At the zoo for 87 months

The boys didn’t have school today, so George and I took them to the zoo before parent-teacher conferences. I thought this was a fitting place to get their monthly picture.

87 months

Monday morning things

I wanted to blog about a few things that don’t really merit a post of their own.

I baked a king cake!

I’ve been wanting to try this for a while, and finally got around to it this weekend. I used the recipe in this blog post. [Please ignore the line, “(Pronounced Nawlins in case you don’t want to sound like a fool)” because that is absolutely, 100% untrue. Please don’t ever say “Nawlins” in my presence.]

The only changes I’d make next time are:

1. Three strands instead of two. It was very puffy. Not necessarily a bad thing, but there was definitely a higher ratio of bread: filling than I’d prefer.

2. Get a real baby, not a LEGO minifigure that I sterilized. Though it made for a hilarious photo. I crack myself up.

You're going to put me WHERE?
You’re going to put me WHERE?

3. Get the colored sugar to sprinkle on top. I colored the icing instead, but sugar would be prettier sprinkled on top of the icing (not in lieu of.)

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I was really happy with how it came out, though. So yum! And P was really happy to get the “baby.”

Hair product recommendation

Saturday night, I went with some friends to a walking parade, Chewbacchus. I think you can imagine what the theme was. I looked all over the house for the Princess Leia wig I had at one point, but then I remembered that I have long dark brown hair. No wig needed, just a Pinterest tutorial!

Worked like a charm, and I was so enamored with the bun-making technique, that I went and bought a hair donut thingy yesterday from Ulta.

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Oliver’s writing

Oliver had his writing journal from English class in his backpack and HOLY COW it was a treasure trove of cute. I can’t wait to get my hands on Miles’s and Linus’s. My favorite entry was the one that said, “Today I will inoy my dad.”

Oliver, school, and Mardi Gras

Yesterday was a big day. It was Oliver’s class’s last day at the zoo as well as the school’s mascot unveiling and their Mardi Gras parade.

The kids (dressed as animals for the parade later that day) gave presentations about things they’d learned in the last four weeks at the zoo. Oliver discussed endangered animals and something else. Reptiles?

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Oliver pontificating on endangered animals.

After the presentations, we went to the zoo auditorium to watch the movie they make at the end of their 4 week session. Looks impressive up on the big screen, eh?

The drama!!!
It’s a French film, so obviously subtitled.

After the film, there was a potluck and then we headed to school for the big mascot unveiling and the parade.

The kids had voted for which mascot they wanted, and so there was much excitement in the air as they unveiled…

So here’s the problem with the kids going to a French school. Now I’m going to have to say “Loup Garou” a bunch of times over the next eleven years. Maybe can we agree the non-French-speaking amongst us can just call him the Werewolf?

In any case, he was pretty awesome. Very Teen Wolf.

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The kids were really excited. Hey, has anyone seen Mr. Chip? Oh, just wondering.

Next up, the parade!

So.

I guess this means the boys probably aren’t going to try my favorite recipes anytime soon.

85 months

This morning, the boys and I were sitting on the sofa, and somehow we got on the subject of why I started taking monthly pictures of them, and after looking through all 84 of the previous photos, I think they finally started to get it a little bit. It was pretty sweet, actually.

It may have made them a tiny bit more cooperative for this month’s pic, especially after I explained how difficult the younger years were. They may have felt a smidgen of remorse. Or something.

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Sparkly!

Since 2/3 of the boys missed fireworks Wednesday night, I got some sparklers from a friend. The boys were a bit terrified of them.

And I have officially created the world’s dullest post.

 

Our exciting New Year’s Eve

New Year’s Eve…do you say the year that just passed or the one coming up? I guess it’s the one coming up. One of those things that always confuses me but I’ve never actually just figured out once and for all. Okay, so let’s say it’s New Year’s Eve 2015 (but Eve is in 2014, that’s why I get confused, but it’s the eve of 2015, so yeah. Confusion.) Since the boys were born, most years the boys have spent the night at Granny and Grandpa’s so George and I could go to the pub.

