I like this picture of Kai because it captures exactly who he is; happy and energetic, bounding from one place to the next. His elements of choice: dirt and sand.

The other day, when I was trying to convince him to do something because he’s a little boy now, his response was,

“I not a wit-tle boy.
I not Kai Ethan Kirk. (his full name)
I just Kai.”

Dax is such a smiley, laughy baby, I’m convinced he’s going to be a witty jokester when he grows up.

You spray yourself with stain-remover instead of the intended wrinkle-reducer. Two days in a row!

And, you have absolutely no qualms about baring a month-old pedicure at church. With nail polish grown out nearly half-an-inch, I present to you the newest “mom” trend; The Reverse French-Tip.

Gorgeous, gorgeous loft. I am practically drooling. More pictures here.

I don’t think I’ve watched a music video with this much symbolism, imagery, and metaphorical content since, well, ever. You’ll probably need to watch it at least a couple of times to catch the details I outline below, so first, watch the video and enjoy it (I highly recommend full-screen mode):
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I have two tickets to the Dodgers game this Sunday, July 27th, against the Washington Nationals, that I need to give away ASAP! The seats are in Section 21 FD, row P, seats 7 and 8.

Leave a comment, and I’ll hold a raffle for the winner. Make sure you leave contact info. The catch is, you have to pick them up in Ventura by Sunday morning. If no one bites, we’ll just assume that our entire (very small) readership is made up of upstanding Mormons that keep the sabbath day holy. Good for you.

** UPDATE ** Since I have received absolutely no responses, I gave them to a co-worker!

- Ryan

After last night’s Project Runway, I don’t think I’ll ever attempt to sew satin. Which is why I’m so excited to have found these on Etsy:

Capes!

In an effort to get Kai fully potty-trained, I intend to get him a cape and mask set for his third birthday in October. “You’re a super hero now! Super heroes don’t wear diapers–they wear underwear! Yeah!” (But I’ll leave out any mention of tights.)

I think my plan is brilliant. I’m excited.

Do you ever feel so busy, you just want to cave in and scrounge up fifty bucks to hire a cleaning person for a day? I’m at that point. I’m in the middle of putting together a cookbook for my moms group, the end almost in sight. Glad the front cover is done:

“Over fifty recipes inside!”

I think the picture I took came out half-way decent, considering I’m not a photographer and I used a mere point-and-shoot camera. Recipe here in case you’re interested (their picture is much better than mine!).

I still have about fifteen recipes to add, four design projects for Relief Society, a collage project for Kai to bring to Nursery this Sunday (and you bet I want to make it awesome), a website I still have to build, and of course, children to take care of and a household to manage. Yet, I find myself blogging and checking my Google Reader…

Alright, time for me to buckle down. I got a date tonight with Adobe InDesign and the Killers.

Part of the huge house we all stayed in at the Tahoe Keys.
I believe there were 22 of us in all.

Dax checking out the new terrain in the backyard.

Can’t get enough of the lagoon.

The paddle boat in the back was the activity du jour.

Family photos the next day. Here’s everyone trekking down the beach.

Kai and his cuz Alaeshya.
I’m amazed that Kai stayed clean in his white shirt.

Dinner that evening at Harrah’s to celebrate my grandparents’ 50th anniversary.

At the arcade in the casino.

Happy anniversary to Lolo and Lola!
More celebrating, more people, and more food back at the house.

Dax with his great-grandpa.

Hanging out at the lake the next day with my cousins.

What’s a beach trip without being buried in the sand?

And lastly, celebrating my birthday with my family.
The end.

So I headed to the mall last night, looking to blow some of my birthday money on a rare shopping trip for myself. I was set on getting a pair of skinny jeans or a new pair of gladiator sandals to replace my Isaac Mizrahi (for Target) ones.

But after trying on a number of pairs at Macy’s, I’ve come to the conclusion that skinny pants on me are hideous, designer and non-designer brands alike. I’ve tried on skinny jeans off and on the past few months at various stores, only to be continually disappointed that I look nothing like:

this hot mama.

Seriously, you need a thigh-to-ankle ratio of like, 1.2 to 1 to pull this look off. So I’ve decided to embrace the bootleg and not feel so bad I can never be as chic as Ms. Klum (sigh!) or Kate Moss (double sigh!). Looking balanced and well-proportioned trumps chicness any day.

After grumpily ditching five pairs of jeans in the dressing room, I perused the shoe section and finally settled on these:

B-day present #2. Slouchy, comfy boots.
Can I chase my children around in them? Check.

