Spring is coming!!!

Last Tuesday, after the twins' first special needs preschool eval (more on that later), we took the boys to the park. Other than being really muddy in the grass surrounding the playground, it was really nice out and the perfect day.

Here are some shots of our first official day at the playground in 2010.

Holy crap, that might be a real, non animated, non goofy smile!

Kissing himself in the wavy (very, very dirty) mirror.

Okay, here's the deal. Ethan cannot stand to be wet. As soon as we got there, his pant leg got wet from walking across the grass to the playground and he insisted on rolling it up. At first it was a little and then it kept getting "more wet" and therefore the farther it went up. By the time we left, both pant legs were rolled up. It was either that or let him take his pants off... Is it possible to develop sensory issues at five?

No comment on Ethan's chosen pose or facial expression.

Tiny bit of snow left last week.

The squad

Ethan has been obsessed ("excessed" as he calls it) with drawing lately. He wants to draw constantly and therefore so do the twins. The latest creations by Ethan have been superheroes. Or more specifically Superhero Squad guys. For those of you who don't live with four young superhero obsessed boys (yes, I said FOUR), Superhero Squad are small Marvel figures (Hulk, Spiderman, Iron Man, etc.) He's made most of them, then cut them out so that he can play with them. You know, like little paper dolls. His reasoning is of course, since he doesn't have the actual figures, he will just make some. Can't argue with that, huh?

Last night, while Oliver was getting a bath and Ethan and I were hanging out, Ethan quizzed me on superhero facts. I kid you not. If not that, then it's a big photo of all of them and I have to point to each, naming all that I know and their facts. If I miss, I get an education (I am a little iffy on the villains, not a fan, try to deter the kids from them too). I never in all my life thought I would know so much about superheroes. And as hard as I tried to hold onto Collin (Oliver went to the dark side long ago), he now loves "hideran" (Spiderman). Sigh...

Ethan's Ethan

Ethan's preschool sent home a big roll of yellow paper last week. When you unrolled it, an outline of Ethan was found. His homework: cut your shadow out and decorate it however you want to reflect you. I'll give you one guess as to how he chose to decorate it, if you fail this is clearly your first time at this blog. Yes, a superhero. But, which one. Now that is harder, he changes favorites everyday. This particular day it was Robin.

He and daddy got to work creating a life size Ethan dressed up as Robin. Daddy drew the shapes on construction paper and Ethan cut them out and helped tape them on. He also colored in shoes and face, glued on his hair and cut the entire thing out. Impressive:

I still cannot get him to smile normally... everything is animated. I think he was saying "I'm Robin, boy wonder" during this photo. And yes, those are batarangs in Robin's hands. He wouldn't be complete without them. Of course.

When Oliver saw it, he said: "That is cool! That's a cool Robin."

Our first toddler play group meeting

Last Saturday, I took Collin and Oliver to their very first toddler play group meeting. It was actually a twin toddler play group meeting through the local area twin club which I belong. I feel a little bad that this was the first one we have gone to, but you know the saying "better late than..."

It went pretty well, with only a few little blips.

Oliver, as it turns out, gets a lot of his fearlessness from Ethan. Meaning, Ethan needs to be there. As Oliver was trying to go up into the climbing structures, he discovered that it was scarier than he thought. He really wanted to go up, but then he would stand shaking and crying on the "steps." I had to snake myself in these alternating "steps" to get him, only he didn't want got. So, I pushed him up and then there he sat at the top... the top where I couldn't see him. One very nice mom (from the birthday party that was also going on there) asked her three year old to go get him and she agreed... went up... came down slide... "weee", she said to her daughter, "Where's Oliver?" to which her three year old said "who?" Sigh... That didn't stop her from asking her about three more times to do the same thing, which had the same results. Hmmmm. He would eventually get to the slide opening and then cry because he was afraid to go down it, no matter what encouragement Collin and I gave him from the other end... both of our head's in the bottom of the tubular slide, butts sticking out (thought you would enjoy that visual), yelling up to him. Once he came down, after the 20 minutes of drama total, he went right back to trying to climb up again. Huh?! Collin on the other hand tried once to get up, was not comfortable with it and that was the end of that.

Collin ran around going down a small slide. They both liked the basketball nets, but not to put the ball in. Instead they just liked to play in the area that said "please do not climb inside." Of course.

