A much needed break....

It feels like an eternity ago, but at the end of January Adam and I took off for a long weekend in Punta Cana with my good friend Brian and his wife Lisa.  It was a much needed break from the cold weather and the kids.  Adam isn't the biggest fan of all-inclusives, and the food wasn't the best, but I was happy we were at a larger resort, so there were multiple restaurant options.  On the flight there, we had a whole middle row to ourselves - Adam made me move over so he could enjoy the arm-rest, hence the poopie-face!

Playtime!

The twins are operating at peak-cuteness lately.  They can play together nicely, are better at following directions, love to read books to themselves, share the legos, and are generally a real treat to be around.  Lena had off early on Tuesday afternoon and I had so much fun with the boys.

Hide & seek is pretty amusing.  After the found me in the closet, they happily hid in my hiding place, opening and closing the closet doors for 10min.  They are awful at seek-ing and twice gave up finding me after a few minutes and then decided to go hide themselves.

Reminder: you need to go the webpage, to see the video if are getting this via email

POTD: Morning Commute

Yesterday, Oliver wanted to wear his Buzz costume before breakfast and I wouldn't let him (it feels near impossible to get out of the house on time lately).  Today, he didn't ask, he just put it on by himself while I was getting breakfast ready.  I didn't have the energy to fight him to take it off, so Oliver happily went to school like this.

I am so happy that I let him wear it!  We got so many smiles from people on the bus and walking around - how could you NOT smile seeing this kid so happy in his costume.  It's not like we need to save this white-polyester costume for any reason.  I learned from his daycare teacher that the girls routinely come dressed in their princess costumes.  I love that Oliver is still young enough to do this because he wanted to do it and not yet self conscious enough to worry about what others will think.

Hope this photo brought a smile to you as well!

Winter 2015: Family Update

In no particular order.... here are some photos/stories of what we have been up to.  In short, everyone has settled into our new house, their new schools, and our new routine.  I love all the time we get to spend with family during the holidays, but am always when that first Post-NYE Monday rolls around, and life gets to go back to normal.

We kicked off 2015 with Lena on vacation in Miami and most of the kids sick.  So, after much time at home with the kids during the holidays, I started the year being-less than productive at work.  These are some photos we sent Adam while home that day (Alex upset that Oliver is touching him).

Our "Not a Snow" Day

Still trying to catch up on some old posts....

A few weeks ago there was supposed to be a HUGE snowstorm that never materialized.  Both Oliver's daycare and the twin's preschool shut down in anticipation of Snow-maggedon.  But, where was the snow?  While Boston got clobbered (something like three Mondays in a row), we got barely a sprinkle.  Lena had recently injured her wrist/hand really badly, so I didn't want her home with all three boys an extra day, so I "worked from home", which really meant that between getting up super early and the boys nap, I was able to squeeze in about 2 hours in front of my computer.  

This was how the day started: The twins watching TV on the ipad, to keep quiet while Oliver slept in our bed (a rarity) and I tried to finish a project in the office.  

100 Days of Preschool

Oliver's daycare celebrated the 100th Day earlier this week.  The whole concept of this seems ridiculous to me, since its full-year daycare (this is done more frequently to commemorate the 100th day of Kindergarten).  Oliver's teachers informed us about a week beforehand that the kids were supposed to dress up like they were 100 years old, in celebration... eyeroll.  Isn't the Pizza party and themed books/arts & craft project enough?

Oliver wasn't interested in using a cane, putting baby powder in his hair to look grey, or any other props.  We don't even have loafers for the kids, so his only button down shirt, a pair of cords, and one of daddy's ties, was the best we could do.  Even though Adam had tried the tie on him the night before and Oliver had fun wearing it, he wasn't having any of it that  morning.  Adam joked that Oliver looked more like a sad trader/business man that had just found out his bonus number (can you tell what is on our mind this week?) than like an old man.  The joke got more laughs with Adam's colleagues than it is probably getting here.  Look at this face/expression!

POTD: Playing Nicely

This morning, Alex and Lukas wanted to help/watch Oliver play with his Legos.  This went on for over 10min and I didn't even jinx it by taking a photo! It ended with an interest in breakfast... there was no fighting or arguing.  We are starting to have more and more moments like this and they are AMAZING!

Valentine's Day

I'm not a fan of Valentine's Day. Never have been, never will... But I've been trying to embrace the holiday for the kids and not be a complete poo-poohead.

I got each kid a book and a monster chocolate lollipop.  They opened them this morning and we didn't have the energy for the you "you can't eat that until later" fight, so the kids had chocolate for breakfast. They were in heaven! 

A few weeks ago, the kids made Valentine cards for all the grandparents - arts and crafts projects are getting easier around here!

Oliver had a Valentine's Day party at school on Friday. He and I sat and worked on addressing all of his classmates' cards for the last few nights this week - I found the process maddening (Adam is going to need to be the homework-parent!).  I was so, so proud of Oliver when he came home with all of his cards from friends and I saw that only one other kid besides Oliver had addressed all of his own cards. Way to go, Oliver!

Aquarium Outing

Another lost post......  In between all the Christmas fun, we made good use of our aquarium membership and did a family outing to the aquarium with Nicole & Devon.  Lena came too, which made keeping tabs on four kids going in different directions a bit more manageable.  The boys were talking about the animals they had seen for days afterwards!  

Oh Yeah - Christmas Celebrations!!!

A smidge late on this post, since it is already, ahem, February, but better late than never!  We had a pretty successful Christmas - though the bar was set admittedly low after our experience the prior year.  We had a busy holiday and welcomed oodles of family in our home. I think the boys got a good amount of presents (not too much, not too little) and everyone was in good spirits.  Once again, we were unable to make it through the holidays healthy -- Lena came down with a bad bug just before the holidays, and Oliver got something at the end, keeping him & Adam from our celebrations with the Braunschweigers.

We kicked off the holidays with the Comegys in Delaware for Christmas Eve-Day brunch.  This was the best family photo we could get, and actually, I think the only photo of all five of us that was even taken!