seven on the second

1. This photo was shamelessly stolen from Becca. We took Simon's family out to the beach when they were here - I thought it was going to be freezing but it was actually - really nice. HOWEVER! our kids all had meltdowns at the exact same time on the way back to the car - for alllllll the beach goers to see and hear. They couldn't be blame and that's what I get for deviating from my usual nap nazi routine and thinking we could get away with it, "just this once" lololol 4ever - no.

2. Okay MAYBE it's just me but I thought this email written by a student recovering from getting her wisdom teeth pulled (and on pain meds) to her philosophy professor was hysterical. Even Simon laughed out loud - so maybe it's just me and Simon.

3. ONE month until the Bachelor premieres, are you ready? I am. If you need some good Bachelor franchise fodder in the interim, this IG account is gold. (Thanks to my sister-in-law Mary for sharing it with me!)

4. Alright, I'm sure you've been anxiously biting your nail down to nubs waiting for me to reveal the "train" (more of a play) table I put together for the boys. Here's the before:

(side note - if anyone local wants that bouncy in the background - it's allll yours!)

Anyway, so the legs had been a lot taller but Simon swapped them out with shorter legs from an old side table. I couldn't find my trusty sander so I had to do it by hand - woe is me. But, it was pretty quick and easy. I painted it my favorite Midnight Blue (normally by Behr but I tried Glidden which is fine for furniture but I like the name brand better for walls) and BELIEVE it or not did a lot of measuring and used painter's tape and thought I was being super precise and unGrace like in my careful prep but here's the final product ...

Laugh, laugh.

But! I find the boys playing with it all the time - even Bosco will sneak into the older boys' room and go to town with the trains and trucks. I know Sebastian is going to see one of the real deal train tables at Costco or somewhere and know that the grass is greener on the non-mommade side BUT for now, it works. I think.

5. Oh, and Theo got into that black paint while I was gone one evening and Simon made the mistake of sitting down to watch a few minutes of a Notre Dame game. I still can't believe how well he covered the chair. The best part of that story was the next morning at 6:40 Simon was woken up by the sound of our front door opening and assumed we were being robbed (I would've assumed we were about to be murdered in cold blood but that's just the temperament God gave me) so Simon walked out to the living room and found Theo carrying his newly black chair in from the porch where it was drying because he told Simon, "I missed a few spots" -- touché, Picasso.

6. I'm not sure I've ever done any Christmas shopping before December 1st (I know there are those of you that get it done before Advent even starts - you're amazing and I bow down) but thanks to Amazon's Cyber Monday Deals Week - I actually got a lot of it knocked out (and thank you for all of your toy suggestions, btw - super helpful!). I keep coming back to comb through Oprah's Favorite Things and also wondering if Simon might appreciate a Nespresso for his birthday (December 28th) despite that fact that he drinks coffee about twice a year? It might change his(my) life. It just might.

7. Alright, I skipped a couple days of folding laundry and have the exploding baskets to prove it so off I begrudgingly trot.

Happy Weekend. Linking up with Kelly!