2 boys at the beach

Yesterday I was stupid....I mean crazy enough to take Miles and Brady to the beach by myself.  We were supposed to go anyway but instead Cara ditched us at the last minute to go have her baby.  Gavin was born early this morning and is super cute!!  So when I met her in the parking lot I figured I am that much closer to the beach, why not take them both myself.  Someone should have slapped me silly and told me it was crazy.  But alas, Cara did not slap me since she was preoccupied with the whole gonna have a baby thing.  Well, we survived and I think they had a good time.  We even stayed for 3 hours, whew!!  It was so freaking packed at this particular beach, I never go to it, but we were able to get Spiderman ice creams and play in the showers so it was a win in my book.  And it was impossible to get a picture of the 2 of them in it because they were constantly going in opposite directions.

The best $5 spent in a long while.  For 20 minutes they were quiet and sat very still.

In the end it looked like they were in a gangster knife fight.  They were covered in red water ice cream stuff.  Can you see it in their laps and in a puddle under the bench?

So off we went to the showers.  I think they would have played in there all day.  I was again just happy they were contained. 

Look at Miles' face.  I am still laughing about this.

They probably were in there almost a half hour and the only reason we got out was because at that point there was a line of people waiting for the showers.  A group of teenage girls asked me if their shower was warm.  I said I had no idea, why?  She said because ours is ice cold.  Sure enough I put my hand in there and it was FREEZING.  Those goons didn't mind one bit.

This was worth it.......... quiet.  Although they didn't get to hold hands like they did on the way there which was adorable. 

Once home they had a pizza pignic outside, played in the sprinkler, and had a tubby which resulted again in super freezing cold water( I was obviously too tired to even take pictures).  A fun day was had by all and we all came out alive which is a plus.  Congrats to the Shea family on the arrival of baby Gavin!!

Painting with trucks

Today we tried something we did a few weeks ago at the Please Touch Museum that I have been wanting to try.  It was super freaking messy, but all washable and really fun.  At first he didn't want his trucks getting dirty but once they touched the paint it was on.

When this happened it was all downhill.

The spaz face shows just how awesome he thought this was.

Maybe he was thinking of how he could get more paint on himself.  Luckily he put his shirt back on.

Showing me "hands all dirty."

Getting ready to give his trucks a tubby. 

He had so much fun dropping them in there.

And of course a quick go with the water squirter.

Polishing off some cold veggie burger, gross!

The finished product!

Things I learned during this process:

1.  A $4 roll of Ikea paper is my best friend.  Seriously, pick some up, its great.
2.  I need new cookie sheets, I am pretty ashamed at the look of mine.
3.  My kid needs to man up and learn to embrace getting dirty.  There wasn't any gagging which was good but plenty of wiping off of the hands and feet.
4.  Any mess can be cleaned on the kitchen floor but don't turn your back for one second.  Brady may have walked onto the carpet.  Game over!!


And a few random funny stories:
Brady has taken to whenever a stranger talks to him he tells them he saw Mickey Mouse and the castle and Jacob and an airplane blablablablabla.  He goes on and on reciting his trip to Disney.  A guy in Michael's tonight thought it was impressive the he had such a good memory.  While this is true, I am the one who has to listen to this story 52 times a day.

The other night while he was playing with the Littlest Pet Shop kitty he had in the tub I asked him what it's name was and he said it's name was Elbow.  Yep, I made him say it again and sure enough he said elbow.  Lucky for us he isn't naming this baby.

I was finally able to drive with the windows open in the car since it was cooler today.  About 10 seconds into the trip he says " Brady chilly cold"  He made me put up the window and turn on the air conditioning.  Seriously, where does he come up with this shit?

I think laughing at him the other day when he said he had a big head is really giving him a complex.  He is now saying "head too big" whenever he is trying to put on his hats, shirts, or jammies.

Announcing the arrival......

of these beauties......


glorious twins in a beautifully done blue sparkly finish.  I am in LOVE!!  I got them back in May after my old machines finally kicked the bucket (well sorta, I think its really that I chipped away at Jim and he agreed I could get "whatever you want Lauren".  I took that literally and bought the 2nd most beautiful machines they sell.  What are the first most beautiful machines?  The teal version of my machines, but I wasn't willing to shell out the extra 1K.  They are in a closet at the top of the steps on the 2nd floor which made it super difficult to take pictures of.  But its ok, I get to look at them every time I go upstairs.  Glorious sight!!

And its pretty sad that a 28 year old would be so excited about a washer and dryer, but I got this terrible laundry obsession from my mother.  I make stain removal a part time job and these machines make it so easy.  If you are in the market for a new washer dryer or just feel like harassing your husband for new ones I HIGHLY recommend these puppies.   You will not be disappointed.  Unless of course you need to wait a month to be able to open the doors properly because you didn't measure well before buying them, but whatev I love them now.

Help me decide.....

