The Week In Review

There were several things that I wanted to blog about this week, but I never got around to it. So I'm just going to inundate you with bloggy goodness, and give you 2-3 posts smashed into one. I know, you're so excited you can hardly stand it. So fasten your seat belts, folks, and get ready for the Reader's Digest condensed version of our week.....

First, I have to brag on my Mason. I had a conference with his teacher on Tuesday, and it was AWESOME!!! You may remember that scholarly pursuits haven't always been Mason's strong suit. As smart as he is, he still struggles with focus and motivation. But lately, he's made great strides with that. His teacher said he's showing such maturity, and that his work is truly starting to reflect his ability. She said that my smart baby sets the bar high for his classmates and is a great role model!! (I was concerned for a moment there that she was talking about the right child. There is another Mason in his class, but she swears it's mine!)

Mason apparently really likes math- a skill that certainly didn't come from me! He likes numbers, and he enjoys being challenged by math. I was starting to question if this math-lover had been switched at birth when Miss Anne mentioned that he's a fantastic reader. (Whew, he is mine!) She said that he's a very expressive reader, and that he loves non-fiction. This came as a surprise to me. He's never mentioned it, and I'm strictly fiction (with a biography thrown in here and there) so I always got him fiction books from the library. Well, after hearing that helpful hint, I went straight to the library and got him a stack on non-fiction books in topics I know he likes. My smarty-pants read them all as soon as he got home, and I had to take him back to the library after dinner to check out more!

Okay, enough bragging. But seriously, I was soooooo proud. Speaking as a mom and as a former teacher, I thought my heart might burst with pride and joy. As parents, Matt and I make PLENTY of mistakes, but here's solid proof that we're doing something right!

Part 2- the twins' preschool Easter party.

Oh lord, that was an adventure. My beloved three hours of kid-free time was drastically reduced by the preschool Easter egg hunt/party. By the time I got home after dropping them off, I had basically an hour before I had to head back to school. Boo!!!! I thought about being a lame mom and skipping it, but no, I went. Had I known what was in store for me, I would have brought reinforcements.

I figured the egg hunt would be on the playground, an enclosed area, and would be no big deal. Alas, I was wrong. Other groups were using the playground, so their class egg hunt was in an open area bordered by a parking lot and a steep ravine. It took Will approximately 3 minutes to discover the edge of the ravine (I know, he must be slipping. Danger Mouse would usually discover something like that in less than 30 seconds!) So I alternated between helping them find eggs and keeping them from tumbling down the hill and/or dashing into the parking lot. Sigh....

The classroom party was actually fine. There was food, so they were occupied. I even got a full five minutes to talk to another mom!! The trouble came when we were leaving. The school's director had brought her pet bunny. All the kids were fascinated, and loved petting the bunny through the bars of the cage. But at the end of the day, Miss Cheryl let the bunny out.

That poor bunny was swarmed by toddlers. The rabbit did amazingly well. Seriously, I think she tranquilized that thing, because it was incredibly calm in the face of preschooler madness. My boys loved petting the bunny- for about three minutes. Then they wanted to climb on the cage, play with the bunny's water bottle, carry the bowl of water to the bunny and try to make him drink it.... All you could hear was, "No Will! Stop, Hays! Put that back!!!" I pretty much had to drag them out kicking and screaming, but we survived. And more importantly, so did the bunny.

Part 3- Easter

Today was Easter. I would have pictures, but alas, my camera is messed up. We had a VERY low-key day. We had a kind offer from Matt's mom to have Easter dinner at her house, but I wasn't up to attempting to make the kids behave like humans, so we declined and I made Easter dinner at home. It's a good thing I did, because after a morning of watching a Sesame Street video where kids are encouraged to eat like Cookie Monster, that's what my twins did with their lunch. Yeah, it was as gross as you'd imagine, so I'm glad we didn't subject anyone else to that horror.

We managed to make it out to my aunt's house this afternoon. My cousins and their twins are visiting, so we got all the kids together for an egg hunt and outdoor fun. They all had a really good time, and completely wore themselves out. All in all, I felt like we'd observed Easter in the appropriate fashion. Okay, not really appropriate- we didn't even attempt church. But we celebrated in all the secular ways, and we ate ham and deviled eggs, so there you go.

So there. Three blog stories in one epically long post. I hope that makes up for neglecting you all week. And I hope that you all had a great Easter, surrounded by people you love!!

