Happy Birthday, Irving!

Daddy rarely gets any love on the Shinnanigans' blog (probably because he's not with the Shinn kids for most of their waking moments). So, in honor of Daddy and his birthday, this post is dedicated to Daddy (aka: Irving)! 

First of all, who is Irving?! Before bedtime, I read books that the kids give me. One of the more popular books at the moment is "Happy Birthday, Little Pookie" by Sandra Boynton. Lately, Lucas has been LOVING this book. His favorite phrase... "Happy birthday Irving!". Since Daddy's birthday happens to fall around this time, he's purposely saying "Irving" instead of "Daddy" during birthday week. He knows that Daddy gets sad over this and does this to be funny (guess where he got his sense of humor from?). 

Anyway, I swear Daddy's birthday became a celebration that lasted two weeks long. However, I didn't take it seriously till Thursday when we started our celebration by going to Benihana's.

 Birthday meal - $30 off (best bang for your buck!)

 Daddy/daughter moment

Coloring Daddy's birthday card

Why is everything the color of puke, Lucas?

 

 It's okay, Daddy still likes it

 Picking up a cake for Daddy

Why do you sound so sad, Lucas?

We went to Forbes Mill to have a celebration without the kids and ate like carnivores. Was it weird not having someone climb on me? Or be able to eat my food while it's actually warm? Yes... a bit. It was nice to just talk without having side conversations every other minute.

 Mmm... bone in ribeye... wagyu... meat...

HBD, Irving (kona coffee creme brulee, get it!)

My Not-So-Baby Baby

There is a fine line between the transition from babyhood to toddlerhood. Are you officially a toddler once you turn 1? Or do you have to wait till you can walk? Well, this fine line is pretty much close to over for our not-so-baby baby. She has taken a few steps here and there, but still prefers to crawl because she's so much faster at it. I give it a few more weeks and she'll officially be running after brother (although she has a long way to go since Lucas is pretty fast).

When people ask, I tell them that my kids are 19 months apart. Technically, they're more like 18.5 months apart. As Char is getting older, it has become even more apparent that her interests are really similar to her brother's interests. She does like the occasional tea party or what not (but so does Lucas), but she prefers climbing over things with her brother, being crazy, and reading the same books as him. The first year, especially the first six months, was dreadfully hard, but there is FINALLY light at the end of the tunnel with my two toddlers!

 Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

 Regular play date gang (huge behavioral difference between boys and girls!)

 Char's first Easter egg "hunt"

 They like to destroy everything together!

Instead of going to play date part 2 this week, Char and I went to visit baby Gavin. Often times, Char looks like a runt in pictures because everyone is so much bigger than her. But lo and behold, we finally found someone who makes her look big! (Big bro Lucas was born bigger than lil Gavin!)

Char and a real baby

Anyway, happy belated 14 months, my not-so-baby baby! You still crazy and as sassy as ever!

TGIF

My kids usually don't dress that nicely when going to the park, but today we had a make up photo shoot (which Lucas absolutely despises!) at the park. While waiting for the photographer to find us, the Shinn kids had some fun of the see saw. It was great to see lil Char Star being able to hold her own and have fun with big bro. On the other hand, the photo shoot did not turn out great because Lucas threw a fit after Char pulled his hair and refused to take any more pictures. He also refused to smile during the entire photo shoot too. Oh Lucas..

 I captured better happy pictures of the kids on my phone

 Char's hair is getting wild!

After the extremely short photo shoot, we went to our regular story time at the library. I was a bit disappointed when the regular librarian wasn't there though... Lucas loves the repetition of Elmo eating the ABCs and is very involved with the songs. Maybe next time...

Couldn't capture on camera, but Char was sitting on Lu's lap who was sitting on my lap

TGIF. But does that even mean anything when you have two young kids?!

