Quit taking my picture!

Claire is ready for the paparazzi...

Fence building day

We wish we had a crew of Amish laborers or seven dancing brothers who could stay out of trouble, but we had to make do with Mark, my dad (the talent), and our neighbor Scott, who conveniently and severely broke his arm several weeks ago, but still helped, and we got our new fence up. They did a great job! The project coincided with Mother's day so it also ended up being my gift - I'll take it and I hope it comes with a free lawn. I supplied the food and had a fun time pretending to be my mother who used to feed my dad's construction crews. My avocado/tomato/cheese sandwiches can't compete with her bean/cheese/egg/potato burritoes, but I tried. All went relatively well - we couldn't have done it without my dad's help. He is a trooper and a genius, and we're grateful for all he's done to help us with our house. These are just a few pictures of that day - the finished product, the guys working, Audrey celebrating (anything and everything) and Claire signaling her concern over the loud noise of my dad's handsaw.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to Nanie and Grandma - we love you, Claire, Audrey, Mark, Melissa
And a happy day, too, for all the mothers we love.

Easter dresses

A little late, but still cute...

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, almost literally

I passed this pile of fruit several times before I noticed something was not quite right. I had a good laugh, because I have heard the same story my entire life about how I used to take a single bite out of every apple in the refrigerator and then put them back. Everybody had to eat the apples with my teeth marks. Claire has obviously inherited my apple attack strategy.