Harry's Party!

The 4 of us piled into the van Saturday morning and drove to Green Bay to attend our nephew Harry's "welcome picnic." He was a little shy at first...

But he came around...

The picnic was held at a park overlooking Lake Michigan and it had a wonderful playground for the kids. It was a bit chilly, but that didn't seem to bother the kids at all! (It never does, does it?) Our friends Paul and April, and their 6 month old Jackson, were able to make it to the picnic. Even since they moved from Milwaukee to Appleton, we don't see them nearly enough. We enjoyed our time together, taking way too many pictures of the boys (born only 10 days apart) and seeing if they would both fit into a swing at the same time. They did!

It was nice to spend some time with family and friends, and especially with my little guy, Harry. He and Nate are only 4 months apart, so I hope that they will be good friends growing up.

On Monday, my friend Jessica came over to help me make a plaster mold of Nathan's hand print. I had tried, very unsuccessfully, to complete this task a few weeks ago, but I failed miserably. The project ended up on the floor after Nathan grabbed a handful of plaster, instead of laying his hand down nicely...jeez...does he think he's 6 months old or something??? Luckily, Jessica is an Art Therapist and a genius at these sorts of things. Here's how it turned out:

So what if it looks like my kid is from Star Trek. At least it's not in pieces on the floor!

Wanna know what made Joe completely excited and thrilled this week? No, it's not because I am now officially a graduate from Pole/Lap 1, it's because he purchased FOUR rain barrels! Yippee! So now we have FOUR bright blue barrels around our house to catch the rain and then use the water to shower. Just kidding. To water plants, grass, the garden, etc. I would like to do this to the rain barrels, to make them look like art work, rather than FOUR drums of oil, or something like that. Jessica, Art Therapist and genius, would you like a side-job? :)