Our Little Super Hero.

The other night Kai was just hilarious, which was not what we expected seeing as the rest of the night was pretty horrible. Brian got home and we let Kai play in his car for about 20 minutes. He loves playing in there and is perfectly content to do so. 20 minutes may seem like a long time to just stand around watching your kid play in the car, especially when he doesn't really want you to play with him, but don't be surprised when I tell you that a little earlier in the day we were out in my car for an hour doing the same thing. It had been raining on and off throughout the day and it could have started raining again at any moment, so hey, why not play beep beep in the car? He loved it, he's easy to watch and it's not like he's going to start driving off...well, let's hope not. So anyway, like I was saying, Brian gets home and Kai is playing in the car. At some point we decide we need to go inside and get dinner started. I should have known to put my battle gear on. We literally pry Kai's fingers off the steering wheel. Then we pry his fingers off the door. Then we ignore the extreme kicking and screaming "BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!" (heaven help us we're in for a long night). At this point we are inside and he is just NOT calming down. Nothing is helping. Not Melmo, not coloring, not his Jelly. Nothing. Finally just to get him to stop slobbering on the door I bring up bubbles. Bubbles he can play with on our deck easily enough and he can be outside. See? It's a win/win...until it's time to eat. Oh gosh, battle cry #2. He's not eating and it's not looking like he's going to. Gosh seriously? This goes on and on and on and on until finally we just throw him in the tub. Now as frustrated as we were, we did not LITERALLY throw him in the tub. I gently placed him in the tub and let him calm down a little until he was his happy little self. After his little fingers turned to prunes we hopped out...and this is where he turned on his humor.

He runs around naked for a bit shaking what his mama gave him (albeit, not much). Then he is dressed and ready for bed...suddenly out of nowhere is the ULTIMATE superhero. Hood, cape and all!! Time to get my game face on. We run around and around and around, jumping off furniture, fake shooting at each other, rolling on the floor to avoid objects (completely imaginary), and occasionally stop for a little rejuvenation (aka: milk). We had so much fun, so many laughs and we are just so very blessed.

SURPRISE Mommy!

Screaming at the top of his lungs.

I know I cut his face off, but I love this picture.

Jumping off things!

Blind hydration.

He just kept RUNNNNNNNING!

Running and screaming...

Hydrate.

You know those nights where you just can't stop laughing and you literally thank God for giving you so many blessings? This was one of them. We didn't plan on having Kai when we did, but God knew best and I can't say enough how PERFECT His timing was...like always :o) This kid just cracks me up and I can't imagine our life without him!

Love is in the air...

Giddy-UP!

I have this friend. Her name is Amber. She just got married last month - May 13th, which I will ALWAYS remember because it was Friday the 13th. Thankfully she married into a pretty awesome family, which, lucky for me, only live about 40 minutes away. I know what you might be thinking, "why does Lyndsey care that her friend's in-laws only live 40 minutes away from her?" Well let me tell you...because they're freaking awesome, that's why!!! Honestly if they sucked and I hated their guts then I probably wouldn't be writing a blog about them would I? No, definitely not. Blogs are meant for fun, happy, uplifting posts not "ohhhhh how I hate my friend's in-laws" posts. Come on now. However, in order for you to truly appreciate this post and understand how awesome, funny and loving they are, you'll need some background info. I'll try and keep this quick: Kai and I were both in Amber's wedding, which was a lot of fun and Kai was such a stud in his tux. The hard part was that I was a "single parent" when I was there because Brian had to work and couldn't come. Fortunately MY mother in-law came up the day of the wedding to help out with Kai. After we walked down the aisle Vicki took him, through the the whole reception Vicki watched him and then when it was apparent that Kai was ready for bed, she took him to the room and put him to bed, which allowed me to enjoy beautiful Amber's day! Now Kai and I flew in on a Tuesday night and the wedding wasn't until Friday...and this is where Scott and Trudy come in. They helped out so so so so so so so much!!! They watched him when us girls went and got our spray tan, they played with him every day, changed his diaper, fed him, played with him more, hung out with him during rehearsal so I could work my magic down the aisle, gave him lollipops during rehearsal dinner, they watched him during wedding photos and Kai just absolutely LOVES them. They became like family. Trudy even gave Kai a kiss on the cheek before he left the reception and it wouldn't come off for weeks, even after scrubbing. Okay, maybe not weeks, but it was a solid 5 days before it was completely gone. That is some dang good lipstick girl!!! Anyway, that is some background information of why I love them so much. I guess it wasn't really as quick as I thought...deal with it.

