Date night

Let me start by being preemptive and answering some of your questions....

No, you are not losing your eyesight.  Its a totally blurry picture, but its the only one we got. So there it is.

No, I am not pregnant.  I just had a lot to eat.

No, I am not taller than Kevin.  I just have really high shoes on.

Yes, that is a big bag of candy in my hand.

Yes, that is an ice cream cone in Kevin's hand.

Last weekend, Kevin and I went on a date night. We went out to Pewaukee lake, grabbed a bite to eat and then walked along the water front. It was fun to try somewhere new and it had a vacation vibe going. We got ice cream. Bought a bunch of candy at the candy store. It was fun.

Kevin always claims that I never put him on the blog, I tell him it is because he just isn't as exciting as our kids or my random thoughts.  Since he continues to complain, I put together an exciting little photo collage.  Here is Kevin putting on his sandals on the beach.  Just like a pro.

Kitchen update

Our kitchen should be starting next week (fingers crossed)!  I am excited, but also a little scared.  I should love this stuff, but I am really, really sick of it.

Here is my idea board thingy for the kitchen.  I am not sure what I am going to do with fabric, but those two are options. The soapstone is my actual slab (as long as my granite dude doesn't flake on me), and I love it! It is very hard, which is key for durability.

I paid my cabinets a little visit earlier this week, and I believe they are finished as of today. They look awesome. I told the cabinet guy that I was very happy with the shade of white, and he replied "Yes, its white." Well said cabinet guy, well said.

And now I will begin torturing myself with cabinet hardware.  I like the look of exposed screws, but don't actually want exposed screws.  And I want bin pulls (middle pull in picture below), NOT cup pulls.  And I want latches, maybe ice box latches, maybe both.  And I want glass knobs.  And I love the handles I found in the bottom picture.  Trying to make it all work without it looking like a hardware display store.  Fun times!  Kevin likes to discuss these things for hours with me, so at least I've got that going for me.  



Another house project

While we had the electrician here giving a bid on our upcoming kitchen project, we took the opportunity to have some other electrical work done.   We love to eat and entertain outside on our patio, but we never had any lighting back there.  We had some sconces and outlets added outside.  Fun stuff. 

If we use them a lot this year, next year we are planning putting light bulbs in.  (That is a Grandpa Norman joke - for you Mom!)

July 4th

As always, the 4th was fun but exhausting.  We started out at the local parade, then headed to a picnic and finally fireworks at Tripoli.  Before the fireworks, we tried to get some good pictures.  I forgot my good lenses, so they aren't the best quality but not horrible.  Guess it doesn't really matter since there is no way I am going to get them all to look at the camera and smile anyways!

 

Me and my girls!

For most of the day, Andrew was in full on superhero mode.  In fact, he kept saying it was Captain America's birthday. 

Here Mae and Ben spent a few minutes pointing and grunting at each other.  Note sure what Mae is laughing at here?

Andrew and Mae did pretty well at the fireworks.  Mae was a little scared at first, but then she did just fine.  She definitely didn't love them as much as the parade though, that was the highlight of her holiday.  Here she and Andrew are having a sword fight with the glow sticks. 

The kids were totally exhausted when we got home at 10, I can't remember the last time all 3 fell asleep in the car. 

 Check out Grace, totally passed out with the seat belt over her face.

Totally Loaded

I frequently have to talk to Grace about how constantly asking me questions and talking about nonsense makes it very hard for me to listen to anything she says.  I use the term "overloaded" a lot. 

Well this week I was baking with the kids and they just would not stop with the constant questions.  This time Andrew was the culprit. 

I said, "Andrew! Just please - "
And Grace interrupted with, "Andrew, mom is getting loaded right now.  You can't talk to her anymore."

This is what we were baking...a cake for PopPop's b-day. 

Baking with Mae

Andrew and I were making muffins the other day and Mae was quite persistent in demanding that she was a part of the action.  So up on the chair she went.  She wasted no time and dug right into the muffin batter ...with her bare hands.  She quickly started putting handfuls of batter in her mouth. 

Don't worry, we did not share these muffins with anyone.  The germs stayed in the family. 

 

Happy!

Happy Birthday PopPop 

Happy Anniversary to PopPop and JuJu!