This Is The Good Life

This weekend was another fun filled one with a birthday party (Bloody Mary Bar for adults!) and more cousin hang outs. It was followed by a play date which included the best of both worlds: Lucas' BFFs as well as his cousins, all under the same roof! Talk about a wonderful clash of both worlds!

 Most updated picture with all the cousins

 A good brother feeds ice cream to his little sister

It was time for my beloved PB chairs to go in the wash  since Char stained one of the chairs with cookie crumbs. I wasn't able to dry the chairs fast enough so when the kids woke up, they saw a living room full of huge styrofoam blocks! This just spells out fun-fun-fun for them!

 Climbing... jumping... destroying...

 I love you styrofoam

Char is starting to talk a bit more. Some things she says are "nai nai" (milk), "bao bao" (bread),  "ROAR" (the sounds lions and tigers make), and "AHHH".

Shinn kids AHHH-ing

Shinn girl talking

 Today's play date: A ROYAL MESS!

 Photo op! Our group is getting bigger and older!!!

 Peace and quiet = lunch time!

These Crazies

Once again, the Shinn kids are finding ways to enjoy their lovely toddler life.

 Sitting quietly in their respective chairs

 Both reading their Bible

Wrestling match

 BEAR HUG! (This is actually Lucas trying to carry Char. He lifts her up and realizes she's a bit heavier than expected and they both topple over.)

Sweets on H's birthday (aka: mustache bandits)!

Summer time's going to be fun for these rascals!

 Too many kids in a ball pit

 I wish I was a toddler. Eat, play, sleep, play, eat... all while bossing Mommy around. I hope these two kiddies (and their friends) enjoy these years and remember all the fun they had at friends' homes, parks, Target, etc. Life as an adult is nowhere near as fun.

First Family Wedding

This weekend, we were able to attend a good friend's wedding up in Napa. Weddings have become a rare affair for us - instead, we're bombarded with kiddie parties at least twice a month. I don't think the family has ever been so dressed up before, so it was pretty fun color coordinating everybody's outfit. To make this wedding extra special, Lucas was also the ring bearer. To my surprise, he actually did what he was supposed to (minus the end where he just ran back down the aisle and said "Mommy, where are you?").

Handsome ring bearer waiting for the rehearsal to start

 Sissy poo doing what she does best - eating!

 Rehearsal dinner at Ad Hoc (LOVED IT! Thanks, Tamuras!)

 Handsome ring bearer ready to do his duty

I told Lucas on Thursday before that we were going to head up to Napa for Eric and Amy's wedding. I also showed him a car he wanted and said that he would get it if he did a simple job for us. During the rehearsal, I told Lucas that he had to walk (not run) straight to Eric and Eric would give him the car, which was in his pocket. I reminded him over and over what to do and told him to ignore everyone and just focus on Eric. While I was walking with him towards the aisle on game day, he surprisingly did everything correctly! I was one proud (and surprised) mother! I was also surprised that he mentioned having a good wedding for Eric and Amy during his breakfast prayer.

GO TIME!

He did it!

 I couldn't resist - he's too cute!

Can't neglect my cute little princess in a pretty dress...

 Lunch inside a cave

 Once again, why is Mommy the only one smiling?!

Unfortunately, we were not able to take a picture with the couple...

Never A Dull Moment In This Cray Cray Life

I don't know about you, but there is NEVER a dull moment in my day. From the moment I roll out of bed to the moment I roll back into bed, things are just cray cray! Oh how I wish I can just have a dull hour in my day where I wouldn't have to worry about my crazy kids. Although they're crazy, they sure bring a lot of joy and excitement to my life.

 Look at these two, how can you not love them?!

 Painting with q tips

 "Drawing" (turned to sucking) with Color Wonder markers

 My lil Minkus

I really don't know what's going on...

Racing Racing

 Pushing Pushing

Now, on to the REAL fun part of never having a dull day... when I put my kids down for a nap, I never know what to expect from them. Will Lucas go to sleep? Will Charlotte wail in the middle of her nap? Will I be able to cook dinner and wash dishes and tidy up while they're down? This past Wednesday, things got a bit cray cray (you have to watch all four clips).

This lasted a good half hour. I was about to pull out my thinning hair and run into a wall just so I would knock myself unconscious so I would not hear all the ridiculous wailing.

Park Day & More

As stated before in last week's Wednesday post, Wednesday is my only schedule free day with my two rugrats. The weather was perfect and my rugrats have plenty of energy, so I thought it'll be fun to go to the park. I got a "new" scooter for Lucas off CL yesterday and readjusted the seat to Lucas' old trike (for Char), so both kids were set to go for a ride! It was also nice that their cousins are practically our neighbors now, so we had an impromptu play date with them.

They were both happier than they look

Scooting like a pro!

She didn't fall off! Phew...

Snack break

Quick Mommy/daughter selfie

After our park adventure, we had our regular lunch time/nap routine. In the afternoon, Lucas and Daddy went to see a movie (didn't last the whole time) and Char and I had some quality time at home. Char usually has an after nap meltdown. Surprisingly, this didn't happen today. Could it be because her brother wasn't home and she knew she was getting 1-on-1 attention (something the second child rarely gets)?

