Coincidental theater

This is a random entry and has nothing to do with my children (as my remaining 2 readers click away...)

Anyways.

Continuing.

Sometimes I read this blog: http://www.reagansblob.com/page/2/ I don't know why I just do.

A little while ago she mentioned this tidbit:

"Also, last night Jake and I went to *Sleep No More. I had to buy tickets clear back in November because they were sold out for so long. It was insane!!! I don’t know what to think, but that’s ok because we are going again next month.*Sleep no more is a theatre type show in a huge old hotel. It’s floors and floors of intricate sets/rooms. You wear masks and follow the characters you’re most interested in. I went with Jake and two friends, but we split up at the beginning and had our own very different experiences, seeing totally different things. It’s very strange and not for everyone, but so so cool if that’s your bag."

Then a few nights ago I was searching for something to read on the kindle and came across "The Night Circus" available to borrow from the library site. I figured I'd give it a try since most of the other available titles were 1. romance novels 2. Dr. Laura books (apparently her advice is not well-valued out here) or 3. super specific non-applicable titles such as "A Guide to Better Relationships between Black Men and Women" (no, I'm serious).As I was reading it I kept thinking "this reminds me of that theater thing mentioned in that one blog thingy I read" and "it would be cool if this were made into one of those theater things and you could wander from tent to tent and follow the characters around."Then at the end of the book there was an Acknowledgments section, as there always is, and I read it, as I always do AND the author mentioned something called Punchdrunk as a source of inspiration.

So I googled it and discovered - voila: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/theater/sleep-no-more-from-punchdrunk-transforms-chelsea-warehouses.html?pagewanted=all

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"IF New York’s junk shops, antiques fairs and confectioners have fielded some odd requests recently, it may be because the British theater company Punchdrunk is coming to town for the first time. The props list for its show “Sleep No More,” an environmental, stylized mash-up of Shakespearean drama and Hitchcockian noir, reads like the contents of a madman’s shopping cart: plastic teeth, animal eyes, hair samples, several kinds of blood, caramel spray. For “Sleep No More,” which arrives in New York after a run at a school near Boston in 2009, the company took over six stories of three adjoining warehouses on West 27th Street in the Chelsea gallery district. Audience members don masks and explore some 100 rooms and environments, including a spooky hospital, mossy garden and bloody bedroom. An eerie soundtrack fills the air as costumed performers move about all six floors re-enacting pivotal scenes from “Macbeth.”Each room has a back story that has been painstakingly detailed and designed with a mid-1930s vibe. More than 200 unpaid volunteer artists spent about four months hand-writing letters, coloring wallpaper and building furniture. A spokesman for the show declined to say how much the production cost, other than the budget was “in the millions of dollars.” . . .“In our world, every single drawer, cupboard, wardrobe that can be opened, should be opened because you’ll find something inside,” he said."

_________________________________________________________________________

Punchdrunk IS that theater thing that the book reminded me of.

I feel 1. very clever 2. like the stars are aligning for some mysterious purpose and 3. like I need to go see this.

The End.

Acknowledgments:

My clown collection - because circuses are fascinating, but also creepy. My baby - for sleeping in her bed by herself long enough for me to type this.

To Catch a Leprechaun

The boys were determined that this would be the year they caught a leprechaun. Sawyer is now old enough to team up with Will and between the two of them they were confident it could be done.

The leprechauns scored the first points in the St. Patrick's Day battle though. The boys woke up to find that a leprechaun had colored their fingernails and toenails green, drawn shamrocks on their cheeks, colored the toilet water green, and left them a taunting note on the bathroom mirror along with little leprechaun footprints.

I *may* have still been awake when the leprechauns were going about this nasty business. Shortly after they completed their mischief Will woke up to go to the bathroom. I watched from the bottom of the stairs as he wandered into the bathroom, turned on the light, peed, washed his hands, turned off the light and got back into bed. All without noticing any of the leprechaun's recent activities. This makes me wonder what else we could get away with in the middle of the night.

In the morning Bryce had an early church basketball game. He had told Will that he could go with him if he woke up on time. Will had been up the night before so, of course, he wasn't awake by 7:30 on Saturday morning. I heard him wake up shortly after Bryce left and he came running into our bedroom to tell us he was ready to go. I told him that Dad had already left. Total meltdown ensued. I sent him back to his room to cry and after about 5 minutes of crying I heard:...(long pause)...gasp!...gasp! And then he came tearing into my room saying "Mom! Look what a leprechaun did!" He woke up Sawyer and they discovered the "Will and Sawyer can't catch me!" note on the bathroom mirror. They took off downstairs to get their butterfly nets and spent the morning creating various traps.

