happy st. patrick's day!

happy st. patrick's day friends! it is cold and rainy in always sunny los angeles. we are bundling up to attend 2 birthday parties for d's friends today. this boy has more of a social life than i do! 
i love st. paddy's day! there's always so much fun to be had, yummy food, and lots of bailey's! celebrating has taken a nose dive since we had d but we still do something at home once he goes to bed! next year he will understand the fun a little more and i plan to do some fun stuff. 


here is a little flash back to st. paddy's day for the last 2 years. amazing how much d has changed!

year 1

year 2

tonight i hope to make shepherd's pie and have some green beer! 

enjoy and be safe!

xoxo

Dino Declan!

yesterday we went to the natural history museum for a fun day of dinosaurs and animals! d has a sudden interest in dinosaurs and the first tuesday of the month is free, so we hit up the museum for a few hours and got our dinosaur love on!

they have a kids room that is hands on and eye level to make exploring a little easier. d loved the binoculars and looked out the window for stuff. it was beyond adorable! 

plus, the massive polar bear is so rad! 

d loved it and "snuggled" it forever. 

after the dino exploring we hit up chick-fil-a for lunch where d fell in love with waffle fries and we scarfed on chicken sandwiches. 

i freakin love chick-fil-a. too much, really! 

and to end a wonderful, family filled day we did a little of this! 
guess we have to run around the museum more often since the napping has been practically non existent these day! 

we had an awesome day!
i am getting sad that brandon is heading back to work soon so we are squeezing in as many fun things as we can as a family! 

weekly photo dump. week 7.

another fun week in the books for the lott family.

we are enjoying these last few weeks with b before he goes back to work and we don't see much of him.

this week was pretty awesome! d is learning a million new things and words and can communicate so much better. makes life a little easier. 

now if he would only get back to napping! meh.

sunday morning was started off right with some pretty flowers, homemade french toast, dot art for the toddler and mama and a nap.(for once!) we spent the afternoon outside and did some major chalk art and the evening was spent with an awesome cheese and meat platter and champagne while we watched the oscars! we haven't seen a movie in forever but i watched for the fashion. don't we all?

monday i went to traci's where i added some more purple to my hair that didn't take and then i decided maybe i am destined for pink! i did some target shopping and found some mini marshmallows what were perfect for hot chocolate on this dreary day.
i also discovered the joys of the app draw something and got the best drawing ever! if you play, my name is mamainlalaland! i can't promise a masterpiece but i can promise some good lolz!

the boys got their haircut on tuesday. this is d's second cut. the first one was a snip because i couldn't bare to cut the curls. this was a real deal big boy cut! he looks so handsome! after the haircut we went to griffith park to play on the playground and then got chick-fil-a for lunch but i ate it too fast and forgot to take a pic!

it was a gorgeous day for the zoo so we packed up our stuff and headed out to see the animals! d is loving animals these days and loved the petting zoo area where he practically smothered a sheep and i cringed in fear that it would kick him! after checking out the animals we played on their playground for a bit and headed home for some naps. which didn't happen. sigh....

we started off this morning with a yummy homemade breakfast of eggs and toast and got the house cleaned up. i spent most of the day cleaning, laundering, organizing, etc while the boys played outside. i also got my new fruit crate in the mail and filled it with yummy stuff! 

that evening i took d out for dinner and frozen yogurt for our monthly date nights. i love these special nights with just the two of us!

friday is gymboree day so we hit up some playtime, ran around with the dogs in the pet store and came home to prep for a dinner party with friends. i made the pioneer woman's penne a la betsy and it was so yum! they brought cannoli's for dessert and we had the perfect little italian dinner complete with homemade sangria! 

we love our saturdays full of coffee, cartoons, sunshine, and dinner plans with friends. we drove to calabasas to have dinner with friends and enjoyed a delicious dinner and great fun with the kids. d and paige played so well together but ran around all night hence the lack of photo bombs from the night!

hope you all had a great week!

xoxo

i linked up with amy from a good life blog for her week in iPhotos. 

Friday Favorite. My MOST favorite thing to do.

this weeks friday favorites is dedicated to two things that are my absolute favorite. 
one, my favorite boy in the whole world. and two, my favorite thing to do with him.
d and i have special dates together once a month. we leave dad at home or he goes out with friends and we hit up the farmer's market or cpk for dinner. just the two of us. we draw, we play cars, we read books, or i just stare in amazement at this little guy and count my blessings that he is all mine! 
last night we hit up cpk for some yummy mac-n-cheese and a salad for me. the older d gets, the more fun this is for us. he now has a ton of words in the word bank so communicating is a lot easier! 

mastering the fork skills

after dinner we hit up pinkberry for some fro yo for mama and fruit for d. 
salted caramel yogurt?!?! yes, please! it was sooo good and way too big! 
my non eating sweets toddler (by choice)chose fruit. at a yogurt shop! crazy! 

these dates are so much fun and so special for both us of us to share. 

hope you all have a great weekend.

we have a dinner party tonight and another tomorrow and hopefully the farmer's market on sunday!

happy weekend!

xoxo

B-A-N-A-N-A-S!

my little guy has been chatting up a storm and lately the words are getting much clearer and easy to decipher! makes the guessing a lot easier!

d's new favorite word is banana and the way he says it is adorable! 

see for yourself!

also ignore the mom voice! :nails on a chalkboard:

happy love day, friends!

sharing the love,
toddler style.....

