Merry Christmas

Sorry, my 3 readers, it's been quite a while since I've posted. And this one isn't going to be very long. I just wanted to pop in and say a quick hello, and give you some highlights of our life since September.

1. In October, Danny, Liam and I drove down to North Carolina to spend some time with my mom's brothers and sisters at a beach house. It was gorgeous.

2. Danny was Mickey Mouse (and a Firefighter) for Halloween. For weeks, he told me he wanted to be Mickey Mouse and then the Thursday before Halloween he told everyone at school he was going to be a FireFighter and devastated when his teacher pulled out the Mickey Mouse costume. My parents ended up finding a firefighter costume and he wore it for 3 days straight. Liam was supposed to be Buzz LightYear, but it never shipped so we ended up using the hand-me-down Yoda from my cousin that Danny wore when he was 2. He loved being Yoda, so it all worked out.

3. At the end of October, Dan and I found out we would be expecting our 3rd child. I am currently 13 weeks pregnant, and it's been rough so far, for me. But I had a sonogram on Tuesday and it looks like he or she will be a cutie, so worth all my pain! The baby is due on June 29th. We have decided on a boys name, but not yet a girls name. Too many to chose from. We will find out the sex of this baby, if we can. So, at this point I'm not too concerned about the name, but come end of January/ early February, and we find out it's a girl (I think it's a boy, but I thought Liam was a girl) and we still haven't decided on a name, then I'll be worried.

4. November was quiet, as much as it can be with a three year old, a two year, an exhausted, sick pregnant mama, and an overworked Daddy. On November 17th, Dan and I 'celebrated' our 4th Wedding Anniversary. And I say 'celebrated' in quotes because I was super sick and Dan just laid in bed next to me, working, while I slept. Thanksgiving was nice. Spent the afternoon with my family at my mom's house, and the evening was spent with Dan's family at his sister's new apartment.

5. Dan has been working on the ice rink. It's been difficult since Buffalo has been abnormally warm this winter. It's 'done' for now, we're just waiting for it to freeze. At 22 degrees right now, we might actually get a frozen rink by New Years.

6. Danny was taking Ice Skating lessons at a local ice rink. He hated it, and for good reason. It was the first time he had been on skates and had a hard time standing. There were too many kids and too few instructors (2) and one of the instructors looked like she was doing it for mandatory community service. She was not thrilled to be there and refused to help. Instead, we went down to Rotary Rink for the tree lighting ceremony and Danny had some one-on-one skating time with Daddy, and was much happier. They went down last weekend too, Danny didn't skate as much, but at least he's not afraid. The freezing of our rink will be helpful so the boys don't have to go all the way downtown, and maybe I can get some practice in since I'm not that great at it myself.

7. This year, we decided to adopt one of Santa's Elves. His name is Gerbe and the kids just love him.

8. We celebrated Danny's 4th Birthday. I can't believe he's getting so big!

9. Today is Christmas Eve. We're spending the day with Dan's family, going to Midnight Mass and then coming home. Waking up, hopefully opening up presents from Santa and then heading to spend Christmas Day with my parents. (We switch every year, this year it's Christmas Eve with Dan's family and Christmas Day with my family. Next year, it will be Christmas Eve with my family, and Christmas Day with Dan's family.)

I think that's all about the Laughlin family, for now. I'm sure my pregnant brain forgot to mention something, but that should at least hold you over till the next time I blog.

Birthday Week

Today is the first day of Birthday Week!

In my family, we affectionately refer to this week as Birthday Week. Of the, currently, 17ish people in our immediate family that we celebrate birthdays, 5 of us are in the span of a week.

September 23rd - Liam and my brother-in-law Joe
September 25th - me
September 28 - my Mother-In-Law
September 29 - my brother Tony

Also, an honorable mention because he's in September also, my brother-in-law, Matt, is September 8th

Other than Christmas, end of September tends to be an expensive month! :)

Home Depot Gets Sick

Our 25 year old water heater decided it had finally had enough last night. Dan took the morning off to clean up the water and the stuff around the tank and to buy a new one and set up installation.

Today, when Danny heard this he asked if you could help (after the devestation wore off of not being able to take a shower.) The one thing he told Dan was "Let's go get that water Daddy!"

