I'm back! And I have photos to prove it!

I looked at the calendar and realized that tomorrow it will have been a full month since I last posted.

I can't let a whole month go by. That's ridic.

But I still don't have time to post! Too much going on at work since I took on as the lead for that client in Maine, and another of my bigger clients has a big event this month that needed lots of promotion and communications help. So much work!!

So instead of really posting, I'll just post photos. I promise to get back into the swing of things when things at work slow-up just a bit.

We went to Scarlet and Gray Day at the boys' school...

Matty came with us! Hiii, Matt-Pat!

... and Clair had her first taste of a Baltimore favorite: a lemon stick.

Cutest little peppermint stick EVER.

Now she's a true Bawlmer girl!

She loved it! But Dean loved it more. He loves all things minty -- peppermints, "candy cans," even toothpaste. Yes. My boy likes the taste of toothpaste.

We went to the creek at Herring Run Park and explored! We threw sticks in the creek and pretended to fish, saved a caterpillar from drowning, saw two baby deer peeking at us and learned what a "clearing" is.

I love living so close to a park with a creek -- even if it is polluted. Clair calls the woods behind us "the wild." As in, "Mommy, we can't go in there. It's the wild!"

We celebrated my Mommy's 60th birthday and our 7th wedding anniversary by having brunch and visiting wineries in the Shenandoah Valley! It was a perfect October Sunday afternoon - and one of the best memories I think we'll have of our shared milestones.

Happy anniversary to my very best friend! Ain't life grand?

 

 It's hard to see that picture of my handsome husband in that montage, so let me zoom in for ya:

Hello handsome!

He's so GQ! See why I've kept him around for 7 years?

We went to a pumpkin farm, went on a hayride and picked apples -- oh so many apples. I still have a bag of apples sitting in the dining room. My co-worker sent me a recipe for an apple crisp that requires two sticks of butter! Ding-ding-ding! Sounds like the right answer to all those apples to me!

Clair's first time apple-picking. She loved it!

Dean, of course, turned the picking into a competition. He might be the reason why I have 1 million apples in my house.

How cute is this happy face?

 

 And the boys had a day off from school, so Lester helped them carve a pumpkin!

Cary: "Dude, where is the CANDY?"

What else? Hmmmm.

Oh -- I went to my girlfriend Shreya's Girls' Dinner -- the one where her husband cooks a four-course meal for 45 women??

That's my gorgeous, brilliant, hilarious, stylish, generous-to-a-fault, kick-ass friend Shreya!

It was awesome. As usual.

I am so honored that I get a seat at this table every year!

 And I looked pretty damn good.

Not as good as my husband, who has lost 46 lbs!!! since May (damn him!) But pretty darn good, thanks to some Spanx and high boots.

And I had my second column run in the Sun, which prompted someone to comment:

I feel we have lived parallel lives! I could completely relate to and empathize with everything. I too am Type-A. I never planned on twins and that totally threw off my Excel spreadsheet of "baby finances." And I certainly didn't plan on numero 3. I have 4 year old twin girls and a 2 year old son. I felt so guilty the day I went to the hospital to give birth to him - I felt I was taking something away from the girls. But I learned I have so much love to give. The only thing I regret is constantly viewing the twins as "older," that I've forgotten to appreciate how young they still are. And as my son is now at the age his sisters were when he was born, I realize that they were still "babies" at that time and I took it for granted. Hang in there mama, you are not alone in this journey!

Positive comments on newspaper stories? This almost never happens!
This woman, whoever she is, seems like someone I'd be friends with -- kinda like many of the women I've met through this blog! See how writing brings people together?

Life is good!

P.S. I have other news to share, but I can't share it just yet. A few more weeks, tops! But I'm JUST BURSTING TO TELL IT!! Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Bringing my blog back up-to-date

The last few weeks have been so jam-packed, I haven't had time to properly blog. My goal is to get something down at least five times a week, but that is like a pipe dream, even on the best weeks.

So lots of stuff gets unrecorded, and lots of thoughts get unsaid. But there's nothing to do but to jump right back into it. So here goes.

I'll start with a hodge-podge of things that happened over the course of the last couple weeks or so.

You already saw the kids in their adorable Halloween costumes, but you didn't get to see MOI.

I'm the Queen Bee, y'all. Bzzzz.

Momma Bee went to the boys' school for their Halloween party. While there, I had to be the "kid" and the boys were the teachers. "Sit down, Mommy!" they said. "Criss-cross applesauce!"

