Thanks to the '36 Singer

Halloween 2009 has come and gone.

Adalia, as you see here, chose to be a baby doctor! (It's what she wants to be when she grows up!) And, baby, you'd be one lucky baby to have her as your Doc!For months, Finnian talked about how he wanted to be a 'scary' tree for Halloween.

For weeks, I had planned to start working on the costume.

However, for hours before trick or treating time- we worked on sewing and hot glue gunning.

Thanks to Daddy's '36 Singer sewing machine, we got the job done! It might be 73 years old, but she hummed through that fabric brilliantly. And, obviously, created one SCARY tree costume!

Tuckered out trick or treaters!

BOO!

2nd annual Oktoberfest 80's party

The night started something like this:

...And ended something like this:

A possible tear in my achillies tendon. And I hadn't even gotten to my fancy dance moves!

I'm on the- top of the world, looking down -at my new doorknob!

One of the reasons for my blog was to express excitement over the finds, the desires, the love of all things mid century modern. (But, my children are irresistibly cute, and have taken over my time for posts.)
Today though, is devoted to a mid century find.
My family and close friends know the eccentricities of my ways, but here, today, something so magical happened that more than just family and close friends can hear me shouting from the tops of the beautiful bluffs around me...
I FOUND A NEW OLD STOCK ASTRO SCHLAGE DOORKNOB! The entire thing!!!!! You know the ones--- the starburst ones! The ones that I've looked for over and over and over again inside re-use centers and habitat stores. The ones that go for big bucks on ebay. The ones, that, when you get your hands on it, you never want to let it go!

I walked into one of my favorite hardware stores today, looking for small metal numbers for my mailbox. I saw them immediately and could hardly contain myself. There they sat, in an authentic 1950's mailbox. The original advertisement right next to them. I jumped up and down while the employee carefully brought it down from the high shelf. With unbridled enthusiasm, I explained how thrilled I was to find these numbers/letters. As one employee walked the numbers (and letters) to a table for me to find all that I needed, another employee saw me looking at the door knobs and asked if he could help. I said "Any chance you have a backplate shaped like a star burst?" He shook his head, "no, I don't think we do", and then said "let me check one place." And, then, as I was choosing all my numbers and letters, it happened. The man helping me with the doorknobs came up to me and said, "like this?" "It's our last one." It was on a piece of beautiful maple, a display model. And-- it was amazing. My mouth dropped and my hands shook a little. I whimpered. "Yes. Like that."
You should understand---- these things don't happen to me. I get teary eyed just thinking about it.
Put on your sunglasses now--- for my new shiny doorknob is pictured below.

pictured above is the 3 inch diameter INSIDE part of the knob

And--- ah-- the Astro. LOVE LOVE LOVE

Squeaky new shoes!

The first day of school!

Hmmm... suddenly I'm craving a HAM sandwich with a side of silly.

The Magic Kingdom

Finnian spent his final week of summer vacation at the Magic Kingdom- otherwise known as Grandma and Grandpa's house.
A place so divine, you get to stand on the chest freezer to reach and choose from many sweet cereals. Lucky Charms, Apple Jacks, Captain Crunch, Frosted Flakes. They are all there.
A place so warm, that you spend the morning picking apples and the afternoon enjoying all their loveliness in an apple crumb cake topped with ice cream AND caramel sauce.
A place so exciting, that you get to eat dinner at restaurants over and over and over. This includes "old fashioned car night" at the local drive in. When you're a guest at the Magic Kingdom, you even get to gawk at the cars 3 and 4 times before being required to dive into your cardboard flat box of smiley fries.

In this series, you'll notice the kids with Grandpa's "barn fresh" rat rod. Finnian has already helped Grandpa bleed the brakes and take it on many spins around Cochrane.

Grandma giving Rock Climbing lessons.

And-- while Finnian had his Magic Kingdom time, Adalia and I had a girl only night with pink parfaits. We were sure to keep our pinky's up and start each sentence with "Actually,".

What?! Summer is ending?

Someone told me school starts next week. I gasped! They're right! Ugh! Please find below some of our summer highlights:

A night out? For real?

Our friends, The Wrights, made time to come up to the Falvey cabin. We had a great weekend.

Our good friends, Mary Therese and Dennis brought their Harleys through LaCrosse on their way to Michigan.

Adalia and Finnian assisted Ivy with her first carousal ride at Ella's Deli in Madison.
It was a success.

Adalia and some swing time with Great Aunt Karen and 2nd cousin, Rheanna

Matching girls (years of this to come!)

Minneapolis sculpture garden

The Queen is IN. (Duluth Children's Museum)

Birthday Bash

A double birthday is a wild day, but we took it all in stride today.

Finnian was awake and in his dress shirt and tie by 7:02 am. I peeked in at him and he had a HUGE smile on his face and his clothes were all nicely placed on his bed. He was ready for a big day.
Adalia was still sleeping at 8:01 and Finnian had waited long enough and went in to "check on her." She came out of her room with a tired fuss face but ready to tackle the stack of presents waiting for her.

Daddy joined us just after lunch for a mean game of mini golf. We intended to do a restaurant dinner but the gifts from Grandpa and Grandma were too inticing to leave, so we ordered in and bounced on the mini trampoline and put together tiny pieces of playmobil instead.

Mamma's beat and can hardly believe we have a 4 and 6 year old in the house. Finnian said that he feels more like a 1st grader now.

Splashing in the backyard

Top 5 reasons for having a backyard pool:
Number 5. Bathroom breaks take about 2 minutes tops.
Number 4. Grandma will get in too!
Number 3. You can have as many toys in the pool as you want!
Number 2. It can be opened at *any* time!
Number 1. Mommy doesn't have to go to a public pool in her swimsuit!

Ivy's finalization day!

On the 1st of July, we had much to celebrate. My mom and dad celebrated their 42nd wedding anniversary, and my precious niece had her adoption finalized in Madison. We had much toasting and cheer.

Plus, it gave us an extra opportunity to wear adorable matching clothes once again!

School's OUT for Summ-ah!

Summer vacation is in full swing. I was hoping to do the first day and last day pictures together, but our external hard drive is not letting me into my old photographs (argh) so you are all just going to have to know that these two angels have grown immensely over this school year. Will I really have a 1st grader AND a pre-schooler in school every day in the fall? I doesn't seem possible. My babies have grown so much.

Adalia's last day of 3 year old preschool

Adalia and her teacher, Mrs. Haro. The best 3 year old preschool teacher ever.

Finnian's last day of school.

Finnian and his teacher, Mrs. Every. The best K/1 multiage teacher ever!

Assateague Beach

We arrived at Assateague Beach around 6:30pm and immediately ran to the Atlantic Ocean.

Runnin' on the beach.


Beaches have much discovery!



Beach sand gets everywhere...



After one rainy day at the beach, we were rewarded with a sunny one.

We used every second of it!



Assateague Island is known for the wild ponies. They are wild AND brave. They had no problem coming up to our motorhome to investigate possible snacks.

Beach hugs.

On the last night we danced on tables while Grandpa B played the guitar...

...Grandma B sang, and Grandma Connie played her autoharp.

The jam session (and a beer at the campfire) was the perfect way to end our time on Assateague Island.