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Friday, April 30, 2010

Calphalon Review

Everyone,

A few weeks ago, I got a big package in the mail. I wasn't really expecting anything (I was actually not ordering stuff from the Internet if I could help it!) so I opened the box in anticipation. Surprise packages are always the best.

This box was an amazing gift too! I had signed up to review some pans from Calphalon but I hadn't heard back from them about when to expect them. So I was super excited about my brand new 10 inch omelet pan. (I had a picture but for some reason it's not loading. I'll try again later.) Here's the review I posted on their site:

"This pan is heavier than it looks! I was surprised at the heft. But it wasn't too heavy, it was a pleasant weight in my hand. After seasoning it (very easily washed and wiped with a little bit of oil) I promptly broke two eggs into. Perfect. The pan was the exact size I needed it to be, and the eggs came out great. Then I cooked two more eggs back to back to see what would happen. My old pan would have bits of eggs left over in the bottom, which would then burn. And then the second round of eggs would have bits of burned eggs through them. This did not happen AT ALL. I was so pleased that ALL of the eggs came out the first time and no residual was left to ruin the second batch.

Since that first day and the fabulous eggs, this pan has surprised me with its durability. It makes great grilled cheese, chicken, eggs, pork chops, etc. I have even warmed up pizza in it. (Works great!)

I don't find that the pan has any "hot spots" in it where some food heats unevenly. This sides are a good height for keeping food and liquid in but not too high that it's hard to pour out of.
The only thing this is missing is a lid. Thanks for making such a great product Calphalon!"

Also included in the package was something totally unexpected. An 8 inch chef's knife and a vegetable knife set. The vegetable knife set included a 3.5 inch paring knife and a 6 inch utility knife. And since they asked me to put a review on their site, I thought I'd just put it on here for you guys to read as well.

"These knives are so easy to use. They fit right into the palm of my hand and have a very nice grip. I have long fingers and I don't seem to be over shooting anything and they don't feel too small in my hands. They cut beautifully. It's almost amazing how well I now cut because of these knives. You can't go wrong with the quality. I love that you can see that the blade and the handle are all one piece. No more handles breaking off for us!

We have used it on everything. Strawberries, apples, pears, oranges, even raw and cooked meats. The clean up is easy, just toss in the dishwasher and you're done, until next time!"

We had been without a chef's knife for awhile (because Juice keeps breaking them) so I was excited to finally have one again. Here's that review:


"I was so excited when I got this knife in the mail. See, we had broken the last of our old cheep knives. Once we got to this last one (number 4 to be snapped off at the handle), I said we were going with quality this time! And this one IS quality.

So why do we keep breaking the knives? Well, my husband likes to cut up ice cream in the container to make it easy to serve. So you can imagine the stress that puts on a knife! The last 2 knives that we had, we had only had for about 6 weeks before they cracked. This one we've had for about a month and it still looks brand new.

Beyond ice cream, we've done a lot of chopping vegetables, potatoes, meats, and fruit. The handle is very nice in my hand, having a very good grip and weight. I like that you can see that the blade and the handle are one piece. This knife is quality!"

I've really enjoyed trying out these products from Calphalon. My pans are starting to show their wear and tear. My old omelet pan spins in a circle when you put it on my glass top stove and all the heat is concentrated on that one spot. So I'm happy to have a new, working pan to use! But I'm not throwing the old one out just yet. Calphalon has a recycling program. They ask you to put your old pans into the box they send you new pans in and they will happily recycle them for you. Now I know what I'm going to be saving my money up for, and my old pans!

Safire

Here's the legal disclaimer that says I was sent these products for free to review on the Calphalon site. This blog post is just extra because I thought you guys would like to hear about them!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Swim Lessons

Everyone,

Today at Butterfly's swim lessons, I sat in the lobby right next to the glass door and watched her swim. There is only one other boy in her swim class. I LOVE that ratio for swimming. We are taking them through the county. We lucked out on this class size though.

Because she has such a great class ratio, I've been watching her improve in every single lesson in huge leaps and bounds. This time I watched her propel herself across the pool (with the aid of a float held in front of her) and float on her back all by herself. She also was diving underneath the water to pick up rings on the pool floor.

She is LOVING swimming every week. I never have to force her to get ready like I used to with dance class. She walks to the pool happily (we live about half a mile from the pool) and walks home skipping and jumping. She did tell me today that dance class was fun at the end. And she always LOOKED like she was having a good time in class.

No matter. I'm liking the half hour or so to sit and read. I'm also liking the walk to and from the pool. We get to talk and she gets some serious one on one time with me. Of course, we have all of nap time without the boys too but that's my time to "work" and so she watches a movie.

She's changed her favorite color from orange back to purple. Random. That's what she woke me up at 6:15am to tell me this morning. I was NOT a happy camper. Because when she wakes up, so do the boys.

This color change is the reason I was dragging today and was not very productive at all. We at least survived the day and now, off to bed.

Safire

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

2 Year Old Check Up

Everyone,

Today was the boys 2 year old check up. They were so cute in the exam room waiting for the doctor. They were having hoping races across the room. This is a favorite game of theirs that they figured out on their own together. It's cute.

Pirate's stats: 27.7 lbs (50th %), 36 3/4th inches tall (110%), and 19 1/2 inch head. He shot up big time from last visit. They measured him twice because he is just so big. Long and skinny that one! He's meeting all of his milestones great, except for his speech. What he says:
Mommy
Daddy
puppy
bubbles
mine
no
sisser (sister)
uh-oh
a-ha
Hi
cheese

He doesn't say any words together. He's not mimicking any noises that we make. He does a lot of pointing and grunting and a lot of sign language. So. They are sending me back to the county speech place to get re-evaluated. He is also borderline anemic so they need to test his blood at the lab and see if he needs some kind of medication. The doctor said that he probably just needs a daily vitamin with iron in it and he should be fine. His scar from his surgery is healing nicely, and he's one happy healthy little guy. He did not see the inside of that office from his 18 month check to his 2 year check. Awesome!

Professor's stats: 22.2 lbs (off the bottom of the charts), 34 3/4 inches (50%) tall, 19 1/2 inches head. (This is the last time they measure their heads!) Obviously his weight is an issue. He is tiny. It's hard because I give him and Pirate the same foods but Professor will. not. eat. And it's not like I can shove it down his throat (although I've wanted to several times). The doctor said it looks like he is not getting enough calories. So. That means I have to start giving him whole fat everything. Milk, cream, butter, oil, etc. I'm supposed to add MORE of everything whole fat to his regular diet. I mentally shook my head a little when she told me that because I can put food down in front of him. It doesn't mean that he will actually put any in his mouth. And then, it's a guess as to whether or not he will actually swallow. What a pain he is about food. Still, I guess I've got some research ahead of me to figure out some high calorie things for him to eat. And then there's the problem of keeping it away from the others!

