At lunch time, the boys were eating fried eggs.  Dex has always loved them, and Nic has always hated one, until about 2 months ago when he was tricked into actually trying one and discovered that he loves them.  Apparently a small piece of shell fell into Nicky’s, and he spit it out with a horrified, “it’s crunchy!”  Katie explained what had happened, and Dex helpfully interjected, “Egg shells help protect the eggs.  They protect the eggs from foxes, and wolves, and bad guys, and guns, but not guns, because guns can blow them up.”  I still can’t discern the hidden meaning behind his words, so I shall leave you to quiet contemplation.

Later, we were frosting some sugar cookies.  Dexter hated it, until he realized that the stuff making his fingers sticky was edible and full of sugar, at which point he started making a lot more messes.  We also made the mistake of allowing Nic to eat the corner that broke off one of the cookies.  Once they realized the way it worked, we found ourselves with a surprising quality control problem and a large number of broken cookies.  Then a glob of frosting fell of Nic’s knife and onto the table, and he says, “That piece fell onto the table, so I get to lick it off!”  He then leaned forward with his tongue stuck out, ready to clean our table the old fashioned way.  It was almost as cute as when the boys didn’t realize what “licking the bowl” meant, and each repeatedly licked the outside of the bowl and seemed confused what the fuss was all about.

We watched “Arthur Christmas” for movie night, and it worked out pretty well.  When we were trying to talk them into it I mentioned the one part where a guy shoots at Arthur as Arthur is trying to steal a sign off the top of his shed.  I mentioned it in the spirit of trying to warn Nicholas, as Nic is freaked out to watch any new movie lest he inadvertently discover himself face-to-face with a bad guy.  So for the first 40 minutes I was asked about 60 time a minute, “is he going to be shooting soon?  I don’t wanna watch this!  Where’s the farmer with the gun?  What happened to that Reindeer?  Is he going to be shooting soon?”  We had agreed to fast forward, but then the shots came before we were ready for it, and Nic started laughing.  Figures.  We hadn’t warned him about the next scene, where Arthur, the elf, the old reindeer, and Grandpa Santa are nearly eaten by a pride of lions, which I consider to be the scariest part of the movie, but again Nic laughed his way through it, after a few nervous titters.  Maybe the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…  Of course once the movie was over he threw a full on screaming fit insisting he didn’t want to watch that movie.  Once he calmed down, he was running around re-enacting it with Legos with his brother.

Lest you worry that only Nic made his orneriness show, Dex made his stand at bed time, predictably with no pants on.  Nic was finally getting ready for bed and Dex was rolling around on his bed grumbling.  I chose the “firm” tone and told him to get his pajamas on or he would lose his stories.  He glared at me and blared out, “You’re not the boss of the whole world!  You can’t tell ANYBODY what to do.  You’re not a boss.  You’re not the boss of the family.  You can’t make me do anything…”  My, but they grow up so fast.  I thought we’d have a little more time before he tried that line out.  Leaves me wondering what’s next?  ”But Nicky made me do it!  All of my friends parents let them take their iPad into the bath!  No, DAD, we’re JUST FRIENDS.”  <sigh>

The other night, as usual, I was getting dinner ready.  I had already added the grapes to a salad Joel and I were having but I still needed to cut some up for the boys.  As I picked a new group of grapes, I noticed that there was something whitish near the vine.  I tried to get it out with one pair of scissors but those were too dull, so I set the grapes down on the counter and reached for another pair of scissors.  I then picked up the grapes.  There, on the counter where the grapes had been was a hairy little SPIDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I shrieked like someone was trying to kill me.  ”SPIDER” I shouted.  Joel and the boys were sitting on the couch at the time, looking at a book or his phone, I’m not sure which one.  Their heads popped up when I started screaming.  Dexter ran over to look at the spider.  Joel wasn’t really reacting.  I shouted  ”IT’S A BABY TARANTULA and IT’S MOVING!!!!!”  Joel yelled back “then kill it.”  I looked at him with a “Are you kidding me?” look on my face and then gave my best war yell, which sounded more like a horror flick scream and slammed a napkin down on a very sluggishly moving hairy spider, and jumped about 3 inches into the air.  I carefully pulled the napkin off the counter, expecting the spider to lunge at me.  It was squished.  I poked at it, waiting for it to move again and just decided I had better give it a really good squish.  Into the garbage it went.  Visions of the movie Arachnophobia entered my head.  Joel kindly took out the garbage.  I had a really hard time getting the boys grapes for the meal.  I must have looked at every inch of the grape vine, looking for other spiders.  Then I spent a good 20 minutes on the internet looking for spiders in grapes to see if it really was a baby tarantula.

