It has been rainy and dreary here for the past few days. The kids are beginning to get stir crazy. We can go for short walks, but playground time is mostly out, since everything is wet. While Taylor is at school, the boys and I have been filling our days with reading books, having epic dance parties (Jackson has some good moves), and playing with just about every toy we own. They also love to “help” me do laundry and clean around the house. I’m trying to enjoy the last few months of alone time with them (in the mornings at least) because they go off to “big boy school” come September. I honestly can not fathom how that is possible. I blinked, and they are ready to go to school. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around that. Between them being in pre-k, and Taylor starting all day kindergarten, I’m going to be a blubbering mess come September.

This morning, I felt like they needed a break from routine. They usually color with markers or crayons. Since they colored not only each other with marker, but my furniture as well, they’ve had a break from that for a few days…

Anyway, we were working on our letters this morning and I decided to help them make a fun [simple] project. We wrote the letter “J” with glue, and they filled it in with pieces of confetti. We talked about the sound the letter J makes, and talked about some J words, aside from their names. They loved this activity and I’m pretty sure they each think they are Picasso right about now. They also made stick puppets out of popsicle sticks, googly-eyes, feathers and little craft balls. Times like this, I wish I had a live video feed of us. Not only was it simply a cute memory, but Joseph went a little crazy with the glue and started flailing his arms and yelling “Come on, balls! My balls are super sticky!” Of course, this was only funny to Mommy. Three year olds have a different sense of humor than full grown people have.

Another thing Mommy (and Daddy) found funny was last night, Jospeh tried to poop in a Pringles container. No, you didn’t misread that. After such a long time without any interesting poop stories to share, this child delivered pure comedic gold. The kids were finishing up a movie and snack (chips) as we were changing them into pajamas. Joseph ran in front of me and sat down (facing away from me). I assumed he was putting his pull-up on. He yelled “Hey Mom! Mom! Look at this. Watch me poop!” Sure enough, he had a container underneath him. Thankfully, he was only joking (or I stopped him in time – -I’ll never know). I couldn’t even be mad at that because it was just too funny. Perhaps I’d be singing a different tune if I actually had to clean up after him.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! As the kids are getting a little bit older, we are taking the opportunity to teach them about more serious topics, in an age appropriate way, of course. This weekend, we taught them about Memorial Day and how we are celebrating the lives of the soldiers who died in order to keep us safe. As we were leaving our local aquarium, we passed a statue that had information about a local service member who lost his life in Iraq.

He was protecting a children’s hospital when he was killed. Taylor asked a lot of questions about all of this: what happened to the kids / where did he go when he died / was his family sad / where are the rest of the soldiers, etc. We explained everything on a five year old level, until she was satisfied. We explained to her that there are always service members protecting us from “the bad guys” which is why we get to live the life we do. She seemed pleased with our words. It’s such a hard thing to do, as a parent. We didn’t want to give her too much information to the point where we’d scare her and keep her awake at night, but we did want to be honest with her and help her learn and understand.

We had a very fun weekend and kept quite busy. We celebrated a friend’s birthday, went to the aquarium to see the new flamingo exhibit, went to playgrounds, went out for ice cream, took walks on the beach, etc. It was nice to have a few days all together.

One of the things that we did with the kids, which they marked as one of their favorite activities, was making smores. The marshmallows we bought were obscenely large and the smores were a mild disaster. We decided to make a smores dip instead, which was an absolute fan favorite. We ended up using the microwave for it, which excited the kids to no end. They stood on top the the counter and watched as the marshmallows expanded. Their faces were priceless and filled with such child-like innocence. I love when simple things that require very little effort make them so excited. It really is fun to watch!

We may have had to give a few extra baths this weekend and we may have sticky furniture (compliments of sneaky little children) but we are happy, we are healthy, and we are making memories.

