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Jordan is celebrating his 36th birthday… in New Hampshire… in the White Mountains… at Story Land. Best described as a cross between Bay Beach (in Green Bay) and Disney World. I type as he is about to go on a Turtle Twirl…. after I nearly hurled on the Flying Fish. Natalie loves these spin rides. He has probably gone on tea cups a dozen times over two days. Update: oh no. elliott looks like he is about to puke as I watch them on this ride!

My favorite was a 0.6 mile hike to Diana’s Falls. The kids digged it too. Nat was leaping across rocks and Elliott transformed into a robot. 

We also stopped at Dartmouth on the way. Gotta start the College tours young. (Just kidding!). It was an easy half way point and the kids loved climbing on a sculpture.  We gave Jordan his bday presents early. He got a matching shirt with Elliott! Handsome boys in blue v-necks!

My mom came in for Natalie’s recital. I do wish we lived closer to family because I know she has many other fans who would have liked to come. That’s one of the only downsides to western mass, but it’s a big one. 

Anyways we were lucky to celebrate Mother’s Day – and her 39th wedding anniversary with her. Here are some pics from the weekend. She also stayed to read at the kids schools. Both kids have had both grandmothers read at their school this month. Lucky kids!  Natalie’s last time seeing Grandma was at school though so you can see she went from super excited (pic reading) to sad (goodbye hug). And Elliott asked Grandma to be a part of his family. She explained that she was but just didn’t live with him. Then he asked her to move in. She laughed and said maybe one day we will see a lot more of her than we would like. Thanks for being an awesome Mom and Grandma!!

It was also grandparents day at school today. Mom had to head to the airport so I got to be Elliott’s guest. He was surprisingly serious and purposeful in showing me around. Here’s a pic on the wall. 

He is probably expecting a Nana and Pop day next. I don’t think he knows those are simply other names for grandparents!
Ps we are so lucky to have young parents!! All four of the kids grandparents are much more able bodied and active than many of the grandparents I saw tonight. Count our blessings. 
Pps. Kids and jordan gave me a great Mother’s Day too!  Tons of homemade gifts , jewelry and ice cream!

Natalie’s recital was today! She was the best tap-dancing fire fighter, ballet-twirling snowflake and flipping waitress – and the cook was pretty cute too. I have limited in action pics but here is the post party!

Despite what the pics above may suggest, Elliott was a dream brother for most of the 2.5 hours! He was very proud to pick out flowers for Natalie (pink and glittery purple). He was excited to see every performance and even was missing her by the intermission. He was ready to greet her afterwards: 

Here’s some more I got from a friend!

Natalie had her dance rehearsal tonight – only one adult allowed to go. Natalie chose Alison because dance, hair, costumes, etc are her specialty.

As such Elliott had a rare opportunity to hang with Grandma and me on his own. We scootered to the park. Who knew yoga was such good practice for Twister?!?

Natalie has been preparing for her Kinder performance since January. The big night was tonight!!! It’s based on Where the Wild Things Are but the kids added a lot of their own. Natalie was a sister triplet. I don’t remember that in the original book! All kids were working on projecting their voices so us adults weren’t even allowed to whisper during the performance. Natalie was a super-projector – so much so that she got a couple chuckles afterwards. (Luckily she didn’t pick up on it). That’s my girl! Stellar student – and actress apparently!

I kept her brother occupied with peanuts and dried fruit. (He did seem to like it a lot – he kept whispering or calling out during the performance!). It will be significantly harder on Sat when she has a 3-hr dance receital!!

Cast party followed. We baked cookies – a hit of course. Theo (Alison’s boyfriend) came to see Nat but stayed for the cookies. (Or Alison!). Some kids had juice, cookies, cupcakes and brownies on their plates. I wonder if they still haven’t gone to bed yet, post sugar high. 

So lucky to have the best kindergarten teacher ever!  Mrs B really has found her calling. 

Elliott is the Dad to his two RoRos and Leopard. They are brothers. 

Favorite RoRo is the luckiest. He gets to go the most places like to the park in Boston and eat ice cream. The other RoRo is adeptly named “Other RoRo”. It is easy to distinguish the two of them. Favorite is lighter because he is older (nat’s gift to Elliott at birth). And he has a flat bigger corner from rubbing and sucking. Other RoRo was a back up in case the first go lost but they don’t look enough alike for that to pass to Elliott. 

Tonight…

Me. Elliott are Your loveys brothers or cousins or friends?

Elliott. Brothers of course

Me. If Leopard is A brother too why does he look so different?

Elliott. He is a Leopard of course. 

Me. Who do you look more like: RoRos or Leopard?

Elliott.  (Without hesitation) Well RoRos but I don’t have four ears. Well actually I do have four ears. Two are invisible. 

Me. Are they right here? (Then I stuck my fingers in his nostrils – he obviously loved it! And we played that for awhile longer)

Love what is in his mind!!

Usually after dinner we have 15-30 min to play before it’s time to get ready for bed. It offend takes a few times before the kids will agree. Natalie often suggests drawing, Clue, or an imaginative game. Elliott suggests ninja, superheroes, tag, etc. last night they finally agreed on “Store” (Natalie’s suggestion but Elliott could make it his own). 

Natalie’s store was “Chloe’s Botique” where you get banana split tea and cupcakes upon entry. I got my hair washed, combed, dyed, and colored – as well as a skin treatment. A for only ten dimes! Jordan got his eyebrows plucked. 

On the other hand, Elliott’s store was a ninja training camp – in the sewers. When we asked the cost of attending, he said:

No coins. No dollars. No cash. Nothing!   

(When he saw Natalie’s coins later he regretted offering his services for free). 

Jordan went to Elliott’s store first and had to shower (in the tent) before going to the boutique. 
I love playing with them!!!(random pics below)

In a kids exercise class, kids had to answer: what’s your fav place to go on vacation? Elliott said Green Bay. (The teacher has no idea what he said). Natalie said Martha’s Vineyard.   Other kids said hotels, Florida, cookies and Disney. I think our kids may have changed to Disney if they had thought of it! I think mine might be Acadia in Maine. Or just a really nice hotel with fun family activities! 

Ps so cute. Elliott still just looks up to Nat so much. She is participating in everything and he always looks to see what she is doing. 

Today, Nat and E had sports camp and played baseball for the first time.  They came home loving it, and Natalie asked if she could play and if I would be her coach

I said, “if the timing works out, for sure!  But I wasn’t all that great at baseball.”

I then found this post it note.  It says, “to Daddy.  You will be a great coach no matter what.  Love, Natalie.”  With a picture of me throwing her a ball to hit.

Hard to argue with that.

Me: “I just love you so much bud”

Elliott: “There’s no better Mom than you”