Museum Days

There is something about Spring time that says "Museum" to me. It is nice enough to *get out*, but not actually *be out*, so why not go to a museum?

Superkid has been DYING to go to the MIT Robot Museum ever since he heard about it. Their recommendation is that it is for kids 12 and older, I figured Superkid could handle it... but probably not the rest of the crew. This makes it tricky and so we kept pushing it off to Spring Break. One sunny afternoon Pops dropped Superkid off at my work and I took the rest of the day off for a date with Superkid. I can't tell you the last time it was just the two of us. Best afternoon ever. First I showed him the museum in the lobby of my work and then we walked down the street to ROBOT land.
You may notice that we have a friend -Flat Stanley- along for the ride.
Okay, it is not JUST a Robot Museum, it also has ROCKETS, holograms, and biology stuff...
We loved it all...but our favorite was this kangaroo leg robot, you should see it in action!




While we were feeling curious and enjoying being out in the world again, we thought, "Why not take 4 wild and crazy kids to a blown glass exhibit (Chihuly at the MFA)?" Who knew that they wouldn't throw up a few rails to protect all of the delicate sculptures from prodding little fingers? We cinched the strollers straps extra tight, reigned Superkid and Abizella in, and wished for the best.

Superkid has recently become a map expert, so he led the way!




We all loved this boat, which was the size of the room, filled with sea creatures...


What really lured Pops to the MFA was the new Art of the America's wing, which was partly built to house this portrait of George Washington Crossing the Delaware River. Tadpole is impressed... or perhaps just happy to be liberated from the indignities of the stroller.
And the "Mommies".
When you go to a museum with little ones you've got to have priorities. I definitely wanted to see the blown glass exhibit. For Pops, the Art of the America's was a MUST. And for Abizella, she HAD to see the Egyptian Mommies. She would not adopt the more traditional "Mummy" pronunciation, and was a little disappointed to not actually see a Mommy.
All of the kids were creeped out to see actual mummies!

"Wut cost 8 dolars?"

According to Google Images, an oil rig.

After Googling what the contents of his piggy bank could buy,
Superkid came to me in disbelief and said,
"What! An OIL RIG!"
I could read it in his eyes, "Seriously Mom. Why don't we already have one of these,
8 DOLLARS!"

Because Grandparents Shouldn't Have to Wait So Long

Easter Pictures now... Text later....

Okay, now is later.

Easter is such a fabulous holiday... why, we have been talking about it since Christmas. Sure there are lots of good holidays between Christmas and Easter, but what the kids really want is presents. Not that they get *BIG* presents for Easter, but I told them that AFTER Easter Birthday season begins, starting with Little Chief in May.

...don't get me wrong, we love Easter for the Resurrection, candy and beautiful new clothes too!

...oh yes! and dying eggs!

We actually took egg dying VERY seriously!
Tadpole did not want to part with his eggs, he considered them close little friends to be treasured and played with. It was a good thing the Easter Bunny came to get his mind onto other treasures (the kind that don't reek if they roll forgotten under the bed)!

Little Chief was pleased as punch to have his own little basket to haul around...
Abz is all about the accessories. I found this paper hat she made and lovingly stacked on the pile of Easter clothes that Grandma sent. It was for her little Easter chick, who of course needed to look stunning as well.
And here is the handsome crew... I could just eat them up
(even if they aren't made of chocolate!)
The dapper Superkid, who has been wearing his derby hat since the Easter package arrived.
Abizella, the Easter Princess, who will never willingly wear ANYTHING besides this fabulous twirly purple dress EVER again. Her exact words were, "Mom, how did Grandma know that I love my dresses to be purple and twirly?"
Here is Tadpole with *HIS* (not passed down) first ever tie. I'm melting. He has packed up Tidmouth sheds for a business meeting at church.
And who is the big boy strutting around in the vest?

We are always so happy to to go visit our cousins in RI (click here for more fun there), but on EASTER they knock it out of the park. For me it is all about the food, and they are the experts. If you haven't had Provo Canyon eggs, you need to get on their guest list!
And of course there was an egg hunt...
Little Chief was more into being a "Free Range" kind of guy...
Tadpole was going for "quality" not "quantity", peeking inside and throwing back the duds...
Abz held her own, between twirls and leaps...
Superkid has been bragging all week how he is the most experienced and would collect the most eggs, which of course he would share with Little Chief...
But I'd say the big winner was little cousin Tiney. This kid knows the biz. First kid out the door, eye on the prize. I'm thinking Andie has been grooming her over a few past events...

"Tell me why! ...I don't like Mondays"

We have a theme song around the house, “I don’t like Mondays”. I obviously don’t like Mondays because it starts another workweek. Love my job, but layered on the fact that I never conquer (or even chunk away) my “to-do” list, I just love being with the family. Pops misses walking out the door on Monday and having a sane moment or two to himself. Pops has had some business to conduct, so we have swapped our Mondays a couple of times this month.

So this is how the Mondays went down.

5:00 a.m. Alarm goes off. I stumble out of bed and hit the pool. I am definitely not sleeping in this time because I don’t have a train to catch so I can stay for the full 1.5 hour work out.

7:20 a.m. I walk in the door, Pops walks out to catch the train. I then get myself and 4 kids dressed, fed, and packed for school.

9:00 a.m. Drop Superkid and Abz off at school. Now we have a little time to kill so why not go wander around Target?...okay and Home Goods and TJ Maxx… and grab a few groceries.

