Auntie Da

My baby sister, Burt, had her alien last night. He was 7lbs 4oz and is apparently, a vamipire. Black hair and white skin. Burt had a little bit of a rough go for a little bit there - but is doing fine now. Baby is doing fine and I'll post pictures as soon as I get some.

Yay! I'm now Auntie Da.

Congrats Burt. I wish I could be there.

Crisis Averted.

I Just want to say that I am writing this at 6am EST and have been up for 1 hour and 15 minutes. I have worked out, chugged water, and after I post this - I will go shower and get dressed. All before sunrise. For a "non-morning person" - that's pretty good.

Yesterday J cubed came to my abode for some splash time at the pool. Jill for some, unkown, crazy reason - bought Joey a pair of Crocs.

Yesterday my son fell in love. Not with Joey you sickos - they're cousins! With those durn crocs.

For those who don't know this - I abhor them. I love that schools, hospitals (namely the one I work at) and other establishments are starting to restrict their usage. I hate crocs.

Braxton was dying for a pair yesterday. (probably still is - but he's asleep, so he can't do much about it.) Kieran also wanted a pair. Mostly because he could put them on and take them off all by himself. In a moment of weakness I told the boys "maybe we can get you a pair, we'll ask your dad."

All the way up until we picked up Mark the boys thought they were getting crocs. Mark asked if Braxton is allowed to wear crocs to school. After informing him that, no, he is not - My wonderful, loving, glorious husband put the cabosh on the croc situation.

Phew.

Gettin' Wet with Kristin and Koehn.

Kristin and I have been friends for a while now - (thanks bunko ladies) - but today was the first day we got our kids together.

There was some jumping... (ok for the B-rox it was mostly just sort of stepping out with two feet...)

Some practicing for future wet t-shirt contests...

There was a frog.Some touching of the frog. And a farewell to the frog. After I (hopefully) saved his life.

There was some "chase the little guy". {they moved too quickly to catch them decently in the frame. Who moves quickly through water? apparently three year olds.}Some mad posing. (or a mad game of good guys - bad guys. I'm pretty sure they targeted Kenny as the bad guy)

And some chocolate cupcakes.

I think they all hit it off. Way fun.

Teddy Moose and Teddy Bear.

So named by Braxton.

We meant to get Kieran a moose while we were at the Great Wolf Lodge - because he was totally in love with the talking one in the lobby, but we spaced it. Gramma and Pa Hat to the rescue!!! And Braxton got a bear out of the deal.

Going in for a kiss, eh.

Braxton absolutely loves his bear.

Tuning in for "Peep and the Big Wide World" with the Teddy's.

Upgrade of an old favorite.

I love dreamsicles. (For those of you who have seen my first floor - you should know this...)

Not too long ago my cousin told me about Make it and Love it blog.

While perusing for her uber-delish cole slaw recipe (actually called cilantro-lime slaw) I found this.

It's way too awesome not too post. It's an update on the classic dreamsicle:

3 cu. Orange Sherbet

1 pkg. Cream Cheese

14 oz (one can) sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cu. Orange Juice

8 oz cool whip

:Line 9x5 loaf pan with foil. Spread sherbet on bottom of pan and freeze 10 min.

While sherbet is re-chilling:

Beat cream cheese until creamy. (I know right? That is how the recipe said it) Gradually add milk and OJ until smooth and blended. Gently stir in cool whip.

Freeze.

When frozen solid (we got impatient and ended up with liquid centers to the white part) flip onto plate - and then remove foil. Slice and serve. YUM!!!

**My version has 3 cups vs. her version having two. We made it her way - and all agreed there needed to be a more even ratio of sherbet to creamy stuff. **

Sh@t!

The boys and I headed up to "Greater DC Area North of us" to visit with Jill, Joey and Jackson.
After a while, the children decided they were hungry - and were driving us crazy inside the house, so we decided to take them to the Golden Arches with a playplace.

Order food, then unleash all their energy on the plastic tubes and nets that make up a McDonald's Playplace. Screaming, running, jumping - whatever. We didn't care. When the other moms gave dirty looks? Still. Didn't. Care.

Jill and I had a good time chatting (seriously Jill, two months is too long) about our worst bathroom experiences - hers was a dirty bathroom in Paris, mine was being accosted by a mentally unstable woman in one.

Aside from the fact that I had changed four poopy diapers that morning things were going well. Right up until the time we started getting ready to leave.

