The Good Stuff

Did you know that citizens of Sweden eat twice as much chocolate (24 lbs) per person, per year than Americans (12 lbs)? I knew I liked the Swiss.


Did you know that semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate is made just by roasting the cocoa beans a little longer on a higher temperature than other more mild chocolates? I feel like I should have known this since it's a fairly common sense idea (like coffee beans), but I had never thought about it that way before.


Did you know that Ghirardelli is pronounced Gear-ar-delly? I'll admit that, until the other day when I learned this, I had been pronouncing it all wrong.

Summertime?

Hey, isn't it summertime? I thought it was. Because my calendar says it's July and the temperature is certainly summer-like. But I'm not sure the retail stores are going by the same calendar because today I tried to find some jean or khaki shorts and a bathing suit at a couple of places. There were slim pickings, I tell you. It's the middle of JULY...this should be prime season for swimsuits and shorts! I had to ask a sales person to take the pair of shorts I bought off their mannequin, for crying out loud. And I was lucky to get that. But maybe it's me who is behind the times, because apparently we're rushing into back-to-school clothing already. Really?

4th of July 2009

I just love the 4th of July...swimming, grilling, ice cream, fireworks. It's generally just a great holiday. This year we spent it the same way we do every year...at my parents house since we can watch the fireworks from the front of their house. But this year we had some friends and their kids come and it was fun! All of the pictures from the evening are in a gallery on our photo site, but for this post, let's take a trip down memory lane. Because this is the first repeat holiday for Ethan. Last year he was teeny tiny. He also swam for the first time on the 4th of July last year.

Ethan actually loves to "swim." He really just loves to be in the water and is most happy when it is shallow enough for him to walk around by himself. He is not as fond of sitting in a floatie.

Here he is playing peek-a-boo with my mom (who was behind the camera). He does this behind just about anything he can...the coffee table, around doors, etc. He loves it when he pops out and everyone says, "there he is!"

Outside

Even though he can't technically say "outside" yet, I can always tell when Ethan wants to go outside and play. He stands at the back door or one of the patio windows and points and makes his tongue-rolling noise. I think he would stay outside all day if it didn't feel like 130 degrees out there to his mama. My parents got him this playset, which I put together just as soon as practically possible after the move. While he can't climb on it by himself, he loves to walk around it and play with the knobs or push the swing. Soon, we'll have to break out the inflatable pool and give it a whirl.

Time Away From Time

I had a fabulous weekend with my friends at my parents' lake house. And one of the best things about it (besides being with friends) was that we didn't care one bit about time. We ate, slept, swam, lounged and laughed when we wanted to...for as long as we wanted to. It was great. We kept remarking how wonderful it was to decide what we wanted to do next. Moms rarely get that opportunity...especially for a whole weekend. More pictures here.

Back on the home front, Casey and Ethan enjoyed some daddy/son time. I could tell they both enjoyed it. Casey had been looking forward to this for a while (believe it or not) and did perfectly for his first weekend alone with the boy. They apparently had tons of fun too.

No Boxes...No Posts

We've been busy this week...not that any other week is not relatively busy. But, we've unpacked all the boxes and continued to get settled into our new place. I've been hanging pictures, drapes and sorting out the stuff that we'll be selling in a garage sale soon. The garage is the last hold-out. There are three boxes in there and various tools that want organizing. And in hind-sight, the garage is something we should have sorted out sooner. Because in all the re-assembling of furniture, hanging of pictures and various other random projects around here, we've needed tools. And it has been so frustrating to have to dig around out there to find what we need.

I've got a lot of pictures to edit. I've taken some of Ethan playing on his new outdoor playset that Mimi and Pop got him for his birthday. I have pictures from the other house of him playing with bubbles. And I've got some of the new house that I need to post too. I realize that it does no good to talk about pictures...showing is better. But, I'll be gone this weekend, Casey and Ethan will be hanging out at home together, and I will edit pictures next week. I hope.

Spillage

Yesterday I did something in church that I have never (in my memory) done before. I spilled communion grape juice all over myself. And Ethan and Casey. And the pew. And a little on the floor. I wish I could blame the incident on Ethan, but it was all me. I'm not even sure what happened...I think my fingers just didn't do their job for a split second and that was all it took. And of all Sundays to spill grape juice on myself, I do it on the day that I wore a grape colored dress. I mean, what are the chances? After it dried, you literally could not see it at all. I cannot say the same for Ethan's shirt, Casey's pants, the pew and the carpet. Sorry guys.