Happy Memorial Day- Henry.

We're taking a break from our normal blogging in observance of today's holiday.

To commemorate Memorial Day, we wanted to honor our favorite veteran in a way he would appreciate. So PawPaw, in your honor...

...mama vacuumed out the van.

That is some dirt-free interior. Mama also spent the day painting Gram's Adirondack chair yellow. Mama's figured out that a sure fire way to get out of watching her own kids is to do work for Grams. And things are actually kind of nice when you're sitting in a garage painting a chair and drinking a cold O'Douls. No wonder papa always starts mowing the lawn at 7:30 pm. (And in case you're wondering, just like every other national holiday, papa worked today. What is it with you academics? Why must you always schedule conferences or workdays on days that are recognized with cookouts?)

Here's one last gift for you, Pawps. You may have already seen this video as it is all over the interwebs, but mama and papa think it is pretty funny. We all know that the creators were thinking of mama and papa when they wrote this song. I bet you all wish you were driving a Sienna right now too.

Back at GGs- Henry.

While mama and papa were out living it up downtown all weekend, we were back in North Olmsted with GG and GG and Grams.

The weather was nice, so we headed out to the garden. Junie played on the swing.

Grams brought out fish food so we could feed the big fish in her pond.

Hold on, GG!

GG Gramps and I found an old pedal tractor that's been underneath the shed out back for 25 years. We cleaned it up and it runs as good as new. I seriously logged about 20 hours on this tractor.

June explored the wildlife.

When mama and papa stopped over with the 601 guys, Miss Liz commented on how fair we managed to keep June's skin even in the South (she used to live in Israel, so she understands our pain). Mama was very pleased with herself that someone noticed our porcelain complexions.

When we weren't out riding the tractor, GG Gramps and I hung out on the porch sipping our coffee.

June preferred to stay inside and admire GG Grams snow baby collection.

Here are more shots from the metropark that mama downloaded from Gram's camera. Check out mama at 29 weeks.

Look at June's big catch!

I spent some time velcroing animals to their habitats.

Grandma Seibert, get ready for hair cuts. These two kids have a lot of hair in their eyes.

Cleveland tourists- Henry.

For our summer trip home, mama said she wanted to see Cleveland. We're there over the holidays visiting family, but we never seem to make it out of the house to see anything. So we decided to stick around for a few days and do the tourist thing.

With downtown out of the way, we headed out to the metroparks on Monday. There was a fun nature center to play in.

Then we headed out to the trails. Mama and I climbed 135 steps (I counted) to the top of the bluffs over the river.

For the fist time in my life, I willingly posed for a picture.

Here's the view from half way down. In the time it took for us to ascend and descend the steps, we got passed 3 times by some guys running the steps.

GG spotted this frog on our nature walk.

We had a great time looking for wildlife. Junie's running to see some tadpoles in this shot.

The wildlife was cool, but June mostly wanted to pick up stones, even if they were all the way behind her.

She got a little tired towards the end of the half mile hike, so I walked with her.

Best friends.

Back at the center, June and I spent some time contemplating the earth and finding our reserves of strength. Maybe they's why we couldn't close our mouths.

Mister Adam and Miss Margan's wedding- Mama.

After Henry's program, we jumped in the car and headed straight for the promised land-Cleveland. It took us all day and half the night (we only fell asleep for the last 30 minutes, of course) and arrived at GG and GG's house at 11:30. Mama and papa threw us out of the car and headed downtown to meet up with their friends.

Specifically, we were in town because their friends Mister Adam and Miss Margan were getting married on Saturday. It was a grown-ups only wedding, so Bubba and I had to stay at home. The ceremony was held at Miss Margan's parent's house and was a traditional Persian ceremony. Mama's favorite part was after Mister Adam said his vows. When it was Miss Margan's turn, she had to ignore the officiant two times before she answered. This is to remind the groom that he is eager to get married, but the bride is really just doing him a big favor. And while Miss Margan refused to answer, people yelled out things like "She's out picking rosebuds!" or "She's bust brushing her hair!" Also, during the whole ceremony, the married women in Margan's family all took turns holding a veil over the couple.