The next day, I asked the boys what fruit I should eat for lunch.  They said grapes.  I swear, I must have post traumatic stress syndrome because it was seriously hard to eat more grapes.  I was incredibly jumpy after that.

(this might be a sign that we’ll have to meet you in New Zealand, Laura.  Not sure Katie can handle Australia…)

Well, we all survived our first hunger strike – a bit battered and bruised – but all still standing and still liking each other, which is a good thing.  You see, I clearly have a problem with food.  I like food.  If I don’t eat on a certain schedule, I get irritable.  Joel learned early on in our relationship to carry snacks with him in order to appease me.  Pregnancy reduced the need for the snacks, and I am now able to go much longer without food.  Funny that.

Anyway, I feel that the boys should eat healthy meals and should eat at every meal.  It drives me nuts that when I work hard to make a good, decent meal and call out “Dinner”, and no one shows up.  Even with warnings that dinner is coming, it can sometime be a struggle to get people to the table.  This is unacceptable.  Also, the boys don’t eat my cooking.  They look at something and say “no”.  Last night, I made a very benign pasta broccoli cheese casserole.  They like all three ingredients.  Mixing them together however drove them to a hunger strike.

Joel and I have decided I am not a short order cook.  Last night was the last straw.  You will eat the casserole or not have dinner.  They decided to skip dinner in favor of Legos.  We told them it would be waiting for them the next morning (yes, Laura, we’re trying to channel Cathy here.  Or was it Karl?).  The next morning, we put out their dinner.  The response “I’m not eating that – Ever.”  OK then, be hungry.  Didn’t phase them.  Nicholas and Dexter played happily with Legos all morning long.  Lunch time rolled around.  I’ll do my best at quoting Nicky “I’m hungry Mommy, but not for that. I’m never going to eat that.”  Boy, are they stubborn.  I was ready to crack but Joel reminded me over and over again, it is not our problem.  They need to learn.  Either they could learn that we mean what we say and crying won’t get them out of consequences, or that if they’re pathetic and despondent enough we’ll eventually do anything to help them recover.  It’s our job to put good food in front of them, it’s not our job to get it into them.  We provided them good food.  It was their choice not to eat.

Dexter broke first around 2:30pm.  He ate half of the casserole, then decided he was not that hungry after-all and left the table (sort of – he still wanted Cinnamon Life, but Joel wasn’t in the mood for half measures).  Nicholas turned into a little monster around 3:30pm.  This was his first experience with real hunger but refused to recognize it as such and thought he was sick.  He started to cry.  My heart was breaking.  Joel was out shopping and I needed a pep talk.  He authorized TV as an enticement and red sauce.  I tried.  At 4pm, Nicky finally decided that with red sauce, sprinkles, and parmesan, he would eat most of his pasta.  Dexter had already come back and finished his pasta.

In the end, I’m not sure who won.  As soon as Nicholas ate enough to get me to say he could eat something else, he dropped his “I’m dying” act and was all smiles as he chowed down on lots of other food.

Why do I care so much about food?????

One last note – after dinner, we were still sitting at the table but Nicholas had started to walk off.  He saw the plug to the popcorn maker, and did what all little boys do – grabbed it and looked for something to stick it in.  Joel noticed and called his name twice, before Nic responded.  Nic didn’t like being told not to touch it and got all pouty, and asked why he couldn’t plug it in.  Joel explained the potential joys of electrocution, and Nic seemed to accept this, dropped the plug and walked off to play.  Dex nodded sagely and declared, “Nicky learned a lesson.”