Saturday mornings are perfect for playing make believe. These kids have such vivid imaginations. When Taylor isn’t using her imagination to tell the boys that sharks will get them when it rains, she’s using it for more wholesome family fun. When I told her to get dressed this morning, she asked me to help her grab the $80 Ralph Lauren dress (which I paid TEN DOLLARS for) from her closet. She said she felt fancy today and needed to be a princess. She pretended the boys were knights. She had me braid and clip her hair in a very specific way. I had to redo it twice. She chose a lipstick color and put it on herself. She even pulled down her jewelry box and put on “fancy jewels.” It was a fun morning of play.

The kids and I have talked a lot about bullying lately. I even accompanied Taylor’s class on a field trip to see Pinocchio, where it was geared toward younger children and the subject of bullying. It’s all fresh in their minds and they know that they need to stick up for themselves but they always will look out for one another, too. Taylor is glad that she will have her brothers to help protect her throughout her life. She’s told me that she knows how to yell and hit someone if there is a stranger trying to take her, but that her brothers will protect her anyway. During their games this morning, she told her brothers to act like body guards to the princess. I told them to stand next to her for a minute so I could take a picture. The boys decided, on their own, that they needed to stand on the sofa so they could look “so bigger” to protect her. The picture I got was pure gold. It makes me so happy to look at their tough little faces and protective stance. Taylor looks so beautiful and is so proud of herself for putting together her outfit. It really is a picture I will look back at for years to come. I will probably end up pulling it out when they are fighting with each other to remind them about how they always need to have each other’s back.

Who knew the toughest body guards around wear Mickey Mouse shirts?

My life might be hectic and my kids might be busy and devious at times, but I’d honestly never trade it in for anything. I am so incredibly lucky to have the absolute privilege to be a mother, and I will never let this notion escape me.

I woke up to chants from downstairs from three little people telling me they made me a Mother’s Day party (complete with stuffed animals and cozy blankets to camp out on). They served me pretend coffee drinks and food and then ate the delicious {real} blueberry muffin I was trying to eat myself. Such is the life of a mother. I got beautiful cards, gift cards, and some cool little gifts. I also got more hugs and kisses that I thought were humanly possible. They were definitely the best part of the day.

Taylor made me a small bottle of salad dressing with her teachers. She made her very own label and everything! It was such an adorable gift idea and I’m so thankful for the teachers for taking the time to do that with the kids. They also helped the kids made cards, complete with info about their mothers on them. It was quite amusing to see me through her eyes, although she did admit that she was being silly with the black hair answer! The garlic definitely gave us a good laugh.

We also spent some time with my family. My brother and his girlfriend gave me some beautiful roses and a gift certificate for a nail salon I love. My dad and Todd tried to a take cute four generations picture for us, and I think it came out pretty well! It really was a nice, laid back day. As I type this, the boys (who should be in bed) are in their room banging on the door and fighting over orange juice. They don’t have orange juice or any other juice in their room, by the way. They make up things and then fight over imaginary objects. Some day, I will miss this. For now, I’m going to soak up the giggles and cute fighting. I really am extremely lucky.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. I know I did. Here’s to a good week!

We had some crazy rain today; the kind of rain that just didn’t stop. Of course, the boys and I were on our way to Costco when the rain picked up the most. Between Costco and picking Taylor up from school, we were all dripping wet, with our clothing stuck to our bodies by the time we got home.

