Bubbles + cousins + Baltimore Harbor = winning

This weekend, my sister Tahira and her husband had to go to a wedding, so we watched Russy and Matty.

We'd already planned to take our kids to the Science Center for Bubble Days, because Clair's absolute favorite thing (besides screeching at people and being irascible) is bubbles. So we just took all the kids with us. All five of 'em.

We ended up spending the entire day at the Science Center and the Inner Harbor (for lunch, ice cream, pirate-boat-watching and dancing). They got thoroughly soaked, playing in bubble solution for hours, and then we dragged the kids to Artscape for a little bit, where the boys made some spin art and mostly ran through a huge mist-er getting even more soaked, and Clair fell asleep in her stroller.

We were all BEAT at the end of the day, but it was  super fun and the kids loved hanging with their cousins (as usual).

See for yourselves:

What could be more fun than playing in a huge pool of sudsy bubbles?

"It's on my feet! It's on my hands! I need a towel!"

Hey Cary, check out your cool bubble pirate hat! Never mind that. Boohoohoo. Matty got suds on my glasses! (Sheesh. I can't with this kid.)

Russy tried to show Dean how to do this, but Dean knows EVERYTHING (in case you didn't know) so there was lots of tugging and minimal bubbling.

Mommy, Russy's bubble was THIS big!

As you can tell, they had so much fun with bubbles outside, they barely wanted to go inside the building!

Eating their ice cream on a sculpture at the Inner Harbor. And check out the dancing that ensued (below):

 

Poor Matty was so tired, he missed the ice cream. We bought him a cone, though, just in case he woke up while we were all eating ours. But he slept like a hibernating bear. So Lester ate Matty's. And his.

By the time we got to Artscape, we were all super tired and wished we could get pushed around in a stroller while we slept, like Matty and Clair did.

But at least the next morning, the kids slept until after 8:30 a.m. - and took nice looooong afternoon naps.

Bubbles + cousins = WINNING.

Fire party!

Our friend Hugo turned 4 in April and his Mom and Dad planned a fabulous fire station party yesterday.

Seriously, this might be the best birthday party idea EVER.

We got to ride on a real fire truck - around the block. Sirens and all!

These boys almost peed themselves, they were so excited.

Clair wasn't exactly thrilled about the riding on a fire truck part. She clung to me like this the entire ride.

The kids got to spray the fire hose! ZOMG!

Dean was serious about putting out the house fire.

Cary was even more serious about it.

Clair was seriously mad that Matty was with us all weekend, horning in on everything in the world that OBVIOUSLY belongs to her and only her!

We got to hear all about how the firemen put on their gear, and how much all the gear weighs and how fast they can put on all 70-pounds of gear and on and on. And we even watched a fireman slide down a pole! (I won't tell you how many stripper jokes we heard at this party. It's embarrassing how a firepole turns every adult in a 5-mile radius into a 13-year-old. Including me.)

There's the birthday boy up front in the center. You throw the coolest parties, Hugo!

We also just got to be super stylish in a fire house. Who's on fire? Clair, of course! 

 

C&D in front of a huge fire engine tire at the party. And this is the two of them at Hugo's party last year - at the streetcar museum. Look how babyfaced they look there!

Of course, there was also cake and pizza and fruit and juiceboxes and just all in all a seriously fun time!  These kids sure are lucky to have friends who throw super-cool parties. Because this Momma is Duncan Hines cupcakes and Party City balloons all the way. They'll see this weekend when Cary and Dean turn FOUR!

OMG. Where does the time go?

And did I mention there was ice cream -- from the ICE CREAM TRUCK -- on Saturday? 

Crazy busy weekend with family and fun

So Spring arrived this weekend (finally!) and we couldn't wait to get out of the house. We left the house after work on Friday and didn't stop until the kids' bedtime last night.

Here's some of the things we did.

Took the kids to the Wharf Rat, a Baltimore bar, Friday after work. Beer tasting. Greasy food. No dishes. Winning.

They kept harassing the bartender, who was ridiculously patient with them.

Walked along the water in Fells Point. Found a pirate's stand. Said "Aaaar!" a lot.

Clair? What are you doing here, darling?

Took the kids' cousins Russy, Matty and Kwahli (my sister Kadija's youngest) duckpin bowling. Madness and hilarity ensued.

Almost all of Clair's balls had to be helped along by the alley attendant, or retrieved with a stick, because she rolled them so slowly.

I hate that this picture is blurry, because they were so excited to have knocked down four pins. LOL.

After about 10 minutes of insanity, my sister decided it was necessary to explain the rules to the children, including that they should NOT press the reset button while someone else is bowling, no matter how bad you REALLY want to push it. And that each kid gets to bowl TWO TIMES and then it's someone else's turn. All of the lessons were so ignored.

