i made the fateful mistake of showing mom some of the fun games on diana's phone- she was hooked! poco doesnt seem to mind though, he's just kickin it on mom's lap!
barbara pulled out her laptop to show off some funny youtube clips- a staple whenever she comes to town! if you dont watch the youtube clips that barbara loves then you will not understand half the things she says- he is always quoting them!
stylist diana working her magic! 
here's the front of the postcard with the coupon on it and everything.
one of the students got to change up the message on the sign outside!
here one student repaints a bench while a bunch of others help clean up the underbrush in the background.
a little weeding and planting of the new flowers for the season- looking good! 
you knew i couldnt talk about a puppy with out pictures, right? well, take a look at that little guy!
unfortunately i dont remember what kind of pouch he is, but i do know for sure that he is adorable! 
tim got us some really nice commercial carpeting for the high traffic living room.
this is the place from the back of the apartment. its not so much a kitchen as it is a hallway...
right away when we arrived we were shepherded into this classroom in the art institute and broken down into groups so that we could follow along with the tour guide and check out some of the cool stuff they had to show us.
this work is based on the story 'the portrait of dorian gray'. if you are familiar with the story then you understand why it looks so disgusting! this work was actually used in a film adapatation of the book- cool!
this is one of those strange works that ive always found very interesting. its by magritte that says 'this is not a pipe'. its a statement on what is real and what is not. (yes, it is a pipe, but its not actually a pipe- its a painting of a pipe. get it?)
by the end of the day the kids were exhausted! we rallied them and got them together for one last picture before we got on the bus. not surprisingly, the ride home was a lot quieter than the ride there... 
in the middle of tyler's tender they have a model train set up with the whole town and everything. they have controls on the sides for the kids to mess around with and everything!
ok, heres the best part: we had been telling the kids how we were excited to take them to this restaurant because there was even a train that they could ride in! all three of them were really excited about that idea! when we got there we realized the truth of the matter- there was a train for them to ride in, but it just went around this really lame oval track in the room. it was so pathetic that diana and i couldnt help but laugh the entire time! the kids when on it and the two girls had a blast, but i'm pretty sure bubba saw through the thin facade because he pouted the whole time- which of course caused diana and i to laugh even harder!!! the train would come around and we would see aves and tweets waving and grinning from ear to ear, and then in the back of the train car we saw bubba with his arms folded and pouting. and then the train would go around again, and we would see him pouting from the other side of the room... even now as i type this i am literally laughing out loud at the sight of this little guy's disappointment! poor fella...
during dinner i tried to put a positive spin on it for bubba, telling him that i thought it looked like fun and i wanted to go on it with them after we were done eating. well, he took the bait and was actually willing to go on it again! this time he was in a better mood and i think he was in on the joke, so there wasnt any pouting this time! and the girls? well, they were just happy to go on it again!
yes, thats the train on the other side of the room- what an amazing oval it is, huh?
the girls were happy as can be, unjaded by the lameness of the whole thing- ah, to be a kid again! 
at cabella's they have a whole room set up to look like a field filled with deer. they also have an animatronic hunter there who talks a bit about the wildlife. this always freaks out aves- so of course we have to check it out!
over by the shoe department they had this strange little booth. there is a ramp that must be there to simulate hiking? who knows, but the kids sure loved playing on it! aves even shows off the stuffed animal she was trying (successfully, i might add!) to get her mother to buy her.
tweets decided that she needed some new rugged outdoorsman boots. i think this is the right size...
bubba convinced his dad to get him a hat, so he wanted to model it for the camera!
here is one of the 'amazing' shots that bubba took because whenever i take out the camera he wants a turn! mom is quite surprised by the whole thing...
mom, with a little help from aves, does a bit of spring cleaning! all the strips of old carpet are being put to good use- aves can get up high enough to help out!
tweets was loving the fact that she got to help out with scrapping the padding off the tiles in the bedroom. kinda looks like a game of shuffleboard, huh?
as you can see, bubba was really excited to help out as well...
once we got the new pads and carpet into the bedrooms we realized that the doors wouldnt be able to move! so papa pulled out his saw and shaved a little off the bottom. bubba finally put the nintendo ds aside to help out!
now that he was in on the fun, he was ready and willing to get some cleaning done. here he is washing the walls of the bedroom, getting everything to look nice! 
tweets was so excited to be at uncle mark and aunt diana's place that she could hardly finish her first piece of pizza!
bubba chowed down because he wanted to get to the good stuff: playing nintendo ds with his favorite uncle!
everybody had a good time except poor old poco! the kids are still a bit leary of him, so he had to stay behind the gate the whole time they were there. poor fella! 
diana, the hair dresser extraordinaire, spend the afternoon taking care of business! she is so good at this stuff! 
miranda showing off her new cute look! 
mom always loves the job diana does with her hair- looks good! 
i didnt get my hair cut, but diana kept telling me i needed a chin hair cut. not sure if i totally believe her or not... 
big bad tav running around the living room showing off in front of all the guests! 
tavish got this super cute little chair that he loves to sit in. 
during the lull of the afternoon, tavish was getting pretty tired and just wanted to rest on gus (thats what he calls his grandpa david!). 
try as i might, i couldnt convince him to go through this colorful little tunnel thingy! 
every year i grow a beard. i dont know why, i just do. i usually wait until first snowfall and then i let it grow. the past couple years i havent been able to grow it too long because diana starts yelling at me to trim it, but for some reason (which i am thankful for) diana just let me keep it growing this year! score! 
it looks pretty majestic, no? 
on the wedding day my mom set aside a few pieces of cake for us to keep and eat on our anniversary. we had one last year and it was still delicious! this year's piece wasnt quite as good, but we ate it anyway out of tradition. we actually have one piece left. i'm not thinking that one is going to taste very good at all in a year... i've decided that we can consider ourselves newlyweds until the final piece of the cake is gone. most reasonable people can say that for the first year of their marriage, but since we had three pieces saved, we are still considering ourselves newlyweds until next year when we finish it all. why not, right? we still love each other like newlyweds, so it makes sense! 
our gross little dog peeking out from under the covers while he and i get comfy in bed. 
this is my favorite thing that he does: sometimes i will wake up in the middle of the night and poco will be sleeping right between diana and i and he will be laying on his side with his head sticking out from the covers! its soooo cute! he thinks he's people! 
poco in a blanket is a constant source of cuteness! 
yes poco, please be sure to stick your tongue out while you lay there, that way you can taste the blanket too... 
peek-a-boo, i see you! 
