It's Times Like These...

...that I can think about how stinkin' cute this kid is. And NOT about the styrofoam beans that I'm STILL picking up off the floor.

And Rest.

Guess Nate destructinated enough this week to poop out about 11 o'clock this morning.
Thank goodness.
I really needed that 30 minute journey to the land of the sane (r).

Ash Wednesday

So far, so good.
We had a rockin' Mardi Gras celebration last night in our newly re-arranged family room. We know how to party here.


Both boys are occupied right now - either in school or taking an afternoon snooze. I was looking forward to this time to get some things done around the house, but then I realized that I need to take some time to do what I want to. No one is going to say, "Mama - you look like you need a few minutes to blog," or "Mama - why don't I fix dinner and you go for a walk." So, in spite of my NO INTERNET DURING THE DAY rule during Lent, I am making an exception for blogging. Jesus understands. And if not - he can go see Mary. She knows the importance of Mommy Time. She'll talk some sense into Him.

Thank goodness Nate is sleeping. I love my children more that I can ever express. That being said, my youngest son is a turd. I use the term lovingly but also to avoid the real four letter word I have in mind that won't make it through the censors.
Yesterday, not only did he destructinate the bean bag chair (there is NOT a room in this house that is free from little, tiny Styrofoam peanuts), but I had to extricate him from the toy room when I caught him up on the craft table trying to jump to reach the ceiling fan pull cord. And THEN he was able to scale the three foot tall fence at the play area and climb down the other side.
Like I wrote to Rollin & Judy last night - there isn't enough hair dye in the world...
My thoughts on this were only solidified this morning when we sat with another family (who has 5 kids ranging from about 14 to 3) and the Mom looked at me struggling with Nate and said, "I really don't miss those days." Of course, then we switched up the kids (had Nate sit with her and I took two of hers) and they behaved perfectly. Figures.

Today I told Nate to go get his O's hat on to go outside. He goes to get his hat. I think, "Great! He is actually listening." He shows up with a bowl on his head.
Uh-huh. Turd is the word.

Today was also Sam's first day of school. He was thrilled. I think he'll sleep well tonight.

I Have to Laugh...

...or else I would cry. And then go crazy.
When trying to keep up with the endless laundry and picking up as a result of our run-in with the Noro Virus this weekend, I thought that Sam and Nate were playing a little too nicely together. It was too quiet. I went to go check things out. Turns out they weren't playing (which is why they weren't beating the tar out of eachother). Nate was having fun in the remnants of Caroline's beanbag chair.

I could have turned it into an experiment in the intricacies of static electricity. But I was a bit overwhelmed. So all I could do was record it for posterity.

I can hear my mother now. Go ahead - Have another one.

So.

In keeping with previous tradition, this is the reason for an ultra messy house, limited outside contact, wearing very baggy clothes, being slow with Thank You notes and just taking down our Christmas tree this morning (hey it's before Lent).
Introducing Quattro.
Also known as Baby Q, Quadrophenia or El-Q-erino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.
Expected to arrive at the end of summer.

At this point, bets are on that Baby Q is a boy - but it is too soon to tell for sure. It is for sure that he/she is a thumb sucker. Q was very contentedly sucking on a thumb for the duration of our most recent ultrasound.
Kids are excited. In Caroline's words, "If it's a boy, I'll still like it." A mite better than the reaction we were expecting. Sam keeps asking when Baby Q is coming out. Nate burps on demand (his newest talent). It may be a long next few months.

More Flat Stanley...

I need to get these pictures uploaded so I can pick them up at the store tomorrow.
I need to print out school applications for Sam and Caroline for next year. Both are due at the end of the month. Ugh - seems like I just had to do that last year. Oh, right. I did. Funny how much things can change...
My house is pretty much a disaster area. Clothes to be put away. Rugs to be vacuumed. Floors to be mopped.
Nate has been in DESTRUCTI-NATE mode all week. It takes at least three attempts to get most things done because he's just into everything. Not maliciously. Just curiously. But sometimes it is enough to make me batty.
Sam has been pretending he has been swimming much of the week. This means he likes to run around in his boxers and jump off stuff ("I'm jumping in the pool, Mama. I'm a swimmer!"). All this coming from the boy that will not set foot in water.
My lovely daughter asked my yesterday when I was going to put the boys in daycare and get a "real" job. So nice to know that everything I do is appreciated.
But I want to blog.
And continue reading 1776. The book is enthralling. I'm not sure why. It's not like I don't know who wins . But I cannot put it down. And it's nice to know why Evacuation Day is such a great drinking holiday in Boston.
I also really, really want to go to bed. I'm sleepy.
One thing at a time.
It will all get done. Just not right now. Guess after 6 years of chaos I'm still coming to terms with that. =-)