Here they are showing me what day of the week it is. I also learned what the weather was. And, if I was very good, I could possibly have gotten to be the line-leader or the door-holder. But I don't remember earning any of those things. I must not have been very good.

Last week, Lester got invited to go to "Thank the elected officials night" at The National Aquarium, even though he's not an elected official. But his boss is, and so we joined him there for a nighttime reception, dolphin show and free rein of the awesome Baltimore aquarium. (If you haven't been, it's really quite nice.)

There were lots of questions about where dolphins go poop (and lots of "ewwwing") and lots of emphatic declarations that jellyfish DO give us jelly, Mommy. "That's why they're called JELLYfish!" Duh.

My favorite is the boysenberry jellyfish. Peach is pretty tasty too.

We got to take home this snapshot of us holding Photoshopped puffins. Cary, who was in no mood to participate with the photographer's requests, was heartbroken when he realized that his pouty refusals to hold his hands out meant he didn't get to 'hold' a puffin when the picture came out. Oh well. Life lesson, Cary. It'll learn ya.

In other news, I'm happy to say, after an October of jam-packed Sundays, we went to the church we like two weekends in a row and pretty much decided we want to join. But first we're going to attend a newcomer's reception this Sunday and ask a few more questions, just to be sure.

I'm excited about possibly joining a church again. But I will be even more glad when Lester and I can both sit in the sanctuary and hear the message together, as opposed to what usually happens: One of us ends up in the lobby with Clair, who refuses to sit still during the lesson and screams bloody murder when we try to leave her in the (very sweet and cute) little nursery. Ugh.

For now, I'll just be happy that we're getting our butts up and getting ourselves to church again. Baby steps, right?

After church last weekend, we ended up going grocery shopping as a family, which we rarely do because hello -- three kids? Wegman's is near the church, so we went there, which was a total blessing! The kids were starving after church, so I took them through the prepared foods section of the grocery store and bought lunch, which we ate upstairs while Lester took the list and shopped.

When the kids were done eating, we just went over and played in the grocery store's children's area until Lester got the car loaded and came back to get us. Easy peasy.

Seriously, whoever came up with the brilliant idea to have a children's area near a dining area, near a bank of bathrooms, upstairs from a huge supermarket -- that person is a bonafide, A No. 1 genius.

We can't afford to shop at Wegman's all the time -- especially when you factor in having to feed the lot of us while we're there, instead of eating lunch at home. But when we have to do it, I'm grateful that we have it as an option. (Also, I made the easiest delicious butternut squash for dinner, thanks to Wegman's handy-dandy "buy a vegetable, we'll dice it for you" service. I love Wegman's!)

And lastly, I have to say how excited I was when Cary came padding into our room yesterday morning (a half-hour before it was time to wake-up, but I'll forgive him) and said, "Look, Mommy." Then, slowly, pointing to each word with his little finger:  'A. Is. For.'"

He read that!

Then he pointed to the alligator and said "Alligator. A. Is For. ALLIGATOR!"

Best 6:15 wake-up call I ever had.

Tomorrow is the end of the soccer season -- there's a parents vs. kids soccer game and a pizza party! Cary and Dean are beside themselves with excitement.

Happy weekend everybody!

Halloween week begins

Remember back in the day when we were kids and Halloween was on one day -- Oct. 31?

No more. Now, Halloween is the weekend before Oct. 31, the week leading up to Oct. 31, Oct. 31 and maybe the weekend after.

Needless to say, the endless week of candy and treats pleases my children to no end. I am not thrilled about all the sweets, but it is a real treat for me to see them so excited to be in costumes this year. This is the first year they were actually into it.

Yo! Davis Kiddies! Yo! Davis Kiddies!

DJ Lance Rock and Brobee - best of friends.

At Halloween Member Night at the Science Center, we tried the "Mummies" movie in the IMAX theater. Needless to say, creepy dead people in 3-D did not go over very well with Brobee and DJ Lance Rock. (Parenting fail!)

SCARY Mommy! Broo-hoo-hah-ha-ha!

There's more to come this week at school -- two parties, a parade, scarecrow stuffing and other things I'm sure I'm forgetting.

These kids are gonna be all Halloweened out by the end of the month. And so will I.

Photo recap of the last several days

I've been crazy busy at work, trying to pull together a publication for a client. And Superstorm Sandy threw a monkey wrench in everything. So I haven't had time to blog.

But I wanted to make sure I'm keeping good record of what's going on in the life of the Davises. With no time to write, what's a girl to do? Post photos of course!

