Ah, L'Amour

Nine years ago today Rob and I were married - I won't get all mushy, but I will say that I sure am glad we found each other. He's my best friend and we can't wait to see what fun and adventure the next nine years will bring. Here's to us!

Dear Teenage Jake...

Dear Jake,

If you're reading this, you must be a teenager, and out of guilt I told you to read this post. (Side note - isn't your mom cool for having a blog? I mean, I'm sure blogs are very passe in this future year, but trust me they're pretty cool in 2008.) I want to apologize for the fact that your bedroom as a 2-year-old is now painted the color "Dried Stem" - or "re-sale beige" as I like to call it.

Technically, you picked the color - you pointed to the swatch. It was between Dried Stem and Jute Brown, and I guess the outdoorsiness of the former just appealed to you more. I know that if it were really up to you, it would have been Sponge-Bob yellow or fire-engine red, but we had to think about re-sale here! We really do hope to move from Grand Forks one day and I don't want to have to re-paint. And yes, I know that Haley's room is a beautiful soft green but what you don't know is that she really wanted pink and I overrode her 2-year-old opinion too.

So I guess what I'm getting at is that since we (teenage you and myself) must be in the middle of an argument about whether or not you may paint your bedroom black - or some other hideous color - I promise to at least consider it instead of flat refusing you. But you have to promise you'll paint it back to re-sale beige before you move out!

Love, Mom

PS - For blackmail purposes, I'm posting this picture:

Every-Day Summer Fun List

A few weeks ago Haley and I made a list of all the small things we want to do during our summer. It seems to involve a lot of walking and eating of cold treats, but so far we've done pretty good at incorporating many of them into our summer routine. What's on your every-day-summer-fun list? Here's ours:

First-thing morning garden walks to see what is new/blooming/ripe.

Lunch, dinner, and breakfast alfresco.

Splash park and swimming pool.

Friends over to play in the pool and sprinkler.

Friday morning Haley and Mom Starbuck's dates.

Bake lots of fruit pies.

Mid-morning get-Jake-to-sleep walks.

After-dinner watch-the-stars-come-out walks.

Family hikes and camping.

Farmer's market (lots and lots).

Friends over to BBQ and make s'mores.

Bike rides to "downtown park" on Sundays.

Make popsicles: apple, cherry, orange, strawberry, raspberry, watermelon

Homemade ice cream.

Watch cloud shapes.

Be a Running Family.

Ride on scooter.

Create sidewalk art.

Fly kites.

Super Nose in Heaven

Rob often tells me I have a "Super Nose," and it's true that I can often sniff out the stinky diaper/burning toast/gas leak well before others. Often it feels like a curse to have such a sensitive nose, but lately I have been in heaven with the scents of early summer. I love how a whiff of something can instantly transport you back in time to your childhood or other memories. Some of the smells I've been enjoying:

-The star Jasmine in a pot right outside the sliding door to the deck. Especially at night the breeze carries it in and fills the whole dining room and kitchen with the sweet scent.

-Fresh air at night, nice and cool, takes me back to my childhood. My mom was always up late painting and would have the doors and windows open to let in the cool air. To this day the first thing I do in the morning is open the windows, and the last thing I do at night is close them.

-I love the earthy, ozone-y, wet smell of a rainstorm. We've had a lot of those lately.

-Everywhere in town right now the air is perfumed with the sweet smell of lilacs and linden trees. The lilacs were in full bloom in Seattle the week Haley was born, and that scent always takes me right back to those long, blissful days and nights staring at our sweet new baby.

-Who would have thought that fresh-cut grass and gasoline would smell good together? But I love the smell of freshly mowed lawns, mixed with a bit of the smell of gas from the mower. Talk about a powerful childhood scent -there are few other things that mean "summer"!

-Barbecues, charcoal or gas - firing up the grill is another of those quintessential summer scents. Do you think Bath and Body Works could make a Wall Flower in that scent?

-Suntan lotion is the ultimate in summer smells for me, especially when I hug the kids. The smell of their hot hair and Coppertone is heavenly.

Even I can see that my Super Nose is getting out of control here...there are many more - chlorine from the pool, watermelon, light-scented summer perfumes - but I will restrain myself.

What scents mean summertime to you?