check it out - more QUAINTANCE cuties!

here are a couple more that we're proud to call ours. aren't they gorgeous! we love you jimmy and charlie and aunt ann. hope to see you soon!

kate nearly loses her melons...

with macaroni salad season upon us we set out in seek of the freshest produce available. we landed at the WNC farmers market. one of our favorite local hangouts. as you can see we filled our basket and then some...

memorial day weekend starts off with a bang!

kater - pie slept until 9 AM so trey and i had three plus hours this morning to get the party started...

we did a few load of laundry and spent a good hour hunting for bugs. found a few june bugs a dozen moths. stay tuned for play by play reporting on our fun filled weekend!

blister sisters break $30,000

this fall i will be walking 60 miles along with my fellow blisters sisters on behalf of the Susan G. Komen foundation. each one of my team members have pledged to personally raise a minimum of $2,200 in donations and this past weekend we collectively surpassed the $30,000 mark. we are well on our way to the nearly $50,000 goal we've set. GO TEAM!!!

a big thank you to all of the support i've received so far from our friends and family. i sincerely appreciate your support.

OH MY - what cute cousins we have ~

the two adorable children above are austin and ally - they belong to my "little" brother eric and his wife emmy. big HUGS and KISSES from kater and trey. we miss you terribly. (great pics aunt emmy - keep them comming!)

ordinary day turned extraordinary

after work today i set off to conquer the mundane - or at least what i had anticipated to be the mundane. my goal - to clean the house! those of you that have attempted this with little ones under foot know how challenging something as simple as cleaning can be. you get one room cleaned and they've already torn apart 2 more. tis' the nature of the beast.

today it sank in - i can't possibly clean fastest enough to get ahead of them so why not indulge them. a couple of mattresses on the floor and presto - instant entertainment. i managed to get all of the linens changed and made a fairly decent attack against the killer dust bunnies that have begun to invade our home. all the while i enjoyed the sweet sound of my children laughing themselves silly. as a mother there is nothing i find more fulfilling - to know that the ones you love are safe and happy. today there was no doubt!

we're off again!

while pete was traveling last weekend the kids and i set off again for mooresville. thursday and most friday were spent with the sundbergs - playing and packing -packing and playing!

friday afternoon we went over to the bigleys and enjoyed a neighborhood event with the harbor gang as we celebrated david's 43rd birthday with him! good music and good food were present but not nearly enough sleep for trey-bear the night before lead us to an early departure.

before heading back to asheville we were able to catch up with melanie and mr. jeff and enjoyed a quick lunch. seemed strange packing up the kids and leaving behind the familiarity of mooresville and the comfort of good friends. yet some how is was reassuring as well. i believe friendships and memories are what you make out of them. we're making the most of ours!

mom asked for more pics of the yard...

we finally finished the "rock wall" that we've been working on since the landscaping crew was abruptly told not to return...will post pictures of that master piece soon. kate collected her biggest payout yet upon completion of this project... 2 bucks for 4 weeks of work - hard work!

i also need to post pictures of our ridiculously expensive yet meticulously landscaped ditch. errrrrr!

good morning sunshine

the kids started this day just as they do every other. snuggled up on the sofa together. each nestled beneath their OWN super soft - super personality identifying blanket. (i am sure that is not proper English) to enjoying a cup of rich chocolaty ovaltine. or as we now call it choc-o-ley-mock-o-ley; in honor of our cool cousin austin.

life is good!

ode' to digger-dog

yep - he's still with us -- every day is a gift.

these days he's a little less active & a lot more stinky

yet be brings us all great happiness.

every day he find pleasure in the simplest of things...

he enjoys regular handouts and deep tissue massage from his "boy" trey-

he enjoys eating the cat's food while she's napping and pouncing on her when she is using her litter box-

he enjoys finding that perfect sunny spot in the yard to nap in all afternoon-

he enjoying terrorizing the UPS man; or any other delivery/service type person that approaches the house-

he still enjoys the heck out of a tennis ball; old or new -

and every morning no matter what side of the bed i wake to digger still enjoys greeting me and giving me that silly little smile of his as if to say he's happy to see me.

BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION

READY - SET - CLIP

calling all grands! with kate heading off to school in the fall i am going to start clipping BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION at 10 cents a clip! care to join me?

look for the familiar logo on hundreds of products from General Mills, Ziploc® and Kleenex®. for a complete listing of all participating products simply click on the link below:

http://www.boxtops4education.com/Downloads/Global/products.pdf

think GREEN

ok folks - our first bulk order of paper products just arrived and it really has me fired up! did you know that if every household in the U.S. replaced just one box of virgin fiber facial tissues with 100% recycled ones, we could save:

• 163,000 trees
• 422,100 cubic feet of landfill space, equal to 620 full garbage trucks
• 59 million gallons of water, a year's supply for 460 families of four
• and avoid 10,000 pounds of pollution

check out their website for money saving coupons that can be used in the store or online!

http://www.seventhgeneration.com/our_products/coupons.html

kate did make the comment that our new tissues were a bit scratchy but when i explained to her why mommy and daddy made the decision to use the recycled ones she happily complied. as for trey - he'll probably only ever experience the super softness of puffs when visiting his mika.

the woods come to visist ~

kate was giddy as we left swim lessons saturday afternoon. not only did she LEAP into the deep end and swim to the side with only minor assistance from her instructor miss heather but she also knew that her dear friend kiley would be at our house when we arrived home.

good neighbors became great friends to us during our years spent on robinson road. above are a few pictures laura (the professional photographer) snapped while there were here.

opa the LAPIDARY

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

A lapidary (the word means "concerned with stones") is an artisan who practices the craft of working, forming and finishing stone, mineral, gemstones, and other suitably durable materials (amber, shell, jet, pearl, copal, coral, horn and bone, glass and other synthetics) into functional and/or decorative, even wearable, items (e.g. cameos, cabochons, and more complex facetted designs). The adjectival term is also extended to refer to such arts. Diamond cutters are generally not referred to as lapidaries, due to their highly specialized techniques which are required to work diamond successfully.

so YES opa, we've opened our package and even better we've even put it to good use.

stay tuned opa...this next ones for you~

kindergarten registration and placement testing for kate this morning…

I TRUST YOU'LL TREAT HER WELL

by Victor Buono

Dear World;

I bequeath to you today one little girl... in a crisp dress... with two blue eyes... and a happy laugh that ripples all day long... and a flash of light blond hair that bounces in the sun when she runs. I trust you'll treat her well.

She's slipping out of the backyard of my heart this morning... and skipping off down the street to her first day of school. And never again will she be completely mine. Prim and proud she'll wave her young and independent hand this morning and say "Goodbye" and walk with little lady steps to the schoolhouse.

Now she'll learn to stand in lines... and wait by the alphabet for her name to be called. She'll learn to tune her ears for the sounds of school-bells... and deadlines... and she'll learn to giggle... and gossip... and look at the ceiling in a disinterested way when the little boy 'cross the aisle sticks out his tongue at her. And, now she'll learn to be jealous. And now she'll learn how it is to feel hurt inside. And now she'll learn how not to cry.

No longer will she have time to sit on the front porch steps on a summer day and watch an ant scurry across the crack in the sidewalk. Nor will she have time to pop out of bed with the dawn and kiss lilac blooms in the morning dew. No, now she'll worry about those important things... like grades and which dress to wear and whose best friend is whose. And the magic of books and learning will replace the magic of her blocks and dolls. And now she'll find new heroes.
For five full years now I've been her sage and Santa Claus and pal and playmate and father and friend. Now she'll learn to share her worship with her teachers... which is only right. But, no longer will I be the smartest, greatest man in the whole world. Today when that school bell rings for the first time... she'll learn what it means to be a member of the group... with all its privileges and its disadvantages too.

She'll learn in time that proper young ladies do not laugh out loud... or kiss dogs... or keep frogs in pickle jars in bedrooms... or even watch ants scurry across cracks in sidewalks in the summer.
Today she'll learn for the first time that all who smile at her are not her friends. And I'll stand on the front porch and watch her start out on the long, lonely journey to becoming a woman.
So, world, I bequeath to you today one little girl... in a crisp dress... with two blue eyes... and a flash of light blond hair that bounces in the sunlight when she runs.

I trust you'll treat her well.

i threw it out there and she bit...

that amazing women you see tucked in between those

two gorgeous nieces of mine...

that is beth, my sister-in law.

she is going to join me in atlanta for the breast cancer 3-Day walk.

this really excites me!

30 DAYS

60 MILES

1 CAUSE

a cure

take time to just be silly