the picture post.

Know why it's called the picture post?  Cuz it's got lots of pictures. 

here we go. 

Ben likes my cooking. proven fact.  or posed picture. whatever. point is, he's not dead yet. 

went to our first benefit dinner together.  Gotta love the name cards.

see we're so happy to be at the benefit dinner.  

WE GOT A VACUUM.  this was probably the most exciting thing that happened that week.  because we had been sweeping our floors (not super wonderful when it comes to trace amounts of dog hair.)  

But NOW. we can vacuum it all =)  this is good. 

awww look who else likes to vacuum.  

ugh he's so cute.  

Just look at that crazy grin!  he's such a happy kid.

ok this was my favorite dinner.  Meatloaf and potatoes and green beans.  Healthy, well-rounded, and Betty Crocker did NOT let me down. 

happy kids on the way to the zoo!

my lil' friend

"I want to do it myself, Auntie!"

Easily entertained by opening and shutting lockers. 

This is our pre-rinse.  

I built that table.  

That's right. Built it.  Followed directions like my Dad taught me and used a wrench and lots of little bolts and nuts and screws and put it together.  I was pretty proud of myself. 

Giggles and good times at Kavya's 1st birthday party. 

My handsome brother and beautiful sister-in-law (parents of the cuties in all the pictures)

this is Kavya!  she's a little girl that a friend of mine watches.  she just turned 1.  had a pretty great celebration for a 1st birthday too. 

Miss K hitting the Pinata 

Ender giving it a go! 

She kept swinging one-handed.  

And finally stopped looking where she was hitting so she could look at the candy on the ground. 

Oh. this was a good one.  Chicken and Zuchinni sauteed together.  Roasted red potatoes and a Tomato/Mozzarella/Avocado salad.  Mmmm. 

I hurt my back a little while ago and when my sweet husband got home, he made me dinner in bed!  He's such a good guy.  

This crazy mutt loves digging holes.  Anywhere she thinks there is something that smells enticing.  

Then she comes up for air and has dirt all over her.  Silly dog. 

Sweet Corn at the State Fair.  This guy is happy. =)

Ok, you may think this is my brother Joe.  But it's not.  It is a kid in a play at the fair that looked JUST like him.

You gotta admit, that looks like him, right?!  I couldn't stop gaping.  

I always wanted to go to a fair with a guy.  Seemed like a great date night.  And it was.  =)

Almost a year ago to the day, we had gone to the fair with a mutual friend.  I totally liked Ben, and one minute he seemed interested in me, but the very next minute he'd seem totally cool just being friends.  We decided that we needed to come back to the fair to commemorate how we were MFEO (meant for each other) even way back then =)

Ben told me he had two things he wanted to do before we left the fair.  But he wouldn't tell me what they were.  

One of them was a really old boat ride called Ye Old Mill.  It was cute and fun and romantic =) 

Then there was this. 

We rode the sky tower and saw the full moon out in the distance.   So beautiful!

Ben knows how much I love city lights, so he took me on this to get a good view of the Cities from above.  It was so sweet of him. and I loved it! 

Then we got Sweet Martha's cookies.  Oh my.  $14 for that bucket piled high.  As the guy kept putting more on, I almost made him stop.  But Ben wouldn't let me.  Cuz he is a cookie lover. 

See how happy he is?  I kid you not, he ate about a dozen over the next 10 minutes.  

Boating with the lovelies. 

\

this kid knows how to do it right.  Neck-supporting life jacket, blanket and Nuk.  

Windblown and beautiful. 

These next pictures are a little dangerous for me.  

So I am going to make it a public apology too:

To the super sweet and patient family who owns this pool (you know who you are),

I am so sorry for what took place there a few weeks ago.  Our water-loving dog just bound for the water and jumped straight in before we could stop her.  She proceeded to swim for almost an hour straight, hardly stopping to rest.  She was so happy, that we didn't take her out right away.  It wasn't until afterwards that we saw how much dog hair she shed.  So we proceeded to put Ardie to work, and skim the pool.  We even came back later that evening to finish the job after the rest settled.  I hope it didn't mess anything up....I think we got pretty much all of it.  I know my dog has never been your best of friends.  

I hope this doesn't ruin our relationship.

I am truly sorry for this happening without your permission or knowledge.  

sincerely, 

your surrogate daughter. 

She really did love it.  And every time people would jump in and not come up right away, she'd swim as fast as she could to them, whining the whole way, then attempt to save them.  

It was super cute.  

But she is a shedding machine.  Huskies have two great sheds a year.  Right now is one of them.  her hair/fur comes out in clumps.  It's gross.  But I think we got it all cleaned up =)

There you have it.  Snippets of the last month or so.  

Sorry it's been so long.

Au revoir!