11:50 a.m. Pick up Abz, run home, make lunch, feed Joseph… and realize that it probably would have been a good idea to give him a nap earlier. Get Abz ready for ballet.

12:45 p.m. Load everyone back up into the car and head over to ballet. I’m excited to get a glimpse of Abz in the class she pretty much lives for. Pops is kinda a Super-hero so he gets her there in the regulation black leotard, pink tights, black tap and ballet shoes. I am a disaster and Abz has to explain this to her dance teacher when she shows up in black tights and no dance shoes at all.

2:00 Load the kids up, plus our sweet friend Jordan who I have literally begged (out of the arms of a visiting grandma) to have over for a play date. Run home, feed Little Chief and put him down for a nap, only to realize that I have to swoop him up, bust up the play date and pick Superkid up from school.

2:45 Back in the car. Little Chief has had 15 minutes of naps. Just enough to ensure that he won’t take a car nap, but not enough to tame the beast. Go “line-up” the mini van at school before they close the lot and I am forced to park the car down the street and unload the 4 kids in a torrential downpour.

3:00 I place a “mercy” text to Pops. “I know why you don’t like Mondays”. Superkid hops in the party van. I then turn around explain that we have to take Jordan home after that really fun 30 minute play date. She is super sweet and says it is just so much fun to ride in the van with us.

4:00 We head home. Tadpole is passed out in the car. Everyone else is cantankerous. We unload, pull out the homework, feed the baby, grab a full chicken to roast (I’m still not living in reality), and take a desperate glance around the house to find that no bed is made, no dish has been washed and every toy is dumped. I start to panic.

It’s 5:00. The kids are starved. I am running around with a rightfully frightful baby on my hip trying to whip it all together. All I really can manage is to help Superkid with his homework and that chicken.

6:00 Pops is home, he kicks his way through the house. The kids are faint with hunger. I whip out the chicken and cut into it to find it isn’t cooked. I throw up the surrender flag, grabs some bowls and a box of cereal.

I spend the rest of the night with FHE, baths, more homework, de-boning that chicken, dishes, laundry and collapsing into bed at 10:30.

Good grief. What a tough day. If I were Pops I would have also managed to clean the bathroom and pick up some toys.

Mondays do stink. But I was able to capture a few cherished moments. One of the Mondays was sunny and Tadpole, Little Chief and I played at the park while Abz was at dance. Combined with the just plain and simple time with the kids holding conversations about whatever was on their minds, the day wasn’t so bad after all (easier to say in retrospect).

Feed the Need 2011

If you think the 5K was competitive, take a look at the Toddler Trot!

Can you believe it?! The 9th year of the Wompatuck Feed the Need Race has come and gone. It is all a whirlwind now, but when the dust settled 320 runners finished the course and over 8,300 cans of food were collected and stocked on the shelves of 3 food pantries. Making the FTN grand total more than 136,000 cans donated since 2003.

Pops deserves the biggest medal for patiently standing by the 4 kiddos while I ran around crazy. It was Little Chief’s first race, but Superkid was the most excited about the event. We have him to thank for getting us to the race on time. Usually he is the last of the Toads to crawl out of bed. The only exception being airplane trips to Utah and this FTN event. He came tearing into our room at 6:15 a.m. and rallied us to get moving!

And here is the cast of characters that pulls the whole thing together. We may only see each other 2 days a year, but when we get together we’re a well oiled machine… or at least we get the job done.

Toadisms

I just thought you'd all like to see the progress of Superkid's two front teeth...
...or maybe I'm the only one who is into weird body things...

We were driving down the street when Superkid said, "Mom, I know what kind of car I'm going to drive." Pretty sure he was about to describe some rocket propelled red sport's car, I said, "Oh, ya, what are you going to drive?". He said, "I'm going to drive an old days truck. I'm going to paint it black with red flames." I liked the image of Superkid putting around town with the window cranked down and the wind blowing through his blond hair. ...or have I missed something and is this "black old days truck with flames" some Transformers reference I didn't catch?
As for Miss Peachy Pie, she has been planning her birthday party for months. She is going with a rodeo theme this year.She has made her own cowgirl hat and lasso to hold her over until her birthday (AUGUST), when she hopes to get the real things.
And only one menu item will do for dinner,
a *full roasted pig*.
At first I thought it was funny. Then she kept bringing it up. I started to wonder if she REALLY expected me to roast a pig for her big day. I told her that a pig is bigger than Daddy.
She said, "Don't worry Mom. We're inviting A LOT of people to my party."
Then I tried the Charlotte's Web angle.
She is the only kid I know that watches that movie and drools for ham.
We've still got a little time, but it is looking like I am going to need all you people to come over and eat A LOT of pig in August.

As for Tadpole, he is more Transformer than baby frog these days.
Megatron, to be precise.
When he is not trying to eradicate the Autobots and the human race, he is my snuggle-guy.
He has plenty of funny things to say too. Like when I asked him if he needed a tissue (he was rubbing his nose).
He said, "Ah, no thanks. They're not boogers. I just have bugs in my nose."

And Little Chief, well he still doesn't have a lot to say.

...that is until he gets high centered in the garbage can.

More on Tad

Running like a MONSTER by day...

Running from MONSTERS by night...

I know... sad, right?
But as Tad says, "That's it! My blanky will protect me!"

I'm telling you, that blankey is the best buddy a kid ever had.