SUMMER FUNOLA

 

here's how you create a day of summer funola. (yes, it's currently winter. i thought i'd share this in case you are making your summer plans. you'll want to pencil this in).

 

buy a cheap can of shave cream, hunt down an inexpensive tub of knock-off cheese balls and scrounge for a hotel shower cap in your bathroom drawer (or buy some at the dollar store in an assortment of delightful colors).

 

 

corner some family members who have come to stay for a visit and have nowhere else to go. this time we trapped auntie lynnette, uncle andy, and grammie.

 

shower-capped victims stand with shave cream on their heads. the other folks try and toss cheese balls on top of shave cream heads.

 



 

laughter hopefully ensues.  fun will be had by all (or else we'll make you do it again next time).



BIRDS GETTIN' ANGRY

this guy turned 7 in 2012. 7!

 

 

and his party theme of choice? angry birds, of course.

 

 

 

hudson wanted to be involved in every aspect of planning his party. he crafted the pizza into the red angry bird, meticulously arranging the olive eyebrows just so.

 

 

him and i spent quite a bit of time creating this poster scene for the decorations. i was the cutting helper and the supply getter while he was the visionary and overall creative director.

 

 

 

we found online printables and made piggies to hang from the ceiling. and of course there were hats. red angry birds for the guests and the black bomb bird for the birthday boy and his brother.

 

 

 

my guys made balloon piggies, too, with sand in the bottom for a little décor and a possible bowling game.

 

 

we collected boxes for ages. let me rephrase that. i collected boxes for ages. i scrounged at the grocery store and the liquor store. i actually went dumpster diving in an alley behind a breakfast restaurant we went to in seattle. ok, by' dumpster' i mean huge recycle bin and by 'alley' i mean 'parking lot.'

 

the boxes were stacked and the kids took turns pummeling them with  "angry birds" (a.k.a. miscellaneous spherical objects - i have boys, you know...gotta keep it clean).

 

 

 

the boxes began as towers and soon were reduced to rubble. the kids decided to become the angry birds, charging into the piles. it was super fun to watch. such a great group of kids.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my guy. i think he had fun.

 

 

HALLOWEEN, OR HOW WYATT BECAME 'ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VAMPIRE HUNTER'

good 'ol halloween.

 

our boys were decked out in appropriate ninja attire, which makes for some seriously stealthy trick or treating, but not so great in the wear-bright-colors-so-cars-can-see-you-at-night-for-safety kind of way.

 

 i try to cobble some sort of costume together because i usually volunteer for the classroom parties at school. and quite honestly, if you are a teacher or parent that doesn't at least put on a funky hat or something, you're a dud. there. i said it.

 

this year's easy peasy costume was rosie the riveter. thrift store denim shirt. polka dot bandana (yep. already owned it. i'm crazy like that). red nail polish and lip stick. liquid eyeliner. done. (i also spray painted an old plastic construction worker style lunch box black, but totally forgot to carry it around. perhaps next year).

 

wyatt humored the boys and i this year with his abe lincoln getup. although he was concerned that he'd just look like a guy who jumped on the current popular lincoln bandwagon instead of one who has been in love with the great bearded gentleman since the beginning of time. and while i assured him that we would all know that his love for lincoln runs deep, his worst fears came true. by the end of trick or treating with the boys, he was carrying their nunchucks, swords and dais's so they could have hands free candy collecting. there he was. my husband. abe lincoln. vampire hunter.

 

BIRTHDAY FUN!



i'm one lucky lady. even though i'm older than dirt,

 my dear husband still takes me out

 to celebrate on my birthday.

oh how i love him.

we started with breakfast at the hi-life,

 a cool, yummy place to eat in ballard.





then we were off to the farmer's market, only a few blocks away, for some serious eye candy. wyatt picked up some vittles to make us for dinner. delicious!

after shopping, we were off to the chihuly garden and glass museum which recently opened  in seattle center. it was my idea of heaven. so much color. sculpture. design delight.



isn't this boat filled with chihuly's floats absolutely gorgeous? makes my heart go pitter patter (or maybe even thumpity thump thump).

this indoor glass garden was displayed on top of a mirror floor. the reflections made me simply crazy with happiness. that's right. craaaazy!



this is a close-up of a ceiling in the museum. wouldn't this look good in my house? perhaps a bathroom or even the kitchen? yoo hoo! chihuly. come on over!

chihuly is big on the architecture of greenhouses. this one was at the end of the museum and it was stunning.

there was an outdoor garden, too. I love the idea of manmade sculptures that live in harmony with nature. sigh.

and here I am. in all my birthday glory. what a fabulous day. thanks, honey.



