So polite...

After Ryan's class, we stopped at a store to pick up Mark's electric blanket. He needs the bed to be warm before he enters -- waiting the 10 minutes for it to heat up is too much... I also got 4 pack of my wine coolers.

At the checkout, the clerk said, "Just tell me your date of birth. Wait, are you under 40?"

When did I start looking like I could be 40?

Basketball Game

At Saturday's game, Alex made his first in game basket!

Of course all the Devlin's cheered for him. But also, so did all the other parents of his team members -- they watched Alex shoot and miss shots at every game and practice.

Everybody knew how much that shot meant to him!

High Fives all around.

Seany's 1st Haircut

Before.
And after. Seany makes this face a lot!

Ryan's 1st Haircut

Before! And after. What a little hottie!

Snow storm

Yes, we did get more than 1 feet of snow on Monday. Alex and Andrew are on the top of the mountain.

Even More Car Show

Andrew got to meet a solider.

The boys' favorite car -- a camero like BumbleBee except not yellow.

I could be rich off my twix.

More Car Show

Andrew swimming.
Daddy and the twix.

Seany taking a look out the sunroof.

Alex & Andy lifting a suv.

Mark & Alex liked this one.

Car Show

Ryan
Alex
Seany
Mark
and Andrew

1st Parenting Lesson

Today, I met my parenting teacher. She's amazing. Five times Ryan was about to blow up and five times he didn't! I'm so excited to start trying her suggestings.

FYI, for those that care, when discplining she says NOT to make eye contact or use his name. Block him from whatever, use "Excuse Me" in lieu of name, and do not give him your eyes. He wants to get a reaction and if he doesn't get your eyes, then he can't get the reaction. IT WORKED when she tried it. Let's see what happens tonight.

Amusing moment, Andrew was participating. She wanted each kid to touch their finger to her finger. Andrew was nose picking (ick!) and pulled out finger to participate. "EWWW! No, Andrew, let's use your thumb instead."

"OK," he cheerfully replied, inserting said thumb into nostril.

Andrew & Seany

Alex & RyGuy

Basketball game

At Alex's second game.

Waiting for the other team to head down the court. (We'll have to try again next weekend. Most of the pictures turned out way to dark.)

Pictures

Ryan wanted to snap a shot. So Seany and I posed for him.

Flames

Alex wanted flames on his calf for his basketball game, so therefore everyone else also had to have flames.

Ryan showing off his tats.

Andrew sporting black flames.

Alex and Seany showing off their legs. Seany didn't get the idea of showing the leg with the flames on it.

Dishwasher

Ryan opened the dishwasher. Yesterday, Seany opened it and threw the glasses out. We're going to acrylic glasses, we just need to find some.

Fun with clothing

Ryan sporting red slippers and a necklace.

Andrew, the poser.

Alex a wee bit nervous.

Sean walked around in a coat until bedtime.

Alex's NEW goals

1. See my favorite TV shows.
2. Defeat Starscream. (Some kind of video game thing?)

Yes, he is very ambitious.

Playdoh fun

Seany in blue, RyGuy in gray.

One must be smarter than the two year olds...

My mom likes this quote. I believe she deserves the credit as she's said it many times. I now have to again become smarter than the 2 year olds. Specifically, Seany. Dear, dear, dear, dear, dear Seany.

I needed to shower this morning. I debate with myself each morning and sometimes I elect to just "wash up" (very 1800s) and some mornings I elect to risk a show-er! I say show-er because I never know what I will find upon completion of said activity.

Today, I put on George as in Curious George. Its a twix favorite and I felt I had a good 5 minutes before they got bored. Two minutes in, I hear, "Crash! Shatter! Crash! Crash!"

Ryan shouting, "NO! DOP (stop)! (bang) NOOOOOO! MOMMMEEEEEEE!!!!!"

I ran down the stairs as fast as I could dripping wet, imagining knives entering bellies, glass in feet... I found Seany emptying the dishwasher onto the floor by throwing everything out. I found Ryan frantically (I truly mean frantically) shoving plates, forks, glasses (broken and not) back into the dishwasher.

Seany has figured out how to unlatch yet another appliance.

Injuries:
Andrew: None, busy watching George.
Sean: None, busy creating mess.
Ryan: None, how he managed to not get hurt is a mystery.
Mommy: 1 cut thumb, trying to pick up a big piece of glass I didn't notice the itty bitty silver.

Dressing the twix the same

I posted this somewhere else and I've decided its something I'd like a record of.

Before the twix were born, I had lofty ideas about individuality and identity and I would never dress them exactly the same.

Guess what happened post birth?

My guys are so competive that if I choose not to dress them EXACTLY the same, I may deal with a trantrum for the next 45 minutes and through out the day deal with moments of pulling on others shirts and stripping off of pants. There are a few non-matching items and I have to ask Ryan first as he throws the bigger tantrums over which he'd like. There are few items that each owns. If we have a red shirt & a yellow shirt, I know Seany gets red, while Ryan will pummel Seany if he dare touch the yellow.

