Airborne Night Out

aka: our ball

We had fun. And the Airborne and Special Operations Museum where we held the event was really neat.

And a mini-I Made This. :)

For the table decor I made forty flower arrangements of alstromeria and whatever that purple leaf is, at my friend Amy's house on Thursday. (Don't tell anyone but the purple leaves came from a bush in her neighbor's yard. Don't worry we got permission) I had nothing to do with their transport to the site or their actual set up. So I was really glad to see they made it.

Baby Jackson is Here!

Meet the Campbells.

Shawn and Staci are our weekly dinner date. And now there is one more in our gathering!

Jackson Tyler arrived yesterday evening weighing 7lbs 7oz and measuring 21inched long. We headed over to the hospital this morning to take them breakfast and meet the little guy.

He's just darling. Jackson will be staying with Lil and I during the days when his mommy has to go back to work. We're looking forward to having him.

Oh, and that new baby smell! Mmmmm.

I Made This - Part 2

Do you know The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carl?

Do you remember Shrinky Dinks?

I was inspired by another craft maven out there on the big ol' blogosphere.

First I traced out all the things the caterpillar ate on SD paper and cut them out. Then I put little holes in them and shrank them down charm size.

You can see skinny caterpillar and fat caterpillar in this photo.

Oooo, and all the things he ate on Saturday. That would give me a tummy ache too!

Pretty cute!

I'll share more tomorrow. My friend Staci is in the hospital delivering baby Jackson as we speak, and I have a ball to go get ready for!!

I Made This

It's been a while since I showed you what I'd been making. (And I did mention that I was making a hostess gift for my friend Lucy, I haven't forgotten.) I'll have to break out the camera and run around collecting pictures of the stuff I have made recently so that I can show you tomorrow.

Meanwhile... here's the apron I made for Lucy. :)

Yogurt

It gets everywhere!

She like's to do it herself.

What can I say?

Garden Update

Look at these lovely zucchini! The tomatoes clearly are not ripe yet, but Lily wanted to help pick something too today. While I was busy getting the zucs, she was on the other side of the planters picking the baby 'maters.

The planter has gotten out of control, in the five days we were gone.

Goodness, the aphid population had gone crazy!

I'm happy to report the Ladybugs have been mating and happily eating away at those nasty aphids. These are ladybug pupa that are waiting to break out of their shells as adults.

And the cucumbers are finally starting to produce too. We ate a cucumber this evening, I've never had one quite so sweet!

Even the tomato plants have grown out of control.

With tomatoes this size (that aren't even ripe yet!) the branches are having a very hard time staying upright.

I'm just glad the yard service is too lazy to mow and weed-whack nicely around things or I might be in trouble. ;)

Home Again

We made it home safe this evening! Back from the big city.

Lily screamed most of the way home. First she didn't want to leave. :( And then she didn't want to be in her seat.

I'm off to watch the Tale of Despereaux with Jake to unwind before bed.

National Museum of Natural History

We had a great time at the Natural History Museum today! As usual, Lily was our tour guide and took us whichever direction she thought we should go. I just wanted to share a few pictures.

Oops, forgot to turn off the flash.

The tallest totem pole I've ever seen... there are three flights of stairs in this picture!

The Hope Diamond. Of course.

I love the little kid looking on in the background.

And good ol' T-rex!

Today's Update

This is a quick post... I have to go get ready for my date!

This is the view from my seat at the baseball game last night. :)

Nats lost 4-2 in extra innings we didn't stay for. :(


We passed by the White House today... see, here's proof we were there.

And I love the juxtaposition of this picture. The statue of Iwo Jima, the Washington monument and the capitol building in the background. It's kind of like where's waldo.

The National Zoo

We took Lil to the National Zoo today with our friends, Lucy and David.

We got to see the Giant Panda, but they were too busy being aloof to get a good picture. :(

Lily did have fun playing one, two, threeeeeeee (swing) with Lucy and Jacob.

And she had the best time running all over the place... please-do-not-hold-her-hand, thank-you.

We saw a little chipmunk who was not on the official Zoo map anywhere. I looked.

And a huge, ferocious, pygmy hippo who kindly showed us his tusks.

It was a pretty neat trip and tonight we are headed out to a baseball game. :) yay!

More Party Pics

Remember Devlin? This is her Grandma Jill. One of the sweetest ladies I've ever met. :)
I just liked the way this picture came out and had to share.

Lily really did have a great time playing, and the swing was a big hit that day. Not to ride it, mind you, but to twist it in circles, round and round and round!

Lele even sat at the table with the three and four year olds for cake and ice cream. Was she ever proud!

140/365

It's been a busy couple of days over here... I know I am not blogging properly. :( We had the birthday party yesterday and a Brigade Social tonight, plus I have been busily crafting a hostess gift for my friend Lucy.

Did I mention we are headed out of town tomorrow afternoon for the long weekend? We are headed for DC. It's going to be my first time. :) I'm pretty excited about it and looking forward to taking Lily to the Zoo and seeing the Natural History Museum. We're going to catch a Nationals baseball game Friday night. And our friends are even going to watch Lily one night so that we can go out on a real date in a real city!

