Monday, July 14, 2008

this old house

dan the man


his side kick R2D2


ain't no ladder high enough


there are so many wonderful qualities to living in an old (1880's) home on a tree- and porch-lined street. anyone who knows us has heard (ad nauseum?) how much we love our block friends. we also love our mature gardens and front-facing porches which host conversations, happy hours, and casual shout-outs to dog walkers and trike riders.

well any commentary on our life here over the past year would be incomplete without a four squirt-gun salute to dan, the man who removes all the wallpaper and duct tape that holds our house together. he replaces the licorice-like wiring, and adds insulation where no insulation has ever gone before. all with the patience (for the house and us) of a saint. he answers so many of the boys' questions, "dan, what are you doing? what's that? can i do it?" as you may be able to tell, dan is working in our dining room. and as you can see, especially through the eyes of a 3-5 year old boy, there's lots of fun stuff in there! so the house rule is no kids on the white tarp. the boys are really building up their calf muscles tiptoeing along the edge to get as close as they can to the action without teetering into the white zone. sig likes to come home from work to see what happened in the dining room that day, too, but we let him go on the tarp.

dan is a foodie, too, so it's fun to be able to feed someone during the day, who doesn't complain about trying new things:) we've been dipping into my beef jerky stash from MI, sipping sun tea, and dan will even eat an occasional PEZ if the boyz offer.

with all the old houses on the street (and such the nice and talented guy he is,) Dan's white station wagon practically has an honorary spot on our street. he's regularly invited to our block party and last year, his car was on our street every work day from new year's to christmas (and no, you can't have his number;)

thanks for everything dan - for making all of us and our home very happy!

xo b/s/e/k

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

run and jump and slip and fall and slide and laugh

but the marketing department thought that product name wasn't "catchy" enough.

ethan, kola, and friends on a wonderful summer day in the yard...

abbey road? (john and george not pictured)


kola catching big air


mr. sprinkle toes


more run, more fun

Sunday, July 6, 2008

road trip!

checking out indy

happy passengers

visiting friends!


although the blog has been quiet, it's only because our last few weeks have been all but... first was a road trip ethan and i took to indianapolis to visit our friends laura, pat, colin, brendan, and caroline. we had such a great time catching up, relaxing with our friends, staying up too late, catching fireflies, swimming, and touring a new city. we loved indy which is a great town - and was only overshadowed by the time we spent with our friends there. we walked and ate our way through the town, visited a wonderful park and natural area, and ethan spent hours acquainting himself with the 3-car garage and its accompanying remotes and buttons. the barn-buster was their house's intercom system. i can't believe ethan hasn't already requested one for christmas.

other summer fun includes the revival of VOW (volleyball on woodbine,) an outdoor concert with the flemmings and other friends, slip and slide (or in ethan and kola's case, slip and fall,) kiddieland, and our vacation last week in michigan. wouldn't be fair to post about that before the pics arrive. promise to get those done asap - check back soon! xo, b/s/e/k