I Give Up!

It's freakin' hot outside.  My kids are mischievous by nature.  They have to entertain themselves somehow.

Soap and water people.  I give up.  (and just so you know, soap foams as you try to clean it off counters, floors, furniture, and other such things).

On the other hand, I converted Samuel's bedroom into a playroom and stuck the beds in Lillian's room.  The playroom is heaven on earth and they can play and make a mess to their hearts content. 
We haven't decided if we like the sharing a sleeping area thing yet...

I briefly considered cleaning the playroom in order to take pictures... but remember I give up.  :)

Daily Routine

Don't let the big blue eyes, angelic curls, and beautiful smile fool you...

Lillian is actually an imp (a mischievous child, spirited). 

She has a daily routine of pure chaos and it starts with her room.  Anytime she is left unattended in her room for an extended amount of time (1 minute or more) for time-out, nap-time, bed-time, or just plain playing by herself, the following occurs:

First: De-shelving the books.  This is a systematic process in which climbing onto the top of the dresser is required.  I'm pretty sure she starts with the lower shelves first and then works her way up.  She's even been known to reach the very top shelf, how this is done I do not know, I can't even reach the top shelf without standing on tip-toe and then haphazardly tossing said item on the shelf. 

If I'm lucky this is where it stops, if not well...

Since her drawers are already pulled out to make a stair-like accessibility to the shelves, she then pulls out all of her clothes. 

So, now we have clothes, books, and a few dolls on the floor.

Of course, if you are going to pull out clothes you might as well pull out ALL of the diapers from the diaper box.  Looking at the diapers reminds of you the wipes, if Mommy or Daddy last changed the little imp in her bedroom and forgot to take the wipes out the wipes are next to go.

This process is done with an extraordinary amount of speed.  I'm pretty sure if there was some world record for the amount of wipes that could be pulled out in 60 seconds or less my daughter would be the uncontested champion. 

The wipes are now on top of the clothes and books and let's not forget that wipes are by nature WET.  Soaking of clothing and books then occurs. 

All of the clothes and diapers and wipes has reminded our little imp she wanted to change to a different outfit anyway, so she begins to change herself.  She decides to wear the "big girl panties" which would be completely supported by her mother if she would go to the potty.  This rarely occurs and instead we find wet-spots on the floor. 

Usually she is found by this point and the necessary cleaning occurs, however, if Mommy or Daddy have been occupied - say by another sibling or re-stuffing the couch cushions (also the handy-work of our little imp), then the closet is next to go.  Shoes, toys, dolls stripped of clothing, blankets, and dress-up clothes. 

And the worse part...

This happens Every. Single. Day. 

Dear Carlin, Happy Birthday

It's Carlin's birthday today and I seem to be more excited than he is... which isn't too surprising considering how excited I get about birthdays. 

I'm excited because I feel like I'm celebrating a milestone for him.  See, he's turning 30 and for some reason in my head, it's a big deal, it's like he's officially becoming an adult even though he's married and a father and graduated from college and working a full-time job... being 30 seems to solidify all of this. 

Goofy picture I took upside down at the Muir woods... cuz I think it's funny.

But mostly, I am so excited because I love him so much and today is his day in which I get to celebrate HIM - my most amazing husband.  I thought of all the cutsie 30 things I could do - 30 reasons why I love him, 30 memories I have of him, 30 things you might not know about Carlin, 30 songs that remind me of him... I think you get the point.  But instead I wanted to write a small letter on my blog. 

Dear Carlin,

I love you so much and I am so glad I get to celebrate this birthday and many more birthdays with you.  You are so good to me, you keep me grounded while also reminding me to laugh... and often making me laugh.  A day doesn't go by that I'm not grateful to have you in my life and that is why today I am so excited to celebrate you!  Today is your day and all about what you want - because when you love someone so much you want to celebrate them. 

Love,
Aub

 P.S. Happy Father's Day too!

I Survived the WARRIOR DASH!!!

3.11 miles of rough terrain, climbing walls, crawling through mud, balancing on beams, and jumping over fire.

Completed: 1 hour 29 seconds.

Celebrations

You know the saying "when it rains it pours?"  I think that saying can apply to both the good and bad things in life.  This past weekend it applies to the good.

Friday May 25:
Samuel turns 4 but we don't celebrate it until Saturday because...

My sister graduates from High School.  I sadly do not have any pictures because I forgot to pull out my camera (so Dad, if you're reading this, I would really like some copies of the pictures you took).  However, I do have pictures of an awesome cake I "helped" make (and by "helped" I mean I paid for all the ingredients and showed moral support while my friend, Erica, used my kitchen to make it - she's awesome). 

It was for KeLei's graduation party. 

The next day was Samuel's birthday in which we went bowling. 

He loved it.  He also loved all his gifts including a train table Grandpa H. made him.  (Didn't get a picture of that either).

Sunday, May 27 welcomed 6 years of marriage for Carlin and I - to celebrate we went "camping" with Carlin's brother Mitchell and wife Heather in their backyard.  Yep, we're that awesome.  We grilled hot dogs, roasted marshmallows, made shadow puppets, slept in a tent on air mattresses, and topped the experience off with a rooster crowing first thing in the morning.  Nope, they don't live in the country, they live smack-dab in the middle of a the city in an established neighborhood.  We have no idea why someone owns a rooster. 

mmm...smores!

Can you tell how awful I was at pictures this weekend?  I didn't even get a picture with my sexy husband. 

And to close this post we had severe weather last night and my backyard looks like this:

 P.S. I officially give up on blogger... for all their fancy updates it still isn't giving me an option to rotate my pictures.  Am I doing something wrong?

Breaking News!

Lillian, after two years and four months of denying her mother's attempts to tame her hair, has finally let her mother pull the wild curls back into "two-ponytails."

Lillian only commented: "I so pretty."  Lillian's mother is thrilled with the progress but says "now, I just have to figure out how to part her hair evenly!"

In other news...
 

The kids and I took a quick trip to Washington to see my MIL's family.  It was fun and I loved getting to know Carlin's cousins and family. 

We did a lot, including family pics in matching red shirts and American flag bandanas...

Seeing Mt. St. Helen's from afar... it's snow covered peak.

But the highlight of the trip was definitely the beach.  The kids LOVED it. 

It's Bigfoot!  Oh wait, just Samuel.  And once again Blogger has a mind of it's own and puts the pictures in all crazy like, I give up. 

Hopefully this video works, we shall soon find out. The kids were both fascinated and terrified by the waves.  Weird to have moving water like that... :)

Where's Lillian?

Lillian is a big girl now having moved into a toddler bed.

She is also our little climber.

Sorry, you'll have to cock your head to the side for this one...

One night I couldn't find her.  I looked everywhere, on her bed, on the floor, under the bed, in the closet.  I could hear her snoring so I knew she was somewhere in the room.  I grabbed a flashlight and looked under the bed again.  I was sitting on the floor trying to figure out where the soft breathing was coming from when I looked up...

Freedom of toddler bed + Climbing = No good.