He is anemic so we are off to the lab for some serious blood work. I think I have 5 tests they are going to run on him; thyroid, liver function, hemoglobin, and a few more I can't remember. They want to make sure that it really is just a caloric issue and not a body issue. Either way, it's stressing me out ever so slightly.

Everything else is spot on for him. He is our little parrot and says pretty much anything we say now. His cutest phrases are "Where Mommy go?" and "Mommy go away!" I wish I heard them more. He also yells "MINE!" with a vengeance and can be attached to my leg 80% of the day. Still, he's such a sunshine boy that I don't mind (a lot).

So other than the tests, more food, and more Early Intervention, the boys are good! We go back to see them in 6 months (a new change for us...I thought we were free for a year) and they should be great.

They are such cute boys and we all love them so!

Safire

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Bad Things Happen In Threes

Everyone,

Isn't it true that bad (and good) things generally happen in threes? I'll look for a bad day tomorrow because today totally sucked. Again. Let's start with the oldest and go from there.

Butterfly: she had 3 accidents today. And one that was not just pee. What's going on with this girl and her bladder?! The past 2 weeks or so she's had major bathroom issues. It's a bummer. We had to leave the park because she had an accident. That one was partly my fault because I saw the signs and didn't march her to the bathroom then. I was waiting for her to tell me she had to go. Obviously she was having too much fun to stop. Boy she is going to be interesting in school. I hope she gets an understanding kindergarten teacher.

She also lost her movie for the day (a HUGE upset) and she got put to bed when the boys went to bed. It was not a good day for her.

Pirate: he is growing so fast! He is tall enough to reach things on the counters. Things I've been putting up there to keep him away from. Things like bowls or hot pans. No he didn't get a hot pan but he did get a bowl. Butterfly was peeling hard boiled eggs to put in the bowl. He offered it to her. She huffed and turned away from him. (Girls!) Then he got angry and threw the bowl. The floor won. Now I am a bowl short and cross.

Professor: this is a pretty funny story and really, not something that was his fault. But still, it involves him so it goes under his label.

I was sitting with the boys on my lap, one on each leg. I was by the big window in our front room. Both the boys were facing the window looking out. Professor was in front, and Pirate was behind him, with his belly pressed up against Professor's back. Professor was grunting and complaining that Pirate kept leaning on him and pushing him out of the way to get a better look at the truck out the window. I finally got them apart and noticed that there was a big green streak on Pirate's arm. I was on the phone with my dad at the time and had to hang up quickly ("Ew! Green sludge!"). I then dump Professor on the floor and gingerly carry Pirate over to the changing pad to detoxify him.

I got his clothes off and open his diaper to...nothing. There was no poop anywhere on his body except his belly. That's when I gasped and left poor Pirate buck nekkid on the pad. Professor was playing quietly on the other side of the room. When I got closer to him, I noticed that the back of his hair was kind of dark.

I gingerly pick up Professor and shoo Pirate off the changing pad to detoxify Professor. I should have been wearing some kind of hazmet suit because this was bad. Up the back, up the front, bright green and slimy. Oddly enough, there was a spot on his diaper that didn't have anything on it. It was right where he was sitting on my leg so maybe it squeezed out either side?

Note to self: beans for dinner and a strawberry/spinach smoothie do not mix.

Safire

Monday, April 26, 2010

Pirate Good Idea, Bad Idea

Everyone,

Good idea: Pump out hand soap onto hands. Make bubbles.

Bad idea: Put hand soap into toilet. Flush. Make more bubbles. Think portable night light would like a bubble bath. Add to toilet. Flush again.

Good idea: Eat lunch.

Bad idea: Throw all food on floor. Play the limp noodle. Scream, cry, pitch a royal fit. Make mommy exasperated and upset.

Good idea: Play with Daddy.

Bad idea: try to throw Daddy's glasses across the room. Ignore Mommy. Make a general nuisance, all while being cute and laughing with mouth wide open.

Arg! It's been a most frustrating day with Pirate. It's put me in a funky crabby mood. So before I say anything that I might regret, I'm stopping now.

Safire

Sunday, April 25, 2010

Question of the Week: MoM Groups

Everyone,

This week's question over at Multiples and More is about Moms of Multiples groups.




Are you involved in your local Mother's (Parent's) of Multiples club?

Yes!  Our multiples club is enormous.  I think they have close to 600 members.  And if everyone only had twins, there would be 1200 kids between all of us!  But there are several who have more than their multiples (like me) and several who have triplets.  I couldn't remember if someone had quads or more.
The ages of the kids range from not born yet to born in the 80s.  It's such a diverse group of people from all walks of life.  And this diversity it what makes the group great.  The more experienced moms can help the young moms with advice.  The recent questions in our very active forum range from preschool questions, renting beach houses, recommending nannies or home improvement people, and a list of Buddhist Temples in the area.  We also have a classifieds board where people can post things for sale and want to buy.  It's like our own private Craig's list.

The club also has numerous activities through out the year.  There's always a play date going on.  They have expectant parent teas for all the new parents to pair them up with families that have been where they are going.  They have a big annual picnic (which we've yet to go to...it's always on a Sunday and we do not do things like that on Sundays due to religious reasons) and always have a team for the March of Dimes. 

The big kahuna of our club (I think anyway) is our semi-annual twin sale.  See here for the latest ones I've been to.  They sell close to $30,000 of stuff and it is enormous.  This is where I buy most of the boys clothes.  Before I had twins, I went to this sale and bought all of Butterfly's clothes.  She is now mostly too big for the sizes they offer but sometimes I find a few cute things for her.  This is where most of our toys come from too.  Seriously, it's amazing.

Our club also participates in the Mid Atlantic Parents of Multiples Convention.  My friend, who has 14 year old twin boys, tries to convince me to come every year.  I imagine it's a lot of classes and fun celebrating the joys of having multiples.  Could be fun!

They also put out a preschool booklet that describes all the preschools in the areas, their numbers, their philosophies, etc.  They are a great resource for not only the multiple community, but the non-multiple community as well.

I love belonging to this group.  I get so many great ideas from their message boards, so many good quality clothes from their consignment sales, and so many fun things to do as a group if I wanted to.  I know that if there is a huge problem, I'll have this community to lean on.

Safire 

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Hello Saturday

Everyone,

This morning we had big plans.  We were going to an Earth Day celebration.  Professor cried a lot last night, and he kept waking up moaning, "ouch!"  Uh-oh.  This morning Pirate was hot to the touch.  And Butterfly kept complaining that she was cold.  Everyone has fevers.  Everyone spend the day on the couch watching movies. 

Butterfly declared this her best day ever. 

We've got a streaming disk from Netflix for our Wii.  This has been AMAZING.  I love that I can get all the disks I want and Butterfly can watch anything on the streaming disk.  They have all the seasons of Voltron.  Juice has been enjoying watching it with the kids.  The boys call it "roar" and ask for it by name.  They even cry when I don't let them watch it.  It's SO cute.

