Summer Tease

Friday I felt downright victorious because we played outside without coats (poor Harry, such a creature of habit--he can't figure out what's going on when he doesn't need a coat--as soon as he hears "play outside" he runs to the mudroom, grabs his little navy blue down jacket off the hook and commands me, "Put my coat on!"). Lucy is no better--she insisted on wearing her Flipeez hat on today's neighborhood walk (high temperature: 79 degrees).




A rock, a trowel and a fairy skirt. She has a PLAN.

Then this weekend happened.


It was 82 degrees. Wait. WHAT?


Tomorrow it's supposed to rain. Not snow. So we're good.

What Showers? April in Pictures

Turns out, you're never too old (or too big) for the water table. In other news, I think we're going to have a super fun summer in the back yard this year. No more, two kids, two babies. Look out world, four, fully (sort of/mostly) fledged kiddos!


Two guys at Five Guys.


And just a guy and a girl. Lucy's all, "Where's ma foooood?" Harry, meanwhile? Toy vehicle? Totally content.


In other news, I'm in love with my little bleeding heart plant. So perfect, it doesn't even look real. Swoon.


Speaking of love, these two were in lurve with this toddler sized playground they got to explore while Ellie was at swim class last week. Nobody yelled Harry! No ladder! Lucy Get Away From the Ladder! (The ladder on our backyard playground is way to high for them. Another year and they'll be golden).


But this little number?



A perfect fit.




As you can see.

Sunday morning jam sesh.

Rock on, weekend.

According to the Girl With the Yellow Head

After more than a few days above sixty degrees, after a bounty of daffodils and tulips and forsythia and an explosion of cherry blossoms and plum blossoms and I-don't-know-what-they're-called-blossoms, I hereby declare, spring has finally arrived (here).

She turned to the sunlight 
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
"Winter is dead."
-A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

Good weather can make people kinder, more generous.

Have you noticed this?

"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."
-Margaret Atwood, Bluebeard's Egg

Just ask Harry about the dirt. He is our in-house Dirt Expert.

Spring means the return of dining al fresco.

Goldfish just taste better outside, don't you agree?

The view from inside isn't bad.

The company is pretty good too.

"When spring came, even the false spring, there were no problems except where to be happiest. The only thing that could spoil a day was people, and if you could keep from making engagements, each day had no limits. People were always the limiters of happiness, except for the very few that were as good as spring itself."
-Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast

Tuesday Snippets

Rare, blissful moment of calm. Exhale.

Erin has been traveling a lot for work. Which means I have been even more outnumbered than usual. It has made for some intense, exhausting, but of course, hilarious moments.

And if I ever hope to blog again, for now we'll have to make do with some snippets of life, because right now, that's all I got:

Me: OK Ellie, you're going to help me this weekend right? It's just going to be Mommy and I need everyone to work together and be good listeners.
Ellie: Right! So...let me get this straight. There's gonna be one grownup and four kids, and two of them who just  mess around.
Me: Who messes around?
Ellie: The babies!

And speaking of hilarious: I'm slowly unloading (via Craigslist) a bounty of baby items that have been cluttering our basement (swings, exersaucers). On Friday a very pregnant woman came and bought my remaining swing. She took one look at barefooted Leo and Ellie zooming around the front yard and Harry and Lucy, pounding on the glass storm door (Let! Us! Out!) and asked me, stone cold serious, "Is this a daycare?"

I mean. You have to laugh.





We've been the benefactors of some recent delightful spring weather (high 70s today--as Ellie would say, what the what?). Of course that means I throw everyone outside as much as possible. On Saturday, Leo and Ellie concocted a new game called Worm Town, in which they found worms and made a tiny village out of found objects (plastic containers from the recycling bin, old chalk, rocks and sticks) for them in the dirt (see one of the residents above, along with a Harry photo bomb).

Ellie lost her second tooth on Sunday, rather dramatically, as we were walking into Costco. Later that night after a lot of discussion about how the tooth fairy gets the tooth, what she does with it, why you have to give your tooth to her (you don't, I assured her), Ellie announced that she did not, in fact want to give her tooth up. The reason? Ellie has "enough money."


These babies are doing their darnedest to drop their afternoon nap and I am doing my darnedest to prevent this from happening. I still put them in their cribs around 4 p.m. and usually there is a lot of chatter (Lucy: Harry! Haaaarrrry! Ellie! Ellllie!).  In other news, did you see what those babies did to my beloved tree mural? It used to look...different. Sigh.

Here are my teenage girls watching a little TV after school. Honestly, doesn't Lucy look thirteen? Sometimes I see these two girls and how their relationship is growing and I'm not going to lie...I'm absolutely teary. Happy teary.

The babies are seeming more giant and kid-like every day. Dare I say they are listening a little better and are slightly able to be reasoned with (emphasis on slightly--and don't get too excited, they still take great glee in ganging up on me by climbing onto the kitchen table at precisely the moment I'm trying to cook dinner).

