Today

Outside my window: it’s supposed to be another scorcher in the 80′s with high humidity but honestly I wouldn’t know. Two sick kids with a summer cold have me stuck inside today while I attempt to quarantine the yuckies out of them. Wish me luck!

This weekend: Was a hot, hot, hot one and we spent much of it either praising the AC, going out to eat to avoid cooking or dousing each other in water with a good old fashioned water fun fight! We’ve been reviewing the Aeromax Fire Power Water Shooter (check my review blog in a couple weeks for the final review) so water gun fights were a must.

The Fighters:

Daddy had the Super Soaker, a classic bad boy of the Water Gun Family. He also had years of water gun experience to his advantage.

MM was armed and dangerous with the Aeromax super shooter which holds up to 60 squirts of water and can shoot up to 30 feet! Watch out daddy!

Little BB, all confidence, was toting a tiny pink pistol that was actually empty the whole time. She doesn’t need water, her sheer cuteness and ability to shriek inconsolably if anybody dared to attack her were defense enough.

Mommy held an expensive camera and made it clear that if anybody sprayed her, certain doom was imminent. Sneaky mommy.

Other than that we’ve been: reveling in all BB’s new birthday gifts. We had that perfect blend this year of really getting just enough. Everything was truly terrific and well loved.

My aunt sent her a Packers t-shirt from Old Navy that had us swooning because we’ve officially declared ourselves Cheeseheads. And of course the Green Toys tea set that we got her has been in constant use from both kids. Tea parties are now officially all the rage!

It was also a big year for stuffed animals like this adorable little Fairy from another aunt. There are more wonderful stuffed animals I need to photograph well like the adorable giraffe, the sweet baby doll and The Puppy which we got with some gift money from great grammy. Puppies are BB’s basically favorite thing in the world so this is a pretty big deal. You wouldn’t think it with all my adorable pictures, but BB is REALLY hard to photograph and completely unwilling to help at all with pictures of cute things. It’s all luck, guys.

Right now I’m reading: The Princess Bride by William Goldman on my kindle. I finally finished The Lonely Pologyamist (don’t even ask) and wanted to read something FOR ME before moving on to the next big honking humongous book club pick, Cutting For Stone which we’ll be discussing at the end of the month. Lucky The Princess Bride reads quick so I should have enough time to do both this month.  I had orriginally selected this for my Classics Self Challenge, but reading it now I question it’s Classics eligibility. It was written in the 70′s and it’s a satirical fiction with a bit of fiction within fiction within… and although it’s not the best work of fiction ever written, it’s clever and fun and exciting and I think most people would consider the movie a classic, so why not the book? Your thoughts?

Links worth clicking:

• We’re going GREEN at Mommas Review for the next two weeks with eco-friendly reviews and giveaways. Today we’re giving away a really cute Animal Friends Arranging Game by HABA. It’s one of my kids’ favorite toys and I think you’ll love it!
• Have you seen the tutorial for making a chipmunk from an old winter glove? Genius! Check it out at Barley & Birch!
• Simple Mom recently wrote an update on her shampoo-free lifestyle that actually encouraged me to try the same thing! Guess what? It totally works, it’s totally cheap, it’s totally awesome – even the handsome husband has tried it and gives his two thumbs up!
• You can get rid of your deodorant, too! Hubby found that using one part corn starch and one part baking soda is a great deodorant replacement. Another cheap, green idea that totally works! People with sensitive skin might want to try the gentler recipe at this link to be on the safe side. It just uses more corn starch, but we’ve had no problems with out 1:1 blend.
• Did you see this adorable craft at Ohdeedoh to help keep bugs out of your cups during cookouts? Love it!

I had a fun mom moment actually said yes this week when MM begged to ride in the Costs Money rides at the food court. With like putting money in and all! At 75cents this really is a bit of a rip off, but the looks on their face were worth it.

Little BB is getting so big and it always shows how much when we go to the play area and I see her climbing higher and better and braver each time. Where did my baby go? Also, can we acknowledge this action shot taken with my cell phone?