Words in the playroom...

There were some funny (or at least funny to us) things said in the playroom today...


First:

Collin: Mommy, ere a boog.

Mommy: Oh thank you. (reaching out my hand)

Mommy: (looking at hand) *SCREAM!!! (like the girl I am)* (throwing hand around frantically)

Daddy: What's wrong?!

Mommy: It was a dead bug!

Ethan: (uncontrollable laughter... for hours... repeating the dialog over and over and over... laughing... for hours)

I didn't know what he was saying, as we often don't with his verbal Apraxia, I thought he was giving me something he made me from the play kitchen. I now know, without doubt, what he means by "boog."

BTW, it was only a lady bug (yea, with three boys I better "man it up" soon, I know), BUT in my defense it was more the shock in the reality of what it was (some sort of dead bug) versus what I thought it was... that's my story and I'm sticking with it.


Second:


Oliver walking around with his toy hedge trimmer, which works (and was on), while singing "I'm gonna catch you, you better run. I'm gonna catch, here I come..."

Don't worry, that's a Laurie Berkner (children's song writer) song that we listen to all the time... and it isn't about someone with hedge clippers... thankfully... he loves music and likes to break into song randomly... and it certainly made for an interesting pairing today.

Strawberries!

We took the boys strawberry (or "hawberry" as Collin calls it) picking over the Memorial Day weekend.

When we got to the orchard, we gave each boy a strawberry box and off we went. They were so excited and proud to have their own boxes. Though we gave each specific instructions on how to pick and what to pick... really only Ethan was actually agreeing to something he understood. The twins were happy to sit, pick, eat, run, pick some more, eat some more, etc. Ethan did really well, balancing filling his box with eating a bunch. He is at the age where he not only enjoys these adventures, but also enjoys helping us pick for a purpose.

Towards the end Collin decided it was time to leave and was pretty adamant about it, as he started walking to the car... without us. Collin is pretty famous for doing what he wants to do, the heck with all of us! Turns out, though, that he had gotten the cold that Oliver and I had (starting with the fever) so that explained his decision and desire to leave just like that. We actually didn't realize it until we got home and he put himself down for a nap... now that is rare!

We have taken advantage of these juicy treats and have had strawberries every day, as well as made popsicles (yes, my "green" ones), strawberry shortcake, strawberry smoothies (yes, "green" again) and strawberry pie (completely from scratch - my first ever - I won't lie... it wasn't that good but now I know what to change next time). We also froze 15- one quart bags for future green smoothies, "ice cream" and popsicle making... which actually won't take us long to go through.

As the boys were enjoying one of our freshly made popsicles, I asked Ethan if it was the best he ever had since it was made from the strawberries he picked (from his box). He replied, with a very serious face, "Mom, I have something to tell you... I picked some with white bottoms because I wanted to fill my box..." I had to laugh at the way he confessed to this doing (we had told them to not pick any with white bottoms, only all red ones), but really the majority of what he picked was red all over. There were so many strawberries it wasn't hard to find fully ripe ones.

There is nothing like fresh strawberries, red the entire way through and sweet as can be! I think we might have to go again in the next week or two!!

Look at the strawberry stained face of Oliver!

BTW, yes I am WAY behind on posting (I somehow missed most of May and some of April actually) and yes I am posting completely out of order. Hopefully soon you will see some posts from mid May as I try to get caught up!

Sweet Falcons

Ethan likes to make up food creations... well... he likes to make up a lot of things (food and non-food). He has a great imagination.

His latest food creation is "sweet falcons," and he promptly gave me a list of the food we needed to create it. That would be a tortilla chip with a strawberry halved and attached, like wings, and then cinnamon sprinkled all over the chip and strawberry.

I personally think this creation was just so he had a good excuse to get me to give him a chip (which we rarely have), but you have to give the boy credit for the creativity...

Turkey dinner?

The other day, while Ethan and his friend Christopher were swinging they had a discussion about a field trip Ethan went on. It went something like this:

Ethan: Guess what Christopher?! On our field trip we saw a REAL Pilgrim house!

Christopher: I've seen one of those too. Were the Pilgrims home?

Ethan: No, they died a long time ago.

