Clearly, I’m not very good at this

You haven’t heard from me in a little while because are lives are too busy to tell you about them.

Seriously, life is full. So here’s a quick synopsis in photos and videos.

The weather is warming up nicely and we’ve been enjoying lots of time outdoors. What better place to drink chocolate milk than on a little bench outside?

From 2010-04-April

From 2010-04-April

On Saturday, the kids were delighted to be invited to a school friend’s birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. Me? Not quite as delighted. No-fun-Mummy isn’t really a fan of Chuck-E-Cheese. Apparently, the kids have picked up on this.

When Duncan and I were talking about the upcoming birthday party (he was so excited he was shaking) he asked who was going to take them there.
Me: I’ll take you there, Duncan.
Duncan: But Mummy, you don’t like Chuck-E-Cheese?

I dropped them off, made sure they were settled in and knew to stay with the birthday girl, then ran an errand at Target next door. Then I returned in time to watch them eat cake, do some dancing to one of their favorite songs and generally maul Chuck-E when he came by.

From 2010-05 May

On Sunday afternoon, we had a friend from church over for a play date. This allowed her mom and Nanny to go to a house concert. It allowed me to get a taste of 3 children, ages 3 and 4, for 4 1/2 hours.

After lots of running around the backyard, feeding chickens, playing T-ball and making pretend food, they succumbed to this (it’s Dora, of course):

From 2010-05 May

We all survived intact. And now I’m into another week at work, which is incredibly busy as I’m covering for a coworker who is out sick and I’m on deadline for our donor news magazine. It’s ever interesting, just incredibly packed full of things to accomplish.

I took my kids to work today

In celebration of Take Your Sons and Daughters to Work Day, I brought Duncan and Berry with me to work before taking them to school. I figured I could last an hour of them running around the office, raising a ruckus and reducing productivity.

After Duncan was born and while I was still on maternity leave, I brought him into my office once or twice. Everyone loves a baby visit and is quite happy to stop what they’re doing to ooh and ahh over your little one. A 3- and 4-year-old? Well… actually, everyone was very nice and friendly and pleased to see little people running about.

First we stopped at my office, mostly to get my mug to get a cup of tea. Then it was off to Adam’s cubicle to explore his plants and unicorn trapped in a jar (what you, don’t have one of those?).

Berry “helped” the plants by moving some soil around:

She also uprooted a tomato seedling. And played with other co-worker’s toys:

(Duncan has Minnie Mouse because it’s mammal week at school and they can bring in “mammals” to share – Berry has a unicorn, Duncan has a mouse).

We went upstairs to take a tour of the main Foundation office (which they found unimpressive until they saw the executive director’s office which they immediately ran into and ran around) and then back to my office for some coloring:

Then it was time to herd them to the car to take them to school.

A weekend of spring

The weather turned lovely for a few days. Truly beautiful and springlike.

So we went outside and enjoyed it.

My mum took this one — Berry was tired and pouty, so she lay down on the grass and may have fallen asleep there:

From 2010-04-April

This weekend we went to Hendrick’s Park on Sunday to enjoy the weather. Swinging is always a favorite sport:

The kids also enjoyed a good pile on. Berry wanted in on the action, too. I was relieved to see Sam pile on top very carefully so he didn’t squish any small people:

This rock apparently was made to be a recliner:

And when it came time to go home to cook dinner, Duncan needed some persuading. He wanted to keep playing:

But we returned home to an outdoor dinner. This photo doesn’t capture the beautiful golden light settling over the back yard. But it was lovely:

Here’s a video mashup of our Hendrick’s park outing, with video by me, Adam and Sam:

Birthday round two

There was once a time of innocence around birthdays and Christmas. And even chocolate.

It took Duncan several years to catch on to what to do with all the presents wrapped in pretty paper. But Berry? Perhaps because she had an older sibling who was just getting it. Perhaps because she’s a girl. Perhaps because she is the irrepressible spirit known as Berry — she figured it out a lot sooner.

