Potty Talk

One morning while he was finishing up in the bathroom, Taye asked Luis where his pee goes when he flushes. Luis told him it goes to the ocean. Now when he flushes, he says his pee is going to the Dorsey's beach.

When he first started peeing on the toilet, Taye used to get all excited and ask, "Can you hear it?!?! Can you hear it?!?!" while he peed. He also used to touch the stream, then pinch his thumb and finger together and tell me he had "a piece of pee."

Jackie and I were talking the other day, and I said something about potty training. Taye got all excited, and said, "I wanna go on the potty train!!"

The other day Luis and I took the boys to the playground. At one point Taye came over grabbing his groin, and we both asked if he needed to go pee. "No, I just hurt myself" he said. Luis asked, "Oh, you hit your nuts?" and Taye answered, "NO! My testicles!" Geez Daddy, get it right!

Ultrasound

We had an ultrasound yesterday, which was fun. The boys came in too, but were completely unimpressed, until the pictures were printed. They each got one to carry around. Everything looks great, all the pieces are there, she is (finally) turned the right way, and is still a girl. :o)

Here is a profile shot, and hovering up on the top left corner is her hand:

And here is her face (its easier to see if you tilt your head to the right). The ultrasound tech said she can see hair too, but I don't see it. I believe her, I just can't see it myself - but at any rate, she's definitely our kid if she's hairy already!

Brat

The other day Taye was sitting on Luis' lap, asking him to be Bullseye (the horse from Toy Story 2). Luis told him I wanted to be Bullseye, and to ask me instead. Taye told him, "No, she can't, she's just an old lady!"

Blueberry Picking

Last week we lost both Angela and Ciaran to the Dorsey's house for a few days. To fill in the lonely hours, we decided to go blueberry picking at our favorite place. It was nice to be outside, and spend some time together. We wound up with about 5lbs. of blueberries which have so far gone into homemade yogurt and blueberry-honey butter. Plans for muffins are in the works.


As we were getting back into the car, I noticed that we had parked right in front of a raspberry or blackberry (it was some kind of berry, anyway) bush. Taye and I helped ourselves for an extra special treat.

The Irish Invasion

For the last two weeks we have been lucky hosts to Angela and Ciaran. If it weren't for the fact that they brought the rain with them, it would have been a perfect two weeks. Even with the rain, we still had a great time. The boys really took to them both right away. As soon as we pulled into the driveway the boys came out, and Taye told them, "We have beds for you!"

One of our first excursions ('cause I know how to have fun) was to the grocery store and WalMart. Not surprisingly, WalMart was the bigger hit, and we were there for quite a while. When we got to the car, someone was waiting in Taye's seat:

No, not Ciaran - that is a Buzz Lightyear bubble machine. Does Ciaran know how to win a kid over or what? Not that he even needed to try, here are just a few shots of the 'Ciaran lady' and the boys:

Playing Play-Doh for hours (literally):

And fun on the beach, one of the few sunny days.

And in case you were wondering why I called Ciaran a lady... On the day we dropped Ciaran at the Dorsey's house, we of course went to Farfar's before coming home. As we started driving away, Darius asked where the Dorsey's were and I told him they were going home. "And where's the lady?" he asked. I said, "What lady? The ice cream place lady?" and he said, "No! The Ciaran lady!" And so a new nickname was born.

While Ciaran was gone Angela and I had to keep ourselves busy. This would have been a lot easier if she actually "minded" what we ever did, or had some ideas of what would she would like to do on her vacation. But alas, she is far too easy to please, and would have been fine sitting home and reading all day. So we dragged her to the flea market and got rained on (it had been gorgeous when we got there). We took her to Friendly's and Marshalls (which she actually asked to go back to another day - progress.) We made a few visits to see Grampa in the hospital, we dropped her at the (insanely busy) Wrentham Outlets. We went out to eat more times than I can count - lets just say I requested that we skip the weigh in at this week's "baby appointment." :o) At home I sat around eating bon-bons while Angela played with the boys and cleaned the house. I did allow her to have cigarette and tea breaks though, I'm not a total slave driver. After the boys were in bed, we sat up chatting about all kids of nonsense until my bedtime. It was really nice to have her around.