Christopher: What was in the house then?

Ethan: Nothing, it was just a house. It was made of wood logs, can you believe that?!

Christopher: Pilgrims ate turkeys for dinner, did you know that?

Ethan: Yes, they hunted them I think.

Christopher: Hey, let's go hunt a turkey for dinner!

Ethan: OKAY!! Mom, we're going to hunt a turkey for dinner!!!

And off they went, with the twins in tow, hunting wild turkeys... in our backyard... armed with a few plastic golf clubs and the bottom of a tee ball stand (it was arched... like a bow, of course). Needless to say, we didn't have turkey for dinner, but they did find an "empty turkey nest" to show Ms. Judy (Christopher's mom) and me. So close, but yet...

Homing in on the wild turkeys in the "woods."

Discovery of the empty turkey nest. You can't see it well here, but Collin has turned around to yell the discovery back to me. "MOM umpty urkee nes!"

Running back to take us to their find...

Ethan's last day of preschool...

FOREVER. *sniff, sniff*

I honestly cannot believe my little baby boy will be heading to kindergarten next year. Time goes so quickly.

Here are a couple photos with his room teachers and his music teacher. His gym, art and Spanish teachers weren't there unfortunately.

Ethan with his classroom teachers

Ethan with his music teacher. He really liked her. He liked all his teachers actually, but he loves music and she did so many fun things with them everyday... and you can tell by his perfect (and REAL) smile in every photo with her... not his norm cheese ball smile.

I took time off so that I could pick him up on this momentous occasion, as his request was that I take him to lunch (so I also picked him up early because normally they eat lunch right before pick up). We went to an Italian restaurant in uptown that he had just been on a field trip to that week (they got to make pizzas), so he was excited to show me. Then he said, "What would really make my day perfect would be if we could get some ice cream." And so we did, as there is a Graeters conveniently located across the street from where we were... obviously he planned all this.

He got strawberry chocolate chip and proclaimed it was the best ever, most wonderful ice cream he had ever had. Of course that is standard talk when he has ice cream in hand.

See... the face... in all the ice cream photos. Sigh... Maybe if his music teacher was sitting there...

(and yes, in case you are wondering, we have ice cream issues going on... we hadn't been for ice cream more than once or twice a year for years and then the last few months... well... I blame Jeni's... It's just a really good thing there aren't any close to us... not that I haven't emailed asking them to consider opening a store around here or anything...)

Collin's addiction

We are currently in search of a 12 step program for Collin and his addiction... to raisins. You laugh, but it's serious. He can sniff them out and find them anywhere. He can eat them all day long. He has a huge fit if you try to stop him. His will is strong, but his willpower is weak. And by his will is strong, I mean he's a very strong little dude and if he wants it he'll find a way to get it through both will and shear strength.

We've known of this problem for a while, as Easter gave us some tell-tale signs when he slyly took all the raisin boxes from his brothers, gathered them up in a pile and kissed them refusing to let any out of his sight or possession.

He had an episode recently during one of Ethan's soccer games. There were some small raisin boxes packed in the diaper bag, along with other snacks, which he found. Once he finished his container of snack we brought for him, he went to the diaper bag and I heard a loud (signature) gasp. He had found a box of raisins. He ran around with it, got up in the chair and promptly started shoving them in, enjoying them immensely. Then he was off to the diaper bag again and before I knew it he had another box... and another... At that, I closed the diaper bag tight. However, when we were talking to Ethan during a break, Collin quietly went to the bag, figured out how to open it and got more raisins. Once we realized it and went to get them from him, he darted... dropping raisins. But that doesn't stop him. No, he'll eat them off the ground if you aren't quick enough. Other than the obvious dirt, the other issue with that is: the soccer field is a park, where people bring their dogs... for walks... and other small animals... like rabbits... live... need I say more?

My neighbor, Kris, told me the other day that, when the kids were over there with Ms. Erin, she had issues with Collin and raisins. Apparently she served that as one of the snack items for all the kids, but could not get Collin to stop eating them. I believe she said "I had a problem with Collin and raisins..." His addiction is no longer behind closed doors...

Hi, my name is Collin and I am a raisinholic.