Even though the kids are sick, Juice and I still went out on our planned date for tonight.  We figured we were feeling fine and our babysitter doesn't really do much with the kids.  Honestly, we have the easiest baby sitting job ever.  We always put the boys down for bed before the baby sitter gets here.  Butterfly has maybe half an hour with the sitter, and then she goes into bed too.  So really, all I'm looking for is a living fire alarm.

Having secured our living fire alarm, we went out dancing.  So much fun!  Juice and I don't go dancing nearly enough.  This was a much needed break for us. 

Dating = good.

Safire 

Friday, April 23, 2010

Give Me your Best Shot- Zoo

Everyone,

This week for our little home preschool was Z week. And what better way to celebrate Zs than to go to the Zoo! This is one of the places in DC that is a must see. And it's FREE. How cool does that get?!

Give me your best shot at Better in Bulk

So Lolli and I, and the 4 kids, ride the train to the zoo (AJ kept saying, "Is this the Zoo Train?" and I kept thinking of the Disney Zoo Train Song.) and hike the half mile or so to the Zoo Entrance. Lolli and I had researched our trip a little today and printed off Zoo Bingo and an Animal Worksheet to help the kids keep on task. Really, didn't need to but it was fun. They got stickers at the end from the Zoo's information desk.

AJ really wanted to see the alligators so we went into the reptile house this time. We never go into the reptile house because there's always a huge line. But this time we walked right in. Boy it was hot in there! The kids were enchanted with all the snakes and alligators and lizards. I caught this awesome shot for Juice. This is his favorite color, after all!
Butterfly wanted to see the spider monkeys. I knew the Monkeys were not in the Great Ape house so I thought we'd try the Small Mammal House. In there we saw a ton of animals. The kids were entranced by the Golden Tamarins, and I have to say they are some of my favorite animals. Too fast for my distracted picture taking though.

Once we got out of there, we figured it was time to leave. There was an altercation involving some cotton candy and popcorn, but it was resolved fairly quickly. (Butterfly didn't want to share, I made her, the end.) The ride home on the Metro was quiet, due to the Zzzzs the kids were catching for their own use.

What a fun day!

Safire

Thursday, April 22, 2010

2 Two Year Olds

Everyone,

When Butterfly turned two, we gave her a cool little trike. So when the boys were nearing their 2 year mark, I knew I wanted to get them trikes too. I convinced Butterfly of giving one of the boys her old trike, and then I got another matching one at the twin sale. We had one in the house for awhile (they fought over it, pushed each other around, and Professor cried when he had to put it outside). Tonight we finally got both the boys out and on them at the same time!
Guess which bike was in my house?

Don't you love their helmets? They are a gift from their Nana. Pirate's has skull and cross bones on it (hello, Pirate theme!) and Professor's has fish on it. They look SO cute in them and wore them 80% of our walk.

So we took them to the baby park up by our house. We didn't go far because it's cold, windy, and looked like rain. About half way there, I was pushing Professor and he started going crazy, "Bike! Bike! Bikebikebikebike!" I kept saying, "Your riding your bike!" or "Yes, a bike!" I figured it out though, he was excited that there were 2 bikes. And it is really exciting. It means that I don't have to make them share the bike.

That doesn't mean I don't make them share other things though.

Safire

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

We Give Books

Everyone,

Yesterday, thanks to several friends, I was able to go to the National Press Building in DC and attend my first press conference. The conference was introducing a new website called We Give Books.
So what is this website about? We Give Books is an initiative that enables anyone with access to the internet to put hard copy books into the hands of children who don't have them. How do you (who have internet access, obviously, otherwise you wouldn't read this) give away books? All you have to do is read a book online. Preferably to your children or grandchildren or great-grandchildren. Or your dog. Or your parrot. Or your self! Who wouldn't want to re-read "The Little Engine that Could" or other classic Penguin books? Give yourself a trip down memory land, make memories with your children, and give a book to someone who needs it.

We Give Books aims to give away 1 million books in their first year. So far they have almost 2000 books donated! If they keep this volume up, they could easily reach their goal and go beyond it. Butterfly and I have donated 9 books to the Books Across America campaign.

There are several different campaigns you can choose to give books to. So far, we're sticking with America (because that's what Butterfly wants to do) but if you're interested in donating books to Asia or Haiti, then they have those campaigns as well.

Penguin Book's motto is "Books Change Lives." I know books were always a huge part of my life growing up. I try to read books to the kids for at least half an hour a day. I'm loving this site because this way we can read a book AND give a book away at the same time. So far we have read "Ladybug Girl" about 4 times. Haven't read that one? Login and read it! It's very cute and right up Butterfly's alley. While you're there, join my reading group and we can donate books together.

In addition to hearing about this fabulous website, I was able to meet a few authors! Dave Barry is hilarious as his column, and Amy Tan, is very sweet. Dr. Marvin Berkowitz told us about his fascinating study of teens on being charitable. He wanted to find out how you can raise a charitable child. There are several more points he made in his discussion, but the 3 main points that giving teens said their parents did are:
  • Explained how I can help other people by my actions.
  • Encouraged me to speak up in family discussions.
  • Spoke to me about the volunteering and charity they do.
Now I am far from having teens (so, so far away...please don't burst my bubble) but I like that these three things I can do with my kids even now. I hope that all 3 of my children grow up to be kind and empathetic adults. And we're going to start with another reading of "Ladybug Girl."

Safire

PS- I wrote this review as part of a campaign by Mom Central on behalf of We Give Books and received breakfast, a gift bag, a chance to be away from my kids and be an adult for the morning, and a gift certificate. All views about the campaign are 100% mine! Now go read!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Bad Boys...Again!

Everyone,

I can not take a shower. Those boys are going to be the death of me. Or at least the death of things in our house. Is that a boy thing?

This is the latest hit from our Wave of Destruction.
Thanks lamp, for being a good lamp.

This is why I hate not having ceiling lights. Sigh...old houses.

Safire

Monday, April 19, 2010

How To Scare Your 2 Year Old for Their Birthday

Everyone,
  • Take your newly turned 2 year old to a restaurant to celebrate his birthday.

Tonight we decided that we would go out and celebrate the boys turning 2 (again...it's been a weekend of celebration) and go to dinner. Now dining out with 3 little kids is always an adventure. This one did not disappoint. We took the family to the same place we took Butterfly to celebrate her 2nd birthday. It's a fun little steak place called Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse. They have good food and are very kid friendly. They also have animatronic animals that talk and move there! Butterfly barely ate when she turned 2, and the boys were no exception.

  • Entrance them with animatronics of woodland creatures.
We sat right underneath the huge talking Bill the Buffalo. I had Professor next to me who did not move a muscle the whole time we were waiting for food. I could see him looking around suspiciously, without moving his head. First, a fish moved. All the kids jumped and stared at the thing flopping around on the wall. Then a raccoon jumped out of a barrel. Professor pointed it out (the other kids had their backs to it) and just sat there pointing. And then the buffalo started to talk.

