Bites

The other day we had a landscaper come by to help us draw out a plan for our backyard. Thank goodness he has small children because our dining room table was covered in laundry when he walked in. Three loads of laundry to be exact.

In the span of 30 minutes that he was here, we had lots of action. I put Elle down for two seconds so I could focus and look over to find her tangled up in a spider web with a red welp on her face. How does this child get into these situations? She didn't cry or even act like it bothered her. Spiders love their playhouse so I knew immediately what it was. I scooped her up, told Andrew and Will to carry on, and ran her inside. 

Did I have a plan? No. I grabbed an ice pack which she wouldn't hold on her face and tried to force it on the spot. Benadryl couldn't be given again because she still had it in her system from her mosquito bites. (Side note: The day before we had a mosquito trapped in our car. When I put her in the car she was mosquito bite free and by the time we made it 5 miles down the road, she had huge puffy mosquito bites all over her.) Cortizone cream was the only thing I could think of that she would keep on and would maybe keep the itching and swelling down. 

Neither of these things were her fault. I mean, you can't help insects biting you, but they seem to always happen to Elle.

While all of this was going down, Addie changed into four princess dresses and insisted that we look at each one. Never a dull moment.

I can't speak for the actions of our kids but the plan was perfect and more than what we asked for. Let's hope we can start going outside more often...

Magnum PI

As we were driving home the other night, a team of police flew by us with their sirens blaring and lights flashing. They were going so fast that debris flew up in the air. Most people would say "Wow," gasp, and keep driving. 

Not me. I go straight into detective mode. 

Little known fact about me, I listen to the police scanner every now and then. If something major is going on in the country, the first thing I do is open up my Cop Radio app. It's intriguing but most of all, distant. 

Remember the Boston marathon car chase that went down in Watertown last year? I listened LIVE all day and all night to the Boston area police scanners. My brothers and I were texting nonstop like we were on the case. I kid you not. The scanner kept getting shut down and then someone did a live video stream of their real scanner. I watched a police scanner box and listened for hours. Could not pry myself away. 

I understand that a lot of you are judging me harshly right now. I have two brothers and this is what we do. Maybe we should be detectives? I don't know. 

Back to the police that we saw in our town. I have a completely and totally irrational fear of crime. I mean, run like a psycho if someone scary looks at me. But...I may have circled back to check out the drama. I dreamed up a thousand posibilities of what could have been going on. 

Crazy? Absolutely. 

I never could figure out what was going on but for about 5 minutes it was really dramatic. As if I needed to add to my crazy status. Now you know.

Guest posts

Who needs Pinterest when you have crafty friends? My friend (who will remain anonymous) has a great idea for anyone who may or may not have burned a hole in their purse.

Step one: Buy a purse or clutch that you really like

Step two: Accidentally put it over a candle until you smell it burning

Step three: Find a decorative pin-on flower and cover it. No one will ever know...

But seriously I am going to start doing guest posts because I have some amazingly crafty friends and it will give y'all a break from the same old stories from me. I may start with a question/answer format and see how that works out. If you are uber crafty or want to supply some laughs email me at closertocrazy@gmail.com

Dress up, anyone?

Yesterday we went to a birthday party and guess who was there? 

Elsa from Frozen. OMG. 

The entire time Addie was staring in shock. She kept asking if she remembered coming to her birthday party but it only came out as a whisper. Bless. 

It's amazing how much of a mix Addie is of both of us. She can be so loud and crazy like Andrew and then shy like me in a new setting. How is that even possible?

Look at this shy little grin. 

She was thrilled about having the "real dress."

Naturally our crew was very close to meltdown time. BC was about to start her relentless "hungry" cry and Elle's snack plate was no longer holding her attention (because she had already eaten everybody else's food). After Elle got in a fight with a balloon we decided it was time to make our exit. 

Addie was devastated to leave her idol but she got over it by the time we got to the car.

Who doesn't go out to eat dressed as a princess? I mean really. All the cool kids are doing it. Sal and Mookie's is always kid friendly and the weather was perfect for eating outside. Weird because it's July and we live in Mississippi. 

