Diving for Gold...

My boys like watching Gold Rush and Bering Sea Gold on the Discovery Channel. The big machines seem to be the draw if you ask me.

Usually the household preference is Gold Rush, the show that "Parker is on" as Aidan refers to it, and only occasionally do we get to catch the Bering Sea one.

Apparently it has still made a impression on Aidan because he had me cracking up the other day as we were on our way to pick up Mason's antibiotics for his ear infection when he took the straw from his juice box, put it in his mouth and turned it upside down telling me it was his snorkel. Well, he didn't say snorkel but he told me he was "undersea diving" for gold. 

We had to wait for Mason's prescription, and while we did so Aidan entertained the girls behind the counter as well as other customers by continuing to pretend he was "undersea diving" in the waiting area. 

This consisted of jumping off the chairs to the floor (jumping into the water) and pretending to swim around the waiting area (ocean).Once he was done diving for gold he started bringing me lobsters and some jewelry he was finding in the ocean for the lobsters to wear. This proved to be too much for the girl behind the counter who was laughing pretty hard by now.

I wish I had video of it but Mason had my phone to play with while we were waiting since the poor kid was having a rough sick day.

Ah just another day in my life with 2 little Lawless monkeys.

Cheers, Dad

If you knew my Dad you would know that he liked shitty beer. Not just that he didn't want to spend the money on better beer, he just genuinely liked Genny Light.

Eew. 

You could have a fridge full of amazing microbrews and Dad would still go to the store to get a six pack of Genny. Then he would tell you he wasn't drinking your shitty beer.

At the family gathering after the services, my cousin's husband paid tribute to dad by surprising us with a gigantic can of Genny Light.

(Which he had stopped at the store to pick up along his way, because you can't buy that nasty shit in bars or on tap.)

That beer got passed around the entire group of family and friends as everyone took a sip in honor of Dad. 

It was a great final tribute to Dad, and I know he was having one with us wherever he is. 

Birthday Dinner at the Hibachi!

The night before Ryan's birthday we sat on the computer trying to decide between dozens of super cool ideas for what to do on our date night for his birthday. When you live in the 3rd largest city in the entire country your options are endless.

There are movie theaters where you can actually sit and order dinner and drinks, there is indoor virtual golf,

there are hole in the wall bars with amazing food trucks parked outside… the list goes on! We decided to skip the bars with food trucks because it was unseasonably in the 30's that night. We decided against the dinner theaters because there weren't any movies out that either of us really wanted to see.

In our search for steak houses we stumbled across a site for a Benihana in Sugar Land. Neither of us had ever been to a Japanese hibachi so we decided to give it a whirl.

The next night we dropped the boys off with Brittany and headed for dinner.

We had shrimp, friend rice, veggies and steak and chicken. It was soooo delicious, and they put on quite a show!

We sat with a family with 2 young boys and my chopstick handling was so bad they offered me their kid's chopsticks (which they weren't using) because they're attached at the top and make it easier to learn how to use.

Gee, not embarrassing at all, but at least I could laugh at it. Actually as we got up to leave the dad said if they ever see us again he's going to check on my chopstick skills, lol.

While we were out the boys had a blast at Britt's…and she even built them a fort! She rocks.

For Ryan's birthday each year I make brownies instead of cake because Ryan isn't a huge cake fan. This year I decided to make them from scratch because I didn't want to go out in the crazy cold icy Texas weather to get brownie mix. (as I type this it's 70 degrees outside again).

I have one piece of advice for you: when the recipe calls for unsweetened chocolate, do NOT replace it with semi sweet chocolate chips or your teeth will hurt when you eat them.

 That didn't stop Aidan from wanting to share birthday brownies with Daddy when we got back from picking them up at Brittany's. 

Daddy decided to just sit and enjoy them right where they were haha. Who needs plates?

Happy Birthday Ry!!