Trees are such wonderful things, until they greatly inconvenience you by dying for no good reason.

Sigh.

I've heard it asked, "If a tree falls in a forest, does anyone know or care?"

If a tree dies in your front yard...a really big tree, no less...then people care. Particularly neighbors in close proximity to said dead tree. And to me, because it looks ghastly to have a tree carcass just sitting there looking dead. And another thing about trees....you get them for free when you buy a house.

But you have to pay for them considerably when they decide their life has ended.

Cause their removal is rarely something you can manage on your own. It requires professional tree removers.

And the occasional massive bucket truck.

And plywood laid over your yard and lots of crewmen to haul away the limbs they cut down. 

But the good news, in this case, was that I happened to find a great company who cut my enormous dead tree down for a really good price, took the care to not destroy my yard, and hauled all the limbs away. Not to mention the entertainment the whole thing provided for my kids and the neighbors!

In other aspects of our world...

I apologize for the darkened picture (iphone camera), but I had to capture the sweetness of this moment. A girl relaxing on her bed with a good book and her cat close by.

Meanwhile, the boys "napped" in their room reading their own books.

Is there anything more delightful than seeing your kids engrossed in books? 

And then this little stinker who told me to get my phone and take a picture of him in his crock.

Speaking of sweet things Dorien has done lately - he came and found me reading on my bed the other evening and climbed up beside me. In his words, he wanted to "Cuddle with me and talk to me." 

My cup runneth over.

To further brighten my life, my precious sister-in-law, Anna, and my brother, Zach, recently gifted Kyle and I with this absolutely amazing espresso machine. It used to grace Anna's parents' lake house, but when they sold the lake house, the coffee gadget was inherited by Zach and Anna who never quite used it.  Kyle and I being avid coffee fans, they thought we might enjoy it.

HAVE WE EVER!!!!

Espressos, single cups of steaming coffee, cappuccinos, lattes with the push of a button! 

And the timing couldn't be better since our old coffee maker had begun leaking all over our counter every time we brewed a pot. Next time you're over our way, forget about Starbucks! Stop on by and I'll whip you up something dreamy - complements of Zach and Anna. Love you guys!!!

When we first introduced Aesop, the tiny kitten, to Singer, the energetic Golden Retriever, I worried about the cat. Singer has been known to forget how large she is and just tromp on things.

Seems I was worrying for nothing. This cat has never shown an ounce of fear towards Singer. Aesop still has his front claws (for the moment), and I think he made sure Singer knew he had those claws from the get-go. But once that was understood, Singer gained a new best friend. 

When Singer's confined to the kitchen (due to aforementioned rowdiness), Aesop jumps the baby-gate and proceeds to wrestle with Singer for hours until he wears Singer out.

I find them like this on the floor. Singer resting with Aesop draped over her face, carefully cleaning his buddy with his scratchy cat tongue. 

Until Singer has enough and traps a paw in her mouth. But harm is never done. 

And I worry no more about either the cat or the dog being bored or lonely. 

They have each other and that seems to be a good pairing.

There are mornings when Brooklyn comes to me to do her hair and I pause, scratch my chin and ponder. What can we do that will keep her hair up out of her way and look cute?

What might work? 

If you happen to look at what I've been pinning on Pinterest, one of my things right now is hairstyles that could potentially be used on my daughter's rapidly growing hair.

This particular morning, I thought I'd try out a sideways french braid.

So I did one. But there was so much hair left that, unfortunately, really needed washing, so.... 

I decided to do a second french braid right under the first horizontal one.

Sort of different...

Then, since I had two braid ends sticking out there to the right, I twisted them together and tied them up. 

Out of her way, nice and feminine and my job here is done!

My handsome August turned 5 this past Wednesday, July 17th.

In some ways, it was just a matter of celebrating his actual birthday, because he's felt 5 to me for a long time now.  He's getting so tall and lean and is so smart...he's just seemed older than 4.  It could have something to do with him already going through kindergarten this past year while Brooklyn did her first grade work. In any case, while he SEEMS older, he really did just turn 5 this past week.  