"My Mother" by Ethan

For Mother's Day, Ethan's preschool had the kids do several different art projects for us. One of them was entitled "My Mother" and had a few descriptive things about us as well as an illustration by our children. The teachers read these aloud to us during circle time, but waited until all the descriptive sentences had been read until they said who each was.

Here is what Ethan had to say about me:
Do you see that?!! I am 18 years old!!! Woo hoo!!! That means I had him when I was 13, but who cares... I'm 18 to him! Of course, in his mind 18 is old... but he still thinks daddy is older! I laughed when I saw that I "watch football on TV." Since we really try to limit TV, he never really sees what I watch. The only time he sees me watching TV is in the fall when we have football on.
As you can imagine, there were some funny answers by the other kids. Two of the ones that stick in my head were of two separate moms and referred to what they drink. One was "mommy drinks" (decoded = wine) and another was "beer." Those moms turned beet red.

I can't wait to see what the daddy versions look like. They already did them and the teachers said that they almost had some very interesting answers when they were asking for daddy's name - the teacher actually phrased it like this "what does your mommy call your daddy?" and the other teacher promptly said "Uh, maybe we shouldn't ask it in quite that way..." I would have loved to hear those answers though!

Here is the illustration of me that Ethan drew. Though I love it, I kind of look like a man...

Reason 1,035 why you shouldn't label "that mom"...

Before I had kids... especially before I had twins... I always said that I would not be "that mom." "That mom" was labeled many ways in my mind and went along with the statement: "I'll never do/say/act/etc. (fill in with any number of things I thought obnoxious before I was a mom) when I am a mom." As I have noted before, never say never. Never.

Saturday night, I was "that mom." While Steve and Ethan were at a pool party, I took the twins out on a couple short errands. Our first stop was Kohls, I just needed to look at a couple things. Unfortunately, Erin had our stroller and Kohls does not have carts. So, what could go wrong with twin two year old boys who are foot loose and fancy free? I'll tell you: Collin. That little turkey let go of my hand and darted as soon as we walked through the doors. I calmly started the "Collin, please stop. Collin, stop now. Collin... Collin... Collin..." as Oliver and I went after him. Collin merely turned to us with a huge smile and a loud giggle, then as we were within feet of him, he darted again. "Collin, get back here. Collin, I'm serious. Collin... Collin... Collin..." Oliver was practically on the floor laughing at this point as he thought it was hilarious, which only fed Collin's drive. Once I caught him, he had a little time out as I tried to discuss with him the severity of the behavior. I made him repeat "I no run" and agree five different ways not to run "otay mommy." (Oliver continued to giggle - he's a gigglier anyhow - but this did not help)

We started out okay, then it started again. I even tried having them sit on the floor, while I looked at something, which they did... then Collin race crawled off. Fast. Oliver said: "where did Collin go?" Huh?!! "Collin? Collin... Collin... Collin.... Collin...Collin..." Another time out. Another agreement, this one involving "no ice cream if this continues." I thought that would work, Collin is all about food. He seemed rattled by the no ice cream threat. But he's two, it didn't last.

In fact, it continued... five more times. Yes, I ended the trip short. Those five more times happened on the way out of the store. "Collin get back here. Collin... okay no ice cream... Collin... Collin... Collin... I'm serious Collin..." To top it off, Oliver decided (after a laughing fit over Collin's antics dropped him to his knees) to remain on the floor and crawl out... very slowly. If you haven't gotten that picture in your head yet, one is running fast ahead of me and the other is crawling slowly behind me. I swear to you, SWEAR, that I saw them quickly exchange "thumbs up" as if to say "good one! I think she's officially crazy now... messing with mom is so much fun! Mission completion."

When we finally all made it to the door to leave, well all of us but my sanity which was lost somewhere in the store... or years before... who really knows, they had a single stroller cart at the door (which there were none of when we walked in). And though they have always held our hands in parking lots, I grabbed that cart and promptly strapped Collin in, tightly, and held Oliver's hand as we went to the car. They giggled the entire time. No doubt still humored by their antics.

Lessons learned (after all, you always need a take away):

• Never go to stores that have no shopping carts without the twins pre-strapped down in the stroller.
  
