Over heard Last night

Last night, Aunt L watched the boys so Steve and I could have a date.  This is the story she told when we returned:

The boys were getting out of bed, so she put them back in a couple of times and told them to stay in bed.  Minutes later, from the kitchen, she heard both of them suddenly screaming at the top of their lungs.  She rushed in to find out what was wrong.  They had gotten out of bed and one of them (probably N because I know he has a fascination with it) turned off the night light, so they were both standing in the pitch black scared out of their minds!  She tucked them back in and told them that the lights would go out again if they got out of bed.

While waiting outside their door afterward, she heard N tell M: "I get out of bed, it get really dark, they don't see me, I get hit by car and get a shot!"

See, when I'm alone with the two of them, trying to get them into whatever building we're about to enter, the first one out usually bolts for the door, which is often across a parking lot.  Or they like to let gravity take them in their cozy coupes to the bottom of the driveway and into the road.  So I tell them, quite often, that they are too little and the cars can't see them, so if a car comes, they could get hit by a car.  If that happens, they have to go to the hospital and get a shot!

Apparently, when N couldn't see anything last night, he assumed NO ONE could see him and he was going to get hit by a car - in his bedroom!  Poor kid!

Zoo Boo

M's big smiles at the new penguin exhibit

 It's getting increasingly difficult to take photos of my two and a half year old fellas if they don't want them taken - which is just about never!  Aunt L and I took the boys to the zoo on Wednesday and try as she might, she had a pretty hard time getting any good photos, good being defined as both their faces looking in the direction of the camera.  Still, we had a fun time running, jumping, and climbing through the exhibits.  I threaten to leave them with the monkeys.  Someday I will.

They love the tortise in the Tropics Trail.

N's turn!

The new Colobus monkeys on display, with their soon to be brother in red.

Aunt L, the guys and a giant bison they petted going in and out.

Watching the dolphin just before seeing the show for the first time.

They loved watching the dolphin do tricks - for about 4 minutes.

Happy Halloween

M put the fireman costume on for trick or treating!  Isn't he handsome?

N didn't believe us that he needed the costume for candy.  Turns out he was right.  He went as a volunteer fireman - as in, I'm not wearing the uniform unless there's really a fire!  He did concede to wear the boots, which paired nicely with his Puma running outfit.

The boys were in love with Halloween!  We trick or treated while it was still light, so we were the first kids on our street out.  We even surprised Mr. Luigi, who didn't have candy, but gave us an even better treat - a jar of his homemade jam, the kind he sells at the Farmer's Market.  Yum. 

N raced from house to house, trying to beat his brother to ring the doorbell.  Our next door neighbor even had special Halloween flashlights just for them!

Mr. J and Ms. V, our next door neighbors they're in love with!

The last house we visited gave the boys quite a scare - there was a motion sensor gravestone at the front door that opened up and screamed when you came near.  (My grandma puts one of those motion sensor Christmas trees in the bathroom during the holidays- it scares the you-know-what right out of you!)  Both boys screamed in terror, but Aunt L and I couldn't keep from laughing.  When our neighbor came to the door, they relaxed a bit, knowing candy was coming, but then she set it off AGAIN! and well, that was the end of trick or treating!  It took the whole walk home and the opening of the magic flashlights to calm them back down.

We talked up the handing out of candy to other kids when it got dark, and I'm glad we got one shot because we had just 7 trick or treaters the whole night!  Good thing we bought 100 pieces of candy, right?  Oh, well, Baby likes Almond Joy.  Here are the fellas passing out candy to one of our guests. 

Where are you, trick or treaters?

Deck the Walls

This was at my mom's last weekend, when my sister and her kids were over.  My four year old nephew came running into the living room where the adults were talking, (and Hubs was being killed on the Wii by our 8 year old nephew):

Day have markers!
Who has markers?
Da babies!  Day marking da wall!
WHAT?!

I've learned from a previous experience that Magic Eraser will take this stuff off in a second, so after snatching the markers away (and they weren't the Crayola Washables, fyi) I cut a Magic Eraser in half and gave them each a piece.  I wasn't going to let them off the hook this time!