Bentley Claire always eats right when our food comes. It helps with my portion control. 

The dress up continued through the weekend. Today Addie was a veterinarian and Elle was the assistant that runs off with the animals. Maybe she was saving them before they had to be put to sleep? Probably not.

In other news, we found Rio 2! Now we can watch it on repeat until we have it memorized. 

Weekend Update

After dinner and a Starbucks run last night we decided to go buy the movie Rio 2. It just so happens that it's not out on DVD yet. I could have looked online before the wild goose chase, but that's no fun.

We love French Macarons by Lauren Bowie

I've always preferred using Aveda products. Shampure is my favorite.

I am a big tech nerd and all things apple. Kind of obsessed with this commercial.

Have a great weekend!

Date nights

Date nights are good for the soul. We don't go on dates often. When we do, they are wonderful. It's easy to get caught up in the chaos of the kids and forget about spending time together. I am always reminded of how badly we need this time.

If we have a babysitter I may end up spending 2 hours getting ready, to get ready, to go on a date. It's very similar to the school routine I talked about here. Luckily we both have our families here and they love (or pretend to love) keeping our kids. The kids would move in with either set of grandparents if they could. I'm pretty sure they love them more than us but that's ok.

There aren't a lot of adventurous things to do here so we end up eating out. This is fine because I enjoy getting dressed up every now and then. It doesn't have to be fancy. We have to think of things to talk about that don't relate to the kids or our household responsibilities. It's a great challenge for me.

Andrew is the talker. He can talk and talk and talk about the most random things. I am more of a listener and don't always have much to offer to the convo. I enjoy listening and he enjoys talking. It works.

On our last date night, we went to the Iron Horse Grill.

Yes, we go a lot.

But we changed locations for dessert and went to Local 463. Another favorite but we rarely get to go there. I had a gift card from a sweet family at school that I had been holding onto. We had bread pudding and it was amazing.

I love this guy.

Aquarium love

Aquariums are in our top 10 favorite things to do as a family. We've done New Orleans a few times because it's fairly close to us. Their aquarium is a decent size and in the Quarter which is always fun. We especially love the Butterfly Garden there.

Last summer we went to Chattanooga's aquarium. I had never been there but Andrew had and he compared every other aquarium to that one. I get it. It's really cool and worth a trip if you've never been. The museum is actually divided into two parts. There is a "river tour" and then an "ocean tour." The greatest thing for us with little people and short attention spans is that they are in two different buildings. We actually did one building, went to lunch, and then came back later for the other part. Another cool thing about the river tour is the layout. You actually start at the top of the museum and wind your way down "the river" until you finish at the bottom. We loved it.

On our little Dallas excursion a couple of weeks ago, we visited the Dallas World Aquarium. They call it an aquarium but it's actually more like being in a rain forest. As you walk up to the building, you wind through a little tropical forest with bamboo and overgrown plants around you. The museum itself is like one huge warehouse.

You start by riding the elevator, or taking the stairs if you don't have a stroller, to the top floor. It opens up into a huge 3 story room. You literally feel like they have taken a chunk out of the rain forest and put it into this building. The entire walkway winds around this open section of the "rain forest" where there are all kinds of animals loose in the middle. Monkeys are climbing in trees, there are animals below in the water, birds are flying around. It's crazy.

We got there right at 9:00 when it opened because I heard that it gets really crowded. This place would be miserable if it was crowded. No joke, I would not go any later than 10 am. The pathways are only wide enough for a gigantic double stroller (which we had). Bentley Claire needed to eat so I toted around a bottle drinking baby while Andrew alternated between pushing the stroller and holding Elle (while pushing the stroller). Can you say trooper? 

Everyone was entertained and it was well worth it. There is an impressive collection of birds and there is an aquarium in the bottom part. There are actually 3 or 4 restaurants in this place too. It would be an awesome place to have an event.  

In the background of this picture is a sloth. There were sloths in a tree napping. We could have touched them but didn't because there was a sign clearly stating "Don't touch the sloths." It was tempting. Penguins, fish, birds, sloths, a jaguar, flamingos, monkeys...fun, fun, fun. Check it out here.