The Coburn Invasion

Yes!  The best part of having a house instead of a tiny apartment is having our friends come visit.

Yep, that's right.  Pickles on a stick at the farmer's market.

Making sweet potato hash browns.

And then it rained.

A lot.

The kids had a great time playing together, and the grown-ups did too.  Sunday afternoon we walked down to the river and ended up having lunch at the Washington Irving Boat Club.  Drinking a beer on the river with views of the city while the kids run around like madmen?  I could do that every day.

Helper Monkey

I've been working on some window treatments for the living room, and Gabe is super happy to help out.

Stolen Photo

Hah!  I had to steal this photo from Ashley's blog since it so perfectly captures the chaos that is little kids. That, and I love Gabe's stink-face.  Apparently Ashley was trying to get a group picture and we just weren't cooperating.  This is from their trip down a few weekends ago.  So fun.

The Young Artist

Wings

Gabe, sporting the always classic muscle shirt and wings.

Hard at Work

Book Club!

I adore, adore, ADORE this picture.  It's Maggie and Amy, chilling at book club on Emily's terrace.  You'll notice the distinct lack of books.  That's how we roll.

Book Club used to be a huge thing years ago.  We'd all get together, drink too much wine, and pretend we had actually read the book.  (I always read the book, but that's because I'm a type-A over achiever.  Thank God my friends are cooler than I am.)  Then, as these things do, it fell apart.  But like a phoenix from the ashes, Book Club is resurrected!  Granted, there were only 4 of us this Saturday, but we will do it again, and get the old gang back together.  It's like a Hollywood sequel, but without a new 20-year-old love interest.

So back to the picture. There was a time when Maggie, Amy, and I ruled this city.  And this picture just captures them both so perfectly.  My girls.  I'm so glad to have them back.

Ice Cream!

We've been exploring our new town lately, including a visit to see the animals at Stone Barns.  Saw the most intimidatingly huge pair of pig balls I could ever imagine.  I'll spare you the picture.  (I obviously don't care about page views.)

We celebrated our successful field trip with ice cream on the river front.

Family Dinner

Family lunch in the backyard.

He Walks!

It's official, 1 week shy of 16 months, and Gabe finally decided to walk.  Way to go, boy!

Push!

Ellie loves pushing Gabe on the swings.  I enjoy not being on swing-duty.

Photo June 21

"Where You Slept."

Here Ellie is (rather unconvincingly) pretending to fall asleep in my bed.  It's one of her favorite things to do.

Painted Fireplace

So the bricks surrounding our fireplace were already painted, as in this photo...

And, frankly, I never understood why the previous owners painted the bricks the same color as the walls.  To me, it felt like the mantel was just floating in space.  So from the first time I saw pictures of the house I said, "I'll repaint those bricks."  And today I did.

A small change, and one easily accomplished during naptime, but the first official "project" I've accomplished in the new place.  I'll take it.

Photo June 20

Today's prompt is "Fave Photo You've Ever Taken."  Man, that's a hard one.

XOXO

...because there are few things better than gratuitous pictures of toddler smooches.

Photo June 19 (HOUSE!)

So today's photo prompt is "Imperfect."  And nothing is currently more imperfect (other than my driving skills) than our house.  And since some of you have been clamoring for house photos....here goes.  Just have pity.  It's only been 3 weeks, and we have a long, long, long way to go.

Well, hello there.  This is the front garden full of flowers (multiple rose bushes! lilacs! iris!)  My goal is to keep it alive.

Living room.  Eventually we want to make this a sitting room/library and move the tv downstairs.

Here's the other end of the living room.

And the view into the dining room from the living room.  Um, yeah.  We need a dining table.

The view from the kitchen into the dining room.  Hi, Sophie!

Into the kitchen from the dining room.

Other kitchen view.  That door there is to the mudroom/backdoor entrance.  

And now we're upstairs.  Kids' room!  I'm keeping them together until they're old enough to complain about it.

Kids' room, other angle.

The "little room."  No idea.

Master bath.  I skipped pictures of the master bedroom and the guest room.  I would have had to make beds.  :)

And here's the basement.  All potential, no reality.  We hope to make this the tv room/game room/etc.

Backyard patio!  We have no grass - which means no mowing!

So that's it.  That's the tour.  We still have to paint, hang art, organize better, etc.  But so far we're really enjoying it.  And we can't wait for you to come visit.

Photo June 18

I've dropped the ball the last two days on the Photo a Day project.  So, in a lazy effort to make up for it, here's a random shot I sort of love.  It's Elle, watching the band set up before the latest 3rd Friday Festival.  The girl is a born groupie, just like her mom.

The City

Someday, probably soon, hopping the train into the city won't feel like a big deal.  It'll be old hat, no big shakes.  But today?  Today was a big deal.  And I'm proud of us.  I managed not to miss the train, despite reading the schedule backwards.  I managed to get all three of us over "the gap" without dropping a toddler. And I managed to have a great time meeting up with Sara, Baby "Cai," and Paul (who got some serious hugs.)  All in all a very successful city trip.  I remember my first time taking the subway after I moved to New York.  I got on, rode to Washington Square Park, got off, read a book for an hour on a bench, got back on the train, and went home.  And it was exhilarating.  Today felt the same way.

Reunited.

Photo June 16

Out and About.

Actually this picture is "out" but not really "about" since it's in our backyard.  This is me and my oldest, bestest, dearest friend Jeremy.  He and his family came to visit for the weekend, and it's so incredible to have space for house guests!  Yay!  You should all come visit.

Photo June 15

Yellow.