Happy Hilarious Easter!

From our family to yours!  We take time today to celebrate our Lord's sacrifice for us and reflect on the miracle of our salvation in Him.  Normally, Hubs and I would travel back to MI to spend time with both of our families and attend service with them, but this year I'm under strict no-traveling orders.

Good Friday morning, M got straight to work lining up his cars!

Saturday afternoon, dying yellow and blue eggs with Daddy

N and I dyed green and pink eggs

Cheese!

All finished!

Dyeing eggs was a big hit this year!  It was certainly one of the highlights of our weekend.  They were SO into dipping and checking, dipping and checking...and taking ownership of their colors.  If I'd have known that dying them was the trick to getting them to EATING them (duh!) I'd have dyed them months ago!  Dyeing eggs may be the new norm over here.

This morning, we attended and served at our new church, then hosted another toddler-parent family for an informal Easter lunch since taking our children out to eat - on a VERY expensive day to do so, at that - would have been a disaster.  (Or so I thought!)

I knew that we'd be getting family photos taken at church today, so I made a special effort to curl my hair and get the boys dressed in button down shirts, no small task at my stage in the game, not to mention Hubs was already at worship practice so I was flying solo.  I'll skip the part where dressing and pottying N was akin to dressing and pottying a wildcat, to tell you that M was a very good sport about it!  So everything started off great (snicker, snicker).

Here's where I would (and perhaps will) insert the family photo taken of us at church today.  I do so hope it turned out since the last photo we have of all four of us smiling at a camera was taken when the boys were 16 months old (October '10!).  Not to say we haven't tried....

Then I took the boys home only to discover my precooked ham....wasn't.  Yeah, I had less than an hour to cook my ham for 3 hours.  WHO KNEW that they even sold hams that aren't pre-cooked?  Me, I guess. 

Oh, and did I mention that in the "less than an hour" before Hubs and the company arrived that the boys backed up the toilet, had a potty accident, and I totally clogged the garbage disposal with a massive amount of potato peelings? And that when they walked in I was trying desperately to swiffer the week's yogurt off the dining room floor but that the batteries were dead so I was spraying cleaner in one hand and swiffering with the other? 

But the cavalry DID arrive and us four adults were able to tame the three toddlers and get dinner on the table at 1:00 as planned....HAMBURGERS with salad, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and King's Hawaiian rolls.  It was quite delicious, just not exactly  what I had in mind when I planned it.  They boys ate the rolls and the eggs, which is probably what they would have eaten even if my ham had turned out gloriously.

There was about an hour of peace as the boys napped, we finally got to actually talk  to our guests, watch the Master's and eat a dessert that I didn't screw up (okay, I did yesterday, but it turned out today!).  (Insert ham story)  Oh yeah, speaking of gloriously....I still cooked the ham according to its package directions and estimated a 3.5 hour cooking time based on its weight and the minutes directed for each pound, so that we could still eat ham for our evening meal and have leftovers.  I should have gone upstairs when our friend said, "I smell bacon," as that was yet another red flag that something not quite right is going on with this ham again.  But I waited another half hour until I heard the timer, only to discover...a ham carcass.

I gasped, then laughed, then brought my friend up to see the remains.  Normally I think I can hold my own in the kitchen but not today, not this holiday, not at 36+ weeks pregnant!  We all had a good laugh and the poor ham got unceremoniously trashed later in the evening, while I was waiting for the Liquid Plumr to work on the garbage disposal.

But that's not all, folks......................

We found our friends' son awake in the pack and play in our room, rifling through a dresser drawer he could reach.  At first it appeared he was only trying on my bracelets, but about an  hour after they left, Hubs discovered that the kid ate an ENTIRE tube of Chapstick!  I texted her just 30 minutes before she found out what that does to the diaper on the other end.

FINALLY, the Easter Bunny came for the boys!  Good thing he brought candy, because they didn't give a rip about anything else!  The eggs were scattered about and they had a good time finding them, scarfing the jellybeans, then repeating.  This year we tried to get them to at least put the eggs in their basket, despite the eggs being empty.  They sort of got it.  Here, take a look:

Candy!

Jelly beans!

Look, Easter Bunny brought you sunglasses, too.

I don't care!  More candy!

I found another one!

N puts all his eggs in one basket.

Theyr'e sharing!  Glad Hubs snapped a pic!

Taking a break in the hallway where they found a stash

Cleaning up the last of the eggs

It was a rather unusual, somewhat hilarious and definitely memorable Easter for us!  Hope you all had a good time where you were with good food, good company, and lots of laughs.  We did.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On!

