Each year it seems the week before Easter Russell and I have the same argument, and this year Maxwell joined Russell's team and they were really angry with me together. As soon as we see the egg dye kits in stores I start hearing that we must get one. We have to get one or we can't dye eggs. We must have eggs with stickers and glitter and bows and whistles or it just won't be Easter. Everyone gets the kit, it's the only way to do it!! Each year we leave the store with no kit and each year Russell has been angry (ok, so maybe he wasn't angry when he was in infant. But, as soon as he knew what the kits were all about he was angry). We leave the store with pouty faces and I hear nonstop talking about how we won't have cool eggs.

Well, in all my 6 long years of being a mother I have never used a store bought kit, and yet, each of these 6 years we have colored Easter eggs. No, there's nothing wrong with the kits. They are perfectly fine and if you use them, I still like you. Personally, I like food coloring and a white crayon. The food coloring makes the eggs a deeper color and with the crayon you can draw all sorts of fun things on the egg. Not to mention you don't have to buy these kits for _____ (I have no idea how much they cost...) and you can use up some of that food coloring you have sitting in your cupboard. Each year the pouty faces have quickly changed when the little bowls of colored water are set out and the eggs are boiled. I'm still waiting to hear, "mom you were right! We don't need to buy those gimmicky little kits. You're the best!" Hmmm....I'm not going to hold my breath as I am sure this will never be uttered across the lips of these little boys.

Happy Easter

When you leave your home for a long weekend away, please, oh please, remember to check and make sure your alarm clock is turned off. It seems someone (ahem....upstairs...) could have used a checklist before walking out the door. For the last couple of mornings, at the exact same time, we are awoken with beautiful music. Yes, it would be nice to listen to while cleaning or playing a game, but when you are not wanting/ready to roll out of bed, a woman singing in a high pitched voice, very loudly, is not something I want to hear...especially if I have no control as to whether it gets turned off or not. We must then listen to it for an hour until it shuts off automatically. Sure, this is better than a beeping alarm clock, such as the one Elaine had to deal with in the 9th season of Seinfeld, but it's annoying none the less.

I sure hope they come home soon...

As many, if not all, of you know, Russell is a talker. He talks about everything and anything. He will talk about things he knows a lot about, and he will talk about how he does not know certain things but wishes he did. Some things that he says make sense, and some things I have to stop and say, "where in the world did you come up with that?" He often talks just to hear himself. Maxwell has begun to roll his eyes and say, "Russell just talks and talks and talks......". It is quite funny and oh so true.

So, this morning when Russell informed me that he was going to be "no talking man" today, I was somewhat excited. I had to go to Target and pick up some essentials for the home and I thought it would be nice for Max to get some words in while driving instead of just Russell. He told me before we left that he was "no talking man" and all the way to Target he kept telling me how he was not going to talk today. All through Target he asked what he would get as a special treat if he made it through the entire day without talking. He even informed the cashier that he was "no talking man" today. All afternoon he has been discussing with Max how he is not going to talk to him today. It is now evening and he is still talking about not talking today.

Does anyone see something wrong with "no talking man"? He needs to change his name to "nonstop talking man".

I really think that he wouldn't stop talking if his mouth were taped shut. Which some days I have thought about. (Really, I'm kidding! I would never tape his mouth shut! Please don't start calling asking if things are ok...) :)

Max can, and will, dance just as much as Russell some days. Today Max has really had the dance bug. Even when no music is playing his feet are moving/dancing to something. In "music class" we have been working on finding a beat in music and tapping or clapping along with it. It's much harder for kids to catch on to than I would have thought. But, Max is catching on, as well as Russell. Max also has been perfecting his air guitar, as you will see if you watch this little video...

We met this family (Hartter family) years ago when we were brand new parents to Russell and they were expecting their first little girl. We instantly clicked and became GREAT friends. For years we lived next door to each other, or just a few blocks away, and did almost everything together. Meals weekly. Birthday celebrations. Zoo trips. Cook outs. Walks. I can not even begin to explain how wonderful "the golden years" of living next to each other were.

Over the last few years each of us has made big moves and we no longer live close. When we do get the chance to get together it seems that not a day has passed since "the golden years". When we got a call last week saying that Lil was thinking of coming with the girls, the excitement was almost too much to handle! We were definitely in need of some quality time with this family. Jake was greatly missed though. Here is a quick recap of our week:

A break from playing to have some popcorn.

The beach

We found several of these on the beach. We later found that they are called a "sea gooseberry". They are a type of cone jellyfish that do not have tentacles or sting.

Max holding a sea gooseberry.

A trip to the beach is not complete without a stop at our favorite ice cream place. Even though it was pretty cold.

Russell's blazer was a hit with the girls.

We were able to go spend some time at the Y on a rainy day.

