Spring is Here, Hurray! Hurray!

so, spring isn't exactly here, but things feel like they're at least thawing a bit. We have had a few blessed days with temperatures in the 40's and even one day that hit upper 50's. Sounds a little pathetic, but you have to have lived in New England to appreciate how glorious those days are. Suddenly there is life in places and things and people that were starting to really feel dead. We drink those days in by just being outside, even if we're still a little cold, it feels so good to breath fresh air that doesn't freeze your insides out. And boy do these kids LOVE it. I had to pry them away from the park this day.

Things we love about Hazel lately:
1. She makes great faces.
2. She comes and wakes me up in the morning with a big hug and snuggles in next to me and hands me Charlotte's Web and we read together until we hear charlie crying out "mama!". I can't tell you how much I love that. So much better than waking up to a crying baby.
3. She plays so well by herself. It's great, I get so much done during Charlie's nap as she busily entertains herself reading (not actually reading), coloring, drawing, doing her princess leap pad, taking care of various babies and stuffed animals. I love it.
4. She is GREAT playing with Charlie. Just this past week these two have really learned to love playing together. They laugh and laugh at who knows what and I feel so incredibly happy that finally all this work of having them so close together is paying off.
5. She has great questions, instead of just asking "why" about everything she actually asks real questions. It's so fun to try and explain things to her and show her pictures of things on the Internet. I like that part of parenting.
Charlie and Hazel spent a good part of this glorious day at the Kruckenbergs while I did a photo shoot. They had a great time picking neighbors crocuses (sorry about that) and making mud pies. Charlie actually decided to try his and spent most of the afternoon with dirt on his tongue....yuck! Josh introduced us to our favorite spring poem last spring and while I retaught it to Hazel, that little amazing Charlie picked it up. I seriously can not believe how verbal this kid is. He is Mr. Chatterbox lately, especially when Hazel (his mouthpiece) isn't around. He just talks and talks and talks. He says the cutest things (which I need to write down) with a ton of expression. Although he knows a million words and can put them together quite nicely, his favorite word is "bump." Yes....bump. He says his name is Charlie Bump and whenever he doesn't know what to say, or wants to be really funny he just says "bump." Weird, but seriously adorable kid.

Here are some video's of Charlie's poem. The first is his first try....pretty darn good and pretty sweet. The second is when he starts to go "bump" on us.....I love how Hazel is laughing at him....quite encouraging. The third is after he'd done the bump a million times and finally I said I was going to have Hazel do it.....he burst into tears and then wanted to prove that he was big enough to say the whole thing.

And, in case you can't understand what he's saying, here are the words to the poem:

The Earth has come to life today,
Spring is here, hurray, hurray!
The flowers are happy, they wave with delight.
The Sun shines bright, with all her might.
So fly little fairy! Fly Fly Fly!
Fly through the meadow and touch the sky.
When you get where you're going, remember this day,
The day the earth came out to play.

Annual Cemetery Easter Egg Hunt

Yeah, we know, an easter egg hunt in a cemetery? It is the only large piece of open land near us....and it is kind of symbolic in a weird but cool way. Somehow it has become our easter tradition. It was so fun this year to have so many participants....family and good friends....and to have kids who were so into it.
Little Charlie was about the happiest boy you've ever seen. Seriously, our little mischievous sweet tooth thought he had died and gone to heaven. Not only was there hiding and running and bossing his favorite person Heidi around....there was CANDY!!!




Hazel found the greatest treasure ever while searching for eggs: an old, dirty, broken PRINCESS CELL PHONE (that we're sure the Easter Bunny didn't hide). She was thrilled and has been carrying it around ever since talking to all kinds of princesses. (Don't worry, we gave it a very good bath).

Hazel was trying to adopt all kinds of new families. I especially love this (very over exposed) shot of Hazel trying so hard to be a Kruckenberg.
We were so sad to see this crazy crowd go. It felt so good to have our house full to the brim with people we love.

Easter Photoshoot

It's amazing what M&M bribes can do to kids.....

incredible hulk and easter eggs

Our kids actually "got" the concept of easter eggs this year. They actually preferred the hard-boiled eggs to candy. What's wrong with these kids?


McKay (my little nephew) couldn't get enough of that green egg die. he ended up looking a lot like the incredible hulk.

White Trash Weekend!

J here: First off, let me say that despite the title of this post, everything in here was Saydi's idea (except perhaps when we went to a diner named Nick's, which was actually T's idea).

Saydi's clan (or at least 3 of her large brothers) were in town for Easter: Noah with Kristi and Mckay, Tal with his most excellent girlfriend Sarah, and Josh from AZ. With this fun group, we went to the fair (not the real kind with prizes for pumpkins and a washed up former country star, but the crappy kind with toothless, tattoed people who operate rickety rollercoasters imported from Mexico). We really only go to the fair for one reason...the FREAK OUT!!!!

It is Saydi's raison d'etre. She occasionally talks in her sleep, and rather than shouting my name, she sometimes yells out 'Frank!', because he's the guy who once gave her free rides on the FREAK OUT.