  • Watch them jump as the buffalo head above them started to talk.

The first time he started to chat with us, both boys stiffened up and then bolted into our laps. Butterfly just laughed. We were trying to order food at that point and it was pretty comical to the waiter to see their reactions. They sat in our laps the whole rest of the time. Pirate would not let Juice take his arm from around him. The moose on the other side of the room was cause for concern as well, but mostly the talking buffalo.

  • Encourage talking to the moving woodland creatures to try and alleviate fear.
This meant that Juice and I were waving to the raccoon in the barrel and responding to the buffalo head. Butterfly got a kick out of it. The boys still looked at them suspiciously. Professor would stop whatever his was doing and watch the raccoon. He even paused with a spoonful of macaroni and cheese to his mouth to watch it look around.

  • Switch kids. Get poked in the eye. Have to take someone away from the table for time out.
By the end of the meal, I had Pirate and Juice had Professor and Butterfly. They give out ice cream cups as part of their kids' meals so the kids were enjoying some ice cream. Pirate wanted to do it himself. Fine. But then the fish started to flop around again and he flung the spoon, full of ice cream, right at me. Luckily the ice cream did not come off the spoon. But I grabbed his hand just to be sure. Then he and I started struggling to gain control over the spoon. I see the ice cream start to slip off the side. I eat the ice cream. There was a huge scream and a flinging back with the hand I just let go of. The one with the spoon. Then the spoon hit me in the eye. Pirate started screaming louder. We left the table mid fit. The entire restaurant was watching us go. I heard, "That kid has some lungs!" and "Listen to that banshee wail!" as I was exiting.

  • Sit with child in time out in the waiting area. Have him jump back into your arms because of a moving owl. Decide it's time to go home.
I put him on a stool and told him to calm down. I sat down on the bench next to him and counted to ten. He and I looked at each other and smiled. Then the owl moved. I swear he launched himself into my arms so fast he broke the sound barrier. Time to go, I think.

  • Get in car. Look at husband. Laugh and shake your heads.
Seriously I don't know why we do these things to ourselves but we do. Butterfly declared it the best meal ev-ah and wants to go there for her birthday dinner. I think we can handle another round there! Maybe.

Safire

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Happy Birthday Professor!

Dearest Professor,

My sweet sunshine boy, you are a momma's boy. You've been a little needy lately, but it's understandable. Since you've fallen on your face (badly) this past week. This morning you and Pirate were running towards each other in the hall and met in the middle. With your heads. While your brother came out okay, you split your lip open (again) and have been rather cranky since then. Poor kid. And since your mouth hurts, you can't suck on your binkie as much as you'd like. So you wake up every few hours crying. And I wake up, almost crying. It reminds me of when you were a baby and you were so loud. You were always the more vocal.Your favorite things to say right now is anything and everything! You repeat almost everything we say. The most memorable things you say are: "Where Mommy go?" which I have yet to hear. (Obviously, you only say it when I'm gone.) You have also learned the joy of 'yeah'. You are so cute with those head bobs coupled with your 'yeah'. You are so close to saying everything. I love your little voice.
You make sure that I notice things on the road while we are driving. You LOVE big trucks. "Mommy! Tuck! Bi Tuck!" You are also learning your sense of humor. You will point out anything you think is funny and then do a little laugh after it. It's not your really happy laugh, it's just a laugh to show that you think something is funny. A fake (ish) laugh. It's really funny to us.

You still will still not eat a whole lot of healthy foods. You will, however, eat anything sweet. Candy, cookies, cupcakes. You also love Doritos and popcorn. Taking after your Mommy, that's for sure. Mommy is being sneaky though and making good tasting smoothies and putting in veggies for you to get them.
You love shoes. I don't know why, but you love to try on every one's shoes that come to visit us. You also really love to wear Butterfly's shoes. "Mommy, shoe!" you will tell me whenever you see a really nice one. You even love to wear your own shoes and know which ones are yours and which ones are your brother's. Even though they look exactly the same. (They are a half size difference.)

You are one sneaky little guy though. You are often caught doing something you shouldn't, mostly because you've seen brother do it. Those beautiful blue eyes sparkle when there's trouble around. You cry a lot louder than Pirate does. You also cry a lot more than he does. And sadly, disciplining you is something we're having a hard time doing. Time outs don't phase you. Taking away your favorite toy seems to get you upset enough to cry for at least a half hour after I've given it back to you. It's a work in progress.

Thanks for being in our family Sunshine boy!

Safire

Happy Birthday Pirate!

Dear Sweet Pirate,

You are so sweet. And yet, you are so ruthless. My little imp in sheep's clothing. You who boldly take your brother's bike and make your brother cry. Then you stand up and pat the seat, inviting him to sit so you can push. Because it was only when Daddy suggested to Professor that he push, that you got up. And yes, you can push your brother around on your new bike (there are 2 but one was outside).Speaking of outside, guess where I found you yesterday? Outside. Out front. And the door was shut and locked! How did you get out front? Did I mention that I left our front window open? Yeah. The screen was pushed kind of neatly over in it's tracks. I can't believe you climbed out. I really shouldn't be surprised. You are the one who climbs out of the dog door. You are the one who climbs onto the kitchen counters. You are the one who makes the most trouble.
You are also the one who is so super sweet. You give out a tiny scream every time you hear a car when we are walking across the road. You have the sweetest little "Hi!" and I love how you find things and say, "A-ha!" You don't say many words. You do say car, boon (balloon), puppy, Nana, MINE, roora (brother), sissa, Mommy, Daddy, uh-oh, stuck, monkey, and a lot of grunting and pointing. You are so expressive though. I seem to understand you a lot more than I understand your brother. You also do a lot of sign language. It's hard to mistake what you want when you throw a covered bowl of macaroni and cheese at me and say, "uh! uh!"
Speaking of macaroni and cheese, you love it. You are one good eater. But you really don't like breakfast. You love any kind of noodle. You also love hot dogs, crackers, chicken, strawberries, actually any kind of fruit, and cheese. I think cheese is your favorite. You also love bread and fruit snacks. You go bananas over fruit snacks.

Your favorite game right now is to run away from me. You pound away on those long sturdy legs, laughing. Your big wide mouth open and your big hazel eyes sparkling back at me as I go chasing after you. Crazy kid. For as much as you love breaking the rules (see the window escape above) you love following the rules. Everything has a place and everything in it's place. You get upset when things are out of their place.

What a fun kid you are. I am so excited to see what next year will bring!

Safire

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Birthday Eve!

Everyone,



I can't believe tomorrow I will have 2 two year olds. Crazy! Tonight we had a little party with friends to celebrate their birthday eve. We had cupcakes, ice cream and opened a few presents.

2! They are going to be 2!


