Dates and turtles and pools, oh my!

"We had a busy weekend" has become such a broken record in our family that I will not even preamble this post with a big ole paragraph, but instead I'll just launch right into the photos.

Friday night, Lester and I went out on a double date with our friends Antwyne and Mari. We had a great time eating up all the food at Fork &Wrench (and drinking a cocktail made just for me by the amazing bartender, Jay. It's called a "Squishy." Ask for it next time you go there. He puts it through the carbonater, so it's really fun watching him make it! Also it is GOOD.) And then we ended up having a few more drinks at Wit and Wisdom, which is Antwyne's fave spot.

Saturday morning, we dragggggggged ourselves out of bed and took the kids to Masonville Cove for Science Alive, where they learned all about turtles.

Here, they're watching a turtle race. I thought it was hilarious that Dean waited to see which turtle looked like he was going to win, and then declared, "That one is mine!" So when that turtle did indeed cross the finish line, he yelled, "Yaaay! My turtle won!" Hahahaa!

The turtle race was actually more thrilling than watching some of the World Cup games. IJS.

Here, all the kids are pretending to be turtles inside their paper-plate shells. Except for my child, Cary, who on his own decided that he was going to be an eagle instead, and scare all the turtles. He even tried to eat poor turtle Dean. All the parents were laughing at Cary's impromptu decision not to follow the crowd, but Lester and I already know all about that kid. For better or for worse, he does his own thing.

Flapping his wings and cawing, just to be rebellious.

The kids also made their own turtles. As usual Clair took her time coloring hers.

After Science Alive, Lester went to run our weekend errands (grocery store, Target run) and I took the kids to go hang out with my girl Kelly and her daughter Naomi at the Cheverly pool.

They loved this little wading pool but quickly decided they wanted bigger and riskier adventures. Who are these little thrillseekers?

At first, the kids played happily in the wading pool, but they eventually ventured over into the bigger kiddie pool, and wandered out into the water much farther than they ever have before. I was so impressed. Clair, especially, was fearless -- jumping off the wall into the pool (it was only a foot tall, so she still didn't get her head submerged), crawling around on her hands "like a fish" with her legs floating out behind her (which meant she had to hold her head up out of the water like a pro) and wading out until the water was up to her neck! I was so proud of her. I was proud of all my kids, actually -- they all did great, unlike at swim lessons, which were a bit of a bust, in my opinion.  We were there for four hours of non-stop splashing and fear-conquering, and it made me realize that if we just went to the pool more often, they might get over their fear of the water a lot faster. So we need to make a point of figuring out how to do that next summer.

There were two casualties - Dean slipped while running ("no running at the pool" now actually means something to him) and scraped his chest and Cary toppled over while sitting and conked his head. After the head-conking, it was time to go. The kids were sun-baked, thirsty, hungry and cranky, and exhausted from no naps and hours of pool fun.

So this happened about 15 minutes into our long drive home, which as you know is a RARITY with my three.

All three asleep at the same time! Praise the good Lord in heaven.

This meant I got to turn off the kids' CD, roll the windows down and drive the rest of the way home in SILENCE. 45 minutes of golden, delicious, breeze flowing through the windows silence.

Halleluiah for pool time!

Sunday we went to church, came home and napped, while Lester drove to D.C. to pick up a few remaining personal items from his house (we go to settlement on Tuesday - yay!) And after the kids went to bed, we spent almost 90 minutes watching old iPhone videos of Clair as a baby, and then the boys when they were just crawling, and going "Awwwww." So yeah, basically, we're complete and total suckers for these little crazies. We can't deny it.

Despite my nap, I'm still tired today from all that hanging out on Friday and sitting in the sun on Saturday and running around with kids and cooking dinner on Sunday.

But this is the best kind of tired, don't you think? The very, very best.

4th of July - summer's bittersweet midpoint

It's sad to say it, but summer is pretty much halfway over. Pretty soon, there will be back-to-school sales, crispness in the air and orange leaves. Before you know it, it's Christmas.

Geeez.

