Greenfield Village

Inside our horse and carriage ride

Jake on the train


Anderson waiting at the train depot

Best Friends...for the moment

We took the boys back to Greenfield Village this weekend. The last time we were there was for "A Day out with Thomas" and it was pretty packed. This time we were able to do much more with them. We bought the unlimited ride package and were able to take them on the carousel, model T's, horse and carriage rides and the train.

Anderson and Jake did a great job staying with us as we walked, standing in line patiently, and using their manners to say thank you to all of our drivers. It was such a great day for the four of us. At one point I started to get really choked up on the carousel. Just to watch the wonder and joy in their little faces...and to think what might have never been. I'll never be able to repay the heavens.

Father's Day 2009

Kevin, Grandpa and the boys

Anders and Daddy

Family pic

Love this one!!

We had a great Father's Day yesterday. The boys wore t-shirts that said "Dad's number one fan". We headed to the zoo early in the morning and the boys enjoyed seeing some exhibits we always seem to miss while we are there. Of course they just love the train ride, especially the tunnel part. Then it was home to nap. After nap we headed to the McBrides for a b-bq. The boys had fun with squirt guns and chasing after Grant and Claire. The boys and I are lucky to have such a great Daddy!

Fun in the pool

Anderson James

Jake Thomas

Sweetie pie

My cheeky monkey

The boys scored a bigger pool this year and yesterday was the season's first swim. They had a great time and actually ended up swimming in their birthday suits. As the sun started to go down and a cool breeze picked up they began to shiver but of course didn't want to stop swimming. I coaxed them out with some underwear. Yes, underwear. They wore underwear for the first time out in the yard while I finished cleaning the house. You could tell they were feeling like hot shots in their Elmo underwear. They both pee'd in them too.

You'd think I'd be better at this by now...

It hasn't been a very good week and today was just the icing on the cake. Both boys have been really pushing their limits this week. A has been waking up so crabby each morning that the first 2 hours of the day have me ready to beg to be medicated. He is constantly struggling with me over anything and everything. He requests oatmeal, I make it for him and he becomes hysterical because he doesn't want oatmeal. He wants to keep his pajama's on ALL day, doesn't bother him in the least that he is soaked in urine because his diaper leaked during the night. Try changing a diaper while a 33lb. firecracker is exploding underneath you. When he is frustrated with me he takes it out on Jake. Out of nowhere he pounces on Jake and starts grabbing at his face, poor Jake never sees it coming.

Jake has been having his moments as well. We tell him not to touch, move back, don't throw and he comes up and hits us. The funny thing is that he swings real hard and then at the last minute slows his hand down so that he barely makes contact. When Jake really gets mad he starts chucking his toys down the open staircase to the basement. My walls look like hell and it's slowly killing me.

But today, well today is in a league all of its own. The morning started off with a cranky Anderson. By 8 a.m. I knew we needed to get out of the house to try and break the cycle. We were in the car by 9:15 and headed to the outdoor mall. I figured we could play at the kiddie place until Parisian opened because I had a bill snafoo to straighten out. I was so preoccupied this morning with trying to keep the peace that I failed to notice it had been raining all night/early morning. It wasn't until we were in our stroller within feet of the play area did it occur to me that everything was going to be soaken wet.

I made futile attempts to dry off the watermelon climbing toy with the small towel I had in my diaper bag. Against my mom instincts I allowed them to climb up on it and play. I felt like I had no other choice. The stores weren't going to open for another half an hour and I certainly wasn't going to go home without going to Parisian to complete my errand. Of course someone slipped on the wet, vinyl freakin watermelon and smacked their head. As I'm tending to the injured the other blue angel is running wild. I bribe everyone back into the stroller with some popcorn and I hang my head in shame as people stare. I was about to call CPS on myself.

Everyone has settled and is now happily eating their popcorn. The stores still don't open for 15 minutes so I head to Starbucks. The boys and I struggle to get through the tiny shop with our massive tandem stroller, of course no one helps us with the door. Just when I think the worst is over the boys discover (and I regretfully remember) that I put a few m and m's in their popcorn bag. I do this from time to time, they rarely have sweets so I like to surprise them by dropping a couple of m and m's into their popcorn. Wanna guess what happens next?

Boys flip bag over to retrieve the four m and m's that they have at the bottom of their bag and there is now popcorn all over the floor at Starbucks. I want to cry. As I'm picking up the popcorn, the barista asks me if they are twins. I reply "yes" and she says "you're so lucky, I always wanted twins". Oh, the irony. I was happy however to have found someone more clueless than I was feeling at the time.

We leave Starbucks and head for Parisian. As I'm struggling to drag the heavy double stroller over the threshold of the doorway, my hot drink tips over out of the cup holder and spills. Of course it does! I don't even give a sh!t at this point, I'm pushing on. The stroller is dripping with hot carmel cider off the back, leaving a trail behind us and I just don't care. I head to customer service.

