iPhone photo dump {week 31, beach edition}

It was a short week for me because we headed to the beach on Thursday night for a long weekend!

The beginning of the week seems like so long ago, but it involved an awesome braid Lorelai's teacher did, lots of legos, and some dress-up in Mommy's clothes.



I brought my phone and my dslr down to the beach, so I've got a TON of pictures, as usual. These are the ones I instagrammed (I'm @alazycrazylife if you want to follow) and some that I just processed through instagram without sharing because I felt like I was reaching my share quota ☺.

Day 1: We could not have asked for a more gorgeous day! If Lorelai didn't have to nap and we didn't have to eat, I could have literally spent all day out there.


Day 2: Much more cloudy, but the rain held off until after we headed in for lunch (and by that time we were ready because the breeze picked up and lips started turning purple). We even managed to get a pretty cute family pic.

Day 3: My mom, the kids and I headed out for a quick walk on the beach while Adam stayed behind to pack up. It was really cloudy and chilly, which made saying goodbye all that much easier.


The kids played so hard all weekend, they were exhausted. Even though Logan insisted he wasn't tired, I went in to check on him yesterday and found him conked out on the chair next to the bed. Lorelai was out like a light for the car ride home.


And of course I'll have to share my other pics just as soon as get them off the camera. But for now, I've got to tackle the laundry mountain. One load down, only 4 to go...

Lorelai lately

Lorelai has developed such a personality lately along with her burgeoning vocabulary. She says and does so many hilarious things--I need to start documenting all of these "Lorelai-isms" so I don't forget!


She and Logan were making funny faces at each other.

A lot of her funny things lately have been potty-related.

One day, Lorelai followed Adam into the bathroom and watched him pee. He said she got a funny look on her face and screamed "ewwww, Daddy!! EWWWWW!" Another time, she yelled at him to "sit down, Daddy!"

One the other hand, she claps for me when I go potty. "Yay! Mommy go pee pee!" What's less endearing is the fact that she demands that I go potty when she does (her portable potty is in our bathroom).

Last night, she made me bring her portable potty downstairs to the half bath (she refuses to sit on the big potty, ugh!) and once I got her diaper off, she closed the door on me and said "privacy, Mommy. Privacy."

(PS: She get's an A for effort and goes potty regularly at school, but she's still not quite out of diapers yet. Daycare wants us to send her in pull ups because it's easier for them, but I'm leaning towards trying a potty weekend at home soon to see if we can move her straight to underwear. Pull ups are freaking expensive.)



While the boys are on break from school, Adam has been taking Lorelai to daycare in the mornings, which means she watches him get dressed for work. She keeps pointing to him in his boxers and saying "what's that, Daddy?"

Whenever I ask her what she wants for dinner, she almost always says pizza. So last Monday when I asked "do you want pizza for dinner tonight?", she said "no, Friday."



If I put on a necklace in the morning, she wants one, too. I have one I let her wear, but we have to leave it in the car when we drop her off at daycare. She likes to bring her doll in the car, so she insists that her doll wears the necklace while she's at daycare.



She also likes to wear silly bands around her ankles and always finds someone else's shoes to wear around the house.

She LOVES her boys and always greets them with a big smile and an excited "Hi Aidan! Hi Logan!" But she also loves to "help" me discipline them. It's hilarious to hear her talk sternly to them. She's got this way of yelling where she turns one word into two, so she'll say "NO AI-DAN!" or "LO-GAN! Go to TIME-OUT!"



She's got this mosquito bite on her arm that won't heal because she keeps picking at it. I started putting band aids over it, and now she always asks for one. "I have a boo boo, Mommy. Need a band aid."

She's also taken possession of this duck, against Aidan's will. She's been carrying it everywhere, and when I tell her it's his, she says "Aidan's duck? It's mine."



