My little kitchen helpers

One Sunday, several weeks ago, I was extremely tired, just completely worn out from an exhausting week, and I was grumpily trying to make dinner and entertain these little monkeys. In desperation, I threw on their cute little aprons (a brilliant gift from Granny) and put them to work making brownies. It was genius.

When the brownie batter was finished quicker than I was anticipating, and wanting to keep the entertainment going, I gave them butter knives (a huge privilege) and marshmallows and had them cut the marshmallows into little pieces and add them to the brownie mix.

That night we had delicious marshmallow fudge brownies!

How is a Mother supposed to sleep.......

.........when cute little critters like these come crawling into your bed.

I love how they completely spread out and take control of the pillow too.

What am I to do!!!

Happy 77th Birthday Gram!!

My Grandmother and the kids Great-Grandmother, who we adoringly refer to as Gram, turned 77 on Saturday, so on Sunday we had a lovely little birthday celebration for her. We all helped make a yummy dinner, she requested fish, so Mom splurged on Mahi-Mahi, which was a first for all us, and was enjoyed by all. Then we sang a rousing rendition of "Happy Birthday to you" with the "cha cha chas", followed by ice cream cake. We love you Gram!!

We only had one #7 candle so we improvised by doing 7 times 11 or 7 X 11.

I know, wicked cheesy

The kids warming up to "help" blow out the candles. In actuality the candles were blown out before we even finished the song. We had to do a do-over so that Gram could blow out some of her candles.

I don't know why my kids look so devilish here, but Mom and Gram look cute.

The Beach in APRIL!?!?!?!?

That's right, this past Saturday the weather took a turn for the better and we had a gorgeous summer-like day. The kids went outside and said "oh my gosh, it's hot". After getting our errands done we packed everyone into the 'Shan Van' and headed to the beach. Traffic was horrendous. The water was freezing, but it was totally worth it.

Here is Cam admiring the boldness of Alexander and Joshua, who were the first ones in.

Cam tried but the water was so cold.

They didn't last long
Loving the beach

Brooke got buried. She is making a funny face due to the sand up her nose.

Cam also got buried

It's alive.Mom, I'm gonna get you wet

Although the boys were the first ones in, Melanie and Victoria lasted much longer.

It was a fun beautiful day. We can't wait for summer.

My 4 year old fashionista

I have always known that Brooke has an innate sense of style. Starting at 9 months old she would pick out her own clothes and try to dress herself. Sometimes this has proven difficult, such as when she wants to wear flip flops and shorts and a poncho in the middle of winter. She has also come up with some very interesting ensembles. However, nothing trumps her opinion of fashion as it did the other day. We had a day off from work and school and decided to visit the mall. Melanie came along and she was in the mood for shoes, so we hit Payless. All four of us were walking around Payless with our pant legs rolled up, looking in mirrors and testing how shoes felt. I had on a cute pair of black shoes with little pink polka dots and was strutting around, when Brooke, with a look on her face as if she smelled dead fish, said, "What?! Are you trying to look like an old lady."

A little sneak and a little snitch

Conference Sunday is a coveted day. Not only do we get to hear from the Prophet and other General Authorities, but church doesn't start til 12. When the kids woke up at 7:30 on Conference Sunday I was less than thrilled. I sent them downstairs to retrieve some toys to bring up and play with in their room while I attempted to get a few more minutes of shut eye. At one point I vaguely remember the crinkling of a wrapper, but was more interested in returning to my dream than to figure out what was going on. Later I found the remains of a candy wrapper in the kids room, but couldn't figure out how it had gotten there seeing how I had hid it on top of the fridge the night before. Just today did I figure out what had happened as I was scanning through some recent pictures. It seems as though Brooke documented the heist through photos, which is why they are blurry.

He used the chair to climb up on to the counter. Now he is trying to reach the spoils.

Examining the treasure

Climbing back down.

Thankfully he didn't fall or was hurt, but it sure is funny how the little sister caught everything on camera

BROOKE IS FOUR!!!

On March 19th Brooke turned 4. It was a big day. This was the first year that she was actually looking forward to it, she has always been too young to really get excited for it. Before I get into her big day I have to note one very important milestone. For weeks the entire family has been working Brooke up, telling her that when she turns 4 she can no longer carry any blankies with her everywhere. They have to stay in her bed. The big day arrived. She didn't even give it a fuss, and is still blankie free (unless she is in bed, the only place they are allowed). What a big girl. Now mama is just trying to get over the fact that I have no more babies.

On her birthday we all played hooky from work and school and went into Boston to the Children's Museum. It was an incredible place. Three full floors of children's activities, including a ball room, bubble room, science center, Arthur's neighborhood, a 3 story climbing tunnel, water room, climbing walls and arts and crafts area. We stayed busy the entire time. Here is a little of what the kids got into.

Here are the kids simulating water skiing. It was actually much more difficult than it looks.

Cam inside the giant bubble. We watched many kids get very excited by this feature, and when they went to try it they would pull it up over their heads and let go making the bubble ring come crashing down on top of their heads, followed by tears and bubbly hair. After watching this happen twice Brooke refused to give it a try.

Here Brooke is playing flight attendant in Buster's Airplane. It was one of her favorite places in the whole museum.



When we were kids we had a book called Thunder Cake. It's about a little girl and her babushka that go around collecting the ingredients to make thunder cake, all in an attempt to teach the girl not to be afraid of storms. Now I read it to my kids, and it was the cake Brooke requested for her birthday. The secret ingredient is pureed tomato, and although you can't taste it, the cake has a reddish tint to it. It didn't come out as great as I had hoped, but the idea was still fun.



Blowing out the candles.

It was such a fantastic day, and I'm so happy we got to do something special and have such a wonderful time together.

.... Stay Tuned for a special feature about Brooke

Opening Week at Fenway

Well, I'm finally diving in to blogging. I have been somewhat reluctant because let's face it, I'm not that interesting, and I just couldn't scrape together the time to really sit down and figure out what I'm doing. So, as my first blog entry, and a practice one at that, I'm going to post a few pictures from the Red Sox game I was able to attend on the 8th. It was only their second game and they lost to Tampa Bay, but the upside of that is that Carlos Pena plays for Tampa Bay. For those who don't know, Carlos Pena lived in Haverhill, attended good ole HHS, and for a while had insurance at the agency where I work. Although I never knew him I enjoy saying "isn't it fabulous! I went to the same high school as Carlos Pena."