When I arrive at customer service I am told that I can't straighten things out with my account because they don't do it there at the store. They use a private company. Of course they do.

We got mail

Tearing through the packing materials

Jake and his Big Belly Bank

Anderson happy about his

Last week I saw the cutest bank in a little speciality shop in downtown Rochester. They only had one bank, so I looked on-line and found quite a few stores selling the banks. They are called Big Belly Banks and come in a variety of styles. I found a store on-line that personalizes the banks so I bought three of them. Two for my boys and one for Baby Simon's first birthday.

The boys have been looking at pictures of the Belly Banks on-line and watching the demonstration video of how it works. You put the money in the mouth of the animal and watch it zig zag down into the belly of the bank. They have been anxiously awaiting the arrival of their banks, so when they arrived today the excitement level was pretty high. We spent a lot of time "feeding" their coinasaurus!

Some New Pictures

Bubble Time

Jake has become great aiming the bubbles at his face

Anderson couldn't be more happy

This never gets old

Claire and the bubs riding on the glider

We had an interesting start to our day, Kevin found Anderson in a pool of regurgitated blueberries when he went to get him from his crib. The sweet little guy never made a peep last night, but at some point he had to have not been feeling well. His jammies and bedding were just covered in disgusting blueberry yuckies. Despite my best washing efforts, his bedding is stained and ruined. More importantly he seems to feel okay. He is in business as usual mode, so for that I am relieved.

Grandma recently bought the boys some bubble fans. They are obbessed with these things! They love to dip, push the button and watch the magical bubbles fly around their heads. It only took two uses for them to run the battery dead and use up all the bubbles. They have been replaced now and the boys can resume their obbessive behaviors.

Random thoughts

We've been taking full advantage of the warmer weather. When Kevin comes home from work we usually head outside, eat outside and stay outside until bedtime. The boys never tire of the outdoors. Today they were throwing their "bouncy, bouncy balls" around telling us it was "amazing". They amaze me.

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The boys have been calling their Daddy "Kev". It is so precious to hear that. If I am calling for Kevin or when the boys try to get his attention they will yell out "Kev, Kev". When we ask them what my name is they always look puzzled and say "Mom".

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Tomorrow will be my last day of work till September. I have never written a single word on this blog about my work because I struggle with the guilt that goes with being a working mom. I have to say though that returning to work part time has been a very positive experience. The boys wake around 7 leaving me almost 4.5 hours of precious play time with them before I have to leave for work. I am there to see their precious sleepy faces when they wake, I prepare and feed them their breakfast, change their diapers, and dress them. I love that I am the one that can do this for them.

We do the grocery shopping, go for walks, play in the yard or attend story time. While I am at work, the boys eat their lunch, play a bit and nap from 1-3. Usually I am home within a short time of them waking from nap. Most importantly though, the boys are well cared for by their grandmothers in our home. They are in a safe, loving (that's an understatement), and nurturing environment. Kevin and I know how lucky we are to have this arrangement, without it I would have never been able to leave the boys. That being said I am looking forward to spending the upcoming summer days with my bubbies.

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The bathroom remodel will be starting within the next couple of weeks. This weekend we need to pick out some tile. That is easier said than done with two active toddlers in tow.

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My orthodontic treatment has come to an end. My teeth are aligned and ready for surgery. That is great news, the bad news is I can't have my jaw surgery till November at the earliest due to insurance reasons. This means I will have to unnecessarily wear the braces till then. That sucks.

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Anderson has had a rash for 3 weeks on his face and arms. We took him to the dr. and they told us it was secondary dermatitis. We figured it was from his sunscreen. So after some research we bought some California Baby for him. Seventeen dollars for just a couple of ounces!! The rash remains so back to the dr. he will go on Friday. It seems like we just laid the tooth/abcess debacle to rest and now we are dealing with this.

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I will conclude with a confession. Jake ate Costco's version of dippin dots for dinner. Our super eater is on a hiatus and something about them not eating pushes the outer limits of my sanity. I have this innate drive to feed them, even if it is ice cream.

Rediscovering the world

Since the new playset was installed, the boys and I have spent a considerable amount of time on the glider. They love when the three of us load onto the glider and swing together. We huddle close together, our arms all around eachother, and I bury my face into their sweet heads of hair. I sneak kisses as they chatter. They ask me to tell them about our upcoming summer Disney vacation. I tell them about the character breakfast, the swimming, the rides, going on an airplane, etc... They talk about the birds singing and the breeze that blows through their hair. We have sometimes glided for a half an hour at a time and I have just been cherishing every minute.

The boys have afforded me the opportunity to take life in at a little slower pace. I'm more acutely aware now of the airplanes overhead, the sound of children playing in the distance, birds singing, and the cool breeze. Everything is a fascinating discovery in their eyes. Nothing is discounted, everyone is important and the cup is always full.