Since we've been back from Colorado we have wanted to go up and hang with Scott and Trudy, but as life goes, schedules get crazy, toddlers get cranky and life just gets busy. Lucky for us though, we were finally able to go play with them on Saturday. WOO HOO!! We met them up at their house and then headed into the boonies of Polo, MO to see their horses. At first Kai was a little timid...okay, he was pretty timid the whole time around the horses, but he still put his big boy boots on and gave Tyra a ride (big boy boots is not to be take literally, as he does not actually have any cowboy boots). He loved feeding Tyra and Mason treats and he kept calling them cows (we're working on that...) When he was on the saddle he kept saying "beep beep" when he pushed on the grip-handle thingy. I just realized how obvious it is that I am not a cowgirl. Really? Grip-handle thingy? I am ashamed.

While Trudy and Scott did some "chores" around the barn Kai and I jumped off stuff and tried to catch flies, which thankfully wasn't successful. Yuck. Just before we left though, they brought Kai into the barn to see the big tractor!! You should have seen Kai's face light up. It was like it was flippin' Christmas he was so excited. He sat up there screaming BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP! for a good 10 minutes while Scott tried to get it started. He was in beep beep heaven, for real. Scott took him for a little drive around the house and even let Kai take the wheel! What a brave soul. It is apparent that Kai definitely inherited his father's driving skills as I was less than impressed as he started veering off the road ;o) Kidding, he was a natural! He definitely had a good time and did NOT want to get off and leave. However, he was quick to fall asleep on our way back. We stopped at this BBQ place in Excelsior Springs, Wabash, which used to be an old train station. It was pretty good, but Kai was still sleepy and extremely cranky. His mood lightened though when the food came and he was able to dip dip his fries into the bbq sauce, mustard and ranch. Not to point any fingers, but SOMEONE (Trudy) put a little too much mustard on some chicken, which caused Kai to make one of the funniest faces I've ever seen and shun mustard forever. Shame shame.

We really did have a great time and had lots of laughs! Beautiful day, beautiful horses, beautiful people. Love.

First time on Tyra with Scott.

Real cowgirls wear flip flops and yoga pants. Right?

Petting Mason with Trudy.

On Tyra all by himself. Such a brave boy!!

Giddy-Up!

He is in LOVE.

Scott, teaching him how to drive. Seriously, how cute?!

The Alphabet...of right now.

Read this on another blog awhile back and thought it was something that I wanted to do. Forgot about it until recently, so here it goes:

A: Amato's pickles. For those of you who have never had an Amato's pickle, you are probably thinking, this girl needs to re-learn her alphabet because pickle should be under "P". Well have an Amato's pickle and you'll understand why it belongs under "A". So delish. Yep, I will get one of you soon. Very soon. Oh no, my mouth is watering. Only 3 more days...

B: Baby fever. Oh boy oh boy do I have this! Baby Lohrey, 2012 edition. I want one, I need one, someone please give me one...and by "someone" I mean Brian. I seriously ask him every.single.day if he is ready. I have already picked out my names, nursery colors, hair color, eye color...oh wait, you can't pick that out. Shoot. Well I already envision our next kid. Sigh.

C: Choo-Choo. Kai's obsession lately. We can hear the train from anywhere in town and every time one passes through Kai literally drops whatever he is doing, runs to a window (if we're inside obviously) to look for it and then asks in a surprised quiet voice, "where'd it go?" So cute. Everything is choo-choo. The cars and trucks that he would once say "vroom vroom" or "beep beep" now say "choo-choo". This kid kills me.

D: Dunkin Donuts. Oh my goodness where have you been all my life?! In just 3 short days I will be able to enjoy your tasty goodness every day. Multiple times a day. I seriously crave DD - it's horrible. I'm not talking "oh man I could really go for a large coconut iced coffee right now", I'm talking "HOLY MOTHER OF BLEEP IF I DON'T GET ONE SOON I MIGHT...(not appropriate for blogging)!!!" Luckily I have discovered a very convenient DD off of the exit where my SIL will be moving in just a few short weeks. Upside: I will get one every time I visit. Downside: I will visit multiple times a day (yes you read that correctly, multiple times a DAY) even if it is 45 minutes away. Hope gas prices drop soon because I'm not sure how long Brian will tolerate me driving 45 minutes for a dollar cup of coffee. Hmmmmmm I might test him on that one...........pick your battles right?E: Elmo. Another one of Kai's obsessions lately. This could also be put under the "M" since he calls him "Melmo", but I will spare you the repetition. When Kai woke up from his nap the other day I went in to get him, but instead of saying "MOMMY!" like he normally does he screamed "MELMO?" I immediately knew I was no longer #1 - how did I get replaced with a freaking big red fuzzy thing with eyes? Maaaaaaaan.