  
• Two year olds live in the moment. They do what makes them happy or what makes their twin brother turn red and fall over giggling.
  
  
• Never say never. Never label "that mom."
  
  
• What worked for your first singleton, at two years of age, probably...er... definitely won't work for twin two year olds.
  
  
• Never believe a two year old when they say "I no run." and agree by saying: "otay mommy." As cute as it is, it's likely they are just lying to you... okay, it wasn't malicious, refer back to three bullets previous.
  
  
• Who says child leashes are ridiculous? Maybe there is something to be said for them.
  
  
• These situations are clearly the origin of gray hair. I swear eighteen more sprouted in our short 20 minutes inside Kohls, and those are just the ones I could see.
  
  
• This is also why wine was created. I'm convinced.
  
  
• Never threaten "no ice cream"... because after a shopping trip like that... who was I fooling? I wanted it more than them. Mommy needed a special treat... in lieu of the wine that was hours off yet. Yes, mommy has a small addiction to Jeni's ice cream...
  
  
• Jeni's ice cream makes everyone/everything better. However, do not savor such delicacies, instead just inhale it. The twins came at me with their spoons and their mouths open like baby birds once each of their cups were empty.
  

Which brings me to a new thought: I think in the future I might stop at Jeni's first and then lead them through our errands like the pied piper... I am sure they would have stuck close to me if that was the case. Maybe it would save some gray hair, sanity and less stories being told like: "tonight at Kohls, there was one of those moms that was chasing her kid, Collin, all over the place. I know his name because she said it about 10,001 times... I swear, when I am a mom, I'll never..."

Live and learn... and don't label "that mom"... because it's probably me...

Loving their Wildberry Lavender ice cream.

Collin after Collin cleaned his cup, he was wanting my Mango Lassi and Riesling Poached Pear. Which I gave both of them because they are so darn cute and quite honestly, I didn't want to add a complete meltdown to the night at that point.

Oliver kept taking a bite, then leaning back in his chair, tipping his head back and just thoroughly enjoying his ice cream... as if it was a euphoric experience for him.

Oliver smiling for me... but if you look close you will see an empty cup sitting next to Oliver's, which is also no longer in his possession. That is Collin moving in to fill up his then empty cup from Oliver's. That did NOT go over well with Oliver. At that point, mine became community property.

Worn out after running wild in Kohls, making mom more wacko than she was, and having bellies full of Jeni's ice cream:

Inner geeks?

Saturday was free comic book day, so Steve loaded up all the boys and went. Though I am not a huge fan of these literary works (and the ads in them), there are some battles that... well... And, after all, I did get to power grocery shop with no kids. Woo hoo! (I'm one wild and crazy girl)

Steve took these shots of the boys reading their comics. Oliver and Ethan could sit for hours paging through them, pointing out superheroes and discussing the plots. They are way more into them than Collin.
As a matter of fact, Collin looks like he is giving the toddler version of the Loser sign to his dad. Little does he know that, while in the womb, he gave his daddy the "live long and prosper" hand sign during one of the ultrasounds (much to my dismay). He's a geek like the rest of them... he just hasn't embraced it yet.

Holy cow... that's MY boy!

I think I mentioned before that Ethan is not really huge on sports. He is very timid, except with his younger brothers of course. He isn't very competitive at all, again except with his younger brothers. He is usually very shy, searching for his place in the group. He is a lot like mommy, just likes to blend in and follow the pack. Sometimes he is more so like all of this than others, depending on how tired he is, what time of day it is, if he's hungry or full, his mood and the list goes on. Just like many other five year old really. And that's okay. We just want him to have fun and experience working together as a team.

Tonight, though, at his soccer game we saw pockets of timid, non-competitive, shy Ethan and bursts of Ethan on fire (usually it's vice versa). I was in awe as my little boy ran to defend the goal many times (they don't play with goal keepers usually, so he kept running ahead to defend the goal), kicked the ball away from the other team numerous times, assisted his team members and, oh yea, DROVE THE BALL DOWN THE FIELD FOR A GOAL ON THE LAST PLAY! And let me tell you, I was a cheering loud mommy instincts-in-over-drive soccer mom... okay... with a big mouth (I'll own it). Wow. W.O.W.!