Remember that song?  It reminds me of high school because that was the theme song for our end of the year...thing.  Talent show?  Is that what it was?  I wonder if they still do "Celebration"?  My sister graduated to that tune this week, but before I tell you about that, the boys have been very busy...and it's not Christmas yet!!

This weekend, we took the boys to see Santa at the Mall of America.  It didn't turn out exactly how we expected, but what does?  We got to eat free Cinnabon rolls and hear an elf read a story and stick stickers all over a coloring page, which was probably better than actually sitting on Santa's lap!

Yum!  N gobbles up the Cinnabon.

With our friends coloring and listening to the story.

M's blond head running by Santa...as close as we got!

Listening to the elf story on Daddy's lap is more like it!

Woah!  Roller coasters!  Can we go, Daddy?  Please?

M and Aunt L waiting while Daddy bought the ride tokens.

"Big Rigs," their favorite ride!  Daddy and M in red, Aunt L and N in blue.

Even though we generally avoid the MOA in December, it was a fun outing because we started early in the day and didn't actually shop.  It was so fun to hang out with our friends and cruise the mall - the boys gawk and gawk, taking it all in!  They even behaved well at the restaurant for lunch despite it not being fast food! 

Daddy and Aunt L took the boys to Macy's holdiay display in Downtown Minneapolis when I went to watch my sister graduate nursing school on Tuesday night.  While they enjoyed the display, they again elected to NOT see Santa, despite hearing that he's the best Santa in all the world.  Maybe next year.

Daddy said they were "mesmerized" by the singing trees!

N was so enamored with his fun day with Daddy and Aunt L on Tuesday, he refused to nap, then passed out in Daddy's arms right after dinner.  So sweet. 

Then I'm told he gave them trouble at bedtime!  Haha, they were well taken care of and I got to see my baby sister accomplish her dream of finishing nursing school!  Congratulations!  Love you and see you again next week, when you'll be employed!  I'm believing she'll make you and offer you can't refuse - way to rock that interview! 

Me and my baby sis M at her "pinning ceremony" Tuesday night, right before she danced down the aisle!

Come on and Celebrate!

Need For Speed

Do Boy Moms die sooner than Girl Moms? I found myself wondering as I drove home from the most nerve-racking playdate I've attended yet.  A twin mom friend oraganized a playdate for us moms of twin two year olds at a park, so I went, based on my boys' recent good behavior at our neighborhood playground.

I almost turned around when I saw the Valleyfair/Cedar Point/Six Flags/Disneyland playground.  Had I not given my word I'd be there and driven a half hour to see my friends, I would have.  The few snapshots I was able to take will not do this park justice.  There were HUNDREDS of kids RUNNING at BREAKNECK speed, DOZENS of (very calm) moms milling about, water fountains spraying water onto the acre-sized playset in the the stiff wind that nearly blew us away. 

What had I gotten myself into?

The boys googled the playground like it really was Disneyland because it could have been - it was the biggest park they'd ever seen - as I packed up the stroller with our diaper backpack, bag o' water clothes, and lunch.  It took a few minutes to find my friends, amongst what was obviously another mom's group gathering (based on the giant sign that said APPLE VALLEY MOM'S GROUP, of which none of us 7 moms and 15 kids belonged).  

They couldn't get out of the stroller fast enough to join the throng of children in the labyrinth.  I tried greeting my friends while surveying the land for the best lifeguard position, so as to scan the area for my (thankfully) red-clad children.  My boys chose to divide and conquer, each darting a different direction, climbing heights I'm afraid to mention, lest you think I'm a careless mom.  My heart was racing as giant 8 year olds tore about, leaping over the 14 two year olds scrambling beneath them.  I moved to the center of the play system when the fellas chose to climb its opposite side, so I could better watch my children tumble down the dark side of the moon keep an eye on them.  I'm sure my blood pressure would have been sky high had you taken it between 10:30-11:30 this morning.

I tried to small talk with my twin mom friends, whose obedient girl-girl and boy-girl twins played together, buddy-style, even posing for adorable pictures through the bars.  Only one other mom there had boy-boy twins, and I know she understands what I'm saying - one of hers went MIA, she parked the known boy with our gaggle during snack/lunch time, and found the missing one wandering the parking lot! 

N attempting escape in the bottom left

We kept up a frantic pace for about a half hour, ate a picnic lunch (kind of) and dove back into the playground with a Need for Speed.  They found the fastest, steepest slide on the system - nearly straight down, and slick with the spray from the water fountains nearby. (M was a bit unhappy with me that I wouldn't let him in the sprinklers, so I think that's why he chose this one - so he could still get wet and I would, too, standing nearby.)  They couldn't get up the stairs, across the bridge, and down the slide fast enough.  Over and over and over again.   I told myself that at least they're working together on the same side of the structure, which was better to keep an eye on them than their previous tactic, Disappear Into The Tube Slides With Lots Of Big Kids.

