lots of love

i love this little man.

little dwayne-wayne ;)

and i love this big man.

(who is annoyed i am taking pics of the little man before our bike ride.)

but how can i not take pics of this?

and the little lady.

love her bunches too.

(especially when she is rockin her inner suburbia gangsta ;)

and the porch. i love the porch.

and lilly's sunflowers. love those too.

she is the queen of growing sunflowers.

1st day of 1st

here she is.

little miss first grader.

how did that happen?

i have a first grader? what!?!

wow.

the real lilly ;)

cohen says... 'take my picture like this'.

um. ok. newspaper boy.

lilly and her boys.

and some back to school cookies.

a great reason to have some homemade sugar cookies, id say :)

we all survived the first day.

(mommy included)

besides a misplaced lunchbox.

garage saling!!

there have been very few free saturday mornings lately.
and even fewer free saturday mornings with a little extra cash in my wallet.

today was free.
and a few dollars were in my wallet.
(and daddy needed some free time to work on the porch)

1 brand new Blue jackets hat
1 brand new Blue jackets visor
1 Bread slicer thing
1 Corn off the cob tool
3 eye spy books
4 amelia bedelia books
6 other kids books
1 book for mommy
1 Colombia winter jacket
2 long sleeve shirts for lilly
2 football shirts
1 one striped shirt for cohen
1 pair of monkey pjs
3 jeans for lilly (1 gap, 2 old navy)
1 old navy khaki capris
1 Cherokee khaki pants
1 swimsuit
1 Bathrobe for emma lily
2 outfits for emma lily
1 pair of underwear for emma lily (lilly’s build a bear)

4 garage sales.

10.00
2.00
1.00
0.10
(then home as that is about all the kids can take.)

$13.10 less in my wallet.
but with all kind of new to us goodies!

thank you garage sales!

painting.

the painting bug has hit our house.

dave and the kids surprised mommy with a newly painted bedroom :)

and see this beauty?

(the table... though lilly is cute too)

free at a garage sale.

check out her gorgeous legs.

and now with some hand-me-down chairs from a friend.

hoping to turn our 'dining room' into a school-ish room.

(to make homework more fun ;)

and here... a sneak peak of our painting makeover ;)

free things and leftover paint are wonderful.

summertime recipes :)

wanted to share 2 new summer recipes.

they are so good i [almost] want to cry.

yes. i am not kidding.

i love food a little too much.

Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad

2 c. fresh corn (I used 3 ears)
1 avocado, diced
2 c. cherry tomatoes, cut in half (or whatever tomatoes are overflowing in your garden)
red onion, finely diced (however much you like)

1. combine into bowl

Dressing:
2 T. olive oil
1 T. fresh lime juice
1/2 tsp. grated lime zest
1/4 c. chopped fresh cilantro (less for dried)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper

2. Mix together & pour over salad.

you may hate me for sharing these ice cream recipes with you.
but i dont mind ;)

easy homemade icecream without a machine.

we made nutella peanut butter chip.
and cinnamon bun.
oh my. they are too delicious.
not sure that i will ever buy ice cream again.
(ok, well i probably will... )
(but these are pretty amazing and easy... so i should just make it)
(print these recipes (and then some) here)

i now need a nice big round ice cream scoop to make prettier ice cream photos.
my mind is dreaming of all the flavors we can make.
dave has requested snickers ice cream.
and i am planning on 'grandma's jam' ice cream for our next batch.

see why i jog??

2nd 5K

2nd 5K last night.
7:00 pm.
still hot.
still muggy.

but guess what.
i cut 6 minutes off my 1st 5K time.

last night i ran a 30:46 5K.
that is BIG to me.

i never thought i'd be jogging around the block.
let alone 3.1 miles.

i try not to brag.
to boast.
but i am really proud of myself over this thing :)
this is really big.

i may need a new pair of shoes.
and a running skirt :)

random summer post

Time for another random post.

Our summer checklist is coming along fine.
It may flow into Fall (or Winter or Spring)… summer break is almost over.

We went to 2 fairs.
Our county fair.
And the Ohio State fair.
Ran into Dave’s cousin’s family the first 10 minutes we were there.

And ate some fair healthy food.

and look at this adorable quilt!!

The kids took swim lessons.
(Lilly’s teacher was one of my former students!!)

One more week for the kid’s gymnastics class.
Cohen passed his Stinger 1 skating class.

Dave and I started P90X.
And it’s kicking my butt.

enjoying fresh tomatoes and peppers and cucumbers from the garden.
(we've been enjoying the farmer's market too.)

Made some of grandma’s jam.
And grandma’s pickles.

Made ice cream last night.

Getting ready for company.
And a 5K.
And scrapping.
And for both kids to start school.
And redoing some furniture.
And doing some painting.
And some decorating.
And updating LBE.
(Did you see the cute Little Beans on the LBE blog??)

Life is busy.
Not too much time for sitting and doing nothing.
Though I’m ready for a day like that.

lakeside mini-vacation 2010

we had planned to go to Lakeside all day Saturday.
well... Dave came home early Friday.
i got on the phone frantically looking for a place to stay.
and we turned our 1 day trip into a Fri-Sunday mini vacation.
very spur of the moment.
which is very uncharacteristic of me. 
but very much fun.
and so so glad we went with the wind.

if you've never been to Lakeside.
you should.
you will be glad you did.

for starter's...  shuffleboard.
at Lakeside it is not just a game for the elderly ;)

i think the little man is a natural.

i think he will be good at any sport.

just like his daddy.

we are so keeping score next time.

a frozen berry drink for the kids

a hazelnut frappe for mommy.

from summerstock.

owned an operated by columbus locals :)

getting daddy a milkshake from the patio.

enjoying some lights after the orchestra concert.

yikes. is this so dreamy, or what?

i think i may have to print and frame this one.

the charm is just too much.

ok now.

this is pretty much the whole reason we came to lakeside this year.

saturday morning.

Patio donuts.

homemade. fresh. warm.

the. best. donuts. ever.

ever! i tell you.

(if you do go to Lakeside. do not miss them.)

sitting on the dock waiting for break time to be up.

golf cart ride!

can't call it a Lakeside vacation without a little golfcarting.

what was leftover from our dinner at Sloopy's.

dave claimed their Hula Bowl pizza the best he has ever had.

as in... his favorite. 

and Dave is a pizza critic.  so that is saying something.

and that cheesy pizza bread was delicious too.

oh my. i could live on cheesy bread.

(oh. and then we ate up those last 2 little pieces...)

the kids requested their pic in front of this finely decorated cottage ;)

ice cream!

another Lakeside must do.

lilly got key lime.

me... java chip.

cohen... cotton candy.

dave... some kind of delicious chocolate chip mint something.

saturday night concert.
the spinners.
so. much. fun.
they were quite adorable.
and i even knew a handful of songs!!
lilly and i made it through the whole show.
cohen, daddy and a number of older lakesiders, not so much ;)



sunday morning.
P-A-T-I-O.
patio donuts.
again.  yes please.

kid's church with chip richter.
always fun there :)

craft time :)

and a little more shuffleboard before heading home.

hope to see you again soon Lakeside!
we miss you already.