Stinky's Glorious Return

We had a bit of a crisis this week. Stinky Monkey, Hays's beloved monkey lovey that he's had since he was a tiny NICU resident, disappeared. Hays had him Sunday afternoon while I was fixing lunch, but by nap time, he was nowhere to be found. We looked for him in all the usual places, but still hadn't found him by bedtime. This was unusual, but not unheard of.

The search intensified on Monday. We had checked all of the hiding spots (well, all the ones we know about), so we started searching every nook and cranny. We literally searched under every piece of furniture, in every closet/hamper/drawer, in the air vents, in the refrigerator, everywhere. Matt even searched through the previous day's trash to see if Haysie had tossed poor Stinky in, but he was nowhere to be found.

I'm not going to lie, at this point I was literally praying for Stinky's return. Stinky is special. He was a gift from my cousins and their children, and Hays has slept with Stinky since he was a few weeks old. In fact, when he was in the NICU, he slept on Stinky. He was so tiny that his little body fit perfectly on that soft monkey. So I couldn't stand the thought that we might have lost him forever. But we had checked every place we could possibly check, and we were starting to lose hope.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed with no sign of Stinky Monkey. Hays had given up, and was sleeping with Will's monkey. He's just like Stinky, only a lighter color, and Will had very kindly offered it to Hays to sleep with him. I had accepted the fact that we might not see Stinky again, but we were all sad about it. (Not to mention wracking our brains about how that monkey could have just disappeared into thin air!!)

But this afternoon, wonder of wonders, a miracle occurred. Hays found Stinky!!!!!! Turns out, he had hidden him in the front pocket of Mason's backpack and zipped him up. We never put anything in that pocket, so we had no idea he was there. It just so happened that Hays was playing with Mason's backpack today and discovered him. He ran up to me with a huge smile on his face, proudly brandishing his beloved monkey!! We were all ridiculously excited. There was so much cheering and hugging- it was actually kind of absurd.

We were all relieved to have Stinky back. None more than Hays, who immediately grabbed all his blankies, piled them on the couch, and demanded that I come cuddle with him and Stinky. And he's had his trusty monkey by his side ever since! So Stinky's back, and we've discovered a new hiding spot, and everyone will be resting easy tonight!!

I'll just have a salad....

When you think salad, you generally think of leafy greens, tomatoes, maybe some carrots or cucumbers, right? And most places, that's what you'd get. But in the south, the term "salad" can encompass a multitude of things. Sure, we have the garden greens variety, and lots of delicious mayonnaise based dishes like potato salad and chicken salad, but look in any church cookbook, and you will find things that bear no nutritional resemblance to their leafy green counterparts.

I was flipping through a church cookbook given to me by Matt's aunt. It has lots of good recipes. I've made several things from it that have been delicious. But when I happened across some of these "salad" recipes, all I could do was laugh! Not a leaf of lettuce and nary a tomato in the bunch, but there was plenty of Cool Whip, canned fruit, marshmallows, cream cheese, and enough sugar to make a cake blush. And that doesn't even cover the ones that feature Jello as a central ingredient. But my favorite, my absolute laugh-till-you-cry favorite was, I kid you not, "Snickers Salad." Yes, Snickers, as in the delicious peanut/caramel/nougat confection we all know and love.

I know you're wondering, "What, pray tell, is in a Snickers Salad?" Well, my friends, here is the recipe as it appears in the Christ Our King and Savior Catholic Church cookbook...

Snickers Salad

3 Granny Smith Apples 1 bag fun size snickers

3 red delicious apples or macintosh 1 (8 0z) Cool Whip

Do not peel apples. Dice apples in half inch pieces. Cut snickers into 6 pieces. (Freezing for about 15 minutes makes cutting easier, not so sticky.) Mix apples and Snickers with Cool Whip and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.

So those of you who are trying to diet and eat sensibly, take heart. Salads can, apparently, be far more exciting and delicious than you might have imagined. And the next time I decide to have a salad for lunch, I'll remember that candy bars are perfectly reasonable additions!!

Firemen

Today it was really nice and warm outside. The boys are on spring break, and my dad had taken Mason to a movie, so it was just me and the twinners. I decided to be a nice mommy and let them play with the hose since they love anything water-related. They were pretending to be fireman, and they were doing a very good job sharing the hose.

Will quickly discovered that he could make a really big mess by putting his finger over the sprayer...

And they were having a great time spraying everything in the yard...

Including themselves..

And mommy....

Then Hays decided to turn the hose on Will. Hays thought it was hysterical. Will? Not so much...

Will thought it was pretty darn funny when the tables were turned. Hays disagreed.

But they managed to reconcile and went back to working together to be good firemen.

"Wow! Look! I fireman!!!"