This was a looooong week for me – E was gone, the ornamental pear trees bloomed (they seem to be the only plant I am allergic to, but I am REALLY allergic), Caroline is teething, and I went back to counting points for Weight Watchers so I was tired, snotty, crabby and very very hungry. Luckily, the weather was nice and being outside wears out the kids so I could crash right after they went to bed. On lousy week scale of 1 to Jump Out A Window, it was really only a 5 or 6, so I should stop complaining.

Sunday:

Who's ready for hockey?

Family + Target = ALL MY FAVORITE THINGS

Softball? I approve of softball.

Making sure I didn't waste ANY FOOD.

Monday:

Not the worst way to wake up

Her LIFE is OVER because a) I am out of grapes b) I am out of granola bars c) I am out of fruit snacks d) ALL OF THE ABOVE OMG CALL CPS.

Getting my Vitamin D

Tuesday:

Ready for Stroller Strides

Her eyes haunt my dreams

Baby has excellent (if inappropriate) taste in almost true autobiographies

Wednesday:

Morning trains

That blur is Evan doing warm-up at gymnastics to The Water Buffalo Song

He thinks the lobsters at the grocery store = the aquarium

Organized pantry. I found 7 cans of diced tomatoes and 6 of chickpeas. Time for....tomato hummus?

Thursday:

Adorable baby in an amazing hat

Ignoring my kids, pretending I'm doing sit ups, really taking photos of myself #mommyblogger

My extremely loud singing did not prevent a car nap after 2 hours of hard playground playing

Weirdo and gross, but still cute. To me. Obviously I'm her mom.

Friday:

Oh no! Someone made a huge mess! Oh wait, it was me.

He's stealing my hummus and ignoring his PB&J. I like him.

NEVER LET GO, DOLLY. NEVER LET GO.

Saturday:

Skeptical child wonders why I can take pictures but not put on real clothes instead of a bathrobe

Sunbeam floor nap

Patio time is a good end to even a tough week

This week should be shorter – and hopefully less snotty – and my friends and I just picked a weekend for Kiawah Island 2012 which means I can start COUNTING THE DAYS. It also means I can’t cure my allergies with a giant bowl of ice cream because I used on my extra points on more important things. Like rum to wash down my allergy pills.

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

Driving home on Sunday, E and I were talking about what we would do if we won the $130 million Powerball, and I said “You know, I think I’d stay here in our house.” Of course, I’d ALSO buy a fabulous beach mansion so I could skip November-March in New England. But April in Connecticut kind of rocks.

Apologies for the ridiculous number of pictures.

Mystic Seaport:

She INSISTED on wearing this hat all day

An extremely true-to-life family photo

E’s hockey game:

This just cracks me up

Playing on the patio:

Practicing her balance beam skills

I have no idea what she's doing. Weirdo.

Evan learned how to skate:

He did so well for his first time!

It’s supposed to be 85 degrees today, so we’re going to a playdate, taking a nice long nap and then playing in the sprinklers until it’s time to make burgers on the grill. That’ll do, Connecticut, that’ll do.

My birthday week is ending tonight with a husband-acquired babysitter and a viewing of The Hunger Games in an actual theater, which might seem lame but is pretty much the best thing ever. The weather today was amazing and is supposed to be even MORE amazing tomorrow so it’s easy to avoid looking at the piles of laundry and dishes I’m supposed to be doing by staying outside.

Sunday:

CUDDLES

We're letting him practice with the toy mower now so we can put him to work for real when he's 4

Yoga: Yur doin it rong.

Monday:

Lazy baby slept until 8:15

Practicing our kissy faces

The jets in the tub turn a bubble bath into a BUBBLE BATH

Tuesday:

My birthday present was a baby who refused to wear clothes

I took a birthday nap. Sort of.

Purple roses from my sweetie

Wednesday:

Crafty like a fox

These are all gone now

Couch naps have turned into floor naps

Thursday:

Poor feverish baby slept late

Toy box nap? Weirdos.

Single-parent bedtime means sometimes you carry a naked toddler on your shoulders

Friday:

This is actually her happy face

Chalk & toes

Outside is the BEST side

Saturday:

Hmmm, maybe the peanut shells really aren't for eating

Practicing his slapshot

I enjoyed the sunshine for exactly 6 minutes before I felt my skin starting to fry.

 Now I’m going to go re-pink-ify my hair and take a nap so I don’t fall asleep half way through the movie tonight. Happy weekend!

Did you take any camera phone photos this week? Link up with one or lots using the linky below and grab the code (so it shows on your blog too!) over at Amy’s . It’s really fun!

All of the photos for this post are labeled “Caroline 16 months” because this morning I asked E “How old is Caroline now?” and he said “16 months”. It sounded right enough until I went to look up her 15 month milestones and realized THIS was her 15th monthday and I was getting ahead of myself. I guess when you abandon your baby for a week to go on vacation you forget things like her age. At least I got her name right.

(Speaking of vacation, I’ll be back to annoy the crap out of you will a zillion vacation pictures soon. You are going to HATE IT.)