Danny has a pair of crocs that I don't really let him wear any more with the changing of the weather and school (he has to wear sneakers) and he always asks, "I wear Crocs today.?" And I always have to tell him no, except today. He was allowed to go down in the basement with the crocs on to help Dan clean up the water.

When it was time for us to go to Home Depot (Danny loves Home Depot, especially the Race Car Cart that they don't have at the city Home Depot, only the one on Niagara Falls Blvd store. But that's a whole different blog post... :) ) So, when it was time to go to Home Depot, Danny asked "I wear my crocs to Home Depot, Daddy?" Dan said no because it's not good. Danny replied with, "Crocs make Home Depot sick, Daddy." Serious face and serious voice. I was sitting in the other room waiting for Liam's Elmo cake to bake, and heard this and could not stop laughing.

I'm Just a *Boy* in the World

I am happy to report that Danny is no longer the only boy in his class! Starting Tuesday, another boy will be joining Danny's class.
And an update, the teacher loves him and says he's great.

Danny's First Day of Pre-K 3

Tuesday was Danny's First Day of Pre-K 3.

I was nervous, but not really sure why. Probably just because it's new and I didn't know what to expect. Danny, on the other hand was fine. Probably in part that he had no idea what school was, other than that kids ride these big yellow buses to get there.

Dan took the morning off of work to be there with Danny, and me, as we sent Danny off to school. It was really nice having him home. Wish we could do that more often!

Everyone woke up early, 6am. (Seriously early for someone who works till 11pm the night before.) Everybody got dressed and we tried to force some breakfast down our
gullets and off we went. We left a little bit early, not sure how busy Main Street was going to be and didn't want to be late for our first day of school. We got there super early. 7:30, Danny didn't have to be there until 8.

We weren't sure where the classroom was so we did some exploring before finally asking someone where to go. We found the classroom and met Danny's teacher. She showed him his locker and where he'll hang his backpack and coat when he gets in in the morning. He was not interested, as soon as she asked him if he wanted to play with some toys, his eyes lit up and asked "I play with fireman?!"

It's a class of 3 (Danny is the only boy), I heard the teacher say that they normally have about 9 kids, and registration is still opem. Unlikely that there will be more children, but I'm hoping, for Danny's sake, they at least get another boy.

We said our goodbyes to Danny and his teacher reassured me that all would be fine and if I was ever worried, I could call the office and ask them for an update. I'm not concerned so, not likely I'll ever do that.

There were no tears.

Dan, Liam and I left after prayers and we went home (mostly because I was exhausted and Dan wanted to do some work.) (Not sure what Liam and I are going to do normally. It's a lot of driving in a 4 hr period. Danny is in school from 8 till 11. I've considered the park. The zoo doesn't open till 10, so we'd be there for 30 minutes and have to leave. And then add in cold Buffalo winters. We might be doing the extra driving, except on nasty, snowy days.)

At 10:30, we all piled back into the car to go get Danny. We arrived a little before 11 so we got to see the tail end of the day. They were dancing. And Danny loves to dance so I was sure he was having a good time.

Outside the door, the teacher made a list of "My Favorite Thing About Today Was." Danny of course said 'the cars'.

When Danny left the classroom, he seemed to have morphed into the crabbiest child I've ever seen. He told us very little about his day, one thing he did tell us was he watched the big kids play badminton. And then he told us his tummy hurt. I was trying to ask him questions about school, the water colors he painted, or the playground he played on (the teacher wrote a note on the board of what they did so we could ask them what they did.) And then he said "Stop talking to me, Mommy." And he yelled at Liam too, when we were trying to talk to him and ask him questions.

Because it was a special day, we decided to go out for lunch, something we don't normally do. But Daddy was with us and Danny (and I) had just made it through the first day of school without any (major) meltdowns.

So that was it for the first day of school. I'll make sure to update the blog on any special things that happen.

Foodies

I love to eat. (I know you can't tell by looking at me) and I love to try out new things. So, I think I am going to start a 2nd blog about cooking and recipes. There are so many out there so not sure how 'popular' it will be, but I am going to try.

My favorite method of cooking is the crockpot, but I'll try anything. So if there is anything out there that people like and want me to try, I'm here for you.

I'll let you know when the new blog is up and running.

Hopefully it's more 'successful' than ThoseDarnLaughlins...and by successful, I mean lots of posts by the blogger.

I need a clever blog Title for said blog. Help!

I Miss You

My boys like to tell everyone 'I Miss You.'

I'm not entirely sure they know what it means (I think they're using it as 'I love you'), but it's definitely nice to hear.

Garbage Day

I love how the simplest things make my sons' days.

Thursday (not including the days that Daddy doesn't have to work) is their favorite day of the week because it's Garbage Day. They love any and all things trucks. And Garbage Day means a truck comes to their house and they can see it from their front window. They get so excited.
Danny just ran through the house looking for Liam "E-um...the Garbage Truck is here!" and they both run to the couch to look out the window. And that makes them happy.

For me, ok Dan because he's the one that takes out the Garbage, Garbage Day is a chore.

Which reminds me, one of Danny's favorite things to do (and he will cry if you don't let him) is to mow the lawn with Daddy. Dan hates it, I refuse to do it till we get a push reel mower because I am terrified of the gas mower, but it's Danny's favorite thing to do. He even has his own little lawn mower that he follows Dan around the yard with.

Danny also loves to sweep and pretend vacuum. (He's absolutely terrified of the vacuum cleaner when it's on, but I've realized it's because he does not like loud noises like thunder and fireworks.)

Sometimes I wish I was not so tainted by society and love all the things I learned to hate. (Although I'm not really sure I ever loved to clean. I did like playing in my play kitchen though.) I want to keep my babies young forever. But time has passsed so quickly. (Danny is ready to go to school in less than a week and Liam is showing signs of potty training readiness.) Where did my babies go? I know they will be ok, and I like them older and watching them grow up into the little men that they will become. But sometimes I miss when they needed me to survive (and when they couldn't talk back or run away from me when I'm trying to get their jammies on them for night-night.)

School-Daze

I know most people have already had their 'first day of school' this week, but I am still waiting for the first day of school for Danny. He does not start until next week Tuesday. From watching other people, I know what to expect but it still won't make it any easier. There will be lots of pictures and lots of tears (mostly from the Mommy and probably none for the new student). He's not taking a bus, but if he were, I'd sure be following that bus to school.

I'm anxiously awaiting, and seriously dreading, next week.

Who's Gonna Tell You Things Aren't So Great?

Thoughts on my trip to Wegmans:

1) Screw you, Wegmans, for having carts so appealing that my kids go into fits of depression if we can't find an available one. I'm talking about the ones with the truck part attached to the front, where two small children can squeeze in and elbow each other discretely, beyond the obstructed view of their parents. These carts are both longer and wider than regular grocery store shopping carts, which makes navigating crowded aisles feel a little like you're in the mall scene in Blues Brothers. (The new Oldsmobiles are in early this year!)

2) Because these carts are so long, there's an extra pair of wheels on them, on the front extension where the kids sit. I don't know if they did it intentionally to try to make the whole monstrosity easier to turn, but the wheels are not all set at equal height, they're rockered. So the two middle wheels are always on the ground, but the front two wheels and the back two wheels don't touch the ground at the same time. It doesn't actually make the cart any easier to steer, but if you push it through the parking lot at a good pace and jump on the back like a scooter, the rockered wheels will cause you to spin and eventually hurt yourself and/or others. Lesson learned.

3) FINALLY, a grocery store that has the beer right next to the diapers! One stop shopping for us parents.

4) I'd like to thank the person who gave me the gift card to Wegmans. I had a lot fun there!

Eat, Drink and Be Married

On Saturday, August 22, 2011, two friends of mine joined hands and became one, and they were kind enough to not only invite me and my family, but include my oldest son in their wedding party, as the very punk-rock ring bearer!

Last year, the bride asked me for permission to use Danny as her ring bearer. Knowing my son, I hesitated, and was going to say no, but after I made her promise she was not going to be upset if he didn't do what she wanted him to do on that day. (Anyone with a 3 year old knows that they can turn on you at anytime, good parenting or bad, especially with lack of naps on busy days like that!) She smiled, said 'no of course not' and the rest is history!