Wednesday was Berry’s 3rd birthday. She enjoyed ripping open her presents galore.

First, one from Daddy – a princess painting complete with sparkly gems:

Then the card:

Duncan got her a Hello Kitty DVD (we’ll finally get to find out what Hello Kitty sounds like):

And there were lots of clothes and books from Gram and Granddad Pocobello:

Mummy (that’s me) got her a big puzzle (among other things):

And Nanny gave her a baby doll (that’s the princess painting in the background on the kitchen counter):

The baby doll was a hit:

Yesterday, another present arrived — a pink and purple tie-dye dress from Aunt Karen and Uncle Jonny, so I’ll include the photo here:

Then it was time to eat cake (well, after dinner) and devour the icing from the Barbie in the middle of the princess cake:

Just in case that picture doesn’t tell enough of the story, here’s a short movie of the event:

I think another box is still on its way from Grandma and Papa Rog – documentation of its opening will be featured here after it arrives. I’m thankful the birthday cake has finally been devoured and Barbie found her clothes. I keep meaning to post the details of how she was created — maybe I’ll get to it someday soon.

Girl birthday No. 3 = princess party supreme

All weekend I have tried to blog about Berry’s birthday party. Whenever I sit down at a computer, a small child begs to use it. Duncan informed me that I will have as many children as I have computers, so if I get 3 more computers, I’ll have 3 more children wanting to use them. I guess I’ll stick with the 2 I have. (The one at work doesn’t count, right? It’s not really mine.)

Saturday dawned. The work began. Not surprisingly, Berry wanted a princess-themed birthday party.

So, in the morning we began blowing up pink balloons. Lots and lots of them.

Then we made the cake:

And tasted the cake batter to make sure it was OK:

We assembled the princess coloring castle. (I wouldn’t let them color it until their friends arrived, which amazingly was a decree they abided by.)

During rest time, it was time to magically transform the cake from this (WARNING: Naked barbie):

Into this:

The guests arrived, bringing presents:

And everyone was ready to play. Inside:

And outside:

Party hats were made:

And cake was eaten:

Then it was time for the guest to go, taking their fabulous party favor bags with princess stickers, tattoos, hair clips and bracelets. Oh, and couple of chocolates. The prince and princess happily played with the princesses new loot until it was time for bed. And then got up and played more the next day.

If that wasn’t enough photos for you, there are more photos and a few videos .

An Easter full of fun, bunnies and chocolate

In the frenzy of Easter, I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I should have. In fact, I think I missed out on all of the egg hunts. Yes, all of them. There was the one on the first floor of Adam’s house on Sunday morning. Then, after Sam gained consciousness for the day, there was the one in the basement playroom. At church, there was an Easter basket hunt (already filled with eggs). Finally, at home, after naps we had a the final hunt of the day.

How did I fail to get photos of at least one of these egg hunts? I don’t know. Sometimes just being in the moment feels like enough.

However, I did capture the egg dyeing extravaganza on Saturday afternoon.

Here, Duncan (wearing his new pink music note shirt from Grandma), decides what egg to dye next.

Berry gets up close with the camera.

Duncan eats string cheese while looking at stickers.

Berry checks out her unhappy face egg. (She wanted the next one to be a happy egg.)

And some of us clearly have an egg dyeing problem. I think Adam was deprived.

We did get a bunch of video which captured some of the hunt.

All in all, it was a very full weekend, a little crazy at times, but good. The kids each got three Easter bunnies. Combined with last year’s, I can safely say that the cuddly toys are breeding like rabbits in our house. They love them, though. And I’m getting used to laying down on a lumpy bed when I give them goodnight cuddles.

Next weekend is Berry’s birthday…

Signs of Easter: the presents arrives

Easter must be around the corner – a box of presents appeared in the mail late this past week. Duncan and Berry were as eager as ever to tear into them. Within the box of goodies, they each found a pink t-shirt with an iron-on transfer for a treble clef and a music note, a cuddly Easter bunny and some flowers from Grandma and Papa Rog.