And finally, someone needs to get out of the habit of lifting up her shirt or skirt in public. :)



Just in case it wasn't clear, I love this girl. So much.

iPhone photo dump {week 30...ish}

I've totally slacked off on my weekly photo dumps...mostly because I slacked off on actually taking photos. Oops! Of course I've instagrammed a few here and there, but my lazy ways got the best of me.




Random comments:

• Lorelai loves her new rain boots!
• The boys have made it through all of the Star Wars movies, thanks to Friday movie nights.
• Lorelai loves to enjoy post-bath tv watching with daddy.
• There was a frog on our back porch door (did that even need explanation?)
• I want to start playing more games with the boys. I think a family game night needs to start happening regularly.
• I polished off two huge sushi rolls at lunch last week even though I had really planned to save some for dinner.
• The kids are all sporting angry birds tattoos.
• Zumba seriously kicked my butt this Saturday, even my belly button was sweating. I'm still sore!
• Aidan had his first soccer game this weekend. Unfortunately, his team lost and he got a few goals scored on him--to be fair, not a kid on his team could have saved most of them, the other team was really good.
• Lorelai learned about dinosaurs at school last week and came home sporting some dinosaur horns.
• She then lost her mind when I told her she couldn't have a second lollipop before dinner and threw a HUGE tantrum, complete with kicking and screaming on the floor. Yikes.
• After going through the phase of constantly avoiding the camera, Aidan has turned into the king of photobombs. He jumped in front of my camera as I was trying to get a rare picture of Logan (who has turned into the camera avoider). I got a great pic of his eye though. Love those freckles.

Saturday sillies

Last night during dinner, we were discussing what day it was (because TGIF!). Lorelai insisted it was Monday, and started yelling at us that "IT'S MON DAY!" Of course as soon as I got the video camera out, she got all polite about it. One of these days I'm going to capture her patented yells on video. She can be very insistent about things.

Then this afternoon during lunch, she just started giggling like crazy and being all kinds of silly back to Logan, who was making crazy eyes at her. I knew Logan was a funny guy, but who knew he was that funny?!

Happy weekend!

Big cats and a birthday party

For Logan's birthday, we I decided that instead of doing a big friend party like we did at the bounce house last year, we'd do something much more low-key and informal like we did with the trip to the aquarium for Aidan.

I figured this would be a perfect opportunity to finally go visit the Carolina Tiger Rescue that's literally like 5 minutes down the road from the in-laws' house. Logan thought it was a good idea, so plans were made (and then changed, but it turned out to be no big deal).



We headed over to meet some family (grandma, aunts, uncle, cousins) for the afternoon tour, and lucked out with amazing weather.



It certainly wasn't a cheap outing at $17 a pop for adults and $10 a pop for kids (Raina and Lorelai were free, thank goodness!!) but they're a nonprofit organization so we just looked at it as a donation to the cause.



The tigers were awesome. There were several different ones in multiple enclosures, and unlike the zoo, you could really get up close and personal with them. So close in fact, that if you were dumb enough, you could simply reach your hand into the fence and get it bitten off. They made us sign a waiver in case we were in the "dumb" category. (Spoiler alert: we all left with our limbs in tact.)

This guy, Rajaji, was the first one we saw. He was huge! He was rescued from somewhere that kept him penned up on a concrete slab his whole life and apparently he still sometimes acts funny on the grass. The tour guide warned us that he likes to spray at people, and has a 20ft range. He did indeed spray, and I did indeed run away like a crazy person with Lorelai in my arms.



One of the tigers they have is blind, which they didn't figure out until his cage mate (brother?) passed away. You'd never know by looking at him. It's cool--they adapted his enclosure with a sand path around the perimeter so he'd know where the fence was.

The guy on the left here was found roaming around on a highway in Charlotte, and they suspect he was pushed out of a moving vehicle by the way he was scraped up when he was found. So sad. The white tiger was gorgeous, too, even though we couldn't see him up close. His name is Jellybean (here's a much better photo from their facebook page). He was having some health issues this summer, but hopefully he's on the mend!



