Best Buds

Although Sam called him "Pooper" for a good year, Sam and Cooper are still best friends....

Turning Four

is sad

and scary
and lonely
and unpleasant
and hard.
Happy Birthday Andrew!

Dear God,

If we have another baby, will you please consider sending one with blue eyes?

Dream Big

"Mommy, when I grow up I want to be a recycling man."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I think being a garbage man might be too stinky."

Potty Training...part 9

I took these in the bathroom the other day while we were waiting for Sam to poop on the potty.

I'll spare you the long and painful details of our progress with that and just say it was dramatic, lasted for about three hours, involved screaming, tears, a suppository and M&M's. At one point, Sam was screaming like he was in labor and yelling that he wanted his daddy. To which I replied in a very loud voice (okay, I yelled right back), "Daddy is not here! Daddy cannot hear you! I am the only one that has to listen to you scream. Stop and just poop." He then informed me that I was scaring him...

Not my most shining mommy moment for sure. I got some cute pictures of Grace though.

Can you hear her saying "Cheese!"?

Aspiring Artist

Preparing her "Paint"

Masterpiece in the works...
When she's famous, I'll probably kick myself for washing away this early example of Gracie's art....

Hot-Hot-Hot!

Last week, it was really hot here. As in, to hot for anyone over the age of eight to be outside for very long. Unfortunately, my kids don't appreciate a nice air conditioned house and begged to be outside. Constantly.

We went to grandma and grandpa's one afternoon. She bought a slip-n-slide for Sam. At first, he wasn't sure about it. He begged me to show him how to do it, and I actually considered it. However, I was pretty sure that I might break a bone or at the very least, get the wind knocked out of me. Fear and good old fashioned common sense ultimately prevailed, and I made him figure it out himself. (Later, I was looking at the box and discovered that nobody over 105 pounds should use a slip-n-slide....so I guess it's safe to say that my slip-n-slide days are over. And have been since 1986.)

Being the tough guy that he is, he was a little apprehensive to get water in his face. So we gave him sunglasses....They failed to provide the courage he needed.

Eventually, he worked up the nerve and gave it a try.

Grace & Grandpa

Hi

Wow, it's been a long time since I've gone this long without posting. In case anyone's been missing me or was concerned that I dropped off the face of the earth...I'm still here. I've just been really busy and a little frazzled. I'll be back though...

And it's not even 8:00

While having breakfast this morning, Sam said "Mom, how about if we name another baby Lucy?"

"I like that name. Do you want mommy to have another baby?"

"Yes. I've never seen a baby get out of the mommy's tummy. I'd like to see that."

"Oh.....you would?"

"Yes. Mommy? How does the baby get out?"

I decided to tell him the truth.

"Well, God designed a woman's body to carry a baby and then give birth. When it's time for the baby to be born, the baby comes out of the mommies vagina."

"Wow! I never new a "gina" could get so big!" He said with disbelief.

"Yes, it gets big and then after the baby is born, it gets small again."

"Mommy? You know what? My swing set doesn't talk."

End of conversation. I love this kid.

Gracie's Boyfriend

Grahm is four months younger and just as big as she is. Yet, she calls him "baby". It's love.

I live in the Garden of Eden. Minus the Paradise Part.

Those of you who know me in real life, will look at these and without a doubt think, "Oh my goodness, she's just like her mother!"

It's true, the apple does not fall far from the tree. She gets her temper from me too.

And Sam? Well, he's a lot like me too. He really wanted to get, as Grace puts it, "nek".

But I wouldn't let him.

So he pouted.

Boston, Part Deux

When we left the aquarium, we decided to walk to Faneuil Hall for a treat. Although it was cold and drizzling a bit, we weren't ready to go home. The boys spotted a fountain at the end of State Street......

At first, they just looked and danced around the edges.
Every minute or so, the water would stop.

So we told them that they had to sing to make it spray.
They sung their hearts out.
And got very wet.
Grace watched from the comfort of her stroller.
Then she decided that she wanted to join the fun.

Grandma wasn't strong enough to hold on....
She watched.
She decided it was cool.
Then she got wet.
And wasn't so sure.
And the boys, well, they just kept singing.
Then grandma took then to Baby Gap at Faneuil Hall and bought everyone new clothes.

Mommy would have made them ride the train home wet.

Boston

Weeks ago, my mom and I made plans for her to visit us with my nephew Isaiah. Sam has been excited for weeks and apparently, Isaiah was so excited that he started packing three weeks ago and made a calendar for his bedroom and the refrigerator to count down the day till he left for Sam's house.

We all had a blast and once again, I was left wishing that my mom lived closer. She really is the best. I think that if she lived closer, I'd be a lot more sane. Not because she would help me, although I know she would, but because she is the kind of person that doesn't let anything bother her. She doesn't get upset. She doesn't yell. She doesn't stress. She just always trusts that everything will be okay. If she rubbed off on me just a little, life here at Casa Twinkle would be much better.

On Friday, we took the boys and Grace into Boston on the train. Excited doesn't even begin to describe the way the boys were feeling.

Then we went to the aquarium, which is a lot more expensive than the train and apparently much less exciting to four year oldish boys.

Once they saw the sharks
they were ready to head outside.

This was just the beginning of our adventures. I have some really fun pictures of our next stop. I just don't have the energy to upload them at the moment.

Question for all my professional photographer friends, Bethany, Mindi, Tabitha, Michelle and anyone else who may know. It was really hard to take pictures inside the aquarium without flash . I tried a bunch of different ways to get a decent shot of everyone looking into the large tank. The one I posted is the best. I bumped my ISO up to 1000 so that I could keep my SS at 100 and shot wide open at 1.4. It was really noisy though...I ran a noise filter on it(I had no idea what I was doing) and it helped a little. Could I have done something with my settings to make it better?