June 1 = Messy, Yogurty Kids Day

First of all- great gift idea for Zachary.  Liam needs a shirt that says "small 1," Malia can be "small 2" and Kayleigh can be "small 3." 

Also- I took this video because Malia was being especially silly- I just never want to forget her little two year old personality- she's got a lot of it!

March 16 = Travel Day

It's been nice just having Malia all to myself but I'm a bit bored at this point.  Also, some crazy person was knocking on my door at 11:30pm and I had to call the cops to make them go away and my dad's birthday is tomorrow so this morning I woke up and decided to drive to NC.  

It was a 6.5 hour drive.  Malia fell asleep literally five minutes before we got to my dad's office to surprise him.

One perk of going to NC- La Cocina!

February 8 = Holding Hands Day

This is what Malia does while Liam is at school:

This is my strategy for getting two kids inside a building without losing my mind:

And here's my sweet, silly girl:

November 21 = Monkey Hat Day

Nothing to really say about today but...

July 24 = New Church Day

It's been a while since we've gone to church.  We want to go but there are so many churches that make the kids sit with you until a certain point in the service and with Liam, it just doesn't work.  But we found one that has childcare for the whole service and it's an Episcopal church which I've wanted to try for a long time.  It was definitely different that what we are used to but we both loved it and will definitely be back!  Here's Miss Malia with her daddy:

And later, getting a bath:

I think she's telling each character "you need bath" before throwing them in the tub...

July 23 = Silly Girl Day

I was changing the sheets down stairs today, and Malia decided to "help me"

Also, this:

July 6 = Silly Day

First, this:

Second, this:

We had waffles for breakfast this morning and Malia ate most of hers but was more interested in just the syrup.  Silly, silly girl.

May 20 = Moving Day

We got some work done last night but the majority of the work is going to be done today!  I didn't take any pictures during the day because my cute kids weren't there to be in them but I did take a picture of my delicious lunch at the Village with Alexandra.

I got lots of texts from Zachary letting me know how their day was going and sending me lots of pictures so I didn't miss everyone too much!  He sent me this:

and then a video to show her new habit: 

They had to get up early (for the kids, late for Zachary) to go to a ceremony at the Academy so this was Liam before dinner:

Zachary moved some furniture around to make our lives easier- these kids get into everything!  Liam's favorite trick is to move our kitchen table's chairs to the counter and he can access everything and therefore make a big mess.  So Zachary moved the table and chairs into the area that has a gate blocking it off when we want it blocked off.  That meant the toddler bed that had been in that area had to be moved so he moved it to Malia's room and she slept on it like it was no big deal.  Liam still hasn't transitioned to his bed yet- he doesn't stay in it until he passes out but Malia stayed in it all night!

Just in case, Zachary moved the changing table contents out of Miss Malia's reach:

 I also got this precious picture of Joey:

I'm so glad to get to help my parents move but I do miss them all!

April 27 = Chicken Milanese Day

We tried a new dinner tonight.  Every time we go to Brio, I get their Chicken Milanese and it's so so good so when I saw it on Pioneer Woman, I knew we had to try it.  I was not disappointed- it's so so good!

There's apparently a virus going through the kids' club at the gym so we've been keeping the kids home.  I was missing the gym so Zachary kept the kids so I could go tonight- he sent me this picture to show me what I was missing at home!

February 17 = Gramps Video Day

My dad texted me this morning, like most mornings, telling me to tell the kids he loves them and to give them a hug and a kiss- such a chore ;)

So this morning, I decided to send Gramps back a response from his sweet text message in the form of this video:

Please notice Malia brings in an empty bowl and proceeds to use a spoon to consume some of the emptiness. 

January 31 = Family Day

Sundays are probably my favorite day- we usually try to do something outside of the house on Saturday but usually Sundays are low key days- especially during football season.  This morning, Grandma watched the kids while we went to the grocery store.  Such. A. Help.  We saw our old neighbors at the commissary with their two kids.  The dad questioned our decision to use time away from the kids to go to the grocery store but then he looked at the two carts they were having to push and his wife begging the baby to stop crying and I think he got it.  Here's Grandma and Liam while mom & dad were away:

 Then we got some family pictures:

And Zachary started a new game with Malia.  He does the "I got your nose" game and she gets it back from him and returns it to its rightful place!

