And Round 3 goes to...???

Ever since we've moved into this house 3 years ago, I have had an ongoing battle with our dog, Jake, over the outdoor patio furniture cushions on the deck. I happen to think they look nice to sit on and prefer that they remain on the furniture. Jake happens to think they look nice to sit on-- until he gets bored and decides they look like fun chew toys. I have lost the last two rounds of this 'game'. Whenever I lose, Jake becomes banned from the deck until I start to feel sorry for him and then cave and give him deck privileges again (of course, by this time the deck is really 'safe' for him because there are no cushions to destroy!!)

As a result of our last 'round', the chairs & sofa on the deck have been cushion-less all spring and summer. I have a hard time justifying spending nearly $200 on cushions that may just become doggie chew toys. I've had some birthday money burning a hole in my pocket and decided to hold out to see if I could find an end-of-season deal on furniture cushions and a last-minute trip to Target yesterday yielded a bonanza! Check out what I found for $15 each!!

It must have been the first day they marked the patio furniture down to 50% off because they still had lots of inventory so I could actually find 5 that matched and that I didn't have to talk myself into liking. Whoohoo!! Now that it's 95 degrees outside, we can use our deck!!

The dog, on the other hand, will be back to being 'banned'-- which means that now he will probably resume his digging under the shrubbery looking for a cool place to hang out... or barking his discontent until we put him in his kennel in the cool basement... or winning me over with his pitiful looks and 'promises' to not even put a paw on my new cushions...

Who can resist such a contrite looking face?? Me-- that's who!!

A Triple Celebration

Because we've not done enough travelling lately, last weekend we made a 'quick trip' to North Carolina to visit my sister & her family. My favorite (and only!) niece turned one on July 2nd and Melissa & Tom were hosting a joint celebration for Chloe's 1st and America's 232nd birthdays!

It was great to see the Eilers/Feller families-- we haven't all been together since last Thanksgiving. Miss Chloe has probably changed the most (as babies are prone to do) as she is now walking (and running) and I feel certain that talking is just around the corner!

I think it is apparent from the pictures below that Chloe likes cake! In fact, you can see in the second picture that she is doing the sign for "more" (as in, I'd like another cupcake please!!).

After the party and the birthday girl was put to bed, Aunt Missy staged quite a fireworks show for us in the front yard-- complete with about 500 sparklers! She just kept opening boxes! I think we actually wound up using most of them and probably would have gotten through them all if a huge bolt of lightening and thunder hadn't put a quick end to the festivities!!

On Saturday, the cousins enjoyed a trip to "Peppermint Park"-- which is a darling little park just a block away from my sister's house. The girls went here on their last trip to NC and it was on their 'must do' list for this visit!

Uncle Mark even came along and gave Emma a push on the tire swing!

I am pretty sure that it's safe to say that Chloe prefers her Uncle Michael to Aunt Wendy-- probably because I am the crazy lady who tried to make her eat rice krispies and painted her toenails bright red! Oh well... maybe one day she'll like me as much as she likes 'the guys'!!

We also took advantage of this weekend with family to have a little "Kindergarten Graduation" ceremony for Emma. Even though we homeschool, I still think it is important to mark certain traditional educational milestones and accomplishments with the girls and this was definitely one to celebrate. We are very proud of Emma and all of the hard work she has done over the past year. She enjoyed marching into the living room to 'Pomp & Circumstance' and receiving her diploma from the 'principal'!!

We wrapped up the weekend with a few games and of course some piano playing (we only wish we lived closer to Aunt Missy so she could teach the girls!)

Thanks again to the NC family for a great weekend!

American Girls!

We went to see the new American Girl movie, "Kit Kittredge" with friends today! Ten girls, two very accomodating little brothers, 9 American girl dolls, five mommies and lots of popcorn occupied the better part of two rows in the movie theatre this afternoon.

We are American Girl fans so I figured we'd like this movie-- but I have to say, even with our "AG bias", this is a really good movie! Very family friendly (a rarity in this day and age!) and it tells a nice story as well. It's both funny and sad (I won't mention who got the most teary-eyed in the group-- but I'll give you a hint-- it was the OLDEST of us!!).

I think the thing that really moved me the most was the dramatic portrayal of the Depression and difficult situations faced by those who lived through it. I've heard stories of my grandparents' experiences (one of my grandmother's lost her childhood home) and seen how it affected them later in life (my other grandmother always had an overflowing pantry so that she would never be without food), but for some reason, seeing these things portrayed in the movie made their experiences seem even more real to me. I realize once again how blessed I have been in my life to never wonder where my next meal will come from or have to wear clothes made out of chicken feed sacks.

So, all in all, I think we can safely give this movie a resounding 17 thumbs up (or at least 15-- I didn't actually get the little brothers' feedback-- but they lasted through the entire movie, so I'll take that as a positive sign!). A definite 'don't miss' summer movie!!