A room for the boy

Well...Dex's room was actually completed back in August, I think?  Of course, now I'm just getting around to posting photos.  Ah, well.

Here's the man, after finishing YET ANOTHER room renovation.  So many hours.  So many sore backs.  So many cans of paint/stain/urethane.

Cutie patootie with the big brass bed we bought off Craigslist for $50.  What a bargain!  Doesn't it just look like the sort of bed that belongs in a fourth floor bedroom in an old Victorian house?  Sort of Bedknobs and Broomsticks or something.

New sheets - a total steal from Marden's.

 Rice men.

 The view from the other side.  The first decoration up?  A Spiderman poster.  Of course.

 First night in the bed.  He would be quite mortified to realize he was sleeping with one of his sisters' pink gingham pillowcases.

Awwww.  I know.

Posh

Well aren't we fancy.

New couch, new chair, new rug.  Watch out, Extreme Home Makeover.  Turn a camera on in our house and you've got some competition.

I need to re-cover the throw pillows and ottoman, just haven't got around to it yet.

Also been getting a little Halloweeny around here.

What the rest of the kitchen looks like without the other rug.

And yes, I did clean up before I took these photos.  Ain't gonna lie.

The One Where I Learn to Let It Go.

I posted on Facebook earlier this today about my first complete and utter birthday cake failure.  Some of my dear friends and family expressed that they did not believe it could be that bad.  I am, admittedly, generally quite a good cook, and yes, I can rock a birthday cake.  Ahem.

Well, check it out.  It's that bad.

Yes, that is dry cocoa and sugar on top of a pudding cake.

Viv wanted a hot fudge pudding cake this year instead of a traditional decorated cake - my speciality.  Ok, no problem.  I am competent.  I make the cake, though it is a mite complicated and requires five different bowls (yep).  Except I forgot to pour the three cups of hot water on top of the cake before it bakes.  And when you forget to add three cups of water to a pudding cake, it doesn't work out so well.

So, crap.  I have to send Curtis for the store literally 20 minutes before the party is supposed to start (I waited until the last minute to make the failed cake because it's best served warm) to buy a cake.  I can't believe it.  My first store-bought birthday cake ever.

Perhaps the hard, dry "pudding" cake was the first sign that this birthday party was to be the one where I learn humility and am reminded that my kids' birthday parties are not about me.  I can get a bit wrapped up in the perfect cake, the most adorable favors, pinata that matches the theme, the perfectly clean house (before the party, at least...after the party is a different story).

Yes, this party was a humbling experience.  We had this one at a bowling alley (our first "away from the house" party) and only had a few friends.  Since I was ordering pizza and the activity was all taken care of, there wasn't a lot for me to do (except make a cake and I believe we've already covered that).  But still.  I managed to screw up a lot.  I forgot the specially-requested favorite potato chips.  I forgot the carrots.  I forgot the grapes, the candles, the camera, the plates, the knife to cut the cake, a pair of socks so I could bowl, I forgot to put on jeans that WEREN'T RIPPED.

But I realized as we were singing happy birthday to Vivian with her friend holding up six fingers for her to "blow out" and then cutting the cake with a random plastic knife a bowling alley employee scrounged up for us while another mom took pictures for me with her phone that Viv was having a ball.

She was thrilled with it all.  She thought the cake was delicious.  She thought it was funny to blow out her friend's fingers.  She beamed for the photos.  She forgave me for the forgotten favorite potato chips.  She bounced around the bowling alley like it was the best day of her life.

So what was my problem, feeling all inadequate and imperfect?  Ah, I let it go.  I really did. 

And it was actually quite a lovely party.

We Survived: One Family's Story of Their Summer Vacation (part 3)



Ok, so now here are just some photos of the various monuments and places we visited in D.C



 Jefferson Memorial with the cousins

 Dex and Viv contemplating a man who spoke of God-given freedoms and yet kept slaves.  Oh wait, that was me.

She's got the whole Jefferson Memorial, in her hand...

 It was soooo hot that day.  Outside the Lincoln Memorial (at the bottom of the steps) there was a really big sprinkler set up and we all cooled off in that.

 The new Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial.  Nicely done.

So, so hot.  And the temperature was high, too.  Hee hee.

 Aunt Stephanie and some of the kids.

 Dexter pretty much thought the sun rose and set on his cousin Kelsey.  He followed her around all week.  Pretty cute.

Kathryn Hannah and Kamryn Anna - cousins born one month apart.

 We got to see the gorgeous Rachael B. and her beyond adorable baby, Miss Eliza.  Too short a visit, Rachael!! 

 One day Curtis and I just took K&V into the city.  We tricked them into the National Gallery ("Oh, we just have to pass through this museum to get to one you'll like better."), but as it turns out, they quite liked it.

 Kathryn loved the 18th century Italian religious paintings. (What does that mean about her?  She was fascinated.)

 And Viv loved just about everything else, including this Rembrandt.

 Just a funny shot of Dex I forgot to put in earlier.  This was our first day in DC with the whole family at Wendy's.  Poor kid was tiiiiired.

 On the way back, we got to spend a glorious day at the beach on Cape Cod with our good friends, H & L.

 Their CUTE CUTE boys who were so good about sharing their beach toys with our kids.  Thanks, guys!!

Love it, Cape Cod!  We're coming back next year!

We Survived: One Family's Story of Their Summer Vacation (part 2)

As promised, the photos of Colonial WilliamsHot.  I mean Colonial Steamyburg.  I mean...well, yeah, that's actually what I mean.

It was 99 degrees and very, very humid.  I heard differing numbers, but with the heat

index it was somewhere between 109 and 115 degrees.  Which felt a little warm.  Especially when you are trying to keep a baby happy.  :(

THANKFULLY, pretty much all of the buildings at Colonial Williamsburg were air conditioned, so we tried to spend as much time as possible inside.

Curtis thinks this photo makes us look like bad parents,
but no one was coming in that door, so Annie was safe.

The Governor's Palace walls were lined with guns and swords.  I'll bet you can guess who thought that was fantastic.

Outside the Governor's Palace.

  

At the end of the day, waiting for the bus to take us back to the Visitor's Center and parking lot.  We didn't take the bus in the morning, but by 5 o'clock, the air conditioned bus looked miiiighty good to us.

So, yes, it was wicked hot and some of the kids were kind of too young for a lot of what was going on there (so we missed a lot of the buildings and outdoor street theater), but I really, really liked Williamsburg anyway and before we had even pulled out of the parking lot, I was planning our next trip back.  In five years. 

And in, like, October.

We'll have to update this photo.  Williamsburg 2017!