He wasn't always successful at blocking the goal, but he tried really hard and did it by himself (without someone telling him to). He didn't always get the ball away from the other team, but he tried hard and was successful sometimes. He only made it down to the goal once, by himself or assisted, where he was successful in getting it in, but he really tried. He had the spirit. He had drive. He gave it his best effort. I couldn't have been prouder.

His smile consumed his little face. He was glowing proud. He believed in himself.

What an awesome game. What a great night.

Oh, and the twins stayed on the sidelines so Steve and I actually got to see the entire game and all of Ethan's rocking proud moments.

The after the game piece of fresh Strawberry Rhubarb pie from his favorite pie maker, Sue, at Sue's Kitchen (which means, woo hoo, the farmer's market opened for the season today!)... complete with his goofy photo face.

Are you ready for some T-ball?!

Yes, you read that right. Ethan is in t-ball AND soccer. Since I recently posted an article on our mothers of twins blog about "over-parenting" and this sort of over-scheduling was one of the topics... I feel the need to say that this was not planned. Though I am guilty of the "Brain Food for Kids" cookbook they listed, I am definitely not an over-scheduler. Ethan decided the night before registration, after over-hearing two of his neighborhood friends discussing it, that he too wanted to sign up. Steve said we needed to give him the chance to play it too, despite the over-scheduling issue. So here we are. Right now we are in four week over-lap hell. Meaning three hour long t-ball practices a week and two soccer games a week. I keep thinking about how we will live in the van when the twins start sports!

Tonight was a t-ball practice night and I took him. T-ball is a hard sport for this age. Harder than soccer where you are spending most of your time and energy chasing a ball. There is very little downtime. In t-ball, especially when you are just learning and instruction is being given to others, there is A LOT of downtime. Read: time to get bored and loose focus. Read further: sit on the ground, draw in the dirt and throw your glove up in the air and behind you... all during play. Here's the other difference I learned as I sat with the dads of the two neighbor friends, you don't yell encouragements or corrections to your son during t-ball like you do during soccer. One of the dads, Mike, coached his oldest son a while ago and told me, 'you just need to let the coaches handle it.' That is way harder than it sounds... for a second season soccer mom... okay, maybe it has nothing to do with soccer and more to do with my mommy instincts... AND my big mouth. (was that just a collective nod I sensed?)

Ethan definitely struggled, but some of that is he has never had interest in t-ball/baseball before so he doesn't understand what he needs to do. We have two awesome coaches. I'm not kidding, these guys are very serious, focused, driven, knowledgeable and great with these young kids. I was shocked by how different it is than soccer. It's good because there is no doubt Ethan will really learn some fundamentals, but still surprising because they are only five years old (is that the mommy thing again?!).

Camera phone images...

My little dirt drawer

I think he'll get the hang of it soon. He smiled a lot and seemed to enjoy it, and that is really all that matters.

Topsy Turvey Thursday

Today was topsy turvey Thursday (crazy mismatched clothes and wild hair) at Ethan's school. I, of course, noticed it on the calendar this morning at 5:45 a.m. because I am so on top of everything lately (no, no sarcasm there!).

I left a note for Erin to have him call me when he woke up so I could partake in the outfit picking with him, since we didn't do it the night before. At 7:06 a.m. today I got a call from Ethan. He sounded tired (as he should since he is sleeping a whopping 9 hours a night now and days): "Hi mommy, what did you want?" I asked him if he remembered it was topsy turvey day and he informed me that he was already dressed. Apparently he woke up, knew what day it was (thank goodness he doesn't have my memory issues) and dressed himself much to Erin's surprise.

Me: "So, what did you pick out?"

Ethan: "Uh, my Marvel shirt and my OSU pants."

Me: "Are they the same color?" (already knowing the answer)

Ethan: "No not really, there's some red around Spiderman and Iron Man, but not really anything else to match my pants."

Me: "Uh, okay." (translated: 'Uh, okay...color blind like dad: check")

Ethan: "Mom, it's a MARVEL shirt and OSU pants, that makes them TOTALLY different and mismatched. Right?" (sounding a little bit like 'seriously mom... duh!')

