May - Kate & Ellie Go Greek



At a classmate's bowling birthday party....

C'mon, c'mon..... I just need to pick up this spare....

Maybe a wider stance would help......

Apparently not.

Her bud Bobby coming over to give her some advice....

..... so close!!!

I swear - a good romp at bowling wipes them out as much as a day at the beach.

A Pop Pop project: birdhouses!

Tori's 1st haircut!!

And why stop there.... a pedi & bonbons to go with it!

Kate & Ellie's big day.... their Christening!
Nick was leaving early to interview at the local used car lot.

They are OUT!  Oh the poor little things are in for a rude awakening....

Kate: "So Father Andrew.... I've been thinking.  MAYBE we can skip the whole dunking thing and go straight to giving me the jewelry.  What do you say?!"

Towel - $20, EVOO - $8, Laura's face as Kate gets dunked - PRICELESS!

Ellie's turn!

And all the kids up to the alter for the candle processional....
All but one, sad, SO sad sweet little Logan.

Being the super amazing big cousin that she is, Tori offered Logan her candle.
*aww*

Congratulations Nounos, Nounas & family!!

Tori's thrilled.  IT WASN'T ME GETTING DUNKED THIS TIME!!!  *WOOT*

There was entertainment for the kids.... BRILLIANT.

My little Dave Grohl in training....

AHHHH!!  I can't take the NOISE!!!
(well, unless I'm the one MAKING it!)

Some cousins bond over playing with dolls, or doing manis, or coloring.... but a rubber chicken brings on a whole new level closeness.

If you rub his belly like this he barks like a dog!

Rubber chicken tickles!

Tori fell in love.....

.... her new BCF!
(Best Chicken Forever)

TORI!  Get out of his golo!!!

Kate & Ellie..... my gorgeous nieces and the newest "Greeks"

April - Hiking, Swinging, Flying, Baking, Digging

Calvin, my old boy, is a little slow on the uptake.  It just clicked that an 80lb dog has been lying next to him as he munched.

"What the..... NOW the beast is in my SPOT!??!"

Puuhhhh-lease!?!
Little does Max know he's barking up the wrong tree.
Nick does NOT share food.

Almost as noteworty as appearing on Page 6..... their newspaper debut in the local rag mag "The Coaster".
Adrienne looks like a boy & Nick looks like he's getting electrocuted.  Awesome.

With some nice weather finally upon us we hit up one of the 4 trillion local parks & I got them going on the best ride East of Six Flags - the Twisted Swing.
(Just for the record - getting them twisted up, managing to get out of the way, get the camera focused & get any sort of decent shot was virtually impossible.  In other words - this pictures don't come CLOSE to capturing the screaming DO-IT-AGAIN-MOMMY fun.)

Nothing like spreading a little sunshine.... and weeds.

She looks so sweet & innocent.........

.... key word above "looks".
Spaz.

It was time.  Like their first steps.... first day of school...
Their first viewing of The Princess Bride.

So this text came through and it absolutely deserves a spot on the blog.....
Did you know that Tori can FLY!?
*gulp*

They color.  A lot.  Every so often we let them 'decorate' the house with their renderings....

This was a really cool project - tissue paper stained glass.

Baking with Yiayia & Olivia.
Olivia is taking no chances on getting her hands on the sprinkles after the cookies come out of the oven.  She's filling up on them pre-bake.

Greg claimed the light post landscaping as our own family project.
Kids, weeds.  Weeds, kids.
Have at it!

SCORE!!
WORMS!!!!!!!!!

Coochie-coochie little worm!

Look at ALL MY WORMS!!!

Adrienne.... you better look alive sister.  Nick's got some sort of evil thought rolling around, he's armed with a hammer & your head is inches away.

Chillaxin'



I can only imagine the mysteries of the universe that were solved as they chatted away.....

The Garden of Weeds on the left & our Light Pole Paradise on the right
(ok, so the 'after' picture was taken a month later AND after we added palms framing the front door AND had professional landscaping done around the perimeter of house BUT still.... isn't that the trick to ALL 'before & after' shots?!  Looks pretty amazing!!!)