Who's Your Daddy?

For some reason, Will has taken to calling Cort, well, "Cort." Except it sounds more like "Cuht."

As in, he loves to identify our cars (he really loves cars right now). He points at them: "Mommy car. Cuht car."

As in, last night during the boys' t-ball game when Cort was coaching and Will couldn't go on the field, he kept whining, "Cuht, Cuht, Cuht, Cuht, CUHT!!"

As in last night when we were putting them to bed we had this "conversation" with him:

"Say night night Mommy."

"Night night Mommy."

"Say night night Nonny."

"Night night Nonny."

"Say night night Daddy."

"Night night Cuht."

Makes My Monday

Often, it's the little things that make my day. Like the fact that I just realized that now that Will and Helen are two, I can quit buying whole milk. I am hoping that this means that instead of buying six gallons a week (three whole and three 1%), we can manage on just five gallons of 1%. Progress, and simplicity. It makes my Monday.

Graduates

The boys graduated from Cathedral House on Friday. I'm not sure when they started have graduations for preschool, but nevertheless it was cute. Their class performed the pledge of allegiance (to the Texas and U.S. flags) and a few songs, all while decked out in caps and gowns. Then each child was introduced, and the elementary school they will be attending was announced.

Afterwards there was cake (not so great for us, since we are on the South Beach diet right now, and not so great for them, since it spoiled their lunch, but oh well). And they were "dismissed" at 12:30. Well, technically they could stay--it's a daycare, after all--but they put up a notice saying that none of the kids were planning on staying, "so please let us know if your plans have changed and your child will be staying." In other words, if you are going to be the only parents who leave their kid all alone in class while everyone else takes their kid out to celebrate, um, okay we'll take them.

As a result, we took the boys to lunch at the Downtown Aquarium, where we spent way too much money for a mediocre lunch they hardly ate, but the boys enjoyed the aquarium fish a lot more than I anticipated (and apparently, they can identify sharks, stingrays, and eels). Then Cort returned to work, and I took them to the newly renovated Children's Museum. The renovations are really fabulous, and we had a great time. We almost let the time get away from us and forgot to pick up Will and Helen!

So it was a great day, and we are very proud of our boys. It was a touch poignant too. But then we remembered that they are right back at the same school on Monday, so we got over any emotional aspect pretty quick.

Joseph and Charlie in the graduation processional

The Cathedral House graduating class of 2009

Charlie, as he was introduced and then shook his teacher's hand

Joseph, as he was introduced and then shook his teacher's hand

Our two proud (and very cute) graduates

And a closeup, just because they're that cute

Proud parents with the graduates

The boys with their buddy Aidan

Another family pic, this time with just Mom

The boys with their teacher, Ms. Sherry

The boys with another of their teachers, Ms. Tanzie

The boys with Ms. Myriam, the teacher they have the biggest crush on

The boys with Ms. Teri, the director of the school

Way back When-esday

I needed this picture today for motivation. This was taken last year during our family vacation in the Caymans. Today, we start back on the South Beach diet, phase one. Two weeks on phase one, two months on phase two. And then, we'll be back in the Caymans! Yippee!

Mother's Day weekend at Lost Pines

We spent a long Mother's Day weekend at the Lost Pines resort in Bastrop, Texas. It's a great place for a family vacation. We spent much of our time at the pool (meaning either the baby pool, the water plume area, the "big" pool - which is shallow throughout, the lazy river, or the 2-story water slide that both the boys surprised us by doing over and over and over). The kids also ran around a LOT, and as always it was nice seeing them play together. The boys enjoyed some impromptu soccer and baseball games, and the little ones enjoyed the play structure and slide. We also had a nice, albeit too expensive, Mother's Day brunch, and the kids roasted marshmallows each night and had s'mores. And most importantly, it was just nice and relaxing (okay, relatively speaking - four small kids on vacation is more relaxing than four small kids during the daily grind, at least).

Basically, as Cort observed, Lost Pines seems to be just a place where parents can take their kids and drink. But hey, that in and of itself is a pretty good concept, and we had a great time.

Gransan and Mom with the kids on Mother's Day - four kiddos that us moms are very proud of!

Birthday celebration

Poor second children. Especially when they are actually the third and fourth children. Meaning that they really don't have any chance to have an actual birthday party.

We celebrated Will and Helen's birthday by going out for Mexican food. So it wasn't much different than any other weekend night.

Gransan did, however, splurge for a small cake from Dacapo's. When we got home, we plopped Will and Helen down on the kitchen counter and sang "Happy Birthday."

Chocolate birthday cake, since Gransan was paying

"Happy You You!"


