One of the fun things for me about Annie playing softball is how she lets me braid her hair in crazy ways. I know that’s a weird thing to appreciate, but she’s currently in a “I will brush my hair myself DON’T TOUCH IT” phase for every day hair styling, and y’all know how much I love braid hair. Annie has been watching the College Softball World Series and she’s a) blown away by how amazing the college players are and b) she looooves the multiple-braid styles the players have. Braiding her hair for games gives me fun flashbacks to when I was braiding my teammates’ hair so many years ago. I think I’ll have to start giving Annie braiding lessons!

Around The ‘Net

~Delayed by Nazis, bar mitzvah to now be celebrated by 89-year-old Holocaust survivor

~What We Have Unleashed

~Looking For Right And Wrong In The Philippines

~The Addicts Next Door

~Tested in a barbershop, 7th-grader becomes Baltimore’s first-ever national chess champion

~When Elite Parents Dominate Volunteers, Children Lose

~First She Marched, Then She Ran

~The Town Where Mexico’s Political Machine, and Six Governors, Were Born

~As Bill Cosby trial begins, an O.J. Simpson-like constellation of race, celebrity, power and gender converges

~Wonder Woman Proves Wonderful Superhero Movies Don’t Need Superstars

~What Gets Stolen From Restaurants? Everything

~The Rainbow Bagel Creator Shares What Really Happens When You Go Viral

~How the World’s Most Interesting Man Befriended the World’s Most Powerful Man

~California is one step closer to ending daylight saving time

~Where Does Lost Airline Luggage Go? To America’s Greatest Thrift Store.

~How Amanda Chantal Bacon Perfected the Celebrity Wellness Business

~A solar eclipse is coming in August. Here’s what it will look like where you are.

Birthday Loot

James did pretty well for himself with birthday presents! And now that he’s feeling better, he and Annie have finally been able to enjoy playing with them.

~His big present (and one he’d been asking about for ages) was a giant Hot Wheels garage. Annie’s gift to him was extra cars and they are both sooo into racing them and it gives me five minutes of silence until they start arguing over who won.
~He also asked for a “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” so we found this pop-up tent. Now he sits inside of it and sings the theme song to the show and I die over the cuteness (“It’s a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse tent! Come inside, it’s fun inside!”).
~James’ favorite superhero is Captain America, so in addition to getting him a cape and mask, we also gave him this fun nerf-ball-shooting-shield.

James isn’t having a birthday party this year. Every year I give my kids the option of a party or a theme park and James chose going to Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate. We’re going the day after school gets out and he is BESIDE himself with excitement.

Flibberty Fidget

~I’ve told you guys that my kids love fidget spinners and I love my fidget cube, but when I was shopping for James’ birthday gifts I came across fidget tangles and OMG, they are GREAT. James played with his during Annie’s entire 60 minute choir concert. I don’t think James has played with ANYTHING for sixty straight minutes! I even got one for myself. I highly recommend them!

The Toddler Survival Guide

If you haven’t preordered our book yet, you should! You guys are all awesome for supporting us and we are so grateful! The Toddler Survival Guide is available for preorder at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Indiebound, Powells, QuartoKnows, and in Canada at Indigo-Chapters. It’s out August first (in less than two months, aaaaaah!!!)

Happy Sunday, everyone!