F: Fort Collins, CO. My heart is here. I want to move back and literally daydream about how great my life would be there. Some day. Fingers.Crossed.

G: Grand Prairie, TX. Where Brian and I spent our first 2 years of marriage, where Kai was conceived, where some of our really good friends still live. Now, I won't lie, I absolutely hated it when we first moved there and was pretty excited to leave, but after moving I realized the friendships that we had made when we were down there are just irreplaceable. I miss them. I miss our fun nights of playing cards and just laughing at a whole lot of nothing. I miss their true friendship, one that we will always always have and all because of GP. We miss you Matt, Lindsey and Avery!!!!!

H: Hubby McHubster. I thought most people knew him as Brian, but I was informed by one of his players that it's B-Lo or Coach Lo. My bad hater. No matter what he is called, he is great and I am so lucky to have him as my partner in crime. I only say "crime" because being with him is just so great it should be illegal. OHHHHHHHHHH. I know, I know, I'm lame. Now I'm starting to feel bad that he has to put up with my shananagins. Poor guy. Lucky for him I'm funny. Lucky for me he laughs, even when I'm not that funny. What a guy.I: Insomnia. Gosh dang why!?! At first I thought, well maybe it was because I took a nap one day, but then I didn't take a nap and still couldn't sleep. My mind needs to start shutting off when I lay my sleepy little head on the pillow. Brian says it's because I like to drink a cup of coffee at night, but come on caffeine isn't that powerful...is it ;o) (disclaimer: I do not actually drink coffee at night...well, not every night) But let me tell you something amazing (*sarcasm) that insomnia has done for me: it's made me addicted to to freakin' frakin' Deadliest Catch. Don't hate until you've seen it. And don't listen to Brian's opinion either ;o)

J: Jogging. Wow do I hate you. Nothing to make you feel out of shape like a quick little morning jog. Hands on knees, trying to catch my breath, can't feel my legs, oh gosh I'm going to vomit, jog. I loathe you.

K: Kisses. I love kisses. From Brian, from Kai, from my family. Lately Kai has really been into kisses too - like full on slobber kisses. Last night he kept kissing Kerington on the lips and she had to keep pushing his face away. We're gonna have to watch that kid.

L: Laundry rules my life. Every time I finish doing the laundry it magically piles back up again. Geez - seriously let's forget the Tooth Fairy and create the Laundry Fairy. I'd pay her way more for my laundry than a stupid tooth.

M: Mama Bear. Most amazing woman I know. Courageous, strong, brave, loving, funny, wild, gentle and just all in all AWESOME. If you don't know her, seriously need to meet her. Pretty flippin great.N: Nassif Aquatic Center. Pretty fancy name huh? Bet you think it's where all the richie rich's go here in town. Boy are you way off, it's really just the community center pool and it's where Kai and I have been spending a majority of our afternoons. The kiddie pool, when it's not too crazy, is perfect for Kai to run around in, go down the slide a couple hundred times and just soak up some rays. He loves going around the lazy river, but can't handle more than 2 trips at a time and his newest thing is going into the "big" pool and jumping in on his own...of course I catch him.

O: Out out out out out. What I hear all the time. Kai just loves being outside, which is great! And we usually try to spend as much time as possible outside, but there are days that you can't...and those are NOT good days. Thank goodness for the great weather we've been having, otherwise I'd have one unhappy little nug.

P: Pinterest.com - go there and join. Embrace it. Love it. Get house envy. It's okay. It's wonderful.

Q: Quibids.com - a bidding website that I have been slightly addicted with. Won a $300 Sony camera for $0.06 (no joke) and sold it online for $100. Then won a $30 WalMart giftcard for $0.01 (again, no joke). THEN won a $600 watch for $0.05 (seriously)...we were going to sell it, but Brian decided to keep it. I can't really blame him, I'd probably want to keep it too.

R: Rookie Blue. One of the only summer shows that we really enjoy watching, other than The Glades. It's a cop show, but with relationship/love stuff. It sucked us in last summer so we are watching it again.

S: Sisters. I miss them and can't wait to see them (except Rachel). I long for a day that we can all live closer than a 6 hour plane ride away....T: Two. My little boy is almost two! I am already emotional about it. See why I need another one?

U: Uh-oh. A daily phrase. Kai will say it before he throws something and then again when it crashes to the ground. He likes to make lots of messes.

