Yet Another Apology to our Children

Sorry, Matty.

Sorry Mitch always takes your toys.

Sorry you wear hand-me-downs.

Sorry your national anthem is frequently played on the second fiddle.

Sorry Mitch tackles you.

And, sorry we give you haircuts at home.

She Came. We Saw. We Moped.

Mimi came for a visit. Yeah! Here is Mimi. Oh, and I hate her. It takes her less than 20 minutes to look like this.

Lookin' good, Mimi. Lookin' good. The kids were thrilled to see her, as was I. She also is magical, as she was able to have her plane land, get her bag and rental car, and drive here in the time that it took the four of us to get off the plane and find our suitcase the last time we flew. She is magic.

Here are some highlights from her visit. Here we are at the children's museum, having some fun.

Here is the car mirror that Mitch broke off.

Here is a very rare picture. Very rare indeed. Mitch is not doing a weird, "Cheeeeeese" face, and I am in it.Here is a very scary dentist. You should not go to him. He doesn't know what he is doing.

And here is Mitch driving a moped with a cage full of chickens through Africa.

So, Mimi came. We saw all the fun that she is. And then she left, and the kids spent the rest of the day yesterday moping around. Every once in awhile, I would hear a mumbled, "I miss Mimi," followed by Matty's, "I miss Mimi, too." Thanks for a fun visit Mimi!

I Would Be Remiss...

If I forgot to tell you (again) that Mitch was competing in the Olympic Gymnastic competition under the name of, "Sour Cream." I have no idea why. He has never had sour cream. Would not like sour cream if he had tried it. Would go on and on for hours about how he didn't like it and I made him eat it, if I truly ever made him eat it. Why the afinity? It's a head scratcher.

Olympic Snippets

We are all about the Olympics here. The boys and I watch them, speak of them, reenact them often. Can you blame us? They are exciting. They are historic. And, being most probably the least athletic person on the planet, I feel that, perhaps, the act of exposing my children to all of these different sporting events may, on some level, allow them to compensate for half of their genes being ones who shut their eyes while trying to catch a ball or trip over their own little gene-feet while in motion. Maybe, just maybe.

Here are some Olympic moments from around our house.

Mitch: "When I get big, I am going to watch the Olympics for hours and hours, all night, even until the next morning."

Me (encouraging big dreams): "You know, buddy. You could work hard and you could be in the Olympics."

Mitch: "Oh no! I will be too busy being a garbage man."


Mitch met a new friend at the pool the other night. Her name was Kilawny and she was 5. She informed me that her mother got her name online. She and Mitch held their own Olympic swimming events. Mitch was favored in the "Must wear floaties and can not go past the 3 1/2 foot tile marker in the pool and I will race you to the stairs- a distance of approximately 2 meters" event. He ended up taking the silver, but had a great time. They took turns awarding each other invisible medals. It was precious. Matty and I hummed the Star Spangled Banner. OK- I made that last part up.


And, here are some photo highlights of the Olympics.

Matty participating in soccer. Apparently, his soccer idol is Brandy Chastain.


Here are highlight from Mitch's gymnastics routine. And have I mentioned lately that he is all about picking out his own clothes to wear everyday. I wish that I could attribute this outfit to some sort of special gymnastic routine uniform, but no. He looks like this every day. In public.








And, then, in an unfortunate I-was-otherwise-preoccupied-and-could-not-monitor-the-television-and-the-hooligans-caught-a-glimpse-of-Greco-Roman-wrestling-incident, THIS ensued. And, no, I have no idea about the Mickey Mouse hat. It must be the equivalent of the "Roots beret" from the planet that he represents.



Speaking of hats, we were outside playing Olympic soccer yesterday, Mitch went in to go to the bathroom, and came out five minutes later wearing this, and inviting me to his restaurant. How about an Olympic medal for losing trains of thought. You are looking at the world record holder.And, the final Olympic event I would like to highlight is the Erector Set Olympics. From time to time, you know that I like to document the architectural feats of the hooligans. Mitch is certainly a future LegoLand employee of the month, and Matty is all kinds of a train builder. Well, I love to point out when people in this family work hard to put things together. Especially when the people are so completely left brained it is not funny, and making a forklift out of these plastic doohickies and nuts and bolts actually made smoke come out of the ears. Yes, it was me, and it was difficult. And I am damn proud of it!

A Thousand Words...

Or would this be three thousand words?

Thank you to grandparents for grabbing cameras!

We've Caught Olympic Fever

It's pretty fun...introducing the boys to different sporting events. Today, we have watched snippets of swimming, fencing, beach volleyball, and the long and grueling bicycle road race. Finely tuned athletes, at the top of their games, aiming to have peak performances and bring home the gold.

While watching the bike race, Mitch states:

"I think I would like to be in this bike race. I would ride my orange bike. I would ride and ride like those guys, and I would be the winner."

Here is the Olympian, and his road bike.

What do you think of his chances?

And a great time was had by all. The End.

We have just returned from our week long vacay to lovely Michigan. I say lovely, becuase it truly was. The weather was warm, not too humid, sunny....just perfect.

Thanks to all of the grandparents and Aunt Becky for making this such a fun trip. The boys had an absolute blast! (Mimi- you get your turn in a week! Rest up!)

Today, we are in the post-trip blahs. You know....where the boys go from having people watching them, laughing at them, interacting with them 24/7 to...being home with me. Sans watching. Sans laughing. Definitely sans interaction. They are going through withdrawal, and they choose to show it with whiny, crabby voices and very, very short fuses. And, apparently, I am a masochist, as our return to reality today involved a two year old checkup with Matty and a gigantic trip to Wal-Mart. How 'bout them apples to let you know that your vacation is definitely over!

Here are some photo highlights from the trip. And, I must apologize. Apparently I was having too much fun on tractors and jet-skis to dig around in the bottom of the suitcase to find the camera. These are second hand photos that have been uploaded and then downloaded by me, and they did not like it. They did not like it at all. So squint, scruch up your face, and look at these hooligans!

I would have to say that some of my favorite memories from the trip involve some grandpa, who shall remain nameless but who is an upstanding member of society, diving into the pool with all of his clothes on. The boys went wild! That prompted Mitch to put his shirt back on and jump in over and over.

Also, watching these two on jet skis is hilarious. Mitch....serious, reserved, loved putting around in idle, going seriously zero miles per hour, and steering himself around. Matty, donned in a lifejacket, of course, loved to punch it! Mitch and I idled around Lake Huron while Matthew and Mike zipped past repeatedly, Matty's little head and giant smile clearly visible as they darted past us time and time again.

But by far, the best memories are of the boys and their grandparents...playing, laughing, loving. Thanks for a great trip!