Let's see if I can figure out how to blog through a weekend away from home. ;)

Birthday Party

We went to our friend Devlin's birthday party today. Dev turned four. :)

Lil had lots of fun playing with the "big" kids!

Happy Birthday Devlin!

Lil Likes Books

I love it when Lily reads her books to herself!

Sorry the sound is so quiet... I had to be relatively far away from her so I wouldn't get caught right away.

Twilight

Okay, so I waited a bit to write this blog entry so that you wouldn't know that I read the second book in the Twilight series in one day. Of course, that would require me not telling you that I read it all in one day... but whatever.

I want to start by saying I had no intention of reading these books. I hate to be trendy, and with all the attention this series has gotten (not to mention the movies!) I was totally turned off.

But I asked my friend Amy to loan me a book and Twilight was one of the two she brought over.

Here's what I don't get: Edward is supposed to be 110 years old, what does he want with a seventeen year old? Yeah, her blood is his "siren song" or whatever. So then how does he manage to over-come the urge to gulp her down?

sing songy voice Ooo, he lurves her.

Let me restate: he's 110 years old. Far old enough to know he should stay far away from the drama that is high school and teenage girls.

The nitwit! (and I mean Bella here) Not the brightest bulb in the box; not always making the best choices. Yes, I know we have to have a damsel in distress to make the love story work. But seriously? (I hear you Linda!)

ptuey! I had to spit to get the bad taste out of my mouth.

Oh! And how creepy is it that he's in her room watchig her sleep at night? Makes my skin crawl.

And yet I really enjoyed the stories... so much so that I read devoured the second one to the neglect distress of my poor Lele. And I will read the others as well, much to my shame.

Perhaps it is the Jake character that keeps me coming back for more. What with his tall lankiness, and shy awkwardness, sinewy strength and mechanical abilities that remind me so much of another Jake I know. Right down to the shaggy hair that my brother sported not too long ago. Does anyone know if they are still casting for New Moon - the movie? I know the perfect guy to play Jake Black --- Jake Headd.

Jake Black... that's funny for a whole other reason. Have you met my husband?

Don't you hate it...

...when you get caught with your pants down?

Yeah. Me too.

Date Night

Jake and I just got back from seeing Angels and Demons. It was entertaining... but as all books that come from movies... it just wasn't the same.

Before we left Lily was helping me get ready. She sat on the toilet lid and watched me do my hair and make-up. And then when we came out to the living room she managed to get one of my shoes on... so I helped her get the other one on, which she thought was too cool.

Enjoy. :)

The Mama with a hose!

As I recall, all you kids liked the hose, too!

The Front Garden

Lily was helping me water today. :)

Is it wrong that I just let her go with the hose? She ended up very wet... but she was very happy.

By the way I think we misuse the word pansy. My pansies are the heartiest flowers I ever saw!

I think if someone ever called me a pansy, I would say thank you and take it as a compliment.

Excuses

Jacob let us get a Wii.

We spent so much time on it today, I forgot to blog.

He saved me. :) (by reminding me)

You'll just have to wait for my inane chatter until tomorrow.

Sitting in a Meeting

We got bored...

...Lily entertained us.

Confession

I honestly think I am a good mom.
----I almost feel like that's taboo; what with all the "bad mom" confession websites and the Oprah specials, et al.
----My kids is well fed, (usually) bathed and incredibly loved. Who cares if there are toys all over my living room? Or that there are dishes in my sink? I have a busy toddler!

I don't do my hair and makeup (or work out) often enough.
----I know a woman I met in Germany, who always looks so effortlessly stylish, is active and spends lots of time outdoors and at the beach. She awakens a little gremlin inside of me that says I am such a frump so not with it!

My kid dresses cuter than I do.

----I have a new rule that when I buy clothes, I am not allowed to purchase plain t-shirts.

----Though it's not like I buy clothes all that often, so it's a slow battle to become more stylish.

Tha's all for now. Thanks for listening.

I feel a bit better.

Today's Highlights

Happy Mother's Day to all my Mommy, Grandmommy, and Godmommy friends! (Yes, that means you too Kaitlin!)

This morning Jacob and Lily got up early and let me sleep in. :) And the coffee was ready when I got up... just the way I like it.

We spent most of the day just hanging out around the house, playing on the floor, dancing to the radio and whatever else Lil could come up with.

I did get to water and weed my garden in the quiet while Lily napped this morning, which was nice.

Then when she got up Lily did the vacuuming for me. It sure does take a long time to finish when she decides to help.... But someday I'll want her to do it all by herself, so it wouldn't do to discourage her now. At least she's not afraid of it's noise.

And after a spaghetti dinner, we shared a blow-pop, yum!

Now Lele is in bed and Jake and I are going to watch The Dark Night.

What a lovely day. :)

The Pacific Coast

Over 25 years ago! This might not have been the first time you saw the Pacific Ocean, but it was pretty close. Daddy took the pictures, of course. And I'm guessing I was pregnant with Stevie, or soon to be ;)!

It was foggy that day. Not nearly as gorgeous as the sunny pictures you posted!

I'm having a hard time figuring which of our little girls was cuter! (more cute?) ;)