First of all, during Superstorm Sandy, when it rained -- HARD -- for three days straight, I tried to find lots of things to do to keep the kiddos busy.  You know how I was worried about storm preparation? Turns out this is the only storm prep anyone ever really needs.

Oh yeah!

And lest you think that we spent the three days singing songs and playing Play-Doh and baking stuff like the Partridge Family, please know that by the end of the three days inside with the Crazies, I was ready to ship them in a box to Sri Lanka. (My friend Angel's family is from there, so at least I know someone would feed them.)

Doesn't this photo look like it's from the 70s? Cary even has an Afro.

 Sara decided that she is a baby and constantly tries to wiggle in between the actual babies when we're all piled up together on the couch or on the floor. Here she is in Clair's highchair, which is her new favorite place to sit, hang out or nap.

Do you want some rice cereal and sweet potatoes, little Baby Sara?

 On Halloween, the kids did not go trick-or-treating because I am lazy (I am answering a question from Beth) and also because they still think it is really fun to hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters who come to our door. And we get a fair amount, actually, which is surprising since I am one of only two houses on the whole block that even decorates for Halloween. And by "decorate," I mean put some pumpkins on the porch.

Clair is hanging right along with them! Look at her!

I would be remiss if I didn't point out that Dean ADORES handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. He yells "Trick or Treat!" and slams candy in their bags, and then waves, "Hiiii!' Even the kids think he is adorable. Cary, on the other hand, who now knows that every piece of candy going out the door is one less piece of candy for him, sulks, pouts and scowls at the trick-or-treaters, refusing to hand over the candy he's clutching in his little hand. He still likes for them to come to the door -- nearly falls over himself running to see them -- but he is no fan of sharing the Halloween bounty. Unh-unh.

Look Mommy! We have BIG muscles!

Fun with PicFrame! (Bet you thought I forgot about that!) Kids in PJs on Halloween night, hopped up on lollipops and other goodies (well, not Clair) making Mommy and Daddy sooooo ready for them to go to bed.

The lines in Baltimore for early voting have been crazy long, but I managed to sneak out in between two work assignments and do my civic duty. It's impolite to discuss politics, I know, so I'll just say that if my vote has anything to do with it, everyone will be able to get a college education, regardless of where they came from, and all my friends will be able to marry the people they love.

Because of the storm, the kids' Fall Festival and Halloween party got pushed to Thursday and Friday. Lester took Thursday (fall fest) and I took Friday (party). At the fall fest, Lester said the boys were incorrigible and refused to do all the fun crafts. They melted down when it was time to build a scarecrow and they were so hard to deal with the whole time, he was ready for a drink by 10 a.m.

In a text message to me, when he sent this picture, he said, "While the other children were all doing crafts, YOUR children were doing this."

On Friday, at the Halloween party, as soon as Cary saw me, he wanted to go home. So he whined and cried just about the whole time. And because the party got rescheduled, only two other parents and I were able to come help out. So it was a little bit chaotic. But we managed to make a bunch of crafts (more on that later) and eat a bunch of snacks and I was the hit of the party with the kids because I sang them the "Bringing Home a Baby Bumblebee" song, which includes vomiting sounds. Kids LOVE that.

I even wore a costume! See -- here I am: Lt. Uhura reporting for duty! I don't think anyone got my costume though. Do people not do Star Trek?

And about those crafts we made ....

Are my children trying to tell me something? Is this a cry for help? Do they need therapy -- at 2 and a half? Arts and Crafts always leaves me with so many questions.

:-)

Happy post-Sandy Halloween!

Lester did a yeoman's job preparing for the storm after all (I should have known he would) and caulked up some cracks in our outside walls, as well as stocked our house with food and baby formula and other actual necessities like Papa John's pizza and Pillsbury slice 'n bake cookies. I bought batteries and bottled water, and filled up our downstairs tub with water. We had the flashlights at the ready.

In the end, we survived nontropical Sandy, or whatever she ended up being called, with very little damage to speak of. In the three days we were stuck in the house a little bit of water seeped in through the basement, but other than that, we have nothing significant to talk about. Especially not when compared to the devastation in NY/NJ and other parts of the Northeast.

My prayers go out to all of those who lost loved ones, and I pray that people will be able to get back to their normal lives as soon as possible. I know it is a very "1st-world" problem to be so majorly inconvenienced by power outages and public transportation stoppages, but still. This sucks.

In other news, it is Halloween, and I hope the boys and Clair will get at least some trick-or-treaters tonight, as they are crazy excited about wearing their costumes and handing out candy. And since school was closed again today, they missed out on their Halloween party and likely tomorrow's fall festival, too. So since this is it for them, trick-or-treaters better come a trickin' and a treatin'!