Lobster! Along with clams and scallops. Oh what a delicious meal!!

R.C. and his little friend

Trying clams. All the kids liked the shells, but not the meat inside. Oh well, more for us!

It is amazing how well these kids play together. They are very content to play anything together and very little parenting is needed. If there was not a need to make a meal I feel the kids would not have needed us one bit. Lil and I were able to just sit and chat while the kids played for hours on end. The boys were shown how to play with fairies properly and the girls were shown the art of legos and dinos. It's obvious that they don't care what they are doing so long as they are together. There are so many funny little stories to share, but this is already incredibly lengthy. Just know that a great time was had.

Thank you Lil and girls for coming to visit!! We miss you again, already!

I will be M.I.A. until late next week.
Lil and the girls are coming today for a visit so we are going blog free to spend as much time as possible with them. The boys are bouncing off the walls with excitement! I must admit, so am I!
So, until next week...

With R.C. gone so much, the boys and I sometimes get bored and have to come up with something to occupy our time. Sure, we read, do puzzles, draw, play games, bake, and all other sorts of fun activities to keep us busy, but sometimes we don't want to do anything. It's during these times that we sit and play "photo booth" on the computer...




But maybe we need a new hobby...who am I kidding, we have plenty of hobbies and do plenty of activities. This may seem like a waste of time to many of you, but then you have not heard the nonstop laughing of these little boys when we are doing this. So long as they laugh and smile I will keep hitting the "take picture" button and filling our computer with lovely (?) pictures.

Today Russell said he saw a car that had it's lid open.
R.C. corrected him and told him that it was called a trunk.
I thought he knew this was what the back compartment of a car was called.
I guess not, but no big deal.
As I was getting groceries out of the back of our car Russell said, "mom, you have a lot of junk in your trunk."
Huh.
I am left speechless so often.

Our computer was fixed sooner than we had hoped, so here is a recap of our trip...

Friday morning my alarm went off at 5:15 am and I stumbled to the bathroom to get a shower and try to figure out how I was going to wake the boys. I had just closed the bathroom door when it opened back up and in walks Russell. "You didn't have to wake me since I am up so early." He has been waiting to get to The American Museum of Natural History since he first fell in love with dinosaurs, some 4 years ago. Maxwell slept in while we all got dressed and ready to go, but when he did decide to roll out of bed he was happy and also ready to go.

We got to the bus stop at 6:30 am to make the 7:00 am bus to NYC. Max sat on R.C.'s lap the entire trip (even though he had his own seat) and soon fell asleep, along with R.C..

While R.C. and Max slept, I had this guy sitting next to me talking the entire trip. He was so excited! Russell talks a lot to begin with, and when he gets excited he talks even more!! Oh man!!We got off the bus and decided to take the subway to The Museum of Natural History first. The boys loved the subway! When we were standing on the platform and the train whizzed past us they looked a bit frightened, but once we boarded they were happy as could be and both said a highlight of the entire trip was getting to hold the pole on the subway. It takes so little to make a child happy!

We had a great time at the museum! The best part...obviously, the dinosaurs. Max really (REALLY!!) wanted to see Attila the Hun. We searched and searched for him, but could not find him anywhere. When we got home and did a bit more research we found that Attila the Hun is not a part of this museum. Sorry Max!

Maxwell showing how fierce a dinosaur is.

We did see more than just dinosaurs, but I do not want to bombard you with pictures!In this part of the museum it was dark. They made it look like you were underwater so you could look at the sharks, seals, fish and other sea life and feel like you are really underwater. At one point Max and Russell were looking at a display and R.C. and I were standing behind, to their left, watching them. Max turned to his right and tried to tickle a lady, who he thought was me. He quickly realized that it was not who he thought it was when we started laughing. "I got confused!" was what we heard for the next 10 minutes.

When we left the museum we walked through Central Park and enjoyed the beautiful day along with hundreds of other New Yorkers. We listened to a man playing the saxophone, saw a horse and carriage, dog walkers and loungers. Next stop, MOMA (Museum Of Modern Art). Walking on 5th avenue was exciting, to say the least. There were stores that I had only read about in my Glamour magazine, and everything made me think of Seinfeld episodes. We also walked by Trump Tower, but The Donald was not to be seen. As we were walking we came across a little toy store called FAO Schwartz (as if you've never heard of this). 3 floors of toys! The same one that TomKat (Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) closed down for Katie's birthday. Inside we found, well, toys, but also Legos. A life size Batman, Star Wars characters and the Harry Potter clan were among the many Lego structures. Before we went into MOMA we decided to grab a New York hotdog from a vendor outside the museum. The boys were hungry, but after a few bits of yummy hotdog they perked right up. Max decided that he loves pigeons on this trip. As we were sitting on the sidewalk eating (literally sitting on the sidewalk...no picnic tables in NYC) R.C. gave a bit of bun to a pigeon and Max went crazy! He jumped up and was talking to the bird and chasing it. Passers by were loving the little show and soon Max and Russell were laughing so hard they almost lost their hotdogs.

