umbrella

Yes, its 85 and sunny.

ouch.

ever run full force into a car door?

hard enough to place a large, 

hard-to-stop-the-bleeding 

dent in your forehead?

well, joshua has.

 you may not be able to tell through this picture,

but he most certainly does not recommend it.

(neither does his mother.)

new phone delights

it takes me awhile to warm up to a new phone.

new buttons, new settings, 

new annoying ringtones to sort through...

only to leave the phone on vibrate.

while waiting for the Beaner's bus to come,

shua and i discovered 

this crazy cool feature 

in the camera settings:

4 quick snaps of the shutter to make one picture.

i handed little man a pillow and clicked.

check the intensity on his face-

my boy was committed.

and for that, 

among so many charming little tidbits,

i love him.

mark's half

this past sunday,

mark ran the cleveland half-marathon.

so did my sister, kristen.

her husband, jeff, ran the full.

The Nana and i gathered up 5 kids, snacks and a minivan

 (as well as some much-needed gumption)

and headed out early to cheer.

like, 6am early.

which, as you'll note in the 2nd and 3rd pictures,

is not my son's favorite hour :)

he found his own gumption, though,

and perked up for our Cross-Cleveland

Do-You-Think-This-Street-Goes-Through? 

adventure right quick. 

my apologies for the lack of photos...

i plead preoccupation.

i'll see if i can't rustle some up from other cameras.

check back.

in a week or two :)

uh, madison is ready...

noah, steve & the shu needed another 15-20 minutes :)

wagon, posters, celeste, steve, noah. PULL, MAD! PULL!

kristen, finding madison at mile 3.

mark, rounding mile 6.

noah and steve, watching for jeff.

poster children.

celeste helped madison cheer on her dad.

and there he is at mile 11 (in the sunglasses).

Yook At Me, Mama!

i made chicken noodle soup for little man's lunch.

paired nicely, i thought, with a small bowl of apricot-apple sauce.

he took the pairing to a whole new level.

then, 

and my gag reflex wishes i was kidding about this,

after transferring the concoction 

from one bowl to the other

(and back again),

he proceeded to dip in fingers

and lick them clean.

no pictures necessary.

oh, mr sun?

normally, i love this weather.

Sctd t-storms after 9am

Showers and thunderstorms developing by 9am.

Cloudy with temperatures warming into the mid to upper 60s. Winds SE at 10 to 15 mph.

its a major reason i wanted to move back here.

yes, yes... mark hates it.
but i hate his weather-love: humidity.
so there.

but today?

today we could use some of this:

the newest pastime

heaven help us, we have a new love.
and its nauseating.

i used to have an iron stomach for things like this.

flying glasses

recently we were graciously given
this magnifying glass
from sophie and grace.

and by 'graciously given,' i mean, of course,
they cheerfully and lovingly
handed it over to joshua
as it became clear
he wasn't going to leave their house without it.

most mornings now, after the requisite
Stroessler Man Wake Up to Functioning Level period,
i get a casual,
"hey, mama! where my flying glasses go??"

right here, buddy. they're right here.

#13

we have another cousin!
meet the littlest lusnia, Evelyn Faye.

grace, sophie and the little lady, born 5/6/10.

while i was in target...

someone else was keeping busy.




(thanks, aunt mo. it was a delight to shop minus 1.)

ah, sunny florida

you know your Weekend Away was excellent
when you come home with 5 pictures.

these five:

my husband, rescuing my hat.

the boat-accessed dog beach. (heaven!)

the good captain.

the beach stroll.
(thanks, amy. without you, there'd only be 3 pictures.)

the disgusting thing.

which, in case you're interested, is a SEA HARE.
only took me a handful of hours to find after
googling: "sea snail...Estero FL... ewww!" repeatedly.

and yes, virginia, its as gnarly and squishy against your leg as it looks.
did you hear me? i said "AGAINST YOUR LEG!"

MY LEG.

once back on land, i sent a picture of this little beast of the sea to kim
knowing full well how much her boys would love it.
follow their subsequent story HERE.

so, thanks,
sister & boyfriend & niece.
(that's RIGHT!)

h, i, j, k...y?

lately, joshua's been substituting "Y" for "L."

so instead of the common 2 year-old "lellow" for "yellow,"

he says "yeyow" :)

or "HeYo, mama!"

or, in this case, "Yook! A smiYey face!"