I tried to explain that if he would stop burning through clean jammies, I wouldn’t have to resort to putting him in his sister’s. His response was “I’M SORRY. I CAN’T HEAR YOU OVER THESE LOUD, STRIPPED, GIRL JAMMIES!”. There was an incident later in the morning that resulted in me falling into the door jam while trying to evade his leg grab…I don’t think it was unrelated.
Baylor brought me a catalog in October and pointed to a picture of an American Girl Doll wearing personalized Christmas jammies. She told me all about how we could all get jammies with our names on them and wear them at Christmas. The thought of Peter in personalized jammies was pretty amusing…but it did give me a good idea to get them for the kids and do our Christmas card picture in them. It would be great – two kids in cute pj’s and their adorable puppy. I would throw them all in the bed, get a picture of them being cute together and bam! I’d be done.
And it totally worked…the third time I tried. I mean like the the third time I dressed them both in their jammies, the dog was behaving and the lighting was right, it totally worked!
If Minted.com didn’t charge to put a picture on the back of the cards (when ordering 85 Christmas cards, that extra picture adds up!), I would have included one of these gems. So if you do reiceve a card from us this year, just know that out of the 40+ pictures I took, most of them looked like this. There were really only 2 pictures we could choose from for the card.
“Auggie. Auggie!! Auggie, put down the rock and look. Look over here!!!”
Baylor’s signature choke hold
“Don’t worry mommy, I’ll make them behave”
“What do you mean Shirley can’t be in this picture?”
Listen, better late than never….
I don’t want to brag…but we ROCKED Trunk or Treat this year! Thanks to the D family for their refrigerator box, their awesome painting skills and creativity, we made two super cool haunted houses. Bonus? They are stored safely away for next year!
The princesses and a cheerleader
The black lights really put it over the top!
Where’s the fire ma’am?
We also Fall Fesitivaled and had actual Halloween – I was all too happy to pack up the decorations on November first. But having a holiday hangover is the sign that you did a good job, right??
Auggie’s look of confusion is priceless.
Someone did not appreciate their butterfly costume
B and I thought we were sooo cleaver making a crying baby pumpkin for Augg
The beauty of cardboard haunted houses – they’re portable!
Scottsdale is great about art displays and art installations. I’m not going to sugar coat it – most of it is a little weird. But some of it is interesting and periodically, it’s downright pretty. But overall, I love living where art is all around us.
I love when they put stuff in the canal. I just think it’s cool. This installation is called “Message in a Boat”. Acording to the sign, at night you can download an app and if you stand in a particular spot, you can control the colors of the boats…
Saran Wrap art…
Auggie was unimpressed
Because Labs can’t run or even walk long distances until their hips develop, Mac gets to catch a ride
I can’t believe the little man is 13 months old. It’s strange how fast and how slow the last year seems to have been. Our little man has gone from a tiny little baby to a size 2T ball of fun. He’s totally self entertained, accidentally funny (hello dropping a Goldfish into the offertory basket at church) and just down right gorgeous.
At one year he:
Clocked in at 32 inches and 28 pounds meaning he’s grown 11 inches and gained 21 pounds in a year
Eight sharp little teeth have popped through
Says mama, dada, Mac (“ack!”), yes (“aaa yeah!”), bottle, up (“uppa!) and water
He loves to fish things out of the garbage can and is getting better about putting things in it
He can climb the jungle gym and go down the slide on his belly all by himself AND give his mother a heart attack all at the same time
He puts his blanket over his head and stumbles around to make his sister giggle
His favorite sippy cup is the pink one because it’s Baylor’s
I have yet to witness a baby who never, ever cries in the pool – until this guy
Those eyes are going to get him into and out of so much trouble
From this guy:
To this tank in just 12 months:
Lashes. I’m talking about eye lashes. Mostly because no one every mistook anything else of mine to be fake!
Have you seen the commercial for the new Benefit They’re Real! Mascara? I did, and I got sucked right in. My Loreal mascara didn’t seem to be cutting it any more so I thought I would try something new despite the steep price difference ($7 to $23).
Sephora was almost sold out of it so I’m not the only one who likes Benefit’s marketing. When I opened the tube, I was a little bummed. The brush is super spiky which normally means it’s not going to work well covering my thin, blonde lashes….
But oh was I wrong.
The mascara really does cover incredibly well. It does all that it promises: lengthens, volumizes and separates. I was wildly impressed. But I was still skeptical of how it would wear. The true test? Swim lessons. While I’m not under the water, Auggie does his best to splash me as often as possible. I was shocked – this is not waterproof mascara and yet it wears very similarly!
Side note; it is totally impossible to take a closeup with an Iphone and not look cross eyed. Not to mention the bags and serious lack of concealer…did I mention that this was a full 12 hours after applying, no touch ups and after swim lessons?? No smudges. No flaking and still really big lashes!