We at least got out as a family before the storm and went to the Patterson Park Lantern Parade on Saturday, which was awesome. We ate festival food and saw marching bands and amazingly-creative paper lanterns and kids in costumes and our friends Antwyne, Mari and Antony and Stacey and Hugo. Dean was a little freaked out by the scary costumes -- at one point he said, "Mommy, nooo! The dinosaur is going to eat me!" -- but he still had a really good time. The highlight of the night was definitely the marching bands. My boys LOVED them. See for yourself (this video is 2 minutes long and worth every second!):

And here are some cute photos of them in their costumes, which they thought were the best things ever.

Mater Truck and Lightning McQueen reporting for duty!

Raggedy Ann (actually Raggedy Andy, because I wanted her to have pants.) Yes, my daughter is a cross-dresser. I love and accept her no matter what. :-)

Daddy and Raggedy Ann(dy) at the Patterson Park Lantern Parade. Clair was a huge trooper, especially considering that it got kinda chilly out and it was way past her bedtime.

Every day since Saturday the boys have asked to wear their costumes. And I told them they could wear them on Halloween to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. Which is why those darn neighborhood kids better high-step around all the downed tree branches and come eat all this candy I bought!!

 (Seriously, people, I ate so much junk during the storm sequestering, I neeeeeed this candy out of my house!)

Year of Austerity

So instead of dressing the boys up this year, we decided to dress up ourselves.
Lester and I went to a friend's Halloween party Saturday night. I was a witch (I already had a hat and a blond wig in the basement). And Lester was Herman Cain, the erstwhile Republican presidential candidate, who is a total nut. Lester's entire costume was a pizza box, with $9.99 written on it. (Because of Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan? Get it?)
He wore all his own clothes.
So, aside from having to order a pizza -- which was payment for my sister coming to sit with the babies while we went out -- the costumes were free!

More than anything else, Lester was happy about that. Have I ever mentioned that my husband is cheap...er....frugal?? :-)

Our frugal Halloween is just the beginning of the ultra-frugal lifestyle that's on the way.

Last night, Lester and I sat down and mapped out how we are going to pull off the "Davis Year of Austerity," beginning in December.

From December 2011 to December 2012, we are going to attempt to save as much money as possible, and spend as little money as possible.

Yes, we are going to attempt this right before Christmas and just before having a baby.
We might just be a tad crazy.

Top 5 things we plan to do differently:

1) We're getting rid of cable. YIKES!!! Here's the thing. We don't watch all THAT much television anyway. And most of what we do watch is on regular broadcast stations (The Today Show, Modern Family, 60 Minutes, football). And we have Netflix, so we get movies to watch regularly. Lester is going to miss having the NFL network, and I am going to miss having AMC and TCM. But we know this is a sacrifice for the family, and a sacrifice wouldn't be a sacrifice if it didn't hurt a little.

2) We're disconnecting our alarm system. (Don't tell any burglars.) I got it when I bought the house because Lester was still in Florida and I was a single woman living in Baltimore city. Mostly, I wanted it for when we were home -- sleeping at night, for example. But when Lester and I got married and he moved in, he found the alarm annoying while we were in the house, and only wanted to use it when we were all out. Well, needless to say, with twin babies, we're infrequently ALL out of the house at the same time, and with another one on the way, I imagine we'll be leaving as a group even less. At least for a while. So, no more alarm.

3) We're downgrading our house-phone to one that dials out and receives calls only. Right now, we have Caller ID and call-waiting and all the other bells and whistles (that we never use anyway), and it just doesn't make sense. Now, this item was a big source of disagreement for Lester and me. He wanted to get rid of the home phone altogether, as that seems to be the trend more and more with folks. But I cannot make myself feel comfortable with having small children in the house and no fixed way to reach 911 if something awful were to ever happen. (God forbid.) Yes, we all have cell phones, but Lester and I are gone all day and that means we're depending on Michelle to have her phone charged, handy etc. for the safety of our children. That seems irresponsible to me. What if Michelle leaves her phone at home one day? (Which has happened before.) What if she forgets to pay her bill? Regardless, it's not her job to have a cell phone. But it IS our job to make sure we do everything in our power to keep our kids safe. So, we're keeping the phone, but only minimally.

