Charisa Darling

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Okay. Justin gets home last night and starts telling me about the sickness of a coworker's husband. I'm finishing up dinner, the kids are hungry, loud, and I'm halfway listening.

Turns out he has a parasite. "How on earth did I get a parasite?" he asks his doctor. They start talking about it and found the answer. "My wife went to India a little bit ago". Bingo. My ears perk up now.

Turns out his wife, who was with Justin on the last trip to India, picked up a parasite while there and is a carrier. It can lie dormant in the carrier and can be passed along. So, Justin is visiting his doctor this week to see if he's carrying anything around also. He will also be asking if I'm needing to come in and be tested.

Remember back to one of his previous trips. I got sick about a month and a half after he got home and was prescribed the same medicine that they're given when they go to India to prevent the growth of parasitic bacteria in case they feel that they've eaten something bad. Not sure if they're connected, but ew. Ew, ew, ew.

Let's take our minds off that and talk about the cute pants Vaughn got in the mail yesterday. Red! With big pink heart patches on the knees! They're adorable! I'm feeling frenzied because of the cooler weather and the kids not having fall clothes. Many shopping trips have been made, because Vance is in between toddler and big guy sizes and Vaughn is just overall hard to size. Grrr....

Out of time! Have a great day!

Oh! Vaughn can open baby gates and doors now. Soon she'll be crawling out of her crib! Nothing can contain her!

Last week we became Soccer Parents. And ever so fittingly, on the night of Vance's first practice we also had a parents-only meeting at his school. There you go. It's starting. Having to be in two places at once, rushing early dinners to get somewhere on time, you know the drill.

Justin took Vance and Vaughn to soccer. I went to the meeting and had to miss this cute little guy wearing his first pair of Diadora's. We signed him up for the same class with his buddy and our plan worked great. His friend was a couple of minutes late and Justin (and Vaughn) had to go on the field with him. As soon as his friend showed up Vance didn't need Daddy out there with him. Score!

Everyone just hanging out at the pool

Vaughn and Aunt Dee swimming

Post dinner at the beach, around the fire. (The kids roasted S'mores here the night before)

The kids working hard on their castle

Here we are at breakfast on the big day.

This is where the huge gap in my pictures begin. For the ceremony, Vance and Vaughn were supposed to walk out together. I had to carry Vaughn half way, set her down and hope she walked with her big bro. She did for a bit, then just came running to us. Vance continued his walk, while holding Vaughn's flower girl basket. Cute side story: White rose petals covered the grass as soon as the aisles of chairs began, leading up to where Jeff and Stephanie would stand. As soon as Vance got to the petals he just froze. Justin and I kept whispering for him to keep walking, but nothing. We finally said, "It's ok to walk on the petals" and he, with giant exaggeration, tip toed through the petals up to his spot in the front. He and Jack were supposed to stand together, next to Jeff for the duration of the ceremony. I was nervous about this but they did awesome. The wedding was beautiful. The sun was shining, the sound of the ocean, being surrounded by family. I cried the whole way through.

Cocktail hour was supposed to be outside also, but there was a chance for rain and no one wanted a repeat of the night before, so it was moved inside to where the reception was. It worked out nice because right out these doors was a huge terrace overlooking the water, so we could wander in and out.

I totally stole the next two pics from my sister's blog. I heard it was either Jack or Ryan who took these. Nice job!

First Dance!

Here's Mark and Justin serenading the new couple. They treated the new couple with a rendition of the Top Gun song. Can't think of the name of it now and running out of time...

We danced pretty much non-stop for the rest of the night. It was an awesome night and it just hit me that I didn't mention the food. The food! The food was fantastic! As was the cake! Such a good time was had by all!

Up next? The day after pics, of course!

Here's Jack last year, blowing out 5 candles. (The fifth one is there, just hard to see!) Here's to Jack, a little guy with the the energy of a Mack truck. Have fun blowing out 6 candles! We love you!

I'll be honest. I don't have the best pictures. Too busy living this weekend in Real Time. But, here's what I have:

Here's the wedding site. The ceremony took place were the group of people are standing. The grass was green. Sand and ocean were steps away. It couldn't have gotten any more ideal.

Here's my mom and Vaughn. I've decided no more bows for her. (For Vaughn, not my mom. While I wouldn't suggest a bow for my mom, she's a grown woman and can do whatever she'd like to.) They slide out of place or she pulls them out and they end up looking silly, like this. No more. At least until she tolerates them and leaves them put.

Here's Mark, a serious multi-tasker. No Shirley Temples were spilled. Success! It was a sunny, beautiful day. Who knew that hours away the skies would open up and we'd be forced to eat lobster in the rain?

