Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What a bunch of turkeys!!!

Twizzle Sleepytime

These are actual pictures from tonight's sleepy time. 

Have a good night!

Who doesn't love a good Before/After?

It's not quite perfect, and decorating on a shoestring when you've inherited a house full of furniture you didn't pick out is trickier than you think, but here's a flavor of our Beach House reveal:

The living room is the first thing you see when you walk in the door.  It was loaded with pink-flowered drapes (with an ocean hiding behind there), lots and lots and lots of seating, and a fireplace with pink starfish tile and green grout.  And did I mention the walls?

Before: walking in.  You basically saw the back of a white leather sofa

After: walking in

Before: looking down from balcony

After: from balcony

Before: From dining area looking towards stairs

After: from dining area looking towards stairs.  Ignore the former dining room table top in the background leaning against the wall... it's soon to be reincarnated as a playroom table at the Green Machine

 I think these photos prove that white paint is the answer to all of life's problems, right?  For those of you who think it's not that great.... for us, a lot of room for Coco us to spread out is key.  And we don't need to all sit on our own couch to do it.  You don't believe me?  Here's the proof - a little Sunday post-beach winddown:

That's the Pizz watching Madagascar, Coco snoozing, Mila-me terrorizing petting Ham, and The Editor doing a puzzle (huh? yep, you heard correctly).

And, for the ultra-curious BY reader, a few of the details about the living room transformation:

• The walls and trim were both painted my favorite color: Super White (Benjamin Moore)
• The sofa and love seat were inherited.  As were the end tables, coffee table/trunk, bamboo chair, TV and one lonely plant.
• The rest of the furniture was either consigned or given away.  We are still getting checks from the consignment shop, which will probably end up funding about 15% of the reno budget we gave ourselves.  Yay!
• The old shaggy carpet went, and was replaced with Hamilton-friendly recycled-content FLOR tiles.
• The old accent pillows all received new covers made by yours truly, the DQ2.0/"Dr. Reno" as the editor calls me, after watching a tutorial on YouTube.  He didn't believe I could sew anything.  I showed him!!

More before and afters to come!!

Sunday Fun-day!

So, while the Queen is away at work, the minions shall play!!!

This one is called "Hiding from the Editor"

"Sass amongst the Chaos!"

"More Sass!"

"I'm in for a World of Trouble"

"Trying to make Sand Angels!"

 

"The End?"

 

Who says you can't go to the beach in November???

Going on a Disney Adventure!

Around here, it's all about princesses.  Even Coco seems to think that Cinderella should drive his lego ambulance around (poor guy, growing up with two sisters).

So, the lucky girl (a.k.a Princess Pizz) and the Editor embarked this morning on a Disney Adventure!  4 days on a cruiseship with Ita, Wowo, Tia Cristina, Uncle Mike, and her primos - Ella, Grayson, and Lulu.

I was tasked with packing one 4-year-old child and one 37-year-old daddy into one very manageable bag.  The Editor seemed to think a roller bag would be the best option, but since the last plane trip with the Pizz is still etched in the forefront of my mind (puke, puke, and more puke), I disagreed.  This sort of thing calls for maximum Disaster Preparedness - hands free, 4 changes-of-clothes, shampoo-at-the-ready sort of preparedness.

So, tiny shoulder bag was packed with 4 changes of clothes (for each of them - people, I do my job well!) + one princess costume + princess slippers + flip flops, suits, etc.  And Daddy's kit.  And for good measure 1 Leapster (thanks Lala!) + one new book + one princess magnetic drawing board.  The Pizz insisted on a sparkly purse and her tiny stuffed horse to carry around, like one of those women who carry small dogs in their shoulder bags.

They woke up super-early (The Editor barely slept, travel anxiety being his modus operandi and everything).  The Pizz woke up and got decked out in cuteness for her big trip.  We had one last check for lice (yes, you heard right.  Another outbreak at her school has us paranoid.)  Clean as a whistle! Whew!  And off they went at 5:45am!

And of course, at the airport the Pizz was cuteness and manners personified... just until the time she threw up all over the plane.  Again.  (Poor Editor, considering he has a train, another plane, a taxi ride, and 4 days on a boat to get through, before reversing this process with little-Miss-motion-sickness!)  Someone get that man a drink!

The end of another era....

Those of you in the BabyYarnoz blogosphere know we've been through some childcare, and some more childcare, and some more childcare.  And so far we've been blessed with some awesome people.  For some reason (gosh, I don't know why??) taking care of BabyYarnoz is a tall order.  And for the past 15 or so months, Amanda has been living up to it.

Alas, although we would love to force Amanda to live here forever, she has found the opportunity of a lifetime, living on a beach in Mexico scuba diving for a living.  Why would she want to do this instead of taking care of three screaming toddlers?  It's a mystery to us too, folks.

So, today's first blog (what?!? a day with 2 entries!! This hasn't happened in years!!) will pay homage to Amanda with a hundred out-takes of what was supposed to be a family photo:

Bye bye Amanda!  We will miss you!
Hasta luego, as we say in BabyYarnozVille.
(And yes, I did have to answer a hundred "Where's 'Manda?" questions from Coco this morning.... seems like he wanted to go on your big 'Venture with you!!)

BabyYarnoz goes to the beach

In the interest of full BY disclosure, you will be seeing a lot more photos taken in a beach setting.  Why? You ask.  Because BY now has a beach house!  Yay!

It turns out it wasn't enough to spend 2 hours getting ready to go to the beach, driving out at the crack of dawn to get a parking spot, and braving life without a potty all day, only to spend less time actually AT the beach than preparing for and cleaning up after the beach.

Nope, we crazy kids had to go out and find a beach house to call our own.

The beauty of it is that the kids love it terribly.  5 hours in the sand is not enough for them.  And we like it because it doesn't take all day to get them there and back!  Hooray!

Who cares if it's fall outside? 

Deep Halloween Thoughts

So, we have survived Halloween #2!  It was a fun time, and the Twizzles partook (er... partaked?  partaken??) as well.

Here are what highlights I can remember:

• Mila seems to be unfamiliar with the whole process.  When they open the door, she yells "Trick or Treat!" then gives THEM candy.
• Court has it made in this neighborhood.  We were 5 or 6 families in the pack, about 8 kids all the same ages, and he was the only boy.
• Whoever invented Halloween didn't have 3 kids 16 months apart.  We were exhausted, people.

And here it goes for the terrible iPhone pics: