Tough Week to be a Wig

Last week was a really hard week to be a Wig. The bad vibes hit Coco worse than the rest of us but believe you me, the blah-ness was felt family-wide. In fact, it's Friday of the following week and I'm just now able to talk about it without crying and I'm just now able to see that the rest of our summer is not doomed because of a sour spell.

Basically what we had was the perfect storm of bad attitudes, not enough structured activities out of the house, high temperatures and low patience. There was a lot of fighting and there were a lot of errands, there was poop in the pool during swim lessons and massive meltdowns at the BBQ, a whole bunch of friends were out of town and so many plans fell through. And then there was one blasted trip to the ER which could have turned a good week into a bad one but tack that ER trip on the tail of a nasty week and what you have is ugly.

The short story behind Cora's hospital trip is that her finger was the unfortunate recipient of Quinny's wrath over visitors entering her bathroom. We were all getting ready for beach day, Quinny using one bathroom and me using the other, but before long I heard Cora crying louder than ever before. I was still working on pulling on my swim suit so I called her into my bathroom but I wasn't prepared for the bloody mess that would push open the door. There was blood EVERYWHERE and I immediately grabbed a towel and held her sweet little hand together, not knowing where the blood was coming from but trying to contain it nonetheless. 

When I finally was able to control the bleeding I saw Coco's pointer finger nearly hanging off her hand. Oh. My. Awful. I took the middle two kids to Melissa's house and had T accompany me to the ER so that he could hold her hand together during the drive. Luckily the Santa Monica ER is top notch and Cora did not need surgery or amputation (real concerns of mine during the drive there) but she did leave with a handful of stitches and a directive to stay away from water. And doors. And mostly her sister. Geez.

Poor Cora-baby and poor me and poor everyone around us--last week was not our best work. But we leave on vacation tomorrow and it can only go up from here, right? Let's hope so!

Poor owie-baby in the ER. The good news is that I didn't pass out when she got her stitches (maybe a record for me), the bad news is that she got a whole lot of stitches and I had to sing primary songs super loud to keep both of us calm. It's seriously franken-finger under that blanket!

In no time she was back to her happy, smiley, joyful little self. I love you Cora Sue...sorry about your finger girlfriend!

Ratatouille, and the month of July-ish

The first thing you should know is that we have rats living in our attic. I like to close my eyes and pretend the scurrying I hear above is from cute little Disney rodents preparing for a long day of work in one of Paris' finest restaurants, but then I remember the massive amounts of droppings and the chewed up cereal boxes in the cupboard above my microwave and instead of warm fuzzies my blood begins to boil. Ratatouille makers these are not, they're cereal killers; an unopened box of sugar cereal to boot. The Orkin guy has our back and he's already brought a bad boy out in a body bag but the scurrying continues and my anxiety skyrockets. How many of them are there? And how did they get there? And why aren't they hypnotized by the brown goo the exterminator used on the traps? We should've listened to T and put a big hunk-a cheese on them because if it's between Gruyere and goo, I mean these rats aren't dummies (evidenced by their choice of cereal!) Let's just hope and pray that before long my attic returns to the dark, scary and completely rodent-free place I never enter. I liked it much better that way.

Life is moving in warp-speed lately and I'm afraid that I'll blink and the summer will have completely passed us by. We've done a pretty slam dunk job of living it up so we'll have no regrets luckily, but I still can't seem to shake the sadness at the thought of sending my boys back to school and losing our adventure time. Last week was a doozy in the worst way, but really the rest of our summer has been so ideal I've even considered homeschool--haha, jk, that's crazy talk! But I do love time shared with all four of my chickens and I'm cherishing it. We have less than a month left and it's full to the brim with fun. I can't wait! In the meantime, here are some of the adventures and random dailies from the last couple of weeks.

This is the smile of a girl who face-palmed the biggest slice of cookie dough ice cream cake and loved it way more than her dinner salad!

Lego playdate, pants optional.

In the same epic week our street was repaved and the Fire Department was called to our neighbors home. The firemen were fabulous and allowed my eager kids to climb all over their truck, put on their hat and threaten to press all the buttons. 

7/11 on 7/11. I know you didn't think we missed out on free slurpees.

We went to Orange County to swim in Melissa's in-laws pool and before we left Talmage forgot his fear of swimming in deep water and all three of the big kids went off the diving board. It was such a fun day and left us wishing there was a pool we could use on the regular.

Adventuring is my jam because being at home looks an awful lot like this all. of. the. time. I don't mind holding her all day when we're hiking or exploring or beaching but when I'm trying to sweep the floor or do the dishes, this is exhausting.

A broken laptop meant a visit to the Apple Store which is in the mall which is by a park where the kids love to play. It was a real mouse and cookie situation but ended with everyone smiling so so be it!

We went back to Rancho Palos Verde and hiked down to the tide pools. We saw tons of incredible sea life, ate our way through a backpack of snacks and left with not a dry sneaker among us. Cafe Rio on the way home sealed the deal on this being a fabulous Saturday.

I obviously can't get enough of this little thing eating. I love the cheeser grins she gives us when she's full and content!

This picture was taken immediately after I took Quinny to the bathroom and immediately before she decided to continue where she left off right there in the water. Let's just mark this down as one of the more humiliating mothering/humaning moments EVER. At least she looks cute in those kitty goggles!

My favorite part about summer is the salad dinners and this one was beyond delish. I don't take food photos often but this one deserved some coverage!

Baby's first batter (cream cheese frosting).

Another Downtown day in the books, this time for story time at the Central Library, eating ethnic food at the farmers market and dancing to live music while the kids played in Pershing Square. I love Downtown...minus the fact that it's 10 degrees hotter than our West LA paradise.

One more shot of this lovely city. LA, you've been so good to us this summer and I'm grateful. 

Let's keep it up!

Summer BBQ's

Wednesday's are for ward BBQ's at the ball field outside our church. Bring your own meat and a side to share and you've got yourself a party with your besties on the weekly. There has only been one week that I had to follow through on my threats of taking the kids home early for bad behavior (of course, last week...I mentioned it was ugly right?) but every other week it's been a par-tay from start to finish! We're often the last to leave, the kids are filthy and exhausted and in desperate need of a bath but it's so refreshing and fun to be surrounded by so many good, good people. It's no wonder Wednesday is a fam favorite around here.

And PS, I clearly haven't learned my lesson about taking a picture before the BBQ (and meltdowns) but hey, real life is documented in these snaps!

All I wanted was a pic of my patriotic posse after singing at a nearby retirement home but it was just too much. Luckily these photos crack me up and will always help me remember what my life was like at this time.

It's so much fun to be at the hand-your-baby-an-ear-of-corn-and-let-her-walk-around phase.

You can't imagine how much dirt was on those four kids in the two pictures above. Honestly, I wish the pictures did it justice because we definitely would have set a record!

Cabrillo Aquarium

Coco started by her siblings...and the cow...but heaven knows she was not going to stay by that big, scary thing. We had a field trip to the Cabrillo Aquarium and tide pools in Long Beach but we started at Chik filet of course, all dressed up like cows and excited for free nuggets! Everyone, except Coco however, who was mostly terrified of all the costumes and unhappy that she couldn't suck and chuck everyone's waffle fries.

The Cabrillo Aquarium was amazing. It was super age-appropriate, run by darling High School science enthusiasts and best of all...totally free! (Donation only, and I gave, but I like the option for my big brood.) Luckily I shared the day with Laura and her kids and we had such a great time.

Quinn is not always the softest with Coco so this moment caught me off guard and definitely warmed my heart. I hope these two will be the best of friends someday.

^^Always my favorite part of every museum^^

We really didn't see much in the way of marine life but that didn't stop the kids from having a blast walking on rocks and finding shells. Adventure awaits with this peppy crew and I'm so glad to be along for the ride.

Root, root, root for the DODGERS!

A friend of ours was celebrating a birthday and her BFF offered to throw her a party at the ball field in order to promote his new ticket-buying app which is how the Wigs landed themselves at a Dodgers vs. Royals game in the Coca Cola Pavilion for freeeeeeeeeee. I love free so hard. I also love baseball games with friends and warm summer nights. So basically #winning!

  

To be honest I was too busy wiping the sweat off my neck, chatting with friends and drinking nacho cheese to watch the game (until the 10th inning when things got exciting). Were I to have watched the game though, these were our seats. 

The Coca Cola Pavilion seats are all-you-can-eat seats and us Wigs take the free food thing very seriously. That right there was all for James, you should have seen T's load. I kid, I kid! That was enough food for a family of six (better known as a small army!)

Funnest. Girl. Ever! She cheered and clapped and ate her Dodgers dog and cracked them peanuts! This one knows how to party and basically IS the party everywhere we go. 

It didn't take long before we were welcoming friends into our row to hang out with the boys. It started like this...

...and before long it looked like this. A few minutes later James and I were kicked out of our row altogether because kids were swarming in and totally took over. I'm so glad for the great group of kids surrounding my own. I love them all!

This cheesy picture had me reflecting hardcore on this one. How in the world does time go by so quickly? That little Coco of last year was darling, but this toddler Coco is the funnest! So glad we get to keep this sweet thing forever. 

Talmage and James informed me that we're still Mets fans first, but since they were only playing the Royals we were Dodgers fans next. No matter who we cheer for it's so fun doing it with these folks.

Winning dabs for our winning Dodgers! More games yet to come for us this season? I hope so!

Tie Switch on Sunday

Both girls decided to share their naughtiness during Sacrament meeting (it was loud! and bad! and ugly!) and James was the lucky parent who got to walk the halls with the little inmates. He bumped into our friend John Wallace from Westwood 1st and before long they had switched ties because John noticed his matched perfectly with the girls dresses. I still can't help but smile when I picture this hallway exchange and thought if ever a picture was warranted, this was definitely that matchy-matchy time. And PS--the irony of their smiles in this picture is not lost on me. Where were those all morning, my little loves?!

God Bless America, Land That I Love

Our next installment of The Wigs Become a Hiking Family finds us in the Pacific Palisades on the 4th of July, attempting to conquer a mountainous 5 mile hike on the Paseo Miramar trail. Spoiler alert: we were victorious!

We learned a few things: 

1) Everett will complain if we go on a .5 mile hike or a 5 mile hike so we might as well go the distance. He hates it the whole way but is proud as heck when we're done. 

2) Quinn can walk for miles if Daddy's not there. If he is, chances are she'll cry and beg and whine until he carries her on his shoulders the whole darn way. That girl has that guy wrapped I tell ya!

3) Those book ends of ours are so pleasant--T being ever positive and energetic and Cora content to just kick it in the pack for hours. Bless them.

4) Next time we need to pack double the water. A water bottle per child is not enough when it is used as bait to get them up each and every switchback.

5) On this trail especially, we were an anomaly for bringing our brood and praised as such. If ever we need a good self-esteem boost, on this trail with these kids we will go! 

We started really early so there was still a lot of coastal clouds but by the time we reached the top (pictures below) most of it had burned off. The kids really enjoyed seeing the clouds too, especially when we climbed higher than them!

The video of me asking: Do you like hiking? And him yelling: NOOOOO! at the top of his lungs may go down as my favorite of his childhood. Oh Ever Knight, what are we going to do with you?!

Peanut butter sandwiches with a view!

At the summit our family huddled and did a loud "Team Wigginton" cheer which resulted in our fellow hikers giving us a round of applause! That hike was hard, but Wigginton's can do hard things (especially when they work together). I hope they always remember how amazing it feels to accomplish something they once thought impossible. 

After a shower and some quiet time we got dressed in our patriotic best and headed over to a BBQ with a bunch of other families from church. There was a bounce house, three pinatas, more food than I can even begin to describe and after partying for hours at the ball field we watched hundreds of firework shows from the quiet steps of the temple. If there could have been a better holiday I don't know where I would have found it. I'm so grateful for my family, our country's freedom, and the opportunity we had on this 4th of July to celebrate both. 

His face in this picture makes me laugh so hard. Take that emoji pinata!!!

I think they were just a little excited about the candy and prizes, what do you think?

We love America!

Quinny's first sparkler.

And Coco's first sucker! Both important firsts, amiright?

Gone are the days when this little one is too afraid to get his face painted and opts for work on his arm. He was pleased as punch with his Spiderman mask and I just can't believe how big he's getting. Boy do I love him!