Photo Dec 31, 9 26 22 PM
9:26 pm, Froot Loop snack.

And the year after that, they had their tubes in/adenoids out on New Year’s Eve, so that was a quiet night in.

Except the year they were a month old. Or maybe we did go out – I think my mom came to stay that night. That time is a bit of a blur.

But ever since then, we’ve gone to a friend’s house or the pub or done something. But since I leave for Barcelona in a few days, I told George he could go to the pub and I would stay home with the boys. No problem. I’d finish the book I was reading, have a little wine, go to bed early and wake up refreshed in 2015.

Photo Dec 31, 10 37 10 PM
10:37 pm, Oliver and Miles going strong.

Except…I opened my big mouth and asked the boys if they wanted to stay up til midnight. Linus and Miles were gung-ho, but Oliver noted that on previous attempts to stay up late, his eyes would just close because he got tired. Heh.

So, we stayed up. At around their usual bedtime (8:30ish) they started getting a little sleepy. Hours yet to go, but they were determined.
Now, I know what you’re thinking…why not just put on that Netflix countdown at 9:00? Well, we live close to the river and you can actually see the fireworks from our front porch, so I’d actually told them they could see the fireworks at midnight.

Which also makes it impossible for me (a light sleeper) to be asleep at midnight anyway. So. Midnight it is.

The boys played video games, we watched some TV, I put on a movie, and I gave a late snack of sugary cereal.

At around 10:45, Miles and Linus waved the white flag. They went to lay down in their beds, but with the lights on so I could wake them at midnight. I humored them, but I knew that they would be impossible to budge later on.

Indeed, when I went back at around 11:45, they briefly opened their eyes and told me they’d rather sleep than watch the fireworks. Alrighty then!

Oliver, though, the one who thought his eyelids would fail him, was still full of good cheer when we watched the ball drop on Times Square at midnight.

We went out on the front porch, where, through the trees, we could see the big display that the city puts on over the river. After all that anticipation, though, Oliver was too cold to stay outside more than a few minutes. Ha ha!

Linus and Miles woke up this morning rather perturbed at me for missing the fireworks. Ha! I told them we’d get some sparklers today and light them tonight for our own mini display.

Happy New Year 2015! (Now that, I know.)

 

Meanwhile, on social media…

Even though I support bloggers all day long, I still tend to post more on Facebook and Twitter than on my blog. I guess because I get more immediate feedback, and I crave feedback in the form of likes and comments. (At least one thing I’ve learned as a Happiness Engineer is that I’m not the only one.)

But there are of course huge drawbacks. Even though, of course, Facebook will store everything we ever write or think and use it against us one day, it’s really hard to go back and find old posts. So I’ve decided I’m going to start sharing some of my FB, Twitter, and Instagram posts here on my blog so I can archive them better.

So here we go, the week of December 21-28, 2014:

December 24, 2014, 1:37 pm
Rip my heart out, Oliver. “I like shopping alone with you because then no one says, ‘ooh triplets!'”

December 25, 2014

Mom and Larry win at gift giving!
Mom and Larry win at gift giving!

December 27, 2014, 9:20 pm

Renny and Pammy!
Renny and Pammy!

 

December 28, 2014, 7:14 pm
For the first time ever, I can hear the boys talking to each other in French!*
*it seems to be about poop, the universal language of boys.

Ah, social media. Ain’t it great?!

Christmas morning!

Every Christmas with the boys just gets more and more fun. This morning was just wonderful.

The boys got up around 6:45, but I made them stay in bed til 7 because I’m mean like that. Last year I got up before them (miracle) and was able to have coffee and turn on the fireplace channel before they got up. I was kind of hoping that would happen again this year. Not so much. Oh well.

First, they opened their stockings and got their presents from Santa.

Then, in the most heart-melting part of the day, they opened their gifts from each other. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

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The rest of the morning was spent opening the rest of the gifts, and then I cooked, and all of the grandparents came over, and we ate a ton of delicious food, and then after they left, I went to Steph’s house to hang out with friends and drink wine.

More random pics from the day:

Such a great Christmas!