Utini 2

Looked better cropped and full res

Evie's First Birthday

Evie had her first first birthday party, don't worry we are going to have one for family too, there were friends, cup cakes and chaos, what more do you need.

Hey miming means pretending you have a cupcake!

Can you detect the one most likely to stain your child...

Super-Batman

Party based entropy

Cooking some food for the party

Playing at Skedaddle

Marineland

Notable Watermelon Eating Techinques

"Reverse Polish Notation"

"The Dislocating Jaw", also know as "The Snake".

As always the, "OM NOM NOM NOM"

Crawford Lake

Went for a fall constitutional up to Crawford Lake, Bryan marched us at warp speed around the whole lake, then putt putt putted the last hill up.  It was fun, and the weather was perfectly fall.

Intrepid forest explorer

And her trusty steed

We saw a lot of this

And sometimes he would stop and tell us to hurry

I encouraged Bryan to be a tree

Home many times can you go to the hardware store in one day...

So I spent a lot of time driving back and forth from the hardware store today, I had planned to get a "lot of stuff done" in the yard, and I did, but I also spent a lot of time being stupid.

My day started with a "quick" trip, which took longer, and resulted in a very large piece of lumber sticking out the back of the car.  I only had wanted to do that one more time... but managed to buy the wrong thing... A 2"x8"x12' instead of a 2"x6"x12, yes I know 2 inches whats the big deal (other then I'm speaking in imperial instead of metric.)  The issue is that I need two equally sized pieces of lumber to act as the joist for my shelf, and I already had one 2x6 left from the first phase.

I did get the lumber for my potato box, but more on that later.

Okay I guess it is later, when I got home, Bryan and I started assembling the potato box, Cedar on the outside for weather resistance (plan to use that again next year) and pine stakes on the inside because 1. you can't buy 2x2 in cedar, and 2) they were 97 cents and sharpened.)  At some point I had realized my lumber bumble and decided I needed to go back to the store.  Erin talked up Mr B to the point he was excited to go, wanted to go, needed to go.  So who am I to say no to a kid who wants to go to the hardware store (train handiness in early.)

So back we go to the store, with a honey-do list of this's and thats to get.  I manage to return the wood, get a new piece, a weed whacker, a gas can, some screws, some clamps, a new tape measure, some brain damage, some brain damaged staff, a pricing issue, an ulsar, some rain, and some *sounds of exhausted exasperation*.

Returning home, Erin and I collude on the phone to get a snack ready for B, so we can go do the one thing that was planned for the day, which was go get our raspberries plants from the garden store.  So B, snack, Evie, and all hop into the car.  At this point it is 1:00 pm, also known as... Bryan's normal nap time....

So off we go, at the garden centre E was touch and go, it became obvious in the later half of the day she was having an upset tummy, (only after we were far away from the gripe water, which really works?!)

So we toddled about, and had a hard time finding everything.  Then we found a tree we really wanted (need to figure out about where best to plant it.)  It is a corkscrew hazel standard, first picture time.  We've always loved the one in Erin's parents yard, (which sadly died suddenly.)  This one was a standard, and already pretty corkscrewy.  The hard part, was that all other ornamental standards, except it were 30% off, and so I started a chain reaction by asking if it was miss labeled, it took an age and a day to discover it wasn't on sale, but because it was by criteria in the sale of the week category they would give us the sale price.

At this point, we wanted it, and the shenanigan to find out the price had gone on long enough that we felt obliged to get it.  It also meant that B was getting fussy and so was E.

Then we bumped into Huma, which was fun, and B had a great time showing her all the water features.  At some point it all fell apart and fun turned to toddler mania.

We bailed with tree and got home, the dieters (aka Erin and I) were starved and grumpy.  We fed B, got him to nap, Erin drugged Evie with milk, us fed, we tackled the gardening.

So we got our raspberries in the grounds, and added some lilly of the valley for extra smell.  So we have two invasive indigenous species who can duke it out.

Next up I got my potato box started, I have to blame/thank brad for this, I hope to swap potato stories with him this year.  I had so many extra Yukon Gold's left I gave them to my neighbours, we agreed between the potatoes, apples, tomatoes, and misc berries we are going to start a little garden fresh store at the end of the driveway.

