Well, excuse me!

The other day, Taye and I were talking. He pointed to his train and told me that it is blue. I said, "yup" and he barked back "yes!! Its just 'yes!'" Geesh, I didn't know I was talking to my High School English teacher!

Another day I was making dinner, and Darius was yelling something to me from the living room. I answered him every way I could think of, but he just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Finally I just started saying "OK" every time he would tell me. After a few rounds of that, I heard, "I talkin' you!"

I thought it was awfully quiet...

earlier tonight the boys were watching a movie, and I took the opportunity to do some stuff on the computer in the other room. Taye popped in and out a couple of times, but not Darius, which is odd. When I went in to check, I figured out why.

A way, way long time ago...

like sometime at the end of last month, Tia and I had a date. I'm not really sure how it came to be, but suddenly we found ourselves in the car, with no children (and no clue where to go.)



In true Tia and Amy fashion, we drove around listening to loud music and trying to figure out where to go, and what to do. At one point Tia asked what we used to do when we hung out together before we had kids. I reminded her that we pretty much drove around and tried to figure out where we should go, and what we should do! You could say we're not exactly the decisive types. So we drove, and we talked...



Finally we decided to go to Fire and Ice, a restaurant in Boston that we both like. I had no clue how to get there, so Tia played navigator. As we were sitting at a red light in Boston, Tia mentioned Fuddrucker's as another possibility. I had never been there, but always wanted to, and a burger sounded pretty good at that point. So we changed plans, and started driving to find Fuddrucker's instead. To make a very long story short, we ended up (2 hours and 15 minutes after leaving the house) at Fuddrucker's in Reading. Just don't ask, its also a pretty boring story (I mean, it was fun for us, but that doesn't necessarily mean it would make a good story).

The Fuddrucker's in Reading is actually inside Jordan's Furniture, so it was mobbed. We stood in line forever and a day, and finally got our food. It was delicious. We were having so much fun!


As if that wasn't enough excitement for one night, on the way home we got gas!! (In Dorchester!!) It was just like old times.


Meanwhile, back at the house, the super-daddies were being, well, super daddies. They made homemade pizza (crust and all) with the kids. We hear they all had a great time, and I have no doubt they did.


When we got back, we saw something like this (times 3, Eva was sleeping):


We decided on the spur of the moment to put all the kids to bed, and watch a movie together. Tia and I took care of the kids while Matt and Luis went to get the movie (and candy, and soda). We had to be fair, they let us have our date, so we let them have theirs. The movie was funny, the snacks were yummy, the company was awesome. We didn't leave until after midnight, and got home around 2am. It was so much fun. And now they're all gone! *sniff, sniff*

Static

Nothing like a Friday adventure

Today was a very grouchy day for me, for no real reason. It was one of those downward-spiral type days, where one thing built on another and made me more and more grouchy (and more and more of a mean Mama) as the day wore on. By about 3:30, I knew that we needed to get the heck out of the house and do something, even if it was just to drive around for an hour. While I was driving around with no real destination, I remembered a spot I have been wanting to check out. It is a little parking area that we've noticed on our way into Keene. Its on the side of the main (busy) road, and is right next to a nice big river. I decided to take the boys there, knowing that it would make me feel better, and we would all have fun.


It was even better than I had imagined. We could get right down to the side of the river, and walked on the shore upriver for a very long time. The boys loved it, they always love when we go "camping." We found baby pine cones, shiny (mica) rocks, little water bugs skating on the tops of the still puddles near the river, flowers, broken beer bottles... :o) We threw rocks into the water, and threw sticks and watched them float downriver, encouraging them to get away when they would get caught on a rock.


I took a lot of pictures, and when I asked Darius if he wanted to say "cheese" (he said no...)


Taye said he wanted to say cheese, so here is his "cheese" face:


Taye climbed all over this fallen tree, fearless as usual.


I had to stop him at this point, as the branch he was on extended out over the river, and I didn't want to have to go swimming today. :o)


We had a really nice time, and didn't leave until it was starting to get dark, which was pretty early there, since the sun went behind the high bank on the opposite side of the river. We spent over an hour playing, and left talking about bringing Daddy back next time.


Oh, and then the car wouldn't start, and my cell phone didn't have service, and no one else was there (except one creepy guy who had been sitting alone in his car since we got there, and who gave me the evil eye when I started over to ask if he had a phone - he had no service either). So I took my two babies and stood near the side of the busy street hoping a police cruiser would pass by so I could flag them down. Instead an older gentleman pulled in and asked if we needed help. His cell phone wasn't working either, but he offered to give us a ride to wherever we needed to go. I stalled and agonized for about 10 minutes about what to do. There was no possible way we could walk anywhere, the street is busy and windy with hardly any shoulder, and the closest place had to be at least a mile away, which I could not see carrying Darius for that long. I knew most likely no one would have cell phone service where we were, and who knows if a police officer would have been by before dark. I finally decided that if nothing else, I could take the guy in a fight if I had to ;o) It beat being stranded with creepy guy. As it turns out he was a nice guy, and took us to the closest store so I could call Luis to come get us. He even waited with us until Luis showed up, and bought the boys Matchbox cars and snacks. It turns out there still are nice people around, who knew? And wouldn't you know it, the car started right up for Luis when we went back. I said it was an adventure!

Darius' gloves

While enjoying dinner the other night, Darius began finger painting his ranch dressing onto his hands. "That my glove" he proclaimed:


Luckily for me (and the wipes manufacturers) the idea caught on. You'll remember Darius is a trendsetter, after all.


It is very serious work, making gloves.


Thankfully, they're edible too!

Darius' first story

Darius was holding a folded photocopy of Luis' green card today, he sat down, opened the paper and said, "That Daddy...theee ennnd!"