Here's Tahira retrieving Matty, who was running down someone else's lane. Hahaha!

Tried to do a nighttime Easter egg hunt later that evening at Druid Hill Park, but there were 10 million people, and it was a crazy, ghetto, unorganized mess, so we didn't get to find any eggs. But the kids barely cared because they had flashlights, lots of hills to roll down, and a Baltimore Hon on stilts!

Dean: "Is she real?" Then she moved. Dean: "She's REAL!"

At home that night, we did our own nighttime Easter egg hunt with the four older boys. And we let them eat all the candy they found inside their eggs. You should have seen them stuffing chocolate eggs and Gummi bears in their mouths. You would think we NEVER give them sweets. Such drama with the stuffing and the gorging and the mmmmm-ing and finger-licking. Academy awards for all my kids. Pronto.

We put the kids to bed around 9:30 and then sat up like adults, listening to Maxwell, Sade, Erykah Badu and Mos Def, talking into the wee hours and drinking a deeeeelicious cocktail my sister made with muddled blackberries, ginger, lemon, mint and gin. Yummmy!

Sunday, somehow, we peeled ourselves out of bed and took the whole lot to church. THAT was an adventure! But so worth it. You know I like going to church; but I really, really enjoy it right around Easter. So much positive, redemptive energy. So much encouragement to get better, help others, love and be loved.

The rest of the day, we spent preparing for the work week, cooking and cleaning up after the kids (which was useless and I don't know why I kept trying), refereeing fights and "he's not sharing!" fests, and letting the kids play outside with our next-door neighbors.

Tahira left with her family and Kwahil around 8 p.m. Sunday. We didn't even bother to bathe the kids (despite more hill-rolling) and just threw their PJs on and tossed them in bed.

When I left the house this morning at 8:15, they were all still asleep! I love it when we run those kids ragged like that. Can't think of a better way to start their spring break than exhausted and full of family-love.

Posted this photo on Facebook, with this caption: When the house is full of the kids' cousins, I'm thankful for so many things. Among them: Big families. Provisions from God to be able to feed and entertain the band of crazies. Giggles and silliness. My IUD.

Yay for SPRING!

Quick catch-up post!

I have 15 minutes before a call, so I thought I'd take 10 to get down for posterity's sake a few things I have been meaning to blog about.  In truth, each of the events could have been its own full post, but in the interest of time (which I never have enough of) this will have to do.

1. Russy and Matty spent a Saturday and Sunday with us, so my sister and her husband could spend their anniversary weekend sans kids. We went to the Harbor, and the Maryland Science Center.

B'more boys!

This photo cracks me up. A dinosaur ROARED and this is the look they both gave. Ha!

Isn't Matty the world's most adorable child? P.S. Please let me tell you about the temper tantrums when it was time to leave this water area (from Clair, of course).

We went to the Charmery, a new super-cute ice cream spot in Hampden, which boasts spoons that change colors when cold! I had salted caramel ice cream; Lester had fig and port wine ice cream! Weird! The kiddos all got gummi bears on their (various flavors of) ice cream, which was really all they wanted.

Clair is eating all my salted caramel ice cream while I try to document this moment!

The owner of The Charmery came over to personally compliment Cary on his "excellent ice cream mustache," complete with goatee!

And we took them to a really awesome farm, where little piglets ran past us, we got to milk a cow, the boys officiated a pig race, and we got to hold little chicks just a day old.

Pale green and peach-colored eggs? Say what?

2. Lester and I went to a really beautiful wedding (remember the aforementioned MACARONI AND CHEESE BAR?? [Whaaat?!]) and my sweetie and I clean up pretty good, if I do say so myself.

3. And we spent the night at my Mom's, which was good because my cousin Nikki (who had just defended her dissertation and so is now Dr. Nikki!) and her family came in town from New Jersey, so we got to see everyone, including my sister's Kadija's kids, who we haven't seen in way too long.

Nikki's daughter, Nia, who is the sweetest 8-year-old girl -- and very tall! Also, Alahna and Kwahli. Hi kids!

Me and my "little" cousin, Nikki.

For perspective, here we are at my Nana's house in Boston circa 1981. That's my cousin Dru sulking in the background.

The kids had a FABULOUS time playing with all their cousins. As usual, there were tears galore when it was time to leave.

This is my nephew, Kalonji, who will be 13 next month. I can't stand it.

This is my brother Haleem and his girlfriend and her baby, Olivia. I was really excited to see Haleem. He almost always misses the family events. Love him so much.

OK, now I'm all caught up. Whew!

High-Low weekend

Saturday, we all had a blast hanging out with my sister and her family at Maryland Day 2013. Tahira's a Maryland alum, and her hubby attended for two years before transferring to Morgan State (which is near our house in Baltimore).