The conclusion is that They’re Real! Is totally worth the money! Run to the nearest Benefit Counter and see for yourself – your lashes will thank me.
I really love the song Don’t Wake Me Up – it’s really resonates with me and where life is at right now. If this is all a dream – don’t wake me up. It’s too good to stop dreaming it now.
I’m not saying that there aren’t some things that aren’t perfect – but those things are minimal compared to the great things. The frustration that comes with trying to secure / entertain two kids and a puppy in order to take a 10 minute shower are totally out weighed by Auggie padding around the corner in footy jammies carrying his sister’s necklace. The smile on his face is one of defiance and victory and it is priceless. Then watching him “run” as fast as his little legs can carry him, defying all the laws of balance, trying to get away from Baylor who is hot on his trail to her her necklace back is hysterical.
I almost always respond when someone asks how it’s going with “crazy! but good crazy” and I mean it. This life is nutty, overwhelming, frustrating, perfect, hilarious, imperfect, fuzzy, soft, smelly, gross, warm, snuggly and I wouldn’t trade any of it.
I read a great article on the Huffington Post about parenting twins. It’s hilarious how the dad describes the madness of caring for two babies – I can’t tell you how much I relate to the insanity. But he goes on to describe the freedom that comes with parenting:
“I can tell you that what people say about “losing your freedom” is bull crap. We’ve got a pathetically shallow notion of freedom in this country, and that’s perfectly reflected by this common claim that you lose it when you have kids. Sure, if “freedom” is merely “the ability to go places and do things with minimal hassle,” then, yeah, you’ve lost that. You haven’t lost it permanently, but for a good long while. This is a flimsy, flat, flaccid view of freedom. I believe there’s more to being “free” than vacations and financial flexibility. I’ve seen both sides of this; I lived completely alone for the first half of my twenties, so I know about this sort of freedom. I know about it, and I can honestly tell you that I feel more free now than I ever have before. If I didn’t have a family, I could go on a cruise, or move to Vegas, or see Paris if I so desired. In fact, I could go pretty much anywhere on the globe. But I’d only be “free” to travel laterally. Now, I can travel deeper. I’m free to go deeper into human existence and experience things that are much more life-changing, enriching, transformative and exciting than a thousand vacations to a thousand exotic locations. The greatest freedom we have as human beings is the freedom to change. I’m not talking about changing the scenery, I’m talking about changing ourselves. Having children is TRULY life changing; having free time is not. This is not meant to be an attack on people without kids and spouses; I’m just clarifying a point. They are not more free than you.”
The bolded section is the best way I could ever describe being a parent. Yes you give up the freedom to run out the door at any time, grab a drink with a friend on the fly, stay out late without an exhausting process of getting a babysitter, getting ready for said sitter and then actually getting out the door. But the freedom to really know what the best parts of life are through the craziness of being a parent is amazing.
So thank you my little banshees. You make me crazy and also crazy happy.
Meet The Mac Attack
Yes this furry little face finally came home late one night last week. He immediately met the dog trainer which put him on a tight schedule of crate time, play time and potty time. Which is why I’m delayed in getting some pictures. Much like having a new baby, there has been a lot of timers, documenting and adjusting. But after a week, I think we’re finally settling into a routine and are well on our way to having a really well behaved dog! And good thing because he’s gained 3lbs in a week. I think he’s going to live up to the size of those feet…
Baylor, is of course, over the moon. And Auggie has warmed up fast. Thankfully I think we picked well because Mac will let them do about anything to him – including a ride in the swing. He just seems to take it as it comes and is always happy to play.
As of Monday, the Wands have a new member of the family. Name, details and more ridiculously cute pictures to come.
My sanity is SO overrated.
Four year olds are difficult. They are smart but they have few limits. They are funny but they do not have any filters. We have learned this the hard way with potty words. Basically, if you laugh when Baylor says “did you say Mini Cooper or Mini Pooper??!!” she will. not. stop. And while a good poop joke is funny the first time, the 19th time, it’s down right gross. So we’ve had to learn to be more careful than ever with our words and how we use them.
Correction. Some of us are being more careful with our words.
While playing Candy Land, Peter was doing some light trash talking. A few boos when someone would pass him. A few fist pumps when he was winning and just a hint of taunting. All pretty innocent…unless you are four and don’t know when the joke is over. As I tried to nicely tell him to knock it off, it got a bit worse because he thought I was being a sore looser.
So when it was time to say “good game” and shake hands, I licked my palm.
And because no one likes to shake a spit covered hand, he understood the joke was over and it was time to teach by example how to be a good sport.
Or at least do it when the kids aren’t listening.
I swear he does wear clothes. But it’s hot. He’s hot. He wears clothes when we leave the house and that’s good enough for me.
Double Trouble.
The Goon Room 