In our tradition, we didn't have a regular birthday party, but we celebrated our own way - with an All-Day-Family Party. This means Kyle took off from work and the whole day from start to finish was dedicated to celebrating August's birthday. And what did he want to do on his birthday? Well, to climb, of course!

And eat do-nuts from Shipleys for breakfast.

When Brooklyn turned 7 this past February, she wanted to go to the Climbing Center and climb she did! The girl turned out to be part spider monkey.

August, on the other hand, was not yet 5, which is the minimum age for climbing. So we promised him we'd take him for his birthday. He remembered this promise and held us to it.

This means that Dorien, just being 2, couldn't climb, but he could definitely snack! And cheer on his older siblings! Which he happily did. He munched on cucumbers and apple slices and generally looked cute.

Brooklyn strapped herself in and hit the walls!

Fortunately, it being a week day, the place was pretty quiet and our kids sort of ruled the roost for a few hours! It was a nice way to spend a few hours.

Long, lean, twiggy and just BARELY heavy enough to pull the auto belay back to the ground.

At last, that foot touches down! 

August was very happy to climb with his big sister. It's so lovely that they truly are friends as well as siblings.

Given August's slightly more cautious personality, he took to climbing differently than Brooklyn.

He was certainly capable and determined, but he wasn't as bound and determined to touch the top of the wall like Brooklyn was.

He studied each step carefully and measured the distances. He really did a great job. Wore me out just watching them.

To the top!

Snack time!

Race you to the top!

Think I'm done, Mom and Dad...

After the climbing was over, we had lunch at the Purple Cow (some really yummy black bean burgers), complementary purple ice cream for the birthday boy, and then he spent the evening playing with his new set of Legos and eating the 4 Layer Pie which he picked for his birthday dessert. 

All in all, it was a very full 5th birthday. 

I couldn't be prouder of my precious son.

Goggles are "Gobbles". 

And a swimsuit is a "Swim-Soup".

Every day before we head to the gym to swim, he yells at Brooklyn and August

to find their Gobbles and Swimsoups! 

This was a sewing weekend! 

Using a Megan Nielsen pattern for a Shirred Maternity Shirt, I sewed up this little navy blue number.

The pattern could be made with sleeves, short or long, or not at all. Given the hot weather, I opted for not at all. This was also an incredibly easy shirt to sew. 

The view from the back...

The pattern also had some suggestions as to how the pattern might be altered. One suggestion was to turn the shirt into a dress by extending the hemline and tapering it slightly at the hem. I have never attempted anything like this, and it was a bit risky, given my totally amateur sewing skills, but it turned out pretty well, I think! Using my serger to sew the front and back pieces together speeds things up CONSIDERABLY! I used my regular sewing machine to do the gathering on the front and to hem the sleeves, neckline and hemline.

When I was cutting out the front and back pieces, I just extended it to the length of my knees and hoped for the best! (Don't you love the face I'm making? August is making a face back at me off-camera.)

I think there is plenty of room for additional belly growth, although it seems like I couldn't get any bigger if I tried! This also serves as a 27 week belly picture.

Doing hair on little girls is so extremely fun! Brooklyn's hair is just getting long enough to really get creative with, and poor girl, she's become my guinea pig much more often than I think she likes.

I did a little exploring the other day on hairstyles - I was looking for a tutorial on how to do fishtail braids - and I found one, which means B gets to sit still while I learn on her head. Teehee.

Fishtail braids I haven't mastered, but I am working on them. But french braids I've been doing on myself since I was a little girl. I have no idea how, but I somehow taught myself when I was about B's age. A handy skill since my mom doesn't braid. Although she loves to have her hair braided! 

I was searching around some of my favorite sewing blogs yesterday and saw a sweet picture of a little girl with her hair braided and put up in "Heidi" braids. Is there anything sweeter or cuter? Of course I had to give it a whirl.

Thankfully, Brooklyn was willing to accommodate. The trade-off was that I had to listen to her read to me from her American Girl catalogue. She's dying for an American Girl (and I stubbornly refuse to pay $125 for a doll), so she whittles away at me by reading about the endless variety of accessories and items available.

Oh, and just for funsies, here's my belly as of this morning - 26 weeks and 4 days.