Though it was at an ice cream place, we didn't get any ice cream. That only worked because they didn't know it was an ice cream place, I did though, so that kind of sucked. Oliver did, however, find an m&m on the floor and promptly ate it. When I went to fish it out (wasn't sure what it was at first), it was still crunchy so I am assuming it was fresh and not previously spit out by another child. When I told one of the other twin moms she suggested hopefully that it was from the birthday party going on at the same time. As gross as it was, I know it was not the worst thing he has ever eaten... unfortunately.

All in all it was a lot of fun. I even got a few minutes to talk to a couple of the moms... woo hoo... play time for mommy too!

Jeni, where have you been all my life?

Today and Aunt Krissy (who was visiting this weekend) and I needed to get the boys out of the house for a little bit while daddy worked on a project with Uncle Mike. So, where would we take them? To get ice cream of course!

We ventured a little out of our area today because I have been wanting to try this Jeni's ice cream that I have heard so much about over the years. I know, ice cream two weekends in a row, what is wrong with me? Jeni's is a local ice cream shop who makes ice cream with all natural and organic ingredients, much of which they get from local farmers... now that's my kind of ice cream!

It was quite busy when we got there, so between that and the corralling the kids it was a little hard to pick flavors. Any of you local people who know about Jeni's know what I mean by that. They just aren't your typical flavors. Not even close. Collin and Oliver got Wildberry Lavendar, Ethan got Roxbury Road and Krissy and I got samplers of three kinds. Mine was salty carmel, gooey butter cake and black coffee, Krissy's was Mackenzie Creamery Goat Cheese with Cognac Figs, Riesling Poached Pear sorbet and lemon yogurt (I think). Seriously, don't you love those names?? Let me tell you, they were F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.

Ethan, with beaming content smile, devoured his within minutes. Oliver ate his intensely without hardly breathing, he is normally the slower one. He even whine/cried when he couldn't get it on his spoon at times (again, not wanting to have a moment without it in his mouth). Collin slowly savored his, while every once in a while glancing up at me with the biggest cutest smile on his face. You know the happy content smile that says "I love you so much mom." It was the ice cream talking, but I'll take it.

The best part? This is ice cream I can feel good about giving them!

Holy cow! It was so good that I am still (obviously) thinking about it! To all you local folks, if you haven't been there, you NEED to GO! It is well worth any drive! Or am I the only person who had never been there?

Meanwhile, now that I have crawled out from under my rock, I am working on possible locations and business plans to present to them in hopes of convincing them they need to have a location closer to us. Please Jeni... please.

Did someone say ice cream?

We were running errands with the boys on Sunday when they hit the proverbial wall. All the sudden they were whiny and squirmy. That's when we decided to go someplace for a very rare treat - ice cream.

I wish I had recorded the before and after of the boys when I said: "Do you want to go get some ice cream?" Darkness left their crabby faces and was replaced by beaming smiles. One of them even gasped.

Ethan: "YES! Ice cream! Woo hoo!"

Oliver: "I want ice cream" (fifty times).

Collin: "I heam!"

When we got there, they plastered their faces against the glass trying to decide what to get. Okay, the twins haven't really been for ice cream but once a year ago, so they didn't really know what to do but drool over it. Ethan, however, did and started planning his concoction.

Steve made fun of me for taking photos, but seriously isn't that the cutest thing you have ever seen?! I wish I could have went around the counter and taken it from the other side of their drooling faces.

As they sat eating it, silence happened. Happy euphoric delicious silence. Until they were done, then all heck broke loose again. Actually it was worse than before, since they were doped up on sugar that they normally don't get. Hmmmm... just whose bright idea was it get ice cream (says the guilty party)?

Yes, Ethan could not be bothered with taking off his hat and coat. After all, he had ice cream to devour.

What happens behind closed doors...

(they always say make the title sexy and people will want to read it... did that work?)

Friday the twins had eye exams at one of our children's hospital annex locations. Oliver has been blinking hard a lot and my pediatrician wanted him to be seen by a specialist. Collin came along because as he said: "if one is going, the other one might as well go for a check up too." Clearly my doctor does not have twins. Let me explain:

2 children + 2 years old + siblings + 45 minutes + hot exam room = massive meltdowns

Really though, you knew the answer to that equation didn't you?

They did really well, considering we were shuffled around a bit. Five minutes after we arrived we went into a room with a nurse who did, what turned out to be, preliminary tests. She then dilated their eyes (they loved that...not) and sent us to the waiting room for "about 30 minutes." I sat there filling out the mass of forms in duplicate, as the boys played happily. After only maybe 15 minutes, they came to get us. Woo hoo, it's my lucky day!

