Biminim

Andrew has an imaginary friend named Biminim. (Pronounced Bi Mi Nim, not exactly sure how he spells it.) We were on a run last week and he says to me: 

"A couple of months ago there was a big storm at Biminim's house and his mailbox fell over. It was as flat as a pancake. But Waste Management came and picked it up. You know, mailboxes don't last forever."

Talk about an imagination. We had a great week at my parent's house while they were in Florida. It was so nice to spread out. We came home Friday night and took it easy this weekend since the weather was stormy. 

Good Times Had By All

We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather last week for Andrew's Spring Break. Monday I took the boys on a wagon ride to the "ladybug" park. It was really Matthew's first time at a park since he's been walking so it was so much fun watching him explore. Andrew has also become much move brave since last year. He went across the bridge to the "big boy" twisty slide right away without batting an eye. Maybe he was showing off for his little brother.


Then on Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day, I debated taking the boys to another parade but decided against it since I would be the only adult and Andrew thought St. Patrick's Day had already come and gone because we went to the parade on Saturday. Instead I decided to take them to the park again after naps. I asked Andrew if he wanted to go to the same one or a different one. He said, "Let's go to the green park mom because it's St. Patrick's Day." So clever.


Thursday, I took the boys out to see their cousins Kiersten and Kaitlyn. They had so much fun. They both loved Kiersten's bounce house and all the different toys...even though most of them were pink:) It was nice having a change of scenery and I got to have some adult conversation with Jill.


Friday, Drew's parent's came in for a visit. We all stayed at my parent's house because they are in Florida for my mom's Spring Break. So we had lots of room to spread out and play. Andrew of course took trips to the creek with Mimi and PawPaw and shy Matthew slowly warmed up to them. Of course a majority of our "adult" time was spent watching basketball. (At the moment, my bracket is doing better than Drew's:))


Sunday I went to Christina's first baby shower while everyone else hung out at the house. Then we had a delicious steak dinner with Drew's parents before the hit the road. It was a great week and weekend all around.
Andrew and Matthew feeding the ducks with MiMi while waiting on dinner.

Top O' the Mornin

Saturday, we headed down to the St. Patrick's Day parade to join in the festivities. They boys had a great time. Matthew's favorite part was the dogs. He would point to them and get so excited. Andrew said his favorite part was Fred bird (the Cardinal's mascot) in his own little car. Drew enjoyed the bag pipers and I enjoyed the Budweiser Clydesdales. Thankfully, everyone had a great time. Then after naps we went to get Andrew a new swing for the front tree because the one we have is really too small for him and he and Matthew have been fighting over the it...anything for peace. After Drew made a few trips to Lowes to get all the right parts Andrew decided he wasn't interested...not unusal. I think he was mad because the first time he tried it, he decided he was finished and just let go...SMACK, he did a belly flop on the nice hard ground. Hopefully he'll get back on the "horse" soon.

Sunday we enjoyed the warmer weather by hanging out with our neighbors the Fitzpatricks. Then headed over to Grandma and Poppa's for our Irish feast of Corned Beef and Potatoes. It was a great weekend. Andrew is on Spring Break this week and thankfully the weather is supposed to be beautiful.
Have a great St. Patty's Day! Oh, Kelli finished editing the photos of Matthew (1 year photos). They are on her website: go to www.fitzfoto.com; click on recent sessions; scroll down and click on McLaughlin to view the images. Click on a picture to enlarge it.

Spring Tease

We have had some amazing weather lately and it has made life so nice. Both boys would stay outside all day if they could so when the weather is nice, that's where you'll find us.

Thursday we had Matthews 1 year pictures taken by our neighbor Kelli who is a professional photographer. You should check out her website, http://www.fitzfoto.com. She took over 200 pictures, then narrowed it down to 80 and let me choose from there which ones I wanted her to edit. SO I'll post some of our favorites when they are edited.


Saturday morning I had to take Matthew to get his blood drawn for a lead test. It's something the pediatrician has us do after the 1 year check up since we live in an older home. Needless to say he was not happy about it. It took me and two other nurses to get the sample. It's so funny how different each child is. When I took Andrew in he sat there acting like he was watching a movie. He didn't even flinch. Anyway we already got the results back and his levels are normal.

Then we literally spent the entire weekend outside. Drew and I got so much done in the yard, about 20 bags of leaves and the boys played and played. Saturday we decided to go to 5 o'clock mass with the time change Sunday morning. Drew and I are the only people in the world that look forward to this time change because it's the one day of the year that the boys sleep until 7! Thankfully it was a pretty uneventful weekend topped off with a McLaughlin favorite, Sunday dinner at Grandma and Poppa's.

