February - Let the Good Times Roll

Dreams, the poem by Langston Hughes, is on a poster outside of Nick's classroom at daycare. The teacher has clouds surrounding the poem with each cloud containing a dream from the kids in her class.
Apparently Nick dreams of being an only child.

Tammy.... as my cousin has said to me on many an occasion, THIS is your future.
OOOOOOUUFFF!
(and let me tell you.... he's throwing all 35++ lbs at me!!)

Friday night's impromptu pizza party with special guests Spiderman/Wonder Woman/Dirk Diggler & Crazy Bag Lady
Achoo channels the Force & fashions light nunchucks in an epic battle over the Galactic Empire.
Elena completely lost her marbles when she snagged the sprinkles and decided to confetti them throughout our entire kitchen & dining room.
Greg didn't think it was so funny.
Saturday night......... HIBACHI!
Awwww! Just AWW
What I was trying to capture:
Tori's eyes the size of SAUCERS when he lit the fire.
What I got:
Keri's hysterical reaction to Tori & Adrienne refusing to acknowledge the 5-alarm in front of her.

Open wide Adrienne!

She tried to start a food fight. Adrienne didn't get the memo and was practically in her lap trying to get it in her mouth.

Taking a little interlude between hibachi & dessert to toss coins in the koi pond.
Nick was fascinated by the color-changing light. I told him every time it turned purple Ursula was swimming by. "The SEA WITSCH?! I SEE HER!! I SEE HER!"
"Ooooooh. It's REAL COLD! Oooooh! My head hurts!"
Brain-freeze. It gets you every time.
The Clone Wars
Circa March 1975, Rob's 8ish (I think), I'm 2 - We took the 70's seriously.
Present Day, Ryan's 6 1/2, Adrienne's 4 - The new millennium is considerably more fun.

Nick wanted to be in the picture SO badly... thru gritted teeth she was yelling at him "NO NICK!"
OK, we'll let him in one.... and then he doesn't even look at the camera! ugh.
They were turbulent times... yet the hippie radical and GI managed to find peace while watching Shrek.

February - Aphro P. Diti is in the HOUSE

Saturday morning I took the kids to a class at the Manasquan Reservoir. My parents have had such great times with them I thought I'd give it a shot. One & done.
It started off ok.... Nick got called up to hang his owl - which he wanted to do on the screen, not the wall - and that was the beginning of the end. He wouldn't sit down so I dragged him out of the class.

From there it spiraled downward rather quickly.
"NICK! Come over here and SIT DOWN!"
"NO!" (swatting at me from 20' away...)
"SIT!"
"NO!"
This went on for the next 2 hours. Finally after melting down (him, not me... but I was close) eating & sleeping I saw a little improvement. But this bad boy behaviour continued for another WEEK.
uuuuuuuuuggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Late that night, bad boy be damned, we were going to another fabulous Cousins-Rock-Band-Night hosted by Elena & Glenn!

Although you (ELENA!) almost never check in... I thought what a lovely surprise it would be to come across your delicious, gorgeous and incredibly impressive crab tower posted for all the world to drool over!!

Keri made it her mission to get Olivia to crack up - and she SERIOUSLY succeeded!
Tori & Olivia wasted no time in practicing up for Rock Band.

Her first try at Rock Band Night lead singer . I don't think she's ever even HEARD this song.... or Lady Gaga for that matter. And I'm pretty sure she can't read... but she still gave it a go!
Nick was simply delighted he could hit something without getting yelled at.




She gave up singing for a turn as the backup dancer. Nick wasn't getting up from the drums any time soon.



"So Pops... I got me a date with Toni Sue. She's comin' by the double wide tonight to watch some reruns of those Dukes of Hazard boys. I need to borrow them there tractor keys so I can take her out to the field for some cow tippin' after eatin'. Did Ma get extra of those dented cans of ravioli? I wanna make Toni Sue somethin' real special!"
"What do you MEAN I'm too big to fit in the Barbie Camper?!?!"


Nick's perfecting the Running Man....
Corinne... I think I'm going to have to talk to your mom about those dance moves....
And once Nick goes for the hairdryer, keep your eyes on Tori - getting herself dizzy!



Really Adrienne, don't hesitate to make yourself comfy in Aunt Elena's bed!
They both passed out in the car...
Adrienne criss-cross-applesauced her way into a deep slumber....

.... while Nick dreamt of stomping grapes....

February - Tom Turns 14!! (2 bday parties for a 7yr old = 14, right!?)

Just a quick refresher:
Cindy & I met in EARLY EARLY grammar school on the playground. I think it was 2nd or 3rd grade, she says 1st... but considering she has a memory like a steel trap & mine is more like a sieve, she's probably right... Anyhoo..... Here we are from MY 9th birthday party (aka April 1982) - she's on the left, I'm on the right.

Flash forward 29 years (UGH?!? how can THAT be right?!?!)
Party #1 for Cindy's son's 7th birthday! The kids were gathered, given the rules of engagement & sent off on a treasure hunt!

