now all i need are piano lessons...

i still haven't come off my high from finding this gorgeous vintage piano at the thrift store...for $75!!!!
first of all, i've totally wanted a piano for so long but didn't want to spend a bunch of money on just any old set of keys. so when i found this beauty i couldn't pass it up. i mean even if i never played it and just bought it to look cool in my house i would! look at it, it's all worn and ragged and old looking- i love it! i looked up the serial number online and it dates back to 1920 and is worth roughly around $2,500. all i need to do is get a guy over here to tune it, and i'm set. seriously, you have no idea how excited i've been over this (thus the documentation).
now, where do i put it?

well i've been getting tired of my dining room anyway because it's just not very practical. we never use it, and it's too far away from the kitchen.

so i did some rearranging, and now behold- my new piano/sitting room!

doesn't this look like a scene from an old movie? i can imagine myself being from the 1920's wearing a long gown with my hair pulled up and fancy shoes, playing my piano in the sitting room while my husband smokes his pipe. except my husband doesn't smoke, and i need to learn how to play the piano.

and in case you aren't sick of the pics, here's one at night with the lamp on. isn't it cozy?
(it doesn't take much to get me excited)

dance party!

follow up

so remember how my brother made that awesome video for that radio contest to win tickets to 311 and meet the band?
well he didn't win, but he got tickets and got to meet the band anyway! he said it was so awesome, and he was able to talk one on one with one of the 311 dudes and tell him how much their music uplifts his soul.
pretty sweet huh, how's that for a dream come true?
he still shoulda won though, his video was the bomb.

(michael and his wife mary on the left with some other random people and the 311 band)

hurry home jas...

we all miss you! everyone says hi!

random july...

never a dull moment around here!

the birthday she'll never remember

of course we had to do the traditional "give the 1 year old her own cake and let her go to town" party. she didn't disappoint.

i was all set on buying a cake because i didn't want to mess with making one, but the cheapest one i could find was 8 bucks for some tiny thing. so i broke down and made one real quick. you know me...

and van helped me make the other ghetto one for the party guests, but man was it good! we served it up with some "cake batter ice cream" and i don't think anybody cared what it looked like.

the birthday guests

can't get enough of the ankle chub!

awwww. the birthday girl

for once i wasn't the one holding the camera, so i got to be in most of the pics. besides, i did all the work getting her here to necessitate a first year birthday party right? seems a little deserving;)

she wasn't sure what to think

she did a pretty good job digging in

jasmine was able to join us via skype/web cam from utah. she was glad that she didn't totally miss mia's first birthday, and asked me to give her a kiss from her sissy.

finally a smile. she was little miss serious all day

happy birthday sweet baby, we love you!

mia at 1 year old:

happy, busy, gives lovin's, sometimes kisses, loves big bro, likes animal sounds, goes to bed with "pinky", understands portuguese, says van (da) jas (das) and cheese, destroys the house, loves dad to sing to her, favorite stuffed animal is puppy, doesn't sit still, mega cheeser, likes books, loves being outside, loves to swing, ride her car, "helps" with everything, scared of men with hair, knows where her mouth, ears, tongue, toes, and "pretty hair" are, finally says mama, behold the egg (inside joke), misses jas, loves stroller rides, bath time, combs her hair, is the most beautiful baby girl (next to jasmine) in the world:)

stats at her 1 yr well check:
height- 30.75 (93 percentile)
weight- 24.4  (91 percentile)
head circum- 18.25 (85 percentile)

cute evil baby laugh

for jas...

jasmine was pretty stoked that mia's first word was "jas"
here it is on camera...

girls camp

jas had a blast at camp as always. i can't believe i have an almost teenager! miss you sweet girl:)

happy birthday mia!

i know people always say this about their kids, but i can't believe she's already a year old! mia has seriously brightened our lives and made the days around the sander's house pretty fun and interesting (that's code for- never gives us any rest, and into everything:)), of course we wouldn't change things for the world.
we took some pics this morning to document this day.
enjoy...