Yeah, so we went to the aquarium again. I know you’re super excited to see more fish pictures. I don’t even know why I TAKE them anymore, since my hard drive is full of out-of-focus, blue-tinted photos of the back of my kids’ heads. Every time I get home all excited because I KNOW that THIS time I got a killer shot of a hermit crab I discover that it’s just an orange blur and I am not actually talented enough to take photos in such low light.

BUT! This is one of those times where I can genuinely say I’m posting on my “oh I started it as a journal of my pregnancy to keep my family updated blah blah blah” blog and mean it.* My mom buys us our membership each year and when I don’t post enough photos of us using it she starts to ask if we’re still using it.

YES, MOM. Enjoy the pictures. At least I put them in collages so the rest of you don’t have to scroll through all 30+.

I’ve been to this aquarium several dozen times and I have NEVER seen the octopus do anything put hide in the corner. This time he was trying to eat my kid through the glass. Cool but kind of (totally, completely) freaky.

 Yep, I’m petting a shark in that bottom picture. Badass, right?

And then my 2-year-old touched a shark. I feel much less badass.

Someone was having such a good time he had to be dragged out and then bribed with Five Guys for lunch. OK, maybe the Five Guys wasn’t absolutely necessary, but it was delicious.

Also, we all wore clothes. Shocking, I know.

On Me:
Dress – ModCloth
Leggings – Old Navy
Sweater – H&M (From college! It’s missing 75% of its buttons so I used pin)
Boots – Old Navy
Evan Bracelet – Gift from my Aunt Susan
Silver cuff & earrings – Spiffing Jewelry

On Caroline:
Jacket – Hand-me-down, Toughskins
Top – Hand-me-down, Carters
Leggings – Old Navy
Shoes – Hand-me-down, Converse

OK, next weekend maybe we’ll go someplace else. Or not. Probably not.

*True fact: I actually started the blog to entertain my online friends with gross pregnancy symptoms. My family was never supposed to find it.

I might have mentioned we really love the aquarium this time of year. It’s close, it’s fun, we have a membership and it’s always EMPTY. The kids love running around and I love the nice clean carpeted floors so they don’t hurt themselves. There’s a limited amount of trouble they can cause (KNOCK ON WOOD) and unless Caroline accidentally gets the crap scared out of her by a barking sea lion (oops) they both enjoy themselves.

Yesterday when the choice was either Finding Nemo from the couch or finding Nemo down in Mystic we went with the house-leaving option. One of these days Evan is going to start asking questions about why Nemo is locked up in a tank instead of living out a long and happy life on the reef – and when he does I will distract him with a cookie. It’s hard enough to explain what happens to Coral in the opening sequence. Hey Disney, could you QUIT KILLING OFF EVERYONE’S MOM? Kthanxbai.

Oooooh let's name the zones, the zones, the zones

I feel like this fish is judging me

Those BOOTS. I die.

Some of the creatures at the aquarium weren't excited to be in my pictures

Evan wants to know why the school of fish won't do impressions

On Caroline:

Sweater – Hand knit by me
Shirt & pants – Hand me downs (Gymboree)
Boots – Hand me downs (Target)

On Evan:

All of it – Children’s Place

I tried speaking whale to the beluga. I think I offended him.

Photobombed by a WHALE

 On Mama:

Sweater – Express
Henley – Target (I think it’s technically a pajama shirt, which I totally forgot until just now)
Jeggings worn as pants (HORRORS) – Nordstrom Rack
Boots – Old Navy
Cuff – Rue 12 (too bad you can’t see it, it was the most interest part of my outfit)

This whale REALLY wanted to tell me something. Also, you can see my hair, which I actually did something to for the first time in ages.

Tired of real life fish. Time to go home and watch them on TV instead.

I’ll try to go somewhere more interesting next week so you don’t have to look at any MORE fish pictures. Maybe Evan will suddenly get obsessed with the Starbucks at Target or the clearance section at Old Navy.

Maybe some day far in the future my pictures from New Years Eve will involve high heels and parties and sparkly dresses and champagne drunk from something fancier than a plastic cup. But yesterday we celebrated the end of 2011 by getting Little Evan a haircut, taking a trip to Target for 75% off wrapping paper and opening the champagne at 9 pm in case I fell asleep. I’ve always sort of hated New Years – it’s built up to be SO GLAMOROUS and SO SPECIAL and a HUGE TURNING POINT in your life, when really it’s just like any other night. Even when I was younger and DID go out for New Years I never felt like I was having as much fun as I was supposed to be having. And not even once did Billy Crystal declare he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.

