It is the small unexpected things

There's no better treat during a long week of work than an unexpected picture of your child experiencing the joys of summer. Thanks to Ms. Terry at KidsKampus, I got a few extra of these this week, and they came when I needed them most. I stumbled upon them late Thursday night( or maybe I should say early Friday morning!). I arrived home late from a work function - the second night in a row of not getting to see Emma, and happened to have my ipod in my hand. It automatically connects to our wi-fi network when I get in the house and a little box popped up that said I had a new message from Terry. I hadn't slept more than a few hours in 3 days, but for some reason I opened it up and beautiful pictures were there to greet me. Happy, smiling faces of kids enjoying summer the way kids are supposed to. Outside, running, playing, climbing trees and laughing. They were captured with beams of sunshine running through them and it was the perfect late night gift to send me to sleep with a warm feeling in my heart knowing that although I may not have been "present" all week, things were as they should be.

Weekend Warrior

It has been a while since the Pickard clan has been home for the weekend and without a birthday party, road trip, or other suburban family summer outing; so we took the opportunity to put the house in order. It also happens to be Massachusetts's "tax holiday" weekend (which I couldn't pass up!), so we started out with back to school shopping followed by mail box replacement (about 5 years over due) and for Emma, an art project to keep her occupied during the mail box replacement.

I've been nagging to replace the mailbox for years now. It actually fell over once last year, but Joe resurrected it and it could probably cling to life for another year or two, if you don't mind bringing the can of wasp spray with you to fetch the mail every day. I think that was my final straw. Two trips to Lowes later, and far more manual labor that Joe wanted to expend on a Sunday afternoon, we have two lovely projects to show from the Pickard household: a new mailbox and lovely painted piggy bank from Emma to keep her out of earshot of any 4 letter words that may have trickled out from the driveway.

Thank you Joe. The mailbox is lovely.

Life's a Beach

Annual vacation week with Grandma and Papa Ray! The house may have been different, but the fun was still the same. Thanks to Papa Ray, I have some work to do on my homemade mac and cheese :) As usual, the food was a focus of the trip and the kids are still talking about it! I can't wait to see the recipe book from Grandma at Christmas time. The picture to the left shows lifeguard chair No.9 AKA "home base". Thanks Mom and Ray for your visit - we all had a great time and can't wait until next year!!

Here are some more great shots of the perfect weather and great water. There really should be more of Joe - I think he spent more time in the water than the kids each weekend, but somehow, we took all the pics of the kids ;) Enjoy!