Frenkles

Let it be noted that Audrey got her first freckles at the age of 5.  There are exactly three on each one of her little cherry cheeks.  Jane thinks she would like "frenkles" someday too.  Everyone is very excited.

(I would have taken a picture but you can't really see them that well yet.)

Kitchen Fix-up

I should have waited until everything was finished before I showed you the "after," but I really wanted to show everyone how the counter tops turned out.  I painted them with a kit made specifically for countertops. It was a bit time consuming (it took about a week until we could use the counters), but it looks SO much better, don't you think?!  And it was SO cheap!  In fact, for the really creative person, you could certainly just buy the paints, black base, and sealer and do it yourself.  But the kit costs probably about the same and it really makes it easy.  

I mean, it doesn't look 100% like the real thing, but I don't look at it every day and think "man, that totally looks fake."  I honestly think it totally looks like granite.  I will admit, it was hard work.  And I got very nervous a few times during the process.  But, I was able to fix any parts that I wasn't thrilled with pretty easily.  It's pretty forgiving.  

Forgive my messy kitchen and terrible photographs.  These days I just need to take the stupid pictures and blog them or I might never have anything to blog again.  Anyway, I also had to do something about the lighting situation.  I was looking at some pretty expensive fixtures for above the sink, and those were just for ones that I plug in to an outlet--we're not talking having someone put a fixture up there (which would be nice).  I just really wanted a cheap solution.  I ended up putting a shop light up (think industrial chic) with my favorite daylight lightbulbs, and then I painted the cord to match the wall paint.  It is 100% better.  Really, I love it.  And for about $10, I don't think my solution was too bad of an idea!  The only fail was when I tried to do some under-cabinet lighting.  The "easy" method the people at Home Depot sold me was definitely not easy. Even for me. ;)  So, that problem might have to be addressed by a trained professional.  In the meantime, it's pretty dark at the other work surfaces.  I do think task lighting in there would be a good investment on the house, though.  

And finally, hardware for the cabinets.  I think that'll really perk things up.  I was going to paint the cabinets, but after the counter top job, I'm all painted out.  I think white cabinets would really brighten the place up, but I don't want to be the one to do it.  I do want to leave something fun for the next people to do!  Turns out I liked this simple (cheap) hardware best.  I'll take another picture . . . and clean the kitchen . . . so you can really see the finished product.

Also, I re-arranged my living room again.  I think I've finally found the right set-up.  BUT I didn't take a picture, because lately Audrey has been re-arranging my living room also.  She makes forts and "displays" every day.  On second thought, I'm totally going to take a picture of that.  :P

Daddy's Day

We've had a lot of things to celebrate the last couple of weeks.  My birthday, Dave's birthday, and Father's Day.  For my birthday/Dave's birthday, we went to a Ben Folds concert (SO fun)!  For Father's Day, I got Dave a Wii (Audrey is so fun to play Mario Kart with).  But I think one of my favorite parts was when Jane and Dave played "spiders."  They play it a lot.  Jane is such a cuddly little thing, and whenever she cuddles with Dave, they make these little spiders with their hands.  Their pointer is the head, then they have 4 little legs, and they scuttle around  and talk to each other.  :)  Jane always uses a baby voice and follows the Daddy spider around where ever the Daddy spider goes.  They do little spider tricks and give little spider hugs.  They tell little stories and laugh little spider laughs.  It's so darn cute.  Dave always did it with the girls at the kitchen table when they were little to entertain them.  The spider would sneak up to them and tickle them  under the chin.  Now they like to make their own spiders.  Dads are the best.

Toothe Fairy

I didn't mean to spell Tooth Fairy wrong . . . that was just supposed to be a little curlie Q, but it turned out looking like an E.  Oh well.  Think of her as the "Ye Olde Toothe Fairy" and it's not so dumb.  It was a lot of fun folding up the dollar!  It took me like an hour though.  :)  The butterfly is a bit tricky, but so worth it.  I kept forgetting to get a dollar the last couple of days after that second tooth came out, so finally Dave just stuck some quarters under her pillow.  :(  She was thrilled, but I had lots of fun with my little surprise and was excited to do it again.  Next time!  Gotta keep some dollars on hand.  Audrey and Jane have a bunch of dollars stored up in their money jars.  I supposed I should trade them some quarters for their dollars . . . 

Anyway, I thought the confetti was a nice touch.  We need to make a special tooth(e) fairy box!  Just so we keep this organized, ya know.  I don't know why I'm making this such a big deal.  Is it a bit much??

Lost It

This is my sweet girl.  She's got crying eyes because she got a little hysterical when she saw all the blood from when she LOST HER FIRST TOOTH!  That's right.  She's a wimp about blood, but she did pull that little guy right out on her own.  I was so proud of her!  It was very exciting.

How cute is that!?  The tooth fairy is for sure coming to our house tonight!

(Breaking News:  The tooth right next to it is super loose also.  Could be a double!)

Tomato

Tomatoes are my favorite.  I put them in pretty much everything.  One of my biggest aspirations was to grow my own tomatoes.  Because, of course, the taste of a home-grown tomato is far superior to a grocery store tomato.  FAR superior. (Not to be a snob or anything.) 

This little guy is my first.  I let him get deep red on the windowsill.  Then I ate him.  Alone, at 11:00 pm, at the kitchen sink.  And it was totally awesome.  I have arrived.

Maybe next year I'll grow another one.  :S

Hop Scotch Tape

Ballet is over. :( Until next year!

Silly Girls

Claire is forever getting into the kitchen cupboards.  Tale as old as time, right?  Her favorite is the colander.  She always gets it out and sits in it.  Sometimes she'll carry it to other rooms in the house and sit in it there.  It kills me.

When she knows she's being cute or silly, she makes these funny faces.  

Then she giggles at how funny she thinks she is.  

These funny girls have dressed up the bat with a glove to pretend it's a hand.  They told me to take their picture.  

Then they wanted a picture pretending surprise that they were holding an arm . . . super weird, I know.

This is Claire relaxing.  :)

Audrey's Preschool Graduation

She was thrilled to see Dave there and kept yelling, "Look, Daddy!  I have this cool red costume on!"

She's the one just peeking out at the end.

They sang some songs and recited a little poem about the year.  Audrey's part was "October gave us such a fright."  :)

She had her fingers in her mouth a lot at the end, I think she was nervous.  Or maybe just bored.

Jane ran over to her when she was getting her "diploma."  She was very excited for her.  Miss Cathy is on the right and Miss Patty is on the left.  She had Miss Patty for most of the year.  She was awesome.

After the diplomas were handed out, things kinda fell apart.  All the kids ran off to their parents (not the plan) and started taking their caps and gowns off (also, not the plan).  This is the class picture they managed at the end.  Audrey is hiding by Miss Patty.  She was super fast getting her stuff off.  She was definitely done with the whole thing.

This is the last day of school!  They played in the water outside, which Audrey wasn't as much a fan of as you might think.  That's why she is a bit grumpy in this picture.  And, yes, her little class was all girls.  They had tons of fun, and they were all really good friends.