OK so I am dragging my feet on getting Brady's big boy room done.  We were all gung ho getting the crap cleared out to make room for his new room but I seem to have lost steam.  I am determined to get this done ASAP.  So please help me decide.  I have been struggling over which bedding to choose for what feels like forever.  I want to try to reuse as much from his nursery stuff since its not being reused by Thing 2 (more on what she is getting to come later).  So I have shams big and small, curtains, valences, and a toddler quilt.  My idea is to use a solid colored comforter and just putting the small toddler quilt on top as a decoration.  I have now bought a mortgage payment worth of linens, duvet covers, and comforters and want to take back what I am not going to use.  But first pictures.  I have vetoed a few choices already so here are the 2 finalists.  Keep in mind there will still be bed rails on the sides which will break up the colors a bit and you wont see anything hanging down over the sides.

Choice one:  beige cordoroy comforter, white sheets and maybe navy or red blanket underneath once winter comes.

Choice 2:  navy duvet cover, white sheets, and maybe a red blanket underneath when winter comes.  

I am posting a poll on the right hand side, just vote, it takes 2 seconds to click a choice.  Please don't make me beg. 

OK, so since I had my camera out upstairs I decided to take other random pictures....

Brady's nursery.  Not sure if I have ever posted pictures of his nursery and since very soon its won't be blue, full of boats, or even his for that matter I decided to do it now before I forget.  The oars are coming over for sure, not sure about the letters.

Those boat flags are coming over to the bigboy room.

Those curtains and valences are coming over.  As is that quilt on the back of the chair.

And can someone please explain why on July 26th, over 2 months after his birthday party in PA where he got this balloon, this freaking thing is still alive??  And the worst part, its stuck in the stairwell which is 2 stories.  I don't know if you can tell how far up this balloon is by the pictures but this is what I am greeted with everytime I go up or down the stairs.   The view from the first floor looking up.

From the landing at the top of the stairs...

And since we are short people who don't own any guns I guess it will be there for a while longer.  Who would have thought a cheapo Dora balloon would last 2 months after traveling 6 hours in the car across 6 states??  Surely not this girl.

Funny Story

Brady and I were on our way out to go shopping and I knew I wanted to stop for a DD iced tea.  I said to Brady "wanna stop for a donut?"  and he screams "yes!"  A few seconds later I hear him say kinda quietly to himself "man, donut is awesome."  In typical Lauren fashion, I nearly peed myself.

Picnics, pools, and powerwheels....oh my

We had a pretty busy day today.  First Jim and Brady went for an early morning run ( I was completely unaware of this until they woke me up when they got home, yikes I am a heavy sleeper), then they went to the Farmer's Market in town, then to Jim's work picnic, then home to swim in the pool, and then out front to play with the neighborhood kids.  Whew, no wonder why I am ready for bed at 9.

There was a "beach" at the state park where the work picnic was held, I use that term loosely because it was really just a lake and that skeeves me.

There were little tiny frogs all over.  Brady enjoyed helping catch them and then setting them free.  They would put them in the bag to keep them contained.

Then we came home and swam in the pool until it was absolutely full of dead grass so we moved out front for the boys to run the sprinkler.  And by boys I mean Jim and Brady.  I don't know why I have no pictures of the two knuckleheads.

He actually got ballsy enough to push the gas peddle tonight, but only in reverse.  I think he even ran over Jim's toe.  He is usually so chicken to even sit in the passenger while its moving but tonight we across the yard.

And yes, everyone should cruise around in an Escalade and no pants.

No Girls Allowed

Tonight after dinner I heard some giggling coming from inside the tent.  I went over to see what was so funny and was informed that the tent was only for boys, NO GIRLS ALLOWED!!  Inside the tent were Brady, Maddux, and Jim.  Poor Zoe got the boot and we were left sitting on the outside watching them giggle and play.





Ladies, try not to be jealous, but he's mine.


Yelling at Zoe, no girls allowed!!


Looks like they were telling secrets.


I was eventually allowed to come in.




While I was making dinner I thought I would seriously spread myself thin and let Brady make cookies at the same time, not sure what I was thinking.  Obviously there aren't pictures from the actual cookie making, since we were trying to do 83 things at once.  But here is Brady enjoying his finished product.  He had a bit of a hard time with the whole concept that yes we made them but they first have to cook before we can eat them.  He was easily distracted by a huge bowl of peas, yes this weirdo loves peas.







After all that fun we went upstairs for an early tubby.  Lately we have been outside until far too late and tubby is about 30 seconds long.  We let him splash around for at least 20 minutes or as long as it take for the water to get downright cold.  He didn't care, he loves the tub and his toys in there.  Bubbles even made an appearance, this is our friday night fun these days.









Then he got to have a turn blowing the bubbles.  He actually was able to make a bubble or two.


Checking it out right before.....


.....he licked it.  Notice the bubbles on his lips.


He wasn't thrilled with that.


Little story..... someone on my facebook had a status today mentioning McDonalds.  That was all it took and I had to have it NOW.  So went for lunch.  I ended up getting him the girls Happy Meal because the toy looked like something he might like.  It was this silly little cat in a basket.  He played with it all day, napped with it, bathed with it, and is now sleeping with it.