Ashton strikes again!!!

Seriously?

And this is just a glimpse of the kind of day we've been having.

The worst part of the day was when I went to put a bag of baby clothes in our storage and Ashton locked me outside!

I was in the yard with my crazy mismatched pajamas, banging on all doors, with no cell phone, no keys and no idea what was going on inside with my babies. Arrrgggh. The neighbors probably think I'm crAzy! It took Ashton 20 mins before he finally let me in.

Yes, I will keep my keys in my pocket for the rest of my life.

Then, after lunch the reoccurring blue nightmare happened. Where did he even find this marker?!?

It was worse then the first time. :(

Poor innocent little Aiden.

Can a mother not own a permanent maker these days? Can she not leave the room without being locked out or returning to find blue marker all over her baby?

...I see craZy bloodshot eyes in my near future. :)

In fact, I'm making the poor kids sit on my lap as I write this or else my back would be turned on them and we all know thats a disaster waiting to happen.

Who ever said Saturday nights at home were relaxing? :)

We had such a busy week that it was actually nice to just stay home this past Saturday night.

Andrew rented a movie and Ashton and I made cupcakes! Actually, I should say Ashton made cupcakes, since he did everything, even the EGGS and the hard parts like, stirring and picking sprinkles. :) (man, I LOVE my camera)
Then, after all the chocolate frosting, baths were given so we'd all be clean and ready for Sunday morning.
It was then that Andrew and I were finally able to relax on our huge, clean bed with our shoes off, phones off and a redbox movie in the dvd player. While we were enjoying doing absolutely nothing, Ashton was busy discovering his artist within.
...with permanent blue marker.
...on his poor baby brother.

There is just no end to his creations. :)

Two really is terrible...

This is the kind of stuff my two year old does when I turn my back...

...and if I leave the room, he thinks even BIGGER.


You'd think I'd learn my lesson. :)

Disaster at the shopping center...

It was 10pm and I was desperately trying to get my kids to fall asleep.

I finally gave up on the tickling, singing and storytelling and just picked them up and put them in their own beds, Ashton to his Lightning McQueen bed and Aiden to his crib.

I turned off the lamp and blew out the candles (yes, I had candles lit, doesn't every mom?).

I climbed back into my bed when I heard Aiden cracking up. Like, HUGE laughing, so I had to see what was going on... Ashton was giving him his Pluto stuffed animal and Aiden was throwing it out of the crib, over an over again. Apparently, it was the funniest thing he had ever seen and they were both rolling with laughter... So, I took a very dark video on my phone, then we soon fell asleep. :)

Fast forward three days later,

THRIFT STORE SHOPPING!!

Andrews mom bought an adorable pair of baby shoes for Aiden.

Little brown suede loafers, perfect for the little man. I was excited because Aiden had just lost the only pair of shoes that fit him during our last trip to Disneyland. :( (by the way, I walked the whole park, twice, backtracking our steps, looking for that lost shoe. I am one dedicated mother). Anyway....

The next day,

My two boys and I were happily making our way through Target.

I was pushing the big red cart, browsing through the basic aisles, you know, the eyeliner display, the Thomas the Train shelf. Aiden was getting fussy, so I picked him up and threw him on my hip, making sure I didn't bump off one of those new adorable shoes. I pushed the cart, had a passionate conversation with Ashton about why I couldn't buy him the 59 dollar train set, then put Aiden in the back of the shopping basket. SHOES STILL ATTACHED.

It was about 3 minutes and 4 aisles later that I noticed his shoe was gone!

My mind went back to the crib shenanigans nights before. I just knew he must've thrown his shoe out of the cart!! I turned around and retraced all my steps, thinking, how far could it have gone?

I ended up spending almost two hours going around and around the store, like a crazy person. By now, the store employees knew me on a personal basis. I talked to every single one of them about the baby shoe. I could feel myself starting to lose my mind and I finally just had to leave. Give up. Surrender to the missing shoe.

I almost broke down into tears at my final approach to the customer service desk... and why not? Both of my babies were balling their eyes out... It was seriously awful.

It has now been 3 days and the shoe is still missing.

I call Target twice a day and before I even have time to explain anything about the shoe, they recognize my voice and tell me NO SHOE. :(

...yet.

Complete and absolute destruction.

While Andrew and I were sitting, enjoying a nice movie together, our children roamed the hardwood floor below us. It seemed harmless, but within seconds Ashton was under the computer desk flipping the "off" switch on the power bar. Instantly, the computer, modem, scanner, telephone, speakers and even the movie we were watching through netflix on our wii shut down, all the little lights stopped glowing, all the noise turned into abrupt silence.

We went to turn everything back on and everything started up fine... except for the most important thing of all, our computer. :(

It was MURDERED and although it was a quick death, it was painful.

We are deeply grieving over our precious files and photos.

May they rest in peace.

We love them and will forever regret not having them backed up somewhere. :(

Tingle, tingle, numb...delicious.

This has been my favorite snack for the last couple of weeks...

Mom, remember when we met at Sams club and I talked you into trading the giant pistachio bag for these delicious cashews instead? Dad... we talked on the phone about how delicious they are and how easy it is to eat them instead of cookies because they taste so good...

and Andrew, remember how you bought this huge 2 pound container and I ate the whole thing by myself and then we bought another 2pound container yesterday?... ... well, today I found out that I am allergic to them and my loss and the numbness of my tongue is HORRIBLE. :(

Money doesn't grow on trees...

...and toy cars don't grow in the water.

Lets not buy these "growing" water cars anymore.

They are the worst $1.00 purchase of all time.

Rainy days :(

This weekend we went through our stored boxes to see which ones the rain had claimed...

We were disappointed to find out how many boxes were ruined and how many--moldy-- memories needed to be thrown away...

Soooooooooo sad.