We’re all adjusting to no longer having Kyla come over every other week to clean the house.  This is our first week without help, and it’s a bit rough going.  Katie got the kitchen spotless, until dinner time anyway, when spaghetti splattered everywhere.  Oh well – she hadn’t gotten the floors yet, so now she had extra incentive.  Anyway, I was giving the boys a bath so that she could get the floors cleaned, and I was talking to the boys about it.  We’re trying to figure out how to get them to think of cleaning as something we all have to help to do, without actually getting any of their help since we want it done “right”.  Katie can just about handle the boys helping fold laundry (they match socks, and fold underwear – two very important skills), but I don’t think she’s going to go for windows, cleaning toilets, sweeping, or clearing the gutters.  Anyway, I was lamenting to the boys how Kyla cleaned our whole house in less than 3 hours, but it take Mommy and Daddy 8 or 9 hours.  So I said, “maybe we’ll have to go read a book on how to clean bathrooms faster.”

Dex thought that was a great idea, and declared, “I’m gonna make one.  Tomorrow!  I’ll draw the pictures, and Daddy, you can write down the words I tell you.”

Nic was confused, “but Dexter, how are you going to make the pages stick together?”

“Uh, Uh, Uh, OH!- I know!  A glue stick!”

“A ‘blue stick’?  What’s a ‘blue stick?’”  Nic asked?

“Glue stick are – oh, BLUE sticks!  That’s funny, Nicky!”

Well, a week has gone by and my oh my, what a serious roller-coaster ride it has been.  Last Friday, I went back to work for one day, seeing that my leave of absence was up.  It was a good day too – catching up and helping out.  It flew by and showed me that I do appreciate my job.  The weekend came and went – a slow weekend with not that much going on.  Then came Monday, literally the day from Hell.

I wasn’t prepared for the day and the boys just started fighting with each other right out of the gate.  I can’t count how many full blown tantrums we had, but I do remember the last one of the night.  It was bath time.  Dexter needed just one more minute with Legos.  He cannot stop building and taking apart Legos.  It’s like a compulsive disorder.  On the plus side, once Nicholas sees Dexter going down the tantrum path, he usually becomes an angel.  So, Joel fought to get Dexter upstairs.  Joel was going to give both boys a shower because he knew what kind of day I had had but Dexter would not cooperate.  I sent Nic and Joel to the shower and ran a bath for Dex in the other bathroom.  This was what he wanted, right?  Nope, he had changed his mind and started rolling around on the floor like a caterpillar.  Finally, I scooped him up, stripped off his clothes and placed him in the bath.  Then the wailing started.  Speaking softly and calmly, I quickly washed him with the promise we’d be done soon.  He went down hill from there.  I have never seen him so distraught.  Lying in bath water on his back, his whole body submerged, crying from the depths of his soul and repeating over and over, “I don’t like Mommy.”  I wanted to cry.  Finally, not knowing what else to do because all my soothing bag of tricks didn’t work, I drained the water and placed a towel over him because he would not budge from the bathtub.  I gently lifted out my fighter, dried him off and finally did something that snapped him out of his tantrum.  He turned and looked at me and asked me why I was all wet.  Hmmm – maybe because you were splashing up a storm in the bathtub?  Joel read to the boys while I changed into dry clothes.  After putting them to bed, the only energy I had left was to sit and look into space, wondering if I should go back to work.  If my being home was causing so much hardship on the boys, then maybe I shouldn’t be at home.  After all, we were always told by the au pairs that they were great with them.