But as much as I bemoan the 4th of July as the peak of summer season (all downhill from here, people), I can't really hate on it too much, because there ain't too much cuter than little kids in Americana-themed clothing. And I do love me some cookout food!

This particular 4th was perfection: hot but not too humid; a parade and fireworks in Annapolis; three cookouts and one crab-feast; two sets of red-white-and-blue outfits; baby pools, water tables, cousins, cupcakes - and lots and lots of sparklers.

Waiting for the 4th of July parade in historic downtown Annapolis. My kids now are obsessed with parades, because they got handfuls of candy thrown at them during this one.

Cheeeeeeeese.

Coincidentally, Tahira and I both brought our families to Annapolis this Fourth! It was really fun to hang out with family unexpectedly.

That's Russy on Reggie's shoulders. Guess whose kids didn't cry about the fireworks this year? That's right. My big kids!

At a cookout at my friend David's house, he handed out sparklers and the kids loved them! Clair called hers a "wand."

Our friends Kelly and Mark had a crab feast and pulled out the baby pool. Lots of splashing with Naomi and baby Jason and then, of course: "I'm cooooooold!!" When cold, must eat popsicles. You didn't know?

We finally got to taste the tomatoes the kids grew in their own little pots at Jason and Kelly's house. "They taste GOOD!" the kids exclaimed. Pay Dean's tart-face no attention. He loved them. Thanks, Farmer Jason!

At a cookout at my Mom and Dad's house, I got to chat with this guy, Tyren, who I used to play with when I was like 9 years old. I haven't seen him in a thousand years! He came from Texas with his parents (my Dad's good friends), his wife and three gorgeous daughters, who are 14, 11 and 9. I felt so old! LOL.

After four nights out of the house until at least 11 p.m., so much running around in the sun, lots of walking, and fireworks, sweet treats, splashing, friends, cousins and hot dogs, my kids did what they almost NEVER do: They conked OUT in the car. It was blissful. (P.S. Dean is wearing my sunglasses. Isn't he the most adorable?)

Lester and I did a lot of talking this holiday about what it means to be both an American and a black person in America. It's an interesting dual perspective to carry around, living in a country that is so awesomely wonderful in so many ways, and also still so intolerant of -- and sometimes downright hateful to -- people who look like us.

We know people who find it hard to embrace the Fourth because of that dichotomy. Some were posting photos on Facebook of slaves picking cotton, with text that said, "This is what my ancestors were doing in 1776." And it's true. American freedom means different things depending on who you are in this country. That was true in 1776, and though things are exponentially better now, it is still true today.

But I am still really proud to be an American. And I am still certain that there are few places on this planet where so many people of all different stars and stripes could have so much opportunity. I look at my beautiful children -- the descendants of people who toiled and bled and died so that they could wave sparklers and eat hot dogs like everyone else -- and I am truly optimistic that our country will one day get to where it needs to be. If any country can do it, we can. 

 "And crown thy good with brotherhood...from sea to shining sea."

I'm sore - YAY!

Last night, after much talk, talk, talking about it, I actually went to a yoga class!

My friend and neighbor Kelly (Abby and Maya's mom) and I pulled ourselves away from the loveliness of dinnertime with twin 4-year-olds (and in my case, a 2-year-old) and went to do something restorative and relaxing for ourselves.

Only thing: This class was not relaxing at all! It was HARD. Despite being a wiry, ponytailed hippie who is headed to Colorado this summer to legally smoke weed with his parents, this instructor was not the singsongy "clear your mind, think about your breaths, focus on you, no judgment" kind of teacher, with chimes and flutey music playing in the background. This dude was hard core, all about strength and stretch and bone alignment. There were no candles. No music! Just the sound of human beings grunting and breathing and wanting to cry. Oh wait. Maybe that was just me.

I don't know if it's because he's tougher than the yoga instructors I'm used to, or if it's that I'm so, so, so, so, so, so (add 27 additional so's here) out-of-shape, but at certain points, my muscles were quivering from bending and holding poses. Instead of regulating my breathing and heart-rate, this class made my heart was pumping like I was on the treadmill!