Trivia Game Alex vs. Daddy......DRAMA!

I was recruited as the question reader. Ryan was very helpful with the whole page turning part of the operation. It should be addressed that Alex cheated a little by reading the whole book before we got started. It should be addressed, but it won't. He read the book then realized it would be fun to play.

After about 15 questions each, Alex was up again.

"Who sang 'you got know when to hold 'em' and 'know when to fold 'em'?"

Alex's answer, (dum dum dum dummmmm) "Uh I don't know. Maybe Britney Spears?"

Mark laughed, "No Alex, its a guy, named Kenny Rogers."

"Who?"

Sean tricked me

For the past couple Mondays, Ryan watches Jon & Kate with me. Well, Monday night Mark ushered all the chicklets upstairs so I could watch it.

Ryan has crept quietly back down and sat silently with me watching it in the dark.

This Monday, a wee little person quietly came down the stairs, climbed up and into my lap and would occasionally point to the 6 three year old and glance up at me. I would think, "Boy Ryan looks just like Sean when he does that. Its weird, even his finger pointing looks just like Seany."

After the show ended, I turned off the TV and said, "Ok, Ry lets go get your brothers."

Grinning from ear to ear, SEAN ran back and forth laughing hysterically. "Sean! You tricked me. I thought you were Ryan."

With his evil gleam and his deepest voice, his legs splayed apart in attack mode, Sean laughed, "Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha ha ha!"

And then he charged me.

I was attacked by the Great American Hugger (as his therapists and Auntie Carolyn can attest nobody nowhere delivers a hug like Seany Boy). He latched on to my neck and kissed my lips 20 rapid times than furiously eskimo kissed my nose and forehead and only after I admitted that yes I loved him, did Seany release me.

He then demanded a ride up the stairs.

This morning

We had speech therapy. Mark went to work late and played with Andrew while Seany, Ryan, and Charmayne (the therapist) and I got busy not talking. Sean and Ryan were silent for a whole hour. No talking. Very little signing. I had to assure her that they really do those things.

Next time we made sure to schedule it at their usual 10 am time slot where the seem to actually sign and talk. So that she can model the things she'd like us to work on. And she wanted to make sure Andrew would be part of the group, because when Andrew's around, the twix mimic him.

After the session, I made the chicklets a snack and we went to Wally World in a slightly breezy sunny morning to pick up a few items. When we left the store, it was like a blizzard had struck. I spun out making a left turn and we were perpendicular to where we needed to be. The guy behind me. Stopped traffic, gave me a push and directed me back into the tracks. Poor guy must have been freezing. But we appreciated his efforts.

When we got home, the chicklets pretended to be starving and ate half their lunch and then it was nap time. I just got them to fall asleep after an hour of telling them to lay down.

Only 4 more hours until Mark gets home and then I get a break.

Carolena

My sister got to go on a cruise over the weekend. I was feeling happy for her but jealous I had no such freedom. I was very excited for her to get home and tell me all about it. I wanted to know basically what she did from sun up to bed time each day.

Instead, my mom called last night. Carolyn had been hit by a car walking home from BART.

Thank God, she is ok. Carolyn is very sore with bruises, scrapes and bumps. No broken bones. No surgery. NO serious injuries. Apparently, she flew into the air, hit the windshield with her head, and then flew across the street into a man (turns out an EMT) on the other side of the street. He sort of cushioned the fall.

Carolyn is fine except for the getting hit by a car part of it.

My stomach is still in knots when I think about it and I keep saying mini-thank you prayers at random moments.

Just when I start feeling good about me again...

I finally started to lose a little of the extra weight I put on at Christmas, so I still have the 45 pounds to go but not the entire 50.

Today at Wally World, the checker said, "Oh, twins how cute. Are you expecting TWINS again?"

Twix games

So now that the bowls are out of the picture and we are down in the basement, Ryan has forgiven Sean and they are building towers and knocking them over.

Seany's class

Seany had a great time in class. He gave his teacher the biggest hugs and would not let Amanda (she comes to visit us monthly) put him down. Finally, I distracted him so she could work with other kids too.

In Seany's class is a set of girl twins. They did not once in anyway engage in sibling rivalry. They played happily together and apart and spent no time focusing on what the twin was up too. What a different life I'd lead if the twix were so inclined.

So far (we've been home about an hour), Ryan has hit Sean with a mega block, a green bowl, a hat, and his fist. Seany has screamed 6 times, the last time RyGuy pretended to hit him and Sean responded as those the death blow had been struck.

What was Ryan's problem?

