The boys are 4 now

Wow - hard to believe that 3+ months have past since I last posted. I keep thinking every day I need to post something but I have a hard time deciding what to write about. We are in such a good (better) place these days. I can't say it is anything we are doing but probably more that the boys are in a great phase. That said, there are days when I'm feeling a little more confident that I'm actually a pretty good mom - then I lose it and find myself yelling and I go back to not being so sure.

A quic wrap up from Jan - biggest event since then was the boys' 4th year birthday party. We had the party at home (something homey about that that I love) and the theme this year was fire truck. We found this great (private) service where you have a firetruck come to your house. The kids (and adults) get to load on the back and go for a ride around the neighborhood. The boys (and I) got to ride up front with the "fireman". I was soo thrilled to see the boys so excited (and so shyly happy) - their grins were priceless. After everyone got a ride (or 2) on the fire truck, he parked the truck out front and then the kids got to help him hold the hose while the water was on full force. The kids could also play in the water if they wanted (which many, including N - but not S) did. Around the fire truck festivities, I also found a cardboard fire station that came with crayons for the kids to color. J augemented our little play structure out back with some work work and made nice little platform and ladder and another smaller platform so the kids would have an obstacle course (we did this before the truck arrived). The boys seemed to be thrilled to have all their little friends (I can truly call them friends now rather than friends' kids that the boys play with). As I did last year, I made them each their own pretty simple b'day cake - S had a firetruck car on top (matchbox style) and then I got him 2 Star Wars figurines since he's so into those now; N had a firetruck car on top as well along with a couple of matchbox trucks. Wound up being a GREAT day - really no melt downs from any of the kids and so nice to share the day with everyone.

On the boys' actual b'day, J & I took the day off and the four of us went to Disneyland. The get-in-free-on-your-birthday deal they have going this year enticed us. Both boys would get in free and so we just had to buy tickets for J & me. Even though their b'day fell on a Tuesday, it was super crowded but the boys had a lot of fun. At the recommendation of people in my twins club, we went ahead and did the character breakfast (inside the park) and while expensive was definitely a highlight of the day. It is amazing to see how much the boys like the various characters (except for Captain Hook) even though they "know" none of them (we don't watch any of the Disney movies so they aren't familiar with the characters). We then went to the rides and wound up being able to ride 4 rides (including one using a fast pass) in the next 3 1/2 or so hours. The boys did so good - we didn't bring or rent a stroller for them so they walked the whole time. We went on the rockets (the boys and I wound up taking one rocket and I thought for sure one of us was going to fly right out of that thing once it started going - ride couldn't end fast enough for all of us), Buzz Lightyear, and then Small World (twice, at the boys suggestion). We then headed home. All in all, a really good day (and much better than I had expected it to go). We got our tickets during a 2-fer special so the four of us have "free" tickets to go back (this time to Disney Adventure) one more time in the next 60 days.