Dutch Wonderland

Michael and I took the twins to Dutch Wonderland for the day  last weekend.  My anxiety is usually heightened in situations like that because (1) I don't know the lay of the land; (2) I anticipate that Charlotte and Gavin aren't going to behave well because, frankly, they often don't; and (3) I just don't DO amusement parks.  But it actually turned out to be a great day.  There were lots of people there, but it never felt crowded.  The twins listened well and had no meltdowns.  And it was just NICE to get out and do something together, which we don't often do because the kids are always running in three different directions.

Here are a few photos from our day:

Here they are enjoying a water ice.

I love this one.  Look how much they love the ride!

With the Dutch Wonderland Princess.

When Can I Move In?

There's an article in May's issue of Country Living magazine about the Martha's Vineyard cottage of actor Tony Shalhoub.  Their little saltbox is absolutely beautiful; it's exactly what I picture when I think of my dream home.  And after the day I've had, I want to move in.

Michael and I had a lot of yard work to do today, which presented a problem as the kids need to be outside with us too.  Every time my shovel would hit the dirt, Gavin and Charlotte would be smacking each other because they both wanted to ride in their little car, or Nathan would be running towards the street, or someone would want to go in the swing, or someone would eat sand.   We did get a lot done, but I am exhausted.

If you need me, I'll be at Tony Shalhoub's cottage, here:  :)  Good night!

SCORE!!

I have a thing for books.  I have a thing for vintage.  So you can understand why Friday felt like Christmas for me!

My school library was going to discard a bunch of books that the students hadn't checked out *in years* to make room for some new ones.  The librarian put them in our faculty room to see if anyone wanted them.  Imagine my delight when I spotted these beauties:

I understand why kids haven't checked these out in years. I really do.  Because they are used to shiny.  Modern.  Glossy.  They judge books by their covers.  But so do I.  And to me, these covers are BEEE - YOU- TEE - FUL.  My colleagues had a good laugh at me because I was literally squealing with glee.

This one is my favorite:

Yes, it's a little dirty.  Nothing a little Magic Eraser can't handle.  Isn't it the cutest?

I love this one, too.  I think I may frame it and hang it in Nathan's room.

I think this one may be the perfect bedtime story.  And it's by Charlotte Zolotow, one of my all-time-favorite children's authors:

Modern-day illustrations in children's books are works of art, truly.  But there is something so sweet and charming about these:

The best part, of course, is instilling my love of reading in my children.  It's just a bonus that they also have my great taste in books. :)

Happy Easter!

EggHeads

How I love Easter. The adorable girly dresses, the spring flowers, brunch food, and Peeps, of course!

Yesterday the twins and I dyed Easter Eggs. We did this last year, but the twins were really too little to understand what it was all about. They weren't quite so sure about it this year, either, but they played along. Mostly they just wanted to play with the little copper egg dippers.


We used these bowls from Ikea to hold the dye. I can't recommend these enough. We use them about a thousand times a day, for about a thousand different things: cereal, goldfish, stickers, toppings for tacos...you name it!













Here's a shot of the eggs in the dye. Lookin' good!













And here's the finished product:


Happy Easter!

Lamp Lust

I'm starting to plan Charlotte's Big Girl Room. Considering my recent obsession with Tar-jay's Liberty of London line, I'm thinking I may need to incorporate one of these little beauties into the design somewhere. Aren't they cute? (It makes me laugh that I said "design." Like I am capable of designing anything.)

My other idea was something like this little jadite number from The Lovely's shop at Etsy.












I have no idea what to do with the rest of the room, but I figure a lamp is a good enough place to start! What do you think?

It's Too Early in the Morning for a Heart Attack!

I think my heart rate has slowed enough to be able to recount my morning's adventures for you.

The day started off alright; kids slept 'til 7am, which is rare. No major tantrums before breakfast. Gavin actually put on pants today (although insisted on wearing his Wiggles Concert Tee for the third day in a row. Whatevs.). Things were looking up.

And then, all of the sudden, I was locked in Gavin's room.

Let me explain. Gavin WILL NOT stay in his bed at night. We've tried all of SuperNanny's techniques; it just won't happen. So (and I hesitate to type this at the risk of you thinking I'm cruel) we turned his doorknob around so we can lock him in at night. This really did work like a charm. For a few nights, he tried to get out, but then realized it was futile. Now he stays put at night. Problem solved! In fact, some nights I don't even lock it, but he doesn't know that, so he doesn't even attempt to get out anymore.

Well, I was getting Gavin dressed in his room this morning, and Nathan was playing beside me. And by getting Gavin dressed I mean I was trying to rationalize with a three-year-old the reasons why it was NOT COOL to wear your Wiggles shirt three days in a row, and that it was kind of chilly and not really appropriate weather for short sleeves. And then I heard his bedroom door shut. Charlotte is a huge fan of closing doors. I'm not sure why; it's a bit of an obsession for her at the moment. OCD prehaps? She needs all the doors upstairs to be closed. But that's for another post on another day. So I calmly get up and go to open the door. And IT WAS LOCKED. From the outside!! Panic set in. I don't have a phone in there. I have no way to call for help. A million things were running through my head (they were completing rational things, like jumping out of the window, using my Hulk-like strength to rip the door off the frame, and telepathically contacting Michael to come home and save us).

In a very calm, cool, and collected voice, so as not to scare anyone, I said, "HOLY S#*T!! CHARLOTTE!! UNLOCK THE $)%*$#* DOOR!!!!!" She was trying, but she isn't entirely great with doorknobs, and also isn't entirely great with following directions. So I tried another angle, and again, calmly stated, "GO GET THE PHONE!! DO YOU HEAR ME?? GET THE PHONE FROM MY ROOM AND SLIDE IT UNDER THE DOOR!" While she was doing that, I was summoning MacGyver and untwisting a coat hanger to try to unlock it myself. I could hear Charlotte trying to cram something under the door, so relief started to set in...until I realized she was shoving one of her hair bows under there. Which, under normal circumstances, might be funny. But not right now.

After a moment, she did manage to open the door. Crisis averted. But let's just say for now I have little skeleton keys stashed in Gavin's room should that ever happen again, and I think the knob's getting turned around again tonight.

It's like a bad sitcom, right? Right. Except it's MY. LIFE.

On another note, how cute are these little juice glasses from Crate and Barrel? I WANT them. I wish they weren't glass though, because they will certainly break if my kids use them. If they can't handle doorknobs, then they definitely can't handle juice glasses.