Friday, May 12, 2017

party it up

A look back at Alex's birthdays.
Hard to believe he is already 6!


1st birthday: Superhero Party
http://kaseymikelaughlin.blogspot.com/2012/05/superhero-birthday-decorations.html


2nd birthday: Bubble Guppy
http://kaseymikelaughlin.blogspot.ca/2013/05/alexs-bubble-guppy-birthday-details.html


3rd birthday: Lego Birthday
http://kaseymikelaughlin.blogspot.com/2015/07/lego-birthday.html


4th birthday: Paw Patrol
http://kaseymikelaughlin.blogspot.com/2015/12/2015-birthday-celebrations.html


5th birthday: Lego Jurassic World
http://kaseymikelaughlin.blogspot.com/2016/06/5-and-7.html


6th birthday: Lego Batman




Thursday, May 11, 2017

Alex...6



Hard to believe you are six Alex!!! We love you so much and are so thankful for you! 
You complete our family! Happy 6th birthday Alex James. 







Wednesday, April 26, 2017

#weekinthelife Monday / 2017

Monday. A new week!

6:00 am / Woke up to this one in our bed again. I think Mike brought him back to his bed 2-3 different times throughout the night too.


6:15 am / Coffee. Must have it today. I add in an extra drop of my Young Living Peppermint for an extra kick.


6:42 am / Rushing trying to get papers signed, backpacks filled, lunch made and books read.


 Still haven't poured myself that coffee..ugh. finally did after making lunches.


 6:50 am / Reading aloud to us. He did great!




 Thankful for his help in the mornings even when he is exhausted from working the night before.


7:05 am. / Leaving and saying bye



7:10 am / A special treat for Alex this morning and picked up my $1 refill for coffee in my mug from there.


8:05 am / Ready for the day. We have our whole school Monday meeting in the gym in just a few minutes and then MAP testing starts today. I'm testing third graders in a small group setting.


8:06 am / Had to show me his creation he made this morning while I was getting ready for the day. It says "Who will get across the volcano?"  Then he lifted up the red paper and showed me the map and path to take. 
 8:45 am / Pick up my students for testing. They worked so hard!



Sharing a little about our struggle during the start of #infertilityawarenessweek

  

2:15 pm / Working with my 2nd graders on our school/district ELL project 
 

3:05 pm / Getting ready for the afternoon slump that usually happens after school. Ningxia and Lemon Myrtle for the win!


3:20 pm / School is out and today I'm helping with the crossing guard and parent pick up. I have an internal goal to help get the students all loaded into their cars before 3:30. Today we didn't make it. ;)



3:45 pm / Headed home!


 4:10 pm / Alex desperately needed some new shoes. His Batman ones were ripped and the velcro was falling off. We had a successful trip which was great since he is super hard to shop for with shoes. In this pic, he is saying "Ewww....stinky feet!"


4:17 pm / oh my word. he grabbed my leg as we were leaving the store and wouldn't let go because he said that I needed new shoes too. I don't and didn't get any. He was mad and seriously did this for about 2 minutes. I dragged him along....lol. Thankfully there weren't many people where we were.


4:30 pm / Home and they wanted to trick Mike into opening the "new" shoes and they put Alex's old shoes inside. They thought they were hilarious.


4:45 pm / Park time!


4:45 pm / Gorgeous day. Playing hide n seek. In this pic I'm hiding in a big ol' tire and Evan found me in about 3 seconds. ha!




4:50 pm / Water break. Somehow Daddy was always "it" and I just noticed that Mike and Evan both have on their Superman shirts today. LOVE it.




5:15 pm / Chicken fajitas for dinner tonight. yum!


7:00 pm / Ready for bed. This one tried to talk me into watching another short show before bed. #nope

 7:30 pm / Mike's doing bedtime tonight and I'm headed to to my friend Allie's house to watch Dancing with the Stars.


Tuesday, April 25, 2017

#weekinthelife Sunday / 2017

This week I've been documenting our Week in the Life by taking photos of our everyday life.
Ali Edwards started this in 2005 and you can read more about it here.
Also I'm posting my pics on Instagram at @kaseylaughlin if you'd like to follow along.

 This Sunday started off at my parent's house since we were in St. Louis this weekend. Boys woke up around 6:30 am and started playing nicely together. Alex got this dog yesterday at Ikea and at first he named it Woof, Woof and then they both decided that they should name it Jack.

We played for a little bit, ate breakfast, and then got ready for the Zoo to meet up with friends.



Arrived at the Zoo and it was a gorgeous day. Boys got new sunglasses from my parents for Easter and were happy it was sunny to wear them. When we arrived it wasn't too crowded at all which was nice and by the time we left two hours later, at noon, it was packed.


 Everyone loves the sea lions.


LOVED the polar bear this trip! She was swimming all around and we all stood mesmerized for awhile! She is cute!


 Walking through to see the rhino and the elephants. Evan was a tad upset because Alex also sat with him in the cave.


SO thankful for these great friends who happened to be up in St. Louis for Savannah's band concerts. Thankful we got to meet them at the zoo and enjoy the day!


 Also loved seeing the cute baby elephant!


 When we left the zoo I had two upset boys because they thought they were going back to MeMaw's and Papaw's house instead of driving home.



 Luckily traffic wasn't bad. We rented a car for the weekend since I had to go back and forth to Columbia and St. Louis twice and we didn't want to put the miles on our leased van. Luckily Enterprise has a weekend special that isn't too bad price wise 



These are two of my must haves when I drive. Dr Pepper and orange tic tacs. 



Got home and was so tired from the busy weekend of our department end of the year get together and a girls night out and the zoo. I set my timer for 25 minutes and took a quick power nap while the boys got rest time in their rooms with their ipads. It was glorious!


After waking up, I realized that I needed to return the rental car and Mike was working evening shift. Thankfully I texted my friend and Allie saved the day! She met us at the rental place while I put the keys in the drop box and she took us back home. And I love catching this one in a relaxed mood with a genuine smile on his face. 

 Got home and had a quick dinner and boys got to play with some of their new toys they bought with their Easter egg hunt money from MeMaw and PaPaw. Alex chose a small arctic fox and Evan got 15 small animals. We also read some books and relaxed.

Cheesy face 
 Tired boys









Bedtime reading. Tonight we read Zero the Hero, Paw Patrol Pirate Adventure and Red

 '
 After boys are in bed, I start making lunches for school on Monday. I try to get most everything ready the night before. Sometimes it happens and other times it doesn't.


 Finishing up a load of laundry from St. Louis. Luckily it wasn't much as my mom did two loads for us while we were there.


Diffuser going with Cedarwood and Lavender for boys and the fish are still going strong. One last check on boys before heading to bed myself.