Seriously, once, in between trying to freakin' focus on my breathing during a pose I thought, "We signed up for 'Beginner's Yoga,' not CrossFit!

In my pre-kid years, after hot yoga (which is my favorite), I would leave feeling limber and cleansed, like all the sweating and stretching had pushed toxins (both physical and emotional) out of my body. I felt like I could breathe and think more clearly.

After yoga last night, all I felt was tired!

But this morning, I woke up feeling soreness in my arms and neck and shoulders. It was a pleasant feeling, something I hadn't felt in years! That warm achiness that comes from knowing you've just pushed your body to do things it's capable of doing, but just never given the chance.  I like feeling aware of my body -- and knowing that if I keep this up, my body will get stronger, those stretches will be less taxing, the poses less impossible to hold without quaking.

I might still try to find a class that gives me the relaxation and inner-cleansing I loved so much about hot yoga. But for now, I'm not going to run away from the hard work this class looks like it's going to be.

Namaste.

#FortyFine

Blinding them with science!

Quite accidentally, this past weekend turned out to be science weekend for the Davis clan.

Lester had to do the President's Cup at Camden Yards most of the day, so instead of me being able to take Clair to tumbling class while Dad hung out with the boys, I had to find something we all could do together. Luckily, the Science Alive folks were happy to add Clair in to the morning's activities: Life Under a Rock.

Playing with plastic bugs.

We learned about how to tell the difference between a spider and other insects, and the kids got to hold a hissing cockroach (Ewwww!) and composting worms. We also went outside and turned over rocks and discussed the worms and other bugs we found there. (This was on the boys' synapse checklist! And since they don't turn 4 until next month, I'm counting this as being on deadline!)  

Cockroaches = gross.

These little puny composting worms have nothing on the fat "bloodsuckers" we used to find when we were kids after it rained. I'm going to have to keep looking for those.

We even got to make earthworms out of nude pantyhose and cotton stuffing (finally a use for nude pantyhose!) And we made our own insects out of Play-Doh and toothpicks. Cary made an ant. Dean made a centipede or some such, and Clair made some mutant creature I hope to never see crawling along my baseboards.

It's got legs coming out of its head!

Then on Sunday, we met up with Kelly and Mark down at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's monthly rocket launch. Which is awesome. And free! (Beth, do you know about this? Your boys would love it!)

Kids and kids-at-heart build their own rockets and then the cool people at NASA attach them to launchers, do a countdown, hit some magic button and shoot them up into the air. Then they give tips about how to improve on the kid's next attempt at rocket-building. It was totally, thoroughly cool.

 Too bad my two little 'fraidy-cats were mostly freaked out by the noise (which isn't even all that loud).

Here they are before the launch started, completely enthralled.

And here they are once the launching started in earnest.

Hiding behind Lester.

Good thing there was a lot more to do, inside and outside.

Climbing the rockets.

Naomi, saying, "Blast off!"

Kelly and Mark wisely brought a stomp launcher, which was a huge hit with my boys, until they lost one of Naomi's rockets in a tree and broke another one fighting over it. Then, it was time to give her her toy back.

I love this photo of my three little moonwalkers.

Obligatory astronaut cut-out photo 1.

Obligatory astronaut cut-out photo 2.

Obligatory astronaut cut-out photo 3.

Trying out a real space capsule! The sign inside says that two astronauts shared this space for 14 days - in space. Oh helllls no. Also, so many potty-related questions.

Me and my sweet-pea!

The whole rocket-loving brood. Future astronauts, one and all!

Today, Michelle is off, visiting her best friend in Virginia, so Lester picked the kids up from school and is right now, as I type, at the Maryland Science Center!

Next week, for balance, we're gonna do lots of library-outings. :-)

Date night!

Saturday night, Lester and I went out to dinner with friends of ours, Kelly and Jason - a couple who were jointly celebrating birthdays. We went to The Chesapeake and had delicious seafood and potent drinks and laughed and talked for four and a half hours! The time just flew by, we were having so much fun.

Afterwards, we drove to the Maryland Live Casino (my first time there) to meet up with another group of friends for our friend Brent Jones' birthday celebration.