Braxton: "I pooped my pants."
Me: "Oh Shit."

Little did I know how true those words would be. It was EVERYWHERE.
I pulled off his shorts and 'roos, which of course, only made things worse.
I ran out of wipes after about one calf. Because Kieran had had four poopy diapers this morning.
There were no paper towels because they only had that stupid blower thing.
Tried toilet paper. Fail.
My only options were to carry him out to the car (uhh, have I mentioned that it's brand new?) or to stand him in the sink and bath him.
I stood my son in the Playplace restroom at McDonalds and bathed him.

I now have a new worst bathroom experience ever.

Mission: Hot Momma!

Friday night Mrs. Wookie arrived in her sporty blue car to my casa.

We immediately hit the road and went and saw a chic flic. Julie and Julia. Four thumbs up. Probably even a couple of toes.

Saturday morning came a little too soon for my taste, but we fixed that with a heaping plate of french toast. Yum.

Then, Mission: Hot Momma, commenced.

The background: Daddy McD gives Mommy McD a "post baby body clothes allowance"

The Players: Mommy McD, Mrs. Wookie (aka my own personal Tim Gunn)

The Goal: Buy lots of stuff (and not go over budget)

Debrief:
*3 pairs of pants
*2 jackets
*2 pairs of shoes
*17 shirts
*some 'roos
*accessories
*1 dress
***$150 under budget***

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you want some picture documentation take a look at Mrs. Wookie's blog.

Morning News.

AUNT BOP IS HERE AUNT BOP IS HERE AUNT BOP IS HERE!!!!!!

Mrs. Wookie (to our family, Aunt Bop) made it safely to our casa last night.

We're glad you're here. Even if we aren't really going to a pumpkin patch.

Translation.

So, the chicken nugget thing is still a mystery - but I did come upon the answer to the noodle comment.

After much pondering I figured that the noodles are like boats that live in a bag because you put noodles in the water like you do boats. Noodles also come in bags. Braxton later confirmed this theory when he explained it to his dad.

Genius.

Say Again?

Two moments that really need to be recorded before they leave my brain.


*Yesterday during our drive Braxton requested to hold the Mickey D's chicken McNugget box.

His reasoning: "My chicken nuggets really love being in their box. It makes them soooo happy."

Ok...

Today during lunch Braxton informs me that "Noodles are like little ships living in a bag."

I'll say what we're all thinking - "huh?"

All the other stuff.

Here is the hodgepodge mishmash of all the other cool stuff from our trip to the fall of Niagra. (I must not have had enough coffee 'cuz that right there was hilarious.)Nikola Tesla. In the Niagra Falls National Park. Can you say random? The Beauty and the Beast. Forbidden Love.The baby was so cute I could hardly stand it. It was really hard not to reach out and try to pet it.Mark, Braxton and I waiting to get 'nectar' so the Lorikeets would land on us. Braxton was all sorts of gung ho until the birds started landing on his daddy. Then it was pretty much "get me the hell out of here". I have a picture I'll scan in and post later. The Kenny bird.Purple nurple anyone?

Canadians really step it out across the cross walk. Look at this guy - he's nearly doing the splits! Does anybody else see the humor in this? (Yes, this was taken on the Canadian side.)The room for the boys in our hotel room at the Great Wolf Lodge. If you have children I really think you should look and see if there is one near where you'll be vacationing. As my my mother in law put it - "What more could you want out of a family vacation destination? Pitcher sized margaritas and a talking moose!" Plus an indoor waterpark, story time every night, an arcade, mini-putt putt golf and the coolest rooms ever. And the biggest lawn chair you'll ever see.

The Adult Night.

Mark's Mom and Dad rented the two of us a hotel for a night so we could have a date night away from our trolls. It was amazing. Again - a distinct lack of picturage. Sorry.

I bought my first LBD, and let me tell you I looked 'slammin'. (If nobody gets that reference I'll be very, very sad.) The husband was lookin' pretty sexy too. We had no pictures taken of us during this moment of "looking awesomeness" - so you'll have to take my word on it.

We walked around the touristy area of Niagra Falls called Lundy's Lane - or was it Clifton Hill? Whatever it was it was full of wax museums, gentlemens clubs, and Starbucks. We decided to go into a wax museum. The people were waxy. Laughed like crazy when the husband screamed like a girl in the horror section. There is a part of it dedicated to the movie 'Alien', and you round a corner and they have a life size replica of one waiting for you. Great moment.

