Uh-oh...

It seems my secret is out!

Stone Zoo

Friday we met up with our friends Liza, Mike, Wyatt, and Addie at the zoo. Both the Franklin Park and the Stone Zoo are free they day after Thanksgiving, so we thought we would take advantage of it. When we got there it was pouring rain and chilly, and we began to wonder if it was such a good idea. The woman at the gate mentioned the indoor discovery center, and we decided to head that way. On the way over, we found the new black bear exhibit.




Taye was so excited when we left to find a 'clue' on the ground.

Inside the discovery center, we met this hyacinth macaw, whose name I cannot remember. The boys were all fascinated with him, and we stood talking to his trainer and watching him for a while before they decided to check out the rest of the room.

They had puzzles, books, and all kinds of exhibits, including some live insects and snakes.


Taye liked this bug box, with real preserved bugs inside.

After a while it seemed noticeably brighter outside, and we decided to check out the rest of the zoo. Taye took a quick trip around the world, and then we were off to the rest of the animals.

We walked past llamas, coyotes, and coatis, and found the cougar exhibit. As much fun as it was watching them through the window...

watching them through the cave was even better! The three boys had so much fun in the tunnel. Taye kept telling us that it was where they lived, and he didn't want to leave it.

When we finally managed to tear them away, we moved on to find the baby jaguar,

some meerkats, and a few other animals as well.

We neared the end of the zoo, and found the playground. Taye and Wyatt took off to play, but Darius preferred to stay and keep Addie company. This boy loves babies, and couldn't seem to tear himself away from her all day. He was, as usual, very sweet to her, and it would seem that baby Kaia has some competition.

The giant spider web (in fact, the biggest one Taye has ever seen) was the main attraction at the playground.

I enjoyed hanging out with Liza. It is always fun for me to hang out with other parents who are not completely uptight, and who enjoy making snarky remarks about all the other parents we encounter. It was a good day at the zoo for that. :0)

After the zoo, we decided to head to Friendly's for some lunch. It was 3pm. We had managed to keep the toddlers from attacking and eating our knees by strategically timing snacks throughout our trip to the zoo. But the snacks were gone, and pluse none of us had eaten yet!

The boys wasted no time looking over the menu while we waited for a table (because apparently on Black Friday everyone goes out for lunch at 3pm).

Taye and Wyatt had fun playing together across the wall, while Addie and Darius flirted on their side.

As usual, we were so glad to see them, and can't wait for next year!

It is 1:30am...

and this is what I'm looking at:



Through storm and sun, you traversed the noveling seas. Pitted against a merciless deadline and fighting hordes of distractions, you persevered. You launched yourself bravely into Week One, sailed through the churning waters of Week Two, skirted the mutinous shoals of Weeks Three and Four, and now have landed, victorious, in a place that few adventurers ever see.

We congratulate you on your hard work, salute your discipline and follow-through, and celebrate your imagination.

You did something amazing this month, novelist. We couldn't be prouder.

We wish you well on your future adventures, and hope to see you for Script Frenzy in April, and have you back again with us for NaNoWriMo next November.

Thank you for your support of all we do! On behalf of everyone here at the Office of Letters and Light, I offer you my congratulations. Let the celebrations begin!

Warmest regards,

Chris Baty
Director, NaNoWriMo

Yay, now I can sleep again!!

Taye, videographer

I gave them fair warning...

We have been baking a lot lately, and the boys love to help out. The other day, we made gingerbread men.

Today we made pecan pie, apple pie, cranberry bread, and brownies. It must be the holidays. The boys had the most fun trying to figure out how to grate the orange.

They also took it upon themselves to make a yummy play-doh pie. I can't wait to try it, I'll let you know how it turned out.

While we were making the bread, the boys insisted they wanted to try the cranberries. I told them they were sour, but they weren't fazed.

Nice hat

So while Tia was over the other day, she helped me set up my sewing machine. The first thing I wanted to make was a hat for Mya. I messed up a few things on my first attempt, so I made two of them yesterday. Its still not perfect, but its much better than the first, and not bad for a beginner either, if I do say so myself.

That darn sleeper

So the other night, as I mentioned, Darius told me his sleeper wasn't working. Thursday night, he went to bed as usual, but woke up around 10:30pm and came into my room. I was still up, attempting to write, and told him he could lie in my bed with me. I assumed he would fall back asleep relatively quickly. Instead, he was still awake at midnight when Luis got home. Luis brought Darius back into his room, read him stories, and tried to get him back to sleep. At around 1am, Darius decided he had had enough of that, and came back into my room. Eventually he fell asleep, only to wake up for the day at about 5am. At some point in the night he told Luis that his sleeper was lost.


As I was cleaning the kitchen around 4pm yesterday, I looked into the livingroom and saw this:

Apparently, he found his sleeper. We debated on what to do, and finally decided to bring him to bed, although it was a few hours early. We figured best case, he needed the sleep because of the night before, and he would sleep all night. Worst case, we figured he would wake up really early in the morning, and Luis decided he would be ok with getting up with him. Of course, we didn't count on option C - waking up hungry at 8pm, and staying awake until midnight. Apparently he never got the memo that Saturday is Netflix movie date night. Ah, the joys of parenting. :o)

The new toddler carrier...

