Why am I excited to be having another boy?

Because most mornings, I find something similar to this:



I love when they play "guys" together. I found them in their room just hanging out before school, and I can't wait for more of it. Jake says he's living vicariously through them since he never had any brothers.



I love that Superman has no pants on. When you're a superhero, moms can't tell you what to do.

The last half-hour before school often ends up as "Dad time" since they don't get to see him any other time, and it usually looks a lot like this:







171

Honesty in blogging

I was talking forever with my hillarious friend, Suzie, on the phone last night. Out of the blue, she said, "Oh, and stop being so inspiring on your blog!"

What?! Me? Whatever!

Then I looked back over my last few months and realized I had been putting mostly only the good stuff. I wasn't trying to paint myself as a better mother or Mary-Poppinsish, but I figured my kids aren't going to want a journal full of Mom whining about poopy diapers, absent husbands, swollen feet, or $1400 car repair bills. I realized I would LOVE to read about one of my mom's bad days when we were little. All I remember is the good stuff, so I get discouraged quite often trying to do it all as well as she did.

Well, in an effort to paint a whole picture for Lucy some day when her monkeys are all barfing and the a/c is broken and she forgot to do something important and she can't remember our bad days, here was an honest yesterday:

I let Miles watch 12 Dancing Princesses (He thinks Barbie is Lizzie) in my bed while I showered, I made Jake take everyone to school because I didn't feel like it, and Miles wore his jammies until 10 o'clock (and didn't get his diaper changed until then). He and I trekked all the way up to Norwalk (against my will) to Wal-Mart, where I proceeded to shop in my sweats and a grey sweater Jake refers to as "that homeless lady thing you've got", with no makeup and my hair in a ponytail. I only needed 3 or 4 things but ended up with much more, including a package of Oreos, which we ate 1/2 of in the car on the way home. After a lunch of mac-n-cheese (not the healthy kind, no the extra bad Velveeta Shells and Cheese!), and some more cookies for Miles (I ate some Halloween candy so as to save some cookies for the big kids), we headed upstairs to watch a movie on my computer, all snuggled up in my bed. We did read a few books after that so I wouldn't totally fail as a mother, but then it was time to pick up the kids and yes, gasp, I went in the homeless get-up. That doesn't fly so well in Greenwich aparently, because a few people asked if I was ok.
After homework and cookies for the kids, we did go outside and rake leaves, which I counted as excercise to counteract the 4500 calories I'd already consumed. We had grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner (hello 1000 more calories), put the monkeys to bed, and then I laid on my bed talking to Suzie for an hour instead of cleaning the house.

There, I did it. It's not pretty, I know, but today's shaping up to be the same way. I'll not write about it again for fear of whining too much, but future Lucy, just know that everyone has homeless days
I'm no Mary Poppins and Miles is still in his jammies.

No, we're not in hiding...

So, maybe I've neglected my family journal lately, but I have good reasons. I'm huge, I'm grouchy, and now I'm sick. Other than that, we're all still here.
The kids had Columbus Day off last week, so we headed to our favorite snow sliding park to launch stomp-rockets off the hill.



The weather was perfect, the friends were in abundance, and the leaves were just starting to fall. It was a nice last hurrah for our summer clothing.




I remember always wanting to play on the playground while eating my lunch as a kid, and I could never figure out why my mom wouldn't let me.


(I now realize it had to do with choking and not chucking the veggies under the slide, which is what Miles is doing. Can anybody spot the little sneak?)

That's right, we're still working on not being sneaky. It's been going on since Miles was 18 months old and I still can't break him of it. All the apples in our house look like this:



I used to have a lovely bowl and pitcher set that looked like this:



Now the bowl just looks like this:



I think I could handle all the destruction and sneakiness with a little more grace and patience if I wasn't already teetering on the edge due to my inability to get off the floor or walk 30 paces without pausing for a sit-down.

170

Just call me Ma...

Ok, I got another double batch of pie filling stored in the freezer. I now have 6 apple-themed family sized desserts, tightly packed away in the freezer, all set to assemble and bake during the winter. I'm feeling a little like Ma Ingalls in Little House on the Prairie. Hmm, maybe I can find a hog to slaughter and make into sausages next.

Apple Picking

Well, we've created a new family tradition. Lyman Orchards in Middlefield CT is our new favorite Fall destination. We headed out there with some of our favorite people last week to pick all the apples we could carry.



The trees were loaded with so much fruit, even Miles could reach "perfect" apples and the kids could be discerning about what they picked.





I don't know which Lucy did more of, eating or picking. She was in search of the "most beautiful magical apple for Daddy", but every time she thought she had a winner, she would take a bite to make sure. She'd then look at the apple and realize it now had a big bite out of it and the hunt would start anew.



We filled four large canvas bags with several varieties of the yummiest, crunchiest apples in the world, which made me happier with each added pound. I then had to haul this stinkin' wagon full of apples and Miles back up the giant hill to have them weighed. The happiness started to fade about halfway up.



Picking is hard work for a kid used to a life of leisure (strollers, shopping carts, and naps).



Lucy finally found what she was looking for! She hung on to this bad boy for a good half an hour, refusing to set it down with the others for fear of getting it mixed up in the lot. She even held it in the car for quite a ways, but once hunger started to set in on the hour long drive home, she decided, "Heck with Dad, he can have a banana."



We headed to the pumpkin patch next, (after unloading our mountain of apples into the car) and searched high and low for the perfect carving pumpkin.



We gave up about 4 fields from this photo and decided to buy one from the store near the entrance to the orchards. Jenny did find a lovely one here though, which she barely rescued from being rolled down the hill by a little friend.



Thirty lbs of apples later (plus a giant pumpkin, some apple butter, and the best donuts in the WORLD), we headed for home. Now we're eating apples in everything and I'm in heaven.

168

The 5 dollar bench...

Two years ago, I bought a bench at a yard sale for $5 despite disheartening comments from my husband about how ugly it was and how I was just going to end up throwing it away anyway.
Well, here's the before:


(yes, that is wood-colored contact paper slapped on a piece of plywood.)

The during:


(and yes, Mom, I spray- painted it outside so as not to suck in any fumes.)

And as soon as I get the fabric on, I'll post the after.

Desperate situations call for creative measures...

Can't bend over far enough to get the laundry from the washer to the dryer? Find a little person who is easily bribed with "Tandy Torns" and you're all set. He was thrilled to be able to touch all the "soggy" clothes.

And so it begins...

Well, "Pablo" has received his first birthday present. My amazingly creative friend, Courtney, who has a new baby so shouldn't even have time for something like this, sent him this adorable frog and burp cloths. There's only one small problem. Three other little people think it should belong to them.

"He's not even born yet, he'll never know!"

"I'll trade him for this dinosaur I don't like anymore and he'll love it!"

And then there's Miles own special tactic of snatch-and-run. I just got it in the mail yesterday and already I've retrieved it from under Miles's bed, the back of his closet, and behind his bookshelf.

We're gonna have to put a lo-jack on this thing if "Pablo" ever has a chance of seeing it.

By the way, no, his name isn't going to be Pablo. We simply haven't thought of a name and that's our placeholder. The funny part is, the kids have started referring to him as that too.