They have all kinds of animals there in addition to the tigers. We saw lions, caracals, servals, ocelots, binturongs, and kinkajous.

Unfortunately, the lions were being lazy and didn't get up for us. Look at this guy! They said he's on a diet because he's so overweight (which is why they couldn't be tempted to the fence with food). And apparently sometimes, the female lion will see a kid she likes and do some predatory stalking along the fence. I really wanted to see that. Raina was really cute bait, I'm just sayin'. :)



Some of the smaller "big cats" were hard to photograph through the enclosures. The cougar (left) was camera shy and took her food to the back corner. The servals (top right) have a strike speed of 1/60th of a second, which they like to use to kill and eat snakes that come into their enclosure. Not sad to say we missed witnessing that in action. The ocelots were really hard to be around because their spray stuck so SO bad.



I really wish I had been able to get a better photo of the ears of these caracals. And you should have heard the sound of the chicken bone snapping when she took a bite!



One of the more interesting animals was this binturong. I'd never heard of them before, but she was automatically super cool in my book because her name is Becky. She just chilled out and ate bananas. Even though she's not aggressive, her teeth and claws can still do serious damage.



They also had a couple of kinkajous. They look like cuddly little monkeys, but they're really aggressive and they poop a lot. Raina really tempted fate (and broke all kinds of rules) when she ducked under the rope and next thing we know, she's standing within arm's length of the enclosure. Crazy girl!



But I think the scariest creatures by far were these guys. Good thing they're locked up tight! :)



I was kind of worried about how Lorelai would do since she didn't want to be in her stroller for most of the time. I was worried she'd run under ropes or step in fire ant hills (of which there were a lot--Aidan got bit). But between me, Adam and my mom holding her, she was happy as a clam and really enjoyed seeing the animals.



After the tour was over (it was almost a full 2 hours so we definitely had some quality time there), we headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's for some birthday snacks and presents.



I feel really bad that I never made a cake for Logan, but he didn't even really care. He was totally happy with the oreos and popcorn mix Grandma picked out for him and of course, presents. It was a really great day and everyone went home happy.

I even convinced the birthday boy to take some pictures with me and Adam.



Let me just say for the record, that low-key birthday parties like this totally kick fancy friend party butt (from my perspective as the one who has to plan everything out). I know we'll end up doing friend parties in the future, but I guess I'm not much of a fancy party girl. I hope that rubs off on the kids! :)

Some of my patience flew to Tampa

If there's one thing I've realized with Adam's more frequent traveling, it's that he must be the source of some of my patience, because when he's gone my fuse is much shorter with the kids.

All the pressure is on me to get everything done--going in 3 different directions all at once, with no backup, and I guess I'm just no good under pressure.

I know I shouldn't complain because moms do this all the time. And really, it's not that big of a deal for a few days at a time, but when you're so used to parenting as a team and having that backup, it's difficult when your teammate has to bail. Because apparently Aidan and Logan only do something after both Adam and I have asked them...more than once.

I have a sneaking suspicion though, that if Aidan and Logan would just LISTEN to me and do something the FIRST time I ask, I would have patience to spare! And if they would just quit riling each other up while I'm tending to Lorelai (and quit riling her up while I'm tending to the house), maybe they would actually be able to hear me without me having to yell. A novel concept that they clearly don't understand yet. They also apparently don't understand that they have to shower, brush teeth, pick out their clothes and pick up their toys EVERY NIGHT. OMG.

Sigh, we all miss him. And my patience.




(But I'm really going to work on developing that patience to spare.)

Crazy car seat lady

I was so excited when the American Academy of Pediatrics revised their car seat guidelines to say that children should be kept rear-facing until 2. I felt a little less like the crazy car seat lady who isn't eager to turn her kids around the minute they turn 1 (and keeps her older kids 5-point-harnessed until 6—yes, 6), since we were doing "extended rear facing" before it was officially recommended.