My mom, of course, thought this was hysterically funny - read her comment on July's post - and wanted me to take a picture.  I told her, no way!  I don't want them thinking this is cute enough to photograph and give a repeat performance!  (I was pretty hot - not seeing the humor WHAT.SO.EVER.)  So she grabbed her cell phone and snapped this one because I refused.

I guess now, it's kind of funny, but that's only because it came off and now mom has stored the markers somewhere unreachable by two year olds.  (Right, mom?) 

If this happens again, though....

Veggie Victory!

I'm not sure what to file this under: milestones, lightning doesn't strike the same place twice, Festivus Miracle, or it's about time.

Yesterday, M came right up to me at 10 am and said, "I want a bejabow snack."

Say what?

"Beja-bow." 

Bowl of porridge? 

"No. BEJ-A-BOW!"

Vegetable?

"Yes!"

(Stunned pause) Okay!  Let's go!  Upstairs!  Vegetable snack, here we come!

It was grocery day, so I had exactly 2 bags of frozen broccoli and edemame, and 4 whole carrots other than the standard canned-green-beans for vegetables (the only one I can count on them to always eat).  I've never peeled and sliced a carrot so fast in my life!  The boys climbed up into their booster chairs with great anticipation of this vegetable snack, and with a flourish, both boys received a plate with 3 carrot sticks and what would become an unbelievable amount of ranch dressing. I suspected this might wind up being a snack of ranch dressing, where the carrots are used like a fun dip stick, but I figured it was worth a shot.

Look, Mom, I really am chewing it up!

N actually said, "I like carrots!"

Then, they asked for more.  HUH?!  Okay, carrot number two got peeled and sliced and it went down the hatch, too.  My battery was dead or I would have snapped a shot of them covered in ranch dressing, but I was happy to have even one photo of the miracle that happened in our house yesterday.  I didn't care what they ate the rest of the day because they each ate nearly a WHOLE carrot!

I swear on the Holy Bible this is true.  If I were making up miracles, it would have been that they woke up potty trained.

Big Boy Beds, all made up with spaceship sheets, airplane comforters, teddy and lovie.

P.S. In old news, we are all sleeping better this week.  The boys are settling down more quickly in their big boy beds and not banging their heads - much - N put a small dent in the wall jumping yesterday and has a bit of a goose egg to show for it.  They both have blue hue as well since the new TWIN size navy blue spaceship sheets' dye is bleeding, despite a washing.  I'll wash again in a day or two.  In the meantime, we are calling them smurfs.  And I'm sleeping mostly through the night since Baby has lifted off my bladder and out toward my front.  Thank the Lord for maternity pants - and veggie miracles.

Halloween Rehearsal

We spent the weekend visiting our families in Michigan, and since we're not going to be back at Halloween, I thought it would be brilliant to have them trick-or-treat at their grandparents' houses.  Here's how it went:

N hated it, even though I tried the fireman costumes on them earlier in the week and it was fine.  So I showed them how trick or treating goes: you know, wear a costume, knock on the door, say trick or treat, get candy.

Still, it didn't work.  There was no trick or treating happening yesterday.  Somehow, we still have a bag of candy for each of them -thanks, grandmas.  But I'm going to make them earn it.  Or it's mine!  All mine!  Bwahahahahahahahaha!

Delicious Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

Since I just typed this out for a friend, I thought I'd share it with you, too.  I LOVE my crock pot, as you may well know.  This one is from my old "Fix it and Forget it" cookbook.  It's so yummy that you may never buy jarred sauce again.  And it makes your house smell great all day.  And it makes a TON.  Enjoy!

Italian Spaghetti Sauce

2 lbs. sausage or ground beef (next time I'm using Italian)
3 med. onions chopped
2 c. sliced mushrooms
6 garlic cloves minced
2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes undrained
29 oz can tomato sauce
12 oz can tomato paste
2 Tbs. dried basil
1 Tbs. dried oregano
1 Tbs. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1. Cook sausage, onions, mushrooms and garlic in skillet over med. heat for 10 minutes.  Drain. Transfer to slow cooker.
2. Stir in remaining ingredients
3. Cover.  Cook on Low 8-9 hours.