Her new do (yay or nay?)

 Yummy green after dinner smoothie

 Rough housing with big bro

Happy hump day!

Me & The Lady

This was one of the rare Tuesdays where I got to spend some alone time with the little lady. Before, it was easy going shopping with her. She was either ergo-ed or would just sit in the cart. Nowadays, she prefers to stand (sometimes hands free!) and just point at everything. She's too young to be distracted by an iPhone and can only "read" for so long so I can't really shop the way I would like to. 

I decided to go to Target with the lady. When we got to the toys section, she pointed at EVERYTHING and wanted to give everything a hug (especially the Disney stuffed animals). So that's what we did... (for half an hour)

 Wondering why Vader doesn't make sounds when she presses his buttons

This is how a proper lady drinks

We still had time to kill before picking up Lucas at school... so, this is what the lady did:

 

 Whatever keeps her occupied...

When we got home, she decided to become a crazed lunatic while eating lunch:

Oh Char...

She's such a lady, huh?

Charlotte's Dedication & Family Fun

We dedicated Charlotte this Sunday. Every single one of Charlotte's grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins came to our church to support her (although she has no idea what's going on and honestly, doesn't really care what's going on). As predicted, she freaked out 3 seconds after being handed over to the pastor. Oh well...

 More interested in playing with Mommy's necklace

Two smilers, two non-smilers (muggers)

 Half naked girl in the morning hiding behind Elmo

After Char's dedication, we treated our families out to lunch. After lunch, we went home and the kids took their nap. After their nap, we went over to see their cousins' new house while celebrating St. Patrick's Day with corned beef. The kids (all SIX cousins ages 4 and under) had a great time enjoying the warm San Jose sun that afternoon. They utilized the backyard by playing with the water table, riding scooters, and drawing with sidewalk chalk. (And this is why our future house has to have a nice backyard...)

 Girl time water table fun

Girls + Lucas water table fun

The three older cousins eating (Lucas was kinda the third wheel)

And that was our Sunday!

My Sassy Girl

I can't believe it's already been one month since the little lady turned one! Her 13 month birthday almost slipped my mind (sorry second child)... Anyway, Charlotte is as sassy as ever! After a full tummy, she's a total ham...but when she's hungry, BEWARE!!! She's a beast!

Char with food in belly

Char without food

My sassy girl

Many who have been around her quickly notice that she's small, but feisty. When she wants something... she gets it! Although she has "bodyguards" (picture below), sometimes she's the one making her "bodyguards" cry.

 Char's peeps

 Since she's the second child, I have not been noticing how quickly teeth have been popping up. Luckily for me, both kids do not have a major reaction to new teeth coming up. There's the occasional drooling, eating fingers, or maybe one bad night, so I'm not complaining. Ever since daylight savings, Char has been a little more rawr-like! So instead of using daylight savings as my scapegoat, my new scapegoat is teething. I noticed she had one new molar pop up. Maybe more... who knows...

My silly girl

Though small, it looks like Char is a natural born leader. That, or Lucas is just being extremely silly and imitating everything little sis is doing.

Oh Lucas...

Happy 3.14 day! Happy Friday! And happy 13th month birthday, Char Char!

Greens & Bed

After spending $100+ at Costco yesterday (on necessities!), I realized I forgot to buy apple juice and more frozen fruits for our smoothies. The kids have been really good at boycotting their veggies, so I had to get creative since I did not want to waste tons of money buying pouches for them. Since the weather's getting warm, it was time to bust out the good ol' Ninja and make some green smoothies. And what can I say, Mommy's lunch time smoothies are a hit!

 Princess going grocery shopping with Mommy

I guess there's such thing as a smoothie brain freeze. After refill after refill of Mommy's special fruit, kale, and spinach smoothie, Lucas started shaking and saying "cold".

Happy smoothie boy

 Happy smoothie girl

Smoothies make the kids poo. On a good day, they both poo after lunch and right before nap time. On a bad day... well, you don't want to know what happens on a bad day. Smoothies also make the kids a bit more hyper than usual. Starting yesterday, both kids thought it'll be fun to just jump on our bed and pretend to sleep (or not). It may be partly my fault that they're enjoying the big bed so much... I've been launching them on the bed and they're getting a kick out of it!

Happy Shinn kids

Daylight Savings Weekend

Whoever started this daylight savings thing obviously did not have young kids. Why do they have to screw with my kids' sleeping schedule twice a year?! WHY?!?! Anyway, we tried our best to not let it screw with our weekend and the weekend turned out to be pretty a-okay!

Enjoying the spring weather before springing forward

 Introducing Char to fish tacos at Sancho's Taqueria after church

 This is what having three kids look like... (age difference ~18 months apart)

On Monday, we had a slightly more special play date since one of our former play date pals was visiting from SLO. As you can see, it was just chaos at the Shinn house this past Monday.

... at least the kids had fun!

 But when there's food, all his calm and quiet

The kids finding the weirdest things to entertain themselves

After the chaos and nap, it was just me and my two (having fun).

 Giving big bro the evil eye for playing with her new books

 She still loves him!

 Dictating once again

And now it's Tuesday. Looks like I survived another crazy Monday!