The Wedding Weekend started off with me and the boys helping out one of the bridesmaids (and sister of the groom) with set-up for the rehearsal dinner. We set tables and rearranged and decorated. Then after no naps (great start to a busy weekend) we showered and dressed and we were off to the Church for rehearsal. Thankfully, it was at our home parish (Holy Angels) so Danny knew the church well (and we practiced walking up the aisle after mass one Sunday) so everything seemed to go well. (Plus, he and the flower girl) were being escorted by the very lovely Maid of Honor. Then it was off to party! Good food, some drinks, great friends. And the priest said something that I liked. He said a good marriage consists of 3 bones. 1. A backbone. 2. A wishbone 3. A Funny bone. And he added my favorite, "Bon Apetit." And after some alcoholic consumption and lots of chatting, it was time to go home to get some sleep for the big day.

We woke up, I made some waffles for breakfast, and it was time to get dressed. And, the ring bearer was already being difficult. He didn't want to take a shower and we had to do his hair, get him dressed, plus get ourselves dressed drop Liam off with my parents (thank God for them so we could focus on keeping Danny happy), and get to the groom's house by noon.

Danny walked down the aisle nicely, and I'm convinced it was because Meghan held his hand the entire way. After a few minutes of arguing with him that he couldn't see Daddy, he decided to take a nap during the ceremony. Sleeping on the kneeler, the pew and using the ring pillow as a pilllow for his head all happened. But, when it was time for walking back down the aisle with me and the flower girl and her mother, he walked very nicely.

After lots of pictures, it was time to get Liam back from my parents (they and he were at the wedding but left so that he could possibly take a nap) and pick up our babysitter for Liam for the evening, and off to party at Pearl Street Bar and Grill.

Danny was very excited to do some dancing with me, which we did, but first he had to dance with the flower girl. I hate to admit it, but people were more interested in Danny and the flower girl dancing then the bride and groom and their wedding party. But at least the bride and groom were pleased to see them together, and we all have dreams in our eyes of my son marrying the flower girl in 25 or 30 years, and using the photos from this wedding in their wedding video. And of course incorporating the bride and groom in the future wedding, since they are the reason Danny and his future bride met. After much partying, it was time to go home and get some sleep.

And to top the weekend off, the bride and groom hosted a picnic for the wedding party and out of town relatives. My heart broke a little bit when Danny ignored the flower girl the entire picnic, except the end when they hugged and kissed again. But she will learn soon enough that boys love to play hockey, soccer, baseball and frisbee and that a lot of the times, that will come first. (But as long as the girls stick together and the boys are happy, everyone is happy!)

I am so glad for the bride and groom, it was a long time coming, and I'm so glad that they can join the "Happily Married" club. We're always accepting new members!

Who's next??? :)

Also, I lost my camera so I didn't get many pictures myself. But I think that was God's way of telling me it's time for a new camera (since it's on it's way to being broken) and my birthday is coming up soon! :) (I just hope it gets found soon since I have some pictures on there that I would like. It's somewhere between my house and car...)

Back to School To Prove To Daddy I'm Not a Fool

The Erie County Fair in Buffalo means that it's the end of summer, shortly.

We have a busy weekend coming up. Our friends, Steve and Amanda, are finally tieing the knot after 11 years of being together. And they had graciously asked if Danny would be their ring bearer for the ceremony. We have his tuxedo, his purple tie and his purple chucks. His mohawk has been trimmed and ready to be stood up, and sprayed purple. We have the rehearsal and dinner on Friday, the big day on Saturday and the picnic hosted by the bride and groom on Sunday. Pictures to follow, of course.

The main reason for this blog post, as indicated by the title, is Danny is going to school. We have settled on the Pre-K 3 program at Catholic Academy of West Buffalo. He will be going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8am to 11am.

It was an easy decison, but bittersweet of course. Danny is starting a new chapter in his life, and of course I'm emotional about it. He is not excited, but I think it's because he doesn't know what to be excited about. I'm definitely excited for him. And I'm excited that Liam will be getting some one on one time.

It's going to be tough, for me, getting up and out of the house by 7:30am to get him to school on time, but at least it's only 2 days a week. It'll be tougher, next year, when he'll be going 5 days a week.

The other thing that will be tough is I'm not so sure how Danny is going to manage going to school. I have a feeling I will be staying, at least the first day, or he's going to have a fit. He needs this because his socialization with adults other than family, and children other than Liam, is supremely limited. (One reason I chose Pre-K 3 over regular Pre-K.)

Which brings me to my 3rd worry. Danny is so suprememly socially underdeveloped. I am seriously hoping this will change, especially since he won't have someone to hide behind. We recently went to a family party, and there were lots of little children, all around. I found Danny, playing in the corner, by himself. I had to encourage him to play with the other children. Thankfully there was a little girl, who also struck me as very shy, and took Danny under her wing and tried to play with him, even though he was oblivious to her.