Well, we're not totally sure, but it might be that Seany was sitting in a chair and not a high chair, it could be that Andrew and Sean were talking about their O's between bites, or (and I'm pretty sure it is this one) Seany got the yellow bowl. Ryan loves yellow.

A Calmer, Happier RyGuy

Today was Ryan's first playgroup/therapy session of 2008. And boy was he happy about it! He played, picked up stuff, dragged out snack, watched the "show" (at singing time, Ryan never participates, just watches very happily), and ran amok in the ball room.

Yes, there is a room made up of balls -- a ball pit, a basketball set up for tots, a tramp with balls, slides, swings, and his favorite thing, the 4 foot tall ball. He pushes it and bounces on it and loves loves loves to lay across it and be rolled around on it.

I haven't seen him this happy for at least 2 weeks.

Even when yesterday, I threw Seany and him into the sled and dragged them all around the snow covered neighborhood so they could "slid" downhill.

Before anybody panics...

I'm not pregos, but my Aunt Sharon is and her itty bitty is super cute.

Back to Preschool

Andrew went back to preschool today. He brought cupcakes to celebrate his birthday of a couple weeks ago and proudly displayed his birthday hat and prize bag.

When we got home, he said, "OK, guys let me show you what we did today."

Sean and Ryan obediently sat down on the stairs to wait for the unveiling.

Andrew showed us the letter "R" to very enthusiastic applause. And then he let Seany wear the birthday hat. "Mommy, Seany likes the hat a lot. No Ryan stop! Ryan!!!!!! STOP! Its Seany turn first and then your turn. OUCH!" Ryan pushed him.

Life is back to normal.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum -- Warning: I may relieve plot points.

This movie is extraordinarily disturbing. The CIA giving themselves clearance to kill anyone with no evidence of wrong doing just assumptions. Also, the CIA listening to private conversations, 'taking out' people with sniper fire at a public train station (yes, allow any children and other innocent bystanders to witness that) in somebody else's country. The CIA stopping a bus, grabbing a man at gun point, injecting him with God knows what and dragging him into an unmarked vehicle shouting, "Hurry Up, Let's Go!"

The number of issues here! I kept finding myself saying, "That guy would be out of his ass so fast." "He'd be so fired and arrested."

I realize this is a fictional story, but it just reiterated (intensified my position) to me why the Patriot Act (which they were very loosely, VERY loosely following) needs to go; why this government of ours needs to get back to checks & balances; why we need someone with some foreign diplomacy to right the wrongs we've saturated the rest of the world with lately (hard to believe, but we are not the world rulers some wish us to be); and most of all why we need to get rid of the blithering idiot who thinks he can do whatever the hell is whispered into that empty noggin of his.

Curls

When I bathe Sean and Ryan I have to gel their hair. Their hair is now so long it will get into their eyes. But when I gel it, it stays curly and adorable for the day (or at least until they sleep). Ryan is so use to the procedure of lotion clothes then hair gel, that yesterday, I said, "OK let me clean your ears and you'll be done."

"Ah, NO Mommy. No! Da Da Da Da dadaaa!" And he pulled the gel off the counter and handed it to me.

A metro sexual?

Yesterday was a busy day

I was very busy. I had lots and lots to do (I hate to clean up on snowy Saturdays), I took a slightly longer shower than usual to prepare myself. When I came downstairs, I found two twix minus clothes and diapers with Crayola marker stripes all over their bodies. Pictures are X-rated thanks to the lack of diapers -- so sorry folks! Baths were added to the list.

I made every bed (8 beds - 2 were from having house guests, 6 were because in the winter I make all beds to help keep them warmer), cleaned every bathroom (4 bathrooms including scrubbing the floors), washed and folded 3 loads of laundry, picked up and put away and reorganized nearly every toy, cleaned and organized the bar, collected and threw away garbage (included recyclables like cardboard) on 3 floors (6 garbage bags), put away about 1/2 the Christmas stuffs, swept and mopped the kitchen, paid mailed and filed the bills for the week, washed 3 boys, and got a call from the realtor that people were coming at 6 to look at the house. Thank goodness I'd already felt industrious.

They showed up at 5:40 just as I was wiping down the kitchen counters and table. The realtor insisted their appointment was for 5:30 and I wasn't used to people being on time. I assured him that Pieter said 6 and we would leave right away. That realtor was so impatient for us to leave, I actually had to say, "It will take me a couple minutes to strap both two year olds in their car seats."

We went to Costco to get the stock up on items, met Mark there, the chicklets were thrilled to get hot dogs. Then Andy and I went to Wally World for the rest of the groceries -- 3 items I needed they were out of, 1 no longer has a shelf tag! Then home were I put away all this stuff, changed diapers, got the chicklets in bed.

I immediately laid down on my bed having realized that I had head ache. When I came to, it was 7:30 this morning. I feel much better.