V: Vinnici la plantacion in Tenerife. We went here last Christmas with my family and I seriously want to go back. Pronto.
W: Wednesday. My favorite day of the week!! My friend LoCo made an outing for a mini "Mom's group" so every Wednesday we adventure out of the thriving metropolis of Warrensburg and go do fun little things with our kiddos. One week it was the zoo, then Paradise Park, Deanna Rose and this week we are going to CoCo Keys, which is an indoor water park. It's been lots of fun and it wears Kai out. It's a win/win situation!

X: Xenia. Not sure if anyone watches The Voice, but this girl was on it and was my favorite. Unfortunately she is not on it anymore, but I AM buying her cd...whenever one comes out. I just love how unique her voice was.

Y: YouTube. Who doesn't love YouTube? You can post little videos for your family to see and you can get hours of entertainment for free. Love.it.

Z: Ziggy Marley. He has this song called, "I Love You Too" and I have deemed it Kai's song. It's just a happy little song and I love singing it too him!

Pedicure Anyone?

WANT IT!!

Monday night Brian informed me that a couple of his players were coming over for dinner the following night. Naturally I hit up WalMart bright and early Tuesday morning to pick up a few things. With Kai changed, dressed and fed we went straight to the toy aisle. You see, going grocery shopping with a very energetic little boy who wants to run everywhere is never an easy task, so you must ALWAYS have a plan and ALWAYS have your game face on. My plan? Ohhhhhhh I had it all figured out. Go straight to the toy aisle, get him a choo-choo or 2, which he is currently OBSESSED (understatement) with, and let him live in a fantasy world with his favorite toys for 30 or so minutes. Before check-out put the toys back and leave. Bing.Bam.Boom.Easy. Gosh I'm a genius. I throw him a couple of trains and am on my way with my list. I quickly gather all the necessary items for later and head back to the toy aisle prepared to put them back on the shelves. Kai stands up in the cart like he is about to put the toys back. Awww good job buddy, just like I taught you. As he stands I see his little arms wrap completely around this particular Thomas the Train toy. His grip around this toy is slowly getting tighter and tighter...and tighter...and tighter. His arms are pretty much turning purple at this point. "Kai, buddy, we have to put the toys back so we can go home and watch Elmo" - yeah I thought I was being quick on my feet throwing Elmo at him like that. Man, I should get some sort of award for how good I am at playing mind games on my own kid. I reach my hands out for him to pass me the toy. His grip slightly loosens before a sudden turn. WAIT-HOLD UP!! What is going on? Why is he turning his back to me? He is completely back to. His head whips around quicker than a freaking cobra. Ummmm did my kid just become possessed? I'm pretty sure I saw this in the Exorcist and I did NOT like how that movie turned out. "WAAAAAAANT IT!!!" He practically screams at me. What just happened. Whose kid was that because it surely wasn't mine. Was it? Oh yes, yes it was. Why do I feel my Mom of the Year Award being ripped from my hands? "WAAAAANT IT" Oh gosh, what happened to me being quick on my feet? Where's that parenting handbook when you need it? How do I handle a "want it" situation? What chapter is that again? Page number? I probably skipped over it. Dang it. "WAAAAAAAAAAAANT IT!!!" I hear again. "No buddy we can't get that today" Who said that? Was that me? Wow I'm amazing. Mom of the Year right here ladies. Thank you. Thank you. "WAAAAAANT IT!" Did I just say "no" out loud to him or was it in my head because I'm pretty sure I told him no. Did I say it in Spanish? Wait no in Spanish is the same as it is in English. "No buddy, we can't get that today but we CAN go home and watch Elmo and eat grapes!" Yeah Lynds, like grapes are a great replacement for this train he wants. Good one. FAIL. In a state of panic I grab the train out of his hands before he could blink. I throw it back on the shelf (I think it landed on a shelf...) and make a drop dead bee line sprint for the check out line hoping and praying that a.) everything happened so fast that he didn't even notice that I took the train or b.) the thought of falling out of the cart because I'm such a fast runner keeps his mind off that train. It doesn't matter. Neither worked. Oh no, here comes the pout lip. I'm a sucker for that lip. Oh gosh here come the tears. I'm a sucker for those tears. 99% of me wants to turn back and just buy him the train. The other 1% is Brian's voice yelling at me for giving in and making an unnecessary purchase. It's not really unnecessary if it they want it right? Oh gosh what to do, what to do. Why is my cart turning? Am I going in a circle? Suddenly I'm checked out, in the car and headed home, train free. Kai is sitting in his car seat happy as can be playing with my receipt. Wow, that receipt just saved me $17 big ones. Amazing how quickly they can be distracted. I give myself a quick pat on the back for not caving in. Phew. That was close.

Sea World Saturday.

