Lego Master

 Ben is a freak for Lego's.  He seriously can't get enough.  Every free moment is spent building building building.  Look at all of the things he has built since his birthday, which was just a week ago:

 A dinosaur hunter:

 A semi with a trailer and a boat:

 A police truck with a trailer and a boat (this is what he bought with his birthday money):

 His cars and his mummy tomb:

 Another car and a fire truck (with a trailer and boat, of course!):

 It really is amazing to watch him.  He follows the directions in the little books and is always so proud of what he builds. 

 He loves Lego's so much that he has requested that the boxes be made into posters to hang in his room:

Tomorrow  might be a rough day when he figures out that he has no new sets to build.  Yesterday, while we were at Target, he said  "Mom Mom Mom pleeeeeeeeease can we go to the Lego aisle?"  When I reminded him that he didn't have any money with him he said, "I know.  I just want to look."  Poor kid just needed a Lego fix.  So if you are looking for us, you know where to find us.  In the Lego aisle, drooling over, wishing for and dreaming about new Lego's!

I am exausted

I mean really really tired.  I have been living and breathing birthday all week.  Thank goodness for all of the snow days.  Not only did I get to be home with my 5-year-olds for their birthday week but I had extra time for all of the birthday prep.  So prep I did.  Wednesday, I cleaned the house.  That was dumb. My parents ended up being snowed in with us so 6 people in and out of the snow and not able to leave the house meant that more cleaning was necessary last night.  Thursday night, was cake baking night.  Thanks to my mom and Auntie Katie we were able to bake 21 cakes before the power went out.  That was lucky.

 The next morning, I woke up to 2 5-year-olds and a power outage.  We continued our tradition of cupcakes for breakfast, this time in the dark!  (I actually got a better picture, but this one made me laugh more than the good one.)

 Our power was only out for a couple hours and we spent the day playing.  Poor kids had to wait for Robbie to get home from work to open their presents.  The problem with that was that the bridge was closed for falling ice (for 6 hours) so they had to wait a really long time.  They hadn't been out of jammies for almost 48 hours but they decided to dress up for present opening.  Here is Abby opening up the thing she wanted the very most...an island for her play kitchen.  Nothing makes me happier than that smile!

 She also wanted "Tupperware".  I think she actually asked for the Tupperware first and then realized she would need an island to store it in.  Either way she got both and couldn't be happier.

 Ben looooooooooooooooooooooves Legos.  He wanted so badly to build it then but it was late so we told him he could do it in the morning.  But then, he couldn't sleep.  He woke up a number of times to ask me how long until morning.  At one point he asked to sleep with the direction booklets so that he could study them.  So he did.  In the morning, he didn't even come into my room...just got right to work!

 When I moved Abby's island upstairs after she was in bed, this is what I found:

 Be still my heart.  She is so her mama's girl.  Check out the drawer in my island:

 After I was done swooning over Abby's organizational skills, it was time to get to work on the cake.  I know you were wondering why on Earth we would need 21 cakes for a birthday party for children.  Well, to make a 3 foot tall working gumball machine cake, of course!  Friday was building night and here's how it all went down.

First, we glued the rim of an old plastic container (that oddly enough was actual Tupperware) from my mom's house onto the glass globe:

 Then we got out the mechanism that Robbie had built (out of supplies he found in my dad's garage, of course) to make the cake operational:

 We loaded it up and tested it out.  Then fixed it and tested it again.  Then fixed it and tested it again.  Then fixed it and tested it again.  Then fixed it and tested it again.  Then fixed it and tested it aga...you get the drift:

 When it finally worked, we really filled it up (I had 8,500 gumball, remember?) and got ready to add some cake:

 A lot of cake:

 And then I got to work on the crumb coat.  (This is when you are supposed to think that I really know a lot about cake decorating because only a seasoned baker would know that you have to do a thin layer of frosting first so that you don't end up with crumbs in your final product.  Truth:  Everything I know I learned from Google.)

 Okay.  So far so good.  Time to clean up and head for bed and hope that the darn thing was still standing in the morning.

 It was!  It had shifted and sunk a little but it still looked pretty good.  So Saturday night (after a small operation to ensure that it did in fact work) I finished the frosting.  Ta da!

 It was a little short on the details but it was big and it worked and we were happy.  We were just about to head to bed at a decent hour when I glanced over to see this:

 Here we were, 16 hours before our guests were to begin arriving (8 of those we had intended to be sleeping hours) and no idea what to do.  Did we panic?  No!  We patched it up with cardboard and paper towels and started frosting:

 Good as new!!

 And my sweet birthday kids couldn't be happier!

What a great week!  I love a good snow day (or 3) and even though we will most likely be in school until July, it was totally worth it to be home with my kids in their last days of being 4.  Tomorrow, the roads will be clear and school will be back on and I'm sure that my lack of sleep this week will catch up with me so nighty night, friends.  

My How Time Flies

Five (yes, I said FIVE) years ago at this time I was sitting down to what would end up being my last quiet meal.  Ever.  And while I spent most of the meal wincing in pain and squeezing Robbie's leg to keep from screaming, I didn't know that later that night I would be welcoming these two into the world.

