Puddle Walk

One of my ideas when I realized I would be staying home with the kids was to start going on walks together after dinner; like most ideas, it has taken me three months to do anything about it. Last night we went on a lovely walk after dropping the van off at John's work - we fed ducks, we played on the playground, we found giant leaves to measure. My new Walking After Dinner Plan was off to a great start!
Tonight it rained.
So we put on our rain boots, grabbed a giant umbrella, stuck Rilla in the moby wrap and headed out on a puddle jumping adventure. It was awesome.
Of course, the pile of soggy clothing on the floor in front of the door is still there, and the dishes still aren't done  - but hey, it was still awesome.

A Day in the Life --

It's Friday night, which is Gabe and Zach's absolute favorite night of the week; when I started working over five years ago John decided quickly that he would make Friday nights a special time since he was always home with the kids. The special activities have ranged from delicious (!) drive thru fare to movies in bed to camp outs in the living room to baking fish to drinking soda to snuggling in bed while watching daddy's ipod. Whatever the dinner, whatever the movie, the boys love it. Tonight it was bbq chicken and ice cream, enjoyed while watching "Rango."  Once everyone was tucked into bed, John turned on a movie to watch with Katy, which is a nice follow up to his time with the boys, and since it is a "scary" movie (yes, I AM afraid of PG-13 movies) I decided to settle into MY bed with the laptop to enjoy some quiet time.

Paradise

Day One: the Dinosaur Place, which was everything Zach loves, all in one place.

Day Two: a ride on steam train, which was a dream come true for Gabe.

Nana and Grandpa took Gabe and Zach to the Mystic Seaport in Connecticut this week. Zach said it was "Paradise." Sure sounds like it.

eeeewwww.

As the mother of three boys (not to mention two girls, which is an entirely different matter), there are many times throughout the day that I am amazed at how disgusting things can get in my home. The dribbles around the toilet, the potty humor, you get the picture. Today Zach blew me away.
In their room is a coffee table we call the dinosaur table because Zach has all of his dinosaur robots and toys on it, and sometime today my son decided to set up a display of bugs he has caught using scotch tape and securing the dead insects to the table. As I write this, at least six bugs are lying dead, in neat, tape covered rows, awaiting inspection by my child, the entomologist.
Yuck.
Tomorrow they will be removed, if I have my way.

Storyland

Last year we skipped our annual trip up to the White Mountains, so we were very ready to head back up north for some fun in the (kind of) sun at Storyland (which Gabe claims is better than Disney). This year we seem to have finally perfected the way we need to approach the trip as a whole, and booked a hotel early in the year to get a good rate. We went up on Tuesday, spending a couple of hours at Storyland before heading to the hotel, with a quick stop at Friendly's for dinner (ah, coupons...).  Wednesday we spent the day enjoying the pool and Nana and Grandpa joined us at the hotel for the afternoon and evening, then spent the day at Storyland with us on Thursday.
Katy, a.k.a. The Colonel, started her new job at KFC! So she was home alone. Yes, home alone. Oh my.

Of course the boys LOVE the pool and their daddy was very nice and took them swimming a lot. I got in the pool once.

Eating dinner outside at the hotel with Grandpa.

The hot air balloon ride allowed us to all ride together.

Curiously, Curious George was there.

This tractor ride is so slow we didn't even need a driver!

The antique cars are a classic favorite.

And the wooden shoes.

Not the baby anymore

Tonight after books instead of getting to watch 20 minutes of television with Gabe, Zach had to go straight to bed because he freaked out when I said Gabe could pick which veggietales they were going to watch until 7:30.  He promptly stood up, threw his pillow down, and had a fit. OK, off to bed, Mister.
Once there we had a bit of a discussion, and then I sank down on the bed next to him to snuggle for a minute. Sensing an opportunity, he began to tear up, lower lip quivering as he said,
"I feel like I am the worm, and you are the girl who doesn't like the worm but just likes the baby doll."
It was a brilliant tactical move on his part; I couldn't help myself.
"What?"
"I'm the worm. And you like the baby doll better than me. You like Rilla."
Enter wave after wave of reassurance.
But he wasn't ready to go to sleep yet so he threw this one at me:
"When you stand next to Rilla it's like you threw a spear into my gut."
Now, remember, this is because he was missing TWENTY MINUTES OF A TV SHOW HE DIDN"T WANT TO WATCH IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Don't get me wrong, I understand that each one of the kids had huge adjustments to make, he went from being the youngest to having a baby sister, and so on and so forth -- I just admire the genius of his timing.