I'm sure people scoffed at me, but it's hard for me to argue with terms like "internal decapitation" and the statistics the AAP cited that “children younger than 2 were 75 percent more likely to die or be seriously injured when facing forward.” We kept Aidan rear-facing until almost 19 months (not sure why we ended up turning him) and Logan until around 22 months when he reached the 30lb limit on our old Evenflo Triumph.

For Lorelai, we got a new seat with a 35lb rear-facing limit and planned to keep her rf definitely until 2, and preferably past that if she was still within the weight limits. With the van, that was super easy to do, because she had a perfect view: her beloved boys in the back seat. She loves to play peek-a-boo with Aidan behind the seat and make funny faces with Logan.



Unfortunately, she's just about at the max rf weight limit for the seat (34ish pounds when she steps on the scale fully clothed), so I had to give in and finally turn her this weekend. Almost 26 months is great, and safety-wise I'm mostly ok turning her around (I just hate that every car seat "milestone" reached is a safety downgrade). Ironically enough, my biggest issue with turning her around now is that she won't be able to see the boys in the car anymore.



They always got such big laughs out of her, and I'm worried she won't be as entertained in the car anymore. Plus, the way my rearview mirror is angled makes it impossible for me to see her like I used to in the baby mirror, so I have to use the tiny mirror, which is...tiny.

I guess the upside is that she can see me better, but really? How can I entertain her as good as the boys can if I'm driving? They set the bar pretty high there. I guess we'll see how it goes, but for the record, this crazy car seat lady is not excited. Especially since the first thing she said as she got in the car today was "I can't see the boys."

PS: I will never apologize for being the crazy car seat lady when it comes to the safety of my kids. Thankfully the boys never had an issue with being in their 5-point harnesses for so long, and totally understood that it was the safest thing when I explained that the race car drivers have harnesses like that in their cars.

PPS: Edited to add an AAP link to their recommendation. Here's another article that links to the research.

How many Lego Death Stars does that cost?

Apparently the boys are in a phase where the cost of everything is all relative to the $400 Lego Death Star. When Logan got $20 for his birthday, he started trying to figure out how much more he needed to get a Death Star. When Aidan heard Adam say something about $4000, he did the math to figure out that would get him 10 Death Stars.

This morning, we realized we could get almost three Lego Death Stars for the price of sending both of them to intersession camp for three weeks. That was a fun thing to think about when I was writing that check this morning, especially since we keep telling them that the Death Star is way way too expensive and they'll have to save up for a really long time to even come close to having that kind of money, and at that point they'd probably want to put it towards something more practical...like a car.

We're encouraging them to stick to the more economical Lego sets. Wolverine's helicopter is just as cool. For reals.



So anyway, school is out for the next three weeks as the boys have their first break. This is the first year that Logan has gotten to go to this camp with Aidan, and he was so excited. They do several field trips a week to places like arcades, the bowling alley, roller skating and ice skating which Logan hasn't really ever done. They also go to parks and a local soccer sportsplex, which is apparently not as exciting to him. Their field trip today was to the sportsplex where they played dodgeball and some other game. Despite the fact that Logan won his game of dodgeball and he got to spend all day playing with his brother, he said he didn't have a good day because he's already been to that place and it was "just sports stuff."

Mr. Picky was a grouch when he got home and wouldn't let me take his picture.



This guy on the other hand, had a great day. He got home, did some homework (yes, he has homework over the break for the first time and no, he's not happy about it) and even had time to search YouTube for instructions on how to make Origami Yoda. As I tucked him into bed tonight and asked what his favorite thing was today, he said it was having Logan there with him. Awwwww!



Side note: Although I love having a break from making lunches every night, I'm really going to miss free public school for the next three weeks. I got into a bad habit of enjoying that extra money in our bank account, and now it's like we're back to having two in daycare. Almost 3 freaking Death Stars. Ugh.

