Park of Roses

 So, I figured a concert in a park on a lovely June night was a good time to play with my camera settings.  I had fun getting some of these images with the blurred background.  Unfortunately, some of the movement pics were blurred also, but they were so cute I am including them here also.

Good thing I brought along pjs for the girls to wear following the concert!

 Here's the Brass Band director pointing at Tony after his solo.  Love hearing him play!

 Here's the blurry sequence - but I love these shots with Caroline and Hannah.  Their love for each other is obvious even in these photos.

What a fun night in Clintonville!  We topped it off with ice cream.  It was a lovely day all around!

Wagon!

 Happy as two peas in a pod!

 It really doesn't just sit in one spot..but it sure makes for easier photographing!

Whee!  We're off on our first wagon adventure!  -of many!

Home Improvement

So here's a little glimpse from before...

And despite Rick thinking that it was dirt on my feet...I have my first flip flop tan of the summer...we spent 3 days outside hauling dirt and planting.  But it was lots of fun and looks great.

We moved the evergreens together, purchased a lilac and a Japanese maple tree.  

The grasses here will be moved later to hide electric boxes.

And 13 cans of Heritage Red Spray Paint later.... 

My patio set and baker's rack look brand new!

 Since we had a lot of dirt we decided to connect the beds from front to back.  Note the lovely grass...that's a whole other story!  Does it appear that we've paid for lawn service the last 3 years?  Well, we have...grrr.

 Here's the new maple tree in all her glory!  I love it!

 And this little eyesore is about to get a facelift also..we were just too tired to deal with that this weekend.  We have a date to get it planted with our neighbors help soon.   That's their home in the background.  It sits between our front lawns.  

 Add some mulch, and voila!

 Looking good in the hood!

 And the turtle was my mother's day gift from the girls.  I love it!

Evan is confirmed

 So proud of this nephew - and he's all grown up!  Here he is with his sponsor, Karen.

 And his buddy, Noah.

 It was a special day for him  - and we were tickled to be there to help celebrate.

 And of course, the girls had a ball playing outside at Aunt Jill's afterwards!

 I spy a lot of girls on deck!

 And a pretty handsome boy as well!

What a fun day in May!

Coming soon....

...I've been extremely lax in getting this blog updated.  I've had my share of technology glitches, and it doesn't help when I have to upload all the pics to the computer, then to Google, then to the blog..you get the idea why it might take awhile!  

Anyhoo...I promise...I'm uploading a flurry of pictures right.now.  It's coming soon..

In the meantime here are a few more of Lucy's latest words:

Aunt Jill :  Eat Dill

Lucy:  Woosy

Leg:  Weg

Laurie:  Wohwee

Snuggle:  nuggle- most often we hear this one when we ask if she's ready to go to bed, and she lays her head on your chest and says, "No, I wanna nuggle."

Papa Smith:  Papa Smiff

Hot Dog:  Hoh Gog
The end:  BN
Flip Flops:  Fwip Fwops
Uh Oh Spaghettio's:  Uh Oh Betty-O's

And my favorite thing she does right now is she recites portions of the three little pigs for some reason!  Out of the blue she'll say Big Bad Wolf, then she'll say Huff, Puff, Bow House dow - and the last three words all run together like it's one big word...bowhousedow.  I know, I'm sounding like a cheesy mom again, huh?  Only because I wan't to be able to look back one day and remember all this cuteness!  Ok..I'm off to check on that upload of pics.