More Staycation Fun!

Sadly, the fam has been gone just over a day.  The fellas are asking to drive Grandma's car and wake up their uncles and auntie.  Oddly, they don't ask to wake up Grandpa and Grandma - it must be because they're always already up.  But here are a few more pics to wrap up the rest of the adventurous staycation we had last week.  The first is the funniest one of M that's been taken yet!  Aunt L told him to say "cheese" for their self-portrait and this is what he did!  I'm pretty sure it's her new facebook profile, we all love it so much!

Here we all are chowing in my dining room.  I'm so happy to have room to feed nine people at the same time now! You can see N's fuzzy head behind my Hubs, who deserves thanks for grilling up that yummy chicken (that I prepped)!  We make a good team.

Thursday was busy.  TheBig boys went to see the Twins lose to the Yankees at Target field in the evening.  We girls stayed home and did girl things, like paint toes, eat pizza and ice cream and watch Food Network and put Little boys to bed.

Valleyfair picnic lunch - the fumes from the old cars ride behind gave it just the right touch.

Oh, yeah, Wednesday!  Grandma and Grandpa watched the boys so that Hubs and I and his sibs could go to Valleyfair, which is a huge amusement park owned by the same company that owns Cedar Point, for you Michiganders.  I took my anti-puke medicine and did allright, but at 33 I already can't keep pace with those 20-somethings!  Maybe it has something to do with my poor body being wrecked by carrying twins?  Or (sigh) maybe I'm more out of shape than I thought?  Either way, I got dumped on a WHITEWATER RAFTING water ride, and "rode" it the whole way down without my raft!  I have a bruised shoulder, a scratched forhead and a wounded ego to show for the ordeal.  I think that's why they humored me and rode the ferris wheel at the end of the evening - made *slightly* less romantic than I'd envisioned with the presence of my three siblings-in-law seated across from me and Hubs, but, hey, it's better than riding alone.

The Original Six volunteered their Thursday Morning at Feed My Starving Children, a local ministry that packs food for needy people around the world.  Their group packed food for a missionary in Africa that morning.  I'm really proud of them for going along with my crazy idea, as I knew they would love it once they got there.  They even got to meet a Hatian missionary who also distributes the food at his location, something that hasn't happened in the times I've worked there!  And don't they look classy?

Valleyfair dudes

I forgot to mention that Hubs' family is serious about games!  We stayed up past midnight finishing an intense game of Trivial Pursuit one night, and we played Apples to Apples so many times that the cards started to repeat themselves!  They're very polite, too, and continue to invite me to play even though I can kick their tails. :)

Friday was pretty low-key, spent hanging out in our historic downtown, making an airport run, visiting our favorite pizza place, Punch, and hitting up a playground and ice cream shop along the way.  Yum, more pizza and ice cream!

Bonus Pic: I had to get one of N in here, shown on Tuesday leaning over the edge of the paddleboat.  Those scratches are from his fingernails, not a catfight, although that would be appropriate since he fights me like a cat when I have to cut his nails, leading to less nail-cutting than should be done, leading to him scratching himself with them.  Of course.  Oh, well.  Much fun was had by all.  Now I'm going to go enjoy the rest of my Sunday because a regular Monday morning is coming soon. 

Project Family Date Night

Call it desperation, a New Year's Resolution, or crazy, but we've decided that it's something that must be done.  In some ways, we've been hermits for 19 months (yes, we fly, but mostly to the grandparents' homes).  Make that two years - I stopped going out much once I reached whale-ific proportions.  Don't get me wrong: I love being home, and for the most part, I love cooking (it's the cleaning up I hate).  In fact, we've also decided that the only way to see our friends again is to cook for them at home on Sunday afternoons while the boys sleep.  So it's not like we're socialites or anything.

But we've gotta get outta here.  The house is small, the weather bad (-6 as I type), the toys overwhelming, and the kitchen must close down once in  while!  Besides, we do need to socialize them - like, in a place that's not babyproofed.

So we did again. 

We're calling it Project Family Date Night.  You know, like a sequel to that time in our lives when we actually had "Date Night?" 

We try to find a family-friendly activity and restaurant and have fun together, which in itself is no small potatoes when you need to entertain two curious and wily toddlers!

Activity 1: Edinborough Park. It's an indoor playground up near the cities that comes highly recommended from other parents.   It was fun, but I think it will be much more successful when the boys are bigger and the crowds are thinner.  Here are a couple pics, then we'll move on to the REAL fun:

Restaurant:California Pizza Kitchen!  It's no secret that we love pizza, but this joint brings back fond memories for us because we've eaten at several of its locations all over the world!  San Fransisco and Singapore spring to mind this morning.

And miracle of miracles!  I'm not sure what happened, but the fellas were ANGELS!  As in, the box of crayons fascinated them for 15 entire minutes! 

Tic tac toe, anyone?

Put 'em in, take 'em out, repeat 100 times.

Then...they ate their entire meal!  Without throwing it on the floor!  Without throwing the not-plastic plates on the floor!  Woo hoo!  You cannot imagine how wonderful this was.