I think it should be published, but I may be biased. I know I will be reading it after the umpteenth request for another bedtime story :o)

The inside jokes of Taye and Darius

Taye: "(indecipherable babbling)...High School!"
Darius: "That school bus!!"

(hysterical giggling...and repeat.)

Also:

Taye: "You're a llama!"
Darius: "NO!"

(hysterical giggling...and repeat.)

The birth of sarcasm

The other day we were all squishing together on the couch, Taye was goofing around and fell off. Luis and I both asked if he was OK. He didn't even look at us, he just said (with a familiar tone) "No, I'm not OK, I'm crying."

Meet Houdini

Saturday was a really nice day, and we spent much of it outside. Luis rolled the grill into the back so he could watch the boys while he cooked burgers, and I was in the kitchen making the rest of our lunch. The back and front doors of the house were open, so the boys essentially had the run of everywhere except the front yard.

So, last year Luis put a locking handle on the outside porch door for two reasons. The first was to give me the freedom to be able to let the boys play on the porch while I was doing things in the house, and know they could not escape. The second was to keep the door from opening if they played with it, so they would not fall down the nice brick stairs. So with all that in mind, I, of course, had the door locked. The boys came in from the back yard and played on the porch. A few minutes later, I heard the door opening and looked out the window. There they were, on their way down the stairs! I yelled, "hey!' and went running after them, basically slamming into the still-locked door. Luis had heard me yell, and came running from the back. We got the boys and brought them back into the house. I could not figure out how they got off the porch, especially since the door was still locked behind them. I finally assumed that the door hadn't been latched properly, and went on with my business.

We ate lunch, and they resumed playing outside. I was cleaning up in the kitchen when I heard that door again. I ran out and saw Darius halfway down the stairs, Taye was standing by the door, contemplating an escape, and the door was still locked! I grabbed Darius, and brought him back in. Then I asked Taye to show me how they opened the door. Here it is -





Now what the heck am I supposed to do about that?!?!?

Darius made a funny

The other night as I was putting the boys to bed, Darius, um, passed gas (I can't use the 'f' word, Mom might be reading) and said, "That elephant!"

The Return of Happy Feet

Since it was so gorgeous yesterday, we decided to pack a lunch and head to Dunn Park. Lately when we go there, Taye says we're going camping, though I can't figure out why...


We all have fun, but I think Taye has the best time of all. He doesn't stop moving from the time we get out of the parking lot until it is time to leave. And when I say 'moving' I basically mean 'running.' We generally have to split up, since he has no patience to wait for the stragglers (usually me and Darius). But we don't need him, we have fun on our own! Throwing leaves in the pond:


This was Taye's idea of joining us for lunch -


Which he finally decided to take on the road:


After a while, we decided to check out the path around the pond. We'd never been around before, and weren't sure how far we'd go (it is a big pond) but we figured it would be worth a shot. We ended up making it all the way around, and it was so much fun.


Darius kept up his leisurely pace, collecting leaves as he went, and eventually requesting to be carried.

This is mostly what we saw of Taye:


Maybe halfway around the pond, we found a surpise - a lovely little river. It was such a nice spot, we decided to take a break there for a few minutes.

There was also a small dock nearby, this trip was full of fun surprises:


A little further on, we found an even bigger river with a waterfall! I cannot tell you how excited I am to go back and picnic near one of the rivers. I love rivers, I wish I had known sooner that they were there.


Near the end of the trail, things started to get a little hairy. Both boys wanted to be carried - by me. Which, needless to say, was basically impossible at that point. So we decided on the next best thing, a snack break - a chance to refuel, to relax...to impersonate the Karate Kid:

It did the trick. We finished the trail and headed home.

After Darius woke up from his nap, the boys and I played on the porch, and then moved on to the backyard. We were out until dinner time. Taye decided to play 'a la Declan' and so by the time we came in, there they were...those happy (dirty, disgusting) feet!

Resulting in the playing of a new favorite game - 'baby boats':


I can feel it coming...

Cautiously Optimistic

I'm not going to say that the "S" word is over or the year (because you know that would mean its not), but we have been enjoying the reprieve in the meantime. Last week we went to the Dorseys house, and spent our first real chunk of time outdoors this year. The boys had the best time. After playing in the yard, in the wind and drizzle, we all took a walk down to the beach. I don't know what was more fun - the walk over with puddles galore - or the beach itself. (OK, probably the beach.)


At the beach, there was so much to do - sliding down algae-covered rocks:


Surfing:

And smooching:


Of course, the kids all had to jump into the water (with sneakers on, in my boys' case).

Other than all that, we mostly sat around and looked cute:

On the way home, there were even more puddles!

Pop quiz for Penny - quick! What are these?

We had so much fun that Taye did not want to leave. My prediction that he would be asleep by the time we reached Route 3 was incorrect. Instead he spent the first 25 minutes of the ride crying periodically and saying, "I can't go home, Mama! I can't go home I said!" :o(

A couple of days later, we spent some time in our own backyard, and have since made a habit of it. Darius was hesitant at first, but soon discovered the joy of sending trucks down our awesome big slide. Then he figured he'd try that sliding thing himself (though not on that insane big one - does he look crazy to you?!?)


As you can see, that sliding thing takes a lot of concentration! When Taye wasn't busy in the "bushes:"


Or in his "treehouse:"


He joined Darius for some sliding.


So we're at least getting there in the weather department, and we've been taking full advantage. However, I ordered these awesome prints for the boys room (I got the whale, the goldfish, and the turtle) and the woman told me she would try to ship them today, but they were predicting a blizzard in Minneapolis this morning, so she wasn't sure she would be able to. As far as I'm concerned, if it is still snowing anywhere in the United States, then we are not in the clear yet! Maybe I'll relax sometime in June :o)