- The longest and most random and worst post EVER! -

Oy, oy, oyyyyy, it's been a bitty bit since I've checked in here [but really, no surprise; just another one of my hallmark rounds of binging then backing off, right?]!

Every hiatus eventually ends with a set of piss-poor excuses, but I think these are slightly above par for my typical run-of-the-mill reasons:

+ We're just really reveling in day-to-day life with our super fun, always adventurous TWO year old! She's a busy little bee and keeps us on our toes!

+We bought a subdivision lot! [Cue millions of exclamation points!!!!!! We're ditching our mini-house sort of soon!] ...And so therefore, I've been working some extra weekend shifts to pay that sucker down! $$$ #missinginaction and #noonecares but #dolladollabills

+ Life in general [two-year-old shenanigans aside] is just full speed ahead, and we have pics! pics! and MORE PICS! to prove it! :) 

A'ight, cool... As the title of the post foreshadows, I'm pretty sure this will be the longest and most random and worst post ever, but hang tight and let me just satisfy myself by catching up the blog our life's diary in 3.78 minutes with 541 photos:

A few days after the big birthday fiesta finished, we scribbled out Harper's birthday thank yous [I know these are cards that only a mother could love, but naturally...I ADORE THEM!]...

...and also got a glowing report from the pediatrician at her 2-year well child visit!  Little Miss weighs 28lb, 12oz and stands 36.5 inches tall; a lot of personality in a tiny little body! Doc said she's perfect, but of courseee we already knew that. ;) :)

Sometimesss we try our luck with a "sleep-in Saturday" trick, but nope! Neva neva neva.

Oh, here's where our future house will stand...............(!!!)...

...and meanwhile while we are away rubbernecking our new property, all the animals are back at the mini-house coloring with Crayolas and taking naps in full wardrobes jussssst as Harper instructed them to do.  I love Harper's imagination sooo much!

Every once in a while, Harper has her BFF/cousin Kate over to play...

...and when Kate isn't around, baby cousin Van quickly fills the void.

Oh yeah, Van got baptized last weekend, and Brian is his Godfather!  Welcome to God's family, little man!

[[Back to Kate: happy [very belated] birthday, sweet princess!!!]]

Aside from all those parties and celebrations ^^, we've been humoring ourselves on the postage stamp lawn with new landscaping projects...

...and chalk murals...

...and garage cleanouts/machinery fixes.  Like Dada like daughter, no?

BASICALLY, we're just letting this little toddler rule/run the house and are sitting back and enjoying the ride! ;) :) 

 Wow......that was even more awful than I first thought it would be...  Peel your eyelids back open and hope for better luck when I check back in next month!

Bye now.  :-*

- "Mom, hey mom, you can tell that one's a boy!!!" -

...exclaimed one excited/inquisitive preschooler-aged onlooker.  Standing by her was a clump of older kids on their school field trip attempting to sketch some very detailed pencil handiwork of the elephant; and next to them, I caught a glimpse over the shoulders of three teenagers who were furiously editing Snapchats to enhance the more obvious characteristics of Mr. Elephant's masculinity. 

MEANWHILE, Harper barely noticed the ten-ton tusker because she couldn't remove her gaze from the ginormous piles of dung in the habitat. "El-fent! POOOOOP! Stiiiiinks! Poooooo, mama! Stinks!"

The St. Louis Zoo: providing entertainment for all ages since 1904.

...Which is why we NEVER decline Grammy's offer to hit up the zoo on a random Tuesday morning!

It was all fun and games until we hopped aboard the choo-choo:

But once the terror train unloaded, all was swell again. 

We finished scaling the perimeter of the zoo, oohed and ahhed over every single "aminal" [even the prairie dogs and alligators] and then headed back to the car.  Of course, we couldn't leave the city without driving through SLU and seeing all the tulips [AKA SLUlips!]...

Oh St. Louis, we love you so!!! 

- Another year wiser... -

...and fatter and wrinklier and wittier and the list could go on and on and on but I know most of y'all know how it feels to get old and be so damn close to the top of the hill that you can start to see the grass on the other side ...........annnnd the mood of this post is already getting sour so I'll just go ahead and cut myself off right there. 

Phew.

When I peed on a stick in 2014, my finicky little type-A self did some super quick mental math and realized Baby F's due date was four days before my birthday.  I [sort of happily] succumbed to the fact that mid-March 2015 and every March going forward for forever would be a time to celebrate our newest addition; it would never be about me ever ever ever again..........

^^ Wrong.  Pink balloons and a plastic tiara all for the pretty pretty princess.  #attentionbemine

But fo' real, I must admit that I'm kind of embarrassingly pleased that my family has never gotten burnt out after Harper's blowout fiestas and there is always still plenty of birthday energy to go around [even just a week later!].  My cousin and her girls so very luckily happened to be home from Nebraska, so my mom hosted a girls' brunch for the bunch and fun was had by all!

Thanks to my favorites for coming to celebrate! Grammy, Harper, and the spoiled bert-day b*tch had a nice, long afternoon nap together after brunch^^, then back home to our house where Brian was waiting with flowers and presents and cake [oh my!]!  We couldn't figure out what happened to the cake until we saw a blue-lipped bandit running around the house.....

I know I'm a spoiled little smart@$$, but really totally truly, THANK YOU so much to the wonderful family and friends who made my day so special!  I hate getting old, but every year just keeps getting better and better; I know this year will be no exception!!! 

Cheers to 28! 

xoxo

- #kishme - I'M IRISH! -

...But even if we weren't Irish [which I guess we sort of aren't], we'd still be kickin' it at the party of all parties; because when another March 17 rolls around, DOGTOWN is the place to BE!  We were suckered into this parade/celebration mostly by default when my bachelorette pad [so very conveniently!!] happened to be on the corner of the two main streets of the festival.  Not gonna lie: I/we threw down some kick@$$ St. Pat's Day parties back in the day, and the rest? Welp, it's history.  ;) :)

We decided to let our littlest leprechaun in on the fun, too... Matching hats with Grammy!

Oh March 2018....... You're already so anxiously awaited! :)))

- Cheers to the birthday girl!!! -

**********

Tear tear tearrrrr and more tears; this momma just plowed through an entire box of Kleenex like it ain't no thang! It absolutely goes without saying [but I'll say it anyway] that the past two years have been the BEST two years of our lives! Time has never ever ever flown by so quickly! ...I remember snuggling our 8lb, 4oz bundle of joy and cleaning up liquid/projectile infant poop like it was juuuust a few months ago... Watching this sweet baby grow into a beautiful, well-mannered little lady has been the biggest privilege, and I'm so so sooo happy and honored and humbled that God chose Harper for us!!! 

So...[without further rambling]...

Birthday party pics! Cheers to the birthday girl! It's fun to be two!

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to youuuu, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR HARPER, happy birthday to you!" :-* :-*

Presents, presents, and presents galore! [Just when I thought a tornado hit our house at Christmas time...]

Harper LOVES her newest cousin, Van!

When the birthday girl squeals for a nightcap, the good mom easily obliges.... :) ...and yes, that bumps the cookie count for the day up to three!

A good night of sleep and we were up for another jam-packed day of birthday fun! Off to the Science Center to celebrate our biggest accomplishment! ;)

Little Bear made it less than two minutes in the car before she was zonked out for the entire ride home!

But anyway...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, sweet baby girl!!! Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know! We hope you had the best birthday ever ever ever and are excited for everything that the year ahead will bring! 

xoxoxox