Now the winter coats, hats, and mittens are back out for the nice cold front that moved through last night. It was fun while it lasted!

Fun Filled Weekend

Our fun filled weekend started Friday evening. I had heard about a great sale at Dillards, 70% off and then an additional 40% off. I decided to check it out Friday between naps with the boys. I grabbed a few things but needed a second opinion on a few things and the boys didn't last very long. So, we headed back Friday evening with Drew. We got some amazing buys. Everyone got few hip shirts, the boys got really nice Colombia fleece jackets for $7 and momma got a new pair of shoes (Michael Kors sticker price $150, I paid $27!).

We had a great family day Saturday. The boys played together so nicely. We ran a few errands that we had been putting off. Then we went to dinner at John and Christina's. The boys had so much fun...and so did Drew and I. Once we calmed down from me tripping on the steps and wine ending up on their walls...the entire night went smoothly. I told the boys that mommy used the one spill of the night so they had to be on their best behavior. We had taken some toys over when John and Christina first moved in so it was fun for Andrew to see those toys again and Matthew got to play with the for them first time. We had yummy Bartolino's pizza and the boys just ran and ran. It was so nice.

(above: John trying to get a bargain from Andrew's store)



Then Sunday we went to church, had Drew's famous French Toast, and ended our great weekend with Sunday Dinner at Grandma and Poppas. Below you can see Andrew hiding from Poppa in his favorite game...hide and seek. I must say he's getting so much better. I mean look at that spot, he thought of it all on his own! I'm so proud:)

I like laughing

Yesterday was a beautiful day. So after naps we played outside. Andrew came inside to go to the bathroom. He thinks he has to take his shoes off to go but I stopped him so he only had one off. When he was finished he said, "Mom, I want to wear unmatching shoes." I told him I didn't think that would be a good idea. Of course that was followed up by a WHY. I said, "It'll look silly Andrew." And his response: "Well mom, I like to laugh. So I'm going to wear one Croc and one Adidas." Can't argue that one.

This morning Andrew and Matthew were "talking" in bed. It turned 6 so Andrew got up and started to come out of their room. Matthew started to cry. So Andrew went back to Matthew's crib and said, "Matt, it's a 6. I'm giving you a super duper kiss."

Then we were playing outside today and Andrew was riding his scooter. He crashed into a big pile of toys in the garage on purpose and said, "Firey (that's what he calls his scooter) I told you not to do that, you're going to blow gasket." Blowing a gasket is a quote from the movie Cars."

Entertaining Ashes

This morning I went to Ash Wednesday mass and when I got home, I had forgotten about the DARK ashes on my forehead. The boys were playing and they both looked up as I walked in the door and stopped everything. Then Andrew says, "Mom, what is on your head." I told him I had ashes on my head because it's a church "holiday" to start preparing for Easter. And he says, "Does that mean the Easter bunny is going to lay and egg in my shoe again?" I explained that the Easter bunny will be coming but not for 40 days. And he says, "Oh, so I wake up and go to sleep and then the Easter bunny will be here." Then I try to explain 40 days at which point he lost interest and went back to why I have ashes on my head. Meanwhile, Matthew walked over and wanted to be picked up so I picked him up and he started pointing at my head, laughing hysterically. Then Drew made a comment about how it is common to be made fun of on the street but I get to experience it right here at home. I told him to just wait until he comes home with ashes tonight. He'll get the questions all over again. Then Drew headed to work and I got Andrew ready for school. As I was helping him with his socks and shoes, Andrew asked if he could touch my ashes. I let him and he wanted to do it again and again. I'm glad I could be so entertaining for my family this morning.

One more story:
I got to start the day with a smile on my face today. About 6:00 Drew turned on our video monitor to check on the boys. They were both sitting up in bed staring at each other but they were surprisingly quiet. Then Matthew stood up to get a better view of his brother. Andrew of course thought this was great because he loves being the center of attention. So then it became Andrew's mission to entertain Matthew. Before I go on, you may be wondering why Andrew was still in bed even though he was awake. Well he's not allowed to get out of bed until there is a 6 on his clock (which we have moved back about 30 min). So Andrew started to move the curtains and look out the window to see if Matthew would do the same. Sure enough he did and Andrew thought this was great. So it became a game and we could hear both of them belly laughing. Drew decided it would be best to let them get up early since we just got these expensive "blackout shades". So we went in but it was so fun to see them enjoying being roommates.