So instead of building it up and being let down, this year I just enjoyed having these two goofballs to hang out with all day and a husband to kiss at midnight any time I want to.

Twinsie trouble faces

You think they might be related?

Pushy

Whatchu lookin' at, fool?

Negotiating

She suspects she got the short end of the stick

Minding his own business

These aren’t the best SOS pictures I’ve ever taken, but there is no way to pose for photos at Target without feeling like a total idiot and we didn’t do anything else. But I DID put on real clothes after a full week of PJ pants and there is no way I’m letting that go undocumented.

Dance party!

On Evan:
Shirt – Old Navy
Jeans – Children’s Place

On Caroline:
Dress & leggings – Crazy 8 (dude, don’t even think about looking at their website unless you’re prepared to spend mucho bucks on adorableness)

On Suzanne:
Tank – ModCloth (bought on sale last week, now gone)
Sweater – Target
Jeggings – Nordstrom Rack (I’m not even ashamed, they’re SO comfortable)
Boots – Old Navy
Necklace – Lisa Leonard
Bracelet – Spiffing Jewelry (it says “I curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal” and rocks my socks)

Party picture post tomorrow, but I thought I’d do my party outfit today. Technically we didn’t step out to anywhere, but the house was so festive with lights and decorations and friends it felt like we were someplace really special!

On Caroline:
Onesie dress – Target
Tights – Gymboree

On Me:
Dress – H&M
Sweater and hair flower – Sears (Yup AND I used a coupon)
Tights – Rue 21 (pro tip: “One size fits most” means “one size fits if you are less than 5’5″ otherwise you’ll be tugging them up all damn night”)
Heels – Missoni for Target
Belt – Betsy Johnson (bought at TJMaxx)

I spent weeks online shopping for a dress – because I wanted to be a little fancy as the hostess but not REALLY fancy because I’d still be cooking and making drinks and chasing kids – but didn’t order anything in time. When I ran to the mall to pick up the play kitchen I dashed into H&M and grabbed ever party dress. Let me tell you, I am WAY TOO OLD for about 75% of the stuff they sell. There is nothing about knit fair isle leggings with a crop top that appeals to me. But this tulle dress was cheap and cute (and a bit short, hence the tights) and I was thrilled that I fit into a nice, reasonable size 10 at a trendy store. Although considering how much I ate at the party, it probably wouldn’t fit today!

Linking up with The Haps!

The place that has the sunflowers in the summer also does a corn maze and hay ride in the fall. I talked my friends into dragging their toddlers out into the cold evening for some ice cream (obviously the snack of choice when it’s 50 degrees out) and some fall fun and ended up having pretty much the best night I’ve had since having kids. Or at least right up until my friend Jessica lost her engagement ring in the GIANT CORN PIT. Her yellow gold engagement ring. (Spoiler alert: they found it!) But even sifting through a literally ton of corn kernels couldn’t ruin the rest of it.

Here’s the rest of it:

I totally forgot to get a steppin’ out picture until AFTER I’d been rolling around in the corn for an hour, so I am FILTHY with corn starch.

On Caroline: Head to toe hand-me-downs
Pumpkin hat seen in other photos hand-knit by me
(Although it’s really too small already. I’m making her another one & need to find someone with a small-headed baby for this one. Or at least a slightly younger baby. Do YOU have a 4 or 5 month old who needs a hat?)

On Me:
Fake fake Uggs – Walmart, at least 2 years ago and damn do I love them
Jeans – Old Navy
Shirt – Target
Hoodie – Target (half of a very sexy sweat suit set)
Necklace – Lisa Leonard swag from The Creative Connection last year

p.s. Every time I start to feel really good about the quality of my photos I end up lost in a Pinterest wormhole of truly gorgeous and professional pictures and realize I know NOTHING about photography. All the fancy lenses in the world aren’t going to make me a better photographer until I sit down and actually LEARN THE BASICS that my brain seems so reluctant to absorb. Plus even if I DID learn all the things, there’s a level of natural talent involved that I just don’t think I have.  My only consolation is that on a night like this one I was having too much fun participating to stop and set up every shot I wanted to capture. I’m just a MWAC (mom with a camera), and I’m mostly OK with that.

p.p.s. It also helps that E has finally gotten on board with playing assistant photographer, which is why I’m actually IN half of these shots. If only he understood how to take a more flattering photo of my double chin I’d be golden.