Two!

After a tumultuous winter we were ready for what would end up being our annual dose of unseasonably warm weather before plunging back into the cold.


The boys ended up using the cold days to work on their songwriting in the play room. Elliott seems to be exhibiting the characteristics of a traditional drummer in that he is most comfortable playing with as little clothing on as possible.


Elliott recently discovered an intense love of arugula which caught both of his parents off guard. For a couple of weeks I could barely keep enough on hand, causing me to have to run out to nearby stores in an attempt to find acceptable greens during one of the worst seasons California has had in recent memory. I did not think that running out of arugula would be the thing I was most worried about sending my kids over the edge.


Arugula was playing with a string that we hung from doorway to hang Christmas ornaments and ended up giving himself this horrific rope burn.


Martin, on the other hand, got clawed by this brother during a wrestling match where Elliott pretended to be a lynx. You can probably guess from looking at these two injuries that we were mere days away from picture day at school.


Martin's obsession with Wild Kratts only continues to deepen and he draws at least two or three new pieces of Wild Kratts inspired artwork per day.



Elliott helped Jen make a big batch of gnocchi while Martin watched Wild Kratts and, of course, the huge batch only ended up being enough to get us through most of one meal.


The skating routine has been going very well. Elliott tends to follow the teacher's direction really well.


Martin tends to spend most of the class talking the teachers' ear off. They're both doing well but Martin could probably be further ahead if he spent less time talking to the teacher about Wild Kratts.


With the warmer weather Martin has figured out that he can just walk over to our neighbors' house any time he feels like it to chat with them. On the day of the neighborhood Easter egg hunt I kept losing track of him only to find he'd gone next door, rung their doorbell, and was asking them about something or another.


They were extremely eager to get to the egg hunt after we pried Martin away from our neighbors.


Martin was a little upset that he only got one egg. He found a lot but in his exuberance he lost quite a few as he swung basket around as he ran. Elliott showed mercy on him and shared some of his chocolate.


When we got back Martin escaped again and came back in asking if he could have our neighbor, Mr. Tim's, fox tail. I told him no then he explained that he'd been over Mr. Tim's house and Mr. Tim told him to ask me if it was okay. We went over and, needless to say, we are now the proud owners of a fox tail.


For Passover I made matzoh crunch for the kids which was a big hit. They also enjoyed eating crackers the size of their heads.



Nana and Grandpa showed up with plenty of activities to entertain the kids who were very excited to see them.


Grandpa even made lunch for the kids, something that happens pretty infrequently. I'm not sure they were 100% ready for fluffernutters but I certainly was.




Easter morning saw a fun hunt through the house and yard. Josie slept extra long so we held the boys off with videos until she woke up. This eventually lead to a bit of a tantrum but we were able to avoid a complete meltdown and salvage most of the morning.


After finding all his Eggs, Elliott reached deep into the backpack he'd packed for hunting, removed Mjölnir, and started cracking them open in a precise and practiced way.


The best gift they got was these eggs that you put in water and let them hatch slowly over the course of a few days. They couldn't get enough of them, checking them every twenty minutes an noting their progress. Apparently my parents got these as an after thought but they were a huge hit.


After a two year hiatus I busted out the spit and did the lamb over an open fire once again.


This was probably the best lamb I've ever cooked or eaten in my life. There's something extremely satisfying when you blindly stumble into cooking something so good that you can't even believe you did it.


It was so warm the week after Easter that we ended up grilling and having dinner on the deck most nights. After a long winter there is really not much better than eating out on the deck. Not only is it beautiful to eat outside but it's so nice to let the kids make as big a mess as they'd like and not have to worry about cleanup.


For Josie's birthday we took her to a nearby indoor play area with her brothers and our friends, the Farmers, who were visiting from New Jersey. She had a blast and came home to take an epic multiple hour nap.


While she napped we took the big kids to the park.


Some of the big kids even enjoyed a quiet snooze on the couch after the fun-filled afternoon.


For Josie's birthday her brothers got her a school bus. It was the first present she got and had it ended there she would have been completely happy. Of course it didn't end there because even though logic tells you not to shower a two-year-old with gifts, most people cannot help themselves and we all ended up getting her way more than she needed or wanted.


Overall Josie had a great birthday weekend, a great party, and had a ton of fun with family and friends.


The next day the boys and Jen got ready to go see cousin Evelyn at her dance recital and brought her some special flowers.


The next day Nana and Grandpa had to leave so we all said our goodbyes before the boys went to school and Nana and Grandpa hit the road.


Later that day the boys came home from school and we hung out with Auntie Lisa before she returned home and enjoyed the last day of beautiful weather before we returned to chilly, rainy days.

It was a good close out to April and a great Easter and birthday party for Josie. In a couple of years her birthday will be on Easter itself and that should add a new element of fun to the overall weekend. For now the events remain separate as we try to figure out how this little baby became a two-year-old seemingly overnight.