Me, Laurie (!!), Andrea and the birthday boy, Brent!

I'm not a gambler and neither is Lester, but we brought $25 to waste. I decided to play $20 on the Big Money Wheel - $10 on 10 to 1 and $10 on 5 to 1. Can you believe that 5 to 1 came up?? I won $50! On my first time ever playing a casino game!

Risk-averse girl that I am, I took my chips and cashed out. We spent the other $5 at a slot machine and lost it all in a matter of five button-clicks. That was all the gambling my little heart could stand.  We were done gambling for the night, but not done hanging with our friends. We hammed it up for another couple hours and didn't get home until 1:30 a.m.

We had a great night out with friends, eating good food and laughing and talking and just being adults. But - ugh!! I can't do that too often. I was so tired on Sunday, it took me until almost 3 p.m. to feel "awake." I'd wanted to go to church, but HA! I barely got out of my pajamas.

Remember the days when you didn't leave the house to go out until 10 p.m.?? And when the club let out at 2 a.m., you left and went somewhere else?? How on Earth did we do that? As my grandmother used to say, "youth is wasted on the young."

Anyway, the real kudos of the night goes to my sister Tahira who came out to watch the baby Davises while the elder statesman stayed out way too late. She brought her own two with her and handled all five like a dream. Dinner, pajamas, bed and no drama whatsoever. Even Clair warmed up to her, calling her "Nanamommy" by the end of the night.  I'm pretty proud of my baby sister - and grateful!

Here they are all lined up on the bed, watching the Lorax, freshly scrubbed and sleepy:

Russy, Clair, Matty, Superman and Batman.

Tahira did such a good job with the kids, I might consider going out more often if I could convince her to babysit.

And if I could stay up past 10 p.m.

Getting ready for the holidays!

I had a big report due on Monday at work and then I was off Tuesday and yesterday. So I'm back at work today and ready to blog ..er...work. Right. Work.

I don't have anything really profound to say, so I guess I'll just get down what's been going on the last several days.

Last Saturday, we went to our friends Mark and Kelly's house and made reindeer cookies with Naomi and the boys!

I love that Kelly tried to get Naomi to eat a sandwich first. (She's shoving M&M's in her mouth by the handful.) Ha-Ha-Ha!

It was so much fun, we're going to do it again with a few other friends -- with more kids, yikes! -- this weekend at our house! Although I doubt it will be as fun as it was with Kelly and Mark because 1) Kelly is so laidback and cool about everything, that it was just really relaxed and nice and not manic like it probably will be when it's at my house, because I'm crazy and 2) Kelly made super delicious coquitos -- coconut eggnog with rum! Yummm!

It was so nice to see them all. I wish I lived closer to all my friends! Sniff.

Lester's big Christmas present this year was tickets to see Lauryn Hill at the 9:30 Club on Sunday!
We went to dinner in D.C. first and marveled at how much the neighborhood around Howard University, my alma mater, has changed. Things are developing/gentrifying so much that this restaurant we went to had only been open a week. And it was packed! And there were only a handful of black people. People who know anything about the Shaw/Howard U. area know that that is CRAZY.

Here we are, out. Alone. No kids. Alone. Having a drink. Alone.

The concert was really good (despite it being at the 9:30 Club, a standing-only venue which is impossible for shorties like me). For those of you who don't know anything about Lauryn Hill, suffice it to say that she is this incredible talent who got totally plowed over by her good-looking, charming cad of a baby daddy (Bob Marley's son Rohan) who left her and their FIVE kids to go off and marry some model. After that, Lauryn went cuckoo for cocoa puffs. She shaved her head, acted loopy at concerts (when she showed up at all), got in trouble with the IRS, went to JAIL!! and just seriously had a really hard-to-watch, broken-hearted breakdown.

But she's making a comeback and Lester absolutely loves her, so we took a chance and bought tickets to see her perform. I'm so glad we did. She sings with so much passion -- even moreso now that she's been through so much. It was a really good night, spent rockin' out with my baby. :-)

Before the concert, our friend Callie invited us to the Baltimore Museum of Art to hang out and make instruments during the museum's arts and crafts time. So we trudged over there and got to see the boys' friend Spirit, who Dean just loves. And we met some other very nice families and made a big mess with glue and scissors, construction paper and ribbons.

