So this weekend my friend Erin visited and we went…well…everywhere. I’ve got a super cool giveaway coming up from Connecticut Tourism so I’m saving three dozen (or maybe slightly more) of the photos for that post but I have a VERY pressing question for you today:

Formal shorts – A Thing or Not A Thing????

Close up of my shorts

On Suzanne:

Shirt: Dress Barn
Shorts: Old Navy
Shoes: ModCloth
Purse: Jason Wu for Target
Necklace: Target

I didn’t actually ask Erin to give me a rundown of her entire outfit because that would have been sort of weird. So maybe she can tell us where she got that really cute dress in the comments.

I told E I was going to wear formal shorts and he laughed at me. I say they’re just as good as a skirt except more comfortable with less of a chance of accidentally flashing my underwear when I fall off my RIDICULOUS shoes.

Either way, I like them. Unfortunately they were not lucky formal shorts. Stupid magic unicorn slot machine took all my money. True story.

You know you are getting kind of desperate for adult-only time when you dress up to go to Friendly’s and to the movies. This was my attempt at CASUALLY fancy, like “Oh, this old thing? I wear this to weed the garden! These are my dishwashing shoes! I always carry a giant clutch when I’m jogging!” but I don’t think I fooled anyone.

Scarft: H&M
Dress: Old Navy
Shoes: Missoni for Target
Clutch: Krust
Cuff bracelet: Spiffing Jewelry

Evan’s wearing Christmas jamz and having a great time playing with the camera remote.

When I add the pink to my hair this time I left it on a lot longer so it is REALLY pink. I also dyed the rest of it blonde (blonder) a few days ago, although it STILL isn’t the color I was going for. I think when it grows out a little and my roots look terrible I’m going to have to suck it up and go get it done by a professional. Or maybe I’ll start buying Sun-In by the gallon and bleach it the way I did in college. HAWT.

p.s. The Hunger Games was amazing. As was the enormous chocolate peanut butter sundae I shoved into my face for dinner.

Wooooooooooo Date Night!!! My super old husband turned 32 yesterday. I get to call him super old until I turn 30, so it’s a good thing I’m only 22.

We celebrated in style with a little birthday music:

A super delicious carrot cake:

Swear to God, the best cake I've ever baked - and it was from a box and made with applesauce instead of oil.

I managed to light all 32 candles with only one minor thumb burn:

Plus we only burned one tiny hole in the tablecloth!

Then we put the kids to bed, left our babysitter on the couch with the remote and hit Mohegan Sun. It’s handy that we have two of the biggest casinos in the world right down the street.

E's yearly cigar, one of the many cool light fixtures, Leffingwells Bar

Fake sky over Leffingwells

Indoor river, riding the elevator, ceiling over the craps table

You know how people throw coins in fountains for good luck? At casinos, they throw CASH.

We brought home hats "for the kids", Birthday Krispy Kremes, my handsome husband

Terrible cell phone photos are what happen when you're too embarrassed to take a real picture at home in front of the 19 year old babysitter.

Sparkly top: Dress Barn (I’m not even ashamed, they have cute shirts)
Jeggings: Nordstrom Rack
Ridiculous platform heels: Charlotte Russe
Earrings: I don’t remember and it doesn’t really matter since you can’t see them.
Clutch: Ditto the earrings

We lost, of course, because that’s what you do at casinos but it was SO GOOD to be out and doing adult-type things without having to wipe anyone’s nose or mouth or butt. We chatted with grown-ups about things other than our kids. We made angry faces at the douche-canoes who sat down in the middle of our blackjack shoe (because we’re so fancy and worldly we know that’s poor manners). The kids slept the entire time and didn’t even know we ditched them. Let’s do it again soon!

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband and Happy Sunday to you!

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.