Springing Out of Sickness

We are one third of the way through 2017 and there has scarcely been a day where one or more of our family has not been ill. While this is one of the most mild winters in recent memory it really hasn't mattered much as we've spent most of it inside, suspending all rules and watching eight or more hours of television with one or more ailing children. Meanwhile, our toboggan and saucers sit unused in the corner with hopes of getting their maiden voyages next winter.


We spent some nice chilly days working on projects and trying to make the most of being cooped up indoors.


Martin briefly became obsessed with Mario and Luigi and even worse this outfit to school one day.


Jen and I had visions of a great day spent at home making homemade pasta with the boys. Instead our pasta maker broke and the kids showed nothing but disdain for the entire project.


We got a chance to go to the train show at the Morton Arboretum once again which Josie was captivated by. While last year she spent the entire time silently gnawing on a pizza crust, this year she looked on in awe and occasionally had to be stopped from diving in to grab the trains.


We took them out for a lunch at Portillo's where they got to eat small amounts of food and drink large amounts of milk shakes.


We returned to the theater to see the Pete the Cat musical number and they got a chance to meet Pete after the show despite being rushed along by a crabby woman who wanted nothing more than to crush little childrens' dreams.


The boys also got a chance to partake in their first sleepover at Auntie Lauren's with cousin Evelyn. Josie was a little dismayed at watching her brothers go out on their own adventure but she quickly calmed down and cheered up the next morning when we got to go over for breakfast.


The boys have continued to enjoy their daily Kindle time during Josie's naps, one of the only ways to ensure a quiet time for everyone during the treacheros mid day nap.


As Valentine's Day approached we were able to twist the boys arms into making valentines for their friends. Josie needed no such arm twisting.


Valentine's Day came with a tea party for the kids.


I put together a rare dinner that wasn't thrown together in five minutes and hearkened back to the days before children when this would have been a run of the mill Thursday dinner.


Soon after Valentine's Day we were all stricken with a nasty stomach virus that ripped through the family leaving no one unscathed.


After a few days when we were feeling a little better we walked Josie to the Mediterranean market where she napped and we purchased delicious hummus and pita for dinner.


During the extended stomach issues we continued to make use of our disastrous living space to entertain the children, including this amazing pirate ship. If you look closely you may be able to pick up on the fact that that is not an actual pirate ship but merely a recreation made from chairs!


We took the boys to Kindergarten preview where Martin barged in and met the lady at the front desk who he instantly told his full name, explained that they were twins, told them how he was the oldest, and described the difficulties of Elliott's birth in great detail. Meeting new people is not a fear that Martin has.


Less than two weeks after getting better everyone got sick again, this time with a much worse stomach bug that kept the boys up all night. Somehow Josie was the only one spared this time.


Everyone was (mostly) well in time for the annual pancake breakfast which was a big hit even though we were leery of them eating pancakes and sausage so soon but it all seemed to work out for the best.


We later had dinner and went to free cone day at Dairy Queen to celebrate everyone being well again.


Later that night I took Martin to the emergency room for extreme abdominal pain. That begun a week straight of Martin being up all night, writhing in pain, and having multiple hot baths to soothe himself.


After the worst week of the year and a lot of care Martin seemed to beat the intense pain and we were able to take the boys to their first skating lesson.


That was the perfect warm up for their first ever hockey game to watch the Chicago Steel play.


Elliott did not care for the horn they played when a goal was scored but the kids had a blast. I went to the concession stand no fewer than twelve times to get popcorn, water, hot dogs, pizza, beer, lemonade, Kit Kats, and Reece's Peanut Butter Cups. I think I got to see a few minutes of the game as well. Thankfully the concessions were located very close to where we sat.

In reading back on previous years it would seem we spend the beginning portion of most with a great deal of sickness. Now I am just hoping that the bulk of that is behind us and we can move forward to a healthy remainder of 2017.

Now bring on the Spring!

Rough Start

December is in the rear view mirror and here we are looking ahead at most of January ahead of us. As I've spent about 75% of 2017 either in bed or reclining on a chair so far, I'm going to call today my New Year's Day.

More on that later.


In the lead up to Christmas the boys' excitement was hard to contain. Every day they excitedly asked if tomorrow was the big day. Their inability to really understand time yet leads to frequent questions to calibrate where they are in the Christmas season. I suspect next year they will know exactly where they are and that will only make the agony of waiting even worse.


They selected some cookies, milk, and beer for Santa. I suggested the beer but by the time they were in bed I just returned the beer to the fridge and collapsed into bed.

Martin and Elliott were so excited that they decided to sleep together in the same bed. In the middle of the night when I went to check on them Martin sat up, mumbled then collapsed on Elliott. I found this to be a dangerous position to leave them in, not wanting them to wake prematurely, so I moved Martin to his bed where he mumbled about Elliott and the cold and then eventually fell asleep. In the morning I would find him returned to his brother's bed.


