Sunday:

Waiting patiently on the stairs for daddy to get out of the bathroom.

HUGS!

He was SO GOOD during dinner, we actually enjoyed ourselves.

Monday:

Nooooo! Don't try to take off my Elmo PJ's!

Playing a new game called "Here's a swiffer cloth, go clean the walls"

Mommy's sunglasses are the best.

Tuesday:

As much fun as yogurt painting at playgroup was, it might make breakfasts a little messy.

I was doing push-ups over her face and she laughed at me. Way to be supportive BABY.

The big girls babysat for me after Stroller Strides. They are SO good with her.

Wednesday:

I got the spot. It makes me UNREASONABLY angry when people use it as a handicapped spot. There are LOTS of handicapped spots so don't take my ONE customers with infants spot.

OMG WHAT?! Sitting up like a big girl!? No way!

I made it to knitting group but managed to NOT buy every single one of these.

Thursday:

Minus the legs, she LOVES the play table.

Swinging siblings

He calls them his "Fast Shoes" - 50% off at Target, FINALLY

Friday:

Five billion organic, all natural toys and she likes the plastic dollar store ball and Evan's dirty sandal.

At Stroller Strides. I was supposed to be doing crunches, but instead was enjoying the sunshine.

It took a while, but he warmed up to the boat. Not so much the life jacket.

Saturday:

Are you kidding me with this hugging thing?

Banana hair. Someone should market it as the ultimate holding gel.

This was AFTER I cut a bunch to fill all my vases. Love this bush.

It’s a looooong weekend for all of us and we’ve got big, fun plans with water and sunshine and family and beaches and more. It’s going to take a LOT of sunscreen to keep us all from getting deep fried, but it’s going to be worth it. There’s also a pretty good chance I’m going to totally blow my brand new diet in the very first week – but calories on holidays don’t count, right?

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!

Oh hey, so have you notice my new design includes those super cute social media icon buttons (designed by the super awesome Sarah – seriously talented & very affordable for all your bloggy needs) on the left hand side? The one for “recipes” is a link to my Tasty Kitchen profile, where I store all the recipes I’ve submitted plus the many many many What’s for Dinner recipes I’ve found using TK. Unfortunately, you have to have a membership to see my recipe box but FORTUNATELY, it’s free and easy to do and I can’t imagine why you WOULDN’T want one.

Almost all my recipes this week are from my two summer cookbooks: The Big Book of Backyard Cooking by Betty Rosbottom and Grilling by Louise Pickford. We bought a new grill when we finished the patio and I am THRILLED to be doing all my cooking outside. I did a little Googling and tried to link to online versions of the recipes whenever possible so you can add these to your own meal plan if you want.

1. BLT Pasta Salad – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking
2. Turkey, Apple and Cheddar Clubs – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking
3. Bratwursts on Toasted Rolls with Caramelized Onions and Creamy Horseradish Sauce – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking (Actually, the only part of that recipe I followed was how to caramelize onions. I put some herb mayo on my brats and E just ate his plain.)
4. Extra Special Tabbouleh with Avocado and Feta – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking (OMG tabbouleh is my new favoritest favorite ever. Super easy, healthy and delicious. Just TRY IT you’ll LIKE IT.)
5. Turkey Burgers with Honey Mustard, White Cheddar, and Crisp Apple Slices and Parmesan Black Pepper Coleslaw – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking
6. Lamb Chops with Roquefort, Figs, and Rosemary – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking (Cooking lamb on the grill was hard. So was finding figs and Roquefort cheese so mine is dates and feta. Still delicious, if a liiiittle undercooked) and also Grilled Rosemary Flatbread – Grilling

7. Chili-Rubbed Sirloins with Guacamole Salsa plus grilled corn on the cob – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking (link is to an old CBS article but the recipe is in there, I promise)
8. Bacon-Wrapped Filet Steaks Topped with Roasted Garlic Butter plus roasted mini-sweet peppers – The Big Book of Backyard Cooking
9. Jerk Chicken and Veggies – Here’s my recipe: pour Lawry’s 20 minute marinate over chicken and veggies. Wait 10 minutes before you decide you’re too hungry to wait. Grill chicken and veggies. Eat.
10. Lemon Crunch Pie – Yeah, I invented that. Recipe is here on the blog & also on Tasty Kitchen.

Before you get too impressed and say “OMG Suzanne, how do you make all this food!?” let me tell you this was 2 full weeks of food – so there were pizza and burgers and even a popcorn for dinner night in between – and that it wasn’t that long ago that my entire meal plan was just ground beef. If I can teach myself to make new food AND get my husband to EAT that food then you can too.

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.

Happy Friday!

Sweet tea, homeade sugar cookies & a beautiful bouquet of irises on the front porch. Bliss.

Yeah, I’m relaxing right now but not for long – it’s officially the start of patio weekend here in Connecticut! The weather looks like it’s going to cooperate (although we’re going to be literal hot messes by 10 am every day and chugging water by the bucketful) and Lowe’s came through with our pavers even though they told us LAST NIGHT they were out of stock everywhere. We’re ready to turn our crappy back yard into a fantastic family spot.

Here’s the before, as I write this, right now view of our future patio:

YIKES.

Wish us luck and no broken toes!

The whole POINT of going to the Eastern States Exposition (known as The Big E) was so I could get a picture of E standing next a sign that said “The Big E”. And although I took 114 pictures of various others things and people somehow I did not take that picture, despite spending 6 hours and a good portion of my sanity wandering around looking at cows and fried things and Fair People.

Fair People makes me think of Bill Engvall’s stand up bit about the fair. Which is why I took this picture:

Sorry, that’s probably only funny to E and me. We’re dorks. And maybe rednecks.

Even though I didn’t get a picture of E next to the sign, I did get a ton of other pictures. There was food…

That's the face of a child getting a major brain freeze from my strawberry-lemonade slurpie.

And animals…

That's one of the Budweiser Clydesdales getting a foot rub.

All that WOOL! I could knit so much stuff! And Baby Evan liked petting them too.

And plenty of things to buy and touch and look at…

That unicorn in the upper left is part of the Massachusetts building. Apparently they have unicorns there. Or maybe they USED to have unicorns, until the pilgrims ate them all at the first Thanksgiving and everyone got gay married. I was never very good at history.

That was some sort of crazy skateboarding themed fun house on the midway. I just like the picture because Baby Evan's wearing his rock'n'roll shirt.

Not pictured: Framed poster of the Jersey Shore cast dude in a tank top was carrying around. I guess that’s what counts as a “prize” from the ring toss game these days. Hand on my heart, that’s 10000% true.

It was a very fun, very busy, very long day. We planned to stay until about 1:30 and ended up hanging around until 4 to meet some friends. My feet were SCREAMING and my horrible pelvic pain threw my left hip out of joint. I ended up half limping, half waddling, clinging to the stroller and breathing like I just finished a marathon. It was dead sexy. And despite my huge pregnant belly, the people who had claimed the very few benches showed absolutely no interest in letting me sit down for even a minute.

So I took a little rest in the grass. At least SOMEONE got a seat.

And just so you know, I TOTALLY resisted having this done:

But it was really really hard.

Maybe I’m a little more redneck than I thought.