Tuesday – a brand new day and I wasn’t going to let the day before get to me.  Nicky woke up on the happy side of the bed.  Hip hip hurray!  Dexter slept in and woke up on the happy side of the bed.  HIP HIP HURRAY!!!  Breakfast was consumed, clothes put on, teeth brushed.  Ok – so far so good.  But then Dexter started down the grumpy road.  Oh no – quick – need a distraction.  It was such a nice day, how about we call Uncle Too Tall and ask him to meet us at Garfield park (fantastic park by the way).  The boys thought this was an excellent idea.  Crisis averted.  Playtime resumed until it was time to jump in the car to go to the park.  Fun was had with Uncle Ryan.  A treat followed with lunch at Alfy’s pizza – home of free video games.  Thank you Ryan, for showing them how to use a Nintendo remote control.  If you had let me play video games when we were kids, I might be able to help too.  ;)  Then we got to go to Toys R Us to LOOK at, not BUY, toys.  A quick trip to Michaels for Thanksgiving crafts followed.  Back at home, everyone was still being nice to each other.

When Joel came home, the boys knocked him over with hugs.  Joel then hooked the computer up to the TV so that we could watch the news coverage of the election.  This led to all sorts of questions by the boys and they now ask about Mitt and Obama daily.  The evening ended with no fights.  Balance was restored.

Wednesday – balance was knocked back out again on the way to preschool but Dexter snapped out of it on the drive to school.  It didn’t help that the boys got their flu shots that morning and their arms hurt something fierce.  The drive to preschool was silent – so silent in fact, that Nicholas fell asleep.  Not knowing this, when I parked, I turned around to ask if we could all do a reset and saw that Nicky was asleep.  I looked at Dex, he looked at Nicky, we looked at each other and both snorted with laughter.  ”Mommy, what are you going to do now?” asked Dexter.  Good question and then Nic’s eye’s fluttered awake.  The rest of the evening was a bit of a roller coaster ride – pain + fighting over what’s for dinner even though I made chicken nuggets to avoid a fight occurred.  We skipped the bath and put them to bed early.

Thursday – craft morning plus meeting Joel in the afternoon for a cold but fun time at Kasch park put the evening in the plus column.  I took over the bath portion of the night after Joel walked off for a personal time out.  Those boys – this time Nicholas – really know how to push buttons.  His before bath tantrum involved not knowing how to walk up stairs and falling back down them.  He ended up losing a story, which made the situation worse, but with Nicky, if you don’t pay attention to the tantrum, he eventually gets bored with his acting and does what he is told.  Then he remembered he’d lost a story “Fine then, I wont’ get any stories and I’ll sleep forever.”  Seriously, the drama is amazing.  Four (if you count the two Dexter gets), less one, does not equal none.  I can’t wait until they get the concept of math.

Lights out earlier, but I think we’ll push it to 7:30pm tonight seeing that last night still involved threats and crying.

So, here we are.  It’s Friday.  This morning has gone reasonably well with a visit to Dexter’s OT at Monroe Elementary school.  Nicky gets to tag along and they both love the gross motor activities she has for them.  Today, they also got to work on fine motor skills with using and Ipad.  I think we need one now.  Yes Joel, it takes time for me to snap out of the 90′s but I eventually, sometimes, get there.  They are currently at preschool.  We’ll see which way tonight swings.  Wish us luck.

We just finished a fairly low key weekend.  Dex was feeling pretty crappy on Friday, with a fever of 101 and a cough, so we took it easy.  Today we hit the Pacific Science Center, and watched a cool movie about Monarch butterflies.  It was a 3D IMAX movie, and it was the first time we’d ever taken the boys to see a 3D movie, and only the 4th movie they’ve seen in a theater.  We learned from our last IMAX film and brought them earmuffs (the last one was about trains, and was LOUD).  This worked well for Dex, though the 3D glasses were a bit tight.  Anyway, I mention this because I’ve seen 3D movies before, and mostly found them a little irritating.  Okay, so Avatar made my stomach flip a little with the heights, and I remember the Terminator ride at Universal Studios, and the blade coming out of the screen at my eyes was a little disconcerting (as in, it was a good thing I’d used the bathroom before hand or I might have peed myself), but mostly it just gives me a headache and really doesn’t make me feel like I’m “in” the movie or anything.  Well, enter the young (and sort of innocent) minds of a child, and I guess things are a little different.  Nic was incredibly confused at the start, and couldn’t figure out if the guy talking was real or not (the fact that he would have been 40 stories tall if real *should* have been a clue).  When they tested the sound system, and said “we can take you into a forest, or into a cave…  Uh oh, Bats!”  Nic apparently closed his eyes and hid for a few minutes.  As the movie progressed, he flinched and hid a few times, like when a tractor swept overhead, or when a caterpillar fell from a branch.  He certainly seemed into it.  The really cool part, though, was later, as movie ended with millions of butterflies flying through a bright-blue sky, and Nic reached out to touch one, and then another, and another.  Maybe you had to be there, but it was very innocent and magical.