Confession: When I was pregnant with Dax, I sooooo wanted a tattoo. Not sure if it was my crazy hormones making me want to do something ‘bad,’ or if it was because I felt so un-fabulously maternal and huge and was desperate to be edgy, or maybe a combination of both. I think I ended up getting a haircut, instead.

But, anyways, Kai is a fan of body art, too. Crayola-style, thank goodness!

Tsk, tsk, bad lighting. I couldn’t wait till daytime.

A new Canon PowerShot to replace its aging predecessor. I love it; it’s much faster, smaller, has more memory, and just better all around.

One of these days, I’d love to get my hands on one of them Canon Rebels, but that’s not going to happen anytime soon unless we get stimulated by the government again with a pretty check. But in the meantime, the new PowerShot plus some Photoshop tweaking will do just fine!

Tahoe pics to come soon.

8-10 hour car drive.
Bring it on.

Looking at that map, I just realized we’ll be driving more than a third of the length of California. 495 miles, to be exact.

We’ll be gone until Tuesday, so if there are any weirdos out there reading our blog thinking they ought break into our home and steal our stuff shouldn’t. Because we don’t have anything of monetary value — with the exception of baby #3 our computer — but I promise you’ll be very bored, unless you like toys meant for 2-year-olds.

But I’m very excited to see my family. My mom is flying out from North Carolina, and I think she’s going to be beside-herself-happy at seeing the boys. We’re going to have a big celebration dinner for my grandparents’ anniversary on Sunday and then some cake for my b-day (gonna be 27!) on Monday. Fun fun.

Meanwhile, the boys will be missing their cat, but I think she will enjoy the break from the “petting” and “hugging” (grabbing and wrestling come closer to the real thing…)

Everyone’s mad at Obama. Jesse Jackson, now Ryan too.

I’m not in the mood to get political on all ya’ll, so email rjkirk@gmail.com if you’re interested in joining Ryan’s newly created group. Or, search for ‘Obama has Betrayed Us!’ on Facebook.

I asked for short, choppy, and asymmetrical, and got exactly that. I’m really happy with it, but I do miss tying my hair back.

New requirement when your little one starts getting around: keep the place clean. Somehow.

In all my two-and-a-half years of being a homemaking mama, I’ve finally caught on to the idea of pacing out the housework over the course of a week. You know, bathroom sink on Monday, kitchen counters on Tuesday, floors on Wednesday, a load of laundry pretty much everyday…you get the idea. Actually, you’re probably thinking, Duh! Been doing that for years!

Anyways, I’m pretty stoked by my new plan, and hopefully slaving away on Saturdays (or, um, coming home to a filthy house after a day of playing) will be old news.

Clean enough to be licked –
because it probably will be.*

I’ve also picked up a few time-saving tips that have simplified my life some, like washing fruit when I come home from the store or market so that they’re ready to eat. Or tidying up using a pile system; when I don’t have the time to put items back where they belong, I simply group them into like piles until I can put them away (like a toys pile, a books pile, or a ‘clothes that have been strewn all over the place by Kai’ pile, etc.) This works especially well for Kai’s room.

If you have any helpful, time-saving tips, do share!

*Just wanted to note that you are not seeing a sickly plushed, padded toilet seat — the picture erroneously rendered it such. Just so you know, and don’t think we’re gross.

Sooooo, I think I’m allergic to chocolate. Yeah. That’s right. Chocolate allergy.

Last night, I attributed the swelling of my throat coupled with what I’ll politely term “gastrointestinal distress” to some cantaloupe I had after dinner (who knows, I could also be allergic to melons). But no way it could be the chocolate cake. Not in a million years. Never, oh dear heavens, no!!!

But here I am again, throat tight, and a funny scratchy feeling at the back of my tongue, minutes after having me some mmmmm, chocolate cake…

This is bad to the max. Carob is strange and vanilla gets so played out. I guess I can always chase a chocolate dessert down with some Benadryl. Or stick myself with an EpiPen, though that may weird people out if we’re at a restaurant; “Don’t mind me, folks. Just, you know, injecting myself with allergy meds so that I DON’T DIE!” Or, I can just swear off of it entirely and be really really skinny for life (food allergies — it’s the new diet craze!). Catch is, husband will have to take up the no-chocolate vow, too, because it’s only fair.

Chocolate, I will miss you. It’s been a love-hate relationship (mostly love), but maybe one day we’ll be together again. Here’s hoping for a cure.