Keep Clam

J: You don't want to sit in the trunk. That's very dangerous.
D: Yeah. That's why you put things other than humans in there. Like dead aliens. Or dead art.

D: JJ, is your name Wild Style?

D: The twins are just driving me crazy!

J: We need a baby and a baby room! And make sure it stays alive!

D: I don't like this.
Me: D, you need to tell your aunt and uncle thank you.
D (sighs): Thank you for the presents that I needed.

J: You're driving me beans and nuts!

D: These chocolate mints taste like chocolate and mint!

J: C'mon half noodle!
Wut?

J: Dad's gonna beat ya, cuz he has spearmint! (experience)

J: All we have to do is say please and Grandma gives us stuff!

(1/14) Today was a blast! My sister and brother (and their SOs, of course) were in town, so I took the kiddos over and we had another Christmas with everybody together. Grandma & Granddad host a "kids' dinner" every year, where they invite all the kids, and their friends from growing up/school, plus their expanding families.  They cook up a bazillion meatballs, ziti, and desserts, and have us all over for a feast.  It's so fun to see everybody, and to see how their kids have grown.

(1/15) Oma and Opa gave C & me their tickets to Finding Neverland at the Paramount this evening.  It was *amazing*!  I was moved to tears a number of times, and C said it was "probably the best play he's ever seen." High praise from the little mister.

(1/16) Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day!  We were all off today, and got to attend a Silvertips game. The twins require popcorn and Skittles, and more or less watch the game. Tips won 5-4!


(1/17)  Work day for Dad & me, and school for the boys.  I had book club with my work peeps after work today, and we went to the Bonefish Grill.  I got home in time to read stories to the twins.  Nanan joined us this evening, and we watched a show on raising quints, and I was thankful we only have twins!


(1/18) Today, I'm thankful for Team Grandparent!  Nanan had a procedure this morning, and it ran longer than expected.  The grands swooped in and took care of the twins for me, brought homemade ziti for dinner, and even made a cake for Dad's birthday! The twins had a game this evening, and we had Dad blow out candles & sang to him after the game.

(1/19) Work day for Dad & me, and Sharon had the boys this morning.  They got to play at the park before heading to school.  C was picked up early today because he was not feeling well.  Hope he feels better soon.


(1/20) Work day for me, and Dad had the boys.  He kept C home from school today.  The whole house is snarfy right now, and we're going through gallons of OJ.


(1/21) Today I went to the Womxn's March in Seattle.  I went with Sarah, her mom, and another friend.  We went down early, hopped right on a shuttle which took us directly to the park.  We hit up Starbucks--because all big changes start with coffee--and then were ready to march.  The energy was amazing. Even though the actual march started at 11am, I don't think we got more than a block away before 2pm - there were just that many people!  We finally got to the Center, and back to our car by 4pm, which was exactly how long the organizers said the march would run. Dad had the boys today, and went to hockey with the twins this morning, and was a "good cook" this evening (read: he ordered pizza).


(1/22) The boys and I had a pretty lazy day today.  I took the pup out for a walk this evening, but that's the only reason I left the house today.


(1/23) Work from home day for me, and regular work day for Dad. C's day was really rough, and homework time was even rougher.  So rough, in fact, that it bled into hockey time.  Sigh.  Tomorrow will be better.


(1/24) Work day for Dad & me.  Sharon had the twinadoes, and they got to go to the park, and do art before school.

(1/25) Packed day for us all.  I had the day off today, and it was my day to work in the twins' class.  After school was over, I turned the boys over to a combination of Dad & Grandma for the next few days, so I could go on a ski trip with my dad to Leavenworth.  The twins had a game this evening.  Dad says J almost scored a goal tonight!  And D?  D got skated around by the head coach to keep him out of trouble.  Tomorrow, Grandma offered to come early to be with the boys before school and during C's hockey practice. Thank you, Grandma!!


(1/26) We woke up early, and hit Starbucks first thing for breakfast, and then headed to the mountain.  We got there early, and there was no line for anything today, so I was through the rental line and down to the ski school early.  I had a 2 hour lesson to refresh my memory on how to fall down the mountain. The instructor decided I was queen of the banked turn, but hey, I haven't been skiing in over 6 years, so I was impressed that I got down upright on all but one run.  By mid afternoon, my boots were killing my legs.  I think I put them on too tight this morning, and they were really barkin' at me.  We decided to call it a day, and to head back to our hotel, and go down for a beer.  We redeemed our tokens for a taster at the Dog Haus Brewery - Chow Chow Maple Stout for my dad & Alpha Dog Amber for me. We had our tasters converted into pints, and had a really lovely conversation with the owner of the hotel & brewery.  He suggested we go to Mozart's for an authentic German dinner.  After leaving there, I grabbed our wine tasting voucher, and we stopped by Bergdorf Cellars.  We sampled their *9* wines, and came home with a bottle of red and white Glühwein. Thankful we weren't driving, we walked down to dinner.  We chose Mozart's platter for two, and sampled way more than I would've ordered on my own.  It was so fun to just sit and chat with my dad for hours on end.  I don't get to do that often enough.


(1/27) I had another great day up skiing with my dad.  We stopped for breakfast at O'Grady's before heading to the slopes.  It was pretty foggy today, and we spent the day on Hogsback.  I'm a pretty novice skier, so this was more my speed.  We skied until around 3pm, and then got in line to come home.  The boys had a good day with their dad.  He took them to Play it Again Sports and sent me a picture of them all perusing snowboards.  He also took them out for sushi, and hallelujah, there was still some left for me!