We stole Ciaran back for the last few days of their visit. That night we stopped by Friendly's, where Ciaran ordered the biggest sundae I have ever seen. It had 5 scoops ove ice cream over 3 brownies, with all kinds of junk on top. Rumor had it he wasn't feeling so well that night!

Here you can see the elusive and camera-shy Angela, caught on film!

We were so glad to have had Angela and Ciaran visit us, and sad to see them go.

Fun at Ikea

Continuing my catching up...

About 2 weeks ago, we met Matt, Tia, and the girls at Ikea. We had planned to go to Boston for the day, Luis even took the day off work, but it was raining all day. So Matt came up with Plan B, and off we went. It may sound strange, but Ikea is surprisingly fun. We got lunch in the cafeteria, where Toy Story was playing, and Taye and Olivia could roll around on the floor.


After lunch, we went down to the lower floor to shop. That is where all the fun little knick-knacks are, you could spend hours looking around. The kids had a ball running wild, and catching rides in the carriages (or on shoulders).

One of the highlights of the trip was our major score in the "as-is" section. Matt's uncle works there, and I jokingly told Matt to ask him if they had any egg chairs hiding in back, since the boys love them. Well, Matt asked and his uncle delivered! I was so excited, we got it for about $25 instead of the $80 it sells for. The boys will be getting it for Christmas (shh...don't tell).

Luis also got himself an adequately uncomfortable desk chair for studying, and Tia got the lampshades she had been dreaming of. All in all, it was a very successful trip. Oh, and we got to spend some more time together too. That was the last time we saw them before they drove home, but it was ok because we just replaced them with some Irish people...

Beach Bash Luau

I have been very neglectful of my blog lately (though in my defense, we have had a few things going on.) I'm going to attept to get all caught up.

A couple of weeks ago, we made plans to see Tia and the girls. We had heard about this kids event not too far from here, and thought it sounded like fun. That morning, the four of us decided to go to the flea market right across the street before the party started. Since we are all obsessed with flea markets, it was a lot of fun. We still had a good amount of time to kill when we were done, so we went to one of our favorite playgrounds which was right up the street.

I cannot figure out why this place is not more busy (or ever busy!) We have been at all times of day, on weekdays and weekends, and only once do I remember it being at all busy (and that was only until the daycare group of 8 or so kids left). This playground is gorgeous and clean. Its surrounded by fields and trees, and is so far removed from the street that you'd never have to worry about your child darting off. It has a huge shaded sandbox, several picnic tables, and the playground structures themselves are just so funky and fun. So anyway, everyone else's loss is our gain because it is an added bonus in my mind that we don't have to worry about other people while we are there. Needless to say, the boys (all) had fun.



After all that fun, it was time to go meet Tia and the girls. In hindsight, we may have tried to have too much fun in one day. By the time we got to the luau the boys were not in the best moods. There were crafts, and bounce houses, a huge pile of sand and toys dumped in the parking lot, pony rides, hay rides, a water slide, and more. They wanted none of it. We finally decided to pop into the small store and at least cool off in the AC (it was roasting). While we were in there we picked up some snacks, and outside we found a nice shady spot to sit together.

After some snacking...

rock climbing...

piggyback rides...

and baby smiles...

we were finally ready to enjoy the festivities.

We ended up having a great time. The hay ride was a definite favorite, and as an added bonus we got our first family shot since, oh - I'd say our Christmas card last year. Now if only the brats were looking at the camera! :o)

Pirates

Ahoy there, and welcome aboard! I'd like you to meet our pirate crew. This here is Captain Taye:


His First Mate, Darius:

and deckhand, Lucho:


And this is their mighty ship:

Together they sail far and wide,


Only stopping to dig for gold:


Oh no - a wreck! Men overboard!

Fortunately they were able to swim to safety, here they are saving the poor landlubber, Lucho from a watery grave:

All safe and sound on a desserted island: