{fenway park}

the red sox are celebrating their 100th anniversary and we had the chance to visit fenway park as a family recently.  they had an open house of sorts and we got to walk on the field, sit on the green monster, sit in the dugout and even check out the locker room.  (a surprising amount of "product" in there!)

this season, mike is also the proud owner of a red sox "clergy pass".  (crazy they even have one.)  anyway, it means he can get two seats to just about any game.  he took miles to his first game and he loved it!  not sure if it was the game he loved, or the fenway franks.  pretty sweet "dude date" he won't soon forget!

we are all being extra nice to mike to see who he takes next.  (pick me, pick me!)

{around the outside}

we made a concerted effort to do a bit of yard work this weekend.  raking, edging, weeding and scott's step 1.  (my dad swears by the stuff.)  it felt good to get our hands dirty for the first time this year.  all except maybe that giant blister mike got raking.

i wish you could smell this viburnum.  it is seriously out of this world. 

i could look at this white bleeding heart all day.  the detail on this thing...totally spectacular.  nice work God!

i wish these things bloomed all year.  they make me happen every time i see them out the kitchen window.  (now i should just clean that filthy window...i bet they'd be even prettier!)

and although this may look like a whole lotta nothing, our little costco blueberry bushes have fruit buds.  not bad considering we thought we killed them. 

it rained all day today and i swear the yard already looks greener...after one day.  is that even possible?  maybe that scott's is all it's cracked up to be!

{family additions}

we have some new additions to our family.  and the best part is...no shedding, no sneezing, no walks around the block.  these hermit crabs may be the perfect pet! 

miles learned the hard way though that kissing your crab is not the wisest.  i ran up the stair to my screaming son to find "fire claw" hanging from his bottom lip.  i guess his name suits him...ha!

the only downside may be that the kids keep telling people, "guess what...we got crabs!"  nope...that's not embarrasing at all in the checkout line.

{brown's brownies}

every year, the kids' school hosts a night called "the celebration of learning" where each classs showcases what they have been working on throughout the school year.  the kids have a great time showing their parents and siblings the projects they have created and often do special presentations as part of the event.

2nd grade has a tradition where each child makes and brings a dish representing whatever country they are from.  (their school is pretty ethnically diverse and many different heritages were represented.)  the child then displays and serves the dish to whomever visits their "restaurant".  aiden named her dish "brown's brownies" and went with our old family standby of "best brownies".  since we kind of joke that we are muts when it comes to ethnicity, good ol' american brownies seemed as good of a choice as any (and much easier than fried chicken or apple pie!)

and since i get asked quite a bit for this brownie recipe, this seems like the perfect place to share it.  i believe it first came from a martha stewart magazine clipping, but i'm not totally sure.

best brownies

1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
3 square unsweetened baker's chocolate
2 eggs (room temperature is best)
1 1/4 c. sugar
2 t. vanilla
1 c. flour
1/4 t. salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

• heat oven to 350.  butter a 8x8 or 9x9 baking dish.  (i almost always double the recipe and just use a 9x13 pan.)  i line my pans with parchment paper to easily remove brownies for cutting, but this is not necessary.
• melt butter and chocolate in saucepan on very low heat.
• with an electric mixer on high, beat eggs with sugar for 3 minutes until thick and pale.  add chocolate mixture and vanilla and beat another minute.
• add flour and salt and beat until smooth.  add chocolate chips.
• bake 20-25 minutes until tester inserted 1" from edge comes out with only a small amount of brownie on it.  do not overbake or the brownies will be dry.
• cool completely and then lift parchment paper from pan and cut into squares. 

1st grade performed readers' theatre and highlighted janelle cannon books.  miles played the part of "mother bat" in stellaluna.  his voice inflections were hilarious!

and one of my favorite pieces on display...george & abe.  aiden rocked these portraits, don't you think?!!

{baby smitten}

we can hardly get enough of baby lana.

aiden cried when she had to give her back.  smitten i say...totally smitten.

{progress: the guest room}

i feel like i have hardly left this room lately.  so much painting to do!  covering the wood paneling is taking 4 coats (1 primer +3 coats) and i have to use a brush to get into the grooves.  the room is small, but the ceiling is high and sloped so it is up and down the ladder quite a bit.  ooh...and did i mention the closet doors and doors to storage under the eaves are all louvered?  i have had white paint in my hair for weeks!  ;)

but...this week i have pretty much finished up all but the touchup on the white and moved on to the floor.  all the nasty hot pink shag was pulled up and i sanded the plywood subfloor.  because we didn't want to spend any money, i used the same paint as the playroom floor.  score!

the door to the room was in rough shape.  the previous owners must have had a dog (i can only assume) that was locked in that room at somepoint.  there are HUGE hunks missing from the bottom of the door.  and if that isn't enough, it is an ugly flatpanel door from the 60's/70's. nothing wrong with that if your house was built then, but ours is 100+ years old.  it just looks so out of place.  (there are many doors like this in the house and i would love to replace them all at some point with pretty raised panel doors.  just not high on the $ priority list.)  i used wood filler to fill in the bites out of the door.  there was seriously so much putty in the door mike told me at one point to just go buy a new one.  it is far from perfect, but i'm pretty sure no one will notice.  (except those of you that come visit because now you know what to look for- ha!)

i went ahead and painted the flat panel door with chalkboard paint.  in my mind, at least then it seems more purposeful- being flat and all.  again, i already had the paint so no dinero.  i am thinking it might be fun to do something a la shanna murray like this on the door to welcome guests and write them love notes.  i also like the idea of using japanese washi tape to add photos and add a gallery of sorts to the door.  maybe hand draw some frames for pictures???  feels a bit playful to me, but not over the top.

come visit us when i'm done and your cute mug can be one of the first on our door.  how's that for a bribe?!

{our father}

for your viewing enjoyment. 

i may be a bit biased, but he melts my heart everytime i hear it!