From all of my parent’s reports, Caroline handled my absence pretty well. There might have been some crying and she had a few problems staying asleep all night but she luuuuuuvs her MorMor and Bumpa and is never going to forgive me when they go home. She ate like a horse and didn’t crack her head open so I’d say it was a raging success. Although it doesn’t really matter one bit, since I am NEVER LEAVING HER AGAIN. That week was fantastic but holy cow did I miss my babies.

Caroline is officially in the middle of a growth spurt and can no longer stand in front of our fridge when I open the doors or she’ll get conked right in the noggin. This makes her extremely angry, since standing in front of the fridge begging for food is one of her favorite hobbies. Other hobbies include jumping up and down on top of tall things and giving people heart attacks.

Likes include grapes, juice, clapping, kicking, standing on one leg, jumping, somersaults, slides, dogs, her grandparents, being held, OUTSIDE, animals, stairs, singing, basketball, hockey, dancing, noodles, apples, squeezy food pouches, shouting really loud and chairs.

Dislikes are bedtime, falling on her head, not being allowed to drink bath water, and not having food within reach constantly.

Cruisin'

Get out of my way!!

Crazy warm weather means bare feet on the patio

15 Month Milestones (from BabyCenter, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
Plays with ball – She’s an excellent kicker, but her throwing skills could use some work. No way she’s getting recruited for the Red Sox with her lousy aim.
Uses three words regularly – “Bah” means 15 different things, all involving food. But she also says mama, daddy, dog, hat, kitty, hi, and sings the Bubble Guppies theme song (sort of). She also signs hat, fish, more and please.
Walks backward – Yes. I made her do it so I wouldn’t accidentally lie to the interwebs.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
Scribbles with a crayon – Yes, although she’d rather eat them.
Runs – Fast.
Adopts “no” as his favorite word – I have yet to hear her say “no”, although when she MEANS “no” there is absolutely no doubt about it. LITERALLY minutes after I wrote that she looked into my face and said “NO” when I asked if she wanted a carrot. Goodie.

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
“Helps” around the house – She likes to sweep, throw things away and pick up toys.
Puts his fingers to his mouth and says “shhh” – She’s a super good mimic, so I probably could get her to do that…but I haven’t seen her do it yet.

At this point, I’ve talking about the NEW PATIO and the BIG REVEAL so many times I’m afraid this is going to be sort of a let down to everyone expecting a Yard Crashers style makeover complete with water feature and hot tub and 12-foot fireplace. It is not that crazy. BUT. If you consider this was all done in 1 week by hand by two guys, two women and a toddler, THEN it is impressive. Two guys, two women and a toddler, who, I might add, have never built a patio before. Now you can be impressed.

One more time, BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Good changes, yes?

The rock wall for the side garden is built out of the flagstone that used to be in our walkways. All the plants in this garden were transplanted – either from my own garden or from my friend Merin’s. The lights closest to the ground are actually solar powered. The lanterns on the poles are for candles – you put these little blue things in the top and they’re supposed to repel bugs (I think the definitely help).

Dining table from Walmart, dishes/glasses from Target. The adorable “floating” shelf was the result of a joint brainstorming session, where E and I decided we needed a buffet for dinner parties. E made it out of scrap wood from our basement and attached it to the fence with chain I spray painted green. Then I used some tape and 3 more cans of spray paint to make the design. It folds up flat against the neighbor’s our fence when we’re not using it and can easily be removed and stored in the winter. Roses & hydrangeas are from my garden, displayed in tin cans (spray painted of course).

Seating set, end tables & throw pillows from Target, firepit from Home Depot. Throw blanket is from Pier 1. Flower pots are from various places (including some I already owned & spray painted). Tray (that I spray painted) and mugs are from Goodwill. See that dark purple vine in the blue pot? It’s called “Sweet Caroline”.

Did you enjoy my attempt at a Martha Stewart worthy photo shoot? It’s been pouring rain for two days so everything is sort of damp and grey but it still looks pretty good. For a little reality check, here’s the patio during dinner on Sunday night:

And now for my absolute favorite part of the patio: nighttime.

String lights are from Target and plug into a super handy outlet right inside the garage window. The fire pit actually gives off enough heat to make a cool night comfortable and is PERFECT for s’mores making.

Showing my appreciation for all E's amazingly hard work

In case you were wondering, the total costs of the project were:

$2016.26 for the patio itself, including all the supplies, tools, stone, sand, gravel and plate compactor rental. (Not included: lots of pizza for the workers).

$1841.77 for EVERYTHING else, from the furniture and pillows down to the candles and plants.

Grand total: $3858.03.

We estimate that if we’d hired someone to do all the work for us, the labor and material total (not counting any of the decor or furniture) would have been at least $8,000. It was a LOT of digging.

Special thanks to my mom and dad who did at least 50% of the work on this and only had one night to enjoy it. I can’t wait until they come back again for more s’mores and wine on the patio.

Edited to add: You can see the much less glamorous doing-the-work photos and information here.