Making beach memories

I have fond memories of going to the beach every summer. Building sand castles, diving in the waves, catching sand fleas (we always called them sand diggers), and soaking in the sun. I'm so excited for my kids to make those same memories, summer after summer.




We're beyond fortunate to have a house to stay in, and an extra set of hands (that belong to my wonderful mom) more than willing to come and help with the kids. Let's face it, vacations with young kids aren't truly relaxing. Especially at the beach, what with the possibility of them getting swept out to sea and/or eaten by Jaws.



Obviously that didn't happen. :) And even though we may not have laid on the beach, tropical drink in hand, relaxing to the max, we did have an amazing time running on the beach...



Catching some waves...



Playing in the sand...



Splashing in the water...



Enjoying a nice ocean breeze...



Finding sea shells and sand fleas...



And we even managed to get some family pictures, including this framer. Although it was hit or miss getting everyone to look at the camera at the same time (wave! bird! whatever!)





Until next time, when we'll make even more memories. Only a few more weeks to wait, actually. :)

Orange Rhino time

3 kids and countless yells later, it's finally time for me to make a change around here. I admit, I yell. I yell to get their attention, I yell to correct their behavior and I yell out of frustration. Not every day, thank goodness. But more often than I'd like, and more often than is good for my kids. It's pitiful that it has taken me this long to come to that conclusion. My head is hanging in shame.

I do have to give myself some credit (because I'm already feeling bad enough admitting I yell too much) that I do have a lot more patience since Lorelai was born. I think it's a result of Logan (mostly) growing out of his really challenging behavior issues and me realizing with Lorelai that since she's my last, I need to really enjoy every last minute, crying fits included. Perspective is a wonderful thing sometimes.

It was a lot easier to have patience when I was just dealing with a baby crying because she didn't know any better. But the terrible threes are a different beast, apparently. Lorelai is willful and purposful with her defiance now. She says "no" because she has her very own opinion and wants it to be known. I know this is age-appropriate testing of boundaries and becoming independent, which is great. What's not great is how I deal with it.

After being sick most of the weekend (poor, sweet thing) and losing sleep, she's turned into a total raging grump. Quick to say "no" and quick to meltdown into hysterics. Which is exactly what happened this morning when she changed her mind on the clothes we picked out yesterday and I had the audacity to ask her to go pee when she woke up (dry! for the first time maybe ever!). I was fine picking out different clothes, offering her a few different options. I also offered options on the potty, letting her pick which one to use. Too many options maybe? Because tantrums. Me and her, and it was ugly. She didn't know what she wanted any more, and I only wanted one thing--to get out of the house and to work on schedule.

She yelled just as much as I did (although she did a lot more crying, kicking and screaming) and seeing her yell at me like that was like looking in a mirror. Of course I didn't like what I saw. Guilt ensued, lots of hugs and kisses and apologies were given, but my mood was ruined as of 7:30 on a Monday morning.

So I decided it's time to take the Orange Rhino challenge. Aidan, Logan and Lorelai deserve better from me. I love them no matter what, but in the heat of the moment when I yell, I would HATE to think they ever doubt that. I'm going to start with 1 month of no yelling and see how I do, and I'm going to hold myself accountable on the blog because it's out there. 1 month, no yelling.

I want my kids to behave properly, show respect, and properly cope with anger/frustration, so I have to model it for them. Duh, right? Like I said, my head is hanging in shame that I'm 9+ years into parenting and just now "officially" committing to practicing what I preach with them. Better late than never? Yes, that.


What kind of a person could yell at these sweet faces?!

Wish me luck...



PS: As I was tucking the boys into bed tonight, I asked them if I yelled too much, and Aidan said no. So at least that's not how he sees me (yet). Logan chose not to comment.

Hump Day Hoppin'

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Birthday froyo and dollar store shopping for the win

Happy 34th birthday to my hubby! The kids have been so excited about his birthday for some reason. Lorelai especially, who has serenaded him with Happy Birthday several times before today. And when I tucked Logan in to bed last night, he said he was so excited about tomorrow because "it's pep rally day, PE and Daddy's birthday!" So cute. :)


She's being sweet, not trying to get away, I swear. :)


This weekend, I took the boys shopping for Adam's birthday. We went during Lorelai's nap to make things more efficient, and after some initial "whaaa, I don't wanna go shopping!" whines, they were really into picking the perfect gifts for Adam. They had some very specific things in mind (one of which we couldn't find, so it'll go on our Christmas list) and got some great ideas as we browsed. They didn't even complain too much when I dragged them into DSW to look for shoes for myself, which ended up being a great move on my part, since we happened upon a great pair of happy socks for Adam.



When Lorelai woke up from her nap, I took her to the dollar store like I did with the boys a few years ago to get "a pink present for Daddy." Before we left, she even asked him if he liked pink. He said yes, he does have some pink dress shirts. She was SOLD.