To give you an idea of the FREAK OUT, let me say that everyone else on it is between the ages of 13 and 23, and wears either excessively baggy, black, Roca Wear clother or excessively revealing, hoochie mama clothing. For those who do not know my wife, she typically does not wear either. She is the accomplished, well-educated, elegant mother of two, married to a strong, handsome, (and smart!) husband--but I digress.

When you get on the FREAK OUT, they start blaring really bad music of the style preferred by the 13-23-year-olds mentioned above. It is typified by incoherent strings of pronouns and articles interspersed with silences where the naughty bits (the real substance of the lyrics) used to be before censoring. (This is a shame, since I'm sure there is real poetry and pathos in the lyrics if only I had the energy to plumb the depth of those swears...but again, I digress).

Then, the FREAK OUT does a little something like this...


And here, in a state of dementia from having her brains addled by this gargantuan lobotomizer, Saydi puts her marriage in jeopardy by flirting with two hot guys while on the FREAK OUT.

I should point out that, contrary to reports in other blogs, local newspapers, and several peer-reviewed journals, Saydi did not pee in her pants while riding the FREAK OUT--she only looked like she had.

After the FREAK OUT, and before Horton Heard his Fateful Who (which actually sucked surprising less than I would have thought), we went to Nick's Diner. To give a bit of flavor, our waitress of a certain age heard about two things and sat down at the booth with us and said
'honey, you just tell me what you want, and I'll tell you how to order.'


At some point in the weekend (sequence became foggy for me after about Sat. afternoon), we also went disco bowling. Or I should say, everyone else went disco bowling (and by that I mean danced and bowled simultaneously with very little success but much entertainment) except for Josh and I who actually tried to learn how to do candlepin bowling (much respect, brother Josh).

watching the snows

We spent the weekend after our little getaway in another quaint, charming little town called Belmont watching our friends 4 children while they went to the Caribbean (don't worry, they did beg us to go with them, even offered to let us stay in their hotel room with them....).
Their kids are simply delightful (and this isn't just Saydi being a pleaser because she knows the snows will read this blog....they are really really amazing children. We were great parents of six....fed them a lot of great food like pop corn chicken and Jeff taught them all to do the "qua, qua, qua" which is a little move that he learned from our friend "The Karate Kid." See our youtube channel for a live demonstration by Hazel, Charlie and Jeff.
Mostly I was happy that Hazel got to hang around with three really good role models. The snows have three adorable, sweet, obedient, friendly and kind daughters whom I am really hopeing Hazel will continue to idolize. The whole weekend made Jeff and I want to be better parents and get a plasma tv (those two desires don't really go together, I know....but still....)
And boy, this Charlie is full of himself lately. It's amazing what being in a house full of older women can do to our little Charlie.

Meanwhile, back at home.....

our kids thoroughly enjoyed themselves and probably drank tea till they were good and drunk.

Mary Ann......wow, can you imagine a more saintly woman? Who decides to spend there precious time away from their own kids to go and take care of someone elses while 7 months pregnant. I am still in awe of this sacrifice. Hopefully she got to spend some nice time with her mother (doubtful with my kids clammoring for her attention).
Thank you Mary Ann and Nedra again and again and again. WE LOVE YOU!

Balmy Newport

So, after our little stint in Fall River and the ever exciting battleship cove we headed down to Newport RI. I had never been and had heard it was a charming getaway....and that it was. We were one click away from booking a trip to the Bahamas, and no, Newport didn't offer the warmth my body was craving, but it was luxurious and relaxing and fun to feel we could spend a little of the money we would have spent on travel on really good food and an extremely decadent bed and breakfast. Newport is famous for it's mansions and we toured one of the most elaborate ones "the breakers." Boy did those people know how to live. It was so full of gaudy details and extravagance. It was pretty interesting to see, and so nice to be there with out kids, although I think the princess in Hazel would have really enjoyed it.

Even though it was freezing, we spent a great afternoon on the 'cliff walk.' It felt so good to be surrounded by nature. You don't get that breath taking nature feeling too often in Malden.

We went out to an amazing hotel called Castle Hill to look around and walked out to their lighthouse. The fierce wind took your breath away and felt pretty darn exhilarating.

We stayed at a fabulous bed and breakfast called the Hilltop Inn. It was everything you'd want in a bed and breakfast....cozy, quaint, great food, friendly but not invasive service....an amazing room, two fireplaces. We spent a lot of time just chilling and reading and sleeping and I even got to take a bath (when does that happen in real life?). It felt awesome.
Before leaving on our trip Nedra presented us with an awesome gift bag filled with all the necessities to have a "Caribbean" vacation in Newport RI. A plastic palm tree, self-tanning lotion, trashy romance novels, sunglasses, lays, shelled necklaces and little drink mixes attached to drink umbrellas. See picture above.



We also spent a lot of time eating really yummy food. Growing up my mom used to say that anything she didn't have to prepare tasted good to her. I totally see what she means now....but this food was way beyond that....it was really really enjoyable. What a luxury to spend two hours eating dinner while discussing life and watching the sunset with your spouse. Thanks Nedra and Mary Ann!