The boys spent the day trying to find a leprechaun. I spent the day trying to convince them that maybe if they cleaned up the house it would be easier to see if there were any leprechauns hiding out in here. (Any opportunity to trick children into cleaning up I will take.)

We made another leprechaun trap cake as well as some pot roast with (supposedly) traditional Irish potato pancakes (boxtys) and mashed potato and cabbage dish (colcannon). I found the recipes online so I'm sure they are legit.

Before we had friends over for dinner we promised we would take the boys out leprechaun hunting. We gathered up some nets and drove around the neighborhood looking for mischief or anything green lurking about. When we drove past the church Bryce thought he saw something green dart past out of the corner of his eye. We let the boys out to investigate. And while they weren't quite fast enough to catch the little stinker they did find a pot of treasure! Will said "Hey! There's something over here! It's a pot! The leprechaun's pot!"

The boys were ecstatic. They were also a little worried that the leprechaun was going to be really, really mad. The pot is still being stored in our garage where they can keep an eye on it because they are convinced he will come try to take it back.

The pot has a striking similarity to one that has been in the flower bed in our front yard for the past 3 years, and which is now missing, but the boys haven't noticed its familiarity nor its absence. Makes me wonder what else could disappear and reappear as something new.

The boys were very excited to tell their friends, aunts, grandparents, etc. about their find, but they really were a little stressed that an angry leprechaun might come steal their money. Luckily we haven't had any go missing so far.

Review

The Dog who Came in from the Cold by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


These books are like bowls of chocolate ice cream: they always taste the same, but I could eat one every night.



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Review

The Forgotten Affairs Of Youth: An Isabel Dalhousie Novel by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Nothing much happens, as usual. An easy, enjoyable read, as usual.



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Review

Some day I will post something besides my book reviews...which I only post so that I can remember that I've already read these books.

La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Fans of Alexander McCall Smith might be surprised by this stand-alone novel. The tone is a significant departure from the lighthearted stories sprinkled with observations about human nature that I am used to from this author. The novel is well-written and enjoyable. The story takes place during WWII and while I wouldn't categorize it as a war story (war is more the backdrop), I must admit that the story line doesn't stand out in my memory as much as how it made me think about war. It boggles my mind that a generation had to live through not one, but two, devastating wars where your daily stresses included realities such as "I wonder if a bomb will land on my home and kill my family today or if I'll ever see my sons again?" in addition to the usual "What shall I make for dinner?"



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Review

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Funny, readable, and largely relatable despite the differences between my stay-at-home mom life and the author's movie exec, monied, New York lifestyle. A book of humorous essays, most of which were previously published elsewhere. Clean, unlike a lot of "humor" these days.



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Review

The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth: Popularity, Quirk Theory and Why Outsiders Thrive After High School by Alexandra Robbins

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This book simply tells you what you already know and could have done so in about 10 pages. Summary: traits that make kids unpopular can be the same traits that later make adults unique, creative, innovative, great leaders etc. The author calls this idea "quirk theory" and by coining the phrase seems to want to claim this discovery as her own. On the way we find out that people's personalities don't change that much as they grow up, that the so-called, self-proclaimed popular kids aren't really very happy, and that it is very difficult (if not impossible) to upgrade your social standing in high school. But if you went to high school you already knew all that. I couldn't read more than a chapter at a time as the writing style is very dry and much of the anecdotes and dialogue seemed forced and unnatural.



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Review

The Saturday Big Tent Wedding Party by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


An easy read. I always feel like I've had a short visit with old friends when I read McCall Smith.



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Review

Corduroy Mansions by Alexander McCall Smith

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


As always the author delivers a quick and easy light-hearted read. If you have read his other series you will find yourself mixing up the Corduroy Mansions characters with their doppelgangers in his other books.



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Review

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I am curious if there will be a sequel to this book because it just ends. The plot builds throughout the book and then reaches a crisis in the last few pages and there is not much resolution to the story. The story itself was interesting although I enjoyed the first half of the book much more than the second half. The most interesting part of this book was the note that all of the photographs are real photographs found by the author or borrowed from other sources. The photographs add a unique element to the book and the author is skilled at creating an eerie mood.



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Review

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was actually surprised to find that this is classified as Young Adult literature- not because there is inappropriate or explicitly mature material, but rather because the story centers on so many adult themes: class distinction, poverty, human relations, and essentially all the reasons that people do the things they do. I think the essay at the beginning of the edition I read explained it well when it said that is it hard to describe what the book is about. It isn't about much of anything really, but it is also about everything. All the major events that happen in a life happen through Francie's eyes. There is a reason it is a classic.