The gentleman, who I thought was our doctor, took us to an exam room where he did a few more tests on the twins and then told me the doctor would be in shortly. Am I the only person that hates the words "the doctor will be in shortly," knowing full well that translates to "sometime before the end of the day." We were in the exam room, albeit a larger than normal exam room, for 45 minutes (that had to be like 8 hours in toddler time). It started out okay. After I had the twins, I loosened up quite a bit about many things (it was called survival actually). Letting them play with toys and books at the doctor's office and roll around on the floor, even knowing that they have a brown tinge for a reason, is one said loosened standard. At first it went well, they played with the items individually and also shared. It was so sweet. I was down on the floor with them playing and reading too. One big happy happy.

Oliver kept calling the chair a robot and when you looked at how it was broken up, it really did look like one.

Playing nicely with the bead chaser in the exam room.

I almost got a false sense of security for the eight minutes that lasted. Then, I was ripped from the fantasy land in my mind and brought back to reality: the fighting over toys and playing with things they shouldn't ensued. It was not pretty people. They went from sharing to ripping it from each other. It was from happy talk to screaming at each other, hitting, shoving and crying. All, in a very hot exam room.

I had to wonder what the doctors, nurses, office staff, the patients in the other rooms and most likely even waiting room... and probably the office down the hall... maybe even the ones upstairs and downstairs, thought of the sounds coming from our room. They were yelling at each other and yelling at me. I was consoling one or the other to no avail.

Collin was getting on the room phone and the computer (really, a phone on the reachable counter and a computer - come on!). They were getting at the doctors tools and wanting to take a belly ride on the stool on wheels. I went from on the floor happily playing with them to "no sweetie, please don't do that" and redirecting them, to putting toys in time out, to first and middle name usage, and then largely giving up... deciding to make videos on my phone to send to Steve with a "wish you were here" message (okay, maybe those weren't the exact words I used). I was dangerously close to opening the door of the exam room and telling the staff I was going to unleash these two if the doctor didn't come in soon.

The third fight over the bead chaser... (yes, it went into time out after this)... future Jerry Springer guests huh?

Collin talking on the phone, for the umpteenth time! If you watch, in the end he is so mad at me for raining on his parade that he is not only screeching "no!" but also signing no to me as well (fingers to thumb).

Really, why on earth would they lock two toddlers in a room together for 45 minutes (after already being there for 30 minutes prior)? I would have rather waited in the lobby with the mounds of dirty toys and the brain dumbing cartoon network. By the time the doctor came to our room, did I mention it was 45 minutes (?!), they were in full meltdown and I was a puddle of sweat.

Fortunately, the doctor was able to check their eyes without being assaulted by one of the boys. Okay, Collin was iffy on that last point. It wasn't Collin's fault though, the doctor turned on a video of some sort to get them to look straight ahead at a screen, then he turned it off... on, off, on, off, on, off, on, off... Collin was giving him the "stop messing with me dude, can't you see I'm on the edge here? Leave the video on and no one with get hurt" look. If he wasn't sitting on my lap, I would have cleared out. Luckily he made it through. And, other than a case of dry eyes for Oliver, all was good.

I was even thinking: "whew, I see the light at the end of the tunnel." That was, before the doctor gave each boy a token for the prize machine. What? Oh yes, prize machine. Which then they were all about of course. The prize machine that had teeny tiny very non-age appropriate trinkets. They each picked a little stretchy lizard thing, which they insisted on getting out and carrying around. Guess how many times they lost one of them on the way out... down the hall, in the elevator, out the building lobby and to the parking lot? Yea, let's not go there. We ended up permanently loosing Collin's somewhere in the parking lot... I even ran back through our path to the car and then did two drive around missions looking for it... as he screamed. Yes, I had a tinge of mommy guilt for not being able to find it. On that note, to doctors everywhere, two year old children do not expect a prize for a visit. They do not know of such things yet. So, please do not give them such things. Or, if you really feel compelled, have something larger and age appropriate for them. Please. Thank you.

That is what happens behind closed doors in exam rooms with toddlers who have expired. Seriously, they need to rethink the no food and drink rule for waits that long.

Oh, and after all that, I left my insurance card in the lobby. Sigh...