The birthday boy is all smiles


Birthday girl digging in

We also opened presents. Oddly, even though neither Will nor Helen has ever been to an actual birthday party to my knowledge (they were sick for the boys' party, and they haven't been able to attend any of their classmates' parties yet because the boys' t-ball games have conflicted), they seem to know what it's all about. The mere sight of a birthday cake, and they start saying "Happy You You!" (or, as Will even more adorably says, "Happy Woo Woo!"). And as soon as we brought out the presents, Helen started screeching, "Presents! I want presents!" We asked her if she knew who the presents were for and she exclaimed, "Yes! Joe Joe and Charlie!" So that's when we remembered that even though they missed the boys' party, they watched them open presents, so I guess that's where they learned about that aspect.

Joe giving Helen a lesson on how to open birthday presents


And Charlie showing Will the present-opening ropes


Helen checking out the pink car that Joseph got her (he got Will a dinosaur)


Charlie showing Helen how to use the baseball glove he got her (he also got Will a glove)


Now that they've got the hang of things, they're looking for more presents (they also got new backpacks from Gransan and Grandad, and a puzzle toy from Mom)


And they got their own little basketball goal from Dad, which Helen wore as a necklace for awhile


Then Dad put it on the fence at just their height and tried to show them how to shoot it


Helen finally got it - slam dunk!

All in all, not a fancy birthday, but a very enjoyable evening nonetheless. Happy birthday Will and Helen!

Two Years Old!

Today, at 8:43 and 8:45am, respectively, Will and Helen turned TWO years old! I guess we are going to have to quit referring to them as "the babies."

Will (left) and Helen (right) in the nursery shortly after birth

Right up until the moment they were born, I found it hard to fathom that we were going to have FOUR kids. From the moment they were born forward, I couldn't fathom it any other way.

Without Will, we would never have known how utterly, utterly sweet a child can be. We also would have never known how a baby can cry constantly, scream when put in a car seat (also constantly, for well over a year), scream during every meal (not just refuse to eat, which he does, but scream and cry while refusing), make you worry your head off, yet STILL you love him so, so much, and those smiles - which thankfully are prevalent now - melt your heart.

Without Helen . . . well, where in the world would we be without Helen? We would never have known the spirit, spunk, and independence that our genes apparently - somewhere - contain. It is a vast understatement to say that our lives would not be the same without Helen. We would not have a daughter, yes, but more importantly we would not have that unique personality -- by far the family's strongest personality -- that fits within, yet somewhat rules, the rest of us. She tests us -- oh, she tests us -- but she brings us unimaginable joy, fun, pride, and laughter at the same time.

We also would not have known what wonderful big brothers Charlie and Joseph are. Being twins themselves, they each have always been someone's sibling. But being a big brother is different, and they truly excel at it.

And undoubtedly, we wouldn't have known, as parents, that we are capable of the energy, organizational skills, and persistence that raising four kids, three years apart in age, takes. Or that we would enjoy it so much. And are capable of having so, so much love for all of them.

In short, without Will and Helen, we would not have known what it is to be our family.

Happy 2nd birthday to Will and Helen. Or as Helen would say, "Happy Birthday You You!!"

Work-Life Balance, Again

I'm on a conference call.

From home.

Helen is playing the harmonica.

Loudly.

Other than that, I have everything under control

That's what I heard as the boys and I came upstairs this evening. Actually, the first thing I heard was "HELP!" Then we rounded the corner, and I heard "Stop! Don't walk in here!" I saw Cort crouched inside the bathroom, one hand holding Will's hand, and one hand holding Helen's hand. Both Will and Helen were dripping wet. That's when he said, "Helen pooped in the tub, and Will peed on the floor. But other than that, I have everything under control."

Makes My Monday

Today was a beautiful day. Warm and sunny, but not yet sweltering. Hey, it's Houston - there won't be many more days like this left.

So I picked up the kids and took them to the park. I pushed all four of them -- at the same time -- on the swings (what a workout - we've got to teach the boys how to swing themselves!). I watched them climb and slide and dig in the rocks. I brought the boys' baseball gloves but no balls, and they forgave me anyway. I conducted relay races -- Charlie and Will versus Joseph and Helen. (The teams were critical - Charlie is much faster than Joe, but Helen runs while Will ambles. So the Joe/Helen team won, but Charlie was happy because he beat Joe, and Will didn't give a hoot.) I brought some food and we had a picnic dinner.

This is the reason that I work part time, despite the fact that we have two mortgages. Many things didn't get done today -- plans for Will and Helen's upcoming birthday, arrangements for our upcoming weekend trip, Mother's Day presents, several other errands. It's almost midnight and I still have to pay the bills I was planning to pay this afternoon. But I had a great afternoon with my kids, and that makes my Monday.

Helen getting in a little sliding and a little static!

Charlie climbing up for some fun

Joe stopping for an obligatory pose

Helen, Charlie, and Joseph on the tire swing - love seeing them playing together!

Will and his pear - he held it in his hand the WHOLE time