This is the potato box, basically as they grow you add more dirt, and then add more boards.  At the end you have a lot of potatoes, in a box.  Let the frost kill the plant, the skins harden, then just get a tarp, take of the side, and presto potatoes.  It is supposed to be cool enough to cold store in the garage, so I should have potatoes all winter (I hope.)


The rest of the garden is starting to come back to life, first, of course, is the daffodils.  They are blooming, and the tulips and day lilies are starting to sprout.

My apple's are also starting to bud, and their leaves are ever so tiny where they are out.  I don't think I ever showed the "finished" garden planter, and in truth it needs a little finishing, but I'm going to photo bomb for a moment, and then get back to silly stories.

Daffies

Blue Berries, in pink and blue (yes pink.)

Almost finished raised bed, you can see the start of the top plate

Apple starting to bud, I sure hope it has enough bandwidth to get the nutrients it needs from the app store.

So back to hardware store anxiety.  SO the lumber that I took back and then got again with Bryan... Apparently distracted by everything... bought the wrong one again.  The first time was an honest mistake of ignorance, the second time was just incompetence.  Also the tap measure I bought was missing, and my mental recording of the incident left it clearly on the self checkout machine at the store.  I hate those things, really honestly and truely.  They put people out of a job, piss me off, they don't work and they are slow.

I digress...

So back we go, third times the charm, this time with Evie.  I actually didn't take the wood back, I just couldn't face it, but I wanted to get my tape measure before I missed my window (I figure the same people on duty is usually helpful.)

Third time was barely better then the second, store was FULL, and lines long and filled with cranky people, and there were a lot fewer cashiers then before (and of course only those automated crapinals (t crap + terminals.)

I got out of their, mostly unscathed, but I feel like I've been pithed some days.  The rest of the day went well, lovely family dinner, Charlie and Alex kept B bouncing off the walls, and he pooped in the potty (yes these are the victories of my days :) )

Now is now, and I've typed much more, and for longer then I thought, bed time.

G out

More from May

Looks like I'm giving Bryan the claw

Evolution of Silliness

*Another Brad Abrams' Photo

Teaser - March 2010

Back in March my friend Brad did something really novel for his 30th Birthday, I can't recall if it was his idea, or his girl friend Jodi's, but they rented a photo studio for an afternoon and invited all their friends and family to come, hang out, take photos, and just have fun.  Brad has gifted me with a great amount of his time doing a lot of the post production work on the images he capture of our family, and I will post a couple more when I'm on a proper pipe (don't want to clog the mobile tubes,) but here is a warm up:

Super Awesome Hoodie

Seriously, if they made this in an adult men's 2x I would own one to,
this is just the coolest hoodie ever, thanks Charlie!!!

Bryan and Friends

Bryan has a lot of friends he likes to spend time with, Baby D
(Some times known as DeeDee) is always a popular fellow. 

 

Buzz Lightyear and Bryan Lightyear confer with Star Command through the interstellar communications panel

Apparently Buzz needed some milk...

Hanging Out

Look at that newly brushed tum

Bryanzilla and the Bowl Full of Candy

Stars whose names were excluded from the Credits include:
Zach as screaming villager 1

Rawr!

Cautiously optimistic

Baying at the moon

TRICKORTREAT

Reaching

Grrrrrrrrrr

Going to Miss That Ditch Witch

Well Bryan will be sad to see the construction equipment go, but I think those tears will be short lived as his park opens up.  They have been working a feverish pace, and they look like they are on schedule for Saturday completion.

Trail and Shubbery

Park and Community "Christmas" Tree

Art Attack

Myam brought three new cross-stitch pieces over for Bryan's room, and over whelmed by the backlog of unhung art we went art cRaZy tonight.  We only took some shots from B's room, but we've started to empty out all our boxes of art.

But here is just B's room for starters:

Taken in low light will try and get a better shot.

In context w/closet stickers

Intrepid Scientist at Work

Um... Guys... This isn't part of the protocol.

Hmmmmm

B's B-Day

Not sure what to make of those fire things...