Looks comfy, doesn't it?

So Much Fun

Thursday afternoon Tia and the lovely ladies came over to play. The kids were all so excited to play together.



I couldn't believe how big Eva had gotten. I don't mind admitting that she is at one of my absolute favorite stages, and I had so much fun playing with her.


They all stood still long enough to eat some lunch.

Story time with Tia was a popular activity.

When Tia saw Darius' "cheese" face, she thought it looked familiar:


Mya got lots of love. Here she is with her (very young) parents - now you all know the truth, we can't hide it any longer.

I love this shot.

It was so awesome to have them over for the day. Tia and I talk all the time about how much we love seeing the kids together. They always play together so nicely, and have so much fun. Its funny because way back before we were even married, we used to talk about how much fun it would be to have our kids together, and how cute they would all be. We were right!

Getting our groove back

No, not like Stella. (Although...)

The first week after Mya was born was an absolute breeze. I had Luis and/or Mom here all day, every day to help me out. It was great. The second week, I guess I was still running on the adrenaline of my awesome homebirth, or I was extremely well rested, or something. Whatever it was, that week was a breeze as well. The third and fourth weeks, not so much. Blame it on hormones, stress, exhaustion, whatever - it was bad. I had no patience and snapped at the kids all the time, they were miserable and fought constantly, the fighting drove me up a wall, and I lost my non-existent patience, and snapped at them some more. It was not pretty.

I knew that the change would have to come from me, and I started brainstorming ways to make it better. I realized that when the boys get time to run around they are happier, so I do my best to bring them outside or something several days a week. The YMCA in town has a 'preschool playground' set up indoors for the winter, so I am getting the boys memberships so I can take them. I am also thinking about signing them up for some sort of class, but I just don't know what. The Y only has gymnastics (which seems so lame to me) and swimming (the boys will not go in a pool, plus there has to be an adult with each child in the water) for their ages. If I can't think of something better, I may just have to do the gymnastics.

I also realized that I am happier when I do some of my own things. Time is a concern, but oddly enough I think this whole NaNo thing has helped me realize that if I make myself, I will find the time. Not only have I stayed on track with the writing, but I have recently finished several items for my Etsy, and updated the store. There is more to come soon. This weekend we gave the entire house a deep cleaning, and I am loving it. I have also found other small things to do to help me maintain my sanity. We brought a radio into the kitchen, and I have it on for much of the day, I love listening to music. I have also started shutting and locking the bathroom door when I go in (*gasp*) and it is so nice to have some time to myself!

It seems as though we have finally found our groove as a family of five. I'm starting to feel like we might actually survive these next few years until we see Luis again. :o)

Darius

While brandishing a towel, he told me, "Mama, I am going to put this blanket on Mya, and it will be cozy, and that is the deal."

In bed the other night, I told him to lie down and try to sleep. He told me, "I tried to sleep, and my sleeper didn't work!"

"Homeschoolers lack socialization..."

HAHAHA!! As of today, the boys officially have more friends than I do!

We recently joined a homeschooling group in our area. I wasn't sure at first if the kids were too young, as they're not even school-age yet, but I was assured that there were several kids their ages in the group already. We signed up months ago, but I mentioned that it would probably be a while before I was able to make it out to meet everyone. Last week was the first time we went. One of the ladies hosted the group at her house. It ended up being a small gathering, just her family, one other family, and us. It was great to meet them, and the boys had so much fun that they didn't want to leave.

Today the woman who started the group had a get together at her house. We had a Charile Brown's Thanksgiving potluck. I think almost the entire group showed up, thank goodness she had a big house! If I am remembering correctly, there were 8 Mamas with 21 kids there. Mya was the youngest, there is another baby who is 5 months olds. There were three 2-year-olds, and several 3-4 year olds. Most of the kids are in the 5-8 year old range, I think.

Anyway, I hardly saw the boys, as they disappeared upstairs, and only briefly emerged for some food. It was so great to meet everyone, I felt almost instantly comfortable with them all. We stayed for hours, and once again when it was time to leave the boys did not want to go. I suppose thats a good thing...

I finally dropped my good camera off for a cleaning, so these shots are terrible, but here is a good portion of the group snacking together:

Darius and his 2-year-olds gang checking out the turtle:

I can't wait to see what we do next. I've been wanting to join a group for so long, but something always held me back. I am glad now that I finally went ahead and just did it.

Cousins

This Saturday we were treated to a visit from Joanine, Joe, and Aine. The boys were so excited to have someone new to play with. Heck, I was so excited to have someone new to play with! They came in the morning and stayed until after lunch. We basically just hung around the house and had a nice, relaxed time together. It was so great to get caught up again, and to see the kids playing together.

The dress-up drawer was the biggest hit.



Aine brought a harmonica with her, and the boys could not get enough of that. So, I guess now I have a new stocking stuffer idea!



Mya enjoyed meeting her big cousins too.