June, just a handful of memories now

Last month had a few up and down moments and a lot of is-this-even-blogworthy? moments. And there are photos to prove it. Or give you a better look at the boys if they are too bouncy when we are on Skype (or won't come to the computer at all).

The highlight was helping celebrate Mia's first birthday.

Besides the party, it's just nice to get out of the house and do something different for a couple days. We are so lucky to live close enough to go up there every now and then. Soon I'll drive up there by myself so Jen and I can try to have a little free time.

We dealt with the sadness of losing our first family pet. It's been rough, definitely. Marmalade was getting older, but we didn't expect it to happen so suddenly. Zach was sad when Frank drove him to be cremated, because I told him we had to say goodbye, but other than that the boys haven't asked about him. Chloe seems her normal chatty self, but I've been giving her extra attention just to be sure she's ok.

Here we are back in 1999.

A trip to a Delaware, Ohio, pet store with a friend to pick up something for her hamster led me to the sweetest kitty ever, and it was love at first sight. He will always be missed. This is one of those times I'm so glad that I've taken so many pictures.

One of the things I'm excited about lately is creating photo books. With having so little time to be creative these days, making something quickly on the computer is really appealing (combined with the fact that Shutterfly is always having sales). Before now I've just made them as gifts, but last week
I started what I hope will be a whole series of books about our European travels. I don't know if I should admit this, but you know we watch reality TV; I was totally inspired by watching The Bachelorette. We saw an episode where they were in London, and Frank and I found ourselves saying "Hey, we've been there!" and "Remember how Zach was when we were there?" It brought back some good memories. So, first up, London in April of 2009:

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.

We are slowly making progress on things in the house, emptying more boxes all the time and tweaking this and that. Curtains for our bedroom make it so dark that we wish we could take afternoon naps. Labels on the boys' toy bins make it a bit easier for all of us to tackle cleaning their room. We are still working on the steps to get our fence approved. I'm enjoying the view of sunset from our back windows.

Zach is currently into:
*story time at Barnes & Noble
*Legos (his collection just started with a couple sets given to him at the story time, and also some that were a gift to Frank from RJ back in the day--sorry he took apart your roll-cage car, RJ)
*building things out of megablocks or duplos too, like the Eiffel Tower (Frank and I helped on that one)
*taking care of some plants, even though not a lot is growing
*playing card games, especially Crazy 8's
*watching lots of different shows on Netflix, which he calls "Nit-flex"
*drawing, painting, and writing. When asked about the one below, he said "It's someone we talk to on the 'puter, like Grandpa Larry!"
*being really good during his first dental cleaning
*staying dry most nights (thank goodness)
*fighting with his brother, about anything and everything, even whether or not the thing he just built is a monkey house or a monkey castle.

Gabe is currently into:
*Thomas, more than ever, as in, he watches the same couple of shows over and over again
*playing with his Thomas trains, including new additions Annie and Clarabel
*naps on the couch, after refusing to go upstairs and take one
*tootsie pops after haircuts
*definitely not ice cream (we're not sure what's up with this kid), but he will eat popsicles
*riding the tricycle across the bottom of our driveway, even if he has to share
*staying dry most days (thank goodness)
*fighting with his brother, although he also claims that Zach is his best friend. That was a funny conversation during bathtime the other night. Zach argued that best friends are from different houses and suggested he pick Ben or Maggie instead.


Frank and I are currently into:
*taking turns sleeping in on the weekends
*finishing 4 seasons of Breaking Bad in a matter of weeks and looking forward to the new episodes soon
*meeting the neighbors. We had a good time at a neighborhood pool party yesterday and are glad to have started the process of meeting people.