Today

Mini pumpkins AND a new coonskin hat?  William was pretty excited.

Mason was excited too, but there was cornbread on the table so....

M,W
Totally their idea to pose for me

M,W
Chocolate cake for dessert

This morning I woke up to Ginny talking happily to herself and in the background I heard William and Mason talking to each other loudly through the doors of their bedrooms.  (They sleep in different bedrooms now- totally their choice.)  I unswaddled Ginny and she stretched and purred, then went to each of the boys and gave them big hugs as they patted my back sweetly.  It was great start to the day.  In the few minutes it took me to brush my teeth and grab Gin, the boys helped themselves to some snacks from the pantry.  It's like this every morning and it always cracks me up.  They will start eating whatever they can reach: crackers, raisins or peanut butter straight from the jar.  I love that they are ready to eat as soon as they wake up.

M

It started off so sweet and then I don't know if  it was because their dad was at work when they woke up, a full moon, a chemical leak or some strange atmospheric phenomenon that caused them to turn into monsters but things turned ugly quickly.  It all started when I put the wrong Thomas underwear on William and when I took the giant bag of cranberries away from Mason before he was finished shoving massive handfuls into his mouth.  Things only got uglier when after A LOT of begging to turn on a movie, I finally did but I put on an educational program about the earth instead of Mulan.  Mason was downright furious with me and William's eyes were so sad, like he was wondering HOW I could possibly do this to him.
Usually, it isn't a full moon- usually there is a reason why things go South.  I think today they just needed extra love.  I knew they needed my attention and I vowed to give it to them.  And when I did, today was wonderful.

After I got Ginny settled for a nap, I gave each of them hands free loving.  (I wear Gin a lot during the day in the bjorn but I wanted to give them all of my focus.)  It was just what they needed.  There were six brand new words today and a lot of laughter.  We read, wrestled, snuggled and had a great time.  I had planned to prepare and freeze a couple of meals today and so to do this, I made a fort out of the kitchen table and the boys had a BLAST while I cooked.  When they napped, I spent time with sweet Genevieve.  She is just precious.  I think the boys have adjusted really well to having a sibling but I think I've had some trouble with them lately because of the attention I give their sister.  I love them so much that I didn't think it was possible for them to feel any kind of neglect, no matter how small, but I think maybe they need some more special time with me the way I used to be able to give it to them before I had a baby attached to my hip.

The highlight of my week was when Aaron came home from picking the boys up from school and told me Mason had asked to go to the zoo.  Mason heard that word and unlocked the car, grabbed Aaron's wallet and pulled out the zoo membership card.  He was READY to go, so of course we went.  They lead us where they want to go and they always take us straight to the shark aquarium.

When we got home, Aaron reached back and let Mason out of his car seat so he could climb up and press the button to close the garage.  It took him a little longer than expected and all of a sudden you could hear William in the backseat saying, "Hello?  Hellllloooooo?"  (In that annoyed voice that everyone uses when the driver next to you crosses over into your lane.)
The next day we went grocery shopping as a family and we let the boys pick out what they wanted.  They had so much fun and didn't notice us taking their selections out of the cart and putting it back on the shelf.  Somehow though we made it home with a couple HungryMan salisbury steak t.v. dinners and a can of some weird jambalaya stuff, but it was totally worth it.  They were so adorable.

I really love my kids.  (Said every mom ever.)
But it's true.  I really really love them.