Ellie turns 8

Complete with transformers cake.
(yep. no princesses or pink frosting for this girl.)
swimming at Washington City rec center.

Bentley and grandmas hand.

The birthday crew.
minus me [i was taking the picture]
minus mr. oliver [he was getting dressed]
minus my dad [not quite sure...zumba class maybe?]
oh and apparently minus grady...perhaps he was looking for grandpa.

the sudden [spontaneous] death of the leaning tree.

Most things Mr. Oliver and I do are on a whim.

So it shouldn't surprise anyone when I tell you
one morning while taking out the garbage...
we decided the ugly leaning tree
had to go.

We went over our options...
handsaw? too slow and too much work.
chainsaw? don't own one.
"well, what do we have?" i asked.
"A tow rope and a tow hitch"
That'll work.

So we called our awesome 3 year old out to help us pull.
but it just wouldn't budge.
So we hooked up it to the durango.
and got out the video camera.
Here is the end result.
it striped the tree of all its clothes.
now its a skankahoe immodest leaning tree.
We had bark from here to high heaven.
I sent the above picture to my sisters and told them:
"wy pulled that out with his bare hands."
and they both were seriously impressed. [the tards.]

Now, we've gone from ugly non-shady leaning tree
to ugly massive hole in the ground.
woot.

holy canole. hes four.

Dearest Grady Mckay:
We love you so very much!
You are the best big brother!
And the sweetest little boy!
Happy Birthday sweetcheeks!
Love, mommy

indoor preppy beach party

tell me about your birthday party...
"I went fishing...and i was swimming"
"haha you didn't go swimming.."
"yes I did..."
"and what else happened?"
"um, I'm getting tired."
"okay, just tell me your favorite part..."
"we had a fishing pond."

Thats my Grady.
A man of not so many words.
(unless were discussing little big planet, or trains or his favorite foods)
So I guess I'll tell you a little about his
[indoor] preppy beach party


[ disappointed i didnt fashion a sail boat cake or at least a crabby looking cake?]
yeah. me too.
We tortured the little ones when they first arrived
by making them pose infront of cute fabric
and wear fake mustaches.

Afterwards, we played "Pin the crab on the plate."
and had a fishing pond.
Then made custom brown paper sailor hats,
and of course we had to play
the poison candy game.
Grady was so very excited to have his friends there.
A big THANK YOU to everyone
who came and celebrated this special day with us!

*mr. oliver let me know I made super excited facial expressions
during this entire post. and apparently it was very entertaining to watch...

heres some inspiration.

Only because I need it.
I was feeling awesome
until Mr. Oliver and I discussed bills.
then I get downhearted.
So heres some things I think are pretty.

I need a big taxidermy fish for my boys room
keep an eye out for me.
LOOOVE the colorful clouds.
Eeeee! *new project*
Awh. loveliness.

What a darling manly boys room.
I love the name Jack.
but Mr. Oliver has banned it from our baby name list.

*sigh* i feel a little better now...so thanks.

oh yeah, my computer broke.

We had just got home from church.
I had taught my lesson on ovecoming oppostiion.
(inwhich I showed two video clips)
Yes its my fault I left the computer on the table.
But! its Benners fault hes a holy terror.
(okay, maybe thats my fault too)

He felt like blogstalking, I guess...
he pulled the cord
and the laptop came crashing down.

"Nooooooo...." I said as I ran in slowmo to save it
but I was too late.
the light in the screen had...busted?
and for awhile it we had to use a flashlight.
but its hard to blog with a flashlight.
Hence the large gap in blog posts.
the end.

a birthday party

Gradys bestie Isaac had a birthday party last month.
They had a slip and slide!
and a wet trampoline!
and blue cuppycakes!
The boys and I had a great time!