!!!WARNING!!! Adorable Baby Buns

I should also add a warning that the absolute cuteness of chubby baby buns can cause serious giggles & the desire to "goose" your loved ones.

I know Max is going to kill me some day for these, but what else do you do when its 90 degrees outside, baby has a poopy diaper and a rash? You let him go comando in the yard, naturally :)

Thank goodness for private bloggs!

All Aboard the Ark

Today Max & I met my sister Krista and her kids, Macie & Carson at the Skirball Museum's Noah's Ark exhibit. It was fantastic!

These days outings like this make me tired just thinking about them. However, there is so much for the kids to do and many museum employees helping to herd and watch kids that I'm no more tired than usual :)

It's divided into 5 sections & the 1.5 hr time slot you are allotted was perfect. Max banged on an elephant drum, tried climbing the walls of the ark, loaded the animals on the ark, made himself "dinner", played with the miniature animals, built and knocked down a tower & sat through story time. Macie & Carson had just as much fun exploring and climbing on everything.

Hopefully this talked you into trying it out. We will totally be going again. Thanks to my friend Dana for bloggin this and telling us what a great place it is.

(Max gleefully circling a mini ark with the animals he was able to nab away from his cousin.)

(Macie making the giant giraffe's neck move.)

(Max loading animals on the ark with some big kids.)

(Carson playing with the "mini" ark.)

(Passed out on the way home, he was exhausted!)

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from the Brownstein's

Potato Latkes

I love my husband, I also love teasing my husband. This is how the Brownstein Pesach (Passover- see...I'm learning!) went...

Jewish husband comes home from work a bit early to make potato latkes. Burns oil, burns latkes, scares dogs & almost burns kitchen down...

After opening windows, Mormon wife attempts potato latkes (having never made them before. See how nice and golden brown.)...

Happy Matza & Potato Latkes! Hope you had a wonderful Passover & have a wonderful Easter.

Spring Spring Spring

I like Spring. I don't love it, just like it. Spring brings on my allergies which seem to be worse when I'm pregnant. However, this year spring has been pretty good to the Brownstein's (so far).

We took a trip a couple weeks ago to Disneyland with my sister and nephew. I love the So. Cal season passes that make going for 4 hrs not a waste. Max did take a tumble and got a nasty bump on his head and scratch on his knee on the way in, but it was nothing a lolly pop couldn't fix.

Grandma Gail (GG) came to visit last week and we visited the Long Beach Aquarium for the first time. Max is pretty happy to wander anywhere but I think what little he did pay attention to, he enjoyed. It's a pretty cool aquarium with indoor and outdoor exhibits.

Yesterday we kicked off our goal of getting the yard spruced up, putting rocks by the front gate for Mike to park his car on and starting a garden. We had to buy a wheel barrow which Max loved to ride back in after each load of rocks. He also thought he was hot stuff working along side Grandpa Holmes and his Dad with his own "shovel" (a garden trowel) & generally just getting dirty. He spent the entire day outside & was filthy! Luckily he likes bath time as much as he is enjoying spring :)

Santa Monica or bust!

Yesterday was a fab day. I finally decided to just say "screw" it to nap time (mine and Max's) to hang out with friends. Why not an excursion to Santa Monica?

We had to load Max, Nat & Fallon, Sachia & Sienna + 2 strollers in the Volvo.While waiting for Sachia & Sienna to come down we saw a pretty random sight. Either this float is very early for next year, or seriously late.

(Actually, I think it was on its way to the warehouses to be torn down).

The guys driving it gave us their best Miss America waves as they went by. It was pretty funny. I was amazed we all fit in the car and glad Sachia is flexible enough to climb into the 3rd row seat! Thankfully she has a cute rear, thanks for the tooshie views Sachia!

Finally off to Santa Monica around 11:30 . 1st we hit the Babystyle store going out of business. Always cute stuff & pretty good deals. Nothing like the deals Nat, Laura D, & I got a year or so ago when the one in Glendale closed. You can't beat Pj's, t's & pants for $2.99! Skipping his nap, losing his pacifier and being strapped to his stroller made for an unhappy Max. I apologize again ladies for the serious meltdown that lasted abnormally long.

I'm pregnant & always hungry, but thankfully everyone was ready to try the milkshake place Nat's sis-in-law told her about. There were $1 taco deals next door so we thought why not grab one of those 1st? 1 turned into 2, which turned into 3 each. (Max Melt down #2 occured here, sorry again). At least the tacos were yummy with the best green sauce on them.

And then the pièce de résistance, the milkshake. I'm not kidding you, these things are phenomenal. you can get them with ice cream, yogurt or soy and pretty much in any fruit or candy combo you can think of. We all opted for yogurt blends which did not disappoint. AND they don't use imitation candy. They use the real deals and unwrap them right in front of you. They have a few combos named after celebs you can order, or make up your own. I got the "Lyndsay" which was blueberries, raspberries and blackberries topped w/whip & a cadbury wafer. Nat got the "Beckham" which was nutella, bananas and chocolate topped with the cadbury wafer. Sachia got a delicious strawberry, malt and coconut blend. Sadly our children drank most of our shakes, we clearly should have ordered larger sizes. Millions of Milkshakes on Santa Monica in LA. was well worth the trip!

Pregnancy Cravings

I think about them so much that now I need to blog about them. Mostly I'm excited that food is staying where it's supposed to a lot more lately. It's possible that I'll gain more than the 50 lbs. I gained with Max once this uckiness finally passes for good. I'll narrow it down to my current top 10 fav crav's.

10- fish-n-chips (thanks to the FoodNetwork and Bobby Flay's "Throwdown")
9- water (only the 2nd thing good for me on this list)
8- rainbow sherbert icecream (I never eat this stuff)
7- whatever happens to be on the FoodNetwork (note to self, stop watching FoodNetwork)
6- frozen waffles (TJ brand or Eggos will do)
5- plums (at least there is something healthy on here)
4- McDonalds French fries (which I'm eating as I blog)
3- Trader Joe's cheese puffs (thanks to Dorris for introducing me to these last year!)
2- salami (I never eat this stuff either, thanks to my sister Kim for telling me it was one of the things she craved which put it on my mind)
1- Kettle brand sea salt & vinegar chips

Since we stopped at McD's for my fries I thought I'd get some chicken nuggets for Max. He has taken to snacking like I do, so getting full meals into him has been tough. He seemed to enjoy the nuggets. There's at least some real chicken in there right?