Em-glish

Today in the car we were driving over an old bumpy road. Em's comment was, "This road could really use a new paint of coat!"

This is Em-speak...in her world we also read the morning "papernews" and the "mowlawners" come to take care of the yard.

She also reads her "Charlie and Lola" books with a jolly good British accent. Gwyneth, eat your heart out!

Easter Pix

These were taken on my cellphone, since something is wrong with my camera...also L. did not want to be photographed, but of course he was wearing the same outfit as S. so you can fill in the rest...

Advice

An Easter tip...

If you find yourself tempted to spend a large amount of money on Easter clothing for your children, first consider the following:

1. 1. You live in the Northeast...no matter how much you would like to deny it, there will be snow/rain/hail or raging winds on Easter Sunday. Sleeveless dresses, lace anklets and ballet flats are not appropriate.

2. Child #4 will not enjoy the crisp-starched stiffness of his new Ralph Lauren button-down. You will have to chase him around your bedroom to try and get it on his body. In the end, you will compromise. He will don the offending Easter-wear if he can eat 10 jellybeans, watch Wonder Pets and sport a non-scratchy turtleneck underneath.

3. This same child will deliver a springtime surprise in his training pants during Church Nursery. Although it may slightly resemble a chocolate Easter egg, all similarities end there....

4. The well-meaning lady sitting next to you at church will thoughtfully give each of your children huge bags of chocolate Easter sweeties right before the meeting begins. These will be wrapped in the crinkliest of cellophane and messiest of foil wrappers. Before you can hide them away, child #3 will sniff out the goods and emerge a cocoa-coated mess before the opening hymn.

5. Child #1 will not wear anything new, since he has become addicted to his post-baptism uniform: white shirt, clip-on tie and CTR tie-tack (thanks, Auntie Stie)!

So, instead of drooling over the petticoats & pinstripes in the children's section...save your money and head over to women's shoes. Go ahead and splurge on the red peep-toe espedrilles. Lady, you deserve 'em!

Another Good Read

My sister, Amy, introduced me to the Maisie Dobbs series. I loved the first two and now I'm deep into the third, Pardonable Lies by Jacqueline Winspear. They are detective stories set in 1930's London, chock-full of historical details. Maisie is a new-age gal, a bit ahead of her time. Enjoy!

Holy Smokestack!

We are back and we had SOOOO much fun! Lancaster Co. may not sound like a hot spring break destination...but Amish country actually has a lot to offer. We stayed at Willow Valley, a fun family-friendly resort, with indoor pools and waterslides, golf course and a great Dutch country smorgasbord. (The kids loved buffet dining...esp. the soft serve ice cream machine!)

Our first stop was Intercourse (insert dirty joke of your choice here) where we visited the Kitchen Kettle...my favorite for jams and jellies! We also did a day in Strasburg which is Choo Choo Capital, USA...perfect for my two 2-year-olds. They were delighted with the toy train museum and an Easter Bunny train ride.

The Easter Bunny delivered baskets to our hotel and everyone is delighted with their goodies. Jake and Em got Webkinz...a tree frog and yorkie, for you collectors out there. Sam and Luke got Color Wonder. We all got too much candy. I feel my thighs expanding right now...

Family vacations are the greatest...although we always wonder why we pay so much money to sleep all together in one room?!

More photos to come...

Da Boys

Sad Luke

Sam's Chug( Because you just can't get enough from one!)

Jake's New Teeth

He Will, He Will Rock You...

Once loved Motley Crue...now has his own motley crew!

The Sins of the Fathers...

OK...my oldest child has some new friends.


You might think this is a good thing, but it is not. You see, these are older boys who are not the kind of role models I would choose. In fact, they are kind of more like "sex-drugs-and-rock-n-roll" models. Their names are Steven, Joe, Brad, Tom and Joey. You guessed it, Aerosmith.


And who on earth introduced my son to these deliquents? Yes...his father.


I know that many of my readers will only recognize my husband as a Brooks-Brothers-wearing, salad-eating, Bishopric-going, VP-type guy. But under the dark suits and well-developed pectoral muscles beats the heart of a true blue ROCKER!!!


As an impressionable, young BYU coed whose musical tastes only ventured as far as Michael Jackson, Chicago, Barry Manilow and the B-52s, I was a little nervous about my boyfriend's wild side. But during our whirlwind courtship, I found myself strangely attracted to this bad boy and his hair bands. Along with my future husband, I fell in love with Van Halen, Def Leppard, Whitesnake and, yes, Aerosmith.


Before the kids came along, we loved to listen to all kinds of music. We jammed to his old stuff and listened to Kenny Rogers on road trips. The soundtrack of Evita was our favorite for a whole year. We saw Van Halen in concert and made a pilgrimage to Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo cantina while in Mexico. Once we even won free movie tickets by playing the Newlywed Game on KBER 101.


Then parenthood hit and we gave up late nights and loud music. We started to be good examples.


On the rare occasion that we are actually in the same car together, we are usually listening to Kidz Bop 8 or Spanish for Kids or blood-curdling screams from the backseat.


When my eight-year-old found his dad's old CD collection, I didn't know how to react. Did I really want my child to "Walk this Way" or feel "Sweet Emotion" so soon? How to tactfully explain that the pretty designs on the disk cover are actually photos of (gulp) the band's nipples?!


So...I'm sure Brad and I will come up with some parenting policy soon. The old music will probably go the way of R-rated movies, curse words and too-much junk food.


And in the meantime, I will be singing about the Dude who looks like a lady...