It was a hilarious trip, and I'm so sad no one else was there to enjoy it with me. Maybe 3 is a bit too young to give free reign over getting Daddy "anything you think HE would like" because I really don't think he'd have much use for a pink coin purse, a princess puzzle, a Minnie mouse figurine, a tiara, or hair clips. I literally laughed out loud multiple times at some of the things she chose. By the time we got to the check-out lane, I (and probably everyone in the store) was sick of hearing myself say "we're shopping for Daddy, not you. What would Daddy like?"

In the end, she was absolutely convinced he needed bath squirt toys ("there's a frog, Daddy likes frogs, frogs go like this {hops down the aisle}"), an orange squishy ball, and a pink jump rope. She was most insistent about the jump rope, but I convinced her to go with the mostly blue with pink accents (in the hopes that the boys would end up using it) since the happy socks we got him had some pink in them to satisfy her requirement.

I also let her pick out a card, and the one she pulled out was a pretty pink "To my sister on your birthday" gem. But right over the card aisle was a bunch of helium balloons, so she quickly abandoned the card in favor of a balloon. A better choice, for sure.

This morning, we sang happy birthday to Adam, tackled him with hugs/kisses and gave him the new socks to wear. This evening he opened more presents and we went out for froyo after dinner. Tomorrow we celebrate again with a home-cooked (by his mom, I get the night off from making dinner, woohoo!) mexican feast, as is tradition these days.

 

 Happy birthday honey, love you!

The Cheeto Meltdown

It's no secret that Lorelai has some seriously hilarious moments that I love to document and look back on fondly. But she also has some batshit crazy moments where she cries and throws tantrums for no reason whatsoever. In these moments, sometimes all I can do is laugh (when I'm not wanting to cry or scream). Oh, the joys of toddlerhood. She's 3 for sure!

Inspired by Reasons My Son is Crying and a comical meltdown over Cheetos, here are some of the 4376 reasons why Lorelai is crying.




...because I wouldn't let her have only Cheetos for dinner.

...because daddy poured her milk instead of mommy.

...because I put her hair in a pony tail.

...because Aidan said "hi" to her when she walked in the house.

And my favorite meltdown recently:

...because the sink was in the bathroom and not the bedroom, so she didn't want to wash her hands after going potty. She laid on the floor of the bedroom, kicking and screaming, wanting me to move the sink. Cray!


To be continued, I'm sure...

High Five for Friday!

This has just been one of those weeks (okay, maybe 2) where my brain and motivation to blog have just checked out on me. So...TGIF for sure! But I haven't been completely lazy, and there's proof! As well as some other highlights of my week.





1. I got another unexpected but very much appreciated "rising star" award in honor of the work I did for our latest software release at work. It's always nice to be appreciated, and it's even better when it happens during a yummy dinner of filet, asparagus, wine and chocolate chess pie in the wine cellar of the Angus Barn. On the company's dime. :)

2. I finally put back on my running shoes after at least a month, and did pretty well out there! I really had no excuse, since it was a gorgeous (and completely unseasonable) 73 degrees and I was going to wash my hair anyway. Yes, I plan my workout schedule around my hair washing days...

3. Speaking of unseasonable weather, Lorelai and Aidan decided they should sport their winter hats. In August. Totally logical, right? Ha! I mean, it was almost chilly a couple of mornings this week, but it's still August. In NC. Don't rush winter, kids.

4. I sold our pack n play on Craigslist this week, which freed up space in our garage and put a little extra moolah in my pocket. Win win!

5. Adam and I did a huge garage reorganization and clean out this weekend. We bought a new shelving system and a storage box for the deck to get stuff off the garage floor, and purged a bunch of stuff. I even painted an old cabinet we had that was just taking up space and was able to bring it back inside for more storage. I know it probably doesn't look like much in that picture, but believe me--if you saw the before picture (side note: kicking myself that there's no before picture, bad blogger!) you'd see what a huge change it was. I was definitely not lazy at all on Sunday. In fact, I don't think I sat on the couch once all day until it was time for True Blood. Go me. :)


Linking up with Lauren.

Lorelai says

Lorelai, 3 years old.


Shortly before her birthday, I caught her sitting on the potty "talking" on her phone (I told you she does it all the time), asking for presents. "Hi Ms. Kim. Yeah, hi. You gonna get me presents? Grandma, you're getting me presents. Yeah?"

She was holding her potato head toy from the treasure box at school when she fell. She scream-cried "My 'tato broke me! You're a mean boy, 'tato head"

For dinner one night, I took off her shirt since we were having messy spaghetti. While pointing at her chest, she said "look, boobies!"

And of course the potty talk continues. Tonight she said "Bless you! I just farted out my butt!"

