His Sweet Spot

I don't know if I wrote this on the blog already (I know I mentioned it on Instagram), but Paxton's third word was "Boobie." I know, it's ridiculous. He's a tad obsessed. In fact, on any given day, you can find his hand shoved down the front of my shirt about 70% of the day. He just puts his hand in there, sometimes squeezing or pinching, but mostly just sitting it in there with a nice handful. It's his sweet spot. These are just a few images of him doing it (we have TONS more).

He even did it to Wes the other day when he was upset after I left for work.

It Wasn't All Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows

 You're welcome. That song will now be in your head for the rest of the day.

Anyways, if you're a frequent reader of our blog, you've probably been reading my recent posts about our vacation at Lake Anna (you can read the posts about our trip HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE, and HERE). And if you have a soul, you probably thought to yourself, "Awww, they're so cute," or "Oh, it looks like they had so much fun." Well, I'm writing this post to tell you that it wasn't all sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. Our kids were not that cute (they were actually quite nasty and frustrating at times) and things did not run that smoothly (we had several little mishaps through out the week that added to our stress levels). I know what you're thinking, "What? It looked like you had such a great time?" We did. But we also had many arguments, time-outs, and plan interruptions.

Don't believe me? Here's the rundown of the sucky things that happened during our supposedly relaxing one week long vacation (Who ever said that vacations were relaxing probably didn't have small children.):

• Wes left the van windows all the way down during a monsoon of a rain storm. The van subsequently smelled of mildew and nastiness for the rest of the week. It was foul.
• I locked the keys in the van while we were at the state park beach. We had to wait in our bathing suits outside and in the nature center for 45 minutes before a park ranger came to help jimmy the lock.
• Vivian had the mother-of-all-tantrums on the beach when Wes told her it was time to go. It was so bad that Wes had to carry her away (because she was writhing and kicking on the ground and would not move) while she was screaming at the top of her lungs. She screamed for a good 25 minutes. While we were waiting for the park ranger to come jimmy the lock to the van. So, we were sitting outside, in our bathing suits, listening to Little Miss scream. Her fit was so bad that I made her apologize to the life guards. She did not like that. Oh well. She was insane.
• A unused diaper somehow made it's way into the washing machine and exploded all over our clothes. We had to wash that load 3 more times before all of the little diaper pieces came off. Then, another diaper made it's way into the washing machine two days later. Three more washes for that load as well.
• There was a bit of a bee problem. They were everywhere. But a bee only got in the house once and in the van once. Thank goodness. 
• The van overheated a few times while we were at the lake (once on the way to the lake, once in a drive-through, once in the lake neighborhood, and once on the way home). Each time, we had to sit in the hot sun and wait for it to cool down while Wes filled it with more water, etc. In fact, we barely made it home. As we pulled into the driveway, smoke began billowing out of the hood. Then, Wes and the twins then spent the afternoon fixing it. On our first day back home. 
• Gavin had to be told not to do whatever it was that he was doing an average of 32 times (each time) before he listened... maybe. He was just so excited and amped up about everything. And, he's Gavin.
• It rained a lot. Actually, it rained almost every day that we were there at least for a few minutes. And it thundered a lot. The life guards closed the state park beach one time while we were there (cutting our beach trip very short) and another time, our morning plans were crushed from the pouring rain. We managed to swim in the thunder-less rain a couple of times, though.
• And, we left our huge brand-new shampoo and conditioner in the master bathroom. Damn waste of money. 

See? It wasn't perfect. Far from it, actually. But we'll be sure to do it again next year. Cause we're crazy.

Lake Anna ~ Saturday & Sunday

Saturday and Sunday were our last two days at the lake.

Day Seven: Saturday

We started off Saturday a big breakfast in an effort to try and eat the rest of the breakfast food from the week.

Then we took a trip to a Farmer's Market in a town nearby.

After the Farmer's Market, we went to the state park beach for the last time.

Then we went home, ate some food, and tried to wrangle the kids for a family photo shoot in the backyard.

We swam for the rest of the afternoon.

Jumping off the end of the dock was a big hit on Saturday evening.

It was a great last swim.

Day Eight: Sunday

Sunday (our last day at the lake) was my 31st birthday. I told the kiddos that all I wanted for my birthday was a few cute photos with them down by the water. It was like I had asked them to cut their arms off and throw them into the water. Somehow, we got a few acceptable ones.

We spent the entire morning packing the car (we had to be out by 10am). Wes and the kids made me brownies the day before and on my birthday morning, they put a sparkler on one and sang "Happy Birthday" to me in the driveway right as we were about to pile in and drive back to Harrisonburg. It was the perfect birthday morning with my favorite people on the planet.

I Heart Dark Teal

I have a deep love for dark teal. I just love it. A few months ago, I spray painted one of my childhood rocking chairs dark teal for Paxton's one year photo shoot. Well, I decided to take that can of spray paint and get it color matched to create a can of high gloss regular paint for a new project. Unfortunately, the real color of the piece cannot be captured by any of my three cameras. It's crazy. It's much more teal-y in real life (I think it looks very blue in these pics). Oh well, I guess you'll just have to come visit me to see it in all it's dark teal glory.

So what did I paint? I'm glad you asked.

I've been wanting to get a buffet to re-do for my new office at work. I searched and searched and searched on Craigslist for what seemed like forever. Then, right before we left for Lake Anna, I found it.

It was being stored in someone's basement for the last 20 years and she finally decided to sell it. It was pretty scratched up, but had great lines and it was the perfect size for what I needed.

I decided to stain the top of the buffet very dark (Bombay Mahogany by MiniWax). Then, I spray painted the hardware with the same finish (Hammered in Dark Bronze) that I gave my purple desk, which is also in my new office. Like I said, I took the can of spray paint that I used for my little rocking chair and had a can of regular paint made to match it.

I'm in love.

Lake Anna ~ Thursday & Friday

Day Five: Thursday

We woke up Thursday morning to a lot of rain. So, we let the kids watch their movie and then we let them take a bath n the big jacuzzi tub like the night before. Except now, we added bubbles. Maybe too many bubbles.

Once the sun came out, we took the kids out for ice cream. They all loved it, but Gavin was totally in a zone.; an ice cream coma, if you will.

When we got home, we played outside for a while. We went on a nature hunt, played on the beach, and swam a little.

We ate dinner, watched some TV, and went to bed.

Day Six: Friday

Friday morning, we packed up the car and went to the state park for a hike (on a different trail than earlier in the week), a trip to the nature center, and a swim at the beach.

We started with the hike. But first, there was a dock that Gavin was intrigued by.

Early on in our adventure, we found a little beach. It didn't take long for the twins to jump right in. They started off dipping their toes in.

Then, they picked things up along the shore to examine.

Then, they started to walk in a bit.

Then, they were swimming.

After a little dip, we were off!

We visited the nature center and then went to the beach. Sorry, but the rest of the pics from Friday are only of Pax. But they're presh, so it's all good.

And that was our Thursday and Friday on the lake!