The stage was set, we just needed to wait for them to wake up. I awoke at 5:00 AM due to a work related emergency then anticipated they would be up any minute. By 7:30 AM we actually needed to wake them all up.


They pawed through their stockings with groggy enthusiasm.


Josie was very happy to receive Play-DOH, her favorite substance on this planet, but she was slow to understand why we had woken her up.


Upon opening the gift Martin had gotten him, a pizza making set, Elliott was so excited that he hugged it joyfully.


Then he got up and gave Martin a huge hug. Given the fact that Elliott's response to "I love you" from his brother is usually, "You stink!" I think this hug may have been Martin's best Christmas present.


After a few moments of present unwrapping, the living room was destroyed and would only get worse over the course of the next two weeks.


We got a toboggan from Aunt Pat and all the cousins posed on it, though I don't think they will be all riding this together for another few years.


For dinner I did my second annual charcuterie spread, breaking the different platters into themes.


We scaled back dinner even farther than last year, simply making this rib roast and some roasted Brussels sprouts to go with it. I'm confident we will keep this radition for many years, at least while the kids are young. It gives me the ability to enjoy every moment of Christmas with the kids, not enter the kitchen until 4:00 PM, and yet still enjoy a ton of delicious foods.


The kids, newly convinced of their love of the kids' table, enjoyed their self-imposed exile as the adults sat at the big table, and we didn't have to bring in an auxiliary table for the first Christmas yet, despite the addition of Josephine and Oliver.


The actual sit down portion of dinner was for small plate, dessert, and attempted uninterrupted conversation between adults. We only got two of those three things.

I'll leave it to you to guess what two.


The next day the kids had fun just playing with all their new toys, including Connect Four.


Elliott and Martin split the game pretty evenly and waited until the other completed his row to declare, "We both win!" When I tried to show them how to actually play they were disgusted by the competitive nature of the game. I think it may come from being twins. They are generally very good at sharing with each other -- GENERALLY -- and usually consider the other when making moves or playing games. It could just be because they've never experienced anything other than having their brother nearby and having to experience a lot of give and take.


Elliott dutifully built his TIE fighter with minimal help from Grandpa. Martin didn't quite have the attention span to get his done.


They wrote notes to Great Grandpa and Great Nana to thank then for their Christmas gifts and wish them a happy new year.

On New Year's Eve I woke up feeling terrible. At first I thought maybe it was because I'd had a couple of drinks the night before though I'd certainly done that in the past with consequences far less dire. Then I thought maybe it was because Josephine had woken us up in the night. Again, this was not a something I've never experienced before.

I quickly realized I must be getting sick. This was pretty annoying because I'd never fully kicked the cold that knocked me out of work for a day just a few days shy of Christmas. While at work I put myself on a regimen of cold medicine, vitamins, caffeine, tea, and anything else I could think of to perk myself up.

Nothing worked.


While I was at work, Jen, Caolan, Paul, and Lauren worked tirelessly planning an extremely last minute New Year's Eve party for the kids.


The party was awesome, filled with food, decorations, and a chocolate fountain. The chocolate fountain may have been the single greatest thing that the children had enjoyed in their lives.


The countdown to "midnight" went pretty well and we were able to get the children to bed with relative ease. Perhaps the work of planning and executing the party had taken the fight out of them.


After dinner we sat by the fire and played Masterpiece. It was so much fun but after a round of the game I quickly realized I was not going to make it to see midnight. In fact I was not going to make it to see ten o'clock and I turned in for the night. I awoke once to the sound of adults celebrating the ringing in of 2017 and then quickly fell back asleep where I did not leave bed other than for a quick check-in downstairs until 3:30 PM. This was supremely disappointing given how I'd arranged my work schedule to take full advantage of Caolan, Paul, and Jane visiting. Instead I stayed in bed for most of my time with them.


The kids all slept in one giant bed after a fair amount of fooling around.


Apparently this was consumed while I was unconscious in bed.


The kids had a lot of fun on the first day of the year. They went to the park with Paul, Caolan, and Jane, they played, they iced Christmas cookies, and presumably other things while I slept all day.


Eventually I got enough energy to descend from the bedroom and lie down under the Christmas tree, propped up on Mr. Beow, the kids' insanely large stuffed bear. While I felt awful it was good to at least hear the kids having fun an be a minor part of conversation (and pity) rather than just wallowing in my own misery alone.

Unfortunately our friends left early the next morning and I could barely summon the will to come down and see them off. Jen, who'd been hoping to have some help with the child activities, unfortunately, was left high and dry by all of this.

As I write this I am feeling a lot better and returning to work tomorrow. I always say that I wish I had more time off around the holidays.

I'm going to stop saying that.