So Cool...

Look at what Penny made me. I have been wanting Luis to show me how to do this forever, and was going to use these pictures. I think it is so cool. Just remember, the actors in these photos are trained professionals, do not try this at home!

Yesterday

Yesterday started out as one of those days. The boys and I were all grouchy and overtired. We were housebound since Luis' car is still in the shop, and we were bored. There was a LOT of whining, pushing, fighting, and yelling. It was miserable. By about 9am, it occurred to me that I needed to do something to change the direction of the day. So I racked my brain for something new, fun, and different. I came up with shaving cream, and just hoped Luis hadn't used it all up. Taye has played with shaving cream before, but not Darius. It was a start, they had fun.


Of course after all that fun, a bath was in order.


Complete with 'funny hair.'


Grover was very curious about this bath thing. He learned that if he sits on the edge of the tub, Darius may just pull him in!


Darius went down for a nap after that, and I tried to get Taye to come play in the leaves. He wanted to stay on the porch, so I raked the front yard while he played. Once he saw the pile, and I mentioned jumping, he was all for it.


After a rough start, it turned out to be a very fun day. It was one of those days where I actually felt like I did something right. Which is honestly more than I can say most days lately. I never imagined it would be this hard! When I was a nanny, I was always sure I was doing the right thing, I had all the answers, I hardly ever lost my patience, I was fun. I have those days as a mother too, but I have my share of beastly, I-have-no-idea-what-the-hell-I-am-doing(!) days too. Yesterday was a good one, I am glad for that. :o)

Nana Week, Day 8: Apple Fest

Saturday we went to the Apple Fest at Mt. Wachusett (you're singing it, aren't you?) We had so much fun. We went on the SkyRide first, which is basically a ride on the ski lifts. I was a little stressed the whole time because there are no restraints to speak of, and you're a good distance off the ground, and I was worried about the boys falling. Or, even worse, of Taye dropping his Red Car over the edge, never to be seen again. :o) Other than that, it was one of the coolest things I have done in a long time. On the way up, Taye kept saying, "I'm flying! I'm flying!" Then on the way down, Luis said "we're going down" which prompted Taye to say, "I'm lookin' down!" a la Dunkin the Donkey, from Shrek. He is so funny. It was a lot longer than I thought, it took at least 20 minutes, and the view from the top was just amazing. I would love to do it again.


The also had all kinds of fun things for the kids. There were a couple of those inflatable bouncy houses, and a huge slide. Taye and Emma were both excited to go down the slide, and Taye wanted to do it again, but I can't imagine why from looking at his face going down! He went so fast that when his feet hit, he flew forward and landed on his face. Poor Emma hit her foot on the side halfway down, and ended up going upside-down for a while.

The pony ride was another favorite. Taye wasn't so sure at first, but when he heard that Emma and Darius were going, he wanted to ride the 'caballo' too. The lady said he giggled the whole way.


This is one of my favorite pictures from the whole week. Do you see what I see?


Apparently, Mom didn't (even though I mentioned it when I took the picture) and she wore them again not long after! A few more pictures:


When we got home, Nana, Grandad, Aunt Amy, Jay, and Emily were here. Mom made chili, apple crisp, and brownies for everyone. We had a nice long visit with them. At night, Mom made a fire in the backyard.



They left early Sunday morning, so this was pretty much our last day together. We had such a fun week, and were sad to see them go.

Nana Week: The Middle Days

It seems easier to group Wednesday-Friday in one post. Mostly because I don't have a lot of pictures from those days, so the posts would be pretty short otherwise.

On Wednesday we managed to convince Jackie to grace us with her presence. She came up in the afternoon to spend some time with us. We pretty much just hung out at the house all day. The highlight of the day was Mom's famous lasagna for dinner. Which just makes any day awesome! Hanging out:

Thursday we were supposed to go down the Cape. Penny really loves to see the ocean, and the weather man said it was going to be a nice day, so Luis took the day off to come with us. Of course it was freezing and rainy. On the way down we stopped at Nana and Grandad's for lunch. Aunt Kathy came by, so did Uncle Bob. My mom likes to call him "Uncle Torture" because he loves to lift the kids up over his head (and he's about to 10 feet tall) and 'drop' them, stuff like that. Of course, my boys love that so Taye had a blast with him.

From there we decided to go to Duxbury beach so Penny could see the ocean, since we didn't have time to go all the way to the Cape. It was cold and rainy, but actually kind of fun. Luis and I held the boys and searched for heart shaped rocks for a certain someone we know who likes them. :o) I have never seen so many rocks on the beach, they were everywhere. We didn't stay for too long, we headed off to a restaurant we knew in Plymouth for dinner. Mom ended up parking miles away from the place, so we had a nice walk to the restaurant. The restaurant is right on the water, so we walked along the shore to get there. The kids had a good time running and splashing in puddles.

After dinner we went to Jackie's apartment for dessert with Dad and Val. She was very excited to be able to show off her apartment. She had bought a basket of toys for the kids, so between that and tearing the place apart, they had a good time. It was a nice end to a long, fun day.

Friday morning Aunt Sue and Gerry came over. Before they arrived, Mom and I were out on the porch with the three kids. We noticed that Alex and Abby were outside, and I joked with Mom about inviting them over too. I told her I'd wait until Gerry got there so we could have 6 kids at once. Well the next thing I knew they were crossing the street to our house. Ray was watching them cross, and just looked at me and said, "They're all yours now!" (ha ha) So I let them in, what else is there to do? I'm a sucker, I know. They didn't stay too long, Alex told me it was time for them to get home, so I walked them back. Emma told us she "missed that boy and that girl!" Dad and Val came up to the house in the afternoon. We spent some time visiting with them, and then they took us out to dinner. It was a nice buffet place, the food was great. Taye fell asleep in the car, and wasn't too happy when he woke up. Luis took him outside for a while, and when they came back in with the free Auto Trader magazine they found, all was well in the world. We had a nice dinner together.

I am aware...

that I have a lot of catching up to do with Nana Week and all. But it is late, and I am very tired, and the Red Sox just lost again - its just not happening tonight. But to hold you over, here are some pictures I stole from Penny of the first few days of Nana Week (just keep in mind they're not as good as mine, because she just has a little toy camera, not a real one like me).