Tag in the masses

 I love these early warm summer days!

Birthday adventure

This year for our birthdays we received an extra gift from our friend Colleen.  She offered to take our kiddos for the day so we could do a little wandering.  I know, I'm a lucky lucky girl.  It helps that our kids love her and she spoils them rotten.  Can't you tell they were a sad mess when it was time for us to leave?  Thank you Colleen!

After driving east for a good hour and a half we stopped for a twix ice cream bar.  It changed our lives forever.  It was bliss mixed with contentment and wrapped in a rainbow. 

Then we crossed into Washington, parked our car, and summited a cliff.  It was steep and rocky and warm and sort of a cross between the desert and the moors of england.  But more importantly, it was the perfect place to laugh and talk and hold hands.

This little guy wanted to hold hands too, but for obvious reasons we had to move him back to his grassy home and continue on our journey.

Look, it's our car!

He wouldn't let me get ten feet from the edge and then he does this.  

It was so beautiful

But I had a pasta dinner and a hot date waiting

35 now whew...when did that happen?  I'm glad we're still taking our adventures when we can get them.  It may not be the cliffs of Levanto, but I guess you have to start somewhere when the priorities become two brown eyed babies waiting for you at home.  Here's to our mid thirties and the many chapters to come!

love letter part 2

Dear Ava,
Oh, my sweet twinkle toes.  As much as I'm loving our standing two am date discussing various items such as bad dreams about you being a chicken who only laid one egg, itchy noses, mosquito bites and that vicious splinter you got from running around without your shoes on, I have to tell you that things are going to go downhill very quickly unless we reschedule for a more convenient time.  Ian is not the least bit pleased about the aforementioned tricycle incident.  The neighbors became concerned when I backed into the recycling bin so hard it flew into the street.  And I certainly didn't enjoy this morning's orange juice after I had poured it into my cereal.  I love you and I know that these are very serious psychological issues so I've taped a picture of mommy to your bedroom door.  She is more then happy to address any concerns between the hours of 10pm and 7am.
Love,
Zombie Mama

love letter part 1

Dear Ian,
Oh, my sweet little pookie.  I forgive you for casually ripping up the beautiful present I had just wrapped for your dear cousin Elia, using the last shred of wrapping paper that we had in the house.  And I forgive you for then using the adult scissors to cut up the twelve hand curled ribbons into a hundred tiny pieces.  Your pile was very organized.  And I had no idea that you knew had to use scissors so well.  It must have taken a great deal of hand-eye coordination.  Thank you for not cutting up the beautiful tulip dress that was inside.  And for not cutting your hair.  And for not cutting your chubby wubby fingers off.  Not necessarily in that order, ok, maybe a teeny-tiny bit in that order.  I promise that this incident had nothing to do with me running over your radio flyer tricycle this week.  For that we'll blame Ava.

Love,

Mama

Barcelona nights

So Rebekah, I noticed you painted your nails purple.  What's the occasion?  What?  Oh, thanks for noticing.  That's just because Ben and I went out to a rock show last night.  On a Tuesday.  At 10pm.  It was awesome.  We sat at the bar and had a beer.  The music was fantastic.  Just a typical weekday night for us.  What you don't believe me?  Ok, your right.  This was no usual affair.  It really takes a village, so here's the shout-out to the peeps who made it happen:

First I would like to thank my parents who took the first leg of childcare.  This was the hard shift people.  We're talking dinner, playing, and full bedtime routine.  I should insert here that before attending said show we had to lead our dear friends in a biblical study on the book of Revelation.

I don't want to leave out our small group who put up with our half-a**ed leadership due to all the preparations for the evening, including but not limited to, bed making, laundry, nail painting, extra time to apply mascara, and dinner.  Thank you for your words of hope and promise.  You were with us in spirit.

To Kirstin who took the second leg of child care and spent the night just in case our youthful endeavors carried us out past 5am.  You had to drive a long way just to watch cable tv.  I'll never forget your sacrifice.

And finally to Amy who believed in us and never once doubted that our dreams of staying out past 11pm could become a reality.  Without your support and encouragement all this wouldn't have been possible.

And to anyone else who contributed in any small way to this achievement I'm sorry I've forgotten to mention your name.  You will receive your reward in heaven.

Now go buy Barcelona's new and old album and relive this historic event with us!

dancing queen

Ava had her last ballet class of the year today and it's a good thing cause mama needs a break.  She was so proud of her hard work for Hansel & Gretel and has all of her flowers next to her bed.  Her teacher is still commenting on how happy she was to be out there dancing.  I was so proud to see her up on stage beaming as she tried to remember her steps.  She may not be the best dancer but she's definitely the most enthusiastic. 

Final touch-ups

Heading out to the stage

Silly village girls

My baby girl

Posing with the witch

Grandma & Grandpa came on opening night

She wouldn't let her flowers go and refused to hold them in any other position until I put them in the vase

Her teachers came for a matinee

Look close, she's the only one smiling

Her biggest (and fuzziest) fans

Love this girl!

W_EE_ O_ FO_TU_E

We decided to celebrate our potential 2 seconds of fame on Wheel of Fortune with a party.  We actually never saw ourselves on camera but hey, any excuse to eat cake right?  

I would really like to say that this was the cake I made and although I am twelve shades of crazy when it comes to cooking, I didn't set aside six hours of my day to roll fondant in seven colors.  So the actual result was what I prefer to call "rustic."

I used Alton Brown's angel food cake recipe and it was fantastic!  I highly recommend it if you have 12 egg whites laying around.  Which actually happens to me quite a bit.  It's probably a sign that I should stop making me so much ice cream and quiche.

These two are such good friends.  John always lets Ava be the pink power ranger and she can wield a sword with the best of them.

Sibling love

Ninjago pose

Anne and I doing our best Vanna