Here's the whole group, affectionately referred to as the 601 guys. (In college, they all lived together in 601 Oxford Commons.) Mama is quick to remember that she was also pregnant at Miss Liz and Mister Zac's wedding three years ago. We hope this doesn't become a trend with any future weddings.

It's become a well-known fact that Mister Paul and Miss Suze have been dating for over 6 years and have only a few pictures together. (Little known fact- they just started dating when Miss Paul took Miss Susan to mama and papa's wedding.) So few, that the only one in their house is an out of focus picture in which they are both looking in different directions. Hopefully, this picture is a good replacement.

The reception was held in the Marriott in downtown Cleveland. There was a great cocktail hour with delicious hors d'oeuvres. This was followed by a delicious meal and dancing with a live band. While the rest of the group enjoyed the open bar, mama had to console herself with some wedding cake and a white chocolate-covered ice cream heart. Not a bad runner-up.

They all stayed at Miss Adam and Miss Margan's house that was about 6 blocks away. It was a slow walk because all the ladies had had their high heels on for quite some time. Mister Paul took a break to wait for slow mama and to strike a James Dean pose.

On Sunday morning, there was a brunch at the hotel. And as we walked in, who was walking out but the entire Cincinnati Reds baseball team? Mama and papa were pretty excited to see everyone. I was disappointed that they didn't see Joey Votto- my favorite player. They didn't stop any of the players, but mama did run straight into Dusty Baker- the manager. He was very nice to the crazy pregnant lady. Papa asked for a picture with Thom Brenneman. He's the sportscaster for the Reds on the radio. You may also recognize him because he calls the NCAA national championship football game every year. He was nice enough to stop and asked about our new baby and told us that he thought the transition to 3 kids was the hardest. He was so nice, we'll never say anything bad about him again.

You may recognize that long blond hair as Bronson Aroyo's- the Reds' pitcher. Mama took this during the brunch. Mister Adam says he planned it all this way. Best. Wedding. Ever.

After a quick trip to Skyline Chili for lunch, we all headed to the Jake to see the Reds take on the Indians. Adam and Margan even came out before they presumably went home and slept for 4 days straight after their big weekend.

And here's the rest of the gang. Thanks for the awesome weekend, Mr. and Mrs. Davis!

Last Day of School- June.

We're over a week behind, but we're trying to get some updates out here for you because we've done a lot of fun things this week.

First off, Henry had his last day of school and they held a big program to celebrate.

Henry's the short one in the back with the orange striped shirt.


All the classes came in and sang the song "Why did God make worms?" Henry says he can't remember the words and refuses to sing it, but mama thinks there's a line in there about "Why did God take the time to make something covered in grime?" Mama thinks it extolls the godly virtues of composting.

Every class took turns singing their own song. We really liked it when the 5 year old class played their recorders. I think that's "Mary had a little lamb."

Finally it was time for Henry's class.

They sang the "Good Day" song which was so sweet it made mama cry a little. If you can't understand the second verse, it's because it is in French.

I was not interested in watching the program, so instead I watched videos of myself on the camera and yelled "Junnie! Junnie! Junnie!"

After the program, we all perked up considerably when the refreshments came out. Henry arranged it so he and I both ate lots of cookies and lemonade. Henry even agreed to a picture with his best friend Kefu. Mama's very emotional about school being over. And not just because that means she has to spend all summer with both of her kids. Henry is really turning into a big boy and it breaks her heart.

Kitchen makeover- Mama.

We love our house. It's in great shape. It's brick and on a very shady lot, so it stays very cool and keeps the humidity out. And the only major repair we've had to make is to replace the 35 year old water heater. Not bad, little house.

The previous owners had great taste and painted every room in colors we love. They put in new tile floors (and replaced the roof and windows- yeah!).

