This guy

Is my favorite.

Slides

We live in a really great area. There are parks (or slides as the girls call them) on practically every corner. I feel bad because we've probably only played at said parks 5 or so times this summer. I always tell myself that it's too hot outside for me to drag the girls to the park and that we'll go once the sun starts to set. Um... that hardly ever happens. But last night (err...two nights ago. It took me a while to finish this post...) it did. Sophie had a little trip in the driveway and scuffed up her face and got a a bloody, fat lip. Needless to say, she needed some cheering up, so to the park we went!

She couldn't stop licking her split lip...

Lillian has a messy face...always. 

And I know this last one only has the back of Lillian's head in focus, but look how happy Sophie is! Absolute giggles even with a fat lip!

They quite enjoyed it and today (actually yesterday...) when we went outside they begged for the park. Scratch that. One of first things out of Lillian's mouth this morning was "slide!" Yeah, I feel like the mother of the year for not taking them more. 

Please fall, come soon so I can take my children to the park and run around with them without killing over from the heat!

What we did in August

August is a busy month for us. We have the three birthdays and it's also the month where we pack in a TON of fun, free stuff. Josh's company gives the employees a little coupon book each August with free passes for things to do around Utah. There's no way we could fit everything in, but we fit in as much as we could and had a lot of fun. Here's a photobomb of Discovery Gateway, The Thanksgiving Point Gardens, The Dinosaur Museum, Thanksgiving Point Farm, and the Natural History Museum.

I'll admit, most of these pictures are pretty crappy. I'm not good at taking pictures inside dark places. Should I throw it on auto? Use a flash? Which lens to use? I feel like I made the wrong decision every time. Oh well, at least I have something. 

 At the Natural History Museum, they have glass floors with dinosaur displays that you walk on. Sophie didn't think it was a big deal, but Lillian was terrified of falling through the glass. She didn't get it at all and even with help from Josh, she freaked out

Both girls were so concerned about the "puppy" that was "stuck" in the box. Sophie actually started crying over it...

It was really fun going to all of these places this year. We went last year, but the girls definitely didn't appreciate it as much and they were just learning how to walk, so the experience was completely different. Hopefully, we keep getting these free passes every August because they give us an excuse to get out of the house and the girls had SO much fun.

And best of all? It was free!

The birthdays. All 3 of them.

August is a crazy month at our house. 3 out of the 4 people that live in this house have birthdays within the first 9 days, and Josh's company goes craaaazy during August giving us passes to do free things around Salt Lake. 

But in this post, we're just talking about birthdays...

Josh turned 30 on the 5th. I feel a little bit bad that two of his daughters have their birthday just a few days after him because I really don't want his to get overlooked. We're pretty casual about birthdays though. Just good food, a {ugly but delicious} cake, a Ron Swanson shirt and a Peter Pan book.

My sister also made the most delicious gluten, dairy and soy free cupcakes. I'll admit, I didn't think it was possible, but they were amazing! I'm not exaggerating a little bit when I say I had at least 6 over the next day or two...

 We also went out to dinner with Josh's side of the family the night before. I didn't really take any pictures, but there was singing, BBQ food and an unfortunate shortage of high chairs. 

And now for the girl's birthday. 

Guys, I feel like I failed. I was planning on throwing a cute little party (I was thinking Muppets theme, like this one) getting the girls a pinata because ever since they were about 6 months old, they've loved that aisle at Winco, and of course, take millions of pictures. Maybe even try some fancy pictures. You know, with their hair actually done and them posing politely on the porch in fresh, clean outfits? 

HA! Here's what we did instead...

 Girlfriend didn't like the grass sticking to her leg

Went to Panda Express because as much as I wanted to be a great mom and cook them a lovely birthday dinner it was one of those days where mama needed some orange chicken. I mean, yeah they turned two and that's great, but that also means I've survived the last two years! I figured they might have a stronger opinion next year, so I took this year to treat myself a little. ;)

After dinner, we had one of the most horrendous car ride. I thought Sophie was going to rip the car seat straps, she was freaking out so much. I didn't know what to do. Do we reward this behavior with a birthday cupcake? Do we scratch the whole thing and celebrate it the next day when we're all feeling better? I decided to do the last one, but as I was changing diapers for bed I thought, "How sad is this?! I haven't really done anything for their birthday. They don't even know it's their birthday! I'm such a crappy mom!" I mean, we hardly even got them anything they were able to open. Their main presents were new beds and honestly, those were a pretty penny (especially when you need two) and they had enough toys, so I didn't feel the need to get them much. We did get them several new shirts, a couple of hot wheels cars (they loooove cars) and a couple new toy puppies, but I didn't wrap any of it. It was all very unbirthday-like. So, anyway... I felt bad and thought we had to sing to them and they had to have a little treat on their birthday. So, we lit the candles and let the girls have at it.

Sophie blowing out the candle. Take a close look at her hair though...

 IT MELTED! 

 

Oh it was awful. We caught it really quickly and it all sort of fell off once I brushed it, but it was kind of the icing on the cake to a very lame birthday. Sorry Soph, for letting the candle melt your hair...

But they loved the cupcakes!

And that was that. Overall, the girls' birthday was pretty good. I mean, yeah I dropped the ball, but they won't remember it, right? And that just means that I have a whole year to plan the coolest, Muppets 3 year old birthday party ever! Maybe by then, they'll have little friends that we can invite. Or maybe not and I'll just eat all the Muppet cupcakes myself. ;) The girls did enjoy the day though and didn't even realize that is was a lame birthday. In my defense though, a few days before, my sister up and moved to Ohio, so I was a little sad about that (not to mention SHE is the party planner and I feel like I'm lost without her). Plus, Josh was at work all day and we had been doing fun stuff the days leading up to their birthday and had plans to do fun stuff a few days after (I'll get to that stuff tomorrow) so I figured we were covered. I at least should have printed off some of those cupcake toppers though... Oh well!

Lately

The last week or two has looked a little like this

and this

and this

and this

I'm so behind with blogging. We've actually done a lot the past little bit. I promise, I'll get back in the swing of things on Monday. Until then, have a happy weekend!