Tropical Storm Darby hits Hawaii...and Carrollton, TX

"Awwwww...look how sweet and innocent she looks!" NO. Do not be fooled. This is your warning. This is after she spent the day terrorizing the citizens of Carrollton. Mostly me. But a few others as well.

It was pointed out to me today that Tropical Storm Darby hit Hawaii last night. I don't know exactly how much damage she did there, but she destroyed the crap out of my house, my nerves and my patience today.  If the people of Hawaii got away with a little roof damage and some power outages, they really got off lucky...

And I don't think Typhoon Dalton made news yet, but he was not an innocent bystander.  At one point  when I was on the couch he crawled towards me rolling his truck on the ground and making truck noises.  I looked at him and said "Hello loud child." He looked me right in the eyes, inches from my face and just said "Poo-Poo!"

So the day began at our usual ungodly hour.  Darby berating me to wake up and spend "quality time" with her. Then yelling at me to come wipe her bum until she woke Dalton up. Then he wanted "quality time" as well.

At some point they were in the playroom while I was elsewhere in the house and that's when Candygate occurred. I discovered the evidence of the crimes when they were on their 2nd of the day's 4 house clean-ups  - in the form of the candy wrappers pushed down (not very well) behind the cushions of the sofa. A lot of them.  That may have explained some of the screaming and general mayhem that occurred this morning.

Oh - and on the subject of my poorly behaved children - look at what I found on my phone after Darby got a hold of it when I was out of the room Friday morning. You can actually hear the moment when it clicked in her brain that she could misbehave and not get caught. What did not click is that she had created video evidence against herself...I feel there will be a lot of "stuff that you put up on social networks go on your permanent record" talks in my future.

So, I don't have a lot of pictures of today.

What I do have - and this was the bright spot in my day - is a lot of video. Video of "The Amazing Darby" swimming!! With her face in the water and everything. This was a huge step for her.  I was very proud.

I also - and this is awesome as well - have video of Dalton the Human Porpoise diving for rings! Unbelievable how far he has come in the last 3 weeks. I can't even tell you...hence the video I guess...

In summary...a rough day. Lots of timeouts, shouting, no Kindles for 2 days. But also, a lot of love, hugs, kisses, swimming, and yes, quality time.

That Day When Your Child Actually Asks You If After the Next Birthday Party He Can Take a Rest...

I'd say it was a busy week, but at this point, that would be epically redundant.

So first, just a quick pic from Thurs. No real story, the kids just wanted to sleep together in the top bunk. It's not my first rodeo, I know how long this is going to last - so, sure - give it your best shot small fry. If we got into the double digits worth of minutes, I'd be shocked. But I still got cool Mom points. I hear those expire quickly though.

Friday morning, at some ungodly hour, I had to wake up and do a photo shoot of the dog. You can surely see the pleading look in her eyes.  It says something like "kill me now". She has that look a lot.

Here's my summer PSA. We got Jennifer - a girl who is leaving our office, and going on maternity leave, some flowers. She couldn't take them with her, so I did. I put them in my car, drove halfway home and then made a stop at Target. If 40 min in a hot car in Texas can do this to previously happy/healthy flowers, you can imagine what it would do to dogs or children.

Then there was today. We started at 10am at a pool party at the Rosemeade Rainforest. An awesome neighborhood pool/splash park/water extravaganza. Carrollton is a great little city to live in. I have to say, it is a parenting ordeal to come to places like this when you're one parent with 2 small kids, but things have gotten enormously better since Dalton has become a pretty solid swimmer. Then I can worry more about somebody wandering off with them and less about them drowning. It was good times over too soon as we - and 3 other of our teammates - had to leave early for soccer. 

I have to give it to Dalton. His other teammates who were at the pool party were kind of dragging during the game, but that boy was an animal. You just can't beat his focus once the kick-off has happened (which is contrary to pre-kick-off when he is hugging people and falling down, etc.) There was one epic play which I wish I had caught on camera. They were down at his opponent's end of the field, one of their players got the ball and made a break for the other goal. Dalton sprinted past him, got in goal, blocked the shot, snagged the ball, dribbled it all the way back down the field and scored. I really love to watch him play. And if I couldn't be more proud, his coach gave him a shout out at the end of the game for, on 3 separate occasions passing the ball to a teammate so they could score instead of making the goal himself. I know it seems like that should be a given, but you have to remember - they're three. So proud.

Side note - we almost lost Hubba today. For those that don't know, Hubba is Darby's special stuffed animal (his twin is Bubba). When we arrived at the soccer place I had managed to change the kids out of their swimsuits, but I still had mine on. We sat down and waited for Nana to arrive so I could change. When Nana took them in, we accidentally left Hubba in the lobby.  Luckily he was still there after the game. I don't even want to think how the rest of the weekend would have shaken down if he hadn't still been there...Dalton was convinced someone had stolen him.