Hubs and I actually got to eat our meals, much more peacefully than our previous date night with the guys.  Oh, how I love thee, chicken lettuce wraps!

As we cleaned up the fellas (a just a few errant noodles), we patted ourselves on the backs for a successful meal and told them, "You give us hope for the future, fellas," when a family entered the restaurant with a set of 5-ish year-old twin boys.

"Look!  Twins!  Just like you were!" the mom cried.  "Mom and Dad are sure brave!"  We smiled up at them, said hello, and they kept going.

"Hope for the future," Hubs said.  "Did you notice there was a third?" he asked, since the dad was carrying a little toddler.

"I noticed," I said. 

I'm hopeful, but not that hopeful.  Not yet, anyway.  I need a few more successful Project Family Date Nights.  No... a LOT more.

Birthday Weekend Fun

Around here, we celebrate birthdays when we are together, which is not usually on the actual day.  So, Happy Birthday to Me today, but we celebrated all weekend long!  Grandma A was here, so we took advantage of her asked her kindly to babysit so Hubs and I could have a sleepover party at a nice hotel downtown.  It was a much welcome and needed little getaway.  Thanks, Grandma!

Before that, we took her out to our (and her!) favorite restaurant, Punch Pizza (do you see a pattern?) before she was put under house arrest and the boys had their sleepover.  I'd put pictures here, but again, they are on hubs' brilliantphone which is, again, not here, but there, with him on a business trip.  So here's a Punch Pizza Picture you haven't seen.  It's Aunt L, who LOVES Punch, and replied to Grandma's message that we were there with a picture of her dinner that night: Lean Cuisine.  Haha!  Silly Aunt L!

While we were up in the cities, we stopped by Trader Joe's, a neat organic grocery store that has lots of fun treats.  Here are the boys shopping for flowers in their own mini carts:

This is a funny one!  The parking garage at Trader Joe's was painted all cute, and we wanted to send Aunt L another funny pic, so we took this next to a big red flower and the parking sign.  But check out that CHEESY grin on N!  What a HAM!

Sunday was our fun celebratory birthday day, so we fixed up a "fancy" dinner for us.  Remember when the boys got to pet one day old chicks back in July, when M got his hair cut for the first time?

You're gonna be my dinner, someday, chick.

Well, the "chicks" were ready and K(who did another phenomenal job on my hair!) had two plucked and frozen chickens for me when I got to the salon.  I've never roasted a whole chicken before, but with some help from Grandma A and my Good Housekeeping "Bible," I did it - I even cut off its neck!  It was quite delicious, too, if I must say so myself.  Here's N with what could very well be the chick in the above pic!

We baked a birthday cake with homemade chocolate frosting, which I ate for breakfast today.  Yum.  The boys and I are taking it easy today, recovering from the exciting weekend (more apple orchard pictures to come!) and M's fever.  Poor little guy really has a hard time cutting those molars.  Hopefully it'll be through today and we'll be up and at 'em tomorrow.

Thank you for all the wonderful birthday wishes I've already received today via calls, texts, cards, and facebook messages.  It's already been a great birthday and I think 33 will be my best year yet!

No Words

I can't sleep tonight. 

I can't post cute pictures of the boys having fun with their aunt.  

My friend died today. 

http://www.northfieldnews.com/news.php?viewStory=53982

She leaves behind a husband and a young son.

I'm going to need a babysitter this week to attend her funeral. 

There are no words right now.

Michelle Holmes and I at Punch Pizza, '06.

Minnesota Fun

Adventure no. 1: Dakota County Fair

N attacks a footlong hot dog

Daddy guzzles rootbeer

Aunt L is afraid of the chicken

N isn't too fond, either.

M pats the bunny in the kiddie barn

playing with the telegraph in the historic train depot

Adventure no. 2: Mississippi Riverboat tour

M, checking out the river as we depart

Ready to go!

Aunt L walked the plank deck with the busy boys

Daddy and M riding down the Upper St. Anthony Lock, the first and deepest lock of 29 from Minneapolis to St. Louis.

A beautiful shot of St. Anthony Falls and the Stone Arch Bridge

Aunt L's only request was to visit Punch Pizza, the place that has "ruined" pizza for all of us. If you're near the Twin Cities, be sure to stop for one!  And yes, the boys had some, too.

M and N, tuckered out on the way home from our adventures. 

Pizza, Playhouse, Pucks

Having guests in town is the perfect excuse to trek up to the cities and visit Punch Pizza, the absolute, positively BEST pizza outside of Italy!  (Not that we need an excuse, mind you - we just love to share the love!)  Last time we went, we just let the guys gnaw on crusts, but this time, they ate the pizza for real!  Look how much Matthew loves it!  And they loved watching the pizza guys working behind him - that's the 900 degree wood fire oven you see over his head.

 Here's Nathan, in heaven, finishing up his piece!

Then we went to listen to a big band concert at the Lake Harriet Bandshell - we love to go up there in the summer for their concerts!  Grandma and Nathan are keeping cool in the shade here, just moments before he breaks her new shades!  Oops, sorry, Grandma.