The Plane! The Plane!

This summer is flying by! The sun is shining brighter, hotter, and longer. The daylight runs into 8 pm making afternoons and evenings longer and more fun. More time to spend outside running in the park, taking long walks, and playing on the rooftop deck. B has been on hiatus from work for about a month and a half and I love every minute of him being home with us. I love my time with D alone, but life is much more fun with him around! We are doing a lot right now to prep for our move, as well and pack boxes and just soak up the summertime with D. I hate to see summer go and want to take full advantage of the time together as a family.

This morning we packed up some toys, a blanket, and some snacks and headed to LAX to watch the planes come in.

Free, easy, and hours of entertainment!

And we had SO MUCH FUN!

There is a small park across from In N Out (where we were going to grab lunch for a picnic) and the airport and it is designed for just this. Grab a blanket, lay back and watch the planes fly overhead! D ran around, watched the planes come in, said 'Doup-a-day' (his word for airplane) a million times over and had a perma smile on his face! This kid was in heaven.

This truly was a fun morning with him and B and one of my favorites. It was easy. Not a lot of fuss. Not a ton of stuff required to keep him busy, and most of all it was something we did as a family.

For a little boy who loves planes this was a great day! And for a mom who loves to see her little boy smile, an even better day.

oh yeah...

we also found a puddle and splashed for a good 15 minutes!

boys will be boys!

Happy Father's Day!

I knew when I was a little girl that I wanted to find a man that would be an amazing father to my children. Someone who would measure up to my dad.

I remember the days of the two of us spending time fishing, riding bikes, swimming, and playing basketball for hours like they were yesterday. Those times are filed away in my memory bank and will always be cherished as special times between a daughter and her father. Those memories help build the bond we have now.

As I stood at the alter almost 3 years ago, I could honestly say I had found the one man who I could measure up to my dad when we had kids. Brandon is a wonderful father and one that I would choose over and over again. My husband is one of the most loving, adoring, caring, compassionate men I know. Never ever afraid to change a stinky diaper and trust me he has had his fair share of them! Never afraid to spend time alone with his son, even for a whole weekend while I gallivant all over Scottsdale with Lindsey. Never afraid to tell Declan over and over that he means the world to him.

I look and Brandon and Declan together and I thank my lucky stars that I chose this man to be the father of my kids. The memories of a father and son last a lifetime and I know these 2 will have some good ones!

Happy Father's Day to my wonderful husband and baby daddy! xoxo

This is How We Did Easter.

Last year we celebrated Easter with a 4 month old who didn't know what was what! He cooperated and kept the celebratory bunny ears on and didn't fight me on them!

We had a small celebration as a family and it was perfect.

Skip to one year later, and I have 15 month old who FOUGHT me on the ears and didn't cooperate! Such is life with a toddler!

We still had a great Easter and spent it with some friends and their families.

The Easter Bunny hooked D up this year with some cool finds from the dollar bin at Target, some truck books, a bath book, a giant egg with his name on it and an UffDa bunny sewn by the lovely Emily.

Huge hits in the basket this year were soccer ball eggs I found at Target, as well as a truck book and the bunny.

We had a nice Easter breakfast courtesy of Trader Joe's sweet rolls and Starbucks coffee.

I had grand plans to make The Pioneer Woman's rolls and take some to the party we were going to at noon.

BUT who am I kidding! I had zero time to get it all done.

I made one roll without icing for D. He hated it! Threw it and only wanted fruit! This kid is bizzare!!

I did manage to make some Easter treats for the party though!

Zomg! Easter Bark was to die for!

So most of my friends are parental units now. Everyone has babies or kids and they all played and ran around together and had a mini egg hunt! It was really fun and pretty rad seeing my friends kids playing with my Baby D.

The egg hunt was not a huge hit with D, BUT did like stopping in his tracks when he heard a plane. The joys of living in the LAX flight pattern!

Also, truck and car playing for hours!

My little bunny....

and the other little bunnies, June and Avery....

It was a fun day full of great friends and Easter eggs, candy, and yummy food.

So much fun was had that these two crashed....HARD!

I'm looking forward to next year when D gets a little more into Easter and the whole egg and bunny thing.

Hope everyone had a great Easter and a wonderful weekend!

xoxo