a visit from mom, an outing, projects, and pictures

lots of news . . . lots of pictures . . .

first of all, my mom's here.  she got here wednesday and we've been having fun discovering ithaca together . . . plus she's been a great slave to my every whim.  aka, projects.   we've been busy shopping for junk, painting frames and furniture, plus she scored big at the antique mall and found perfect chairs for our kitchen!  she's great at finding stuff for us.  thanks mom.  i had to show her hub's "antique" shop (mentioned in previous post) because it really is unbelievable.  but, again, i got great stuff.  i forgot to get a picture this time of my treasures, but i got a great floor lamp, two perfect frames for the girls' room, a cute picture, plus a fantastic footstool (to be recovered).  i'm telling you, this "shop" is awesome.  and having my mom there inspires me.  i will definitely post pictures of these fabulous finds later.

oh yes, wednesday. . . big day.  we bought a couch.  a real couch.  like, from a real furniture store.  i have never even really set foot inside a real furniture store.  however, we won't be getting it till mid-september, so meanwhile we're couchless.  which is a little challenging, but we're handling it okay.  but yeah, here's our couch . . .

can't wait for that delivery . . .

we did our first official family outing.  we went to taughannok falls, a beautiful place.  it was a great little hike with this beauty at the end . . .

it was a wonderful day.  the girls loved it . . . the hike, the walking in the water, the picnic.   i think we may have found our east coast big trees, aka, a new favorite family hotspot.  however, there are many more places to discover, we're just getting started!

oh boy, so you can kind of tell in this last picture that we are among a wedding set up.  i don't know what it is about me and weddings, but i seem to go to beautiful, touristy places and interrupt peoples' big days.  (ahem, aubry . . . tom and yuki . . .)  it was crazy to see the wedding party arrive in their fine attire, hear the musical number practicing, and then to see the bride hiking it in as we were leaving.  it was a beautiful place for a wedding, but like my mom said, "can they just hog a whole state park like that?"  they were definitely taking over.





the apartment is coming together.  i finished my frames project for the living room and it looks rad.  i had a vision in my head, and i think it turned out pretty cool.  also, we painted this neato bench/chest thingy for oliver's room that we found at salvation army. we'll be finishing that up tomorrow, and then i'll have pictures.  

meanwhile, i'll leave you with a couple cute pictures.  

sometimes i don't hear from macy for a few minutes, so i go looking for her and she's usually doing something really cute, like this.  in parker's bed. thinking, "how long can i get away with this?"

and can someone please tell me why this cute little guy keeps ending up in my bed?

but real quick . . . i can't leave without mentioning that we are making fabulous new friends. there are so many wonderful families living right here in our same complex.  it's been so fun just sitting outside with them and watching all the kids play.  there are tons of kids all the same ages.  we truly couldn't have asked for anything better.  parker keeps saying, "i'm having so much fun playing with my new friends!"  

we're loving it . . .