According to Charity's cork wedges, we were a few inches deep. We were all wet, but we kept eating and enjoying ourselves thoroughly.

Including these two. Shortly after this we were whisked away with umbrellas to an indoor location to finish up the party.

This was Vaughn's first time at the beach. She didn't love it, she didn't hate it. She got tired of the sand easily and held her arms up to let me know she wanted to be picked up. Hot temp's, heavy baby, sand in diaper - Vaughn didn't spend too much time at the beach.

Vance loves the beach. Castles were made, shells were found, jet ski's were rented, and kids were buried. It took some persuasion to get him to ride on the jet ski (he had his eye on a paddle boat) but he eventually caved. Justin bribed him with Dr. Pepper, if you must know.

It's sting ray season at the beach. We saw many schools of them swimming in the water. No pics, but they were cool to watch.

It's also Turtle hatching time. We had to shut our drapes by 9:00 PM every night so that the hatchlings wouldn't confuse the lights from our rooms for the light of the moon and wind up at our door instead of the ocean. There were cute reminder cards in our rooms with turtle lapel pins to wear as reminders. Vance dug ours and wore it to the rehearsal dinner.

So dolphins, sting rays, baby turtles...Can this trip get any better? Or cuter? (How cute is a baby turtle?!?)

This is the view from the one of the balconies of the Bridal Suite at La Playa. This picture does not fully represent how awesome of a view it truly is.

The first night we stayed at my parent's place. After arriving and unloading the bags from the cars, my sister and I ditched the men and the kids and headed to La Playa to meet up with the rest of the family for dinner at Baleen. Because I'm thoughtful, I took this picture from my iPhone and sent it to Justin who was, of course, back at the house with the kids.

Let's not feel bad for Justin or Mark. The next morning they had their time on the golf course while Charity and I packed everyone back up and checked in to our rooms at La Playa. As soon as I walked into our room, the kids and I saw dolphins swimming in the ocean. That's not a metaphor. There were real effing dolphins swimming. Like a Lisa Frank notebook. Because I'm also a looker for signs, I took this as a huge sign that this weekend was on and would definitely be a good one.

It's hard to tell from these pictures, but Vaughn was excited for her first flight. She was even more excited because this plane was taking us to Florida for her Aunt and Uncle's wedding.

So much happened over the past week, I'm a little overwhelmed on where to begin. I'm going to take it day-by-day.

I will tell you in advance that all the adjectives in the world can't describe how fantastic our week was, or how perfect the wedding was, or how great our family is. We are truly blessed.

It's my blog's birthday today!

3 years ago today I started blogging as a way to keep in touch with family since we'd relocated to the frozen state of Wisconsin. This was an easy way for everyone to see what we were up to and to watch Vance grow.

Of course, we're not in Mad Town anymore, but I decided to keep the same address (out of sheer laziness) because it's still a Mad Town around this house. Thanks for following along!

Happy Birthday to us!

I actually got a good shot of Vaughn and Cousin Ry yesterday at my parent's house.

No one mention how pale Vaughn is. This is how I feel when I'm standing next to my mom, aunt, and sister.

Vance picked high

Vaughn picked low.

Vaughn loved eating.

Vance got tired.

A successful day at the orchard. Lunch followed at a nearby outdoor brewery. Naps were taken by both kids when we got home. (Yes, Vance took a nap!)

Big Mouth Billy Bass resurfaced a couple of months ago. Vance "discovered" it in a box that was being unpacked and brought it upstairs.

He loves it. Vaughn is scared to death of it.

Justin put it on top of our hutch in the kitchen to make it go away and we've since forgotten about it. When the photographer was taking pictures of the kitchen on Wednesday Billy started singing again. Don't know why, but the photog thought it might be from the radio waves the camera and the flash thingie send off. I run over to take it down, turn it off, and throw it in the nearest cabinet to make it go away for the pictures.

It landed in the tupperware cabinet, where Vaughn frequents and drives me nuts because she gets everything out. She toddled over to the cabinet yesterday, threw open the door, and jumped after seeing the fish. She then shut the door and has stayed away since.

Toddler Repellant.

It worked out fine, probably better. This way I didn't have to follow the kids around and clean up after them all day. He was done around 10:00 yesterday and I couldn't have been happier. What a relief to have those done and feel like we can "live" in the house again! Vaughn and I did nothing for an hour or so. She got every toy out and I didn't stress about putting them away until the afternoon.