After soccer, I was so happy with Dalton I took them to his favorite restaurant - PDQ on Preston in Plano. Excellent chicken nuggets/tenders/sandwiches/salads btw. And the customer service is top notch as well. The kids insist on getting a cookie when we go. I actually do get one for them to share. Less because I am a nice Mom and more because I can use it to hold over their heads for the whole lunch - they always insist on eating there instead of taking it to go (which is our preferred reality). Behavior improves slightly when there's half a cookie on the line.


I loved it - after lunch I had this conversation w/ Darby:
D: I wish I was you Mom
J: Why is that?
D: Because then I'd be in charge.

How's that for instilling fear in your heart??

After lunch we came home, freshened up briefly and then headed back out to party #2 at Peter Piper Pizza. It was on the way there that Dalton asked me if after the party we could come home and have a rest.  Good to know it's not just me that gets exhausted by these weekends. We have nothing planned for tomorrow though - so I guess get ready for a boring blog...

Side note: she looks wayyyy too old in this picture. I noticed this several times today and I don't like it. At all.

We did have a spirited air hockey tournament though. I believe Dalton was the reigning champion. He might be a little bit competitive...

And finally - here is Darby embracing her 5 year-old job of emptying the dishwasher. Ok, maybe not embracing, but after I yelled, she did it without complaint. And in the spirit of Mary Poppins (which she hasn't watched past the first 20 min) she tries to make it fun. Here she is being the tallest point in the progression of items on the counter. This is her game - she just ordered me to be her photographer.

Spiderman and Rapunzel Meet the Dinosaurs

The last thing I wanted to do Sunday morning was get up early and drive all the way downtown to see dinosaurs. And it didn't help to hear my mother's voice in my head  - "you try to do too much - you have to rest sometimes".  But that pretty much goes against everything I stand for. We had the opportunity to see dinosaurs.  How do you say no to that??

Oh. And BTW, out of the blue that morning, Darby declared her desire to wear her Rapunzel costume. I don't even know what possessed her. Contrary to her obvious future proclivity for Drama Club, she's not a costume girl. Dalton is actually more inclined in that direction. So, of course, when she wanted her costume, he wanted his. My reaction to this was basically - why do I care?  So there we were, Spiderman and Rapunzel, headed towards a mystery destination.

I didn't tell them where we were heading. Darby actually had the best guess. As we got close to Fair Park, she guessed the State Fair. No Ferris Wheel gets past that girl.


So we saw dinosaurs. Tony and his mom Elena were sweet enough to invite our crazy crew. And it was amazing. How could it not be. We started out in the exhibit building where they had animatronic dinosaurs of - it seemed like - every variety. The kids were in awe. It was tough to get any pictures of them - they were running so fast from one to the other. We didn't even see them all - we were so all over the place. "Let's go see that one. I want to see that one..."  Apparently small children have not embraced progression yet.


After that we moved on to the Activity Building. The first thing they embraced was the Archaeological dig. Lots of sand and a paint brush. They had fun but I don't think we have any future archaeologists here.


As it turns out - dressing in crazy costumes is absolutely the way to go at crowded functions.  First off, people get a kick out of it. But more importantly, the kids become very easy to spot.  Not to mention, if they were to get lost, it would be super easy to just say - "I've lost my son, he's dressed like Spiderman".

Little known fact - Spiderman is a fan of frozen bananas on a stick. Rapunzel is more a fan of the chocolate around the banana. And once she has finished that chocolate, she will request another banana-shaped chocolate vehicle - with nuts. Even though that very morning she had a complete fit about how she hated nuts, they made her want to be sick, and why didn't they make trail mix with cashews, instead of those "regular nuts". But I'm not bitter...

We did several other activities - including a string of bounce houses - but our final activity was riding dinosaurs.  I believe I talked Darby into it by saying I would take video of her doing it (that's disturbing..). I have no idea how I got Dalton there. But really, it was wayyy too awesome to let them get away w/ not doing it. For the record they got distracted towards the end of their rides w/ an animatronic dinosaur fight that was w/in their view when they were up on the dinosaur.

It was absolutely a great outing (many thanks to Elena and Tony) but as we left it was a totally hot Texas day.  The Fair Park fountains were calling to Darby. For some reason Dalton did not want to play, but Darby and Tony couldn't resist.

When we finally got home it was time to head to a birthday party.  Enough said there. There is no need to go into the gory details.

