Landfill Guilt Relief

Sound the trumpets, pop the champagne, roll out the red carpet, have a parade, and do whatever else one does when celebrating a MILESTONE.  Because we are DIAPER FREE, people!  For good.  I think it was Eliza's little nod to Earth Day:  I shall contribute nasty diapers to the landfills no more!  Mind you, this was not an easy transition.  This girl is, after all, quite mule-ish.  It started like this:

 Hands on hips:  I not gonna go! (Not kidding, that's what she told me.)

 We eventually put on her big-girl underwear, which, turns out, was really just a step forward for me.  She decided to pee in them as frequently as she would a diaper.  Helpful hint:  baby wipes are a poor substitute for paper towels when trying to (discreetly) clean up a puddle of your child's urine in the grocery store aisle.

 

But she did it.  She flipped the switch and did it.  Potty-trained.  Day and night.  Hallelujah.  Amen.

This picture may not scream potty-trained, but it was taken yesterday at the park just after she used the potty ... in my car.  Because apparently that's what moms of girls have to do - ride around with a potty in their car because their kid can't just go behind a tree.  Luckily the buying of pink things somewhat makes up for it.

 

And this.  Because she probably read my last blog post and needed to disagree.  Went to Barnes & Noble last week and where did she spend her time?

At the Lego table.  You know, cuz we love Legos.

Something Land

There's something about Legos.  Kids are drawn to them -- they spend hours building intricate 500-piece constructions, they pore over catalogs, they clamor to go to the store with new birthday money to buy the latest set.  But not our kids.  Our kids could not care less about Legos.  Sure, they love building complex creations with popsicle sticks, cardboard, string, tape, you-name-it, but not Legos.  Not interested.  So, where did we decide would be the perfect family spring break destination?  LEGOLAND!  Cuz we're awesome like that.

 Double-decker carousel!

 

 Turns out you don't have to like Legos to like LEGOLAND!  The kids loved it.
Midway through our second day, the skies opened up and we were hit with a serious thunderstorm.  Of course, we were as far away from the entrance as one could possibly be, so we had to hightail it all the way through the park in bright yellow plastic LEGOLAND ponchos, Jess carrying Eliza, me pushing the stroller, and Ben and Noah freaking out that we were stuck in a tornado.  Fun times.
But not to fear, the Davises don't let a little thunderstorm ruin a vacation.  So, after drying off at the hotel, we ventured out to the Cypress Gardens Bowling Alley and Family Fun Center.

 Granny gone bowlin.

Thankfully, the rain did eventually stop after dinner, and we headed back to the park, rode the rides to our collective hearts' content, and then shut the place down.

And did we buy or play with one single Lego the entire trip?  Nope.  Success on every level.


Effin Muffins

Because Eliza is often possessed crazy extremely strong-willed, Jess and I take especially great pleasure in the things she does that make us laugh out loud.  Currently, that includes her pronunciation of the phrase English muffins:  Effin muffins.  It's equally funny when she yells, "I want a effin muffin!"  as when she yells, "I don't want a effin muffin!"

Sure, she looks all sweet here giving Daddy a Sunday morning breakfast hug, but this was taken just after a "I don't want a effin muffin!" outburst.

This girl is definitely on fi-yah!

(And will soon be running the world.)



Those Tricky Eggs

Yesterday we went to our neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt, which started out well enough with fun games and prizes ...

 

But a 2-year-old's memory is tricky, and when it came time to hunt for eggs, it became clear that Eliza had no memory that the candy we'd been telling her about was actually inside the plastic eggs.  After picking up about three of them, she started screaming, throwing them down on the ground, and slinging her basket (she's such a doll) -  her way of telling everyone how P.O.'d she was that, instead of scoring sugar, she was being asked to pick plastic crap up off the ground.  A blessed Easter experience, really.

 

Thankfully, things went slightly more smoothly with the boys.

Bulldawg, Batman, and Betrayed

 

This morning we woke up to this note:

(Ben insisted we leave a note asking the E.B. to tell us what time he came.)

And then the hunt was on!



 

Little lovelies headed to church.

Happy Easter, Y'all!

Lucky Us

 We manage to get by around here with a minimal nod to St. Paddy's Day.  Wear some green and consider yourself in full celebration.  (And, please, nobody tell them there might be anything more to the holiday.)

 Korean-American.  Irish.

 

And I take minimal celebration to a new height (low?) with this display - mint green pants on the first day of spring.  (Oh, please, what did you do?)

 

I've recently taken it upon myself to "stay in the picture," which has translated to a lot of selfies:



Why yes, longer arms would be nice!

 

We rounded out the rest of the month like this:

  

 

 

The boys kicked off their Easter celebration (which we actually do, in fact, celebrate with gusto), with a sleepover and Easter Egg Hunt at Aunt Julie and Uncle Justin's farm, where there are always BIG adventures to be had.

 Farm bound!

Rain, Rain, You Made My Day

That weekend day when your kid has to be to soccer at 8am for pictures, and you have to run to the grocery store to get team snacks because it's your turn to bring them (and you didn't plan ahead), and then you need to happily haul the whole family to the church Spring Fling for an Easter Egg hunt, and then get another kid to the baseball field early for batting practice before his game begins?  And then you wake up to find that it's ALL been cancelled because of rain?  And instead you get to lie around in your PJs all morning and drink coffee?  Yeah, I dig that day.

Hopped Off The Plane At LAX

 Jess had a meeting out in Los Angeles last week, and Noah was next in line for a special one-on-one trip, so they hopped on a plane and headed out to the City of Angels.

 

 Everyone travels cross-country to play carnival games, no?

 Seriously, dude won like 13 stuffed animals from various "claw games."

 Jess texted me this pic titled, "Write your own caption."  To which I responded with the only obvious choice:  Brothas from anotha motha.  He said these guys were awesome - spent their own money to win Noah a hat.

 What did Noah do while Jess had his meeting?

He ran it.  Here he is deposing a client.

Okay, he was actually playing on the ipad,

 and watching movies under the table.

 

The day after the meeting, they took a ferry to Catalina Island for the rest of the trip.

 

 It was really horrible there - no scenery, no fun outdoor activities, no nice weather ...

 

They took a submarine ride down into the ocean and Noah was able to feed the fish so they came up to his window.

  Straight up awesomeness.

Glad they had such an amazing time.  Glad they're back home.

 

Oh, and about that "dream and a cardigan" (er, red Old Navy hoodie)?  Apparently it was never taken off.  WTH, Dad??  Just sayin'.