They were DELIGHTED on finding gold dubloons all over the house!!!
After the treasure hunt it was time to hand out the booty!
What a crack up! Look at the expressions on those kids when Cindy pulled out a gold treasure chest filled with party favors!
OOoooooooo! Wwwwwhhooooooaaa!
(seriously... click on the picture to blow it up to really see those faces!!)

She's really just a big kid....!



We were all in the kitchen... eating, drinking, chatting - all of a sudden la femme Stormtropper comes around the corner. Really now... what Stormtropper WOULDN'T want gold beads, a ballerina shirt & purple Belle socks?!

Nick giving the helmet a bit more of a deserved boy-stance....
How 15mos old Makenna even managed to pick it up is beyond me - it's freakin' HEAVY! But sure enough she got it on her head.
A real live toddler bobble head - and BOINK. She practically knocked Kaitlyn unconscious.
In case there was any question while singing happy birthday, Tom made sure to clarify exactly who the birthday boy was!

Party #2 - Laser Tag
We got the invite and I figured Adrienne wouldn't go for it - we'd just play in the arcade while the kids did this. Even while listening to the instructions she told me I could wear the vest.... that was... until it was her turn to put it on. I swear the laser was as big as she is!
All geared up for pandemonium!
She ran around saying, "PEW pew-pew-PEW!" as she lasered things (although she didn't get the concept of letting go of the trigger) just like Toby in Chipmunks Squeakquel. Hysterical!
She wasn't NEARLY as excited about the blacklight as I was to show it to her...
After going upstairs to warm up (it was freezing in there since it's right next to an ice skating rink) we headed back down but left the vest out of it & played tag. Well, until she turned the corner & crashed into Kaitlyn coming around the other side. That's when the video abruptly ends.
But seriously..... Had I known I was going to run around this much I never would've bothered with the treadmill this morning...

February - I Heart You & Bad Boy Part Deux

At another Parks & Rec class... making Valentines with Mima & Pop Pop

Adrienne REALLY wanted to write out Greg's Valentine's card so I would write a letter for her on a piece of paper & then she'd copy it on the card. She did AWESOME, as far as 4yr old penmanship goes. Her letters are in purple, I added the Scrabble-like letters so you would know how to read it. Yes, there are 2 I's. She didn't like the first one so she tried again, with much improvement, I have to say!
And then Nick added his John Hancock too.

Bouquets for the Billows girls on Valentine's! Nick surprised Adrienne & me with a bouquet of red, white & blush roses!

Part II: Nick's a Bad, Bad, BAD Boy
This time he pushed Greg to the edge. Long story short, we were in the car: I finally got Greg to drop Nick & me off at home while Greg took Adrienne to pick up a pizza. (We were SUPPOSED to go out for a nice family dinner... Nick put the kabosh on that one.) I handed Nick a stack of paper plates & asked him to set the table (not that I've EVER asked him to do that before), knowing full well they would be thrown into the family room, ripped, or have some other damaging, tantrum fueled act thrust upon them. I hear, "All done, mommy!" and turn around to see a plate at each seat!!!! So I hand him napkins & he put those out properly too! He was SO proud of himself!!!
Now I know.... if he's being bad... give him housework! Terrible-2's might not be so bad after all!
Friday... gorgeous, STUNNING, SPECTACULAR day.... and I'm stuck IN the house with 2 sick, bed-ridden kids.
Calvin's the only one who got to enjoy the day....

Poor thing / good for him.
The nebulizer is such a part of his routine now.... but he doesn't let it stop him...

February - Arts & Not So Crafts

2 more installments of our clone children:
First, Anal Adrienne at it again... She started with her birthday cards then moved on to doll clothes (I added the yellow lines - it's hard to see what's what in the picture).

Second, Nick & Greg. Or is it Greg & Nick....

Disney's version of Parenting magazine has been mysteriously arriving on my doorstep for the last few months. I'm pretty sure it's geared to a particular subset of parents: Stay at home, scrapbooking, helicopter-parenting moms with a limitless amount of patience and craft supplies.
(Yet I still read it cover to cover.)
Most of the time I get halfway through reading the instructions & craft supply list for a particular project & I'm a) confused, b) wondering if this was actually meant for adults to do or c) far too lazy to put that much effort into a 20min distraction. But this one caught my eye. 5 items & something a wee one could handle. Or so I thought.
I now know their magazine photo shoots are just about as true to life as their theme parks.

The child asked for a wipe. A WIPE!? Try a power washer, sweetheart!!!!



Holy...................... MESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Heaven on earth! (quite literally!!)
Adrienne is beside herself with joy over the new church being purple!
Washing dishes yesterday she came in, "Look mommy! Princesses!" Expecting to see the usual curly haired waifs I was completely surprised by her new people-pattern! Cinderella (orange, giving the stink eye to Ariel), Ariel (red) & Snow White (purple). And look at that smug smirk... she was SO proud of herself!!!!
Well this makes sense. What better way to channel princesses than by sitting on a thrown!?
The Ultimate Disney Princess Collection