Buddies who give each other bruises

As much as our boys fight, which believe me is enough to make me crazy almost every day, they do have their moments when they actually seem the best of friends. I always have to smile when I catch them in these rare displays of love and affection, and then of course try and burn the memory into my brain for the other 80% of the time when they're at each others' throats and I'm at my wits' end. My favorite is when they hug or kiss each other for seemingly no reason at all. Eli is usually the one to initiate it, and sadly I haven't caught that one on film yet, but when I do I should blow it up and tape it to my mirror.

Last week, we escaped the 90 degree weather for the cooler coastal temps of the SF Zoo

Climbing the fence together for a better view of the kangaroos

Tree posing

Plenty of room on the couch, but they have to sit right next to each other

Brushing buddies, who even want to dress alike sometimes

Before shots

The third bedroom in our house has needed a face lift since we moved in. Poor Eli suffered through almost two years of these drab and dreary walls, whose color reminds me of office buildings from the eighties.

Thanks to Liz's moving next door and having the free time and handy painting skills that we house project ignorants utterly lack, the nursery will soon be a happier place of another color. She has graciously been accompanying me and the boys to Home Depot, where we're pretty sure the worker helping us thinks we were a lesbian couple, for supplies and paint-mixing. Thankfully, she talked me into doing a few different samples, too, because the color I thought I'd definitely want looked hideous once it was up on the wall and reflecting real sunlight.

Move over ugly brown/grey/taupe, here come's Lemon Ice.

Cram it in while you can

Am I the only who feels like the end of pregnancy is the end of the world as you know it? (insert R.E.M. melody here) Therefore you find yourself jamming in as many activities for your kids as possible, realizing this may be their last chance to do anything fun, educational or stimulating for a long time because they'll be trapped in the house with you and your newborn baby. All scheduled activities will go out the window, so get it in now.

I know, I know, so doomsday. . . but that's always how I feel when I hit about month seven and begin to think about how different life is about to become for me and most especially my kiddos. Dramatic? Probably. But you have to admit it is the end of an era, and it will take a year or two to get back to this place of freedom and mobility. It's not as if we're never going to leave the house again. Just not as often as my kids are used to, that's for sure.

Here's a glimpse at what we've been cramming in for Bennett, who's apparently going to have a really boring summer.

Eggs and Baskets

Well, we did try to make this Easter a little more spiritual by talking about it during the week and doing a Family Home Evening with pictures of the resurrection. Sadly, or not I suppose, most of what our boys understand about the true meaning of Easter comes from the animated movie, "He is Risen." We started off Easter Sunday with their watching it while we slept in, but in the end we went commercial and tried to make the day fun and memorable.

We had already planned to have an Easter dinner and backyard egg hunt at our place with Stephen's parents and sisters that evening, but growing up in a family where all holidays begin the moment you wake up, I simply couldn't wait that long to start celebrating. So what did I spontaneously decide to do? A breakfast picnic on the front lawn, of course! I thought it was a brilliant new tradition that we could recreate for years to come. Stephen was a little bewildered, however, to come out and find the boys carrying blankets, plates, muffins and strawberries out to the grass, thinking they were up to some sort of Sunday morning mischief. Then he saw me putting together the picnic table and realized this was actually my doing, not the boys'. "Here she goes again," is I'm sure what he was thinking.

After breakfasting in the morning sunlight and looking at all that's growing in the garden as a symbol of new life, we let the boys find their baskets and have fun with what was inside, none of which was symbolic or spiritual in any way. Unless of course you feel uplifted when you play games or puzzles, watch Kung Fu Panda, do Spiderman sticker books or play with Matchbox cars. Now eating chocolate, that IS an undeniably spiritual experience!

Time to taste-test the fruits of their labor

"My favorite movie, Bolt!!"

Eli, the gatherer, in action

Good thing he checked the playhouse

A new board game for the game-lovin' Benito

Breakfast on the front lawn--it's not that crazy, is it?

Budding Gardener/Gardening Buddies

T is for

Tiger

Tracing letters

Trees (& wildflowers)
and Tag in the backyard

Following a circle time discussion about temples--where I learned that the reason they're white is so you can see them at night--and some chalkboard practice with numbers, the home preschool kids practiced their names and drew some trees. Who knew that teaching my kid to write his name in all caps a few years ago would make him so utterly resistant to learning to write it with lower-case letters now? Yikes. My apologies to his future kindergarten teacher.

We took to the outdoors for tree-gazing (we have several redwoods at the edge of our backyard, which the kids decided are "too tall to see") and playtime, and then came back inside for tracing and writing letter T. Worksheets were followed by some quality craft time where, as usual, more glue ended up on the table and their fingers than the actual craft itself. I'm pretty sure those tiger bookmarks lasted all of five minutes before completely falling apart. Oh well, it's the process not the product, right?

Planet Earth, the Discovery Channel DVD set, saved the day yet again when craft motivation started to wane, as it often does at the end of preschool. We watched about ten minutes of "Seasonal Forests" from disc 4 and much as I loved seeing all the different trees, the kids were of course much more interested in the animals that live in or near the trees. "Awesome!" they'd all holler as the owls tried to fly or the squirrels stole the birds' eggs. Joel and Bennett let out the loudest "AWESOME!!" of all when the wolf found a dead moose and started tearing it apart with its teeth, while poor Natalie and Jordyn looked on in horror. I fast-forwarded as quickly as my thumb could find that remote button, thinking to myself, "So much for the safe, loving, nurturing home preschool environment . . ." Guess I should have previewed that one.

Oops...We'll have to double that order...and change it

So we just got back from my latest appointment with my doctor at Kaiser. My baby was so active last night, she felt like she was all over the place, kicking me in 3 different places. The doctor was a little concerned so she ordered an ultrasound. She couldn't believe it. As she watched with the technician and scanned my belly they discovered why I was being kicked in so many places.

It turns out that we are having twins!!!!





NO WAY!!!!!!

I couldn't believe it. I seriously asked for a second opinion. But they were right. After more than 30 minutes of scanning they not only figured out we were having twins, but THEY ARE BOTH BOYS!!!

NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!

The second little guy must have been playing hide and seek this whole time. And I can't believe my little girl is really a boy. I totally questioned the technician, because I have been so fixated on having a girl. But there it was. Two cute little fire hoses :).

I don't know what I am going to do with 4 very energetic boys running around the house, completely outnumbering me. And all the girl clothes I have! And all the boy clothes I have given away. I guess my husband will get to name one of his kids Xavier after all. But I put my foot down on Digital. There is no way one of my kids is going to be named Digital!

Good thing we got that 8 seater Sienna. We are definitely going to be using it!

Oh wow...I am so exhausted from writing this. I need a nap. And a few extra babysitters.













******APRIL FOOLS******













Got ya Ju.

Love,
Steps