When we got home we mostly putzed.  I finally started trying to sort through the 4,000 photos we’ve taken this year, and succeeded in deleting about 1,800 when I get called out to “play”.  Katie and the boys are hiding on the stairs, with swords, yelling that they’re the good guys, and that I should run around and try to get them.  I started walking, slowly, and they started yelling after me, and finally stopped yelling and started asking Mommy, “is he coming?  I can’t hear him…”  Which is about when I launched 4 pillows over the wall of the staircase and onto their heads from behind.  The next time around I grabbed the toy handguns, and ambushed them.  Finally, I slipped out to the garage, grabbed a battle axe and warhammer (just to be clear, they were foam), and staged my assault.  Eventually I retreated upstairs, with one revolver, and hid.  I hid too well, and they couldn’t find me, even though Nic walked right by me once (he didn’t open the closet door, and it’s a good thing too, or I’d have let him have it).  Finally Katie calls out, “it’s okay, Joel, they’re back downstairs.”  So then they came up again, saw me, and attacked, eventually killing me, heading downstairs, and yelling at me to hide again.  That time I slipped into their bathroom and jumped into the tub, and waited.  It’s amazing how loud your breath sounds when you’re waiting to shoot your sons.  Eventually Nic ambles into the bathroom and I jump out and shoot him about a bazillion times, but he managed one shot off the him that, predictably, proved terminal for me.  Little buggers.

And finally, bedtime.  We were all a little off due to the time change, and we couldn’t tell if the boys were ready for bed or not.  We’d been giving Dex some medicine for his cough, so I asked him if he felt congested.  He answered, “I think maybe there’s 4, or 5 things in there.”  ”Five?” I asked.  ”Six,” he answered.  I’m getting a lot of practices at keeping a straight face when talking to Dexter.  ”I’m not sure if that’s a lot or not, Dex.  Do you think you need medicine?”  ”Yes.  The holes are so buggers can get up there.  Daddy, where do buggers come from?”  After we got them settled, we went downstairs, but I had to head up a couple of minutes later when it sounded like the boys ahd opened their door.  It turned out it wasn’t the door, but they’d put their reading lights on their headboards.  Dex had a book on his pillow and was looking at it.  Nic’s light was on, shining on his face, but he had no book.  I went up to Dex, and he hid his head in his bed and pretended to be asleep.  I said, “Dex, it’s okay, you’re allowed to read,” and he popped back up and started thumbing through a Clifford book.  I went over to Nic, and asked if he was okay, or if wanted his light off.  He said, “I’m waiting for my turn with the book.  Dexter said he’d give it to me when he was done.”  So I left them too it.  About 5 minutes later I went back to check on them.  Dex was pretending to sleep, with his light still on, but no book.  Nic was asleep, almost exactly where I’d left him, the light still on, but a book leaning against his head.  I went over to him, turned off his light, and took the book away gently, and kissed him good night.

Then I went over to Dex.  His light was still on, but his eyes were shut.  I put my face right up to his and waited.  A moment later one of his eyes opened, then shut tightly again.  I said, “Dexter, are you awake?”  No answer.  ”Dex, do you need anything?”  No answer.  ”Dex, I know you’re awake.”  No answer.  ”Would you like a drink of water?”  He nods his head, eyes still closed, and then opens his mouth.  ”No, Dex, you should sit up to take a drink.”  He sits up, and I hand him his bottle.  Then he lays back down and closes his eyes.  ”Would you like me to turn off your light?”  ”Yes.  But I need to put it away.”  He bends the flexible part so the light hides behind his headboard.

“Are you okay now, Dex?  Do you need a hug, or for me to rock you?”

