Hooray for Fathers

Happy Fathers' Day to Jeremy!

Technically, a new lawn mower wasn't his present,
but we bought it the night before and were pretty elated about it, so here it is.

That's right, Jeremy is a father so dedicated
that he is teaching his son to mow the lawn even on his special day!

We visited the rest of the family later that day,
where Jeremy switched roles to Super Uncle/Teething Ring.

Here's another awesome dad in action!
Hudson apparently loves to be carried around the house like this all day long.

Lily & Angela

It's official--Parker is now taller than one of his aunts
(don't let the height of Angela's sunglasses fool you).

Aaaaand one of his Grandmas!

Hudson, Isaac & Katie, as we said goodbye for their big move!
They are now residents of the Lynchburg, VA area.

The Sound of Music

Parker's second (and final) band performance of the year took place last night.

Grandma & Grandpa Hancock came all the way down to see it!
These videos are kind of hilarious,
but you had to be there to appreciate how
these beginning band students had never before
read a piece of music or even picked up an instrument
before they took this class.

His enthusiastic, patient band instructor, Mr. Huggins,
beamed with pride at how hard the students had worked this year!

Hiiii-YAH!

A couple of months ago, Parker enrolled
in an after-school program at Martial Arts World
to learn Tae Kwon Do and some mixed martial arts.

Two weeks ago was his first belt test!

Among other things, Parker had to break a board with his foot.
We were pretty surprised to see him do it on the first try!

He's glad to trade in his white belt
for the most prestigious yellow!

Celebrating with ice cream, of course!

Why Richmond is Awesome

Adam & Heather came to visit over Easter weekend,
and they got to see it for themselves:

the awesomeness that is Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens!

Twitterpaited!

That's right!!!!BLUE ORCHIDS!!!! The coolest flower EVER!!!

Oooooh

Ahhhh

I think the best part might have been the adorable
BUNNIES, though!

The Kitchen Saga Continues

So this was the "temporary" new linoleum floor
that we put in after we moved in.
It was temporary for about 3 years, uggg.
It was thin and cheap-looking and I hated it so much that I refused to even mop it.
After the cabinet install, it suffered some major damage
and we finally had an excuse to replace it.

Then came the new tiles!

Our kitchen was a disaster for 2 days
while Jeremy cut, measured, and did his thing.
Parker thought it was hilarious
that we kept the fridge in the living room
and the stove in the dining room during the install.

Now the floor is a thing of beauty!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the rich color and texture.

It's such a yummy brown--a nice contrast to the maple cabinets!

I like the floor so much, I will even mop (occasionally).

Hallelujah

Hopefully, the first of many raw recordings made for the interwebs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoBy4f-AOvY

Fool for Art & Science Festival

Last weekend, my office participated in the County's Fool for Art & Science Festival. After I hosted our table for a couple hours-- giving out information about CFLs, energy conservation programs, and answering random questions about our power plants, it was time to check the place out. (The pics were taken with my old Blackberry, so they're not stellar.)

Parker tried his hand at funeral reconstruction-

These are the mannequin heads and wax used by funeral services to re-create
facial features for a viewing in the event of a ghastly accident.

Would you want this for your face, should you become disfigured?

Continuing in the theme of icky booths...next was the owl pellet dissection station.

Parker was supposed to try to identify the species of animal
recently eaten by the bones found in the regurgitated pellets.

And then he dug up a dinosaur!

Next on the agenda was making his own "fossil."

Moving right along to the GERM table, where he got an eyeful
of the germ cultures grown from cooties found on various surfaces and body parts.
Maybe he will understand why I insist on hand-washing.

He met some interesting people at this festival.

It's one thing to shake someone's hand,
but you REALLY get to know someone
by checking out their inner workings.

It's okay, though--he was a Utah fan.

He took a break from all the dirty stuff
and tried to re-create a Picasso masterpiece with oil pastels.

Here's my company's table...the side without the cool stuff and the candy.
Unfortunately, we didn't have anything that
could be dissected, molded, or dismantled (BORING).