When I enrolled him in Pre-K 3, I was told I had the option of skipping Pre-K 3 and just going right to regular Pre-K. He is super smart. Knows all his colors and the alphabet and on a good day will count to forty for you. But the lack of socialization and the fact that his birthday is so late in the year (December), I decided to keep him back. So he will be the oldest (or one of the oldest) children in his class.

We only have a few more weeks to enjoy his freedom, but enjoy them, we will.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

As the weeks get closer to August 20th, my friends wedding is quickly approaching.

Danny is her ring bearer and his toddler tuxedo is in. (If anyone needs a 3t toddler tux after August 20th, you can definitely borrow it!) His purple chucks were ordered and will soon be in our position. Danny still needs a haircut, but his mohawk is coming in nicely and we have purple hairspray that will hopefully work.

Last night, was the Bachelor/Bachlorette Party so Dan and I went our separate ways to party with the Bride and Groom. (And the children spent that night at their grandparents house.)

The ladies had a very tame evening, and that's ok with me; I had a great time. Dinner at Kyoto and dessert at Melting Pot. Some drinks, some food and some great company. And maybe some dirty remarks to our very cute, very young (and possibly gay) waiter at Melting Pot. :)

I am very excited for the upcoming festivites with those ladies (and to see my very cute toddler as the ring bearer.) Rehearsal dinner, Wedding and after-Wedding picnic.

Pictures of the very cute ring bearer all dressed up to come later.

Three Year Old Brain

This blog is seriously going to become funny things my kids say. Or, to be completely truthful, the things that Danny says, since Liam's personality has yet to shine through in his answers.

Some background on the current funny statement...Danny still has yet to understand the concept of a question. (Kind of strange and worries me sometimes, but we get by.) Most of the time when I ask him a question, the answer is always yes. And it irks me to no end, so when Liam adopted this method, I lose my patience sometimes.

The first one happened a few months ago while sitting in my parents kitchen. We've been trying to teach him his name (first and last), where he lives, where his grandparents lives and his parents names. When we ask him who I am, his answer is Mommy. So we started getting creative and asked him what my mom calls me. Sometimes he says Lucy, but this one time I asked him, 'Danny, what does Mammers call Mommy?' He thought about it for a moment and answered 'On the phone.' And he's right, mostly, I'm a texter. And although I've convinced my mom to text some, most of our conversations (other than in person) are on the phone.

Which brings me to my next story. We've been in the car for over 12hrs, and due to lots and lots of traffic and an ill-advised detour, we still have quite a few hours left. (Yuck!) And since we've been on the road so long, the natives are getting restless. Aunt Jenny, the extra adult and wrangler of children, decided to help our bored children (can only watch so many movies) by playing a game. After making sure he knew his colors, settled on playing the color game with Danny. She picks a color and he has to look and find that color. Easy enough, right?

So the first color she picked is red, after passing multiple red cars, a coca cola machine and some other red things, she asked him if he saw anything red. He said 'Yeah, red and yellow.' She asked what was red and yellow.

Danny responded, in the most serious, matter of fact tone with a hint of you're silly for not knowing this...'They're colors!!!'

From the Mouth of a 3 year old

While we were on vacation in South Carolina, it was easy to notice that there were no helmet laws in effect for motocyclists. (Something I find very stupid, by the way.)
Danny stated, after noticing this, 'That guy needs his butt slapped by that guy's mommy!'
Hmmm, I wonder which parent threatens to slap butts when the boys are in trouble...
And seriously, if a 3 year old thinks it's wrong (without any prodding from his parents) maybe those helmet laws aren't a bad idea! Or are we just tainted by our NY ways?
Speaking of, I don't miss cigarette smoke in bars or resturaunts. Not sure if they have those laws in SC yet, but there was some smoking on the patio at Margaritaville, and it was gross.

It's Raining Men

Day 4 of our 8 days at Myrtle Beach. It has rained every single day, but the past 2 have been all rain. I know Myrtle needs it, but just my Buffalo luck. (See it's not just our sports teams, it's our weather too. And why can't it be the hot hot hot weather from last week!!)

