Mistergone’s Neighborhood

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Uncle Ron!

WE LOVE YOU and cannot wait to see you and Uncle Muffin again soon......can we go to the beach again? How about the park? Will you both come with us to the Children's Museum? Hope you have a great birthday long weekend!

Love your Nephews - Jake and Josh!

Ain't She a Beaut?

New-Q

After several years of cobbling together the replacement parts on our old BBQ, we decided this year to just go for it and get a new one. Isn't it purty? All shiny and stainless.

Works like a charm too. Last night we had chicken wings and they were oh so good.

It's gonna be a wonderful summer.

The-BBQ-er

See it while you can

Not sure how long these will stay posted on the web, but check them out. Some wonderful photoshop work here merging Muppets into Movie Posters. Really brilliant! I think this is my favorite, but there are many greats.

Rowlf as Ray

The "I Love My Mommy" Song

Jake's rendition of "I love my Mommy"

This is Jake singing the "I Love My Mommy" song.....it's a hit in my eyes!

They practiced this song at school for Mother's day and he has sang it a time or two for me. It goes:

I love my Mommy Oh yes I do

When she's not with me Im BLUE!

I love my Mommy yes I do

How can you go wrong with lyrics like that!

Dr. Rubin- the dentist.....

So today was check up day for both Jake and Josh. Josh had never been to the dentist before but had heard Jake talk about Dr. Rubin non stop for 6 months now (since the last check up). So this morning when I mentioned that we were going to the dentist there were cheers and laughing and 2 very excited little boys to say the least. In fact, for over an hour I had to listen to Jake ask "Is it time to leave yet?"

So we got there and they are so excited. Jake asked "These nurses don't give you shots do they?" (I guess the last round of shots at the pediatrician left an impression). So the hygienist came to get us and the first thing out of Josh's mouth was "I love you!"....She was smitten! My little charmer at work! So she took them both back and 20 minutes later the hygienist came to get me and told me that they both did amazing and that they were the sweetest little guys. Josh has great brushing habits and Jake got X-Rays taken with no issues they were concerned about. Dr. Rubin thought we were doing a great job with brushing, so I was way happy to hear that. Then Josh patted Dr. Rubin on the arm and said "I love you Dr. Rubin!"....Im beginning to think Josh uses that on everyone!

So thats it for another 6 months. I wish I got as excited to see my dentist. Maybe I should start going to see Dr. Rubin!

Top Chef vs Hell's Kitchen.

When it comes to these two cooking reality shows, honestly, there's no comparison. We watch both of them, but really, only one of the shows has any real merit.

Hell's Kitchen is pure trash. It's about backstabbing, dirty laundry, and cheap editing tactics to extend the show to a full hour. The chefs never create their own food, and they can barely cook the menu given to them. It just seems so contrived too - any time they start to get ahead, have chef Ramsay shout and swear at them to get them flustered so they'll mess up. It's a simple recipe, but thankfully, it's fun to watch. It's like junk food. We love it, but we know it's bad for us.

Top Chef Cookbook

On the other hand, Top Chef is like a fine dining experience. There's a bit of drama, but the focus is really on the food - with 15 chefs who actually know what they're doing in a kitchen and who continue to stun us with their creativity as, week after week, they make new dishes from the most obscure ingredients. We don't get it in Canada until a few months after it airs in the US, but when we do, we like to savour it. We're only about 5 episodes into the new season - which is already on episode 10. But no rush. This is like a good wine, and it only comes around once a year.

Last week at Costco, we stumbled on the Top Chef Cookbook, which has some of the best recipes from the first three seasons, plus loads of info about a really great show and the contestants. Haven't tried anything for it yet, but you can bet we'll be using it the first chance we get to do some fancy cooking.

Sleeping styles

The sleeping styles of Jake and Josh are so darn different. Jake is a great sleeper. He lays his head on his pillow and his legs and body are nicely covered up- and in general, he stays like that all night. Josh on the other hand starts off with his head on the pillow and his legs and body nicely covered up, but after he is asleep, you never know where he will end up. Last night, I found him with his feet on the pillows and his head towards the bottom of the bed with no covers on a all and a fan blowing on him. He sleeps across the bed, diagonally, upside down, but rarely do I ever see him sleeping with his head on his pillow. This is part of the reason sleeping in the same bed with Josh was so hard on our recent trip to San Antonio- because I kept getting kicked in the ribs or the nose. I just hope he grows out of this- otherwise, I feel terrible for his future wife.

Sideways Josh

We finally got into the pool

May '08- Backyard

Saturday was a hot and sticky day. So we decided a good place to cool down would be the pool. Its amazing to me how much the boys have grown in a year. This year Josh dove into the pool head first and Jake is now doing summersaults into the pool. We had a blast, but I soon got cold and wanted out. So I got out, and pulled up a chair and just let the boys play for and hour by themselves in the pool. It was SOOOO nice that I didn't have to be in there with them. They spent an hour jumping in and getting out and jumping into the hot tub and getting out and throwing frisbees in then jumping in after them, then they pretended they were whale trainers and were putting on a show (Josh was the Shamu trainer, and Jake was the White Whale trainer). They had a blast and were waterlogged by the time they got out. And they wouldn't have gotten out either- only it was 7:15pm (2 hours after we'd started) and no supper had been made yet- so I asked them if they wanted popcorn and they both cheered and declared that they were done with swimming. Oh- do I ever make a nutritious supper huh.....don't report me to child protective services please!

Anyways, its just plain old fun. My kids are fish -they would spend every night in the pool if they could. Im loving this age! And Im so happy we put the pool in when we did.

What nice neighbors we have

Dining with Sponge Bob

We went for a bike ride around the block on Saturday and as we were heading home our neighbor stopped us and asked us if we liked Sponge Bob (which the answer is YES- For sure). He asked if we could use a sponge bob table and chairs- his girls had outgrown them. So we of course took him up on it. We didn't even know the guy and he was nice enough to give us this cool table and chairs. The boys are loving it!

Fuzzy Yellow Balls

A few years ago, Mel and I bought tennis rackets and had every intention of making tennis a regular part of our summer workouts, but then Mel hurt his knee and the intensive lateral movement in tennis was too much for him. We had to set it aside for a while.

Well now, a year and a half after knee surgery, Mel is pretty much 100% and today we grabbed the bikes and took a ride over to a nearby tennis court to give it a whirl.

I'm happy to report that his skills hadn't deteriorated since the last time we went out and, while it's taking a bit of getting used to, Mel's tennis skills are coming along just fine. We should be able to have a few games over the next few weeks if we can keep up the practice on a regular basis.

I love summer. The gym is great, but it's so nice to work out in the fresh air!