The continued adventures of Flat Stanley:
We took Stanley on some adventures into DC this weekend. We took the Metro and went to the Museum of American History. It was a lot of fun. Jim and I were thinking the last time we were there was our honeymoon. It's a bit different than we remember. There weren't many people around - it was snowing and people tend to hole up around here at the mere mention of snow. The only throng of people we had to contend with were the Young Republicans after the CPAC conference let out. Let me tell you, these young Republican ladies were dressed anything but conservatively. Sheesh. I have never in my life seen anything quite like it. Jim asked me how I knew they were Young Republicans. We got a good laugh after I pointed out all the official Rick Santorum sweater vests.
Stanley had fun on the Metro with Sam and Caroline.

Nate, on the other hand, was holding on for dear life for most of the ride.

We were able to get some shots on the Mall. But it was waaay too cold to make the walk to the Lincoln Memorial or even the Washington Monument. We're Southerners now - anything below 35 degrees is considered Arctic chill. So this was the best we could do...


Once we were in the museum, this was one of the first things we saw. I guess you can take the Stanley out of Rochester, but you can't take Roch-cha-cha out of the Stanley...

We enjoyed riding the L. Stanley was partial to the statues.


We'll have to come back to see Julia's Kitchen.
Sigh.
She is the most fun to watch.


We also saw the original Muppets. Couldn't miss those!

A BIG point of contention was Dorothy's slippers. Caroline has read the book and not seen the movie (how could I let her when I still have nightmares about the flying monkeys?!). But in the book, the slippers were silver. NOT ruby. Let's suffice it to say she was less than impressed.

Stanley had to rest with Nate on the way home. Museum walking is exhausting!


Flat Stanley also had some adventures around Frederick. We saw the post office, Wegmans and lots and lots of cows. I didn't realize quite how many cows until we got lost and had to navigate our way back. It was too funny when a voice piped up from the back seat, "Mama, are we lost or are we just going on an adventure?"
An adventure, of course!

But now it's time for bed.
G'Night.

Flat Stanley

It's quarter to eight and I am very much ready for bed.
We got a lot accomplished today. Jim got to spend time at work, the boys and I got the house picked up, lunches are made and we're as ready as we're ever going to be to face this upcoming week. I didn't get to walk, but I'll get out tomorrow. Or better yet, I'll use the treadmill. It's cold outside. It amazes me how thin my blood has become in a mere 14 weeks.
We are definitely getting used to calling Maryland home. It's still not home yet, it is getting more comfortable. Don't get me wrong - there are some days that I desperately miss Worcester. Last week I had to watch Fitzy (I have to laugh hysterically when Nate burps along with Fitzy) just so I could hear someone talk normally! I wish we had more friends here and could get out more here and knew our way around here better. But we're learning. Every day it's getting a bit easier. And there is a lot to be said for that.

With all that being said, we had a house guest from Rochester this weekend. Flat Stanley came down to see Walkersville and get the lay of the land for a kindergarten project in the Greece Schools. We will take him around a bit more tomorrow and mail him home on Tues. Looks like he had some fun...
He went to the bus stop before school.

Stanley has quite the sweet tooth and we caught him red handed on a couple mornings.


He and Nate also got in some trouble with a box of Cheerios.

After recovering from the Time Out associated with the Cheerios incident, we had a good time at the Village Tavern on Friday night.

We'll update about his other travels later...G'Night.

Sunday Brunch Re-cap

Sam is very interested in presidents after going to the Smithsonian yesterday. We were looking at a placemat with all of them listed and he asked very studiously, "Mama, is this George Washington?"
Yes, Sam.
"Mama, is this Thomas Jefferson?"
Yes, Sam.
"Mama, which one is Tom Brady?"
I couldn't keep it together any longer - I ran out of the room giggling and left Jim to handle that one. =-)

Super Sunday.

