Gardening ain't for sissies....

and these girls rocked it, even if I did let them wear their flip flops!  I think Gabi was more excited about her gardening outfit and outfit accessories than the actual gardening.  I mean, who doesn't want to look their very best with a matching glove/shovel set when planting beautiful bushes... We were lucky to have neighbor friend Stella there to help out, she knows her way around a yard, let me tell ya!

She was not the only one though.  Grandma Mindy knew what to do what she saw my front porch flower beds looking oh so empty and sad.  

 HYDRANGEA'S! 

And get them early folks... for we scored six large bushes for a fraction of the cost! We chose Blushing Brides for just the right curb appeal against our barn red house... 

Now I am serious when I say gardening ain't for sissies.  There was no matching gloves and sparkly shovel set for me.  I dug a trench, with the help of GM, 15 feet across x 2 feet out x 3 feet down...I think.  Anyway, it was a lot and it was packed with cement and construction stuff and ROCK.  But not anymore.  It is now filled with beautful soil, organic compost, amazing hydrangea's, and perfect mulch.

Done and done.

And then afterward we had these...

Double double's (veggie of course), oven roasted fries, baked beans, amazing greens, and a pickle.  Because we deserved it!

Happy Spring!

I am...

So loving my new home.  It is super funky fresh and like nothing I have ever done before.  Pics coming up soon!

Having fun with Mister Witt listening to Fun. and putting together Ikea furniture.  Can you say tunkel fingal??  

Excited to pick my mom up from the train station tonight for a weekend visit of house touring, gardening, eating, and catching up!

Witnessing my Gabrielle really discover her fashion sense and laying out her outfits for the next day.  They all include layering, pattern mixing, and tons of accessories.  Fabulous.

Discovering the depths of Noah's hilarity that is sprinkled with 10 year old boy attitude.  He brings me from fiery anger to belly laughs in just seconds.  He is something else let me tell ya...

Truly grateful for all of my new neighbors who have embraced us despite the very loud power sander going from 3-6 every afternoon, the Lowes truck parked out front for way to long, the ghetto porch displaying all the following but not limited to :

tons of cardboard boxes

junky scooters

furniture items

power tools

and quite possible today, A TOILET.

You all have gone so far as to offer food, drink, don't sand that table and chair set without a mask here have mine, heavy lifting assistance, and smiles... tons of smiles.

Happy Friday!!!

best.baskets.yet.

Last year I had epic basket fail.

I had run out of time.  Run out of energy.  And jumped to what I have always known to do... buy junk.  And it left me feeling sick to my stomach for weeks.  And I vowed to be much more thoughtful with my baskets next year...

meaning this year.

Locally made sweets and a small gift.  The kids were pleased and so was I.  Redemption.  Thank goodness.

But this year did not lend more time and definitely not more energy.  I had grand plans of sewing paper eggs for a mini morning hunt and I was quite looking forward to it.  However, my weekend had a plan of its own and like a vampire sucked me dry and left me for dead.  

So we had a different kind of hunt...

one for cash money.  that's right, scrilla, coinage, mucho dinero.  go ahead, judge me.  the kids loved it!

Birthday Trifecta.

What changes a year can bring.

Last year we had a sweet homemade birthday for Mister Witt in a little loft in a still very new Village life. This year my darling husband spent his birthday in his very own Village home, that he bought for us... and well, it is nothing short of wonderful.

The birthday trifecta was this:

Easter Sunday Birthday:             righteous day
Turning Thirty-three:                  righteous number
Taking place in year 2012:         righteous year

I secretly thought that maybe space aliens would come for a visit and tell us the secrets of the world.  What else would one need to expect something other worldly to happen??  Sadly, our rooftop landing station remained vacant and we had to bide our time doing more earthly things.  This turned out okay too though...

A gift (or two):

A walk:

and two hipster children to adore...

They dress themselves now you know.  And I must admit, relinquishing control on dressing them like dolls was nothing short of excruciating.  

Once, there was a fire near our Arizona home.  It was getting quite serious and I was home alone waiting for an evacuation.  So I gathered all of Gabrielle's clothes and put them in my car, just in case. she was three. true story. 

My memories of their baby/toddlerhood, if you will, often greatly relates to an outfit they wore.  So when i say it was hard to give up, I mean it was hard to give up!   But the joy of seeing their outfits revealed each morning now far surpasses the joy I took in laying out their clothes in what now seems a life time ago...

Oh jeez... were we talking about a birthday?

Well it was lovely!  A day of being at home, together, turning the best.age.yet.

You have a whole year of 33 darling, make it a good one ;-)


xx

0 + one....

My god do I love me a baby.

You know how mothers all have different ages that they are particuliarly good at or just fond of?

When I was preggo with Gabrielle a close friend was also having a little girl.  We had babies a week apart.  I used to laugh because she was alomst totally bored with a new born, hoping that it would get bigger quick and do something already.

Not me though.

I loved it and wanted it to last forever.

But now I have big kids.  The ones I cursed at the play ground for running past my sweet toddler and being TO CRAZY.  These play grounds aren't for you, don't you have school or something?  

And now I laugh at those ridiculous mothers who think their toddler owns the play ground... sheesh!  

And now I  love having big kids.  But they got big too fast and I wish I could have two more little ones, for old times sake.  But that isn't going to happen... 

So I feel so very privledged when I am invited to hang out with smaller ones!  And last night a certain smaller friend turned one.  We celebrated with the perfect taco (not soggy at all), amazing guacamole (mine of course), and song plus cake too...

Sweet older brother kept his eye on the cake the entire evening.  I am sure he was making sure it was safe and sound for dear Samantha.

and he did a great job!

and Samantha took her very fist bite of cake.  handmade by brother of course.

and Henry approved of the outcome...

and we let Mister Witt have some too!

Happy birthday small friend, can't wait to watch you grow!

Table Make Over...

You know you have a good friend when you tell them you are planning to sand down a BLACK KITCHEN TABLE over the weekend and they show up at your door in scrubby clothes and some sandpaper... I mean seriously, that is super awesome... THANKS MEGHAN!!!

This was my other helper...  He seriously dug in and got a good chunk done!  I could not have gotten as far as I did without the two of them!

I mean, could this boy get any more handsome??

So with just the use of our hands and some gritty paper we managed to scrape mostly all of the hard core black lacquer off my old table!  I was looking for a bit of a cleaner, brighter, fresh(er) look!

Again with the pictures... I am not so good at putting down my sandpaper/paintbrush/DIY project tools for documentation... but here is the final result! 

I am thinking that better pictures will be taken when I no longer exist in a construction zone.  When the floors are in, the dust has settled (and been dusted), and life is simple once again...

But for now I am happy with a white table, even if it is sitting on my front porch!

April fools with a 10 year old boy...

The above photo showcases the 10 year olds best work from yesterday. 

A full cup of water with a string attached, perched on top of the bathroom door, string taped to the wall.  Waiting on its first victim. 

This is the big leagues people.

Yesterday I fell victim to these pranks, some of them several times.

Cabinets closed with rubber bands
Faucet taped.
Faucet side sprayer lever taped down.
Vaccum cleaner hose taped up.
Totally fell for the above trick hours after I discovered the first one.


Then, long after my prankster was tucked under his covers and away in dreamland, I lay my head down on the oh so soft pillow... so tired from a day of laboring, and fell victim one.more.time.  For there was no soft pillow to catch my weary head.  Instead, there was loud crunchy crumbled up paper disturbing my first moment of relaxation for the day  And I will not lie, at 11:30pm this was NOT FUNNY NOAH!!!

Only 364 days until I must endure April Fools day with an 11 year old...