A little before noon, there were signs of slowing down, and I knew I had to make a hasty retreat before the puppet wagon arrived (for which the Well Behaved Twins got to stay) and I missed my window of opportunity to beat it home and get them in bed before they fell asleep.  Because if they fell asleep on the ride home, just 30 minutes,  I'd have two grouchy two year olds by 5 pm because they didn't get a "real" nap, a risk I'm not willing to take today. 

I also wanted to get out of there before Anything happened.  Anything being, well, anything.  When the fellas get tired, Anything can happen, which is usually Something Not Good. 

So we left, and as I listed to the Veggie Tales DVD entertaining my very exhausted boys to keep them awake, I wondered if Boy Moms die sooner than Girl Moms.  If I were to reflect on the life expectancy of the women in my family, who primarily have birthed girls for the last 100 years, I'd say, yes, Girl Moms live longer.  Because none of my Girl Mom friends looked like they were about to have a heart attack today.  Just me and the other twin boy mom. 

Berry Sweet

Our Fun Family Fourth of July was berry sweet!  Hubs and I took the boys strawberry picking to a nearby farm that we've been wanting to visit for years.  It was the first time for all of us, so we weren't sure how it was going to go, but it was a success! 

Mama and her berry sweet boys

Our little berry farmers

N actually picked some for the basket, M ate more than he contributed, and we all picked about 6 quarts of berries in less than a half hour.  The boys had a blast and so did we!  On the other hand, I had 6 quarts of berries when we got home yesterday, so I spend a good portion of the afternoon hulling, cleaning, freezing, and baking.  I'm glad I did because I found SEVERAL half-eaten berries in there that would have spoiled the whole batch.  I tried my hand at Strawberry Mousse Pie with Graham Cracker Crust. 

To eat or not to eat, that is the question

Here's the dessert in question!

It tasted as good as it looks, but to be accurate, I should call it Strawberry Mousse Pudding because it didn't set!  Our sons and guests were gracious recipients and gobbled up the mess, leaving behind no evidence that I created such a debacle.  My Food Network dreams have been dashed.  I'm lowering my expectations to putting myself through Culinary Home School.  (Ha!  If it hadn't been done already, maybe I would blog about that!) 

We are making some new friends in our new town, a couple who will be our new pastors when Canvas Church is launched in September.  They've got little ones and out of state families just like us, so we celebrated the Fourth together in our backyard, family-style.

Hubs and PJ showing the kiddies how to do sparklers

N FREAKED when we lit a couple of fireworks!

He did, however, enjoy the marshmallows...several times!

We grilled, the kiddies played in the shark pool (and no one peed), for the first time ever, we built a campfire at 6:00 so the kids could see it (and I could nearly die of a heart attack trying to keep them away from it) and have roasted marshmallows, and the daddies showed the kids how to do sparklers because even the oldest at 8 wouldn't touch them (thank goodness!) We lit a handful of fireworks that our neighbor brought over to show the kids, which was highly entertaining for all (except one)!  M and N barely made it through all of that and passed out at 8, but the older ones stayed up to watch the neighbor's and city's fireworks at 10.  We made some great memories singing our own patriotic songs in the middle of the road (because the trees were in the way otherwise!).  A great time was had by all. 

Handsome hubby practicing fire safety

Wedding Pics

Here we are, all dressed up and ready to party!

My sis reads the scripture passage

My brother in law, the Music Man

What my sons were doing while my friends recited their vows

My parents are all smiles, dining with the grandkids at the reception

Uncle J, Aunt L, and my littlest niece just 2 months old

K the bride dances with her daddy

How we celebrated most of the reception: outside!  So we tried to take a photo on the rare occasion all 4 of us dressed up.  How do you think it went?

No, you are not a mountain goat!

Whew, that was close! 

Three out of four smiles is pretty good, don't you think?

Hey, there, photographer!

Bro, that guy with the camera makes me nervous

Even if it were straight, still it's not The One.  You know, The Christmas Card photo you try to get all year? 

This is more like it!  Way more fun!

Me and the beautiful bride

Giving K high fives goodbye.

Attending a wedding with two toddlers is something that everyone should do once in their lifetime.  I can check it off the list now!  Great fun was had by all, especially when it was time to eat cake - if you look closely, you can probably see it all over our clothes (which reminds me I need to take some things out of the washer)!  Congratulations and best wishes, K and J!  We love you!

The Newlyweds