More pics to share

Since January 1st, when Jill & I started our photo-a-day blog, The View Across Town ...
I feel like I can't post on this one without a great picture to match! I take pictures every day, and I feel that I've really made progress on my photography skills (which was my New Year's Resolution and the reason for the other blog). There are a lot of photos that I want to share, but not very many of them get seen by you all.

Here are a few of my second favorites from the last few weeks:










Enjoy!

I think she's gonna be a drummer!

I got to go hang out with Molly & Erik this afternoon ... oh, and Ellen was there, too! ;)

She had just eaten and was more smiley and talkative than I've seen her in a long time. I think she's finally starting to feel a bit better. She has been sick with a stuffy nose since she started going to school 2 months ago. I think that will be the case for the rest of her life, unfortunately.

We played for a bit, and then Molly & I were working on our laptops to make some changes to our blogs and Ellen got to lay on the floor & play with part of her exer-saucer that detaches to use on the floor.

Here she is making all sorts of music! Enjoy! :)

Not interested ...

Minnie was not at all interested in participating in a little photo shoot this evening! The sun was coming in from the dining room windows nicely and she was sitting just so on the arm of the couch ... but she still didn't appreciate the perfect photo moment that I wanted to take advantage of!

Can you see the stink-eye that she's giving me?

Caroline and Betsy's DAY OF FUN!

I got up earlier than I would have liked today so that Mom & I could run some errands and hit a GIANT estate sale downtown. The order of our errands flip-flopped when we drove out of the driveway and could hardly see because of the heavy rainstorm. It finally stopped raining later on and allowed us to get a few more things marked off our To Do lists than we had originally planned.

Here's a little picture post of our day.

We stopped by Molly & Erik's first so we could play with Ellen a bit before her naptime. Here is Miss Ellen in her new Exer-saucer. Molly put it together this morning and she's just now big enough to fit in it. Her little feet just barely touch the bottom tray. She was getting pretty tired and ready for her nap, so she didn't play much with the surrounding toys, even though I've seen her pull on toys hanging on her play mat.

Here she is (in her cute Easter outfit, again) sitting with Mom. She seems to like her new Sophie Giraffe that Molly got her this week. I don't know if you can really see it, but Mom & I did some playing with her hair. She has the BEST cowlick, but it's also fun to try and tame it with cute bows.

This picture was taken on the 4th floor of the estate sale we went to. I want you to guess what it is, and then after some of your comment guesses, I'll give you the answer that we were given from one of the staff at the sale! It was a single-family home, one family had lived there since it was built and the woman that lived there last was 90 years old. There was DEFINITELY 100+ years of stuff in that house, and we saw it after it was down to the bare minimum of items!

The yucky clouds that were out most of the day. Here they are on our drive back into our part of town! Don't worry, I wasn't driving when this picture was taken on the highway.

Pretty hyacinths at Mom and Dads that Aunt Susan brought when she was in town. They smelled so great!

Yippee! After Mom helped to drill holes in this cookie sheet calendar for me, I can finally hang it. It's hanging on the wall right next to the back hall. After all the hard work I put into it, I'm happy to finally have it on display.

Here's the last picture. This is the dresser that I got today at the estate sale. It will get a little bit of glue on the drawers and a new paint color this summer, but it's going to be in the office as another storage piece or a table for the loveseat. Mom & I moved the loveseat from the dining room into the office this afternoon, too. My old chaise (that's at M&D's right now) will come over sometime soon and go in the dining room since the fabric matches better. Excuse my sweater drying rack. It doesn't fit in the laundry room, so the office is where it lives!

Run, Minnie, Run!

Can you tell she's dreaming about something good?



She may not get stand up and run like some dogs, but Minnie definitely runs in her sleep! She does this just about every night. She really runs fast after we've been on a long walk & she's especially pooped!

I always wonder what she's thinking about ... what or who she's chasing ... where she is??? If I could just see a video of her dreams, I'd be a happy Momma!

I never knew!

Tonight, I was exiting the highway and was sitting next to a police car while waiting at the light. I knew where he was headed and slowly followed along side. While we were waiting, I noticed that this choke-chain was hanging from the spotlight in the front dashboard. I thought it was very strange ... then I looked towards the back seat!

The police car was a Canine Unit! I've never seen the police cars that have the K-9 dogs with them. Clearly, there was a reason for the giant choke-chain.

Good, old Cezar was sitting in the back seat and kept turning around while we were waiting to turn. I don't know if you can see him in this picture, but he IS in there!

Once we finally turned, the car went exactly where I thought it was. Here's a little note to all you driving around in Overland Park: Police cars sit right off the 435 & Antioch exit on the Northeast corner all the time! It is illegal to turn right on red at either of the Antioch exits and drivers do it all the time! Since my condo is right at that intersection, I see red & blue lights just about every day. Watch out ... and drive safe!

