InstaFriday on a Monday

Because I am a mother of 2 young children...

and my Friday was crazy...

and my weekend was full of family and food...

InstaFriday will be on Monday.

My blog... my choice.

So after my last post, my refrigerator died.

And that my friends, is the intro into a very long, somewhat boring story entitled :

My refrigerator died, I had the worst attitude about it, I had to laugh at the absurdity of life, we had to pay $ we didn't have, and now I live in fear of of the refurbished fridge going ka-put because I am the one who shopped and bought it.

Your excited to hear it right?

So My fridge made horiible sounds for about a day and then everything turned to mush... of course this happened on a Saturday/Sunday.

 Lucky for us, we had this old, small, horribly disgusting fridge in the garage just waiting to be cleaned out and rolled inside to save the day.

The Captain was thankful for a ready-made back up.

I was horrified that this thing was about to come live in my kitchen.

God and I had to have a huge talk about my attitude.

and after some soul searching and some self-spoken, heavily loaded words "Cari your being a brat... be thankful!" I was begrudgingly OK with the disgusting fridge entering my home.

 It was brought inside an hour prior to Rigg's 3rd birthday party... here at my home. 

So this was the view in my kitchen... 2 refrigerators. 

We plugged in the second fridge... and waited... and waited...

and nothing.

2 refigerators in my kitchen, and hour before a birthday party is to be, and they both don't work.

Life is funny...

let's all have a big chuckle...

 So we lived out of a cooler for the next day and a half, in which I called a repair man, had him tell me it was going to be $$$ for a repair, went shopping all around town for scratch and dent and/or refurbished appliance places, and eventually bought a new fridge.

God had mercy on me and my terrible heart attitude. because not only did I not have to put the horrible disgusting fridge in my kitchen... I found this beauty for $325.

It is times like this when I remember how much God gives me that I do not really deserve.

and that's a lot, folks...

 Meanwhile, Rigg's birthday party went off without a hitch... except the 2 nonworking refrigerators in my kitchen... but it turns out family doesn't really care how many refrigerators you have in your kitchen and it was a talking point...

It was a Buzz Lightyear birthday... because little one is slightly obsessed...

 We crammed our family into our tiny house.

amd we laughed.

watched the kids play

and ate alien cupcakes

it was perfect.

 Rigg got his very own Buzz Lightyear doll.

He has slept with it and taken it everywhere since he opened the box.

I think it was a winner.

 The boys have been playing together more and more.

It is fun to watch them become friends.

 I took a little me time this week to paint my pigs... and swing on the porch, while the humidity made my hair into a crazy afro...I was pretty afterwards.

 Today my sister and my 2 beautiful nieces go home today. They have been here 2 weeks. I will miss cuddling this little one.

and that, my friends, is InstaFriday on a Monday.

InstaFriday

My week?

Cr-A-zy.

I will sum up a bit before the pictures.

Rigg turned 3 on Tuesday!

My Paw (my Dad's dad) passed away last Saturday.

 Due to the fact that my mom was still in CA, and my Nana and Paw reside 2 hours south, I traveled the 2 hour road trip (4 hour round trip) with my dad last Saturday to be with family.

I traveled it again on Tuesday for the showing and again on Wednesday (with kids this time) for the service.

I'm worn out! But so thankful for my family. I just love them! And knowing my Paw is in heaven, it wasn't goodbye... just, "see you soon."

OK... Insta-time.

T'was this dudes 3rd birthday this week. I cannot believe he is 3. Where has the time gone?

We are not having Rigg's family party until Sunday. But I really wanted to celebrate on his birthday. So I made some Toy Story alien cupcakes...

And we took them to the park and enjoyed them with friends.

Nothing like all your friends coming to the park on a beautiful day to swing, slide and eat alien cupcakes...

WIN!

I did finish my picture frame art project.

I made some prints for my kitchen.

and I love them.

a reminder that I need every single hour

and a cute tree with The Captain's and my initials.

These 2 are my absolute favorites.

This is hands down the greatest shot of my Nana and Paw... in my opinion.

I love how happy they are here... and Nana's red lipstick... AWESOME.

OK. So I have no Idea what year this is... but this shot of my Paw being baptized brought tears to my eyes.

I wanted to steal it and keep it forever.

I settled for taking a picture of the picture.

Still, I adore the look on his face.

Ummm... can you say precious?

caught the boys watching veggie tales way too close to the TV, which I ignored...

But the cuteness...worth it!

and Ryder...

he's rockin' the shoes and diaper combo.

ROCKIN' IT!

the big 3

Can you guess what today is?

Rigg can tell you. (wink)

And he is super stoked about his birthday, however, lately, when asked how old he will be, he says, with unbridled enthusiasm, "I tall!"

Yes you are, son.

I decided to post some pictures of Rigg from this last year.

They are not in order... that would require more organization, planning... and filing skills than I posses at this stage in my life.

(He is still super cute in EVERY shot.)

At three, Rigg loves Curious George, Monsters Inc., tractors, running, jumping, wrestling, Buzz Lightyear, chocolate, Pops, Papaw, Daddy, Ryder (some days), airplanes, the dolphins at the zoo, Bumblebee the Transformer at the children's museum, his shoes, OUTSIDE, the park, ice cream, popcorn and bacon.

Just to name a few.

