Orlando with Kama!

For Christmas, Kama got a trip to Disney with the kids! She has never been able to go with us before so this was a special trip. To top it all off, Meredith even came. We headed to Hollywood Studios with hopes that Liam would finally get up the courage to watch the Indiana Jones stunt show. He kept refusing until he got to meet Indy and see the set when it wasn't being used. After that, it was on! It ended up being his favorite part of the day and we all got to see Meredith perform in front of the whole audience. The girl was made for the stage.

I think Livi's favorite part was showing Mickey and Minnie her Minnie dress. After meeting Minnie, Livi was upset that she forgot to show her her dances so I told her we would show Mickey and Mickey would pass it along.

The next day was mini golf, ice cream and movies. The weather was great all weekend, the company was superb and I think Kama had a really good time which was the whole point.

Being Mr Grumpy Pants

Starstruck

Ice cream made with nitrogen!

St Patty's Day

 

I'm well aware that St Patrick's Day is not a real holiday, but these kids will take anything you give them. It just so happened that family was in town because of a birthday and baby shower and hell, I'll drink to that!  So we wore green, drank beer and dyed Easter eggs! Ok, I know that part may seem a little odd for St Patty's Day but like I said, family was in town so we might as well squeeze in all the holidays any way we can.

Renaissance Festival

Not sure why I didn't think of it before. The Renaissance Festival is like.. the perfect place to take my kids. Liam is so into knights and castles and Livi loves princesses. It never crossed my mind to bring them until my brother said his family would be visiting the next day. I am so glad we went. Not only did we get to spend time with family, but the kids had a fantastic time. 

Livi's Princess and Knight Party

 

Naturally, Livi requested a princess party for her birthday. She was so excited to get her hair and nails done beforehand. The princesses decorated their treasure boxes and crowns while the knights decorated their treasure boxes and shields. We had a scavenger hunt for treasure, slayed a dragon and returned the crown to the queen. It worked out pretty great for both the boys and the girls.

Livi is 3

Livi is three. Livi is THREE. How can she have been around for three years already? A better question, what did we do to entertain ourselves before her? She is so amazing. Loving and independent and girly and sweet and so, so stubborn. She takes after her mommy in so many ways, mostly the clumsy and stubborn ways. She loves to sing and watch "bideos". Instead of saying "She went there", she will say "Her went there". She uses her cuteness to get away with being naughty. She loves to "help" mommy with dinner and dance with daddy.

Here are her questions for this birthday:

1. What is your favorite color? purple
2. What is your favorite toy? robot
3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberry
4. What is your favorite tv show? Yo Gabba Gabba
5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? Jamich
6. What is your favorite outfit? pink
7. What is your favorite game? Mommy (?)
8. What is your favorite snack? peanuts
9. What is your favorite animal? zebra
10. What is your favorite song? In the Sun
11. What is your favorite book? blue (this is when she started getting silly and we had to come back to the conversation at a different time)
12. Who is your best friend? Annabell 
13. What is your favorite cereal? pink
14. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play
15. What is your favorite drink? milk
16. What is your favorite holiday? Halloween
17. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? lalaloopsie
18. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? lunch (?)
19. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? party
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? teacher 

ugh- so big

Photo bomber

Child #3

No, we aren't expecting. The truth is we've been trying since June. We decided to give ourselves 6 months to see what happens. Well, those 6 months have come and gone and needless to say, no bun in this oven. Although we would have been thrilled with a third, we are fine that it didn't happen. Honestly, we are no spring chickens and the thought of having a newborn around at this point just sounds exhausting! I remember when we were considering the prospect of a third. I was talking to a friend about it and telling him that right now everything was so contained and maintainable and he told me that he always wanted three because it seemed a little chaotic and he liked things being a little chaotic. I liked that. It resonated with me. And it's why we decided to go ahead and see what happens.

At the same time, we have always talked about getting a family dog one day, especially after the break in. We've had dogs before and ended up giving them away. Of course, circumstances were much different and life was much less stable back then. It seemed like the stars have aligned. A mutual friend was fostering a rescued boxer and we tested her out for the weekend. We dropped her back off on Sunday afternoon and spent the rest of Sunday and Monday talking about it. We decided that we would stop trying for a third human baby and instead, adopt one of the canine variety. After all, we all need a little chaos in our lives. And she is the sweetest kind of chaos you can imagine.

Already missing her daddy