I love my big open kitchen. The cabinets have been repainted white, which is a complete pain if there are any kids in the house, especially kids prone to knocking toy cars into said cabinets. But they is the south, and they paint every piece of woodwork they can find down here. But I can live with that. The one thing I can't stand in the once white countertops. I'm sure I've complained about them before. They are slightly yellow after 35 years. If you look at them long enough, they stain. And they show every tiny crumb. Brandon gave me permission to replace them, but after buying a new water heater and having to pay the medical bills for this baby, I don't want to spend any more money. (We miss you, wonderful Wisconsin student insurance.) So instead, we decided on something a little unconventional- we painted them.

Here's a before look at the awful counters. There is a tiny (but growing) gap between the counters and the walls, so there was an adhesive strip to cover it up and keep it from growing gunk. Brandon took a few hours on his birthday to peel that grossness off and clean it up.

Bleah. Thanks, papa.

June played for 3 hours straight without me while I taped everything off. then during naptime, I primed the counters black. We actually bought a kit online specifically made for countertops. Supposedly, this is the paint used on cars, so it's should stand up to normal kitchen use.

A view of the other side. I ordered the kit to get here in time to paint before we left for a wedding. Then it would have plenty of time to dry. It got here on Wednesday afternoon, leaving me about 30 hours to paint and allow for drying time between layers.

After the primer was dry (around 11pm), it was time for the fun part. I sponge painted 5 different colors in 2 foot squares to look like granite.

This took a little longer than I anticipated. I didn't finish until 5 am, but I knew I had to get it done, and I didn't want to try and juggle that many cans of paints and supplies with kids running around. (Luckily, Brandon volunteered to take Henry to school, so I didn't have to get up. And my best little buggy ever, slept in until 11 am! I know I heard her up around 9, but she must have gone back to sleep. I swear that kid would stay in bed all day, if you let her.)

Today, we added 2 coats of polyurethane to make it nice and shiny and protect the paint. I don't think anyone's going to mistake it for real granite, but I also don't think anyone will walk in and say "Did you paint that?" Overall, we're pretty pleased. Plus, the whole project only cost about $70. Brandon took the tape off tonight and there was a little bleeding, but the new adhesive strip we have to install to close the gap should cover it up. We'll let you know how it holds up after I let people start touching it again.

Papa's birthday-Henry.

Today papa turned 28. We had a pretty quiet day.

We all cuddled up to watch some Thomas on the computer. Did you know that Alec Baldwin, Ringo Starr, and Pierce Brosnan were all narrators for Thomas the Tank Engine on earlier seasons?

I've rediscovered my love of puzzles. I haven't worked on any since this winter, but found a 100 piece puzzle that Great Grandma Wagner and I put together. I got it together all by myself. So mama ran to the dollar store and picked up a few more for me.

Of course, she made me earn each of them. I earned this one by spraying down all the windows and wiping doorknobs. Aunt Jenni says it is child exploitation. Mama says this is the highest rate she's paid me. Usually she makes me do an hour's worth of work for a ten cent book. I only had to work a half hour for this one dollar puzzle. I'm moving on up!

This puzzle had 150 pieces that were about half the size of a normal adult puzzle, but I finished it! There were a couple times that mama had to come help me with the purple parts. She likes this one, because she's hoping it will help teach me to work on specific areas one at a time- in this case, dogs and cats from Disney movies. The best part was that it kept me quiet and occupied for an hour and a half!

Mama found this t-shirt online. Not only does it reference awesome beards, the picture really looks like papa (more so when we lived in Wisconsin and had more of us to love- it was cold up there!).

Since mama's not really a big fan of cake (in more than one slice, at least), she didn't want to make a huge cake that wouldn't get eaten before we left this weekend. So she made something that was guaranteed to get eaten immediately- no bake cookies. This beauty is about 8 no bakes clumped together and lovingly decorated by mama, who must have been short on sleep when she was piping the icing.

We all helped blow our germs on the big cookie after the birthday song. Papa was nice enough to share, then surrendered the rest of the cookie to us when we all started yelling "Ish-mo!" That's June speak for "Please, more."

All that peanut butter chocolately goodness demanded something to wash it down. June has been practicing drinking water from a cup.

She must be getting better because only about a third of it ended up on her shirt tonight. Too bad more if it didn't get on her face to wash off all that filth.