After the party, we headed to the Castle Hills pool for a special reunion of our original daycare class. The fact that 3 of these kids will be heading off to separate schools in the fall is making their mama's a little bit crazy. It was bittersweet, but it was still a great way to cap off the weekend.


I don't even know how to describe these pictures. The first is basically Jeremiah being ridden like a passenger whale.  The second one is Darby's crazy dance. I have no idea what is going on there.

And finally we have Dalton. I have no words. Two weeks ago he was my 3 year old - doing great swimming half the length of the pool to mommy waiting for him. Sunday he was trying out for the friggin' Olympics. He went down both of the water slides at the pool - no fear - by himself, with no one catching him at the bottom, and then swimming over to the side of the pool to do it again. He's 3!!!! I can't even. He is a rock star. My existence in this scenario was merely a formality.

And finally, because I'm a sap, I had to take a pic of my aquatic cuties before they move on to bigger and better things.  I love them all. I have been so lucky to have them and their families.

We Don't Need No Stinkin' Floaties...

This weekend was just chock full-o-goodness.  Hence why we had to break it down day-by-day.

After a tiring trip this week I had hoped to sleep in Saturday morning. I even had the kids breakfast prepped and ready. Juice poured and on the bottom shelf of the fridge. Cereal poured in bowls and sitting on their tables in our room, covered in saran. Milk in a cup in the fridge, ready to be poured over Darby's cereal. Yogurt ready for Dalton on the bottom shelf. It was so perfect. Then Darby gave me a good "talking to" at 6:48 (which technically is sleeping in for her) and it just didn't happen for me. I am unclear how I happened to give birth to the dreaded "morning person".  Argh. You people are the worst.

At 12:45, Dalton had his soccer game. The team was having an off day.  Dalton played well, but definitely not up to his usual standard, and the rest of the team was not up to snuff either. They probably still beat the other team (who knows - we're not allowed to keep score), but really, we should have smoked them.


There was a lot of horseplay on the field. 3 year-olds. So immature...


After soccer we went to the Wilson's house to swim. It was there I got a real taste of how far Dalton has progressed in these last 2 weeks in swimming. It is the first time ever I have felt comfortable having him swim in the pool with no flotation devices, when I was not actually in the pool.  Of course I was close by, watching him like a hawk and ready to go, but he was in the pool by himself. I can't even tell you how epic that was. I'm pretty sure all the other adults in the pool wanted to smack me, I was just so excited.

Darby was also blowing me away with her skills. It took her a few attempts, but she eventually got up the courage to come down the slide by herself.  I had to catch her at the bottom with a noodle (getting a snootful of water every time), so there was no video, but that was huge for her.

Dalton also did his version of a cannonball. It may have been more impressive if he had more than zero percent body fat...

Everybody get their Ready-Freddies on!

Friday was the end of an era. These three have been in daycare together since they were 12 weeks old - including a mass exodus by all three families to a new daycare a couple of years back. But now, it's almost time for these babies to go off to school - sadly, to 3 different schools. Caden was the first to jump ship.  His last day was Friday. I can't believe they have grown up so fast.

There was a joyful but short-lived reunion Thursday night, as I got home just as the kids were going to bed. We celebrated fully Friday afternoon though. I picked them up a bit early and we finally went to see Finding Dory. It was Darby's second theater movie and Dalton's first (technically they went to The Minion Movie w/ Nana & Pa, but they left after 10 minutes, so I'm not counting that). They were actually very well behaved and only started getting antsy about 15 minutes before the end. The recliners helped as it meant they could take turns sitting on my lap.


Of course, we can't just go to a movie and leave like normal people. I think it took us a good hour to leave the mall after the movie was over. First, Darby begged to ride the elevator. Dalton flat out refused, so I had to bribe him w/ 3 Minion themed tic tacs. The joys of the moving glass box quickly won him over. I really don't see why people feel the need to go to Six Flags. The elevator at Vista Ridge Mall is free. They would have ridden it for hours if I'd let them.


Next we got our Stella on. The kids were in a little bit of withdrawal after Stella spent the week at the Bridges'. When we saw the displays at the Children's Place, we had to have a little photo shoot w/ a Stella stand-in. I need to figure out how to snag one of those...


Right after these pictures, Dalton spied the "vehicles" outside the store and he dragged us out for a ride.

And then of course, a wish in the fountain...

Even walking out to the parking lot took us quite a while as we had to spend some time on the obstacle course.  And people wonder why I'm late...  I will say though - Darby did coin my new favorite phrase as I hustled them into the car to get to the movie - "Everybody get their Ready-Freddies on!"

When we finally got home it was time for the real reunion with Stella. Darby was a bit more into it than Stella was.