Me (giggling): "Of course. Yes, you're right. Do you have crazy socks on?"

Ethan: "No, not really."

Me: "You should put on some crazy socks. And what are you going to do to your hair?"

Ethan: "My socks are fine and I am not doing anything to my hair." (clearly done with me at this point) "I love you mommy. Bye." (the classic pass off)

As I finish this conversation with him, Erin sends me a photo from her phone of him talking to me. I cry giggle every time I look at it, because I hear the conversation in my head and love the expression on his face (it's hard to see here, but his brow is furrowed).

BTW, check out the socks... he doesn't think those are topsy turvey. As a matter of fact, socks to Ethan are not something you match to your outfit, but instead something you pick based on your mood alone... and therefore, in his mind, they match whatever you are wearing no matter what.

Ahhhh, I LOVE that little boy.

Fixed...

Sunday at noon, right when Cookie Cutters opened, I called and made an appointment to get Oliver's hair fixed. Fifty bucks later (for all three), which is including the $6 in coupons we had, Oliver no longer looks punk with five different lengths of hair, straight across side burns and multiple bald spots. Actually, now that it's all smoothed out, he looks stinking cute with his hair so short. STINKING CUTE! It did take her 20 minutes to fix it though... considering how little hair he had when we were done it is sad it took 20 minutes for her to fix what we had done!

Collin and Ethan also got a cut, not a buzz though. Now they are no longer the bushy headed Moore brothers.

Wish I could get them to sit still for photos, but I can't, therefore these aren't the best photos. Oh, and in case you are wondering, Collin spilled something on his shirt at dinner and insisted on taking it off and NOT putting on another one...

We are so sorry Oliver

My dear sweet little O,

We made a very terrible mistake. Daddy insisted we do it and after a week, I caved. I thought if I helped surely between the two of us it would turn out okay. It can't be that hard to do it after all. We were wrong. Very wrong. All to save a few dollars.

I am sorry you were the first chosen and, as it turned out, our guinea pig. You know though, when it comes to matters such as this, you are by far the easiest. Yes, that shouldn't be a punishment, I know. But who else would sit through the drama as it went from "it might be okay"... to "stop cutting it, just buzz it"... to "oh no I took a chunk out (three times)"... to "just stop now before we do any more damage"... to "it's okay, wait until after his bath it'll be better looking"... to "okay, give it a few days to grow out, it'll be fine"... to "never mind, just give it a few days then we will pay someone to fix it"... to "there is no way we are touching the other two"... to "we're so sorry Oliver, so very, very sorry." All the while, you just sat there happily watching Little Einsteins letting us mangle your mane... for a half hour... in the name of saving money. We are so sorry. We won't do it again, we promise. Probably.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

p.s. yes you can probably use this to your advantage for a good week, at least.

What did YOU do to me?!!!

Dear two remaining very bushy headed brothers,

Be kind to your brother. Do not laugh, but instead compliment, embrace and defend him (with that hair, he's probably going to need it). It is he that saved you this horrible fate.

Love,

Mommy and Daddy

The shiner and the scolding (two separate incidents)

Oliver got his first shiner on Friday. Our EI (early intervention) specialist was here on her bi-monthly visit (with the added bonus of budget, or lack there of, talk) and we were sitting on the floor with the twins. Collin was over by the step into the kitchen and was showing off when he fell backward and hit the back of his head on the wood step. I ran over to him to comfort him and then Oliver started crying. He was hopping around (showing off as well - boys and pretty blondes, what is it?) and fell into the sofa. She thought it was nothing serious, just shaken by the event, but his crying said otherwise. What we think happened was that he fell into the corner of the chaise, face first, while holding a plastic pterodactyl because he has a red vertical line in the white of his eye, a bruise on the side of his eye and of course under his eye. Poor guy! He's acting no worse for the wear though (after the initial pain subsided of course).

You can't really see it in the photo (the flash washed it out maybe), but it's there under his left eye.

I see my family in this photo, which is weird because he looked a lot like Steve at birth and also in his baby photos. I think it's the eyes. Regardless, I've always thought his eyes were amazing... of course I am a little biased.