Evidence of said giantness: One little girl thinks she is too big for the high chair and prefers dining at the table. Ai Yai Yai. Mommy prefers the security confinement of the high chair, thankyouverymuch.



When in doubt? Wear a big hat.

Spring Breakers

Leo introduces Harry to the Best Movie Ever  (in Leo's mind).


Last night, after the babies were in bed and the big kids were pajamaed and drawing idyllically at the kitchen table, it dawned on me:

The kids start spring break tomorrow. No school. I don't have to make school lunches for ten days.

Let me repeat that: I DONT HAVE TO MAKE SCHOOL LUNCHES FOR THE NEXT TEN DAYS.

Now that's what I call spring break! My friend Cate says she thinks there's an episode of "Girls Gone Wild" that has to do with moms not making lunches and I'd believe it, because while it doesn't take me that long to do it at night, it's the knowing that my evening is that freed up. I can never truly relax when I have that monkey of Must Pack Lunches on my back. But with no lunches? Once Ellie is in bed (Erin usually puts Leo to bed), I'm a free woman! I can...oh I don't know...throw in a load of laundry! Organize a closet! Or watch "Smash" bad television, play Words With Friends and drink wine. You know, just hypothetically speaking.

The reason for the packed lunch respite is this the first year in the history of, ever that the kids haven't been in daycare during a school break. For the last few years, Ellie's preschool stayed open year round and ran a camp for school age kids during school holidays, which Leo always attended. Before that, Leo and Ellie were both in daycare.

I wish I could be home with the kids every day (well maybe not every day all day, ahem). But we're cobbling together some fun(ish) plans. Next week I'm bringing Ellie and Leo to work with me on separate days and I'll take a day off here and there where I can. There were some long faces and tears when I left this morning, but we rallied. And I guess at least Ellie recovered, because when I called to check on everyone at lunch Ellie asked me, "Can we, um, not be talking on the phone?"

Alrighty then.


Spring Break means playing outside in your pajamas on the first day that really "felt" like spring. In other news, I think it might be time for Ellie to get a real bike.

It's amazing how much fun can be had before 9 a.m.


They have the entire driveway and yet, here they sit, tush to tush.

Sprung

What everyone is wearing this spring: Calves.



The first day of spring. After the winter that wasn't.



This picture reminded me a little of this one (scroll all the way to the bottom of that post to see photo I'm referring to). Hard to believe it's been almost a year. With the weather suddenly warmer, my thoughts turn to last year at this time. Huge, swollen, slightly miserable, itchy and only two kids to contend with. Life's a little different now.

And life's about to get different again. After almost a year home, I'm going back to work next week. I cannot believe nearly a year has gone by. I've been in a baby bubble, a twin time warp. Pick your cliche. I'm excited. I'm nervous. Suddenly all the things that have driven me batty about being home (the endless, relentless laundry, the screeching babies, the whining big kids) leave me shrugging. Eh. I can handle it. But of course, it's also bittersweet. I won't be taking care of babies all day every day (relief!) but also? I won't be taking care of babies all day every day. The grass is always greener, and all of that.

In case you haven't noticed, I don't handle change all that well. I'm getting better, and I have tools to handle things better than I used to but I'm prepared for some bumps. It's been my experience that kids and babies are fairly adaptable--usually way more so than grown-ups who tend to over think things. "I find the anticipation of change much more challenging than the change itself," --words from a wise friend--is my mantra these days.


Good thing I have such a great little crew at home to cheer me on.

Fun Even Without the Mint Juleps

It's finally spring. It was a gorgeous weekend. We are in that magical period on the east coast before the humidity sets in, when the days are long and warm and comfortable and clear. We spent nearly the whole time outside, which is just my kind of weekend. Erin worked on the yard. I kept her company and provided moral support but no heavy lifting. Honestly it's all I can do to walk across the room/yard/house without gasping for air. It feels like someone or someones are sitting on my chest. Oh wait! They are!

Ellie's BFF had a birthday party.



It was Kentucky Derby themed, replete with pony rides and for the grown ups (and non-pregnant people) mint juleps. Alas.


But seriously, is that not a great theme for a kid party?

I know I say this a lot, but if there's anything cuter than...in this case: little kids riding ponies, especially little girls in party dresses? I'm not sure what that is.

In other, less, cute news: I am so swollen. My hands are like tiny (well, not so tiny) Michelin Men. In the morning I cannot even make a fist with my right hand and it's all I can do to make the all important coffee. I admit I'm frustrated that my last month with two kids is being spent this uncomfortably. I'm frustrated I can't do more and that my mood is somewhat sour much of the time. But, it is what it is and I guess it's understandable, but that certainly doesn't make it any easier for anyone who has to be around me or, well, me.

Yesterday after the party we came home and I took the coldest Eucalyptus scented shower I could stand, to try and help the swelling. I then collapsed into a puddle in front of the Food Channel. Blessedly, these active weekends send the kids to sleep easily and relatively early, so there is some peace in the evenings, which is good, because that's when I'm the most swollen and the most itchy. Don't ask.

Oh and last but not least, Happy Mother's Day!