Living the High Life in Exotic Buffalo

It's been a long crazy week for Mommy.

It started out with a lovely Sunday afternoon in the pool w/ Katrina, Benny and Jacob. Before they came over we hit the grocery store for supplies. It was a banner day as we got to use the purple race car cart. Dalton surprised us all when he pointed out that the ground beef in the butcher's case looked like small intestines. I have to admit, he was kinda right.

In swimming class the week before, they did a really smart thing and taught Dalton how to come up for air when he's swimming underwater. My little fish took to it like a champ and really wow'd me. He can now swim basically the length of the pool by himself. The funny part is that he's still in Preschool swimming since he's only 3 - he's not allowed to start regular swimming lessons until he's 5. I figure by then he'll have joined the swim team and won't need the lessons anymore...

Darby did great that week in swimming as well.  That was her first swimming session this year.  The ear issues have really hampered her being able to learn, but now that she can get started again, she's coming out of the gate strong. She never liked putting her face in the water, but now she's doing it like a...king.

After swimming we had a nice dinner and let the kids trash the house. The goodbyes were a little rambunctious.


After they left, Darby went on an inexplicable patriotic rant. Don't worry about Dalton's screams in the background. His bike was stuck on a crack in the sidewalk and I told him he needed to work it out. Drama ensued.

Then it was time for bed and time for Mommy to pack everyone up for her trip to Buffalo.  Oh for the days when I just had to pack my own stuff.  This time I had to pack for 4, including the dog. And the house stayed trashed the whole time we were gone.  It sucked coming home to an upside down house, but it is what it is.

My trip to Buffalo was crazy busy. The accommodations at the Holiday Inn Buffalo Airport were very plush though. The decor had a lovely vintage 1980's feel - as did the smell in the hallway. I did get my exercise though as there was no elevator. Unfortunately I was so busy that I did not get time to check out the retro arcade - an amenity I was surprised not to see featured prominently on their website.

We did get to make a fun little trip one evening up to Niagara Falls. It was a shame we didn't have our passports - as everyone knows, the Canadian side is better :-) - but it was a nice change for me as I'd never actually seen the American side.


It was funny, we went to dinner near the falls that night and my mom sent me a picture of the kids. Apparently they decided to drive up to Canada (often the destination of their road trips) and the bathroom was the car. I'm not sure who was driving, but it seemed a peaceful trip, so I guess they had it worked out.

My trip home from Buffalo was kind of remarkable. The trips up there have been notoriously awful - not helped by the fact that there is no direct flight from DFW. The Project Manager for this project was supposed to fly in late Monday night (the rest of us got there Monday evening) but his flight got delayed 11 times and then at 1:30 in the morning got cancelled - he was stuck in DC. That actually kind of worked out for me as I got to run the Design Charrette myself and the client was really impressed. Brownie points for me.

So on Thursday, we finished our follow up meeting very early at 12:30. I had a 6:30 flight through Philadelphia, so I figured I would try to go standby on the 1:30 flight. I went to the counter and at first the lady said she couldn't get me on the earlier flight standby. She couldn't do it unless there was "weather". But she told me and the 2 guys that showed up behind me to "hang-tight". Anyway, I don't know what happened, but eventually she came over and handed me a ticket. I didn't question it. As I boarded I heard her tell the first of the 2 guys that showed up behind me that he got the last seat. The other guy didn't get on. When I got to Philadelphia, I got off the flight in Terminal F. I looked at the board to see if there was an earlier flight to DFW but it showed no flights to DFW at all. So I sat down in the hold lounge to log on to AA.com. Their system was down and they couldn't load any flights. Then I headed down the concourse and happened on a rebooking kiosk. It showed they didn't have a reservation for me. So finally I decided to go find the AA terminal.  I walked there and found out there was a flight going out of C. When I got to the gate there was about 800 people there and the standby list was totally full. Apparently the flight was oversold on top of the fact that weather had screwed a bunch of flights. So I resigned myself to getting back on my original flight, but was concerned that something had happened to my reservation. The girl checked for me and sure enough, the girl in Buffalo had cancelled my second leg when she'd put me on standby. That turned out to be the best news of the day though, as, since it was their screw-up, she put me on the standby list for the early flight, and bumped me to #2. So I got on the flight after all. The cherry on top: I was assigned to the middle seat, but when Mr. Window Seat arrived he asked me if I'd like the window seat. I have no idea why, since he didn't know Mr. Aisle Seat, but again, I didn't ask questions. So I arrived at 7:30. At least 3 hours earlier than scheduled.

While I was gone, the kids totally rocked their swim lessons. This is them waiting anxiously for the lessons to begin.