Safire

Friday, April 16, 2010

Give Me Your Best Shot- Old Time Pictures

Everyone,

I've been enjoying looking through my shots of the kids' Easter clothes and playing around with editing them.  I really enjoy this one I put an old timey look on.  Such cute boys I have!



A cute story about Professor:  The other day he was playing with an airplane toy that we have.  He would fly it around (complete with sound effects) and then land it.  One time, he landed it upside down and laughed over it.  He flipped the airplane over to right side up, then flipped it over again slowly.  He ran over to me, "Mommy!  Hahaha!"  It's so fun to see him develop his sense of humor. 

Pirate this morning has been running races.  He backs himself into a corner, says, "Uh, Uh, Go!" and runs away as fast as he can.  It's so cute!

Give me your best shot at Better in Bulk

Safire

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Grumpy Mc Grump Grump

Everyone,

I typed in 4 different titles before that one and each one I had used before. Feeling Crabby, Crabby Here, etc. Did not improve my mood.

The kids are fine. Oh Professor is a little more clingy than normal due to his face thing. And Butterfly refuses to bend her knee (also due to the face thing). But she happily went to swimming lessons today and jumped right in the pool no problems. Crazy girl.

We stopped dance lessons because were going to be in Utah during the big spring showcase. This was the session where they were going to pick out costumes and learn a routine for it. I knew she couldn't handle doing all the prep work and NOT dancing in the showcase. So we switched to swim lessons again.

She is SO much happier in swim lessons. There is no hesitation, no crying, no forcing when we need to get ready. She does it happily and jumps right in the pool without even waving good bye. There is only one other boy in her class this time so she should get some good one on one instruction.

I, on the other hand, am crabby. I don't know why. Just one of those days. So what are things to help get you out of a crabby funk? These are what I normally do:

  1. Exercise. It's amazing what getting your blood pumping can do for your mood after. Plus! You can loose some weight if you're doing it a lot. Negative- I always wonder what the kids are doing (when they are not exercising with me) and it's almost always then that they get in trouble.
  2. Clean. In the movie, "The Emperor's New Groove", Pacha's wife gets mad over something Pacha says and snorts, "I've got to go clean something." I feel like that sometimes. A clean something means a task is done. And done tasks make me feel better. Negative- The kids ALWAYS want to help but it ends up making it worse and then I have to do it over. This does not make me happy.
  3. Sit in the sun. It's so peaceful and nice to sit and have the sun shine on your face and head. I like the way my hair smells after I've been outside. Negative- The kids scream if I don't take them out with me and then things like the face incidents happen and then no one is happy.
  4. Read a book. I've read a few books lately, but none that I'm really excited about. One is dry, long and somewhat boring. I don't like the writer's style. I'm more confused after reading the last chapter (I'm one of THOSE book readers) so I actually have to read the book. Anyone have anything good out there to read? Negative- the kids DO NOT like me reading my books. They bring me their books. And there is only so much "Water Water Everywhere" that I can take before I become the pacing cat at the zoo again.
  5. Put on some fun music and dance. This is a good one. Everyone gets moving. Everyone gets happy. Maybe I'll go do this one now.
Safire

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Face Incidents

Everyone,

This spring has been a big one for face incidents. About 3 days ago, Butterfly was running down the sidewalk in front of our house. She was chasing the boys. She was going very fast. I saw her lean forward and then hit the sidewalk.

With her face.

Poor girl. She also scraped both knees, her elbow and the tip of her nose. She also scraped that skin between her nose and her lip really good. How did she get there?! There was a lot of blood. There was a lot of crying. Her wounds today look okay except her one knee. That one is looking rather oozy and gross. She said it looks like applesauce. I had to agree.

Last night I was at church for a meeting and Juice took the kids for a walk to the park. Everything was going fine. He was letting the kids take turns walking Soot the puppy. Well Soot decided to go one way and hit the end of the lead kind of hard. Professor was walking her at the time and just flew off his feet. Guess where he landed?

Yep, on his face.

Apparently there was A LOT of blood and Juice was wondering if he had to take him to the emergency room. He also had to get all 3 kids home in a rush to take care of Professor. He ran home and was helped out by one of our neighbors. Who carried a distraught Pirate. Butterfly now knows her address and she apparently told him it all the way to the house.

No serious injuries for Professor but he now has road rash across his face too. His forehead, his nose, his lips and chin are all scrapped up. He is NOT a happy camper. I don't blame him! If I had a horrible bloody nose and a traumatic face plant, I would not be happy either.

I don't know why but these kids always seem to face plant it in the spring. Why is that?

Safire

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Easter 2010 Clothes

Everyone,

Since Easter was Conference Sunday, we didn't get to wear our fun new Easter clothes to church. So this Sunday everyone looked shiny in their new outfits. We even got up early so I could take pictures of them before church. Thanks to my Mom for the clothes!

First off: Butterfly. She looks SO grown up in this dress. She picked out the bow herself. And look, I even put her hair in curlers the night before! She looks so cute! Those curls didn't last through church but she thought they were great.
Next up is Pirate. He is the king of soulful looks in our house. And yes, I did pick out their outfits to match their eyes! Thanks to the 5 or 6 people who asked me that at church. Makes me feel like our choice was a good one.

And last but not least, Professor. He was NOT happy about getting his picture taken after someone took a toy away from him. So I didn't get as many pictures as I would have liked with him. The hats kill me!
Absolutely adorable!

Safire

Monday, April 12, 2010

SEED Power!

Everyone,

Hey, remember when I started writing all these entries about a company called SEED? I was hoping to win a sponsorship for them for my trip to NYC in August.

Not only did I write the entries about SEED, I did a cool picture story with my Mom's help and fun old pictures of my family. (Hi Nana!)

And then I did that funny video (a vlog) with Lolli in her shower. We laughed SO hard during the making of it. Totally worth it just to get together with a friend and be silly.

Guess what?! It WON! Both Lolli and I each got a sponsorship which is totally amazing. This company is taking good care of us and I am really grateful.

Other winning entries:

Emily from Wish Wait Hope Pray for her Whrrl Story

Cathy from Let's Be Green Together for her Blog Entry

Honorable Mention: awarded to Andrea of LilKidThings for her Whrrl Stories

I am super excited to go to NYC in August and have a girls weekend with Lolli. This weekend is my 30th birthday present from Juice. He is (warily) taking care of the kids (with Flower's help, since she should be here!) and letting me go be a person for 4 whole days. I'll get to meet all these amazing bloggers and this amazing company.

I am SOO excited!

Safire

PS- Do you know what else I won?! A year's worth of web hosting from Twenty 70 Hosting. I must be lucky!

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Question of the Week: Shopping!

Everyone,

This week's question at Multiples and More is about shopping. Grocery shopping.




How do you save money at the grocery store? What are your best tips and tricks?