Monday was our last day to have Grandma in town, and she did what grandmas do best - spoil the kids!  So off we went to Toys R Us, where she got the boys some new trucks and this cute inflatable play house. Matthew is occupied with the trucks (see his bottom thru the house?) and Nathan LOVES the house!

When the novelty of the playhouse wears off, I might give them the balls it came with. 
Maybe.
We'll see, like my mom used to tell me.
And we all know what that means.

P.S. Bonus Pic, to make this blog more fair because it's full of Nathan today.  I made blueberry muffins to give to our new neighbor, but forgot the baking powder, so they were blueberry pucks. (NO, I did not give them to her.)  That was the same day the boys tried spaghetti-o's for the first time, which resulted in this:

And then a bath!

My First Mother's Day

Today was my first Mother's Day!  My guys made it special starting on Saturday...I received two dozen roses from my two little guys!  Thank you, boys, they are beautiful!

Auntie L. is visiting us this week and she was kind enough to sit with the guys on Saturday night so Steve took me on a date.  A real DATE!  You know, the kind where you go to a restaurant with with good food, low lights, nice music and no kids?  (Would've been perfect had the loudest woman in the world not been sitting next to us.  I actually couldn't hear Steve at one point!  When she wanted to order "Bananas Foster for four," the server explained that the dessert takes 30 minutes to make on a slow night, and they were very busy.  Fortunately, her party settled for cheesecake so we enjoyed some quiet time!)  We even shared a fabulous tiramisu for dessert.  Yum!  Thank you, Steve and Aunt L!

 At church today, the mothers in the congregation were recognized and I stood with all the other moms while everyone else clapped.  That was a very strange feeling!  I'm pretty sure I weeblewobbled stood last year, too, but when I was preggers, we sat in the very last row so I didn't have to walk any farther than necessary!  I felt quite self-conscious today, but as I sit here typing, I realize that even in the back row last year, I was probably more noticeable than I was today in the middle of the room!

To celebrate, we took the boys and L. up to St. Paul to go to Punch Neapolitan Pizza  for lunch.  (You might remember how much we love this place from this January post.  Thanks, John, for commenting on that post - it made my day!)  After eating their "regular" lunch, we gave the boys their first Punch pizza crust!  They loved it! 

Then we strolled Grand Avenue, grabbed some ice cream at the Grande Ol' Creamery, and headed home for a fun-filled bath night and the season finale of the Amazing Race! (We never got a call, by the way, so I guess we're not going to be on the show.)  Our favorite team (Jet and Cord, of course!) didn't win, but I'm still happy we had such a wonderful day together. 

And I received one last present, too...Steve put latches on my kitchen cupboards so the munchkins can't empty them or attempt to eat the dishsoap.  Thanks, honey!

To my fellow mom (and mom-to-be) readers, Happy Mother's Day!

8 Months and a Punch Pizza

Yesterday, the boys turned 8 months old.  They are really getting a move on! 

Both boys are doing the "army crawl" all over the place.  I was working in the kitchen yesterday while they were playing in the living room (I can see them as we have an open floor plan) and they both scooched their little bodies around the big island and LOVED the kitchen floor!  I'm guessing their bellies slide better on it - and there are more interesting things there to pick up and put in their mouths.  The loved slapping their hands down on the linoleum...SLAP!  SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!  and playing with my toes.  Now I really have two little ankle-biters!  And I REALLY have to start sweeping that kitchen floor more often!

We got a coupon for free Punch Pizza and decided to celebrate their 8 month birthday with pizza last night.  Okay, I know they can't have pizza yet, but any excuse is a good excuse to go to Punch's.  It's our very favorite restaurant in the Twin Cities area and I haven't been there since Memorial Day weekend.  I know, because my last Punch pizza was two days before the boys were born, and I've been missing it ever since. 

So we packed them up, along with their tasty dinner of homemade applesauce and bananas, and headed up to Minneapolis for our FREE Neapolitan pizza.  This stuff is manna from heaven!  Except I would NEVER complain about it if I had to eat it every day - okay, I might complain about getting fat, but never about having to eat the most delicious pizza on earth.  I mean it!  It tastes just like the pizzas we ate in Italy and that's because these are authentic Neapolitan pizzas...okay, I need to finish this story, but if you're in the Twin Cities and you want the best pizzas on earth, go to Punch.

The place was CROWDED and we had to wait for a table, but the boys just knew that this was uber-important to us, so they were good.  Okay, they were asleep. It was all worth the wait, the feeding of the aforementioned baby food in tight quarters, the rushed order, to get this:

Ahh....heavenly!

Oh, yeah, my readers want to see babies, so here's me and the boys posing.  

Well, it's me and the side of Matthew's head and Nathan. These were taken with hubby's phone, because OF COURSE I forgot the camera.  My memory has been failing me lately, but fortunately I haven't forgotten the boys anywhere!

FYI, we paid for their angelic restaurant behavior with howls of discontent all the way home.  They didn't seem to understand that they'd still get their pizza-flavored breastmilk in the morning.  So I had to promise them pizzas of their own on our next trip.

Happy 8 months, fellas!