The boys surprised the heck outta me by being able to cut! I had no idea. In my house, we stay far away from scissors. Good thing their teachers are more adventurous. Also, Clair glued her lips together, using the glue stick like Chapstick. My kids are so creative.

And, lastly, I really made the most out of my days off.

Tuesday, I spent the day with Lester, hanging out and picking up a few things we needed to finish our Christmas decorations. And yesterday, I rode the school bus with my boys to their field trip (a play at Goucher College), came home, had lunch with them and went out and got my hair done!

I also got to just spend quiet, middle-of-the-day time with my kids, playing Christmas music and witnessing moments like this:

Which was really, really nice, because you all know how it is when you get home from work - all the harried task-completing, and end-of-the-day meltdowns. It's nice to get to see my children during a more relaxed time, warm and comfortable, safe, happy and loved.

If I didn't get another thing for Christmas, just having had this time with them would be absolutely enough.

Long and full three-day weekend

Just when I think our weekends couldn't get any more packed, we went and had an extra day off. Which should have meant a day of rest, but instead meant a day of more things to do! Hooray!

Here's how the weekend went down.

Saturday, I took Sara to the vet and discovered she still has an upper respiratory thing, so I have to give her medicine twice a day from a dropper. That has not been going well. So I've just been putting it in her food, and hoping that will do the trick, because homegirl was NOT having me putting things in her mouth. No sirree.

Then, we went to visit Lester's Aunt Tootie and then to my Mom's house to bring her cupcakes for her birthday! As usual, the boys had a fabulous time running around with their cousins, eating sweets and being spoiled rotten.

There were so many cousins at Mom's house, the boys had to eat their ice cream and cupcakes on the floor.

Sunday, I took the boys to music class and then later we all went to visit our friends Doug and Denise. Denise is expecting a baby in February -- her third. She was sorta freaking out about it, in the same way I was when I found out I was carrying a third. But I don't feel too bad for her because her oldest is 8 and can do this:

Perry, making her own sandwich! And making one for her 5-year-old brother too!

Perry, her daughter, will be so much help to her. It'll be like having a third parent.

After the boys' nap, we went to our friends Antwyne and Mari's house for dinner. Their son Antony will be 3 in January, so the three boys are close in age and had tons of fun making ridiculous amounts of noise and refusing to eat.

It was impossible to get a picture of all three boys looking at the camera. They were in perpetual motion the entire night. And boy was it loud.

Monday, Columbus Day, Lester and I both had off. Lester decided to go in to work to finish some things, and I had plans to meet my friend Kelly and her daughter Naomi at the pumpkin farm.

The Pumpkin Patch Kids, starring: Naomi, Dean and Cary. Doesn't this look like their album cover?

Note: Kelly is also expecting a baby in February! Hooray for February babies! (Where were all these babies when I was preggo with Clair? She could have a bunch of friends all her same age!)

Unfortunately, the weather was crappy, crappy and I didn't dress myself or the boys properly (this is becoming a theme) so Dean was whiny ("Mommy, I am cooooold!") and the cold I was pretending wasn't actually coming got fueled by the chilly rain, so now I'm a coughing, sniffling, headachey, can barely breathe mess.

BUT...the good news is, unlike at Russy's birthday party, this time the boys actually wanted to go on the hay ride! And so here we are, riding and having a fabulous time. Can't you tell?

"Mommy, I like the tractor," they said over and over and OVER.

After the cold, drizzly day at the farm, and a quick lunch at the mall, I came home, put the boys down for a nap and promptly crawled under the covers myself.

Turns out, I could have stayed in bed all day if I had wanted to, because guess what? I realized after we got home that the boys actually HAD SCHOOL YESTERDAY! (Smacks forehead!)

I'm still getting used to the idea of my 2-year-olds having a schedule different than my own. It never even occurred to me that they'd have school on a day I was off. Whoops!