We went inside MOMA to find it packed with people. We got in line to check R.C.'s backpack (you have to check bags. Only purses are allowed.) and soon realized that we were going to be there awhile. After waiting and waiting, we decided to make a change of plans. We jumped out of line and decided to skip MOMA and save it for another day. We instead walked the streets and made our way back to the bus to get home a little earlier than we had planned. If there's one thing we have learned with having kids, it's that you must be changing plans at all times. We were having a great day and noticed that the boys were beginning to fade so we were going to call it a day and end on a high note, instead of dragging half sleeping boys through the rest of the city. Why run everyone to their breaking point. There's always another day. On our way back we saw:

Rockefeller Center. (No Liz Lemon to be found)

Max got a shoulder ride. He and Russell did so great walking! I knew they would, but I was still impress with how great they did. By this time we had walked several miles, not to mention the walking in The Museum of Natural History. R.C. decided to give Max a lift since we were coming up to Times Square.

This is only a snippet of Times Square. As we walked through there was NO way I could stop to take a picture. The crowd of people was so thick that I could hardly see Russell, even though I was holding his hand. The visual stimulation was almost too much to handle. All the billboards flashed from one ad to another. There were movie trailers playing, news stories being broadcast, music blaring, and people shouting in your ear. It was during this time that the boys got very quiet. They were obviously trying, but unable, to take everything in. Their eyes were HUGE and their mouths just hung open. This was also the only time that Russell clenched my hand the entire day.

We made it back to the Port Authority to catch our bus at 6:00 pm. Everyone was exhausted! R.C. and Max were sound asleep before we left the city and Russell soon joined the sleeping duo. We were greeted back in Providence with cold weather and a wet lap (Max was a bit too tired to realize he had to go potty. Ahhh...the joys of motherhood).

This was my first trip to NYC and I was pleased with how great it was. I realize that I do not quite fit in to the New York crowd quite yet (or ever will). There were 12 year old girls (just an assumption on the age) that wore more makeup and walked better in high heels than me. I did realize that I might have fit in better than I thought. I got the ultimate boost of confidence when a woman asked me (ME!) for directions. Of all the people on the street did I look like I knew where I was going the best? Did I really fit in that well? Do you really not need high heels and a scowl to look "New York"? I guess not! I did let this lady down when I quickly answered, "I have no idea!" But, hey, at least I was asked! I look forward to another (maybe more?) trip to NYC in the future. I am also confident that I never want to live there. Just visit.

I know I forgot some points, but you get the idea. We had a GREAT time.

New York city was a success!
Our computer is getting fixed, so please come back later. In a few days, when our computer is back, I will post pictures and tell about our trip.

Russell received a wonderful surprise in the mail this week (not that all the other mail he has received was not wonderful. Trust me, it is!). All his friends from his preschool class last year wrote him letters and drew him pictures. He remembered all of the kids and the little quirks that went along with each kid. He loved all the pictures and was so happy that they all remembered him. I do think the best part of this surprise was a letter he got from "Mrs. B". She was his preschool teacher and he thought the world of her. My sweet little Russell actually teared up when he read the letter from her. He has been working on a letter and pictures to send back to tell them all about his new home. How great! Pen pals!

Max was really excited to see the pictures too. Some of the kids remember seeing Max each day when I picked Russell up from school, so they asked about him as well. He was excited that one kid actually drew a picture of him.

In case you were ever wondering how Russell stays so slim and trim, well, here is his secret. He dances like a maniac! The boys and I dance almost daily as exercise and just a way to get our wiggles out when it is too cold/rainy/windy (or I just don't want) to go outside. On these days we turn some classic rock up a little louder than usual and dance, dance, dance! Usually during this dance time the shades are pulled down tight so the outside world can not see the craziness that is happening inside our home.

This video does not show me dancing at all (you can thank me later for this), and Max only makes a quick appearance, but Russell, oh Russell...he is unstoppable. If you have 1 minute and 34 seconds, please enjoy my little dance machine...

