Out and About

Here are pictures of some various outings with the kids in the last week or two.

Mike was gone all day one Saturday for his brother's bachelor party, so the kids and I kept busy in order for me to survive the day. Ben needed a hair cut, so we headed over to his appointment at Kidsnips. How handsome is he? He has been going there since he was 6 months and is so good. He sits politely, moves his head as needed, and is such a sweetie. I usually let him pick out a toy on our way out. Today, he chose this Volkswagen bus.

Liv didn't need a hair cut (thank god, because she doesn't sit as politely as her brother), but she was quite content when they gave her a lollipop. Total mess, but kept her happy and quiet for 15 minutes! Remind me to keep a stash of these in my purse. ;-) (And notice she is wearing only one shoe. She will not keep two shoes on her feet.)

After Liv went down for a nap, we had lunch outside. Until a fly buzzed around and Ben wanted to go in. Oh my, it's going to be a long summer if he won't deal with flies.

Liv at dinner. I just call this one "BBQ Sauce." Enough said.

Monday, Ben had a dentist's appointment, and afterwards we always go on a "date." Liv is too much of a handful to bring with us to the dentist, so I just take Ben and go back to Creative World for her later. Plus, it is nice to have some one-on-one time with him. I told Ben we could eat dinner at Chipotle after his appointment and sit on the high stools. He always wants to sit on them, but Liv is not old enough and the highchairs are too short.

We did sit on the stools, but toward the end he got cold (the AC was really cranked up), and so we decided to sit at the tables outside and eat, which was actually much nicer, in my opinion.

This weekend, the whole family (even Dee) headed to Panera Bread for breakfast. It was a nice morning, and Liv was in a relatively mellow mood for a change, so we figured we could eat outside and bring Dee along.

Check out Liv's flock of seagulls hair-don't.

Not sure why Mike looks so grumpy. My incessant need to take photos, or perhaps he is just eyeing Liv's eggs with longing?

 Dee scarfing down some eggs that Liv threw on the ground.

We were quite a scene, I'm sure. Luckily (or unluckily, I suppose), Ben was up at 5:30, so it was pretty early when we arrived, and there weren't many people around.

Lesli commented that I am never in the photos because I am always taking them. True, very true. So here I am. The elusive Mom. "They do exist!"

Notice who's in my lap. The highchair lasted about 10 minutes. Which is actually like an hour in Liv time, so I shouldn't complain.

Of course, since she was on my lap she decided to drink and then spit her milk out. Funny that Mike got a photo mid-spit. Thanks Liv! Mom loves smelling like sour milk all morning.

At this point, breakfast was over and Ben was ready to head across the parking lot to throw a few coins in the fountain. Not to be out done, Liv threw a penny three times and never once did the penny make it into the water. Next, she tried to climb into the fountain. I have no pictures because I was too busy wrangling her.