The photographer was a very nice man who thought I was the Nanny. Not Fran Drescher, but the kids' nanny. Too young to be the owner, too young to have two kids. Ha! He was very apologetic.

What's up for today? A Target run, gearing up for the upcoming wedding. It's so close and we're all excited! Packing lists will probably also start today too! Vance and I discovered a turtle in our backyard this morning and he's on the move. Gotta go check it out!

We bought an 8 x 10 rug from Pottery Barn almost 4 years ago. You can click here to read a little more.

I'm overwhelmed with how much traffic my blog gets because of the Stinking Rug. Everyday numerous people from around the entire world Google something about "stinky Pottery Barn rugs" and find my site.

A reader named Anthony left a comment about his rug and even left the phone number of where he called. I used the same number and was connected with a very nice lady at the Pottery Barn Corporate office. She was very helpful, knew of the problem, assured me it wasn't harmful to have in the house but suggested we roll it up and put it in the garage. (Something about the wrong backing used. It breaks down and smells over time.) She said she would have a manager from my local Pottery Barn call me within 48 hours. The manager called me about 6 hours later and told me to bring it in and I could either get a new rug or store credit.

And that's what we did. There was no way I was going to get a new rug, so I opted for store credit for the full amount of the rug. Simple as that.

I used to have a Stinky Pottery Barn Rug.

Today, Travis is coming to sand and stain the deck. Last week we had to move everything off the deck so he could power wash it. (I should devote one post about the furniture and other items that Justin and I have had to move on our own around here and the damages that have occurred. Yikes.) The kids have had a good time running laps on the empty deck, but I'm looking forward to getting our furniture back out there and out of our garage. I'm not looking forward to carrying the grill back up the stairs though.

Vance has school today, Vaughnie and I have a date with the grocery store, and later on I'll be preparing for the photographer who is coming tomorrow afternoon to take pictures of the house.

Last week our Stinky Pottery Barn Rug met it's maker and I'm looking forward to sharing that story. Soon.

We like to keep things interesting around here.

Wanna buy our house?

Yes, we've only been here for a year, but we're ready to move on.

Who knows if it'll sell, we thought we'd give it a shot.

When we sold our first house I was hopped up on anti-depressants, Vance was 5 months old and we were moving 5 hours away from home. Not ideal.

When we moved back from Wisconsin you all very well know we moved in with my parents until our house sold. It was 3 weeks before my due date with Vaughn. A make-shift nursery was made, as was a Big Boy room for Vance, and don't forget Daisy. She was there for the fun too. We are forever grateful that my parents allowed our circus to move in to their quiet lives, but it was a little intense. We changed every aspect of a 3 year olds life and he went through some behavioral issues. Throwing a newborn on top was just the cherry. Again, not an ideal move.

Our Wisconsin house sold, quicker than what we expected, forcing us to start looking when Vaughn was just 2 weeks old. We were dealing with a sucky relocation real estate agent, but turned our head and moved on with her because of the time crunch to find a new house. (That's right, I said sucky.) Both Justin and I have agreed that we chose this house out of desperation. We weren't thinking clearly. My hormones were a mess again, our 3 year old was not himself (tantrums like I've never seen. My mom witnessed one and it was like he was possessed. The noises coming out of him were scary.) and we wanted our normal life back. We needed a house. So, we picked one. And again, not an ideal move.

This house is a very nice house, it's just not the house for us. We're not happy and haven't been for a while. We figured life is too short, so we're giving it a shot.

So, if this house sells, it will be our first move where a baby is not involved! No pressure and deadline to find a house! No crazy hormones to deal with! Who knows what type of house we'll pick this time! It's exciting and at the same time overwhelming. We just got things around here how we like them and the idea of doing them again to another house is just tiring. Oh well, we'll deal with that when we get there!

Anyone interested in this dog food bin? We're headed to the 'ville on Saturday, let me know and I can bring it along.

A teaser!

Hoping to post this afternoon about what's going on!

Until then, chew on this:

Madison, WI just made it's official bird a plastic flamingo. I love it!

Wait! I'll tell you! It's my kids!

Both Vaughn and Vance have an aversion to meat. Vance is definitely worse than Vaughn. But, taco night around here is all about beans (refried and black), melted cheese, folded in a tortilla. I'm not complaining - it's fast and easy that way!

Big day around here. Not only is it my dad's birthday and my parents anniversary, it's also deck and house power washing day! Yay!

Here's a favorite picture of mine of my parents and Vance. We were at the downtown Madison farmer's market (the largest farmer's market in the US, fact of the day).

Happy Birthday Dad! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! 38 years? Is that right? We love you!

Happy getting rid of ugly deck day too!