100 blog postings. 100 postings of crazy kids and (mainly my) complaining. Here's to another 100... It was a beautiful day on Saturday so we took a walk around downtown and along the canal. The boys love to run in this open area and were thrilled to have it all to themselves this day. These are ninja turtles...well...they are the Sayler version of ninja turtles. I made the "headband" (thing that goes over the eyes) out of felt one day and it just so happens that I also had some ribbons that matched the headbands perfectly. Tie a pillow onto your back with a coordinating ribbon and bam! you have yourself a ninja turtle. This last week I have been working on slipping some "surprises" into our everyday food items. I have always been a fan of hiding healthy foods so they aren't scary or rejected just because of the way they look or the sound of their name. Rewind to a day when I was pureeing some squash for baby Maxwell (strange to think about now) and making mac and cheese for little Russell, I thought, "hmmm...the squash and the cheese are the same color. What if I mix them?" I did it and it was a hit. A dose of veggie when the kids least expect it. The first few times I didn't tell anyone that I did this, and no one was the wiser. Finally I let my secret out and Russell was OK with this, he said he really liked it with the squash! That's about where my secrets stop. I have always had a block when it comes to being more creative in my food hiding skills. Sure, I use applesauce in brownies and pancakes instead of oil, and wheat germ and flax seeds in just about EVERYTHING I make, but I have never felt like that was enough. Fast forward to the present. I received a cookbook from Lil that is all about hiding fruits and veggies in ordinary food! Fantastic! Make some purees from fresh fruits and veggies (baby food essentially), throw them in the freezer and pull them out when you need them. A few foods we have enjoyed are: brownies made with carrots and spinach, muffins made with cauliflower, casserole made with carrots, and others that I can't think of right now. It's great! I am straying from the cookbook now and just winging it. My mental cooking block is gone! So long as the veggie or fruit puree is the same color as the food I am preparing, I go ahead and throw it in. Now, this does not mean that I am no longer feeding the boys fruits and veggies in a "normal" way. This is just something that I like to do to give them a little something extra. I hope this does not scare people from eating at our home....

I leave you with a wonderful sunset that I was able to enjoy from my "kitchen" window.

Today, as we were driving, Maxwell informed me that he had a problem. He was obviously very upset. I kept hearing him let out big sighs and he was slapping his knee in annoyance. Even Russell thought something was wrong since Max seemed so annoyed. Finally, after us asking him what was going on several times, he told us. "Sometimes my feet just won't stop dancing!" He was right. He danced his way through the grocery store, stopping only to say hi to another little boy, and his feet moved and tapped all the way home in the car. There was no music playing in the store or in the car, but obviously Max has some great music in his head. Russell joined in on the dancing, but was usually laughing too hard keep any sort of beat. Max took it very serious though. Oh how I hope his feet never stop dancing!

Speechless...

Yesterday we spent some time at the YMCA. Just up the street from our home there is a Y that is good for adults, but if we drive 10 minutes to the next town over, we have access to an amazing kids gym. In the first room there is a padded area with soft building items which the kids love to stack up and jump off. In the next room there is a huge (I mean HUGE!!!!) play area (almost like the play areas you sometimes see at McDonalds...only much bigger and better!). All padded and all enclosed so there is no fear of them falling or getting hurt. You can slide, climb, roll and bounce until you can take no more. This thing was so tall that I was a bit nervous going to the very top. Russell, Max and Gali had no problem though. The best part....We were the only ones there (Me and the boys and our friends) so we were able to prop the door open between these 2 areas and let the kids run (and run and run). If only the adult gym was this fun!!

One thing I will never get tired of...going to the beach. No matter what the weather I LOVE the beach. In some ways it's better when it is cold. You don't have to pay for parking and it is, some what, empty. You can put your head down in search of shells and not worry about running into a half naked person.

The temperature was in the 50's yesterday, so R.C. took a break from his work for the afternoon, and we went to the beach to enjoy the nice weather. We usually fill a bucket with rocks and shells that we MUST take home, but we (the boys and I) were banned (by R.C.) from taking a bucket to fill. This was OK since we have more shells and rocks than we know what to do with. I did find some beautiful pieces of sea glass that I was able to sneak into my pocket without someone knowing.

The boys love being free to run as far and fast as their legs can carry them. R.C. helped the boys make a boat out of reeds and other trash found in the rocks. It sailed beautifully until it was bombed by a giant rock and the mast and sail/flag broke off.

The sand is covered with rocks. When we went in the summer it was not rocky at all so they must rake when beach season is in full swing. Max loves to throw rocks in the water. He usually has a rock in each hand so he can always be throwing and making splashes. Of all the "perfect for Maxwell to pick up and throw" rocks, he spotted this big rock that he could not lift. He tried rolling it and kicking it, but could not move it as quickly as he would have liked. He soon convinced R.C. to help him throw it and squealed with excitement at the huge splash.
After so much fun at the beach it was not fun to take R.C. back to his studio so he could continue working. He puts in at least 12 hour days (sometimes more). We were finally able to see what he has been working on for the past weeks when we attended "Open Studios" at RISD on Friday night. If you have not done so already, you should click over to his blog (here) so you can see what he has been up to. He sure works hard!