Unrelated, but funny, bonus story...

This morning, while I was in the kitchen making their favorite whole wheat oatmeal blueberry pancakes, I overheard two year old Oliver scold five year old Ethan in the family room. Ethan was apparently making bad choices and Oliver said: "Stop Ephan, that is inappopiate!" I fell over laughing... silently of course. I'm still giggling.

Are you ready for some soccer?!

The first game of spring soccer was today. It wasn't too bad, well, since they don't take score. Actually, even given a sore ankle causing a limp, Ethan played pretty well. He had his moments of staring off into space, but he also kicked the ball quite a few times... in the right direction... away from the right players... it was awesome! And most importantly, he was proud of himself.

The pre-game pep talk... with Q & A apparently. I thought it was adorable with all of them sitting on their balls intently listening.

The first play.

Oliver, Ethan's mini me, desperately wanted to be on the field with Ethan, playing soccer as well. We could not convince him that this was just not okay. I'll tell you though, that boy is ready for soccer and I think he might be good at it (based on his kicking skills and desire). He, unfortunately, cried very loudly and dramatically about half of the game and nothing we did helped. Collin was pretty laid back (thank goodness), content eating, playing with a soccer ball and watching, with the occasional grab of a marker or dash on the field just when we had our guard down or were focused on one of the other two kids.

One of Oliver's calm moments, watching the game with his ice water.

One of Collin's ornery moments, taking a marker.

The brother's celebrating the first game.

The brother hug. Though it kind of looks like a wrestle move, this was a giant hug from Oliver, returned by Ethan. Oliver adores Ethan. He calls him "my Ethan."

It was a beautiful day today, sunny and cool. Looking forward to the season and more beautiful days like this!

Dinnertime conversation: the Easter Bunny

Tonight at dinner Ethan said, "So..." Now, not to take away from the story, but this opening typically means he is getting ready to ask dad some detailed super hero questions. Sometimes it will even start with "I love you mommy. So... dad can Blue Beetle's foot turn into...." The "I love you mommy" is the butter-up since I am not a fan of super hero talk at dinner. Oh and who else says "so" all the time... hmmmmm....

So, anyhow, the dinner conversation tonight started with this:

Ethan: "So mom and dad, where does the Easter Bunny live?"

I looked at Steve and he at me, neither one of us had an answer. Pretty pathetic huh?

Me: "I am not sure where he lives."

Ethan: "I think he lives in China."

Me: "Okay, that would be a nice place. Why do you think that?"

Ethan: "Because it says China on the bottom of everything we got."

Another one of those mornings...

There are days when managing three kids, specifically two two year old twin boys, isn't so hard... and there are days when... well... it is. It just is. Think about it, two terrible two aged boys, who are brothers.

Steve was away yesterday, so it was just me and the kids. We had a bunch of errands to run and I was hopeful it would go smoothly. I am so silly!

Collin has decided that only he can pick out his outfits now and days. I gave him a couple very nice choices, but his response was "NO!" in a loud screech to each and every. He then went to his closet and picked a shirt he wanted and handed it to me with a look on his face as if to say "You have no fashion sense mom, THIS is what I want to wear." I bowed to His Hiney...er... I mean... His Highness, and dressed him in his desired wear.

We headed downstairs for shoes, where His Highness dug into the closet and pulled out his water shoes from last year... which don't even fit (or I wouldn't have cared). Basically we had to have the "either you put on your sneakers or you can stay home" discussion. He eventually got on board.

Apparently we have hit the "don't touch me" and more stage because the entire car ride Collin was aggravating Oliver and Oliver was yelling at Collin. They can't touch where they are seated... nope... this was Collin being too loud (Collin is very loud period) and Oliver telling him to stop. Of course, being the ornery child he is, that only made Collin smile bigger and do it louder as Oliver started cry yelling at him to stop again. The. Entire. Ride.