The kids got to run around, eat junk food, and frolic in the grass.

The boys got to sit in a real police car, with its lights flashing (ZOMG!), and talk to real policemen, and also hang out in a tractor/bulldozer contraption thingy.

They had ice cream three times in one day (kids' best day ever!) First they had a Popsicle that turned their lips green, then a cup of soft serve and finally a scoop of creamy deliciousness from the University's own dairy. Dean said to me at one point, "Mommy, I loooove ice cream." He's a boy after my own heart.

And they got a skateboarding lesson!! (They were totally stoked about this and cannot stop talking about how they rode on a skateboard. They have been "riding" their guitars and Clair's xylophone at home ever since, saying "Watch me skate!" But you would never ever know it from watching these two stoic boys in this video).


At the end of the day, after our third helping of ice cream, we gathered in a grassy spot by the Dairy, under the trees, and relaxed while the kids played. It was really a lovely day. To commemorate the sweetness of it all, we decided to take family photos.

Here's my sister's beautiful family:

Hot mama!

 And here's what happened when we tried to take a family photo:

Madness and hilarity.

Everyone was fall-on-your-face tired when we got home, so Lester had the inspired idea to pick up Mexican take-out from Los Amigos and put everyone to bed.

But then we realized that poor Clair was burning hot. Her temperature was 102.5 and she was crabby. Here's where the "low" part of the weekend comes in.

We medicated Clair and put her to bed, but around 4 a.m., she woke up screaming. I picked her up and couldn't believe how hot she was. The poor baby was so hot, she even touched her hand to her chest and said, "Ott!" I peeled her out of her pajamas, gave her water, and took her temp -- 102.8.

The next morning, after a fitful sleep, we noticed her breathing was ragged. I took her to the pediatrician -- they have weekend emergency hours, thank God -- and he prescribed albuterol. Clair fought that mask so much, the doctor and the nurse both were amazed at her fiestyness. They called her a "firecracker" and said that she was worse than trying to ride a bucking horse. She really performed.

So when it was time to do her treatment again at 4, I just skipped the mask and used the tube we use for Cary, sat her and her brothers in front of Yo Gabba Gabba, and got her to sit (somewhat) still that way. (Note: I now have two children on nebulizer treatments...)

But by the middle of the day, we realized her fever wasn't going down, it was going up instead. She was listless, refused to eat all day, and had vomited twice.

Here's how miserable and hot and weak my poor sweetie looked all day:

Talk about a heart-breaking look.

When I took her temp after she threw up again and the thermometer read close to 104, I called the doctor again and he advised us to try ibuprofen instead of acetaminophen, give her more water and see if it helped.  I was skeptical, of course. But I guess I am learning that Dr. Bodnar knows what he's talking about (most times).  Because it did help, a bit. Half an hour later, she perked up just enough that we could see the old Clair in there somewhere, and Lester and I have never been so relieved to watch our child smack at her brothers. :-)

Needless to say, we did not get to go water-taxiing, so the boys' Synapse Checklist remains unchanged. Sigh. But it was worth it to stay in the house, so we could hold and rock Clair all day long, and try to keep her comfortable.

She barely slept last night, though, and she vomited again this morning. So I'm keeping my sweetie in my prayers today that she will kick this thing really soon. I've got a big weekend planned for the two of us girls (we're going to Atlanta!!) so I need my baby girl to be back to normal.

Friends and family-fiiled weekend recap

This weekend was the last weekend for the President's Cup, so I decided to get the kids out of the house again.

This time, we met up with our friends Jason and Kelly and their twin girls Maya and Abby, who are a month younger than C & D. If you remember well, you'll note that this is the same couple with twin girls who I met at the fall "vegtival" back in September - -and then we discovered they were also in the boys' music class. I wondered aloud then if we would be friends, and so far, so good!

Smiley girls; stoic boys.

 The boys are getting so much bigger and the Science Center is, therefore, becoming even more interesting. I really love this museum -- no matter how many times we go, there's always something new to see. On this visit, for example, we:

Played with water and didn't get soaked.

Measured dinosaur feet.

Did something with sand and goggles that made the boys look very scientific-y.

Disrupted a mini-tornado.

As we were leaving, Dean said to me (unprompted): "Mommy, I had a good day at the Science Center."

Be still my synapse-lovin' heart.

And then, on Sunday, my sister Tahira and her husband, Russy and Matty came to visit! As a bonus - -they brought my mom! The boys were so excited to see Nana!

We cooked dinner and ate crabs and had some spirits and it was a wonderful, fun-and-family-filled day.

Now, it's back to the old grind. The BIG boss is here in my office the next two days, so I need to be on my Ps and Qs. So -- later gators!

:-)