I love to shop. Even shopping at the grocery store was fun. I think that comes from when I was little my Mom went to the grocery store with a carnival inside it. Seriously, it had rides, games, cheesy popcorn, etc. I couldn't tell you why, but I can tell you that I went almost every week with my Mom. Most of my allowance went to the skee ball machines. I got really good. I was saving up my tickets to get a tv for my room but then we moved.

When we got married, the guy who married us gave us some advice. He told us to go grocery shopping together. And I think we always have. Except when I was on bed rest with the twins, then Juice went by himself. But now we take everyone and make it a fun family outing. Butterfly knows all about coupons, sales, and which stores have the best carts and free samples.

As for saving money, I go through cycles of coupons. Sometimes I LOVE them and I once got $200 of groceries for $68. I kid you not! But I get tired and frustrated with them all sometimes that I stop using them. I always go back to them eventually.

Currently I am in a no using phase. But here are a few tricks from when I was using. (Sounds like a drug, and sometimes it is!)

- Match up your weekly ad with your coupons. Sometimes stores have coupons inside their ads that you can stack with your manufacturing coupons. Watch for the stores that are doing double or triple coupons! GO THERE.
- Match your meals with what's on sale this week in the ad. If chicken is on sale, plan on eating it that week. If London Broil is at an amazing price, plan a few meals around that.
- Keep a "rock bottom price" list for things you always buy. Grocery stores cycle through sales as well. If you can stock up a little on sale price chicken, you won't have to buy it at full price later.
- Stretch those meals. If you bake a whole chicken (delicious with olive oil and rosemary!), save the left over meat for chili the next night. Toss the carcass in a big pot with leftover veggies and water and make your own chicken broth. There are so many different ways to use one thing for several meals. Be creative!
- Make your own. This is something I'm exploring right now. I can buy ingredients to make my own pancake mix that would cost much less than the ready made mix. I can make as much or as little of, say, salad dressing as I want. It tastes SO much better and is much healthier for you.

These are just a few tips that seem to have worked for my family. Here's a few websites for you to look over. I got most of my ideas from them!

Deal Wise Mommy


Freebies 4 Mom

Money Saving Mom

Beyond grocery shopping, the site I use the most is called Swagbucks. It is a free site to use. You just search the web through their portal (very similar to google) and they give you 'bucks' for searching. Add up those bucks and you can redeem them for free stuff from their website. It's kind of like when I was saving up those tickets from skee ball when I was young. Only instead of turning in the tickets for a tv, I'm turning in my bucks for amazon gift cards. So far this year I've earned over $100 for doing nothing that I don't normally do on the web. Seriously, it's amazing. Try it out! You have nothing to loose! (Neither do I, I get a bonus if you sign up.)

Safire

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Never Miss a Moment of Your Child's Life

Everyone,

Are you missing out on the cute things your children do? Do you feel like you're too busy running your household to be there for your baby's milestones?

I have a solution for you!

I invite you to try "Older Sibling version 4.5." You too can have complete audio play by play of your young child's life while you are in the other room.

Not sure how "Older Sibling version 4.5" would work? Here is a stunning example of the efficiency of the model.

Mother and Father, in the kitchen making dinner.

Children in the family room watching an educational show involving American Sign Language. "Older Sibling version 4.5" and "Younger Sibling version 2.0a" and "Younger Sibling version 2.0b" are enjoying the joys of tv in the afternoon.

"Younger Sibling version 2.0b just signed 'water'!" Older Sibling version 4.5 announces.

"Good job!" Mother calls from the other room.

"Younger Sibling version 2.0b just signed 'cat'!" OSv4.5 announces, just seconds later.

"Younger Sibling version 2.0b just signed 'dog'! He knows dog!" OSv4.5 announces, just a few more seconds later.

"YSv2.0b signed 'frog'!" Another announcement by OSv4.5.

These announcements come at regular intervals through out the next half hour.

Older Sibling version 4.5 comes loaded with a verbose vocabulary and a voice that will pierce any wall. It also does not miss a beat when it comes to your little one's milestones. It is also helpful in the event your younger children try to climb out of the window/pull the dog's tail/spill and spread milk over the kitchen table. Sadly, Older Sibling version 4.5 does have a few glitches. It ceases to work in the event of a movie or an engaging game.

I urge you to consider getting yourself an "Older Sibling version 4.5" for yourself.  Act fast! 

As an added bonus, version 4.5 will come with free upgrades!  Just one month after your order, this version 4.5 will upgrade to version 5.0.  This one of a kind announcer also comes with Sweet Hugs and Long Bathroom Trips plug-ins.

Contact us now and you too can enjoy "Older Sibling version 4.5" in your home.  Quantities are very limited. 

Safire

Friday, April 09, 2010

Give Me Your Best Shot- Park

Everyone,
This has been an amazing week for weather. The beginning of the week it was close to 90 degrees. It was hot. It was sunny. It was beautiful. We spent all day every day outside as much as possible. Because normally, when it's 90, it's unbearable. But there was barely any humidity and we loved it.

PhotoStory Friday Give me your best shot at Better in Bulk


Hosted by Cecily and Lolli




Then last night a huge rainstorm blew in. It turned cold, fast. Today's high was only about 58. It was windy. But we went outside anyway! We met some friends at the park and had a wonderful time. This is my favorite picture of Professor (I took it yesterday) and it just shows his personality so much. What a fun picture and a fun boy!Cute Pirate on the swings. The swings were a big hit today. We swung and swung and laughed and swung some more. The swings were in the shade so we (my friends and I) became Popsicles but the kids seemed to enjoy it. Cold red noses and all. This little girl enjoyed it the most. It was the only thing she wanted to do the whole time at the park!

Butterfly made a friend of a little boy who wanted to be tree frogs and climb all over this rope thing. This was right up Butterfly's alley. She climbed higher than I've ever seen her climb and was a frog most of the rest of the day. When we got home, Juice came home and took Butterfly back outside for 2 and half more hours of play. What a lucky girl.

And they were all in bed by 7:09pm tonight. We are all exhausted. But it's such a great exhaustion.

Safire

Thursday, April 08, 2010

Twins Plus Wii Equals Disaster

Everyone,

About 2 weeks ago, I put up a plea on Facebook:

"I have a disk stuck in the Wii...any thoughts?"

No one had any thoughts though. So I googled the problem and came up with a whole lot of nothing.

See, when I pushed the eject button, it made a very sad grinding noise and then stopped. I tried holding down the eject button. I tried turning it off and turning it back on after 2 minutes. I unplugged it for half an hour and came back to it. I even held the eject button down and shook it in hopes that gravity would help me pull the disk out. No luck.

So I handed it over to Juice who then did the same things I did. But after shaking it, he broke out his trusty pocket knife and started poking around in there. I knew he was serious when he went to get his tools. He took his needle nosed pliers to the disk and pulled it out.

"Belly dancing for fitness," he announced. (Yes, I do them. Yes, I like it. Yes, it's a workout.)

What?! Boys!!
The BDF was followed shortly by a picture CD of the boys' first birthday.

