Relaxing!

First off, no, this is not a picture of us. I stole it off the web. :)

Yesterday Shaun and I had the best afternoon. When Shaun got home from work we went to the grocery store to grab some food for a picnic and headed up to the Sand Bar Park. It was so nice to sit on the beach and relax. It was a wonderful afternoon (even though Shaun commented at least twice that he was "roasting" - but it's his own problem considering he could have gone in the water to cool down!) and I hope we get to do it again before the summer is over.

Then last night we went to see the new Batman movie. Man was it long, but it was good and I agree with everyone else, Heath Ledger does a great job as the Joker.

That's it for now. Today (Monday) was ridiculously busy and my head is still spinning from all the phone calls and emails. Hopefully tomorrow will be a little more manageable.

A Great Day!

Okay, so just so there is no confusion, I did not go skydiving. I was just expressing that I would LIKE to go! :)

This morning I woke-up to beautiful sunshine. Not long after I finished breakfast, I called Abby and Dave. They had plans to go to get some awesome donuts and asked if I'd like to join them. I hadn't had those donuts in such a long time that I said "yes." When they picked me up they asked if I was game for going to the Gondola in Stowe. I said I was in for it so off we went.

At Yanna's Cupboard we got some YUMMY maple donuts. Anna wanted to picnic there so we did. As we were finishing our donuts Mr. Oliver decided he was hungry. While Abby and Dave took care of their little guy, I played with Anna. With her on my back we pretended I was different animals she was riding. It was very fun (and a good workout)!!

Next it was off to Stowe for a ride up the Gondola. I have only been up once and it was dark so I couldn't really appreciate the view. Luckily the weather provided us a great view today. It was so pretty up there and it was great to watch Anna so excited about everything. Afterward we went to a couple shops in Stowe, including my favorite chocolate place - Laughing Moon Chocolates.

When we got home it was time for Anna to have lunch and then take a nap. At some point I happily ended up with Mr. Oliver. Though he was a little fussy, it was so nice to have him cuddled up with me. Once he fell asleep I put him down in his pram and headed home hoping that Dave and Abby were both able to nap with Oliver and Anna sleeping.

It was an awesome way to spend my Saturday and I love that they invite me along on their adventures. Thanks guys!

Am I crazy?

Last night on the way home from work Shaun was telling me this kid he coaches (I'll call him CT) went skydiving on Monday. He told me that CT went and did a 6-hour course and then got to jump out of a plane without being strapped to someone. I thought it sounded awesome - Shaun thought CT was out of his mind and possibly I was too for being interested.

Shaun said CT invited him to go back with him on Friday and do a tandem jump with an instructor. Shaun told him "absolutely not!" and told CT he thought he was nuts for doing it himself. I was like "I'll do it!!!" I swear Shaun was thinking he should have me committed after I said the I would LOVE to try skydiving and/or bungee jumping.

Am I crazy or is my husband a wimp? I'm not sure I know on this one but I'd like to think I'm not crazy and just have a great sense of adventure. Of course, I don't want to be married to a wimp either....

Hmmmmmmmmmm

A table for 12, please

I am so excited! We finally figured out what to do with our empty room with the fireplace in it. We got ourselves a dining room table - big enough to seat 12 people!!! We really didn't want to have a formal sitting room. Seriously, why? No offense to anyone who has one but I feel like it's something you have when you're older - like maybe old enough that you're kids are in college.

ANYWAY, we decided we didn't want a formal sitting room so we weren't sure what we wanted. I didn't think I wanted to make it a dining room. With both of my parents in North Carolina and Shaun's in Australia I really didn't see the need. It's not like we're going to be hosting big holiday dinners so why bother. Well, I obviously didn't think things through very well. One of the reasons we bought our house where we did is to be near friends. So, while we might not be having big holiday dinners, we can have several couples/families over at once and have a nice time.

With our little table that only seats 4 it's a little difficult to seat too many people. We did stretch one Thanksgiving and did 6ppl but that was family and not something I want to subject many people to doing. :)

So, our table is ordered (along with bar stools for the island in the kitchen) and will HOPEFULLY get here before I go to the US Open at the end of August. Above are pics of what the table looks like - it can be a square and sit 8 people or fully expanded, seat 12. :) The chairs and barstools match and look like this one here.

Baby Blanket

Here's the baby blanket I made for Little Man Hoppe - aka Oliver. It started off square and ended up a bit rounded but the shape doesn't affect its coziness - thank goodness!!!

His nursery is an animal theme so I thought the design was perfect with all the wild animals. :)

It came out a little rounded - oh well!

A close-up of the fleece.

The super-cute bag I used to give it to Abby.

Mr. Oliver Zachary Hoppe

He's finally here! My nephew has arrived!!!


Dave called me at 7am on Saturday (July 5th) to tell me that Little Man Hoppe made his appearance into the world at 5:01am. At 7lbs 13oz and 19 inches long, he is PERFECT!

I went a spent a lot of time with Abby and Oliver on Saturday afternoon and then took Shaun last night to meet the little guy. He looked so comfortable holding him and did such a good job with him. It was adorable.

Here are some pics of the new addition to the Hoppe family...

Shaun and Oliver He was sucking my pinky finger like crazy - I couldn't remove it without him crying.
Isn't he handsome? I love that yawn - so cute!

DIY Television Stand

BEFORE

We use a cabinet for as our TV stand. I bought it from WalMart back in 2004 and put the thing together all by myself. It started off as a pantry and served that purpose for about 2 years and then somehow became a TV stand. It does much better as a TV stand.

Anyway, we are spoiled by its height and ability to store so much crap that we've had a hard time finding a good replacement for it. During our move one of the lovely white plastic handles fell off. Shaun suggested getting new handles one day. That sparked me to say we should paint the darn thing since it also got a large red smudge across the front of it during the move.

After buying the paint (within hours of the decision or it would have never gotten done) I decided we should also do the matching telephone stand. That afternoon we painted our hearts out and despite the painting tarp we put under us, ended up painting the driveway as well. Our old furniture looks fabulous in black and really dressed up the room a little bit better. :)

AFTER

Not-A-House-Warming BBQ

So on Father's Day (yes, I'm posting this very late) we had a BBQ. We thought we were being clever calling it Not-A-House-Warming BBQ but we should have called it Not-A-House-Warming Father's Day BBQ. I didn't look at a calendar when we picked the date.

Oh well, it was fun anyway! We had a blast with good food, football, water balloons, bubbles, water guns and good friends. :)

Playing Football - Bryan, Shaun, Chris & Hans

Relaxing - Cindy, Jackie, Bob, Bryan & Sandy You had to be careful of Hans that day! :)
Sophie - isn't she SO cute?!?!?
Amy - preggers! She'll be a great mom.