just a few pictures

A few pictures taken in the car

And one taken on the Mayflower (this picture was stolen from my sister Hanny's facebook page)

Have a great Conference/ Easter weekend!

Boston Childrens Museum

Yep, we hit two museums in two days. We just can't get enough. Today's voyage was a little tougher than yesterdays. To start off with it was pouring rain, but surprisingly enough I had an umbrella in the car. Not surprisingly it had been previously broken by one of my children (what a waste of $12.99). We did however find a meter only a block away from the museum, but we were still sopping wet by the time we got there (and Miles was bawling. I guess being subjected to the rainy cold is not a pleasant way to wake up). Parking at the meter is less expensive than parking in the garage, but one of the negative things about meter parking is that by the time I started drying off I had to trudge back out to the car to refill the meter (the things I'll do to save a buck, or 10). We probably could have stayed longer, but there was NO WAY I was going to splosh back to the car unless it was for good, so we ended our trip early with a promise to go back next week (I'm praying for sun).

The kids are always super stoked to get flat pennies. On days we are going somewhere they know has a flat penny machine, I can get them to do just about ANYTHING for 51 cents! Miles and I were happy campers despite being damp.

Bennett loved the Peep and the Big Wide World display. We all actually love it. It's so simply entertaining.

Here is Maya hamming it up with Peep himself.

We spent some time with the Aurthur gang.

And the much anticipated CURIOUS GEORGE! Bennett was in heaven!

This place is awesome because EVERYTHING is so FUN! They have a huge climbing structure in the middle that all the kids love playing on.

The nice thing about the play structure is that (unlike the rest of the museum) you can sit at the bottom and see the only exits. So for the few (blissful) moments that they played here I could rest in peace knowing they were contained. For the duration of the trip I had Miles in the front pack and I was running around like a crazy woman trying to keep track of the other three, who for some reason could NOT stay together. You would think at least two of the three would hang out, but nope they all headed different ways. I DID NOT however hear my name over the loud speaker (although I did loose children several times).

We all got cute admission stamps to show off.

It sure was a lot of fun, but fun can be exhausting!

Maya crashed on the way home,

Bennett crashed on the way home,

but Miles looked like this. You may wonder why the baby was wide awake? It's probably because the whole way home he was facing this...

Don't worry, he got his nap eventually. Not long after arriving home I walked into the living room to find this...

Sweet little lamb

Boston Museum of Science

As the famous singer Carly Simon says "Rainy days and Mondays always get me down". Well today was both a rainy day, and a Monday. Luckily there are people in this world who don't let the rain dampen their spirits. Our friends called this morning and invited us to go to the Museum of Science with them. I've been wanting to go since we moved here, so I jumped at the chance. It was drizzly all day, so it was a perfect day to spend time inside. The kids really had a blast they got to see their friends AND all the awesome stuff in the Science Museum (and I got to sit and chat with Ginny!). It was great!

These are some of the cool pictures Porter made on the magnet boards. The first is a sail boat, and the second is an Owl. (So COOL. I totally want one for home).

Blocks are ALWAYS a hit!

Porter is a building machine.

Bennett had a great time. I didn't get a picture, but the funniest thing was when Bennett found a life sized statue of a NAKED man. He stood there starring at that thing FOREVER, and when he noticed me watching him he said "Mom, he gots pee pee!" (and he pointed). I decided (after several embarrassing moments where Porter or Maya (when they were younger) blurted out the word PENIS) just to stick with 'pee pee', but I don't know that it's actually any better.

There was a bubble station, and Porter dropped pennies through his bubble forever. He thought he was pretty cool.

Miles was an angel. Four kids in a public place is always hard, and the most peaceful moments were when Miles and Bennett were buckled in, but for a baby he did pretty darn good.