It felt like I weighed 300 pounds

You know the feeling of getting out of the pool when you're hugely pregnant? That's how I feel sometimes when I run. Like I'm wearing ankle weights and it takes every ounce of effort in me to move my legs.

 

Maybe I didn't drink enough water today, maybe it was the crappy lunch I ate, but my run today SUCKED. It was so bad that towards the end of a short sprint interval after my C25K intervals ended, I got lightheaded and almost had to sit down on the sidewalk, which has never happened before. I did end up going almost 3.5 miles, but had to walk more than I wanted at the end. 

Can't say I'm looking forward to my next run at this point, but I guess unless I actually pass out or vomit on the side of the road, I'll keep at this whole torture running thing...

 

Baby boots!

As an addendum to my fall freakout, let me just say that this makes me feel a little bit better about things.

I'm still not eager to put away all of her cute tank tops and summer dresses, but I could totally get behind this fashion statement she's making with Aidan's cowboy boots. I'm pleased to report that these boots helped get her over a temporary fear of boots, and was willing to try on her new ones. Yay!

And also?

But please note that there's something not quite right about sipping a pumpkin spice latte while standing out in the 80+ degree blazing sun in a tank top, getting an unintentional sunburn. I think I'll wait until there's an actual chill in the air before I indulge in my next one. Maybe Starbucks should go by the "no white after labor day rule," but vice versa: no pumpkin spice lattes before labor day :)

But dare I finally say, bring on fall?

Labor Day pool party

We had grand plans this Labor Day to go out to the lake to cook out and ride in grandpa's kayak. We got up bright and early, packed the beach gear, the cooler and the kids, and headed out to meet everyone at the picnic area they all went to last year when Adam and I were at our friend's wedding in Virginia.

We got there before the rest of the family, only to discover that this particular park area was closed. Womp womp. The (rude) park lady suggested the other park across the street, where apparently everyone and their brother had already showed up. It was so crowded that one family had resorted to grilling in ankle-deep water in a flooded out picnic area.

Heck to the no, we were not going to stand around with nowhere to grill and nowhere to sit and eat, so we did the only thing we could do--headed back home to our neighborhood pool and the rest of the fam followed.

It actually ended up being absolutely perfect. We were the only ones there for most of the time and the kids had a blast in the pool while the rest of us snacked and chilled.



That boat probably ended up being just as fun as grandpa's kayak in the lake would have been!





The kids actually did a pretty good job sharing and taking turns on the boat. There were plenty of pool noodles, water blasters, jumping contests and swimming races to keep these guys entertained for a long time.







Also entertaining, but unfortunately (for me, not for Adam) not pictured: Adam swatting like a crazy person at an insane number of bees flying around and landing on us. Grandma Cheryl even got stung by one :( Thankfully, none of the kids did.

Speaking of jumping contests, my sister and I got in on the action with the boys. If awards were being given, Jillian definitely would have won, and I have photographic evidence that I'm really tempted to share...but I don't want to embarrass her too much :). This one is much less, um, animated. You'll have to just trust me.



Not to be outdone, Lorelai had to get in on the action, too.





I'm so glad she likes the water, but doesn't try and jump in when we're not looking, and doesn't mind wearing her life jacket. It's a little peace of mind for this paranoid mom when there are so many kids to keep up with.



It was Lorelai's nap time, but she wasn't really grumpy at all. We just fed her snacks to keep her happy. :)


I was trying to get Lorelai to turn around and smile for a picture but she was too focused on her snacks--Raina was helping me get her attention and was very insistent that "Lorelai, smile, over there!" hence the stank face. Ha!

After a few hours of pool fun, we headed back to the house for our cookout, followed by s'mores on the grill.



I probably don't have to even say it, but it was a complete hit with the boys.


Not pictured: Aidan literally licking the chocolate off his plate.

Miraculously, Lorelai went down for a super late nap without a single protest. So, we all put back on our suits and headed back to the pool (minus Adam and his parents, who hung out at the house while Lorelai napped).

What a perfect way to officially end summer!