We ate an extravagant dinner, over-looking the falls, that took us two and a half hours to complete. Amazing.

Then we took our special "penthouse" elevator up to our room.

This was taken the next morning - but shows the the "penthouse elevator" and how freaking tiny it was. We had to have a special key and everything. Fancy schmancy!

The hotel we stayed in. The room right under the clock? Yup, that was our room. 30th floor. Awesome.

Talk about a room with a view! (daytime version)

PM version. They use big gigantoid LED lights to light up the falls at night. The colors are always changing and I spent the entire hour that we waited for the fireworks taking pictures. Mark spent the hour coming up with different "codes" for what the colors meant.

This I believe he told me meant "SOS - we're out of bacon". A throwback to the seventies? (loved the tie-dye)Mark's favorite shot. He was enthralled by the rapids above the falls. He also apparently loves how the slow shutter speed makes them all long or whatever. The American falls lit up RW&B. Very patriotic. About two minutes after this a crazy storm jumped on top of us and we no longer had visibility out of our window. Thus ending the bloggable portion of the evening. :0

The next moring we went to breakfast.

We weren't amused by the $20 usd pancakes Ihop was offering. We so should have gone to the $6.99 breakfast buffet.

Thanks Peggy and Rickey - for one of the best nights EVER. We loved it.

Oh Canada.

I got home yesterday, and uploaded my pictures, and realized I slacked. I spent more time enjoying the vacation - and less taking pictures. Good for me, bad for the blogosphere. So, I'll give you a rundown, and include pictures when appropriate.

After 12,000 hours of driving we crossed the border, met up with Mark's parents and then we parked the cars so we could walk across the border the other way... No joke. Mark and I spent two hours in line at the Canadialand border crossing so that we could park our car and walk back to the American side. It turns out that Canadians don't have an awesome national park dedicated to the falls. The IL's thought it would be best to break us in from that side.

On the walk across I learned that Canadians count the leaves on their trees. And apparently use a different system for numbering than America.

This was taken at the halfway point on the bridge back to America.

Me: "HOLY COW LOOK AT HOW AWESOME AND BEAUTIFUL AND HUGE THEY ARE."

The husband: "I thought they would be taller."

Saw a rainbow. Was stoked. (How can you not love a rainbow - seriously?)
Uploaded the picture and saw a faint second rainbow above it. Doubly stoked.

Got (sort of) a family picture.
Kenny was cashed out in the front and B-rox was too busy with his dippin' dots to get out. We're all technically in the same frame. That's what counts.

Had a stranger take our picture- (Thanks stranger guy)- except he didn't include any of the falls but the mist coming off of them... That's us.

This concludes the first post of the Fall of Niagra. I promise - there's more to come.

Weeeeeee'ree Baaaack!

After about 1700 hours in the car we made it to and from Canadialand. I'll post mucho more on this after I've finished laundry.
The moose and the mountie checkin out some fine lady, eh.

I Want You!

This is how a cool kid rolls:
Version B: This is what the bastard child of Uncle Sam and Mr. T would look like.

'Bye Mama

Last night we had to make a last minute stop at the grocery store to pick up a few things. When we got out we had each of the boys carry a bag into the house. We walked in, then decided to go straight through the house and out the front door to the check the mail. Kieran didn't put his bag down. (I gave up after he started screaming when I tried to get him to put it down - some things just aren't worth it)

This is him dragging his bag all the way down to the mail box. Every couple of steps he would turn around and say "bye mama". 16 years until he does that for real...

I know famous people.

Sort of. My bestest (Mrs. Wookie) got me hooked on a blog of a random stranger many moons ago. Marrying the Navy, is quite entertaining. I pretend that I know her so I don't feel weird about stalking strangers...

Anyway, Crazy Mrs. Wookie (she's a redhead, folks) calls me up last night during my macaroni and cheese dinner (that stuff is worth a blog post all on its own - so we'll save that for another day) to tell me she's seen Mugs' husband whose currently quasi-deployed to the other side of the nation.

I wake up this morning to all sorts of chatter about this event, reader of the year award, and some blogosphere hi-5's.

In my pre-coffee haze all I could think was "It's a small world after all..." Well - that and "how long should I wait before I eat more mac and cheese?"

Best dad in the world.

About an hour before Mark departed yesterday he helped Kieran out with a "project".
A+ for daddy!