Since the twins don't like the side by side bench carts, I have to put one in the seat and one into the basket area. As I handed items to Oliver (as I typically do), Oliver put them in the cart with Collin (as he typically does) and Collin proceeded to yell "NO!" and throw them either back up to Oliver who then started screaming his protest or out of the cart altogether. (that is not typical)

Then we only, heaven forbid, walked one side of the fish tank display at the store. Oliver freaked out. So, we backed up and went around the entire display. Then when I said, "Okay, say bye bye to the fishes" (as I typically do), he started scream crying all over again... for another five minutes as we made our way through the store... people staring. What? You've never seen a crying toddler before? Come on people.

To add to this, ornery Collin kept playing with the strap on the seat of the cart (where Oliver was sitting) which ticked Oliver off who kept saying "NO, don't touch it Collin!" Once the strap was inaccessible to Collin, he just started touching Oliver instead, which as you might guess started the "NO, stop touching me Collin!"

During this, Collin kept standing up in the basket area of the cart where I put him. Now, having worked retail in my much younger years, I recall vividly the movie they showed us of kids falling out of carts... so I have a no tolerance rule about such things. Collin needed to be reminded several (billion) times. It was hard to be too upset... at first at least... because every time I reminded him he said "Oh!" and sat back down, as if he had merely forgotten he wasn't to do that. I know better. This kid may have a speech disorder and not be able to talk well, but he is very smart.

I am certain at this point that we will be banned from this particular store soon. I just know it. Or at the very least, when we walk in they get on their little phones, spreading the word.

Meanwhile, my first born Ethan was perfect. Bless him. He actually kept giving me hugs all day. Just silent hugs. It was unclear as to whether he saw the distraught look in my eyes and knew I needed them or if he was just giving me a reminder as just how good he was being. Regardless, it was sweet.

After we got home and ate lunch, I put the twins to bed hoping for the best...clearly they were tired. No less than fifty trips up the stairs to discuss sleeping with them, and I had to give up. Now with Ethan, we didn't do that, we just let him talk and play in bed when he was their age. However, he was singleton. With the twins, you can't do that. Case in point, towards the end I just decided to let them be. I heard loud noises at some point but typically it's them laying in bed hitting their feet on their beds. After about 15 minutes of squealing laughter and noises, I decided to give up on them napping and let them come downstairs. I opened the door and found them sitting in one of their bookcases. All the books where all over the floor. The baskets holding stuffed animals, that also reside on this bookcase, looked like they exploded stuffed animals into the room. They removed a shelf - yes, you read that right - so they could fit into it and sit. (it's a three shelf short bookcase bolted to the wall) They were just as proud as could be. I, on the other hand, after they left the room just closed the door and tried to forget what I saw... saving it for Steve's return. Sigh...

Of course the whole aggravating each other started up all over again. At one point I made a great big smile, took a deep inhale and then exhaled slowly, getting ready to say my standard line to them "let's feel joy, let's be happy, let's take some deep breaths and push it out" (which is as much for me as them at this point). Right BEFORE I could get those words out, Oliver yells to me: "I don't want to feel happy!" That pretty much summed up the entire day to that point for them. Oh right, and clearly I need a new "calm down" tactic.

These are the days when I look at parents of grown boys and ask "it gets easier right? boys are easy when they get older, right? RIGHT?!"

Happy Easter!

Here are some highlights of our Easter morning egg hunt in the house...

Collin discovering his first egg filled with a raisin box... he was on a quest after that.

Oliver carrying sidewalk chalk he just found (and asking if he could color with it NOW). Collin holding an egg and his stash of raisin boxes.

Ethan opening his eggs: stickers, cars (he ended up with tons of those eggs), raisins, balloons, stretch frogs and fruit leather.

Collin kissing his raisin boxes (I am not kidding). Somehow he ended up with all of them. I think, but we were too busy to know for sure, that he snatched his brother's. He loves him some raisins.

Mommy's favorite Easter bunny gift... the live butterfly net (you have to send away for caterpillars) so we can watch them grow into butterflies and then release them. (I'm a geek, huh?) Collin was eying the build a car box.

Oliver's favorite thing, crayons and coloring book. He colored most of the day.

Ethan's favorite, the new Joker Fun House.

Other than the balloons all popping within an hour (they were the big balloons on a rubber band that you bounce off your hand), fun and happiness was had by all.