But we actually had a lot of fun, despite the rain. We fed sheep, rode on the hayride, picked pumpkins (one for Clair, too), hung out with Naomi -- who is so super cute! -- got muddy and ate cookies (not necessarily in that order).

 AND, the best thing is, I can cross "go on a hayride" off the boys' Synapse Checklist!


 Y'all know how I love synapses! Hooray!

Labor Day re-cap

We had a really great Labor Day weekend.

We decided not to travel, even as far as my Mom's house, and instead hung around our neck of the woods, seeing friends and eating lots of delicious end-of-summer food.

We saw Mark and Kelly and Naomi!

At one point, Cary and Dean both tried to kiss Naomi. She was not happy about this.

You can't tell in this picture (or in real life even because Kelly's so danged skinny) but she's making a little boyfriend for Clair -- right at this very moment! He's due to arrive on Valentine's Day. Clair's birthday is Feb. 16th. They might very well share a birthday! Awwww!

At various cookouts, we saw Jen and Kevin, and Monique and Brent, and Andrea and Zac!

Jen and Kevin's daughter Molly had an iPad! This was a huge hit. I meant to take pictures of their 6-month old daughter Keegan, who is destined to be Clair's BFF, but I was really slacking with the photos this weekend.

And we had a playdate with Stacey and Hugo...but no photographic evidence. Sorry. We even took the boys to a restaurant, and survived unscathed! Check us out!

And Lester and I watched a movie, ran errands, hung out, took naps and just enjoyed some quality down-time, family-time and couple-time.

Thanks to the Labor Unions of America for fighting so hard and sacrificing so much to give us working joes a much-needed day off at the end of summer! We appreciate you!

Now, back to our regularly scheduled lives. School, whining, schedules, whining, rushing, whining and more whining. Sweeet.

Another full weekend!

As the weather gets warmer, and my maternity leave days dwindle, I seem to be cramming more and more into the weekends. This weekend was no different.

Friday morning, I met up with my friend Jen and her two sweeties Molly and Keegan (Keegan's just a few weeks younger than Clair) and had a playground playdate. The boys and Clair had a ball!

Friday night, Lester and I had Date Night!! (Thanks to Michelle, who donated her babysitting time just because she is super sweet like that. We really LOVE Michelle.)

Lester gave me flowers when he got home from work (awww!), and then we went to a Turkish restaurant for dinner, where the food was amazing. We ate and drank and talked and, because we had a window seat, we people-watched and talked some more. It was really lovely.

 As good as the Turkish are with delicious meats and rice dishes, they are not so hot in the dessert department. So when we left there, we went to Morton's for their LEGENDARY HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!! I honestly could not, in a million years, tell you how much I love Morton's LEGENDARY HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE! I love it so much that I have to say it in ALL CAPS every single time I say it, or else you will not properly understand how much I love, love, love Morton's LEGENDARY HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE!

It takes 30 minutes to make it, so while we waited, I ordered colossal shrimp cocktail and Lester had a Glenfidditch 12 year, neat. Then we both devoured the LEGENDARY HOT CHOCOLATE CAKE!!! and nearly collapsed from being so stuffed and happy and also a little bit drunk.

When we got home, all the children were asleep, and they stayed that way until ...wait for it.... 8 o'clock the next morning!!! Seriously, I think I can still hear angels singing from that marvelous occurrence.

We hustled and got ready so we could meet our friends Mark and Kelly (and their little girl Naomi) at the Touch-a-Truck festival in their neighborhood. We imagined our boys would lose their minds over all the trucks, buses, cars, etc. they'd be able to see, touch and climb in. And lose their minds they did, but not in the way we saw it in our heads.

Cary loved riding on the little train they had set up.

Someday I'll tell you how my child got out in public and acted as if he had no idea what "wait your turn" means. #Iswearmychildhashometraining

  And Dean loved honking the horn in the school bus.

What? This IS my happy face.

But other than that, Touch-a-Truck was a major FAIL. There were tears upon tears upon tears upon tears galore. "No like it!!!" Cary wailed. "Up! Up!" Dean demanded.