“…  yes….”  So I pick him up, give him a hug, and rock for a moment.  Then he starts pushing with his leg, so I ask “are your ready to get back in bed?”

“Yes.”  So I put him back in bed, and am about to leave when he says, “he’s not even looking at it.”

“What’s that, Dex?”

“I gave the book back to Nicky, but he’s not even looking at it.”

“You mean the Clifford book?”

“Yes.”

“Dex, was Nicky awake when you gave him the book?”

“…  no…”

“And you set it on his head?”

“…  yes…”

<sigh>  ”You know, Dex, next time I think if Nic’s asleep, you don’t need to give him the book back.  Do you want to look at it now?”

“Yes!”

So I gave him back his book, kissed him good night, and left.  I just want to make it clear that I have absolutely no idea where my boys get their smart-ass-ness from.  Certainly not my side of the family…

How many words does it take to relate the tale of a week in Disneyland?  3,584.  I always feel guilty if I write a post that breaks through 1,000 words, and Katie’s gone and tripled it.  She won’t let me watch any more television until I get the post up with the photos, and that leaves me with two options – I can either write a short one myself, or edit hers.  I’ll do both, I think…

So yes, Disneyland – that happened.  We’ve been excited for months to get ready.  We’ve used it as our incentive all year.  ”Come on, guys, let’s go on a walk to get ready for Disneyland!”  They’ve thrown that back at us more than once, “No, Daddy, I don’t want to be done with our bike ride, I want to get ready for Disneyland!”  But they wouldn’t be redheaded hellions if they weren’t making us work for it.  We had fond memories of our trip last year, as exhausting as it was, and tried to scale it up this year.  We initially bandied about options to work in more of Los Angeles, or Lego Land and the San Diego Zoo, but ended up deciding that a week to go at a leisurely pace at Disneyland would be the least stressful.  Best intentions, and all that…

We also talked Carter and Marilyn into coming along.  I was a little worried initially, knowing I’d already have to push the boys around in a stroller and being a little worried about having to push Carter around as well, but the Disneyland trip turned out to be good incentive for him to exercise as well.  We also found a great way to get the best of both worlds.  We stayed at a Best Western on the edge of the park, which was cheap but quiet and convenient and was pretty spacious; while Carter, Marilyn, and Uncle Too Tall stayed at the Disneyland Hotel.  That got them convenient access to the park via monorail, while we could come over to visit them, see the Lego store (can you believe that I’d actually forgotten it was there???) and visit the awesome pool.  The pool turned out to be a great incentive, as each time I checked the forecast the temperature kept rising.  We were expecting 80′s – and we got 96 on one day.  Figures.  At least packing for summer weather takes less space, and I swear we packed less than last year.

All told, it was an absolutely exhausting trip.  We melted in the heat, melted down in the mornings, and by Tuesday we were all threatening to go home.  But at the same time we had a fantastic time.  Autopia wasn’t quite as manic and crazy as it was a year ago, but the boys both lit up with pure joy while they drove.  Very sadly the Casey Junior Train was closed (funny – I never rode that before the boys, but now when we found out it was going to be closed a few weeks before our trip, I almost wanted to reschedule our trip), but there was still plenty to do.  We loved Dumbo, and the Jungle River Cruise, and the bumper cars at California Adventure.  The boys still loved running all over Tom Sawyer’s island.  We also caught the Golden Horseshoe show, with two robbers yelling, “Throw up your check books, Throw up your money, throw up your breakfasts!”  The boys have been yelling that all week.  They also loved the Buzz Lightyear ride, and have been blasting the evil emperor Zerg regularly.  Cars land was pretty awesome, as were the lines.  It’s amazing – Disneyland could be nearly empty, and the Radiator Racers would have a line all the way to LAX.