Yesterday we beat the rain by going to the very crowded aquarium, which was awesome. There are a couple of other things to do, but today might be a drinking day since we haven't done much of that. And there is some sun forecasted for later in the week so I can come home with some darker color than when I left. Maybe.

Dan and I have hopes of going on a date night and visiting Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville or a restaurant called Dick's where the waitstaff are, well, dicks. But not much else planned other than chillin' on the beach. Which I could seriously do everyday.

I absolutely love being on the beach. May have to retire to a costal community. But with Dan being my husband, will have to be very near to an NHL hockey team. Any suggestions?

Please enjoy the picture from the beach house deck of our rainy view of the ocean.

Hi, I'm in...

The Laughlins' have started their trip to Myrtle Beach. We're about 6hrs in. And we're somewhere in the backwoods (ok, really the mountains) of West Virgina. The trip has been so far, uneventful. We're packed like sardines, but the Traverse is definitely a smooth ride. And the boys quite enjoy the dvd player.
Danny experienced a first today. First gas station bathroom. *shudder*
More from the Laughlin vacation later, but for now you can enjoy a picture of Liam, covered in chocolate and eating a gummy worm. And yes, the picture was taken at 6:30am.

Kids Say the Darndest Things (Part II)

Another thing that Danny says all the time is "In in
there."
I was told to write this down (thanks Mom) or I would forget this when he's a sulky teenager. And well, the blog is good enough for me.
And have a mentioned his pronounciation of dinosaur "dine-nore."
Plus we can't forget about Liam. Instead of Banana, Liam says "Min-na" and here you go, Mommy is really "No no Mommy." (That one took me a long time to figure out. And the only way I did figure it out was because he kept handing me stuff while saying no no Mommy.)

Mr. Bookman

I need recommendations for a good book. I need to read more and am horrible at just picking books since there are millions out there. I pretty much need someone to hand me (or tell me, this book is good, read it.)
So any suggestions would be good.
Currently reading: Time Travellers Wife
On the list to read: Skinny Bitch, Sarah's Key and the Girl with a Dragon Tattoo Series
Any suggestions old, new, fiction, non-fiction are welcome

Test

Just set up the mobile app for blogger, so I want to test it out.
And we'll throw a picture in their for good measure.

Lost in Translation

Liam has been talking in full sentences since he was 18 months. YAY! him, right? Absolutely. (Especially after dealing with Danny's speech problems. I still think he's delayed for his age, but always progressing so I'm not too worried)
...and back to the subject of the post...
Boo, for me.
The one bad thing about Liam's awesome speech is he hasn't quite mastered pronunciation. (Normal for all children, mostly the people around the child can understand them, still happens with Danny sometimes.)He's getting much better, but he tries to have conversations with me, and I don't understand half the things he says.
I find myself asking Danny "Hey Danny, what did Liam just say?"
At first, Danny was thrilled to translate for Liam. But lately, Danny sighs at me (for anybody who knows me, I sigh all the time so I only have myself to blame), tells me no and walks away, and I'm left wondering what my almost 2 year old is trying to tell me.
Oh, and a side note, Liam gets very upset if he is not understood. Lots of crying (mostly me) and yelling. But it's a work in progress and Liam's pronunciation is slowly progressing.

Some upcoming things I'll try and post about:
Vacation to Myrtle Beach
Danny as a ring bearer in a friend's wedding (wearing a tuxedo!)
Danny starting pre-school 3 in September (He's getting so BIG!) :(

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Those who have kids know that sometimes what comes out of their mouths can really be hysterical. I won't bore you with all of the things that Danny says (Liam isn't quite at the stage yet) but I will share a few.

* Danny has an obsession with the saying "what that crazy (insert object here) doing". He says it for quite a few things but my favorite is about the moon. 'What that crazy moon doing, moms?' My favorite is when he told my husband that it was going to supper and sitting at it's own table. (Supper, for those who don't know, used to be Friday Fupper and it happens every Friday without fail with my parents. Mostly at the same restaurant, but not always. The children have really come to enjoy it and I'm excited when I'm not scheduled on a Friday and can join them.)