It was really noisy and incredibly loud what with all the sirens blaring and horns honking, and the trucks and buses must've seemed frighteningly bigger to them up close. No amount of balloon-buying, bounce-house-attempting (also a major FAIL) or faux excitement on our part could stop the melting down. At a certain point, both boys had to be held or else they would completely lose it. 

Cary, being held by Kelly, refused to even look at the camera. Dean was fine as long as he was in Lester's arms.

So, we said reluctant good-byes to our friends and boogied out of there. This is one way we know that we have gotten better at parenting. Early on in their lives, we would have 1) felt like we had done something wrong because our children were so unhappy 2) tried over and over to get them to see how much fun Touch-a-Truck day was 3) sniped and stressed because of the heat, the crying, the noise and the fact that we got up early and hustled down the highway to get to Touch-a-Truck and these darn kids don't appreciate it! And we would really like to talk to our friends, dangit! And it's so frikkin' hot!! And you LOVE trucks, boys! We have to read "My Big Truck Book" and "My Truck is Stuck" 8,000 times a day! What is the PROBLEM?!

But nearly 2 years into this thing, we know to just cut our losses, pack up the crying kiddos, laugh at the insanity, kiss our friends, arrange a time to see them without crying kiddos (and with cocktails instead) and keep on with the rest of the day. No problemo.

So that's what we did.

We first went to see my sister at her house so we could give the boys' cousins Aminah and Kwahli their birthday presents. Aminah turned 7 on Friday and Kwahli turned 4 on Saturday. I have pictures from that popsicle-filled visit as well, but my sister Kadija would kill me for posting them, because she hates photos of herself. So I will respect her wishes and not post them.

From there, we went to my Mom's and spent the entire day there. My mother bought the boys a bubble lawnmower that was supposed to be for their birthday, but she couldn't wait to give it to them. I don't have to tell you that they thought this was the BEST. THING. EVER.

What? This IS my happy face!

Clair enjoyed napping with her cousin Matthew, both on the floor and in my arms.

Zebra-print throw = napping New-Jersey-style

 

Mom and Matthew, me and Clair

And because it was Cinco de Mayo, we made soft tacos for the kids and strawberry margaritas for the adults. (Tahira has the best strawberry margarita recipe, with real blended strawberries. Yummmm!) 

All the Davises were exhausted by the end of the night, so we put on an Elmo Sings the Hits DVD in the car on the way home, keeping Cary and Dean singing happily -- and not crying even a little bit, despite the fact that they barely napped all day and it was 2 hours past their bedtime! The no-crying also made Mom and Dad happy, which is why I totally thumb my nose at the "your children will DIE if you let them ever watch television before they turn 2" madness.

At home, we put the kids in a warm, soapy tub to wash off all the popsicles, birthday cake, grass, Touch-a-Truck tears, taco sauce, bubble mixture and strawberries, got all three crankies in the bed, had another Cinco de Mayo toast and conked out ourselves. Clair slept until 6:30 a.m. (in her own crib!) drank a bottle and went back to sleep until 10. Her brothers didn't make a peep until 9:30 a.m.

Sunday morning, I made French toast, put the kids down for a nap, met two friends for lunch, came home, played with the boys, cooked dinner, drove BACK to my Mom's because we accidentally left Lester's car keys there, listened to two awesome "This American Life" episodes all the way through without interruption on the way up and back (that app is the best thing ever), got home in time to crawl into bed and watch Mad Men with Lester, while all three children slept (in their own cribs!) until the morning.

(NOTE: Notice how I am purposely NOT saying the words "sl*** thr*** the n****" where Clair is concerned, because I know that as soon as I do, it'll never happen again.)

Now it's Monday again and I only have TWO WEEKS left of maternity leave (pardon me while I go cry my eyes out). And I can't decide if I should rest up from the weekend or cram some more stuff in! Like organizing my bathroom closet? Also, the boys turn 2 on Friday and I still have no plan for their big day, so I really need to get crackin' on that.

Hmmm.

I think I'll take nap and organize and plan later. :-)

P.S. SERIOUSLY, WHERE IS AUNT FLO???