Cool Bird

Meet my latest pet!

Mike gave him to me for Christmas this year, I was so suprised. I saw him recently at The Loft at Henpeck Market and thought he was just the coolest. I didn't even know Mike knew about him.

I'm thinking of naming him Sterling, what do you think?

Yes, he's made entirely of cutlery. He stands about 2.5 feet tall.

Updates On The New House

Here are a few before and after photos of the progress so far. There are still many things to do but we're moving along.

This is the basement before. Yellow walls, white trim, old carpet and ceramic tile.

The basement now.

New carpet, which is gorgeous - you can't really see in the photos but it has a geometric pattern to it. Fresh paint on the walls and ceilings, Restoration Hardware's Cappucino. The trim is all Ben Moore's Black Fox. Black slate tile has replaced the ceramic around the fire place and on the floor of the bar (not shown yet) The fireplace, bar and bookcases will be faux finished or painted at a later date.

The kitchen before.
The flat, dark gray walls looked very much like chalkboard paint. It showed everything, even hand prints when you touched the walls.
The kitchen today.
A sandstone faux finish in a natural tone helped the other elements of the room work together.
The eating area of the kitchen.

The front office/living room before.

I'll take more photos of the interior of the room later but this is after the columns were removed and french doors were installed.

All the hardwood floors were refinished from a light maple to a darker brown walnut.

One of the biggest transformations so far - the dining room before...

The dining room now.

The columns, pedestals waintcotting and ceiling molding were removed. The floors refinished. All the walls were floated three times and then a plaster faux finish applied. The chandelier will change at a later date.

The faux finish is a metallic plaster that looks and feels like raw silk.

The shelves in the basement to be faux finished in the future.

Halloween 2008

Michael and his friends decided to get creative again this year for Halloween, so they took a few of our moving boxes, some spray paint and dryer vent tubing and made an army of robots. I wish I had a video of all of them walking down the street, it was hilarious and we were in tears laughing.

Here's Michael in costume.
Mum and Pop came back for a visit this year, Pop seems well recovered and had many walks with Max and Bubbles.

While they were here they helped make Michael's dream come true of having his own drum set in the music room. Now he can actually practice each week between lessons. He decided the add drum lessons to his guitar lessons this year and is doing very well at both instruments. I need to find a way to post videos on here, they would have a greater impact.

Michael goofing around in the driveway.
Here's Michael in costume and Pop in the back yard. Bubbles was very concerned about all the robots; Pop had a great laugh watching them all during construction.
Most of the crew ready to go out trick or treating.
Michael is ready to go get some candy!
If the photo was bigger you could see his eyes peeking out through the mouth.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!! 2008

Here's Sarah and Michael in front of the tree this year.

Michael's hair is longer than Sarah's this year.

Sarah, age 12. And Michael is 14 this year! I tried to get this photo out for Max's Christmas cards but just ran out of time.
I thought I'd post it here instead.

Merry Christmas From MAX!

4th of July at the beach!

This year's 4th of July trip to the beach was a lot of fun. Sarah's friends, Annie, Emily and Cat were all already at the beach so Michael's friends, Ian and Michael Kelly went down with us.

As usual, our early riser Mike, got everyone up and in the car and by 5am we were well on our way.

This is the first photo of the trip, just as the sun is rising. The dogs were awake but Sarah was still snoozing away.

Later, Max felt he needed a nap but the daylight was too bright for him so he put on his sleep mask

Sarah and Michael - I guess the family resemblance goes farther than the hair.

The next day on the way home from the movies - all the kids including Emily Raymond who came back to the house with us afterwards.

It's a family tradition to go go-kart racing.

Here's Michael.

Mike with Emily Raymond.

And Sarah.

All the kids also had a great time with the boat. It stayed inflated this trip.

The girls - Emily, Sarah and Annie.

And the boys, Ian, Michael and Michael. Michael Kelly is in the middle there behind Ian.

The end of a good boating day. Michael Kelly, Michael and Ian.

Fourth of July fun! Here's a few of the boys messing around on the beach before fireworks.

Michael...

Los Tres Amigos

Michael Kelly and Ian Baker

I think this is their take on a new Chili Peppers album cover...

Recording Camp

Here's some pics from Michael's recording camp this past week.
The guy pointing in the photo below is Schylar, Michael's music teacher. The happy campers in the studio.

Sitting in the mixing room. Thomas is on the right there.

The mixing board...