DaaaDDY

Ryan loves me. And sometimes he lets Mark know he loves him too.

A couple nights ago, we (Ryan and I) were watching Jon & Kate plus 8. Its was the Disney World episode. RyGuy was riveted. At one point, the mom has a meltdown about melting ice cream. Ryan jumps off the couch, stands in front of the TV and points to a toddler girl and says, "DAaaDDDDY! Loo do da laa da da da da, ha ha ha!" something like, "Daddy, Look the little girl got ice cream on her shirt."

Mark was in the kitchen, I tell him what Ry said and Mark came over to respond. When Daddy got there, Ryan gave him a giant hug then crawled back into my lap to continue enjoying the toddlers' adventures in the Magic Kingdom.

Fever

Seany has a fever. Its coming and going. I suppose he is forgiven for the melt down 2 days ago, though the fever didn't show up until dinner last night.

The Time Traveller's Wife

It is so interesting I can't stop thinking about it. In fact I keep calculating how long until I can pick it up again.

Its the closest a new author has come to the way I feel about the Potters (should say Rowlings), the Agatha Christies, and the Maeve Binchys. Even though I can quote from them and know when and where it came from, I still must read the books and can't hardly put them down.

I keep guessing where the story is going and I know some bits from the prologue, but I can't imagine how it will get there. I love this book and I'm only on page 196 which isn't even halfway.

OK, I realize I don't clue y'all in to my reading preferences and current book and movie likes and dislikes, but this is an amazing book.

This blog is really about the kids and what we do as a family, sometimes what they do without me. So, I may delete this later.

My little solitary moments are fairly boring in comparison. I delight in an occasional bath (very occasional now), a shower is too stressful as I imagine the twix up to something (so if Mark's not home I'm in and out in 5 minutes). I clean up messes in my free moments. I wash 3 loads of laundry a day and put away 6 loads of laundry every other day. I wash 3 kids every other morning and I supervise the shower of the fourth. I make meals that cover the taste and texture of pureed veggies (new to my routine). I play with the twix, I read with Andy, and I talk with Alex about his ideas and dreams and math and science and his books. I like to watch a few shows (Life, Little People Big World, Jon & Kate plus 8, and Medium) and I love a certain group of comedy and romance movies and everyday I read.

I read to calm myself. I read to take my mind off the things I can't fix and make better (mostly our finances and our chicklets varying health issues). I read to enjoy words strung together to make poetry, to enjoy the words I love strung together in away I haven't heard before or have heard before but want to hear again.

And yes, I read everything. I've read the manuals for all our major appliances and toys, I've read the advice on all Mark's retirement funds, I've read cookbooks, and I've read more books than I could manage to list-- I've tried.

Sorry for the rambling nature of the post. But this is why I love fiction -- an imagination can take you to places you'd never imagine and a really good book, leaves me hungry for more.

Tantrums

I've gotten so used to Ryan going nuts and screaming if things don't go his way. So much so that yesterday, I was truly befuddled.

At lunch, I made Sean & Ryan noodles with chicken. Its one of Seany's favorites and he usually refuses to eat a sandwich. Alex and Andrew had PB&Js. Sean went bonkers. He screamed, he threw his plate at the sink, he ran to the 'crying' room and didn't resurface for 20 minutes, only to scream and hit some more.

Ryan quietly ate all his noodles & chicken and then said, "Ah, Dah" which means 'all done.' Then Ryan said, "Peas peas peas, at peas peas peas" translates to "Please please please, that please please please."

So I made his pb&j. And then Sean calmed down, signed "sorry," and happily ate his sandwich, smiling and making eyes at me.

I will add that if it had been Ryan, he'd still be screaming and never say or sign sorry. But he was like a different kid. I'm still amazed.

Friends indeed

Spiderbear and the boy who loves him.

Seany's puppy dog and Seany.

Alex and the hockey bear, GoodShot!

Opening their friends carriers.

Pulling friends out of boxes.

Build a friend

Seany was studying what Daddy was doing.

And then he got busy.

Alex prepping his friend.

I know this is a little gross but...

Alex is getting his first grown up tooth, its coming in behind those baby teeth.

Brothers and 1 game

Whenever either boy is playing the DS, it looks like this.

The Gift from Grandma & Papa

The whole family blanket. The chicklets especially Ryan like to use this everytime they're on the couch.

Snowball fight

The easy target, Jazzy never really took good cover.

Grandma sneaking around to catch the kid (yeah, that's Alex) hiding behind the 'fort.' Its not a playhouse people.

Trike clip 2

Trike clip #1

The trikes were finally finished

Ryan cheeses for the camera on his new ride.

Da na na na Da na na na Stunt-Ry!

Daddy giving Seany a push.

Now Daddy giving 2 boys rides.

After an assembly error, one trike had to be exchanged. So no trikes for Christmas, but they love them all the same.