Weekend in Pics

What a great Memorial Day Weekend with lots of adventures and lots of pictures!

We trained a circus bear:

We were very unimpressed with the speed at which mommy prepared our breakfast:

We I did lots of gardening:

spike grass, petunias and vinca vine

rosemary and basil

oregano and chives

strawberries (tomatoes, jalapenos, and bell peppers are also in the garden)

Gumshoe tried in vain to avoid a couple of projects:

But I got him!:

thanks for helping with the new commode, Grandpa!

We said goodbye to our beloved Aunt Brenna who is traveling across the pond:

See that devious look?  That's because LG is about to hold this goodbye kiss just a little too long and it would prove to be awkward for everyone involved.  Pecks, LG...little, quick pecks!

We also attended a little goodbye soiree for some dear friends who are moving away:

I forgot my camera, but this is a very close likeness of the family

We went over to Nana and PopPop's:

Whole wheat kolaches for breakfast

very proud of his fork skills

found our favorite toys in the toy basket

had Nana hold all our cars

parked a couple on PopPop's knees

found a quiet corner to poop in

made smudges on PopPop's glass door which I'm sure he cleaned post-haste

PopPop helped with the shoes

we admired the foliage...

True to form, LG came down with a case of swingset narcolepsy:

And we remembered our heroes:

Korean War Memorial

A prayer for the heroes

Hope you had a restful and fun Memorial Day Weekend!

Basement Adventure

I was cleaning up in the kitchen after dinner last night while Gumshoe and LG were playing in the basement.

LG made his way back upstairs to me so that he could hang on my legs while I tried to put dishes in the dishwasher.  As I battled with my cling-on, I heard noises coming from the basement...

"That's sweet!  Gumshoe must be cleaning up all the toys,"  I thought.  

He wasn't.  

Instead, he was setting up this tent... 

Bad for me, awesome for LG.  I kid.  It was actually a lot of fun.  LG's eyes lit up when he saw it... 

and mama was quickly shunned from the tent by way of a zippered door...

That's OK guys.  I needed to grab my camera anyway.

LG made sure to bring some of his favorite toys in the tent...

He got static-hair...

We all got attacked by a bear...

LG wrestled the bear to the ground...

 LG let out some air-biscuits which about knocked us over

Gumshoe got kicked in the you-know-whats...

a little too close

way too close

direct hit

But then they cuddled and made up...

Fun times!  The tent is staying up for a while...as long as I can stand the clutter.

Happy Friday!

Too Much?

We get solicitors in our neighborhood.  

A lot.

  

We get everyone from the local Chinese restaurant dropping off a menu to the magazine subscription guy trying to "earn money for college" to the fresh fruit salesman who sells fruit at 10pm.  That guy actually rang the doorbell and had a bag of mixed fruit in one hand and a large knife on his hip.  His idea for a sales pitch was to show how fresh the fruit was by cutting it in front of us.  Gumshoe, who answered the door and upon seeing the knife was about 2 seconds away from drawing his gun, explained that going door to door at night with a knife in your hand is not the best selling angle.  

Anywhoo...I usually get someone knocking at the door every other day and it drives us nuts!  So I ventured to our local hardware store and purchased a "no solicitors" sign in the hopes of warding off some of these people.  It's not a very welcoming touch for a real guest, I know, but tackiness is not uncommon in our neighborhood.  See exhibit A:

This gem is a couple houses down from us and his amazing landscaping idea was to utilize a hollowed-out Volkswagen bug as a "planter".  After much arguing and a call to the city, he has since removed his Volkswagen and has painted black splotches all over so that it resembles a dairy cow.  It sits in his garage and hopefully, that is where it will stay.

So after posting my beautiful sign on the glass door...

I have noticed a slow-down in soliciting traffic.  Except for roofing companies (our neighborhood got hit by hail a few weeks ago) and one guy in particular.  And we are in a battle.

He continues to put his roofing company brochures on our door, and he rings the doorbell which always happens to be during LG's nap.  I even went so far as to remove his brochure from our door and place it on his windshield since he parked in front of our house while he scoured the neighborhood.  But to no avail.  He just isn't getting it.  

So I went a little further... 

Too much?  

Gumshoe came in the door yesterday and just laughed asking if that was really necessary.  Ummm, yes!  Hopefully this guy will get the picture.  Either that, or it's gonna get worse out of spite.  Next step is to release the hound on him...

Or maybe the dragon...

I dunno...they're both pretty vicious.