I'm hesitant to admit this one because it shows how crude we can be (go ahead, roll your eyes), but it was seriously hilarious(ly wrong). Lorelai started saying "sack and crack" over and over again after overhearing the boys, who were repeating after Adam. #parentingfail

She also says sunscream and bathing soup and it's too cute to correct, so now that's what we say, too.



And this is one of my favorite exchanges, which happened in Old Navy when Lorelai started throwing a tantrum and was on the floor taking her shoes off.

Mommy: Lorelai, get up. You're being rude.
Lorelai: Complicated order.

Apparently we quote the infamous Bon Qui Qui a bit too often. :)

Since she said this a few months ago, it has somehow morphed into "complicated Lola" which she says regularly and completely randomly now. Love it.


Side note: I'm STILL working on the beach pictures little by little. One of these days I'll post them...

(Check out more Lorelai-isms here.)

Making me happy

I've got a literal pain in my neck from apparently sleeping the wrong way on Saturday night. Going on two days now, I'm tired of being in pain and I kind of just want to cry. Popping Advil like a junkie and it doesn't even help. SO...I'm choosing instead to focus on things that are making me happy. Good plan, right?

* Beach pictures. I still haven't gone through and edited them all for a post, but I love that we got some pretty good family pictures.

* Rainbow chip frosting. I can, and do, eat this by the spoonful--cupcake completely optional. Our Target apparently doesn't carry this, so I had to text my mom from the grocery store the day of Lorelai's party to see if she could pick some up for us. YUM! I've been enjoying it since last Sunday and will be really sad when it's gone.

via

* Scandal. Why oh why didn't I start watching this show when it first aired?? I'm halfway through season 2 and I'm officially addicted. SO good. October 3 can't get here fast enough.

via

* Bloom. I got this book for Christmas, but only recently got around to starting it (been totally slacking in the reading department lately!). I follow Kelle's blog so I had high hopes for this book. So far, it hasn't disappointed--I've been moved to tears more than once. But in a good way.

via

* Lorelai named her new baby doll Honey. I was going through an old box of baby doll clothes from my mom's house yesterday and came across a little doll that was either mine or my sister's waaayyy back when. Tonight before bath, Lorelai told me her name was Honey and went on to have a conversation with her which ranged from a very stern "LOOK. AT. ME. NOW! Talk to me!" to "Oh, you pooped in the potty and pee-peed? Good job! I'm so proud of you, Honey!" How could I not smile when my daughter is having a very serious and encouraging potty talk with her new dolly named Honey? Impossible, I tell you!

And now I'm off to wallow in pain while I watch more Scandal. Half good/half bad. Better than nothing. :)

Sunday sillies

Last Sunday morning I caught Lorelai "calling" people on the phone. Usually when I get the camera out to record her, she devolves into a mess of gibberish and potty talk (see? what's that all about?!) but this time, I actually caught what looks to be a very in-depth conversation with grandma. Note that she's not really talking to anyone--she likes to play with our old phone.

I always forget to turn my phone to landscape when I record, gah!

And then she decided to call her cousin Luca, who lives in Atlanta (and apparently yell at her? ha!). I love how she's swiping the phone like it's a smartphone. :)

Check out that 'tude. A glimpse into the teenage years...and I'm scared ;)

A new (to her) bike

Lorelai got a new (to her) "big girl" bike for her birthday, and I'd say she's pretty excited about it. :)





The best part to me was that all I spent was $3 on a roll of pretty duck tape to turn Logan's old bike and helmet into something fit for a girl. Woooo to the hooooo!




Logan got this bike on his 3rd birthday (almost 4 years ago, whoa!), so we figured it would be a great gift for Lorelai's 3rd birthday as well. Aidan has moved up to a bigger bike, so we had an extra smaller one laying around. No point in spending money on something new if we can use what we've got, right? A little decal peeling and some good cleaning left us with a perfectly unisex red and black bike, but the boys and I wanted to do more. So I hit up Michael's where I found the most perfect coordinating duck tape.



With Aidan and Logan's help (they were SO into this project for their sister!) I just put some of the tape on wax paper and used my heart-shaped cutter to create some pretty little heart stickers. I free-handed the points on the long strips so they're not perfect, but the boys and I love how it turned out. I even used my exacto knife to cut out some flowers for her helmet to match! Once Adam put the training wheels back on, we were good to go.



We unveiled the gift on Sunday morning before her party and she couldn't WAIT to jump on and ride. With daddy's help getting started, she got the hang of it really quickly. A few hours later, she was an old pro, showing off for the grandparents at her party.



I love that this was a personalized gift created by us with love. I love that we were able to upcycle something to give it a new life for almost free. And I love that she loves it and feels like such a big girl when she rides. A definite win-win-win in my book! :)