You can witness the opening here:

It was a hit.

It took a few days (and finding a t-shirt to fit Berry so they kids can wear them this year – why don’t they make an XS in the t-shirts at Michaels?) but we got the iron-on transfers ironed on and the kids happily modeled them.

From 2010-03-March

Berry wanted to do some additional modeling – this was her “mean look”:

From 2010-03-March

And then Duncan wanted to take his pink shirt off to reveal his Dora shirt underneath and pose with his favorite girl. He’s told me that, essentially, he loves her more than me. He loves Dora beyond the stars, the moon and all the planets in space. He loves me as far as he can stretch his arms.

From 2010-03-March

Duncan would like to say thank you to Aunt Karen and Uncle Jonny for bringing this specific Dora into his life. The ribbon headband and flowers were added at his request. The flowers are from the leis that we got at the Hawaiin place during our trip to Disney World last year.

Kiddo weekend update

It was a busy weekend.

First there was a birthday party at the bounce gym. With shopping for the present before hand. Somehow, we picked the perfect present – Aqua sand (sand that never gets wet) – for which the birthday boy had been begging for the past 9 months.

Duncan and Berry enjoyed the bounce gym. There was bouncing, swinging, climbing, monkeying around and friends from school. What more could you want? Chocolate cake? There was that, too.

I especially enjoyed this piece of equipment. It made a perfect resting spot. Until small children decided to rock me to sleep with loud giggles.

I didn’t notice a lot of the other parents getting in the action with their kids, other than the birthday boy’s Dad who was running around after their youngest one. Most of them sat on the sidelines and watched. Duncan and Berry insisted I join in, which I was happy enough to do. I was also happy when it was time to go home.

On Sunday, we had our usual outing to church. The kids go through phases in which they are alternately easy and difficult to dress in the mornings. The same seems to be true for getting them to sleep at night.

Berry is in her difficult phase, insisting on wearing the same purple tie-dye dress that’s now 2 sizes too small every day. Please, someone buy her a new tie-dye dress in size 4! She’s gotten quite picky about which clothes she wears and really likes dresses and tights on a Sunday.

During our Target outing, everyone (but me) got new shoes, even Nanny. Duncan needed them. Berry could probably do with some non-sneaker summery shoes. And they were on sale.

Here they are in their Sunday glory, new shoes on, munching away during fellowship after church.

Finally, here’s sweet Berry this morning as I was leaving for work. It’s Spring Break week so they’re home. Berry decided to climb into my bed with Rupert, my childhood teddy bear.

And now, I’m back at work, into the swing of things. The kids are at home with Nanny, playing World of Good on the Wii, diligently working in math workbooks, reading books and probably causing happy mayhem.

St. Patty’s Day kid(s)

I convinced the kids to wear green this morning to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. They are partly Irish, after all. What percentage, I’m not sure. Kevin’s grandparents on his Mom’s side were 100% Irish, I think, and I’m not sure about his Dad’s side of the family. Maybe a little? Isn’t everyone in upstate New York some combination of Irish and Italian?

I was hoping to get a group shot of all of us in green together. But Berry decided to be decidedly uncooperative. So all I got was Duncan. He’s covering his ears because Berry threw herself to the floor and crawled off screaming. Just another fun morning in the Bartlett-Gustina house.

Muddy kids are happy kids

I really love that Duncan and Berry enjoy “helping” me in the garden. At times, they’re not so helpful and need frequent reminders not to throw soil, mulch or whatever it is that they are playing with at the time. But, given the right direction and lots of patience, they can actually do useful things.

This past weekend, they helped me put mulch down in the front yard. I weeded, they mulched. It went quite well for a good 20 minutes before the mulch throwing began.

At another point in the weekend, we spent some time at Adam’s house and worked/played in his garden. Here, Berry attempts to mix soil and even it out in one raised bed.

And then we planted lettuce seedlings. Duncan was busy looking for garden fairies, but I’m sure he’ll help poke holes when it’s time to put some in our garden at home.