Chocolate syrup

Benjamin usually wakes up first. He's the reason we put a lock on the fridge last summer: he kept scattering the condiments around the living room. Now he can open the locked fridge, and he only takes out what he wants to drink, usually milk. This morning, however, Benjamin poured himself a cup of chocolate syrup. I found out about it when Elisa happily discovered the cup of chocolate. She was covered in chocolate from nose to feet and couldn't stop smiling. And then there was the couch. It's a good thing we have a carpet and upholstery cleaner.

Kid Quirks

We went to Golden Corral, and one of the chefs made these "fishing" balloon hats for the boys. Benjamin popped his hat in the car, so Dominic taped the "fish" to my hat. And how can I post pictures and not include Lisy? So here she is playing with the flowers (well, dandelions) that Sammy gave me.

Sammy loves toast, especially making toast. This morning while I was out running, Dominic fell asleep on the couch and woke up to the smell of toast. Sammy had toasted an entire loaf of bread. He was very proud of himself. I made eggs and bacon to go with it, and the kids snacked on toast all day long. There are still 4 pieces left.

Benjamin can't pronounce the letter S yet. He also tends to hurt himself a lot. At least once a day we here him cry, "I 'urt my 'elf." That poor little "elf" is always getting hurt. Dominic says we should name the "elf" Unlucky.

Elisa likes to play peek-a-boo while I change her diaper. But the other day she couldn't find a blanket to play with. So she covered her eyes with her feet. Ah, the flexibility of a baby.

The Drive-in

Last night we saw 2 movies at the drive-in: Prince Caspian and Nim's Island. Prince Caspian was great; it was on par with the first one. Sammy liked the centaurs - he's been half a horse all day.

Drive-in pros: front row seats, no crowds, we can talk without bothering others, first run movies at 1/4th the price, feels more like a date once the kids fall asleep

Drive-in cons: movies ended at 1:30 am, Sammy stayed awake through both movies, everyone was tired today, popcorn all over the car

Dinner

I know that I'm not the best cook in the world. However, I do try to make something my family will eat. Last night Sammy only ate the chicken, Benjamin might have taken a bite, and Elisa licked the bottom of her foot. So, she is a baby, but still - she would rather lick her foot than eat my cooking? At least Dominic and I liked it.

P.S. We found the Underdog disc, which means we didn't have to buy it. Shwew!

Haircuts and Mother's day

Lisy was amused to walk in elephant slippers (but no haircut)












Sammy and Benjamin, with their spikey pre-haircut 'dos








This weekend I cut the boy's hair. I'm not the best haircutter, but now their hair is nice and short for the summer, if the warm weather ever arrives.

For Mother's day, Dominic worked. Instead we celebrated today. I told Dominic that I didn't want to cook but wanted to go to Olive Garden for dinner. And we did! So although I wasn't pampered like a lot of moms (we're still recovering from that nasty cold), I did get a yummy meal with no prep or clean up. I also made brownies. Perfect.

"Iron Man"

What a great movie! Good music, great special effects, likable characters, awesome outfit, need I go on? The bad guy was really bad, too; he oozed badness. Not for children, but it didn't have the graphic violence like the Spiderman movies (I was disappointed that they advertised it as a kids film, then they had fight scenes that even I couldn't watch). Whenever it looked like I wouldn't want to watch a scene, they stopped just in time (sigh of relief). Halfway through the movie, Dominic said he couldn't wait to see the next one. I told him to finish watching this movie first.

Speaking of movies, I haven't written a review in awhile. Here are a few:

Alvin and the Chipmunks. It was cute, but the best part was Benjamin's reaction. Every few minutes he would laugh and say, "chipmunks!"

Underdog. A big improvement on the cartoon. It had a few really funny lines, too. The kids lost the dvd, but I don't think it's worth owning.

Cloverfield. Dominic enjoyed watching "a good monster movie." I spent half the movie hiding my eyes.

Bee Movie. The kids loved it, but all the inaccuracies annoyed me. I know I know - it's just a cartoon, so I'll stop.

Beowulf. Have I already mentioned this one? I have mixed feelings about it. It resembled the epic poem. Some of the changes gave it continuity that the poem lacks. Other changes, like Grendel's mother, made it feel too hollywoodized. I don't recommend it.

Hoped-for memories

I am not much of a housekeeper. Cleaning is not one of my favorite activities. And I have finally come to terms with that. But I hope my children remember the things I'm doing with them instead, such as:

-blowing bubbles on the front porch
-"helping" me cook (mostly just stirring)
-playing Stuck Monster
-tickling/wrestling and laughing
-evening walks
-snuggling after naps
-snuggling during scary parts of movies
-reading
-visiting museums
-water games (in the summer)

Adventures in the Kitchen (not all protein is good)

It all started with this cold. The entire family has a nasty cold, and we are all cranky. This afternoon I tried to take a nap on the living room couch (well, futon). Random things (ok, the kids) kept waking me up, and I finally got up feeling unrested and still cranky. So I made cookies.

For dinner I tried to make macaroni and cheese. I like to add whole wheat macaroni to the boxed noodles for a healthy boost. Apparently it's been awhile since I used the whole wheat noodles. While checking the noodle doneness (is that a real word?), I saw a bug! I shrieked and dropped the test noodle. I almost ate the bug! EWW! My reaction worried Sammy, who was also test-eating a noodle. They were cooked, so they couldn't be that bad, right? I attempted to separate the contaminated noodles, but I was too grossed out. I finally threw out the whole pot of noodles.

Now it was dinner time and we had no dinner. I heated up a frozen pizza. It wasn't quite enough for us, so we filled up on the cookies. Half way through dinner I realized I was still very cranky, and I took an Excedrin. I was much nicer the rest of the evening.

P.S. Speaking of kitchen adventures, did I ever mention the melted ship? While making dinner one evening, Benjamin kept knocking over Elisa with his pirate ship. I took it away from him and placed it on the nearest surface so I could finish meal preparations. Something smelled funny, and I realized that the plastic ship was on the burner I'd just turned off (and thus still hot). On a positive note, we finally got out the potato chips Sammy had crammed in the cargo hold.