Tea for 3

A week after we moved into our house I invited my cousin Heidi and my mom over for a little tea party. It is never too early to entertain! Originally, Heidi had offered her organizing services as a help during the move. She is very good at organizing and I am very NOT. I could really use her help but I decided a tea party would be way more fun than working!

The girlie girl in me had to have tea in a china cup! I don't have china so my mom brought hers.

We had coffee cake for dessert

My mom is glad to have us near! Our whole point in moving closer to family was so that we could have impromptu tea parties with family and friends.

Heidi is a friend to children and dogs. She does not know it but Sanibel is her new best friend!

My friend Alison Gaynor LOVES to clean up after a party...I try to love it. I think I could if we used fine china more often. I do love to hand wash china!

Heidi recently graduated with her Bachelors degree in social work. She took a break from her 3 jobs to come and see us.

The jolly 3

For lunch we had veggie wraps, chicken salad on croissants, dried cranberry and walnut salad, tea, homemade lemonade and of course tea!

Veggie Tortilla Roll-Ups

1/2 cup of sour cream
1/2 finely shredded cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon of freshly chopped parsley (or a few shakes of dried)
1 package of cream cheese at room temperature
3 flavored or plain flour tortillas (8-10" in diameter
finely chopped veggies: carrots or green peppers, you could use broccoli or spinach, get creative with the combinations, sliced olives would be good, oh and tomatoes might be good too

Mix the finely chopped veggies with the sour cream, cheddar cheese, parsley and cream cheese in a medium bowl.

Spread about 1/2 a cup of cheese mixture over one side of each tortilla.

Roll tortilla up tightly and wrap each roll individually in plastic wrap.

Refrigerate at least 3 hours before serving but no longer than 24 hours.

To serve, cut each tortilla roll into 1 - inch slices.

5 Months Young

Baby Micah had his 4 month Dr's appointment yesterday. Yes, that's his 4 month appointment a month late! It took a month to get the boys medical records transferred to a new doctors office in Ft. Wayne. The new office would not let me set up appointments for the boys until they had the records in their possession. My own personal opinion tells me that is a little EXTREME and I spent many moments on the phone on hold waiting to get it all straightened out. Patient I am not in these types of situations. Just an earthly reminder that I am not in control. Luckily no one got sick during this waiting period. I did have a few back-up plans in the wings just in case somebody did get sick! So now the records are here and they are all set. Now I just need to find a Ft. Wayne doctor for Phil. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Anyways, Micah checked out well at his appointment. He is:

26 3/4" tall (90%)
21 lbs. 15 oz. (off the charts!)
head size: 16 3/4" (40%)

His head is actually almost average! In every other way he is just plain big. I love it! I always joke that I never worry about him and that is the truth!

Our current dilemma with him is that he is 1 oz. away from the weight limit on his car seat. No matter what we have to switch him to a big boy car seat already. It is not that big of a deal because he is just too heavy for me to lug him around in that carrier anymore. The problem is he is not ready to sit on his own in the shopping cart. What is the solution to this? What did people do back in the day when there were not baby carrier car seats? How am I going to get any shopping done? Phil probably planned it this way! I have been wearing him in a baby carrier on my front more often but that really takes a toll on my neck and back? Any ideas?

Cousin SophiaTurns 2

Luke and I made special crowns last week. One for Sophia and Happy Fathers Day crowns for the dads and grandpas in our lives. Luke was really into making them. He was especially good at sticking the jewels on.

Sophia and Grandpa Wagler

Grandpa and Micah

King for the Day and Luke

Luke had a hard time staying focused during the party...probably because there was a slide nearby.

He found it!

The birthday girl and her mom Tiffany.

Baby Micah got to try out the slide!

The party ended quickly because a major storm was coming. We all headed to Robbie & Tiffany's house and ended up in the basement while it went through!


Micah doing a little lifting.

Bedtime

Luke likes to have Baby Micah in bed with him!

Hungry Hound

Luke has really gotten into boardgames in the evenings. Finally, an activity that baby Micah can get behind! Everyone is so into it.



We have been doing a lot of this lately:

Head Out on the Highway

Or maybe just out on the cul de sac!

Our neighbor has a real live adult Mustang and a kids sized one to go with it! He was eager to let Luke borrow it for some fun Saturday morning. Our neighbor's 5 year old son and wife are in Florida until the end of the week so Luke got to take his car for a spin.

I love these two! They look so natural!

Luke liked the radio.

I can't believe how quickly he picked up driving?! What a funny guy.

Our cul de sac makes for a perfect kid sized race track.

We had to keep saying "keep it in the slow gear!"

BOYS!

New Tile

As many of you already know, we recently moved into a new house. Well, not really new because the house is 11 years old but "new" to us. Here is the story of how we DIYed ourselves a tile floor. And by the way, we have never done anything like this before...

So let's start with the much anticipated AFTER photo. Here it is...I am not one for suspense.

BEFORE photo. First we had to tear out the carpet, carpet padding, tack strips, vinyl and trim.

We also painted the walls the same color that the rest of the house is painted. Unify! The concrete slab had a few cracks in it so we filled them before laying the new tile.

Drew (my brother) and I laid out the tile pattern starting from the corner of the dining room. I wanted it laid on the diagonal...of course that makes everything complicated but so totally worth the work.

The appliances had to be moved out of the kitchen. At least that meant that I could thoroughly clean all sides of each appliance! I don't mind dust that I can't see but I do prefer for it to be my dust and not stranger dust.

We rented a wet saw to cut the tile from a local tool rental place. We had it all day on Saturday and Sunday but we only had to pay for 1 1/2 days because Sunday counts as a half day. Just some DIY info for you to put in your back pocket! By the end of the job Phil was an old pro at working the saw.

We spread a layer of thin set mortar directly on the slab. We laid the tile on top of that and pressed it into place. We used spacers to keep the tile pattern uniform.

Thankfully my brother was comfortable showing us how to use the saw!

Some of the cuts got pretty complicated. Check out the tile that wraps around the corner of the bar! Phil did that on the first try!

The dining area had a brass/glass nothing fancy chandelier. The goal is to transition out as much of the brass finishes as possible.

Tada, new chandelier! I love it!

Once the floor was grouted and dried we moved the appliances back into position and put the trim back up.

All of the new lighting fixtures had to be put together.

The next step was to hang up the window treatment and move the furniture in!

Memorial Day

Phil's brother Robbie brought Arthur over to our house for a day of play play play! Baby Micah got some sunscreen for the first time.

Sanibel loves our new fenced in backyard! She can finally run run run.

Last summer Luke was afraid of the sprinkler. Fear no more.

His eyes were bloodshot by the end of the day because he ran round and round and round the sprinkler with his eyes wide open! I have never seen him shriek with so much elation!

When it started to rain they didn't even notice!

We relaxed all day!

We followed Micah's lead.

Snacks. Cheese puffs.

Robbie only dozed off once!

Play Play Play as Luke would say...or the baby gecko?

I made chocolate chip cookies because they are Phil's favorites! It's only taken me 9 years to figure this out! The simpler the better.