I did have the pleasure of hearing my name over the loud speaker once, due to this little lady. There were 10 of us there, and we were all in a fairly small room, with one door. I sat by the door to feed Miles, and next thing I know, I hear "Amanda Elmer, please come to the front desk. Amanda Elmer, please come to the front desk." I instantly think, "Did I lose my wallet?", and then I start looking around and realize I LOST MY LITTLE GIRL! Ginny stayed with the hooligans and I walked (briskly) to the front desk, where I found Maya sitting with three security guards, bawling. Poor little girl. I hugged her and asked her where she was, she said "I wanted to see the fish". I said "I know Maya, that's where I was too". SHE WAS IN THE SAME ROOM WITH US AND DIDN'T NOTICE! She went out of the room we were in (PAST ALL 10 OF US) and found a Mom with two little boys, and told her she was lost. HOW DID SHE NOT SEE ANY OF US? Not to put all the blame on the 5 year old, I was sitting there and didn't see her either, so I guess we are all a family of GENIUSES (especially Bennett).

In case you were wondering...

I guess my vacuum cleaner wasn't quite doing the job, so Maya decided to create "Robo" who not only sweeps the floor (with a BROOM) but also picks up toys (and I guess Robo also likes blowing duck noise makers, and wearing baseball caps in her free time). We walked to the park yesterday (yesterday was beautiful, today was rainy and we even had a bit of snow this morning), and on the way the kids discovered a dead squirrel. They were totally fascinated. Funny how animal lovers can love them even dead and decaying.

This guy played in (and may or may not have eaten some of) a huge pile of poop his potty training brother left on the floor yesterday YUCK! Then today he was pulling himself up and fell (not an uncommon occurrence) and split his lip open big time (this luckily, is uncommon). Now it's all puffy and sore looking. My sweet baby kisses will never be the same again (more due to the poop than the fat lip). Miles loves eating. Tonight we had stir-fry for dinner and he was really digging the rice and broccoli. I told Casey (who HATES stir-fry) this and he said "I wouldn't doubt that" and I said "Why, because he'll eat anything or because my stir-fry is SO good?" Casey said "The kid munches on old hamburger pieces and sea shells for goodness sakes", I then asked "What are you saying about my stir-fry?". He just said "Oh, I think you know, I think you know." (side note, when we were growing up my dad really hated beef stew (weird I know) so we never got to have it, unless he was in the field, but everyone else in the family LOVED beef stew. I told Casey this story tonight, and he said "Maybe you should take a lesson from your mom"-cheeky!)

This little man enjoys drawing on himself (and walls), if you look closely you'll notice he has marker on his hands, face, and neck (if he weren't clothed you'd see even more original artwork). He's become a real 'square eyes'. He's constantly asking to watch some movie (and for 'Chockie meelk'). Anytime I scold one of the big kids he asks "Is (fill in the name) trouble?". It's pretty cute, especially when he draws on the door and I say "BENNETT, we only draw on paper!" and he says "I trouble?" He also does this funny thing where he shakes his head from side to side while asking a question like "You get me chockie meelk?". It's a-larious.

Aaahh, the good ol' days...

Grampy and Hanny got here Friday (luckily there were no problems with their flights), and Casey came home Sunday. It was so nice to have everyone here. My kids (and maybe me too) are missing the attention.

We took a day to walk down to Casey's school (the first time I've seen it). It was a little chilly and drizzly, but we had a good time.

Miles is such a cute chubber, Peruvian, little man.

There is a really pretty church next to Casey's school, and the rumor is that Hogwarts castle is based on the church. We got to go inside (only the entry way). It was super open, and pretty, but not as majestic as Hogwarts.

We are so glad to have Mister Handsome back. I don't know how I made it through 10 days without him (good thing I had my Mom to distract me). I tried to download his pictures from Holland today, but was having troubles. Maybe I'll beg him to post some of the Highlights!

Bennett was a favorite this trip. Everyone loves a cheesy, energetic, goofy toddler. He kept us all laughing.

If only they could have stayed forever, we miss them already.