4) We're looking into downgrading the cell phone package we have. Right now, we've got a gazillion minutes and unlimited text messaging. Is all that necessary? Really? We don't know -- but we're going to call and find out. One thing: If we're getting rid of the free long-distance capability on our home phone, it might not be prudent to have fewer minutes on our cell phones, with the way my family, in particular, likes to gab.

5) We're drastically cutting back on our weekly spending money. This is something we should have revisited a while ago. Back in the day, when disposable income was something we actually had, I treated myself to regular beautifying. Once a week, I got my hair flat-ironed, and once a month, I got my eyebrows and toes done. The hair straightening alone was (I'm ashamed to say) $65 a week! Ack.
I've long since stopped getting my hair done that often (two babies will do that to ya), but we never adjusted the budget to reflect that. Which meant I had the cash in hand every week. And that meant I found reasons to spend it. Mostly on lunches out at work, or impromptu Target purchases. But now, all that beautification money is going back into the savings pot, and we'll find creative ways to get myself beautified when special occasions pop up.
This will also mean bringing lunch more often than eating lunches out, which means more organization and preparation on my part (ugh! Lord, help me). But considering my new blood-sugar-conscious diet, I should probably do that anyway, I guess. At least during the week.

That last item is going to be the toughest part for me, as I really do like to have a little cash in my pocket for small things -- greeting cards for friends, coffee on the run, last-minute Amazon purchases, yard sale finds, etc. And it feels like I'm working for nothing, if I can't spend $10 on a whim if I want to. (Enter pouty face here).

But I'm not working for nothing. I'm working for this family. Which is getting bigger by the moment. (Cue the kicking baby.)

And we're keeping a small amount of household money for occasional treats, like birthday dinners out, or inexpensive things we really, really, really want. So it won't be all austerity and no fun at all. That would suck.

And honestly, when I think about it, God has blessed our family tremendously -- because, right now, without spending another dime, we truly have all the things that we need, and some of the things that we want. What more can we really ask for in life? Being bitter because I can't get my hair straightened, or order Chinese on Fridays (which I don't need to be eating anyway, hellloooooo!) just borders on avarice a little bit.
Especially when so many people all over this world -- in my own city, as a matter of fact -- are hungry, or cold, or have no idea where they'll sleep tonight.

So for a year -- one calendar year -- I can give up these things, and try to put more money away for the good of our family. It'll be difficult, for SURE, but it'll be worth it.

And sacrifice isn't sacrifice unless it hurts a little, right? Not to mention that the best things in life, a wise woman once reminded me, aren't things at all.

(We love you Cary, Dean and Curve Ball. This sacrifice is for you.)

After much consternation, here's what the boys will be for Halloween this year...

Last year, Cary and Dean were the world's most adorable meerkat and sea otter for Halloween.
I found their costumes at the last minute for $10 each on some Halloween clearance website.

Cary:
Dean:

At the Maryland Zoo, with the other critters:

Post-Boo at the Zoo-ing:


(Pictures of them sleeping always makes me all melty! Look at those peaceful, gorgeous faces!)

This year, Lester and I are trying not to spend money AT ALL for Halloween (except for the candy for the neighborhood trick-or-treaters, of course) so the pressure was on for me to find them something to be that was free.

This was a tremendous amount of pressure, because everyone around me seems to think that because I have twins, I have this wonderful opportunity to be really clever with the Halloween costumes. Think of all the things that come in pairs! they say. Salt and Pepper! Yin and Yang! Peaches and Herb!
My sister told me to have one be an elephant and one be a donkey, and they'd be Democrats and Republicans. But I just couldn't do that to the baby who'd end up in the Republican costume. Sorry.

Anyway, I started getting a headache every time I tried to think of something clever AND free. Something that plays on the fact that Cary and Dean are a pair, but that also cost NO MONEY.

I like to think of myself as a somewhat creative person. Well, OK, not really. I like to think of myself as a person who would like to be creative, if only given enough time and motivation.

But time got away from me, and I think I left my motivation in the back of a taxicab somewhere, or -- more likely -- at the pumpkin farm the day Dean acted the fool and I left the stroller at home.

So, after much consternation, here's what I finally came up with. Here is what Cary and Dean are going to be for Halloween this year:

Isn't that adorable??!! And hysterical?!

What? What's that you say? You don't get it? Really?? Look closely!!

Gosh you people are slow.

Dean is going to be CARY and Cary is going to be DEAN!!!

It's ironic!! See?? It's funny!

You don't see? You're not laughing?

Whatever. Let's just call this Halloween a wash (it's not like they can even have candy yet, anyway) and I'll do better next year.

Happy Halloween, folks! Can't wait to see all your kids' pictures!