He is a BIG Ol' ham. He loves to take his own picture or sit in front of a mirror and watch himself make faces. He calls EVERYONE under the age of 15 his friend and becomes so completely overwhelmed in what he is doing he ceases to hear you... at least that sounds better then doesn't listen to his mother.

Rigg is a stellar helper. He wants to be in the thick of things. Whether that is unloading groceries, washing a car, putting away clothes or painting Mommy's toenails... he wants to help.  Most of the time we encourage it... however, I shall paint my own tootsies, thankyouverymuch.

My current favorite Rigg quote:

setup: he is hiding/rooting around in my closet. He is completely hidden, and after a solid 2 minutes of silence, from the depths of my closet I hear...

"Where's.my.super suit?"

Rigg makes me laugh.

Happy Birthday Rigg-a-roo.

We love you to the moon and back.

InstaFriday

Well I did it!

Got another post up!

Be proud, folks, be proud!

Here is another InstaFriday post, (joining the masses over @ Life Rearranged) retelling my adventures from  this week...instagram style!

Ryder is all over the place, morning nap-wise. Many mornings he will fall asleep on the couch while chaos continues around him. One morning this week I found him asleep with his toothbrush and sippy in hand.

I guess he wanted to be prepared.

Book club met on Tuesday evening. My friend Lauren was there too. She is pregnant with a precious baby girl! She is just starting to show a little baby belly!

I am super excited for this little one! I keep calling her Cari, but I think I am the only one...

Rigg has recently found a love for seeing himself. And since he knows Mommy's camera can flip, he always wants to see himself for a picture. And then I  have to take about 9 before he is appeased.

Here he is puttin' out the vibe, " I cool, mommy."

My mom is in CA visiting my sister and seeing my niece for the first time. She is communicating mainly via text, which does not come easy for my mom.  Getting this text from her made me lol... because she used "lol".

funny stuff.

Rigg put his shoes on all by himself.

Right feet and all.

I think this is life changing... I am not sure how...but life.changing.

Remember last week when I said I bought frames and I was going to paint them... yeah, did it.

And they are awesome!

I might have painted a bit of the cement on the back porch too... details.

It gave me a good excuse to use some of my fun photo apps too.

How about you? What did you do this week?



InstaFriday

I am a tish bit addicted to Instagram.

It's an app on my phone (for all those who are like "what is an Instagram?") and it lets you use fun filters and share your photos with your followers and such...

I tend to stalk people through it... another story for another day...

Well, a blog I follow/stalk and LOVE... Life Rearranged, she does a great every Friday post entitled instafriday. It is a great way to show all those in your little corner of the Internet what you have been up to all week by sharing your instagram photos.

Truth be told, I have wanted to be doing this (that sentence sounds wrong... but I am going with it...) for awhile now, I am just too tired.lazy.busy.forgetful.rundown. Pick your answer. All will fit.

BUT TODAY

Today I will post an instafriday post, in hopes that it will happen again next week...

let us all not hold our breath...(breaths?)

Last weekend I went to Woodruff Place flea market. It was Beautiful, slightly crowded, and chock full of great stuff. 

I bought a $2 skate board. My initial plan was to put it on the wall in Rigg's room as a shelf. Ryder decided he wanted to try out his mad skills first.

I think it will still be a shelf...

I also purchased a few awesome old frames with some real depth and lots of nice shape to them. I am gonna spray paint them in some fun high-glossy goodness and hang some prints in my kitchen!

Took the boys to the zoo. The zoo has a splash zone. Ryder just ran and ran and ran, Rigg had to get warmed up a bit before the water seemed fun, but in the end they both came home wet.

 Also a trip to the Children's museum, Rigg could spend all day in the playhouse with the play food. He serves up a meal and then cleans it up... just to serve it again.

Snapped this sweet pic of the boys "eating" lunch.

It's happening.

They boys are starting to really play with each other. And along with that is some brotherly love.

my.heart.melts.

So back, I don't know, let's say...*cough*Christmas*cough*, the Captain bought me an awesome mug you can paint. It has been sadly neglected since, ...*cough*Christmas*cough*.

I was tired of looking at it's plain blackness... and/or the Captain put on a wounded face and asked why I hated his present.

So I painted me a dandelion, seeds blowing in the breeze... sigh, instant relaxation.

Found a Dora the Explorer motorized car at a garage sale for $15. Peeled all the girly stickers off, gave it a soap down, my Mom and Dad replaced the battery and now the boys have a fun ride for the boys.

Rigg is still learning how to steer, which button means forward and which one means you will run your brother over because he is right behind you... but it will come, it's early days.

   

I discovered that I am a culinary genius.  I was planning on making a certain dinner last week, and all my ingredients were wrong. I immediately scolded the girl who shops for us... which is me...

Hey, it's hard to focus with 2 really energetic boys in a crowded Wal-Mart...

Anywhoo, my blunder forced me to be creative, and the result was Iron Chef worthy.

Ok... I might be overstating a bit... But it was lick-your-plate-good.

  

Discovered that Ryder can hang on the bar at the park. Tried to get a pic of both the boys hanging together... but Rigg jumped down. It looks like Ryder is kicking Rigg in the head here.... but no worries... there was no head kicking, at least in this picture!

                                      

Well there you have it, some of my week!  Hope yours was filled with fun and productivity...

ahh, I miss that word...