Now, to rewind to our Costco trip. Costco, on any given day, is an experience in itself. It’s always insane. Always. People stop me a million times to see which brand of twins the boys are and to ask which Clairol number I use to dye my daughter’s hair. On a Friday morning, it’s an entirely different kind of hell. I don’t know why I thought it would be a good idea to go today. I really tried to talk myself out of it, but the promise of five gallons of cheap milk, pounds upon pounds of fresh strawberries, and a chicken I didn’t have to cook swayed me in the direction of the lovely wholesale club. The boys were so proud to be wearing their new-to-them firefighter rain jackets. They felt like big shots walking across the parking lot with me in the rain. They got lots of comments from people, as always, but today it was mostly people asking if they were firefighters. Jacks did his famous siren sound in their faces and we’d just keep on walking. By the time we got out, the parking lot was full on flooded. It wasn’t possible to avoid puddles, so I just pushed the boys (who were now inside the cart) quickly through the parking lot. Both boys started screaming as they looked down underneath the cart and I figured they were just being dramatic. I actually thought they were squeals of laughter and delight from the water. I was wrong. Their screams quickly turned into sobs with full on tears. They yelled something about sharks, but I was too cold and dripping wet to figure it out at the moment. I packed the groceries and the kids up and we were on our way to pick up big sister. Once we were all home, we had to peel the clothing off of ourselves and change into warm {dry} outfits. As I was getting changed myself, the kids were all sitting together on the sofa, cuddled underneath a large blanket. I thought about how cute they were in that moment and went on with getting changed when I heard more sobs, similar to what I heard in the Costco parking lot. I peeked around the corner and heard the cause of the boys’ distress. Taylor had been telling them that when it rains this much, sharks come out and live in the puddles on the street and parking lot. She was reiterating her shark theory to the boys when I caught her out. Naturally, she thought it was hilarious. Needless to say, the boys didn’t nap well at all today. I’m now re-training them to not fear the rain. Wish me luck.

I took the boys to a coffee shop yesterday as a reward for good behavior at a doctor appointment. If you read between the lines, this really meant that I desperately wanted a cup of hot coffee and five minutes of quiet time to drink it while the boys ate overpriced cake pops and people-watched. They begged for the weird, snot-green bird cake pops; couldn’t wait to have them in their little hands. They took one look at the scary birds (after I paid what seemed like half a million dollars for them) and said “We don’t want to eat this” in unison. I told them to just try them figuring they’d love the sweet cake they would find inside the pop. I took a sip from my steaming hot latte and heard sobs about how “We don’t like to eat birds. We want to go home.” They ate the beaks off the damn pops but wouldn’t go further than that. The well dressed business man sitting beside us tried to hide his laughter from behind the safety of his laptop, but I saw it. We packed up and went home (with two birds in my purse) and a full cup of coffee in my already full hands. *Note: I served chicken for dinner last night, despite their no bird eating protest earlier in the day.

As if our morning wasn’t entertaining enough, we were stopped by someone who was apparently a big fan of twins. Fantastic. Did you catch my sarcasm there? Seriously, I had a massive headache, lacked the appropriate amount of caffeine to function with a smile, and was in no mood to deal with people. I probably should have just stayed home yesterday, but you know how it is: places to go, things to do. Anyway, the fan girl (grown-ass woman) stopped us and screamed “Are they twins?! Twins are my favorite!” After saying “Here we fricken go” to myself, I politely said “Yes they are.” and tried to keep moving. Fan girl got down on all fours (she was human, but did this anyway) and asked their names and who was older. She made a big game out of who was older because it was apparently vital to her being. She then asked them if they were born vaginally or from ‘surgery’ and was kind of miffed when I responded instead of them and tried to nicely usher ourselves out of her path. Before we escaped her, she let out one more zinger, directed at the boys. Get ready. She said “Are you guys from two eggs?” Joseph blinked at her slowly and said “I like Nemo.” Jackson looked at her and yelled “What are you doing here?” I politely (I really don’t know why I’m polite; it’s a damn curse) said “Yes, they are fraternal.” She yelled “That’s the TWO egg kind, right? I knew I was right!” As we left the boys kept asking why “that lady” was asking about eggs and if she wanted bacon too.

I went around to all the bedrooms this morning to gather rouge clothing pieces that didn’t quite make it into the laundry baskets. I straightened up a few things as I went along. When I got to Taylor’s desk, this drawing piqued my curiosity. She’s always working on some new creation in her notebooks. She has pages filled with writing practice, shapes, rainbows, flowers, etc. This particular drawing was of us. There were so many other “Mom and Taylor” wordings and sketches within her notebook.  How adorable is she? She didn’t even know it (and she’s not even home now) but she put the biggest smile on my face and warmed up my heart when I really needed it. I love that she sits at her desk and thinks about me when she’s being creative. This girl has so much love in her heart and I am so lucky to be her mom.