Running, falling and having fun

We went to a maple syrup making demo thing at a local farm. Well, it was about 35 minutes from here (according to mapquest, however we got lost and it took us more like 50 minutes... but who's counting). Now admittedly Steve had his doubts when I mentioned this family adventure (anything like this with three kids, two of which are two year old twins, is categorized as an 'adventure'), namely regarding the twins and how that would work. Secretly I had them too, but knew that they would have fun running (if nothing else), so we just needed to buck up, put on our running shoes and take all three.

I love this farmer and his organic produce, grass fed beef and syrup. I met him at our local farmer's market this year (he's been there for a while, I just started to frequent the market this year). He has many of these type events at the farm, but this was the first one we have had a chance to attend. In my head it was a bit different than what it actually turned out to be. Regardless, the kids all had a blast. Not necessarily learning about how you make maple syrup (crazy by the way how much sap it takes to get one measly pint of syrup), but more the running in the mounds of snow with Jules the golden retriever who, much to their glee, loved to catch snowballs. Oh, and of course the pancakes and syrup were a big hit too.

Here are some (okay, a boatload... but they are stinking cute, how can I not) photos of the snow fun and giggles they had:

They LOVED Jules, here they are running after her.

Running as soon as we got there.

Collin was all about Jules. One time, when he was petting her, another person came up and Jules went to her to be pet (she was a very friendly people loving dog) and Collin's bottom lip puffed out. He was so hurt that she left him.

Check out the size of that snow ball... my little tiny he-man!

I was off buying beef when they were eating, so I snapped this after they were done. Ethan was sad because he wanted more whole wheat (milled on the farm) pancakes.

Oliver climbed and fell down every mound - loving it.

Yes, those are Ethan's feet.

And this is the mound of Ethan after that. Pure joy.

How could three boys, getting to be boys, not love today?

The letter O

What do you bring to preschool when it is your letter day, that letter is O and you have to share something from home that starts with that letter?

Your brother Oliver, of course!
As soon as Ethan discovered a few weeks ago that he was assigned share day for the letter O at preschool, he knew exactly what he wanted to bring for share day and was asking us to do so. Okay, he was adamant about it and Oliver was undeniably excited to be his brother's share as well. How can you not accommodate that?

Today was that O day. Erin brought Oliver into the classroom right before lunch. She said Ethan said all matter of fact: "This is my letter O share, my brother Oliver." From the photos I can see they were both beaming, just as I knew they would be.

Snuggling and building: grandpa style

Grandpa Ron came down last weekend for a quick visit to see the kids. Unfortunately, much like our shopping trip before he arrived, the kids were in rare form... ALL weekend. When we offered to ship the kids down to Florida for some quality grandparent time, he declined... quickly. Wimp.

It was too cute to see Oliver decide to snuggle with grandpa while watching TV.

And comical to hear Ethan and grandpa build the batcave together. Ethan has a wonderful imagination, but his building style can be very minimalist. Grandpa is an idea implanter with heavy directive undertones. Together they built a great batcave which Ethan insisted we did NOT take down or touch for days.

Thank you for visiting grandpa! Sorry it was a little less than calm and relaxed, but it's your fault for wishing paybacks when we were kids. Maybe when you were uttering the words "just wait until you have kids..." you should have specified said paybacks not occur during your visits. Just saying...

We really enjoyed having you and the boys look forward to snuggling, building and coloring again with you!

What was I thinking?

I did a brave thing on Saturday, I took all three kids to the grocery store by myself. Okay, it could also be classified as stupid too. However, Grandpa Ron was coming to visit and we did not have the staple item that he would want upon arrival, a fifth of Jack. Just kidding, I've never even seen him drink hard alcohol, I just wanted to see if you were really reading this. Actually what we didn't have was diet soda, a must for Grandpa Ron. Steve was not home and I thought: "what the heck, it's been a while, surely they'll be fine. I only need a few items after all."

Here's the thing, the twins are not fans of the double seat grocery carts. Specifically they both try to fall out of them. Not even try to get out, by unlatching themselves, more they try to lean over and fall out while whining and crying. To add to this, Oliver is not a fan of stopping - at any time. Which is unfortunate since I occasionally cannot run by the shelf and grab the needed item, but instead have to stop the cart and look. Naturally, when your child is screaming at the top of his lungs, it takes forever to locate that one blasted item that normally you can locate right away without issue. Not to mention that while I am frantically scanning the shelves, Collin is loading up the cart unbeknownst to me. Actually, this particular day, I was tipped off by his loading of the cart since Ethan insisted on riding in the cart area and therefore was being pelted by incoming product that Collin was lobbing into the cart quickly (so I wouldn't see it) and with great force.