They were also still too scared to go any indoor rides.  We couldn’t talk them into Peter Pan, or Pooh.  Before the trip we watched videos of rides, trying to get them to be less scared.  It *almost* worked.  We got Dexter onto Pirates of the Caribbean!!!  His brother melted down in line, and to be honest Dex was asking to get out of line too, but I pleased inability to hear and abandoned parental responsibility for the “throw him in the deep end and watch him swim” approach – and it worked!  He loved it.  We learned from last year and bought collapsible ear muffs, which you’ll see in a bunch of the pictures.  It helped.  Nic rode Splash Mountain, though you can’t see it from the picture (he’s back between Marilyn and Katie, in case you don’t see a flash of boy-leg).  And it was kind of adorable to watch the boys debate who they’d ride the next ride with.  ”I’ll ride this time with Grandma.  Then you, Daddy.  We’ll ride twice.”

We also spent some time in the pool, though by Thursday some cooler weather had moved in.  Fortunately Katie forgot her swimming suite on Wednesday, so Ryan and I went in on the hot day, and she got stuck with Thursday (Ryan took pity on her and jumped in too).  Well, somebody had to take pictures, didn’t they?  The LEGO store was the sleeper hit of the vacation, in Downtown Disney.  I swear, Dexter could have spent his whole week there.  That kid has a problem.  I am so damned proud.  We didn’t bring any legos with us, so as not to lose small pieces.  By Monday morning Dexter was asking to go home, “because I know how much you love LEGOs and want to go home to play with them, Daddy.”

By Friday we were exhausted, and ready to be done.  Nic’s been saying he’s ready to go back in 6 weeks.  Katie and I were thinking more like 6 years.  I’m sure we’ll go back a little sooner than that, but not until the boys are old enough not need a siesta or stroller, until they can go to the bathroom by themselves, and aren’t afraid of Winnie the Pooh upside down in a pot of honey.  It was a little hard on Katie, going for so long without being able to ride many adult rides.  Might have been nice if we’d had an Au Pair along, I suppose.

Oops – now I’m at 1,076 words (thanks to Katie’s editing).  Guess that means I have to call it.  I hope you enjoy the photos.  I’ll work on Katie’s tome next, and publish it once I make it through to the end.  Happy Hurricane Day!

-Joel

Disney 2012

I have 151 pictures of our Disneyland trip ready.  I’ve written a too long post for you.  A novel of boring proportion.  All it needs is for Joel to edit and it will be up.  Thank you for your patience.

In the meantime, I wish to share how horrible the boys have been to me since we’ve been back.  Kid stuff really.  Lots of tantrums.  Lots of “HEY” being said.  Some light hitting and kicking when angry and as I am carrying them to the time out bench.  Stuff they never pulled on the au pairs.  But, we are working through it.

My favorite phrase said so far was said by Nicholas and I have no idea where he got it.  ”You are ruining my life.”  When he said this, Joel shouted from the other room “Did he just say what I think he just said?”  Yep – didn’t expect that one until middle school.  ;)  He’s also said on a few occasions ”I guess I’ll just go to sleep forever then” which is like a knife to my heart.  I do still get lots of hugs, kisses and hair stroking from him too so all is not lost.

Tonight we watched a movie we got last year – Spooky Buddies.  This movie was way too scary for them.  We got out our guns and shot the bad guy over and over again.  Poor, sensitive Nicholas – you really do have a heart of gold.  He was very upset through most of the movie but wouldn’t let us stop because he had to see that all the dogs turned to stone come back to life in the end, and just like mommy said, good triumphs over evil in Hollywood movies.

Hi all,

Sorry for the radio silence treatment but we just got back from a week long trip to Disneyland.  The week before that, Joel and I were feverishly finishing prepping for the twin mom group bi-yearly super sale (the day before we left for D-land) and packing.  Needless to say, we needed every spare minute in order to accomplish both tasks and blogging fell to the wayside. We left on Sunday, 10/14 to a week of 90+ degree days and flew back home to the mid-40′s.  Talk about a huge difference in temperature.  And yes, Dexter did, once again, puke on the plane upon landing at the SeaTac airport.  Luckily, Joel had the barf bag ready and waiting, so no messy cleanup this time.  Three out of the four landing at SeaTac have ended in a stomach eruption.  He lands fine elsewhere though.