Time With The Little Lady

After dropping Lucas off at school today, I had an important decision to make - Target or CDM? Char actually doesn't mind going to Target since she's a pointing Nazi and is content standing in the cart and pointing at everything she sees (and occasionally giving some hugs to stuffed animals). I can also peruse the aisles and aisle shop. However, since Char is semi walking now, I knew it'll be fun to spend some quality time with her at CDM. Big bro wasn't there to control our CDM activities so Char can do whatever she wants there. After a minute of thinking, I decided to put my selfish desires aside and bring Char to CDM. Although we only spent an hour and a half there, she had a great time playing in the Wonder Cabinet! (Good job Mommy for making the right choice!)

 Spent 20 minutes playing here!

 Happier than she looks

 Also happier than she looks

 Finally caught a happy Char on camera

Met her new BFF

Char had such a fun time that she forgot how tired and hungry she was (very rare). Next time we do this, I think we'll stop by iJava Cafe first so we can have breakfast #2 (Shinn ladies love to eat!) before going to CDM.

Weekend Update

For the past several weeks, Saturday mornings consisted of Daddy cooking blueberry flaxseed pancakes. Daddy got extra fancy this Saturday and attempted to make Mickey Mouse pancakes. I think there were only 2 pancakes which turned out looking decent. Oh well, A for effort. 

 Showing off his special pancake

There's a new Chik Fil A which opened up close to us, so we decided to "eat mo chikin"!

 "Hi big cow!"

 Ice cream Sunday - BOGO free!

In other news, Char's been taking mini steps this past week. I was finally able to catch it on video during the latter part of the week. The most steps she's taken is seven (not captured). It looks like our little girl is on her way to becoming a walker. Summer is going to be fun (for the kids) and crazy (for Mother). While holding your hand, Char does a great job walking like Frankenstein!

Little walker

 Bookworms on Monday

 Monday play date with a Chik Fil A lunch

Weekly couch picture

Following The Leader

We have a hierarchy of leadership in this household. Charlotte likes to copy Lucas and Lucas likes to copy his parents. Lucas' interests includes cars, books, Legos, and cars so I don't mind Char copying his hobbies.

Lucas is definitely copying a lot of what I say. When Char was pooping yesterday, I told him she was pooping. Lucas: "Char, you poop? I check." He then proceeds to look in the back of her diaper, "oh nasty! Char, that nasty!" while walking away. Yup, that sounds pretty similar to "Lucas! You're pooping again? You nasty!".

Copying big bro and his love for Legos

Maybe I should make my own Lego table for them

 Bookworm

 Using chopsticks cause Mommy & Daddy use it

Using utensils cause big bro uses it

Pretty good with chopsticks now

Happy little bouncers

Happy Friday!

Wednesday Fun Day

Another Wednesday has come and gone. Although the sun was out, it was cold (thanks to the pouring rain yesterday). To play it safe, I told the kids we would be going to Target and the mall. Lucas LOVES Target (and I think it's partly my fault). When the kids were younger, I loved going to Target with them. But now that they're older, it's kind of torturous going there with both of them. Lucas would want to spend an eternity looking at every single Cars car and Char would get restless. She would point to signify that she wanted to go somewhere else and get frustrated that big bro always gets his way. When sitting in the cart, Char would stand up with hands in the air to show the daredevil in her so I am always freaked out that she'll fall out of the cart. And of course, Mommy NEVER gets to check out the clearance aisles with two opinionated rascals in tow.

Always the bookworms

After spending close to an hour at Target (where we only looked at cars and "read" books), we went to the play structure. Now that Char is crawling at full speed, she's become quite the adventurer. She wants to copy whatever big bro is doing, but doesn't realize that he's an advanced runner and is a little more coordinated than she is. 

Peek-a-boo Char!

Peek-a-boo Lu!

Little climbers

She's moving on up!

Home life is still as cray cray as ever. A friend introduced me to this wonderful M&D art "kit", Water Wow, which the kids (especially Lucas) love! Char is still putting a lot of things in her mouth, so these water brushes are perfect for her. She's copying everything big bro does, but as always, can't keep up with him... yet. Anyway, these bad boys have been keeping Lucas busy for a good hour!

"Look Char, wow wow wow"

 They're getting along!

 Big bro is still Water Wow-ing in the background

 Lazy lady's way of drinking milk

Crazy kids 1) love to abuse the PB chair and 2) love each other!

And that was another cray cray hump day!