I even tried to run back and forth by the areas that contained the desired products, so as to not stop and upset Oliver and also not give Collin a chance to load the cart, all while I was scanning the shelf at every pass for the needed item. Unfortunately, the cart is twice as long as a normal cart and maneuverability is not key a feature, so it didn't go so well. I'm sure those of who where not in my path thought it was hilarious to watch though.

Are you starting to form a visual of all this? This is what people saw: one screaming tear stained red faced completely melting down child, one child happily lobbing food into the cart that his older brother was lounging in and that said older brother is yelling "OUCH! STOP THAT!", all while the frantic crazy-eyed, profusely sweating, singing, dancing, trying to say soothing things, while catching flying product, mom is attempting to find those few fricking items she needs. It was a lovely trip.

Yes, I tried talking to Oliver softly and kissing him, it didn't work. I tried letting him look at the fish tanks (pet variety), which happen to border the main aisle of the store we went to, but that only appeased him until we left, at which point the screaming resumed AND went up a few more decibels. I tried having Ethan make him laugh or distract him, which he graciously tried do do, but Oliver had nothing of it. I tried taking off his hat and coat to make him more comfortable, based on his screaming "NOOOOO!!!!!" I determined that was not a good idea. I even gave him something to hold: a can of black beans. Let's just say there is now a rather large dent in the floor where those hit (hey, I was stressed... I wasn't thinking). I tried singing and dancing for him, just as he normally likes it, very silly and animated (trust me, you lose many things when you become a mother, pride in some senses in one), he was not amused as he normally is. It was all futile.

To all of you who gave me "the look" - you know who you are - I invite you to try it. It's likely you don't have children or if you do it's just one, which is a far cry from three... specifically two year old twins... specifically all boys. Got it?! To those of you who gave me the knowing sympathetic look, trying to pull Oliver from his abyss, thank you. I appreciate your understanding.

To my precious little ones, if you ever ask why you so rarely saw the inside of a grocery store, refer back to this story. Enough said.

Yes Michele, add this to the twin sweat list.

A photo of Oliver and Collin in the check out lane - stopped, of course. Much like the rest of the trip, Oliver is screaming and Collin is grabbing everything off the shelves and throwing it into the cart. Sigh... where is that fifth of Jack???


On a last note, our very sweet and very young cashier tried to help:

Our cashier: "You're too cute to be that upset little guy." (in a very caring sweet voice)

Oliver: "NO!!!!!" (shooting daggers at her that even made me jump out of the way)

Cashier in next aisle: "Um, maybe he just wants to be left alone."

Our cashier: "Yes, that thought occurred to me."

Sometimes, you just have to...

let them eat waffles for dinner. Yes, that's right, I said eat waffles for dinner.

Today was a crabby, whiny, fighting over everything day. Not even naps helped. It was rough for everyone. There was a lot of crying and I am not just talking about Steve and I.

Partly from sheer desperation, partly from holiday spirit and partly from personal nostalgia, I made a strategic move for dinner: homemade waffles. More specifically non-Wendyfied homemade waffles: no whole wheat flour, no ground flax seed, no wheat bran, no oatmeal, no nothing hidden in them... just normal waffles. They all gathered around to see what it was and the excitement grew at the first site of waffles coming from the waffle maker. Which brought me back in time to when my Aunt Becky used to make us waffles and how excited we were to see them. Only fitting that my waffle maker and the recipe were both gifts from her - thank you Aunt Becky. And no Grandma Mary, I did not serve the infamous peas with my waffles tonight, but I reserve the right to pick up on your tradition another time.

A chorus of "eat, eat!" and "I want waffles" and "are they ready yet" started once the first couple sets were off the maker and I was still preparing the rest, but that all stopped when the plates were placed before them. Dinner tonight was completely quiet. All we heard were some variations of "more please." Steve called it surreal and then asked if we could have waffles every night.

Happy Valentine's Day boys!

What is this?!

As you know, it was the big Valentine's Day party at Ethan's school. He was very excited and reported that it was a very good day. Since he had snack today (as you might recall), he was also the star at school today (a privilege of your snack day), so that made it a double good time. However, none of that held a candle to the anticipation of opening his Valentine's Card box and seeing what "treats" he had received. That was true jumping up and down, bouncing off walls, raw heart pounding excitement. Ahh, to be a kid again. So, after the twins' music therapy tonight, he and I opened the box.