Yes, it HAS been a Super Sunday.
We got subs from church, got a microwave, Caroline is doing her homework *by herself*, the boys are all sleeping, the snow is all melted, I'm going for a walk soon AND we have a Super Bowl Party to go to down the street.
My only D'OH moment has been earlier today when I figured out that I scheduled my sigmoidoscopy without sedation, in the afternoon, the day after the Super Bowl. How friggin' stupid can I be? So I'm getting my fun in now because come game time, I'll be chugging Gatoraide and Dulcolax. The real redeeming quality here is that it's not a full colonoscopy, so I can at least eat today. It just backs up my assertion that the day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday.
There were not one, but two super-duper parts of church today.
The first was when Nate announced, during a quiet part of mass, "I poop Mama. I poop." Loud enough for everyone to hear, of course.
The second was when I noticed that Sam was being very, very well behaved during communion. Not typical. So I took a quick look at him and noticed that he was trying to give everyone high fives on their way back from communion. Not to say that people didn't enjoy it, but still...
Caroline has been obsessed with The Mamas & the Papas lately. Especially the song "Creeque Alley". It's pretty funny.

Note To Self.

Nate likes avocados.
Really likes avocados.
Skin, pit and all.
But what he really, really likes is smearing said avocado in my hair as I'm trying to clean green goo from up his nose, in his ears and out of his eyelashes.

No pictures because, well, because I was trying so hard to restrain myself from laughing and smearing it back all over him that I couldn't do anything else.

Lesson learned.

A Message

Sometimes I get really discouraged. This being home full time thing is not all it is cracked up to be.
After all the cajoling and negotiating and time-outs and re-directing and pulling my hair out - some days I have to wonder.

Not quite sure what I wonder on those days...but I definetly wonder.

Then I wake up and see this.





And then I don't wonder anymore.

Superhero.

We got some great shirts in the mail the other day for the boys (thanks, Sara!).
Sam is basically living in his superhero gear and Nate is not far behind. Only thing is that if we tell Nate that something is superhero related, he doesn't know enough to see if it's true or not (yet). Which can lead to some pretty funny outfits...And yes, it is a silicone bowl on his head and the Oreos smeared on his face give him extra superpowers. In case you were wondering.

One of Those Days...

Today as the bus pulled up, I giggled to myself about the little girl sitting in the front seat wearing sunglasses. She was cute, but a bit eccentric for the school bus.
Turns out she was mine!
Caroline got to go to the prize box at school (still not quite sure why)...but is quite proud of her reward.

If You Liked It ...

My children love Beyonce. Really, really love her. Ever since they were able to sneak a peak of this Justin Timberlake video. Frankly, I HAD to show them the real thing. And we listen to it. All. The. Time.
Okay - I know how annoying it is when people put up videos of their kids like this. However, being the spawn of two geekalicious people, I thought it made this particularly entertaining...

Happy Birthday, Caroline!

Wow - it's January seventh and we're sitting outside without coats on. It's 65 degrees! I know this whole global warming thing is a real bummer for the polar bears and permafrost but I'm thinking I could get used to this.
Caroline has had a wonderful pre-birthday birthday celebration today. She got her ears pierced, a new balloon, a new outfit for her dolly Sarah and lunch out at Red Robin. In her own words, "My day is overfull. It's GREAT!!!"
Hard to believe it has only been six years. As challenging as having a 5 going on 25 year old can be we can't imagine life without her.
Happy Birthday, CJ! We love you very much!
Here is the chronological order or Miss Caroline getting her ears pierced today. It was pretty amusing. =-) But she did it and is SO very proud - "I look like a Princess. It's what God gave me, I just made it better."

Here's the play-by-play from the mall this morning:
Hmmm...is this what I REALLY want?

Seriously? You're putting that next to my ear? I think I have to think about this a little more...


Feeling a little better about things when sitting on Dada's lap...

Ugh...Good feeling gone.

Are you kidding me??? This s**t hurts!!! What was I thinking?!?!?!

Pain is temporary. Princesses are forever. Lollypops apparently assist in the Gate Theory of Pain Control - who knew?