* This one may be a bit embarrassing but it's from the brain of a three year old who doesn't quite understand embarrassment or shame. (Nor should he.) Recently I finally found a way to potty train Danny, and he's doing pretty well other than nighttime and we're having issues battling number 2. He asked me one day "Danny fart underwear?" I told him of course, everybody farts in their underwear. Well, he proceeded to tell me who farts in their underwear and it was people he saw: me, my husband, our neighbor. Let me tell you, I can't look at my next door neighbor without giggling a little bit. He has since stopped asking, especially since every time he said something I made him say 'excuse me' for farting. But I've been a little bit nervous when I've been around friends without kids for him to ask the question.

* The last one I'll talk about isn't quite as humorous, but just interesting to see the world through the eyes of a then 2 year old. My dad, on the days I work, comes to pick up my children. One day, Danny points at his tires, which have the Toyota emblem on them, and told me 'Rocket Ship, Mommy.' I wasn't really paying attention and just said 'yeah, yeah, whatever.' But he kept saying it. I finally looked at what he was showing me and realized that the upside down Toyota emblem really does look like a rocket ship.

Sibling Rivalry

It's that time of year again - the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are starting! Anything can happen in the second season, which made me wonder, why do people pay so much attention to what the puck pundits predict? What are their picks really worth? I decided to find out by having my kids pick the first round games and match them up against some professional playoff prognosticators.

The boys both chose the winner of each series independently, without coercion from me or other outside influence. For Danny, I merely asked him who he thought would win in each series. Liam took a more visual approach; I showed him a puck with the logo of each team and he selected the one he thought would win. Sounds questionable, at best, right? I'll bet he comes pretty close to these coin flippers from ESPN. I just wish I had enough space in this blog to show all of the analysts' picks. Clearly, Melrose put a lot of thought into it and then just went with all of the favorites. Barnaby chose 3 upsets, which seems more in line with the entropy of anyone-can-beat-anyone playoff hockey.

Here is a quick rundown on the experts:
Danny - Has begun but not mastered potty training; Loves playing hockey on our backyard rink; Boos when the Sabres are scored upon. Favorite Teams: Buffalo Sabres, Chicago Blackhawks.
Liam - Climbs the stairs on his own; Still lives with his parents; Thinks 'Liam' is his brother's name. Chose the Bruins over Montreal because he likes the letter 'B' in the Bruins' logo better than the 'C' in the Canadiens' logo.
Matt Barnaby - Former NHL player; ESPN analyst; possibly best well-known for brawling with Garth Snow during the 1995-96 season.
Barry Melrose - Former NHL player and coach; ESPN analyst; most recognizable mullet in hockey. Melrose is the only coach to bring Wayne Gretzky to the Stanley Cup Finals and lose.

My guys are definitely easier to look at, let's see if their systems for picking winners are superior as well. (Leave your own picks in the comments!)

This Old House

We're starting to do some remodeling in the kitchen. I wish I had taken some "before" pictures to compare with the end result, but alas, I did not. First, we're painting one of the walls red. (The color is called "barn," but if you're like me and can only name six or eight colors, you would be spot on if you called it red.) I'm hoping to have the painting finished today or tomorrow. After that, I'm going to hang a shelf for our cookbooks. Then we're going to replace the lighting with something a little more modern/safer/brighter and have a little more electrical work done. I'm also going to tile the floor and finally, we're adding a peninsula (it's like an island, but one side is against the wall). When all is said and done, we look forward to having a (mostly) new kitchen. I think Lucy and I would both like to replace the counters, but that's not in the budget this time around. Stay tuned to find out how bad this ends up!

The Icemen Go-eth

Well, it's supposed to be Spring, but it's still not. Every time I think I'm overdue on taking down the backyard rink, it freezes again. We sure had some good times on the rink this Winter. Danny loved playing hockey in the yard, and we even got Lucy out a couple times. There's something comforting and Zen-like about walking out of your back door and onto the rink. Yes, it's on the small side, but we also don't have to share it with three guys racing around, and handful of people who insist on holding hands and skating 4
abreast, and two people making out in the corner. It's ours. The "boards" are only a few inches higher than the ice - enough to keep the puck in play - but we're not out there trying to compete in the hardest shot contest so that suits us just fine. Even so, there are still some impressive displays of skill - Danny can hit the net from the far end of the rink and Lucy has perfected the falling down kick save. Liam has yet to make it out to the rink, due solely to my discretion, but he's just as athletically inclined as his brother and I'm confident that next Winter (or possibly next month the way the weather has been) he'll be holding his own on Laughlin Pond. I can already see quite a few broken windows in my future.