It went something like this:

E: WOW! Look at all these treats! There's a lollipop... mom, do we like these? (hesitating for an answer only for a split second before he was distracted by another sweet) Oh, look m&ms!! And kisses! And chocolate hearts! Ooo, look at this - what is it mom?
M: Nerds.
E: What are Nerds?
M: Eww, you wouldn't like those (doing candy control of course).
E: Oh. Well, what is this mom?
M: Bottlecaps.
E: Do we like bottlecaps?
M: Do you want to eat a bottlecap? (saved by the name - that was easy!)
E: Oh... no. (giggle, giggle) Oooo look more chocolate and here's a heart gummy. And more lollipops, look mom four more!
M: Great (might have had a slightly sarcastic tone here).
E: Hmmm... what should I pick? I think I'll pick this chocolate heart for my after dinner treat. But can I have this treat I gave myself too? PLEASE?? (he insisted on addressing a valentine to himself also, so he could get one of his own treats)

After we went through the entire box and the gob loads of candy, I couldn't help but laugh to myself and think about this same moment at his classmate's houses:

Child: WOW! Look at all these treats! There's lots of lollipops, chocolates, gummy hearts. And LOOK! Bottlecaps! And Nerds! I love those! These are the best Valentine's... huh? Wait a minute, what is this thing? (the sound of happiness coming to a screeching halt reflected in the tone of their voice)
Parent: Organic Strawberry fruit leather.
Child: Fruit leather? Why would someone give me fruit leather for Valentine's Day?! It was probably Ethan's mom; you should see what she makes us for snacks! Yuck!

Yes, I am that mom. Seriously though, they are only four and five year olds. I never dreamed I would be the ONLY person to do a semi healthy Valentine's Day treat!

Valentine's Day snack: lessons learned

Whole wheat cranberry orange heart shaped scones... it sounded good. (keep in mind, snack is at 9:30am people... it can't be cupcakes with candy hearts and double icing... well it can be... but really...)

Lessons learned (didn't I just post something similar back at the Thanksgiving lunch/birthday snack day?!):

1. Never EVER make something, which you have never made before, for the first time the night before your son's snack day. Especially if said son is VERY excited to help and therefore you can't ditch it, or make it again without him knowing (since it was already way past bedtime).
   
   
2. Never ever get upset over your failed attempt in front of excited son. Just add stuff... in my case lots of flour since the dough was gooey instead of firm... and then add more stuff to compensate for whatever you added before... in my case lots of sugar glaze (which I never intended to use in the first place AND also did not turn out right! WTH?).
   
   
3. Give up on being THAT mom that bakes all the yummy, yet healthy snacks... you (and by that I mean me) are just not that good of a cook, go to Panera or Whole Foods and buy something, then make it look like you made it. What?! I can't be THAT mom that buys all the snacks!
   
   
4. When in doubt of recipe's success, make only what you need from it (number wise) and let son play with the rest of dough. (okay, he thought he was really still making them... and he had a blast)
   
   
5. Just rid your mind of that nagging reoccurring image and sound bite of all the kids in your son's preschool class concurrently yelling "YUCK! What IS this?" *gag, spit, spit, gag* "Ethan your mom is not allowed to have snack EVER again!" (oh wait, aside from my little man feeling dissed, I kind of like the no snack scenario) Just pack a back up, pray it all goes well and move on (as if!).
   
   
6. Why in the world do we ALWAYS have snack assigned to us on EVERY holiday (if we get Easter I am staging a formal protest)? Which is a lot of pressure, for the special kind of crazy like me, not to mention that there is also always a holiday lunch that day in which we have to make something as well. (and in this case, also, make a valentine box, address and sign valentine cards, etc). Okay this was more a vent then a lesson learned. Hey, it's my blog, and I'll vent if I want to! Uh... okay?
   
   
7. Always stop, no matter how stressed, disappointed or upset you are, take in the moment and be in awe of your children. Ethan disappeared, while I was frantically trying to make the dough into something usable, and came back up in his play chef hat - proclaiming and referencing himself as the chef the entire time. Made me stop mid-stress moment... and laugh... and feel immense joy in all that is Ethan.

Ethan swinging a cloth around, trying to get them to cool off fast so he could eat one. He loved them by the way, but considering he also loves my spinach/kale/fruit smoothies... er... I mean straight-up fruit smoothies that I magically color green, that's not saying much.