We have been....

having lots of fun on Grandpa's days off....

looking for Roadie the roadrunners friend....the quail...

playing a little croquet while firing up the grill...

having a picnic at the park...

making smores for dessert...

trying not to go blind by looking directly into the sun....

looking up in the sky...A LOT...

because we have been doing tons of kite flying with Grandpa!

We have also been.....

getting frustrated with a picky eater stage and letting the little stink pick whatever she fancies from the fridge- she sat down with a fork and a tub of cream cheese! Yum yum!

going out for a birthday dessert....It's called the junk food platter. Now, that is my kind of dessert!
I know, you are going into a sugar coma just looking at it, right?

attending a Twilight party with friends to celebrate the movie coming out....we'll use any excuse we can to get a girl's night out!
(and how cute is this cake? They went all out and it was a blast! Super good food! Fun! and Edward! Sounds like a perfect night to me!)
I even won a box of 'Twilight' sweetheart candy....It's very common, you can google it.
=)

trying to make furry friends....

catching butterflies at the park....

okay, we really only caught one-courtesy of Grandpa's amazing skills, those suckers are faster than you would think....
(FYI- No butterflies were harmed during capture, emotionally traumatized, perhaps, but physically able to fly away after we had our fun.)

out to eat with the girls....(Charlie & Lola were even invited)

having a fun filled evening of good food and girl talk!
(Our waiter was so shocked when we didn't order shots to end the evening, we must be a real wild bunch when we get a night off from mommyhood.)

In short, we have been having LOTS of fun!

"I'm not only beautiful, I'm extra, extra tough!"

This title comes from the Backyardigans.....my kids are watching an episode about vikings sailing through the sea who run into a mermaid. It happens to be my favorite episode because the mermaid sings a song with that line in it.

In other completely relevant news....here is a little known fact about me. One of my favorite things is opening a brand new jar of Jif- I am a peanut butter snob, this is the only kind I buy- and carving my initial in the top.
There was actually a situation once where someone (Robert) opened a jar and carved an "R" in it, just to get me.
Thankfully, my family is nicer to me than Robert is. They usually make an announcement and pass the jar to me, if I happen to be there when a new jar is being opened.

How often do you get to open a new jar of peanut butter? This is an important event!
Now that my secret obsession is out, maybe you will no longer take this opportunity for granted.

So, are you a creamy or crunchy kind of person?
I'm pretty sure that this makes me the crazy kind, but I don't care!

It's my birf-day today!

Since I don't get to spend any time with Robert today (work and school all day) I am going over to my parents house, so my dad can play with my kiddos and my mom can make me a treat!
Who says I have to grow up?

Laila's path of destruction continues...

While mom is away, the kids will play...and all manner of destructive behavior they can possibly imagine during moments without supervision. This is why everyday is a struggle for mom's everywhere to pick the priority of getting a shower or save the house from certain disaster. Take a shower while the baby is sleeping, you say? Well, this baby is sleeping in a crib in my room because there is just no other place for her at this moment. As any mother knows, you try to sneak past your sleeping baby, and inevitably they will pop up, wide awake and insist on being let out.
So, yesterday I took a little risk...a shower....and here are the effects of that risk...certain disaster.....

You can clearly see that this cabinet has been baby-proofed...you can also clearly see that the baby didn't get that memo.

She did get a little bit of lipstick in the right place...

and a little in the wrong place...including her hair...

the sheets on my bed....and really, these pictures don't do the destruction justice, it was much worse in person....

some spots on the couch....

various smudges all over the floor in about six different places...

a drawer in the kitchen...

some toys and the toy box.....

on the tote box, the pacifier, and on the hood of her coat...

a switch plate in our closet...she had to throw clothes on the floor and climb up on a file box to get to this one, in the process getting some lipstick on those clothes, too...

and the shoe rack in the closet.....feel like you've just witnessed the photos of a crime scene?
You have! My lipstick was murdered!

and here is the suspect...trying to wash off the evidence...
I called in reinforcements (grandma) to help clean up the crime scene, and while we were both on hands and knees scrubbing the carpet, the suspect returned to the crime scene, grabbed a permanent marker out of a drawer she shouldn't be able to reach and left graffiti on the refrigerator.

this is after most of the graffiti had been removed....we were able to remove almost all traces of the attack.

Look at her just chillin' in her sunglasses, looks like she got away with murder.
Sadly, the lipstick was laid to rest yesterday afternoon.

This was not her first offense and I am sure it won't be her last...

It appears she has been behind bars before!

Investigator, clean up crew, enforcer....just a few of the many hats we wear as mothers!
Case closed!

Seriously, though, blogging saves her life....cause today it is funny, yesterday...not so much...unless you are daddy, cause he thought it was hilarious!

Forces of Nature...

Fire...

Hurricane...

Tornado...

Laila......this time with a permanent marker...

Luckily, most of it is on skin, so that will come off eventually...only two tiny spots on my floor...

and my slipper socks in the toilet.....
Isn't she sweet?

Okay, she really does have a sweet side sometimes, here she is lovingly sitting on a toy, holding him down so he can't escape, and getting his 'snot slugs'.

Like my blue toe nail polish? I do!

The word of the day is....

SNOT SLUGS!
Okay, so it is two words, but anyways...
that is what they are called in my family.
This is what happened every time Laila sneezed today.
She has one of those sad-I-can't-sleep-because-snot-is-draining-down-my-throat things going on.
Weird because she didn't act like she was getting sick at all. I just thought she got a little snotty from playing outside for a birthday on Sat.
At any rate, I'm sure she'll be fine in a day or two.
(And this is snot, I mean, not today's actual snot slugs, I didn't get any pics of those, these are snot slugs from a few months earlier.)