Watersliding

Yesterday we went to Cherry Hill, a water park, with John's extended family. A couple of his aunts and cousins were in town, so we all got together. It is surprising to me how nerve-racking getting together with his family can be. They are all really nice, but I still get so intimidated. Even though we've been married for five years, I still don't feel like I know his side of the family very well. (Except for his mother, who I adore. The woman is a saint) Which is why we make an effort to go to these type of functions. They make me so nervous I'm practically sick, but how am I going to get over that if I don't get to know everyone better?

Grandma Stevens, Ian, Junior

So we took the boys and had a blast. I was worried about how my kids would react to all the noise and the crowds, but they loved it. Ian especially enjoyed the long tube water slides. We would race along the sidewalk and up three flights of stairs with our mat (making car noises, since we were pretending to be race cars). There were not too many people there, so we never had to wait long in line. Which was too bad, really, since I was pretty out of breath. I would hold him on my lap and try not to dunk him at the bottom. He was always ready to go again. As a rule, I don't interrupt my kids when they are involved in an activity just because I'm getting bored. I try to let them go for as long as anything holds their attention, but I finally had to beg for a reprieve. And it is a good thing I did - I can barely walk today as it is, my leg muscles are SO sore.

The highlight of my day was Ian looking over his shoulder at me as he ran up the stairs. "I like being with you, Mom. This is fun, and I like having fun with you."

Me too, Kidd-o.

Bad Mommy

My children have been known to pour their dinner from a cardboard box, be ignored by Mommy while she's reading and even go outside without mosquito repellent. In our sometimes overprotective society, that qualifies me for the "Bad Mommy" club. I've actually been called a bad mother to my face for these minor infractions, which just makes me laugh. Especially coming as it did from a (nameless) relative whose child will probably need therapy. My kids are happy, fed, and most of all, adored. The rest doesn't matter very much. But if any readers out there saw a "horrible" mother at Sugarhouse park yesterday, I'm just going to fess up: It was me.

My children were the ones who didn't have to finish their entire sandwiches at the picnic before eating the cookies and running after the birds. My children were the ones who fell in the duck pond. The first one on accident, the second one on purpose; because even though his brother was crying, it must have looked like fun. I was the mom sitting on the blanket laughing. Yes, the water was dirty. Yes, the oldest was covered to his eyebrows in green algae. They wouldn't play with shoes full of water so I let them go barefoot. Yes, they stepped in duck poop. And yes, I was the one carrying a screaming toddler to the car because he was having so much fun he didn't want to leave.

For the record, I did wash them thoroughly when we got home. And then we all napped for two hours.

We had a great time. But if you were the mom whose children kept their perfectly matched outfits clean and finished their lunches and kept their shoes on, I'm sorry that my kids were such bad examples. I'm a big fan of supervised chaos so it will probably happen again.

Goodbye Curls!

Sorry, Aunt Cami. They are adorable, but way too long.

Pictures

So we went to Target and had pictures done a couple of weeks ago. They turned out really well. Yea for Target! The photographer was great and the whole session took only 10 minutes, which is about all the boys would have kept smiling for anyway.


Even the photographer was saying how cute the boys are. Of course, it is her job. She probably makes more money if she tells people what they want to hear. At least this time she didn't have to lie.

Why? again

Recently, Ian's new favorite book is a collection of nursery rhymes. It is fun, but answering all his questions gets complicated because, as always, he wants to know why. "Why did the spider sit by little miss muffet?" I usually end up with "I don't know." or "He's just silly." But I liked John's approach better. This is the discussion I overheard this morning:
Ian - "Why did he pull out a plum?"
Dad - "It's allegorical. It wasn't really a pie. Jack Horner pulled out a land deed, but nobody could do anything about it because it was an illegal transaction."
Ian - "Oh."
For some reason, there seem to be fewer interrupting questions when John reads to the boys.