Dear Super Bowl,

Sorry we missed you!

We were sort of busy.

Making cupcakes...

And stuffing them in our faces...

And doing super random dances...

And shoving more of them in our faces...

So, um, sorry about that, Super Bowl. 

We'll DEFINITELY try harder to catch up with ya next year!

...you know, unless we have another impromptu cupcake party...and in THAT case... maybe not. :0/

Xo,

Lola and the Kiddos

Have you ever...

had a rough day?
{okay, that's probably a stupid question.}
"Duh, winning YES, Lola. Everyone has bad days!"
Okay, okay, I'll be more specific.
Have you ever had one of those days when you just feel crazy?

When everything feels wrong with the world,
Where you're tired,
Where you're frustrated,
Where you are restless and feel like you don't belong,
and you think that you need to move far, far away,
and just get the heck away from it all... 

you know?
Where you scream at your seven year old
Because he won't just. get. out. of. the. gosh. dang. bath. tub.
And then you ground him for an entire week,
{which is like, obviously a bit excessive,
but he WAS being super defiant,
and now it's too late
because if I go back on the punishment,
he won't take me seriously,
so now I have gone and grounded my poor kid for a week
because I am a crabby, crazy nut-head
and I can't even take it back.}

The worst part? 
As I was squealing:

"Okay, fine. 1-2-3, NOW you're grounded all of MONDAY!!!"
and
"1-2-3, NOW you're grounded all of TUESDAY!!!"

and as I got to FRIDAY...
then, and only then does the hubs pipe up
and call out from the other room:

"Kort, if you don't get out of the tub RIGHT NOW,
I'm throwing your Nintendo dsi in the garbage."

Um, can you say naked lightning?
Yeah.
Naked lightning.

Good old hubs - he has that kid's currency nailed.

I wish he had intervened when I was threatening "TUESDAY!!!!!"
so that I hadn't gone and doomed myself to
an entire week of being cooped up with a bored seven year old.

Frankly, I feel really sorry for both of us.



So yeah,
due to what I can only assume are hormones run amok,
I am feeling sad, irritable, irrational,
and all around just nuttier than a squirrel turd.

But, I know this too shall pass.


But you know it's bad
when multiple {read: way too many... times three}
mini candy bars can't smother the irritability in chocolatey goodness.
{Believe me, I just tried...and I just might try again in a few hours.}

On the bright side?
Kort forgave me.
And we are going to spend this coming week reading books
and working on projects around the house.
On the other bright side?
I get to munch these baby cheeks whenever I want.
Chocolate may not be doing the trick these days,
but at least I have a fool-proof stand by.

the end of an era.

So, last night I yoinked another one of Kort's teeth. 

It was ridiculously loose, but he still wouldn't hunker down and pull it - so mom had to step in. He was thrilled to see it come out into my hand and exclaimed {as he always does post-tooth-yoinking-a-la-mom}

"That didn't even hurt!"

{Magic fingers, my dear friends. Magic, tooth-yoinking fingers on this girl right here. Ten of 'em.}

We put the tooth in a plastic bag and slipped it under his pillow at bed time. We fed Armor and Affie {the hermit crabs}and climbed into his loft bed together. We talked about his day at school, and about a possible trip to the beach this summer... and then, he totally blindsided me.

I imagine that most parents dread this particular question...
I know that I certainly have.
{And no, it's not about the origin of babies...
though I'm sure that one is on the horizon too...}

"Mom? Is Santa Claus really real?"
{GULP.}

"Um, well... what do you think?"

{Long pause}
"I think it's just you and dad."
{Nooooooooooooooooooo!}
I was tempted to insist that Santa was real. Or to force that little monkey into believing a' la the good old "Santa won't bring you presents if you don't believe in him." stand-by... but I just couldn't do it. I don't want to be the mother of "that weird kid" on the playground who is getting into fist fights defending Santa's honor because "His mom says Santa is real and she would never EVER lie to him so stop. dissing. SANTA!!!"

Cause yeah, that could end badly.

I just loved having the magic in our house though.
I still vividly remember laying in bed in our house in Monroe and holding my breath because I heard noises and was SURE that it was reindeer on the roof and I didn't want Santa to know I was awake. It was a supremely magical time for me, and one of the greatest gifts my parents could have every given.

I know some parents think that it's dishonest, or that no fat man in a red suit should get credit for giving presents that were actually bought with their hard-earned money and blah blah blah.... But I love the magic of it all. Love. It.

But, alas...

Santa Claus is "no more." 
{At least not round these parts...}
Thank HEAVEN that we have a new little dude who can keep the magic alive in our house for years to come. This next December will be kind of a bummer though. Ten is too young to believe and Kort is officially a nonbeliever... Kort will be really excited about keeping the magic alive for his siblings though. It will surely be fun to have a co-conspirator from here on out.

In other news:
*My baby looks something akin to amazing with a bowl on his head.
*I get to have lunch with a favorite friend at her house today and also photograph her ADORABLE triplets! {Yes, I just said triplets... you read that right.}

Happy Wednesday, friends.

I'm

a lumberjack

and

I'm

okay!

I sort of really like him. And I love how he sticks his tongue out non-stop these days. And I also love how he's already giving me 'tude...at seven months old. I was calling to him and tickling him {okay, and maybe I was poking him and pinching his cheeks too, but only a little} in an effort to get him to smile and look up at the camera,and this is what I got instead:

Pretty sure this is the facial equivalent of the now famous "Beave me alone!!!!" from Kortland's toddler years. Ah, good times.

I'd like to officially put my order in for three or four more of these thankyouverrrymuch.

The end.

Have you ever

loved someone so much

that you sometimes felt

like you might explode at any minute...

because all that love

simply cannot fit inside one person?

I know, right?!