Pictures from the weekend

These aren't pictures of my weekend getaway, but a few snapshots of the twins that my husband took while I was gone. Not sure why N feels the need to pose like she's depressed, but I found them amusing nonetheless.

Grateful

Sixteen years ago, I was a freshman in college. Instead of living with my best friend from home, we opted to "meet new people" and live apart. (Also, she wanted to live in the cafeteria dorms and I wanted to live in the apartments with kitchens.) I had a good year and made some good friends. My friend, on the other hand, had the craziest, most fun freshman year ever. Ever. So, when they were deciding where to live for sophomore year, I asked if they would take me in.

And the rest is history.

This past weekend, I got together with nine of those wonderful ladies. After all this time, we still have the best time—laughing, crying, talking about our real-life adult dilemmas, and reminiscing about the past. I've been looking forward to this weekend for months, and now I'm so sad that it's over. But I know that I'll have plenty of memories to see me through until the next reunion.

I will always be grateful that the 6th floor U-hall girls took me in 15 years ago and let me be one of the group. And I will always be grateful that I have such an amazing group of ladies in my life. Love you guys.

Purse hat

Sure, wearing a purse meant for stuffed puppies on your head is a bit unusual, but then again, N isn't your average toddler.

Non-adventures

My husband always tells me that I need to be more adventurous, or at least that I should be more up for adventures that involve taking our children on trips. And I agree—in theory. Then, I start thinking about the planning and packing that is involved in even an overnight venture for our family... and I start to get a little light-headed. But I told my husband I would try.

This past week was my company's convention. Usually, this involves me being gone for three or four days and A staying home with the kids. But now we both work for the same company. While I was heavily involved in the preparations for convention, my husband's presence was more necessary at the actual event. And with most of my husband's family either involved or attending as well, babysitters were few and far between. So I volunteered to stay home the whole week. That was a weird role reversal, in and of itself.

On Friday night, I started to feel kind of caged at home. So, I got a crazy idea to go up with the kids on Saturday (the older three went to see the Lion King musical and loved it), hang out at the convention, spend the night, and all come home Sunday morning. I think my husband was surprised that I suggested it, but he was excited to see us. We hoped to be able to use a nearby hotel room that was part of a family block, so we'd have two rooms total, but we figured we could even make it work with one.

As I was packing on Saturday morning, I kept thinking, "This is a bad idea; this is going to be chaos. Why are you doing this?" But I pushed on. We even had to go to Costco on the way up cause I only had like five diapers left.

It was fun to see the convention center all decked out with company stuff and filled with distributors. But spending the afternoon chasing the twins out of every random, sometimes dangerous, nook and cranny was a little tiring. And then we went to the hotel room and the twins climbed on the bed, climbed on the table, licked the bathroom soap, turned on the radio alarm, whined about TV shows, and on and on. With it looking like we would only have one room, I quickly realized (don't know why I didn't figure it out before) that two portacribs really could never fit in there. Not to mention the fact that A2 is the lightest sleeper on the planet and would wake up if one of us breathed wrong.

And so, I began to panic. And then cried a little, wondering why I had attempted something so ridiculous. And then I decided to back out of it. My husband kept the three older kids overnight and I carted the twins, their stroller, and my suitcase back down to the car and went home.

So, what do I do about future excursions? Do I wait until the twins are older so it's not such a huge production? Or, do I get over myself and just barrel through it?

But hey, at least I got to meet Kelly Clarkson. That was cool...

A breakthrough

Over the weekend, we spent a lot of time with my husband's family. On Labor Day, my father-in-law pulled out the mini-car they bought forever ago for the grandkids. My husband made a few attempts to get A2 interested. A2 was scared at first (expected), but then all of a sudden, he loved it. I thought for sure once he figured out how to make the car move, he would freak out and get scared. But he squealed with delight every time he pushed on the pedal and made it lurch forward—so much so that he just kept lurching all over their driveway. Surprising was N's rather nonchalant reaction to it. She sat in the passenger seat and did try to push on the pedal a few times, but I thought she'd be all over that exciting new toy. But after a while, she wanted to get out. When a few of the other kids wanted to have a turn, we pulled A2 out. This was his reaction.


Maybe this little boy won't be so reserved and nervous about everything in his life after all!

The unknown quantity goes to school

Last week, while talking to my sister-in-law about T and kindergarten, I called him "the unknown quantity." And I realized that this phrase describes my son perfectly. In most situations, I have no idea how T will react. When I think he'll be excited about something, he pouts and goes silent. When I think he'll hate something, it's his favorite.

He started kindergarten on Wednesday. I've been pretty nervous about it since, again, unknown quantity. He usually refuses to practice letters, numbers, and sounds with me, so it's tough to tell how much he knows. But when he met with his teacher last Friday, he actually did really well. (Except for when she asked, "If I have 3 cubes and add 1 cube, how many would I have?" He replied right away, "Nine!")

He's been pretty quiet about school since he started, but he smiles when you ask him if he likes it. More than any of my other kids, I really wish I could be a fly on the wall in his kindergarten classroom, if for no other reason to understand more about this unknown quantity I have for a son.

Trampoline twins

I think this video of the twins on a neighbor's trampoline perfectly illustrates the biggest personality difference between the twins. Enjoy.