Fast forward five years and here's what you get:

Can you believe it?  I can't.   In fact I have already cried a couple times today.  Just now I had a major meltdown as I was putting my 4 year olds to bed for the last time.  I might have traumatized them as I sobbed in their arms but I think I was able to do some damage control. 

Tonight, as I think back on all that has happened in the last five years, I am so thankful for the chance to be their mama.  I couldn't have picked better kids.  They are funny (not as often as they think they are, but funny none the less), happy, helpful and loving.  They are smart and snugly and there is nothing better than when I'm sitting at dinner and Ben says, "I love you Mama," between bites.  They are the perfect duo and the best of friends.  They make each other laugh (and sometimes they make each other cry) and prefer to be together at all times.  They are eager to please, and so fun to be around.  They are constantly making me laugh, especially when they don't try.  I really am the luckiest mama.  I couldn't ask for anything more.

They are all snuggled in bed for the last time as four year olds and I am off to bake some (18 or so) cakes to get ready for their party.  I couldn't imagine my life any other way.  Happy Birthday Ben and Abby.  Mama loves you so so much.

Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland

We woke up this morning to 9 inches of snow.  School was cancelled (oh darn!) and so we had just about the best day we could.  First we went outside and played in the snow.  Abby and I were arctic animals (don't ask) while Ben practiced his snowboard.  When we went inside the kids thought it would be a good idea to eat s'mores (you know, to warm us up).  So we did!  After that they disappeared upstairs for almost 2 hours!  Ben worked on his Lego's and Abby was playing school with some of her 20 babies.  The house was so quiet.  It was glorious!!  I took advantage of the time to myself by cleaning the house and getting ready for the big birthday party that we have here on Sunday.  By the time I had finished with that, it was time for nap.  After nap, we headed out to "the sledding hill" in the neighborhood behind our house.  This picture is from our walk home:

 Man, I love the snow!  It is so pretty and quiet and everything just slows down so much.  It also gives me a chance to play play play with my kids:

We got Ben a little snowboard for Christmas and in just a couple days he has gotten quite good at it.  Look!

Not bad, eh?  Like I said, I love snow days!  And when I got home to hot soup cooking in the Crock Pot, I knew my day couldn't get much better.  And guess what?  I get to do it all again tomorrow!  I probably should be worried about the fact that I might have to go to school until sometime in July this year (remember that we have 9 strike days to make up too) but for now, I going to enjoy the extra time with my family and play in the snow!

Things That Make Me Smile

#1.  The notes my kids wrote for each other in their lunch boxes the other day when I was running late:

 ("I like playing with you.  Love, Abby)

 ("Abby, I love you.  Ben")

#2.  Cooking with my girl in our matching aprons.  (Thanks Mom!)

#3.  Ben playing football in the back yard with Daddy in all his new gear from Santa.  Can you think of anything cuter than that?

 #4.  The 8,500 (yup, you read that right) gumballs that I ordered for the kids' bubble gum birthday party:

 #5.  How much these two love each other...and how much I love them!!

The New Me

Here we are in 2012 and though I'm not one for resolutions I think it's time for a new me. Or maybe for me to revisit the old me. As I read the annual "Half Their Size" issue of People, I started to realize that it is time for me to get moving. (Mission accomplished, People!). And while losing half my body weight would be a bit of an extreme goal I need to do something. What feels like yesterday, but turns out to be over a decade ago, I used to be a member of my college track team. And before that my high school team. And before that, I was setting records in middle school. I have run a lot of laps in my life.

When I was running, I had built in work outs. Twice a day. After I finished my last race in college, I took a bit of a hiatus from working out but after awhile, I got into a really good routine of going to the gym before work. And then, I got pregnant. The day I took three four year olds to the track and they were able to run a mile faster than me, I knew things had taken a bit of a turn. That was my last work out as a pregnant person. Before long, answering the phone and walking up the front steps put me out of breath and sweaty (hazards of having two people live inside you, I tell ya!).

Once the kids were born, exercising became a thing of the past. Turns out two kids take quite a bit of time and running with a double stroller is quite a bit of work. I've done it now and again, but getting the stroller out, strapping everyone in and then keeping them entertained for the duration of my run, not to mention pushing what is essentially my own body weight the entire time...waaaaaaaaaay more trouble than it's worth.

So here I am today, more out of shape than I've ever been and ready to get it together. I can come up with hundreds of excuses but its time to come up with a plan. What's my plan? Work out at home (no time for the gym but I can't let that be my problem anymore)in the morning (this is going to be realllllllllllllly hard). I'm going to have to go to bed earlier (also going to be a challenge) and make sure that I stick with it. And while I'm not trying to lose half my body weight (or any weight for that matter), I look forward to getting back a little piece of the old me.

Now don't worry. I won't be telling you all about it but I wanted a little accountability, so I'm throwing it out there. Here's to tomorrow morning! Now excuse me, but I better get to bed.