Fourth of July::Block Party

After the parade, and during Laine's nap, Jayson and I worked on painting the deck. By 5:30, we were ready to have a little fun at the cul-de-sac's block party. Laine had a blast as always, playing with Hannah, Amy, and her very favorite buddy, Brielle. Remind me again why we're moving from these great neighbors?

Thus began the Lovefest between Laine and Brielle. There was a whole lot of hugging, snuggling, and laughter. Laine is so in love with Brielle. The minute we get outside these days, she marches purposefully towards Brielle's house. When we're inside and hear children's voices outside, Laine will call out, "Ee-elle!"

Fourth of July::Laine's Dance

Before the parade, the spirit of the day took Laine to a whole new level. She was hopping and bopping all over the place, completely in her own world. I took a bumch of photos, and didn't realize until looking over the photos at the end of the day that I had a funny series of her "dance."

Marching

Disco moves

Ballet moves taught by Auntie

Fourth of July::Parade

Our neighborhood of Summer Ridge has an annual Fourth of July parade. Last year, we were in Gig Harbor with my parents for the holiday weekend (and Laine crawled for the first time!) Look how far we've come!
We had a warm day to enjoy, and Auntie came to partake in the parade festivities! It was a fun family affair. The local fire department was scheduled to lead the parade--but they got a call and instead sent someone in a black truck to drive around the neighborhood loop. One lady mistook Laine's "convertible" for a fire truck and suggested jokingly that Laine lead the parade!

Washing WOW!

We were nearly ready to list the house the weekend of the Fourth, but there was one last thing to do the Tuesday before--clean the deck. I used 30 Second Outdoor cleaner on recommendation from someone, and it did a bit more "cleaning" than we wanted. In other words, it pretty much stripped the deck...so instead of spending the weekend in Gig Harbor with Grandma and Grandpa Good, while people traipsed in and out of our house, we stayed at home and power washed and stained our deck for the LAST TIME EVER. This monstrosity will never see another minute of time from the Buechlers!

Laine watching Daddy power wash--LOUD!

The deck is probably between 600-800 square feet...and has two large built in benches...and has three different sets of stairs. In previous years, we painted the whole thing by brushes (by hand). This year, we decided to go easy on ourselves and use rollers. Good in theory, not in practice. With rollers, you can get some of the board, but if it's curved or warped, it misses spots. In addition, the sides of the boards needed to be hand painted by brush in the end anyway since a roller can't get in between the cracks. I think this was the longest process it ever was for us, but the most thorough job--all for a potential new owner: just as I always claimed we'd never do!

Beach Bummin'

Jayson was lucky enough to get out of the office early the Friday of the Fourth of July. He rushed home, made a quick change, and we headed off to Idylwood Park in Bellevue for some fun in the sun.

It had been a while since Laine's experience with sand, and she stood on this disk from her sand toys for the first 10 minutes, so as to avoid stepping in the sand!

Sandy bum-bum

String Bean

You can't call her petite, because she's so tall. You can't call her big, because she's so thin. Our little string bean is growing by the day! This step is 35 inches across...and it won't be long before Laine can't pose like this without completely bending her knees!

Rain, Rain: We Welcome You!

Even though we LOVE summer, we had an opportunity to put Laine's umbrella and boots to good use about two weeks ago. Laine had a blast stomping through the neighbor's puddles one morning as we waited for the day to heat up. I had her in three outfits that day--the one you see, then a sunsuit when the temps hit 75, and later that afternoon she was back into jeans and a sweater when it started raining again. It really takes a lot of effort to keep up with Washington weather!

Laine pointing out the new flowers and telling me, "Daddy's dirt!"

(Um, I planted those and spread the dirt, too!)

Corn Should Come From Iowa

Laine had her first corn on the cob a few weeks ago. She enjoyed husking the corn with us on the back deck--and it was quite the novelty to gnaw the cob for dinner! She didn't eat much, just a nibble here and there (like her Mommy--I don't eat it straight in a line!) She ate much more a few days later once it was cut off the cob and cold from the fridge.

You probably can't help but notice the big scrape between Laine's eyes. This came from a fall in our cul-de-sac where she landed right near the curb and the spot on her nose scraped the raised part and gave her quite an ow! She had been waiting all day for our neighbor girl to come out and play, and when she did Laine wanted to run with her. She shouted, "RUN!" and took off...but when she turned to see if Brielle was following her, she tripped and met the curb. After a good cry and hugs from Mommy, Laine wriggled down from my arms, and took off again, yelling "RUN!" Glad to know we've given our little peanut a hard shell!

The Sweetest Toddler I Know

Laine is the sweetest toddler. She is so caring and loving to all her dolls and animals (and even inanimate objects now, such as her boo-boos and her nigh-night (her sleepsack.) I caught her trying to give her latest knee scrape some milk and a snack the other day! I think she'll be the mothering type for sure!

Another example of this that melted my heart was when she was playing with some stickers I gave her. The first sticker I ever gave her (when she was much, much smaller) I put on the back of her hand. Ever since then, that's what she does with stickers. She was at the bottom of our steps, and I was in the kitchen so I couldn't really see what she was doing with her doll. After putting her down for her nap, I went to clean up her toys, and discovered that she'd shared her stickers with Baby Stella--by putting them on the backs of her hands. The part that really got me was that she knew what side was actually the BACK of Stella's hand! I love this kid so much.

First Ice Cream Cone

I took 36 pictures of this Momentous Event--so just know you're lucky you're only seeing nine.