(1/28) Hockey day for all the boys today.  The twins had practice, and C had a game this evening, followed by a birthday party for a couple of his teammates.  Dad took us to Ivar's for lunch this afternoon.  The boys have been bottomless pits lately, but we managed to order more food than they could eat for once.

You Can Call Me Mashed Potatoes

Me (talking to the cat): Why are you all wet?  What did you get into?
D: I think he got into wet stuff.
Us: Thanks, Caption Obvious!

J: Holy cow!
D: Stop saying that!
C: It just means there's a cow with lots of holes in it.

Me: Don't hit!
D: When I went to get the tablet, my arm just went the way of J's.

D: My mom tell me he can't cannonball into the hot tub or he might break it.

Me: You have a bony butt.
J: I have a Zamboni butt!

D: I want to change my new name.
Me: What do you want your new name to be?
D: Mashed Potatoes!  I want everybody to be called Mashed Potatoes!

J: That smell is hungry for my nose!


Dad: Okay there, Rambo!
C: I'm not Rambo, I'm Rainbow!

J: I want a steak-cake for my birthday!  For I can have one million proteins!

Me: D, I know what I'm doing!
D: Eventually.

After retelling this story ~
Nanan: Do you even know what eventually means?
D: Later.

Nanan: Do you know where these M&Ms came from?
D: The tube right there.
Nanan: I was looking for Santa, but yes, you are correct.

J: This shirt is way better than C's shirts!

J: I'm sorry, Mom. Preschool is cancelled forever. The pipes froze on the inside and the outside. So now we need to go to C's school.


(12/31) Sarah watched the boys so Dad & I could go out to Purple for brunch this morning.  We had a mimosa flight, crab cakes, and I had the (lobster baked) macaroni.  It was SO good! It snowed just enough to be pretty out, but didn't really stick to much today.  This evening, we did the countdown with the littles early (thank you, Netflix!), and then put the twins down.  Dad and C spent the evening playing X-COM, though we did turn to the Needle when fireworks time came.


(1/1) Happy New Year!  We had a pretty lazy day today.  I did take the pup out for a walk to get out of the house for a bit, but yeah, that was about it.


(1/2) Today was lovely!  I got in a walk to coffee with Sarah and Laura, and then had dinner with Tami, whom I haven't seen in forever! It was fun to gab with all the girls.  Dad took the boys to C's hockey practice while I was at dinner.

(1/3) Back to work and school for us all today. Meetings galore at work, and the catch-up is always fun.  C has been dreading going back since vacation started. Bubba had a rough day today, but hopefully it'll get better as we go along.


(1/4) The twins had a field trip today to Music & Me.  It was an introduction to musical instruments.  They had a fun time, and we capped off the morning with some hot chocolate, because it was freezing out (and maybe because I needed more coffee).  This evening, the twins had their first hockey game.  It was a total riot!  D kept crawling over to the goal, and then he'd stand up in the goal--whether he was playing that shift or not--and kick out the kiddo currently playing goal.  Then he'd proceed to completely ignore the game.  J skated around and sorta-kinda wandered over to where the puck was. Their performance had us all cackling in the stands.

(1/5) Preschool was cancelled today when the pipes froze.  Nanan had come over to work in the twins' class, so instead she came to our house and stayed for dinner. I finally got home and managed to visit briefly with her before the twinsies' bed time.

(1/6) Work day for me, and Dad had the boys.  I saw them briefly before going to book club tonight.  We read a fun book (The Last Days of Salton Academy), and had a good discussion.

D crawling up to the goal

Leading D to the bench

(1/7) Sarah and I went for coffee before the twinsies' practice this morning.  C had a game later, and he requested that we all come.  The Badgers won 8-4, and C played an awesome game on first string tonight!  He and Dad stayed for the Totems game after, and I ferried the twins home and put them to bed.

C is red #5 here

(1/8) This morning we bravely went into C's room and cleaned it.  He whined, and complained, and tried hiding under the bed...when really?  The process took less than 30 minutes.  It just needed to be done.  Sarah brought Jor over to play later, and we escaped on a walk, while Dad held down the fort with four hooligans.

(1/9) Work from home day for me, and school for the boys.  I got up early and ice skated on my walk, but at least got to enjoy some lingering Xmas lights.

J in the middle

(1/10) Work day for me, and Dad had the boys.  C's nerf gun arrived, and it is ridiculous.  It shoots both the larger and smaller sized nerf bullets.  I had to tell D to put a shirt on, spoiling the no-shirt party, because his back was covered in hits.  The boys had lots of fun, and I'm sure I'll be finding bullets everywhere now.

J laying in the middle

D crawling to goal

(1/11) Busy day "off" for me.  Gym, preschool, and an appointment for C. Dad spoiled us with Olive Garden for dinner.  Yummo!

(1/12) Work day for me, and school for the boys.  Nanan worked in the twins' preschool class today, and then joined us for dinner.  She stayed until the twinsies had to go to bed, and we had a little time to visit.


(1/13)  Work day for me, school for C, and Dad is hangin' with the twins today.  C is headed to Nanan's house tonight, so we'll have a quiet night with the younger two.