Happy Birthday, Grueter!!

Here's my obligatory well-wishing for Jamie's birthday:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRUETER!!!

More in my style, though, here's the customary slew of remember that? snapshots from over the years. Here's to you, and another incredible year, Jamie!

It's August, which is the 8th month. Here are 8 fun little diddies that mark the incredible era that continues to be my friendship with our dear friend Grueter!

1 || This. We'll start strong. This is the embodiment of our friendship. Along with the usual suspects, this was as standard thing on most nights. 

2 || Grueter's apartment. It goes without explanation that this place was a 2nd home to a lot of us. This was a regular occurrence as well: tracing each other on the walls. Here's Jamie tracing Nalom, next to the existing outlines of Catie & myself. Ladd, as usual, provided the soundtrack. [This is completely sober happenings of likely a Saturday morning. Loved. this.]

3 || Antics at Jamie's. There were plenty of others, including [though not limited to] copious amounts of duct tape, industrial sized bubble wrap, parkour yoga, and more.... haha.


4 || One of many random outings on which I somehow coerced my friends into joining. I think this was as "concert" at a local venue, at which we were the only attendees. Hey... 7 people's a crowd sometimes ;)

5 || St. Patrick's Day.. probably 2007 or 08? We were all big fans of theme parties.

 

6 || Family Dinners [@ Grueter's]! These still to this day rank among some of my favorite memories. We rotated turns in pairs of cooking dinner for the "family," which was always enjoyed in this, or a very similar fashion. The cast of Friends probably took notes from this. ;)

 

7 || Grueter's going-away party. Jamie landed himself the job of a lifetime, and was preparing to leave us for Aman, Jordan.

so long for now, friend! :(

8 || MY going-away party! I made a move to Alabama [note, NEVER... again.], and Jamie surprised me by showing up to be a part of the festivities along with, you guessed it, the usual suspects.



 

********

So flash forward to today, when we obliged Carolina's invite to join in the celebration at Jamie's parents' house on the East end. More pictures? Yes. More pictures :D

 

First things first, we got there and immediately Carolina offered to start painting faces [love this girl..] - Sydni was the first one in the chair and before we knew it, had a beautiful butterfly to show for it!

carolina the artist!

my favorite little butterfly!!

love her. to the moon & back, i love her.

The boys took to getting acquainted in the fashion that boys typically do - easily and without much fuss at all. I was excited that Rob finally had the chance to meet Jamie; the two of them hit it off and that was that.

boys & their jenga :p

Grueter's parents' house sits on a gorgeous piece of land, with a mini [stocked] pond included. Sydni made friends with Jamie's nephew, and the two of them were taking tours around the pond as we stood around discussing fishing. 

pretty pond.. pretty sun.. pretty kids!

enjoying the day with my love!

We weren't really sure what to expect coming out for the afternoon, but I'm absolutely glad we did! Thanks to Jamie, the Grueters and Carolina for the invite!

my world :D

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of the funniest friends I have. Cheers to this one and many, many more!

hbd, grueter!!

xo | cmd

 

Easter Eggs & Kites!

I slept on the couch in our greatroom last night, and I don't regret that decision at all. This house, the house in which I grew up, boasts an open greatroom with gable windows, and when the sun rises, so do you.. in a great mood. I was up and moving before the rest of the house; the first thing I did was step outside onto the deck. The trees have yet to sprout their full sets of leaves, but that barely detracted from the beauty that always surrounds this place.

** Deck morning pic

My mom is a machine. I think we'll all be shocked if I actually outlive her. Haha. Seriously, though: My mother is the definition of a healthy woman, and I'll never get over the fact that she can run circles around us. She had us up and going as soon as her feet hit the floor this morning, and we haven't looked back since. ;)

|| ONE ||

First, it was an Easter Egg hunt & the unveiling of Easter baskets.
[The Easter bunny was busy this year!]

egg hunt...... go!

basket o' eggs

nana & pappy!

With all the eggs collected, we noticed there were some strange prints on the deck... [yes, this Easter bunny walks, like a human... haha]

where did he go?

easter baskets, of course!!

ransack.

easter basket goodies!

Showcasing some spoils:

new sock-shoes? lol (:

ninja bunny here....

little capsules that become sponge animals

|| TWO ||

We survived the explosion of Easter basket fun and gathered ourselves together for a trip to the new and still in-progress development of Mt. Vernon's Foundation Park. They still have some big work to do, but it's already beautiful and I'm excited to come back in a few months to see how it's finished.

Our reason for the visit today?

butterfly kite!

I didn't realize until today that my mother has never before flown a kite. Never. This won't sound like much to most, but today will stay special if for no other reason than the fact that I was with my mother and my daughter for their first time flying a kite. How.. awesome (:

she's good!!

she insisted she could do this herself ;)

but finally enlisted mister rob's help ♥

heading out to get started

my girl ♥♥

mom!!!

showing mister rob how it's done ;)

she's a pro now!

mama, reeling it in after an hour of flight time (:

We flew that thing for almost an hour before finally bringing it down. Luckily for us, we also brought snacks... and bubbles.

snacks with pappy

bubbles with nana



ribbons!

Soon it was time to go...

getting chilly ... zip up!

my love...

... and the love i most admire ♥

|| THREE ||
We headed home after the park; Dad, Rob and our neighbor Fred got together to switch out the dryers and hang out for a bit, and Sydni and I took to the yard.

in love with today

her snarly monster face

if you guessed that she's singing the frozen soundtrack, you're not wrong...

more bubbles!

This picture, which is now one of my favorites:

baby girls being raised right ;)

Before long, it was time to settle down for dinner. Mom, as usual, outdid herself and left the family with bellies so full we didn't know what to do with ourselves. Dad's solution? Teach Sydni chess. 

ok, so maybe it wasn't by real chess rules, but hey, it's ok!

After dinner, we forced Mom out of the kitchen and took away all her dishtowels and parked her in a seat with the family to watch................. you guessed it.. Frozen. I'm fairly certain my parents are were the only two remaining people in the U.S. to have seen this movie. Haha.

it's movie time!

hey pappy! dooooooo you wanna build a snowmaaaaan?

They loved it. She recited it. We just laughed watching them the whole time.
Oh, and when you're here at the Dren Lodge, this is how you end Saturday movie nights:

homemade chocolate & caramel sauce!

Whoa. Saturday = SUCCESS.
We're aiming for the same thing tomorrow (:

xo | cmd