If The Shoe Fits

I got this really cute "How to Identify a Monster" tank and shorts outfit a few weeks ago and it finally got slightly warm enough for Camden to wear it (and to complete the look, wearing his spiked dinosaur bucket hat).

P.S. why do people say that boy clothes are so boring? I find them really fun. And cute. And lots of fun colors other than pink and purple and pink and PINK.


Little did I know that dressing him like a little monster was an omen for the attitude he was going to throw for every living second he was awake today. A certified crabby, whiny, drooling foaming at the mouth fuss-bucket monster. 

What a turd. 

At least he's cute. And he was sick which means it's almost excusable.

 

Grand Opening of Hansen-Duran Water Park

Oh.Em.Gee you guys. It hit 70 degrees today. 

This should not be that exciting in May. This should be standard. It should be standard in say, April. But this neverending absurd Mid-Atlantic winter has not given us any nice days yet. At all. 

Until today, when it hit 70. 

I kind of had an out of body experience. I felt like I was in Seattle. 70 degrees?! QUICK!! Get the swimsuits on! Fill up the pools! Sunscreen! Flip flops! Sprinkler! STAT! Before it goes away!!!

So that's what we did. My neighbor and I finally finally could pull the new pool(s), sprinkler water toys etc out of their packagings and let the kids christen them during the very first afternoon of our dual-lawn Hansen-Duran Water Park. 

There were two pools (big for the big kids, small wading pool for the littles), a toddler splash pad pool, and a sprinkler. And three hoses. And various buckets, squirt guns and water toys.

We should sell admission tickets. 

All seven kids from three of the five households in our townhome were outside in swim suits, elated that it was FINALLY warm enough to have a pool day. 

And by warm enough I mean barely. It was nice and warm out, when you were dry. But by the end of maybe a two hour playdate in the water, all the kids lips were blue and their teeth were chattering. 

Don't worry kids, it'll get warmer. 

I hope. 

Pool party!

Calen was SO happy

Cold, tired and hungry, drying off. This was after I said "look at the camera and smile!" HA.

 



      

Dear Calen: Juice Couches and Astronauts

Dear Calen:

I like how you talk. Speech has never been your strength (and we're still working on that), but your improvements are vast. I like your little sweet voice. I like how you whisper when you ask for something you don't think I'll allow. I like this little stutter that's started in the last couple weeks, it's terribly cute. 

I like your little words and phrases for things most. It's taken a long time to decipher half of it, but once I do, it's like being in some kind of secret club. Where you have to speak in code via the language of Calenisms. 

I love that you call restaurants "astronauts". I also love that you call juice pouches (like Capri Suns) "Juice Couches". And macaroni and cheese "Pepperoni and cheese" (which really confused me for a long time by the way, when you would ask for "lots of pepperonis" on your mac and cheese.

Keep being cute, buddy C.

(today in the lawn when it decided to be sunny)

The Back Patio

We had a going away party today for some good friends. Which also happened to be Cinco De Mayo which we played in by putting Mexican food on the menu and drinking margaritas. It was kind of a unique party because it was in two different houses/yards that were two doors apart, but our big community yard connected us so the kids could run wild.

Oh and I did a really quick and awesome Pinterest project today in the back yard. 

Yesterday I had gotten the idea of stringing up a large strand of white Christmas lights inside our canopy thing that is over our deck. Some kind of outdoor lighting for this summer. But I wasn't satisfied, so I dug around on Pinterest to see what else I might do. And I found a pretty awesome idea that was disturbingly easy and cheap. 

1. String a strand of lights loosely across the canopy (this was my one original idea). 

2. Go to the Dollar store

3. Buy like 55 ping pong balls at the Dollar Store (they come in packs of eight for a dollar)

4. Cut a small slit in each ball, and shove it into the light bulbs in the loose strand

5. Plug it in. 

It's pretty rad I must say. I like it. I look forward to nights when it's actually warm enough to enjoy it. 

    

Beach Day, Take 2

Yesterday while Calen was at school we took Cam to the beach a few blocks away, since after all it was sunny and warm and (wait for it..) not windy like the last time we went last week. 

 

The Good Son

I think Camden has brought Calen to the dark side of naughtyness. 

Where Cam is naturally my trouble maker, who likes to break things on purpose, scream when slightly annoyed, and is very much a mischievous boy that enjoys openly defying the rules. And he does so in such a cute furry monster way that you can't help but smile and laugh at him.

Calen on the other hand is a sweet loving boy that will do whatever it takes to please you. Usually. And he obeys and listens and is very happy go lucky. Usually. 