December 1 = Pour Your Dinner on Your Head Day

I'm not going to lie- Malia gave me a rough time today.  This is going to be a rough week.  Zachary has a basketball tournament this week so he had a game last night and will have games Wednesday and Thursday but tonight, as always on Tuesday, he had class.  So serving dinner to two toddlers by oneself can sometimes be a challenge.  Tonight was one of those times that it was very challenging.  Liam has also been going through one of his phases where he only speaks in whine and there's very little that makes him happy.  So I was allowing him to eat his dinner on a picnic blanket in front of the tv and as I was sitting with him making sure he was as happy as he would allow himself to be, Malia got busy with her dinner that, before I walked away from her, she was eating like a perfectly sane being.  I came back and found this:

I laughed because what else do you do?  And then I stripped her down and took her up to the bathtub.  My method for cleaning them is to keep them out of the bathtub and wash them down with a wash cloth and then put them in when they're clean for them to enjoy the water and bubbles.  I don't know how one would be able to lift them up in the tub and clean them at the same time so that's what I do.  Well, I noticed the wash cloths in the tub had been used for a few days so I went to switch them and as I walked to the linin closet to get a new clean wash cloth, Malia peed on the floor.  I laughed again because, again, what else can you do?  I moved her away from her puddle, cleaned her up, put her in the bath and cleaned up the puddle.  She got her bath and eventually she was ready to get out.  I put her on the changing table and dried her off.  I walked over to her closet to get a diaper and she peed on the changing table.  Now how she had enough in her to go twice in twenty minutes is beyond me but she did.  So I laughed again and got her dressed and then proceeded to count down the minutes until Zachary got home!

November 17 = Washer Malfunction Day

Today is Tuesday which means Zachary has class and doesn't get home until 9:00.  I had the kids downstairs and was working on some laundry and doing some stuff on the computer.  Liam was going in and out of the downstairs room- he loves opening and closing the door.  Well one time he was going out, he fell and hit his head on the floor.  I went to comfort him and noticed there was a lot of water on the floor.  I had been sitting ten feet away from the washer and didn't even notice it was overflowing.  I turned the washer off and started getting things off the floor because the water was spreading fast.  I got the kids upstairs and called maintenance and they said they were sending someone.  I was trying to get in touch with Zachary but he was in a meeting and didn't have his phone on him.  Thankfully the lady said the maintenance people would come that night and help us out.  Zachary called and I told him what was going on and said, "I was about to ask you to come home but..." and then he started talking about something- I thought he hadn't heard me at all so I didn't finish by saying "...since the maintenance people are coming, I'll be fine."  Well, he went back to his office and emailed his professor explaining what happened and assured him he'd get a makeup assignment in soon.  He called me on his way home and I told him to turn around- that we'd be fine!  It took some convincing but he went back and then, miraculously, the professor let the class out early!  Thank goodness he went because he ended up getting home 30 minutes later than he would have had he skipped class but now he didn't have a makeup assignment to do!  Couldn't have gone better!

While the maintenance people worked on tearing up the carpet and removing the padding and putting fans and dehumidifiers downstairs, Liam, Malia and I played in Liam's room.  Malia found Mr. Potato Head's glasses and decided they were for her.

Also I saw this quote today and it is very true.  And I wouldn't trade parenting for all the nice things in the world.  The snuggling totally makes it worth it.

September 17 = Indoor Picnic Day

So there's this trend on social media #iwokeuplikethis.  People take pictures of themselves upon waking up naturally beautiful and post them saying, look how beautiful I am with no effort.  So I, poking fun at this trend, posted this picture of Malia with the caption "she woke up like this."

 We had a very rare open day today so I decided to make some returns I've been meaning to make.  However, I got an email with a 20% off one item coupon to Barnes and Noble so obviously, we ran by there too.  I got this book:

 ... I really would love to teach my kids yoga at a young age and let it be something they grow up doing.  It's such a great exercise that encourages flexibility, strength, mindfulness, self acceptance, so many things!

When we got home, Liam really wanted to watch Mickey Mouse and he had been so good during our shopping trip so I put down our picnic blanket down in the living room and let him eat his lunch with Mickey.  He ate it all!  He hardly ever eats all of his lunch so I think I may use this tactic more often...

Also Malia has a new habit- walking around with my shoes around her wrists.  I have no clue where she got it from but it makes her happy.

February 26 = New Game Day

Well Malia has a new game.  She's always liked her pacifiers and we are very grateful for that.  However, as if it is not hard enough to locate one paci, her new preference is to have two.  She likes to have one in her mouth and one in her hand.  Then she'll take the one out of her mouth and replace it with the one in her hand.  This can go on for a while which is fun to watching and it entertains her and keeps her happy but finding two pacifiers can be quite a task.