'STACHE SHOWER

yep. we had it. a mustache shower. who wouldn't want to attend a facial hair themed baby shower? best shower theme ever, don't you agree?

top row, left to right: the proud papa sporting a fine looking grey 'stache; big bro addison in a modern fuzzy variety; soon-to-be third time mama in a burt reynolds inspired model

middle row, left to right: our boys realizing their dreams of possessing facial hair have come true earlier than expected (we are so proud); littler big bro with a charlie chaplin style 'stache (yes, charlie chaplin. I know what you were thinking!); wyatt and I showing our firm belief that fake mustaches should be modeled in the most stoic expression possible

bottom row, left to right: the mom with her eldest son; little peanut's home, complete with fuzziness; little peanut's dad modeling his actual facial hair (a total man, that guy)

 

 

and what type of festivities would a mustache shower entail? why, bubble gum cigars, facial hair glasses and a 'wet your whiskers' root beer tasting of course. there was also a wide assortment of delightful cookies generously baked by some of the guests.

 

i think the most fun i had was watching everyone gather around the mustache table, deciding whether to use the stick on fuzzies, the finger tattoos or the foamies on a stick. there was no excuse for not wearing a 'stache. a mustache for everybody! leave no guest without a mustache behind!

 

 

we also played "name that 'stache!" see how your mustache identifying skills add up.

 here are a few hints.

#4..... my youngest nephew (at the time of the shower)
#15....the opposite of my mom is my...
#22...the paternal grandfather

good luck!



CAN DREAMS COME TRUE?

 

 

 

one of  seven-year-old Hudson's dreams:

to visit the end of a rainbow. :)

I love this guy.

FIELD TRIP!

mom and dad came over for the thanksgiving weekend and we loaded up the van and headed to the lemay, american's car museum. quite frankly, it was amazing.

so many lovely colors and funky headlights. there were fins and hubcaps. white walls and hood ornaments. old and older, and even some futuristic. gas guzzlers and electric. foreign and domestic. fancy and plain. this place had it all.

harold lemay and his wife amassed their collection over several years. in 1997, the guinness book of world records recognized the lemay collection as the largest private collection of automobiles in the world with 2,200 vehicles. later his collection actually exceeded 3,400 vehicles. part of this collection has been donated to the museum to help honor not only lemay, but automobiles themselves.

what struck me most was the mission of this museum. it was for anybody, from the car enthusiast to the average joe or jolene. it was about all cars, not just one make and model. it was about personal car memories. don't we often think of cars as members of our families in a way? that's what this place was about.



there were guys with auto club jackets. folks who owned fancy schmancy cars. kids who dreamed of their first car. minivan moms and dads showing their kids how cars used to be (that would be us).

 

hudson particularly fancied this one.

 



and what's an auto museum without slot car racing.

 

and lo and behold, the collection even had this beauty. a ford mercury wagon complete with attractive faux wood trim. ours growing up was red, but this one still brought back a lot of memories. and was it seriously this huge?

 



 

boon wondered why cars were so boring in color these days and why they weren't bright and colorful like the cars of the 50s and 60s. good question, my son. are people really happier in beige? i think not.

 

hudson was amazed that some of the trunks of early 1900s cars were literally trunks. weird!

 

the collection rotates frequently so we shall surely return. 

OH A HUNTING WE WILL GO

let's look way back into 2012 again and see what the davis 4 were up to in december, shall we?

oh, look! they were getting their hard-core woodsman-style on and hunting down their own christmas tree. in the grand forests of snohomish, or as some know it, the tree farm.

and is that a rudolph nose on their van? they are so funky like that.

 

 

and finally, the gory aftermath of the tree-chopping outing. let's have a moment of silence for the little lonely stump and the mud-infested family of boots, shall we?