Ethiopian for five please

Today was Patti's ideal type of day - beautiful weather, fresh fruit and veggies from the farmer's market, successfully running errands, actually getting things done at home, working in the garden, ice cream sandwiches with Will. Then we tempted fate by going out for Ethiopian at our favorite place with the entire family...

Turned out to be perfect. The girls fell asleep in their car seats and didn't wake until we were paying the bill. Will was a hoot picking his favorites off the plate with his injera, and flirting with our waitress (we have to admit that he's very, very good). Will has always been fantastic at this place, though, and we have looked forward to having tonight's meal for months so it was a real treat. That the girls didn't put on a show only made it more perfect.

Will dabbles in a little of everything but his favorite is the kik alicha (yellow split peas). We turn the platter so that they're closest to him on the table and he's happy as a clam.

Earlier in the day, the girls napped on the chair together. They're too young to sleep on their tummies so we never leave them that way unattended but they sleep so peacefully that way that it's hard not to take advantage of it. Plus, they're just so darn cute together.

Will Will

Will is alternating between super sweet and super naughty lately. He's been waking up hours earlier than normal, not cooperating at the table, not wanting to nap, hitting Patrick, and crying about all sorts of things. His new favorite thing is crying "Pop go away!" because Patti's dad was here weeks ago. Will got up early today and saw Patrick getting ready for work. He started sobbing "Dada go away blue thing white thing" (that's his scooter)...

In good news, though, Will has started using his booster seat. But only when he wants to use it.

We watched our neighbor's daughter the other night and she and Will had great fun blowing bubbles. Will is actually pretty good at it now.

Patrick found this little guy by our basement door tonight. Will was really excited when we found one last summer, but he wanted nothing to do with this one tonight. He kept hiding behind Patrick and he didn't even want to see Patrick carrying him. It's a Red-backed salamander, which are pretty common here.

The kids are alright

We are very, very, very tired and there's not much new to report. Stella and Maggie are checking each other out more often. They're also in a growth spurt right now and feeding every 2-3 hours...

Will has been pretty great this week (better than last week, anyway). As long as he gets some private time with Patti or Patrick, he seems to do a lot better.

Maggie ended up in Will's Jedi robe. Will got oddly possessive over it (see how he rocked it here).

Stella and Maggie have been watching the lion on their bouncy seats a lot lately. When not watching that, Stella has been checking out her hand.

Little Yankees

Apparently we're raising three NY Yankees fans (and Patrick is the lone hold-out among the parents). Thank goodness Patti doesn't believe in pink baseball clothes for the girls.

We've been trying for weeks to pull things together for the pictures below. Last night wasn't exactly opening day, but things take longer to happen in the Carey house these days.

By the way, that look on Maggie and Stella's faces is the look of someone who never saw a TV before...

Nice hats

One of our neighbors made hats for the girls. They couldn't fit better or be any cuter. They also help perpetuate the pink (Stella) and purple (Maggie) thing we've got going so far. Don't forget to scroll all the way to the bottom picture for a treat!

Patrick's Birthday

Tuesday was Patrick's birthday. To celebrate, the girls slept through the night (almost all of it, anyway) for the second night in a row. Then they smiled at him a lot after their morning feeding, before he went to work.

Will and Patrick went to the park after work and they found two huge snapping turtles. The shell of the one below was almost two feet long and it was hoping to graze on a gosling near the water's edge. With no luck there, it came straight across the pond toward Will. It was really pretty creepy. Will repeated two of his new words over and over again - "go away."

Back at home, the kids were happy to celebrate with Dada. Will especially liked helping Dada open his presents.

After some train time on the floor and a little TV, Will ended the night by slapping Patrick right across the face. 37 is going to be a fun year for Patrick...

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

We celebrated Mother's Day today at the National Zoo. Stella and Maggie were chauffeured through the zoo in the double-stroller and Will took turns running through the zoo and being carried by Mimi, Pop, mama and dada.

One of Will's favorite things today was watching the orangutans climb overhead. One of them had really long hair and Will kept gesturing that its hair was long by taking off his hat and pulling his hair.

Will liked being the center of attention but he also wanted to help Maggie and Stella from time to time. Bonnie and Patti were also attractions at the zoo today when they were tandem-feeding the girls (Patti on her topside and Bonnie with a bottle). They got lots of looks and comments, mostly good ones.

It took us a while but we found the bear statue. We've taken a picture of Will on this statue nearly every time we've been to the zoo, as seen here and here. This is our first picture of the whole family with the bear. We're "beary" cute.

When we came home, we celebrated Mother's Day with Bonnie and Patti. The girls were very lovey after getting a good feeding. It's only taken nine weeks but we finally got a picture of Stella smiling.

Will says "Happy Mother's Day Mom!"

Truck Touch

We spent Saturday morning at a truck touch at Will's nursery school. Will LOVES every possible kind of truck, but he gets really shy around them when he gets a chance to actually see one. He was better than last year, but he still didn't want to climb right in, honk the horns, etc.

That didn't stop him from checking out the front-end loader.

Dad had to coerce Will into the dump truck, even though the county's yellow dump trucks are a constant topic of conversation whenever Will is outside. He helped Dada honk the horn, though, and he thought that was pretty cool.

Will remembered sitting in the driver's seat of the mail truck from last year and he climbed right in.

Will loved checking out the fire engine with Pop, who was visiting again this weekend. We asked Will which truck he liked the most and he said it was the fire engine (he didn't actually say so but he made the siren noise and pointed right at it).

ps: Check out Will's shirt...

A Masterful Saturday

Although Patrick graduated in December, today is when he would have walked to receive his diploma for his MPA.

Instead, we spent the morning at a truck touch at Will's nursery school. The whole family geeked out with every type of truck. Will gave out lots of hugs, including Dad's fair share. Many more truck pictures in tomorrow's post.

The weather was still fantastic when we got home so we grilled burgers and brats and enjoyed our lunch in our backyard. Will thought it was pretty neat to be eating outside. The girls (off camera) slept through the whole thing in their bouncy seats in the shade.

2-month check-up

Maggie and Stella had their two-month check-up today and things look good. They both weigh exactly the same: 8 pounds, .5 ounces. Maggie has Stella by 1/4 of an inch in height (both roughly 22 inches tall).

They also received six shots between them, and lots of band-aids. Welcome, Patrick, to the world of pink camouflage...

After a long day of shots, eating and sleeping, and some late afternoon sun, the girls were ready to lounge on mama tonight. Here's Maggie saying hi.

And here's Stella smiling, or a split second later. Definitely time to get a quicker camera...