The Family Tree

I've been trying to get a picture of this tree for weeks! It is in the school's neighborhood and it is part of the landscaping along Highway-69. I see it every day as I'm waiting at one of 3 lights before I get on the highway to head home.

I love it's crazy branches & I actually can't tell if it is still alive, as it doesn't seem to have anything growing on it yet. Still, I think it's beautiful. Today's picture is the best one I've gotten so far, so I wanted to share it. If you are driving around, be sure to look for it!

There was no need for us to eat the rest of the day ... but we did!

Saturday morning, I went to Georgie Porgie's Cafe with Mom & Dad for breakfast. I had been to the older on in KC, MO before, but this newer one opened up in a strip mall at 103rd & State Line, so we went there.

The decor is 50s style with records hanging on the walls and from the ceiling. There are also random pictures, license plates & memorabilia all over.

Our GIANT plates came filled with enough food to feed us for the rest of the weekend. I ordered 2 pancakes, a scrambled egg & bacon. Mom got the breakfast tortilla. It came in the biggest tortilla I'd ever seen!

This was the second incorrect use of an apostrophe I'd seen this week. Arg! On a word with no "s", no less! Check out the simple menu & great prices, though.

More great stuff on the wall! If you go, be prepared to sit at a larger table with other diners and depending on what time you go, you might need to wait. The restaurant is tiny and probably only seats 30-40 people.

Here's my plate, again, with Dad's biscuits & gravy in the back. I haven't had pancakes in a long time, and was craving them. I'm glad I ordered this, but I couldn't finish all of it. Most of it, but not all. I thought I was so full that I'd never eat again. Sure enough, I ate lunch with Molly & Erik a few hours later when I went to play with Ellen.

If you go to Georgie Porgie's, let me know what you think!

Ellen wore her cranky pants for tonight's visit

Molly said that Ellen has decided that sleeping at school is for the birds! While I would normally agree with that when it comes to students, I think that someone who spends her day in the "Bunnies" room should be getting all the sleep she can! Today she slept for only 2 hours - about a third of the amount of sleep she should be getting at school.

I was a bit bummed when I went over tonight and Ellen was NOT her usual happy, bubbly (literally), chatty self. We played for about 30 minutes in between her dinner & her before-bed nap. {I hope she continues on with this before-bed nap well into her adulthood like her Mommy & Aunt!}

Yes, she's pretty cute here, but I could only get a few smiles out of her, and none of them for the camera!

She's getting SO big! I was amazed at how big she was tonight after not seeing her for just 2 weeks! She barely fits in these cute swaddlers anymore and she fills the swing quite well.

Right before I left, I got to wake her up out of the swing & take her up for one last meal before her real bedtime. She was snoozing away the entire time I picked her up out of the swing & carried her upstairs to her room. Sweet as ever!

I'll be back over there to play this weekend, so hopefully I can get some smiley pictures & maybe even a video of her chatting! :)

During & after strange Spring snowstorm

If you are in Kansas City and were here last weekend, then you would know about the giant snow storm that came out of nowhere on Saturday. Well, I watch the weather religiously every morning, so it wasn't really out of nowhere. BUT, it was strange, especially after we've already had some wonderful 60-80 degree weather this Spring!

The rain started on Friday and went right into Saturday morning. Then, about the time I had to start running errands, the heavy sleet started and eventually the heavy snow came. It was a perfect teachable moment for us since we had to do some last-minute prep for our Science Assessment this week. All the precipitation changes allowed me to review the temperature that water (rain) will freeze ... and then melt!

Here are a few pictures I took on Saturday and then on Sunday as everything was melting just about 24 hours later! My favorite made it onto The View Across Town on Saturday ... oh, and Sunday!

During the big snow storm! At this point, I was home for the day. I had driven the kids I was babysitting all over town, and when my car barely made it up their driveway, I knew there would be no more driving for me.

Check out these GIANT snowflakes or snow clusters on my arm!

Love this one. You can really tell how hard it is snowing!

The patio chair. By the time the snow stopped, the amount of snow on top had doubled!

See those giant flakes falling?

The ice that was already on all the branches when the snow started. This is why there were TONS of fallen branches & trees all over the neighborhood.


The day after! Most everything had melted 24 hours later.

I like the colors in this one. Hopefully those pretty leaves weren't too damaged in the ice.

I wish this photo had caught all the ice that was falling off the branches on me as I took this one!

A bit of snow & ice still piled up.

The driveway. I bribed the boys to do some shoveling so we could get out & about that day. I think if I had waited just a few hours, it might have melted on it's own. Shhhh ... don't tell the boys that did 2 hours of shoveling! I helped them for about 20 minutes and my back & shoulders are still sore!

Anyone else get some great pics of the snow?