Now we did not intend to hit up Sea World. In-fact, our intentions were to avoid it. Not because we didn't want to go there, but because it's a freaking $70 per person to get in. Now I love sea "creatures", but that's a lot of coin to see them, especially for someone who is trying to be smart with their dinero. Our plan when we departed from El Centro was actually to spend the day in San Diego, since the day we got there Kai was a little insane from being so tired and was unable to handle both Coronado and San Diego. However, our plans changed when we stumbled into a McDonald's for Rachel to use the bathroom. There, right in front of us were 3 coupons for $20 off each. CHA-CHING!! I'm in. Kai was free of course and we ended up giving our extra coupon to the girl in front of us. You're welcome lady. But seriously, $40 of savings is actually quite a lot. It's more than our water bill if you really want to put it into perspective. Plus, in all honesty, I saved more because my sister paid for me to get in! Except no-one told us it was going to be $15 to park. Seriously? What a rip-off. I was more than happy to pay for parking though since Rach paid for the park tickets, I just think that to park your car should always be free. It's not like they wash it when you're in the park or anything...but I digress.

So we walk a couple miles from our $15 parking spot to get into the park. No shuttle? Another rip-off. Really? Didn't I just say I wasn't going to complain about the parking situation anymore? Shoot. Okay, so the park...or actually I guess it's the "world" since it's not called Sea Park. We walk in and I immediately spot Elmo. No only did I spot Elmo, but so did a little 2 year old redhead. WHAT the what? Why is Elmo here?! This is AMAZING! Kai loves loves loves Elmo, aka "Melmo" (in Kai language). Not only is there Elmo, but there is a whole entire area of Sesame Street. Did we just pay to get into the wrong "world" because last I checked Elmo wasn't a sea creature. Nonetheless, Kai LOVED it. He literally ran around saying "Melmo...Melmo...Melmo...Melmo" for a good half hour. You're lucky I think you're cute, kid otherwise I would have found that EXTREMELY annoying :o) We even got to get our picture taken with Elmo and The Count. I was really surprised that Kai ran up to Elmo and gave him a big hug - you know how some kids are with big giant characters. I thought he might be a little timid, but his obsession with Elmo pushed all fear aside and he was smiling from ear to ear. Not gonna lie, I was smiling from ear to ear myself just seeing how happy and excited he was. I guess the $15 parking spot has already paid for itself. Yes, yes it has...

We hung around in Sesame Street chaos for a little bit before moving on. The only reason we didn't stay longer was because Kai needed his diaper changed and we thought it was a good way to get his mind off Elmo so we could enjoy the rest of the park. Now you know how there are some things you wish you would have thought of before you did something: you know, like "why did I bother bringing this stroller in when every time we put him in here he screams and kicks and ends up walking anyway"...that was us. The stroller was actually more of a hassle and Kai wanted to run, so run he did. We literally ran from place to place. Penguins, to Baby Balooga, to polar bears, to turtles, to sharks, to dolphins, to Shamu...QUICK AVOID ELMO...to a sky tram ride thingy, to Cirque del Mar, to many other sea animals. We had a BLAST. Finally, when we were getting ready to leave we decided to let Kai have one more go at Elmo World. There were a few little kiddie rides that Kai was just DYING to go on. Literally could hardly hold the kid back from jumping the fence and/or having a mental breakdown for having to wait in line. On the last ride of the night there were these Elmo flying fish and it was just a simple little ride where you sat in Elmo and it brought you up high and you went around and around and around. When the ride was done I hopped out and turned to get Kai out, who had literally wrapped his hands around the bar in death grip mode. Now begins the all out battle. Here goes my "Parent of the Year" award. I'm physically yanking, tugging and pulling at Kai to get out of the ride. The whole time, even after I pryed his little fingers off, he is SCREAMING, "MELMO MELMO MELMO MEEEEEEEEELLLLLLMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOO". As we pass the gated area he somehow gets a hold of the gate and another battle begins...and then another to get him into the stroller...and another to get him into the car seat. However, he surrendered once in the car because the poor kid was OUT before we even left our parking spot. All in all we had an amazing time and it was sooooooo much fun seeing Kai's face light up with all the different animals and of course, Elmo.

Warning: Picture overload.

Big hugs for Elmo!

Only a high five for The Count.

Trying to reach/jump in with the penguins.Turtle.

I was serious when I said we RAN everywhere!!

Baby Balooga.

On the Sky Tram ride thing.

Shamu and friends.

Kai clapped the WHOLE entire Shamu show. Too cute.

Starfish. Yeah, you weren't supposed to take them OUT of the water.
(Love Rachel's face here)

He wanted more...

Cirque Del Mar

Waiting to ride of the Abby's Flying Fairy School teacups.

After the teacups. SOOOOO excited