Helping outside

Here is Henry helping daddy troubleshoot the axle on the wagon. 

 Hmmm, that was boring!

 Maybe if you tried this...

 Here is the problem, there is no baby inside.

 Happy boy, even wearing a girls hat! 

Portland Flatbread Company

Hanging out outside the restaurant in downtown Portland, which is, of course, right on the ocean. Kids playing on a giant anchor. David and Ava, the bravest of the bunch.

Henry scoping it all out.  

 Ava and Michael loved the pizza. Michael said it was phenomenal. Of course watching it in the giant glowing oven in the middle of the room was cool too.

 Trying to get a shot of Michael not talking, it is harder than you would think!

 Henry having a blast! 

Grace holding down the anchor. 

Climbing to the top!  

Circle Journal

This is something I started with Theresa when she moved away. Now we are not the best at working on it diligently, which is one of the reasons why I love it. No pressure. I love seeing pictures of the kiddies or things that are going on at their house!

 My best friend at one of our yoga retreats. So relaxing and so much fun!

 Directions on how our circle journal works! 

"The very thought of you, being so far away, makes us crazy!"

 Old Orchard Beach for Michael's 7th birthday, golf.

Ava stealing food from David. 

 A fun day at the Bog Walk.

Birthday party/BBQ with all out besties!  

New baby. 

Michael and David cracking themselves up! 

 The best part about this journal? It is a work in progress, it grows with us, it makes us feel close. 

Picnic time

This weekend we headed down to Bar Harbor for a little picnic and playing in the park.  

Here is Derek and sissy walking to town for some ice cream.

 Michael loves to push Henry in the stroller. Henry (as you can clearly see) would rather walk.

One of Michael's favorite things to do, skip rocks in the ocean. 

Henry trying to figure out what his big brother is doing. 

OK, I get it. 

This is interesting. 

Sissy being sad, because she could only find two pieces of sea glass.  Don't worry
ice cream perked her right up! 

Out with the old and in with the new!

Our super green (literally) counter top. I might actually I miss it. It didn't matter if we painted on it or colored outside the paper. Grandpa took out the sink and plumbed out new dishwasher. We have NEVER had a dishwasher before!

 Patsy and I getting ready for the rebar.

 We made this one upside right, unlike the other three that we made upside down. End result it is a little lumpy which will require more sanding, but sure beats trying to flip a 97x 48 foot piece of concrete!

Once it is dry we will unscrew the frame.

 

 Ava was so tired, she fell asleep sitting up! She helped with Henners, and it was a LONG day! 

Crafty friends

I am so lucky to have some AWESOME crafty friends. Here is a project that my friend Lori and I stumbled on, on the internet. It looked simple and quick and adorable, stamp your own coasters. And for ONCE it ACTUALLY was! I bought some marble tiles for super cheap at Lowes and Lori picked up the stamps and the sealant. And we had a stamping party! Even Ava got in on the fun.

Here is the lot of them.

So cute!

Lori and the gang. Best part - even the crazy kids don't scare her away! We have a few great ideas tucked up our sleeves, perhaps for next weekend. 

We gave our friend Lynn from work a special care basket full of cute crafty things like these coasters. She is a ray of sunshine at our work and she recently lost her baby calf and her sister is terminally ill. She still manages to mother us and worry about each and every one of us like we were her kids and we love her for it!  

Stay tuned for Lori and Amanda Crafty Maniacs updates! 

Super star

This week Michael was the shining star of his class. They sent home a note on Friday asking for us to send in a poster chronicling his milestones, special things about him and things and people that are important to him by MONDAY! So despite the fact that we had scheduled the weekend for making a 97x48 concrete counter top for our island and multiple other weekend plans we went to work on making a shrine worthy of our biggest boy. Ava was (of course) a huge help. The end result???

He LOVED it and so did the teachers. Derek told the school he was up all night finishing it but I think they may have guessed who was really in charge. Once the week is over we are going to put it up in his room. What do you think? Did we capture the real Michael?

Me

My Favorite things:

 My kindle and reading, reading while I craft, reading while I run (love the adjustable font!)

 Reading real books!

 My gardens, whether it be planning or planting

My writing, a work in progress