That was followed by another picture CD of their 6 month old pictures.

Then came the Wii game which actually came out when you pushed the eject button.

In case you are wondering, you can get 4 disks into the Wii disk slot. The Wii won't work. But you can get them in! Also, pulling them out of there will severally damage the disks. As in, the BDF does not work anymore. The Wii still operates just fine though.

There were some severally punished boys in our house too.
Safire

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Juice's Project

Everyone,

Juice is an engineer. He loves to build things and fix things and play with power tools. His job currently does not allow him to do much of that (he does his fair share at home). So when his job was looking for mentors at the local high school, he signed up. He was happy to see that he was helping the students build bridges and test their designs out. He even got to build one himself!
All of his co-workers signed up to be in 3rd period when they were testing the bridges so that they could watch Juice's bridge be smashed. From what he described, you put in in a machine that slowly tightens a screw down. That screw is attached to a board at the top. So as the board comes down, it records how much pressure the bridge can take before it breaks.

It seemed like everyone had a great time on crushing day and Juice wrote me the following email:

"My bridge weighed 54 grams and held 745 lbs. I was not the lightest bridge, nor the strongest bridge, but I did have one of the highest efficiency ratios (6258:1)."

I think it's very cool that he can think up something like that bridge, build it, and then see it destroyed and be happy about the destruction.

I think he thinks it's pretty cool too.

His current project at home to keep his hands busy? Making chain mail gloves out of paper clips. Yes, you read that right. I'll post that one when it's done too!

Safire

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Outside!

Everyone,

The past few days have been absolutely beautiful outside. We've been spending as much of our days outside as we possibly can. I know the heat and humidity is going to show up. So we may as well play while we can!

The kids love it. They all have that sun kissed look and are sleeping like rocks through the night. We have been using those bubbles, the sidewalk chalk and exploring the beautiful spring items that come clutched in little kid paws. It's also opened up a huge rush of vocabulary for Professor.

Flower!
Bee!
Leaf!
Airplane!
Rock!
Throw!
Turn!
Water!
Bike!

The boys get into a lot less trouble outside. They throw rocks in the road. They follow each other around and say "Weee!" They bring me little treasures. They sit next to me on the step and do everything that I do. It's very cute.

Butterfly is wrapped up in her own little world and makes up elaborate games inside her head. Today she was Bolt and drug poor Soot around. She also made Soot sick, tried to give her medicine of grass and twigs, tried to do Soot's hair with flowers, had Soot stand in the 'snow' and pretended that Soot was cold. I love having a dog for her.

Pirate is my instigator and loves to go out into the road, try to throw rocks at my car, and wants to jump off the steps. He also wants to pick all my flowers and do whatever Butterfly is doing. Busy boy!

Sometimes I take my computer out with me. Sometimes I just sit and watch them play and be amazed by them. Sometimes I carry them inside kicking and screaming because it's nap time.

Today, we went out right after breakfast, came inside for a drink, went back out, had lunch outside, came in screaming for naps, and went back out after dinner for a walk with Daddy. I'd say that's 80% of the day outside. I hope to continue to do that with them all week long.

Safire

PS- I won a year's worth of web hosting from Twenty70Hosting! I spent several hours and emails back and forth to the owner about getting my brand new blog up and running. Seriously, if you're looking for web hosting, go with these gals. They have been great. New blog reveal is getting closer!

Monday, April 05, 2010

Easter 2010

Everyone,

This year's Easter was very low key. We spent the day in our pjs listening to General Conference and eating candy. The big fun in the morning was the Easter baskets though!
When Butterfly was the boys' age, I think I gave her a handful of jelly beans and a few toys/books. The boys got significantly more candy that she did. Juice was not happy with the slobbering sticky chocolaty mess. But I figured it was a win because they almost didn't fight over the candy. Each kid got 2 toys and I ended up using 2 bags of candy between the 3 of them. I think that was enough.
Butterfly got sidewalk chalk (something I know we will need for the summer and hopefully use up before the summer is over) and a bunny Mr. Potato head. This is our family's first Mr. Potato Head. I bought another generic Mr. Potato Head in advance to ward of fighting. A good call. Besides the jelly beans and the robin's eggs (which no one in our family likes...who knew?) she got some pink Peeps and a chocolate bunny.Pirate got bubble solution (also something we will use up before the summer is over) and a pair of sunglasses. They are green. They are funky. They were a dollar. He also got jelly beans, robin's eggs (which he ate for about 2 minutes and then started to spit out, much to Juice's dismay), purple peeps and a chocolate bunny. The bunny's ears were eaten and then he carried it around like a doll for about an hour. By the time Juice wrestled it away from him, it was hairy, melted and dirty. Pirate screamed, Juice huffed about it and I just smiled. Crazy kid!
Professor also got bubble solution (we go through a lot of bubbles here...it's one of the words that they both will say) and another pair of those sunglasses. The sunglasses are a bit big for him. But he loves them. He calls them 'eyes'. He also got jelly beans, robin's eggs (ate one, wouldn't touch the rest), yellow peeps and a chocolate bunny. He ate his bunny as best he could, starting with the face. Once it fell apart on him (the horror!), we took the rest of the pieces away and he cried.

Bubbles and sidewalk chalk outside in our pjs fixed every one's mood.

Also Conference fixed every one's mood. And looking for my brother, Uncle MusicMan who sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It's pretty cool to hear all three kids cheer and clap when I point out their Uncle. Here, you can cheer and clap too.


Watch about 4:16 on the video and he's in the back in the middle.
One great Easter here!


Safire

Sunday, April 04, 2010

Question of the Week: Dinner

Everyone,

This week's question of the week is about dinner.

What are your Go-To meals? Please include recipes/links if possible.



My go to meal is Macaroni and Cheese. The Kraft kind. Or Annie's (the one with the bunny) if I get it on sale. We probably eat that 3 times a week for lunches. The kids love it. Pirate is not a fan of cold cereal in the morning and sometimes he eats that for breakfast. Or if they won't eat the dinner I cook, they have mac and cheese. Very healthy, I know.

If I'm strapped for time, we often have pancakes or eggs for dinner. Sometimes we have spaghetti and meatballs. The one meal that I know I can count on everyone eating is pasta with goat cheese. It come from my favorite cookbook, "The One Armed Cook". I seriously use this book at least 2 times a week for super fast, easy, and tasty meals.

  1. Pasta with Goat Cheese Sauce (or pink pasta as Butterfly calls it)

1 jar (2 cups) of spaghetti sauce
4 oz goat cheese
noodles

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. In a medium pan, heat up the spaghetti sauce. Cut the goat cheese into chunks and add it too the sauce, stirring the whole time until cheese is melted. Serve over noodles.

See? Super easy. We have it with bow tie pasta noodles because that's what Butterfly wanted one day. Now we can't have this meal with out it. The boys LOVE it and inhale as much as their little tummies will hold. It is really tasty. I like to sprinkle some parsley over the top of mine and add a little garlic. With bread and a salad on the side, it makes an amazing meal in about 10 minutes.

