The Bean: A Brief Pictoral History

Posted on May 14, 2011 by Elise

Okay, I know it only got to around fifty degrees today, but a few days ago it was hot and humid enough that we had our air conditioning on for the first time, so summer has got to be just around the corner. To prepare for its arrival, I’ve gotten all my new plants in the ground, and just for fun I took a picture to compare The Bean now to The Bean at this time last year:

‘The Bean’ – March 2010
(How it looked when we bought the house, minus the two trees we had removed)

‘The Bean’ – April 2010
(After a thorough weeding and a whole bunch of mulch)

‘The Bean’ – May 2011
(Some plants were added in 2010 and more this spring)

I’m still not crazy about how The Bean (or the lawn) looks, but it is nice to see that there has been improvement over the last 13 months. And I’m sure everything will look better once the flowers are actually in bloom.

Come on Summer!

Happy Birthday, Peter!

Posted on May 13, 2011 by Elise

Wednesday was Peter’s birthday. Like everything else in my life at the moment, I’m a little behind the times, so…

Happy happy birthday to you, Peter! Do you realize that since we’re almost 30 that means we’ve been together for about a decade now? Kinda crazy how time flies.

Anyway, I want to write you a happy birthday blog post and I totally know how much you hate anything sappy, so I’ll do my best not to gush…

But I have to tell you that I think you are my perfect match and I’m so glad you wanted to marry me. You keep me sane when I overbook myself, you calm my fears when I’m being a worry-wart, and you tell me it’s good enough when I try too hard to make things exactly right. And how is it possible I found someone who loves both baseball and music even more than I do?

I know life is has gotten a bit predictable now that we have two kids, two cars and a mortgage, but there isn’t a person on this planet that I would trade places with.

I love you so much! And here’s to another decade together! Cheers!

A Post from Philly

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Elise

Hello from the city of brotherly love! I got here on Friday afternoon and since then it’s been a whirlwind of activity. I’ve visited friends, re-learned how to parallel park and eaten the best grilled cheese sandwich on the planet courtesy of the South Philly Tap Room on 15th and Mifflin.

Of course, I also went to my friend Katie Jo’s wedding, which was beautiful. And her block-party reception which was lots of fun despite a little rain. I got to dress up in my wedding outfit, complete with flowered headband (which was a couple of fabric flowers that I got at Michael’s and attached to a headband purchased from Ulta). Here’s a picture of me, Katie Jo, and Ann (we were all roommates together during my second year living in Philly):

Well, I’m off to have brunch with friends, so I can’t write more about my Philly adventures now. Stay tuned this week though, when I get home I’ll be writing Alethea’s 2 year update and Lydia’s 4 month update. That is, I’ll be writing those posts after I give the girls lots and LOTS of hugs and kisses. I miss them even more than I thought I would!

Snow on May 1st

Posted on May 4, 2011 by Elise

The weather here has been so neurotic lately. It actually snowed on May 1st. Today it is bright and sunny and 60 something degrees outside with just a light breeze. Ahhhh….

The girls and I went outside this morning to enjoy the delicious day.

Alethea was thrilled to explore the backyard and push Baby Doll in the swing.

Lydia was content to sit in her carrier and watch the tree branches swaying above her and Alethea running by periodically.

What did I do? Well, besides being photographer, I also pulled on some thick rubber gloves and did some landscaping clean-up in our back planting bed. After removing lots of thorny nettles, other weeds, a rather large and scary looking brown beetle and random debris, we went from this:

To this:

All that’s left is a pink Bleeding Heart and six Hostas that I discovered hiding underneath the nettles. What to do with it next…. hmmm…

A Polka Dot Birthday Party

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Elise

Saturday was Alethea’s polka-dot cupcake birthday party.

I had so much fun putting together the decor including my homemade happy birthday sign and table confetti:

And my doorway streamers with polka-dot header:

Of course, cutting out so many circles took some time. Good thing I had endless Royal Wedding coverage to keep me distracted from Thursday night into the wee hours of Friday morning. I now know more about Kate Middleton than any reasonable person ought to.

When Saturday arrived, Alethea donned her polka-dot party dress. I know I’m biased but I think she looked smashing!

This was the first present type event where Alethea enthusiastically got into the opening of gifts:

She liked the gardening tools she got from her Great Grandpa Jim and Great Grandma Ruth:

We lost her for a little bit after she opened up a doll-sized stroller from Mom and Dad. She had to take it out for a test run around and around the house:

We only convinced her to come back and finish opening her gifts by telling her there was more stuff for her baby dolls in the remaining packages. She ended up with a fantastic assortment of new accessories including a feeding set, two potty chairs and a bathtub! Alethea was positively in heaven!

With so many new toys around, Alethea declined any interest in eating lunch, even though we had pizza, her favorite food. She did consent to take a break from playing long enough to blow out her birthday candles.

The cake turned out cute, although I naturally had visions of grandeur in my head when I was planning it. Despite the fact that it was more ‘homespun’ than I had originally hoped, it seemed like everyone thought it tasted good:

Where was Lydia while all this was happening? Upstairs asleep in her bed. Toward the end of the party she finally woke up to greet everyone in her own polka-dot dress:

All in all, I’d say the party was a success. Alethea seemed to have a happy birthday, and so apparently did Baby Doll:

Can’t believe how old she sounds when she talks! Yikes! I’m the mother of a two year old!

To view more BobbleHeadBaby celebrations, visit my Parties Page!