Lately, Camden has gotten to Calen. I think he sneaks into Calen's room at night while he's sleeping and whispers tips in his ears on how to be as big of a turd the next day as possible. 

Usually it's the normal ridiculous boy/brother stuff. Not sharing trains. Not sharing anything. Whining, throwing fits whatever. Today, it hit a new high. 

I spent the entire afternoon searching for my credit card and military ID. I knew I had last put them in my jeans pocket. I checked the jeans no less than 300 times. And then tore the entire house apart. I knew they were in the house somewhere. 

Until bedtime, when I by chance asked Calen if he had seen my "money". He said "noooo...." with a little squeak of a smile. 

....oh REALLY. Two can play this game. 

So I asked him, very nonchalantly, if he thought he knew where it might have ended up. 

And then the truth came out. With a sad little lip and eyes down, he mumbled "Under my bed....."

And there they were. Happily hiding under the bed. Of all things to steal out of my room? We had toys hidden in there. So I asked, in the nicest human way possible, "What possessed you to steal my credit card?"

Quiet response: "I just....I just wanted to pay stuff with money."

.....

Now how do you argue with that logic. 

Trouble 1

            

Trouble 2. Don't let his innocence fool you.

   

In Hindsight

Some people may think that I take too many pictures. 

Maybe I do. 

Maybe people shouldn't worry about what I do. Maybe nobody does. 

Where the eff was I?

Three days ago it was stunningly sunny and warm. So I took pictures like I usually do. 

Little did I know, it would be the last sunny day where we'd be outside and I could get pictures before it rained, and before Camden split his head open which means the next month of pictures is going to involve a huge ugly gash on his forehead. Or a lot of Photoshop editing. 

Backstory: On Saturday (two lowly hours after I left Brad and the boys home while my mom and I planned to spend the day in NYC) Camden was running from the back yard to the back door and faceplanted on the metal step leading up into the house. The cut was about two inches long and the depth of the length of your pinky finger. One borrowed car, awesome neighbor and ER visit later: Six stitches in two layers (three stitches on top of three stitches due to the depth of the cut). Stitches come out this Friday which should be a blasty blast. 

Aren't you glad I take so many pictures now? I better get better with my Photoshop. 

And now what we have to look at for the next forever. 

      

NYC in a day

I took my mom to her maiden voyage in New York City yesterday. I didn't bring kids, a backpack on my back, even a purse. I threw an ID and a couple methods of payment in my pocket and a cell phone and just went. 

I didn't even bring a camera!

I didn't want to deal with anything. I didn't want to stop and take pictures. I've been there once before. I took pictures then. I didn't need to this time. I just wanted to live it. And live it freely.

We did Times Square (daytime and nighttime). We did the new 9/11 memorial. We spent a few minutes at Seaport on our way to somewhere else. We wandered into random stores, and some on-purpose stores.

Including my first Lego Store experience. Holy amazing. Being a certified Lego maniac from my younger days, I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I haven't gone into an actual Lego Store before. I was in stunned silence. It was literally floor to ceiling Legos. You could even take a cup, go to a wall of clear bins that had loose Lego pieces in and pick and choose what colors and pieces you wanted. Fill up the cup, pay a flat rate of $14.99. Great custom starter set. Then, go to the Minifig (fellow Lego children of the early 90s like myself call them Minifigs "Lego Men") station, and build your very own customized guy. 

Is there a better store in the world than this??

I know they are all over the place in the nation. But I had never come across one. 

We ate street food (hot dogs, roasted nuts etc) and had a big lunch at an Irish pub and watched the NFL draft (which just happened to be in NYC - we walked past the satellite and network trucks). We wandered and took our time. It was almost relaxing not having a real agenda. 

We ended the day at Rockefeller Center and went to the top of the plaza building, which in my opinion was a MUCH better view of the city than the Empire State Building (which I did last time). We hung out there for a long time until it got dark. 

And then? We walked back to the car and drove 3 hours home. NYC in a day. We didn't see everything, we didn't do everything, but we did enough, and we had a lot of fun. 

I did take a few pictures of the 9/11 memorial with my camera. And I'm using Google to show you the awesomeness of the Lego store. And my Lego stash. 

North tower 9/11 Memorial pool. There is one at each spot where the towers fell. It took our breath away.

Surrounding the borders of the two tower pools is the engravings of the names of the victims. The first responders killed were in gold and protruded

Ripped off from Google. The Lego Store in Rockefeller Center. See those display cases full of loose Legos? Take a cup, fill it up with whatever you want. Pay flat rate $14.99. Done. Awesome.

My Lego store score (minus a set or two)