One of the sub-questions of this week's question is:

Do you have picky eaters? How do you handle it?

Yes, I have ONE picky eater. Professor loves anything with sauce, but will only eat the sauce. He will eat noodles on occasion. He likes hot dogs, butter, chips, and crackers. Oh, and ANYTHING sweet. Cakes, cookies, ice cream, yogurts, whipped cream, etc. Anything else is flat out refused.

I try very hard not to stress over his eating. He'll eat when he eats. It's not like I can cram food into his mouth and make him eat it! Then he won't eat anything (yes, I have actually tried) and cries for a long time after that. So I offer him what the rest of us are eating, and take it away when he tries to throw it on the floor.

This could be the reason why he is several pounds lighter than his brother, and also several inches shorter. I do worry about him and not eating enough through out the day. But seriously, I can't force him to eat things so I really just don't make a big deal out of it.

This summer, my goal is to make smoothies a lot at home (he will drink those) and add things like spinach and avocado to them to get him more veggies. To get them ALL more veggies.

When I have time (and Juice to help me out) I love to make a big meal. Today for Easter we are having ham cooked in the crock pot, home made rolls, steamed green beans, roasted asparagus, salad with home made ranch dressing, parsley potatoes, and fresh strawberries for desert. Yummy!

Safire

Saturday, April 03, 2010

We're Crabby Here

Everyone,

And no, this is not a Maryland crab joke. I tried one of those on Juice this afternoon and he kind of looked at me funny.

The day started out okay. Juice got up early to go to some sort of skeet shooting thing with the church. He should have checked his email before he left because it got cancelled. He came home crabby because no one was at the church. From there, he hustled us out the door, which made ME crabby. I had big plans this morning. Like resting my aching legs and desperately trying to find some time to do something on line that I want to do.

No go with him. Out the door to the grocery store and to get the boys' hair cut. This is their second professional cut of their lives. The first one was around their first birthday. And this one only because I've trimmed it badly several times in a row and it looked all lopsided.

Half an hour later and three suckers (Butterfly was lucky enough to get one even though she did not get her hair cut) and we were done. They look so old! There was no screaming this time. What a difference a year makes.

Then from there we rushed home for lunch and naps before our church's big general meeting. We have them 2 times a year (always the first weekend in April and October). This year Easter and Conference landed together. We're able to watch Conference through the Internet. Sadly, I slept through most of the morning session.

In between sessions (5 sessions total, 3 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday, each 2 hours long) we ran to REI to pick out a big girl bike for Butterfly for her birthday. I am a member and I get cash back for everything I purchase there. And last year I bought A LOT of stuff from them. So I got a lot of cash back. We did not come home with a bike today. But we did come home with a size for her bike. She looks enormous on a 16 inch bike but okay on a 20 inch bike. Seriously, she is amazingly tall! Sadly, this also means we're going to have to buy special training wheels for her that will fit her bike. And they didn't have the color she wanted in stock so back home to order it online.

The whole time we're out everyone is cranky. Professor REFUSES to be put down by me or touched by Daddy lately. He spent the day strapped to my back. Butterfly is whining that she doesn't WANT a bike (but perked up when I told her she could have a bell on it) and Pirate desperately wanted to be where Professor was.

Several times today I had to count to 10 to keep my temper. Everyone needs to just do as their told! And if I tell you to stop whining, DO IT.

I didn't buy a one of a kind necklace that I wanted to. I saw it about a week ago and thought I would wait a week to see if I REALLY wanted it before I bought it. That whole, trying to keep impulse buying down to a minimum. I REALLY did want it but as of a few days ago, it was sold. I am super sad about it and am now researching how I can make one of my own.

Juice (happily...too happily in my opinion) went off to the meeting for the men tonight and left me to get everyone in bed. Which happened soon after we had a snack. And during the snack, both boys started signing every sign I know. More, milk, hurt, various animals, sorry, sad, happy, thank you, cracker, cereal, etc. They were having a ball and asking each other for more milk and then passing cups around. Butterfly caught on to what they were signing before I did.

After they were in bed, I spent the evening eating Easter candy, putting some in their baskets, and watching a very girly movie. It wasn't great but my popcorn was good.

Now if I can get to bed and get some sleep, maybe we'll all be in better moods tomorrow.

Safire

Friday, April 02, 2010

Fun Times in the Sunshine!

Everyone,

Today's adventure took us to the "airplane park."  It's official name is Gravelly Point and it's right next to Regan National Airport.  It used to be an old land fill before they made it into a pretty fun open grassy area.  It's tradition to come to this park (for my church) every spring break.  I haven't been since Butterfly was the boys' age.

So we packed a lunch, found all the summer hats and the sun screen, and off we went!  Lala and Vinny came along too which was so much fun.  We really enjoyed being with them and having an enormous grassy area to run around in.

The first thing that Butterfly and Vinny did when they got to the park was take off their shoes and socks.  Then the boys wanted their shoes and socks off.  Okay.  They spent the day running in the grass barefooted and having a great time. 

The boys were pretty scared of the planes at first.  I mean, this park is right next to the run way and the planes get pretty close. 

Pretty soon Professor lost his fear of the planes and waved to every one as they went pass.  Pirate, till the very end, dove for my lap every time.  He had to have his hat on (to protect him?) and once the planes were gone, he'd take it off.  So funny!  Pretty soon he was leaving the hat on all the time which was much better.  Putting that hat on ever 4-8 minutes was obnoxious. 

We went down to the waterfront and threw mulch into the river.  I took a picture of the cherry blossoms.  Looks like that's as close as I'm going to get this year.  Sad.

The kids came home tired and dirty and very happy.  I came home tired, dirty, and with a bright red nose.  Guess who forgot to put sunscreen on the tip of her nose?  Now I look like Rudolf with a burn over one eyebrow.  (Missed that spot too.  Oops.)  The kids just have that healthy sun-kissed glow and Professor's hair has shined back up to new penny status.

What a fun day at the airplane park!

Safire

Thursday, April 01, 2010

An Adventure Week

Everyone,

We've been busy busy busy here running from place to place. It's spring break in our school system and we've been enjoying having all of our friends around to do fun things with. Joining Lolli this week with a few good pictures of what we've been doing!
Give me your best shot at Better in BulkA fun day in Harper's Ferry...complete with several disasters, several saves, and several rules broken!


Juice turned 31! Happy Birthday Juice! (Notice Butterfly blowing out his candle for him.)


This one is for you Dad. :) Remind you of something?

We spent today at the National Aquarium (a bigger post coming) and I am totally foot sore. A day pushing the kids around in Harper's Ferry, WV, a day at the aquarium, and tomorrow we're going to another park.

Did I mention how much I'm enjoying getting out with friends? LOVE IT.

Safire