Anyway, tonight I might have enough time to select picture and stories to share with you all.  I’ve finished with the huge pile of laundry that vacationing left me with.  Our house is now stocked with food.  I’ve set up a “schedule” for the boys and we are on day two of implementation.  They are throwing tantrums left and right.  Dexter had a complete and utter meltdown at Bartell’s Drug Store before lunch which lasted a total of ~45 minutes.  I let him lie on the floor in the store crying for 5 minutes before picking him up and walking out with him.  Thank God Nicholas noticed that his brother had lost it and behaved exceptionally well during Dexter’s tantrum.  I then let Dex cry it out in the back of Kanga (our minivan) until I deemed he would not be able to get himself calmed down.  Nicky and I attempted to make him laugh which finally worked.  I sometimes wonder if kids can be bipolar the way Dexter bounces.

Oh, how do you help a kid on the edge?  I thought they were suppose to do this kind of thing when they were two or three, not four.  If anyone has any good ways to teach kids how to recognize being close to a meltdown and then cope and figure out how to self sooth, I’d love to hear them.  We had one or two of these at Disneyland too.  One morning, all 4 of us melted down.  Maybe Joel and I need to practice self soothing too.  Right now, I’m just giving the boys space and letting them entertain themselves with Legos.  It seems to be going well so far…… (I know – I’ve jinxed it and this is probably the calm before the storm.)   They are creating some nice stories so far.

Just wanted to give you all a heads up that all is well and I will get pictures on the blog soon.  Being a stay-at-home mom is a busy one. – Katie

(This was written on Monday but I had to wait until today for Joel to show me once again, how it insert pictures into a post.)

Day 2 on the job (and weekends don’t count because Joel is here) and I set the alarm in hopes of getting up and ready before the boys. Unfortunately, Joel believes they can hear my alarm going off from their room because inevitably, they call out after the alarm rings. Sigh – oh well. Best intentions. At least this time, Joel was ready and I was out of the shower and had my hair dry before they emerged from their bedroom.

This morning’s story concerns therapy – occupational therapy to be more specific. Dexter qualified for OT with the Everett School District on gross motor skills, so once a week, he has a half hour session with Mrs Hollie at the elementary school next to our house. Mrs. Hollie is super nice and lets Nicky participate too. Because my boys cannot draw a simple stick figure at age 4, one of the homework assignments she has given us is to assemble a person called Map Man and then draw a picture of him. At last week’s OT session, she asked the boys if they had done Map Man that week to which Nicky responded “no”. WRONG – well, technically right for Nic because he refused when I brought that exercise out but Dexter did do it. So, seeing that this week is my first week of meeting Mrs Hollie in person, I’m trying to redeem myself.

This morning, I set up Map Man and scissor time. I had them cut out three shapes – a circle, a square, and a piece of pizza – and write their names in each one. Then they had to put together Map Man. Having fun with the situation, I asked the boys if Map Man was going to eat a donut, a grilled cheese sandwich or a piece of pizza. They laughed and that was that until I saw Dexter’s Map Man. He had put all three shapes into Map Man’s stomach. Dexter turned to me and said, “He was really hungry, Mommy.” I also want you to note in the picture that the two Map Men are holding hands. That was Dexter’s doing too. I love how creative they can be.

One more thing to share with you about Monday.  We had enough time to run to Value Village to drop off donations and look for Halloween costumes.  We ended up picking up to police officer hats.  The boys absolutely love those hats.  That night, after dinner, Nicky puts on his police hat, turns to me with the biggest smile on his face and says “Mommy, can we be naked police officers?  Please????” or something to that affect.  There was no way I could turn him down.  ”Underwear stays on” was my only reply.  Off came the clothes and there was Nicky, proud in his almost nakedness and police officer hat.  Dexter got his pants off but then got distracted and his shirt stayed on.  I went back into the kitchen to pack lunches for the next day’s field trip to the pumpkin farm.  All of a sudden, the song “Gangnam Style” by Psi came on the radio.  I started to dance and Nicky joined me in jumping all around.  It kind of felt like I was at a bachelorette party.  Yes, I do have pictures.  NO, I am not going to share.  ;)