we lost our best friend today

it's been a rough day.  our bestest beagle buddy bailey crossed the bridge today.  we only wish we got to say goodbye.  but we will never forget our little butter bean.  june 8th, 2000 - we were only supposed to be looking at the puppies but came home with bailey.  (seriously - who can "just look" at beagle puppies??)  our first baby who took it all in stride. six different apartments and houses in 3 different states.  the addition of dog after dog.  and then hedgehog and cat.  even the addition of the babies which left less attention for him.  but he loved the kids, Q especially, often dissing me to cuddle with him.  he had the sweetest beagle howl and the softest ears.  and he loved to snuggle.  there's a giant bailey-shaped hole in my heart.

bailey beagle 4/18/00 - 6/18/12

let's get this party started

Q was up at 6:30 and ready to go: "the sun is up. the beach is open!"

in like 20 years maybe

caroline saw a display of toddler-sized bikinis at the beach today: "i want a bikini! it looks like underpants!"

whose clues?

caroline simply cannot believe how many blue's clues fans there are in pennsylvania.  every time she sees one of these on a car she squeals, " blue's clues, mommy!  blue's clues on that car!"

under the sea diaper cake

last weekend we went to massachusetts for aunty becky's baby shower.  which means it was time for another cloth diaper cake... more people need to invite me to baby showers because i really love making these :)

kids say things

some random quotes from the past few days:

me: quentin, you look like your daddy.
Q: but i don't have a mustache!

(for the record, neither does he)

caroline, upon noticing the new princess dress-up shoes grandma gave her in the play room: "jasmine shoes!!!  wonderful!"

caroline, noticing jeremy taking a gatorade from the fridge: "daddy!  that's not a diet coke!"

backyard fun

and we are back...

the kids spent the past week with grandma and grandpa in massachusetts. hence the lack of posts, because really, they are what the blog is all about. and you don't really care to hear tales about how we cleaned the playroom or unpacked the last boxes from moving that have been rotting in the cellar. but now they are back, and so are we.

this girl

is serious about her cake

sonflower

a sunflower from my son :)

the little things

the parking garage at my office has five floors. Q always wants to park on the 4th floor, because he's 4. pickle likes to park on 2 for the same reason. but Q knows there's a 5th floor and now that he's going to be 5, he's been begging to park up there. unfortunately it had been blocked off for the winter since it's the roof and they don't want to shovel it. no one needs to park there anyway because there are always plenty of spots on the other floors. last week Q noticed that 5 was open again and i finally gave in to his begging this morning, even though it would be way easier to park on 2. so we drove through an empty 3rd and 4th floor to go to the top. the kids' faces were plastered to their windows in amazement, like we were driving through a theme park or something. when i opened the door to let Q out, his eyes were so wide with wonder. he looked around, taking it all in, and said, "this. is. awesome." he was amazed at how different the view was with no walls or obstructions. he apparently talked about it all day. at the end of the day when we were in the elevator back up i asked them if they remembered where we parked, and caroline said, "yes, the beautiful place."

we also took a nap

pickle has discovered our bed and it is now her preferred weekend nap spot. ok by me.

me and cinderella

eating ice cream together

how does your garden grow?

yesterday we planted our garden.  apparently everyone in southeastern pennsylvania had the same plan, because home depot was insane.  quentin loved picking out vegetables to plant.  he made some interesting selections, including hot peppers and chocolate mint.  we are also attempting to grow carrots from seeds, because he was insistent.  this year we are trying out some raised beds with liners on the driveway, since we don't have a whole lot of yard to sacrifice.

me and my shadow

caroline discovered her shadow during Q's t-ball game yesterday.  she and her shadow danced and sang for most of the game.  it was a riot watching her pose and then check out what it looked like in shadow-form.

t-ball makes you really thirsty

from my best girl

her royal highness

how most baseball fans dress for a game...

oh you mean, they don't wear princess crowns??

silly faces

if only...

caroline, after devouring a cookie this evening: "i ate all my cookie!  can i have dessert now?"

sweet caroline

forgot to post this one to the blog!

bugaboo

we discovered a bugaboo creek steakhouse in delaware. we used to go to the one by our boston house all the time. we thought the kids would get a kick out of the talking moosehead on the wall so we went there for dinner tonight.

caroline was cracking us (and our waitress) up. daddy's meal came with a side of baked beans, and when pickle saw the waitress handing his food to him, she asked, "daddy, can i have some of your jellybeans?"

the kids' meals come with a hoodsie cup of ice cream for dessert. when the waitress put caroline's ice cream and little wooden "spoon" in front of her she asked, "is that a band aid?"

butterfly princess popstar?

gecko!

we attempted to go to a minor league baseball game this evening. we got through an inning or two before the skies opened up and we bailed. at least we got to meet the geico gecko.

crazy hair day

it was crazy hair day at school. Q refused to participate but pickle is all about it and insisted on a million (ok, really 11) curly little pigtails. if history repeats itself, she will now demand crazy hair every day for a week.

monkey bus!

on our ride in to school each day we drive past the DART bus lot.  the kids are obsessed with some of the buses.  the monkey bus is a favorite, as is the mcdonald's bus and the geico bus.  it's always random which buses are parked in the lot, but they get so excited when one or more of their faves are there.  the simple things...

school photo time again

amazing.  all smiles.  minimal weird face.  except the class shots.  those are pretty bad.

da bulls