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Review

NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children by Po Bronson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is my favorite of all the parenting books I've read...and it isn't a parenting book at all! You won't find any advice on how to get little Jonny to stay in bed or to clean up his toys, but it will make you rethink your most basic parenting actions. Although the book is largely a report on various studies, it is very readable and interesting.



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Review

Have a New Kid by Friday: How to Change Your Child's Attitude, Behavior & Character in 5 Days by Kevin Leman

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I found many of the author's techniques helpful. I agree that a parent's job is to be a parent first and foremost and not to concentrate on being your child's friend. The writing is readable and interesting. I appreciated the anecdotes and humor. I think the main failing of this book is that the author doesn't provide alternatives for when the techniques don't work, he simply states that they will work! For example, he suggests that if you are shopping and you tell your child it is time to leave you should say it once and then walk away and don't look over your shoulder or wait. He states that your child will quickly run to catch you when they realize that you are leaving. Well, that may work with some children, but after trying it this weekend I can state that my boys did not care AT ALL that they had been left behind...even after leaving the building and waiting 15 minutes for them to decide they had been left. At that point it wasn't really feasible to leave small children alone any longer and I had to go retrieve them. This is one example of his "guaranteed to work" techniques that do not always work. I also just plain disagreed with some of the material such as the idea that a shy child is a selfish child who is just using shyness as way to gain power and manipulate others. I think that while some children may pretend to be shy in order to draw attention to themselves, many children are actually introverted by nature and it is not fair to force them to play with others or to suggest that they are being selfish if they would prefer to play by themselves. I could go on, but I will end here and in summary say that he has some useful advice, but, let's face it, no one has all the answers when it comes to raising kids!



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1 point to the Mom

I think I beat my kids today. Not that kind of beat. I mean, I think I was victorious in a major battle of the wills. The wills of Will and Sawyer vs. the will of Mom.

We have a daily problem that strikes at 5 o'clock. The boys decide they want to eat. By this point in the day, they've already had breakfast, lunch, and snack (plus second breakfast and second lunch in Sawyer's case). They aren't suffering from undernourishment. Five p.m. hits and they start scrounging through the fridge and raiding the pantry and all the while I'm yelling "STAY. OUT. OF. THE. FOOD. Dad is going to be home and we are going to have dinner. Get out of the kitchen!" We do this every day. Including today.

Today: Will opens the fridge. I tell him to close the fridge. He stands there, fridge open. I tell him to close the fridge and get out of the food. Will takes out an apple. I tell him to put it back and close the fridge. He takes a bite of the apple. I tell him he has 2 seconds to put the apple away and close the fridge. He hides behind the counter and continues to eat the apple. I tell him to put the apple down and now he has to go to his room. He darts to the stairs, but not quickly enough to conceal that he has the apple hidden under his shirt. I tell him to get back down here and put the apple down and then get back up to his room and not to come out until dinner is on the table. Screaming ensues.

In case you are wondering why I didn't physically take away the apple at any point in this process it is because I was on the couch feeding the baby = my boys think it is total free reign time to do whatever they want because Mom won't get up and stop them.

So Will goes up to his room and screams and kicks the floor and cries and comes out every 2 minutes with a pathetic show of "Can I puhleeeeeaassee come down now?" I tell him he won't be coming out until dinner is on the table.

Meanwhile, Sawyer, lest you think he is innocent, has also been ignoring my instructions to stay out of the fridge. He has removed a cheese stick and is hiding under the kitchen table and cutting it open with scissors.

I would also like to note that I offered them both apples and cheese sticks when Will got home from school and they responded by pretending to gag and proclaimed these options to be disgusting.

Bryce gets home. Will is still howling in his room. I make dinner for us and set it on the table. Will's seat has a plate and the only thing on the plate is a suspiciously familiar apple that is missing several bites. Sawyer's seat has a plate with an unwrapped cheese stick on it. I told everyone to come to dinner.

Now I will admit that the expression of surprise, followed by confusion, followed by sheer horror that played across their faces was pretty much the best thing I've seen all week. Will cried. Sawyer screamed and shouted that he wasn't eating it and that cheese sticks are disgusting and that he wanted salad. He's an odd child. Will cried. Sawyer smashed his cheese stick with the handle of a toy gun and screamed. Will cried. Bryce and I ate our dinner and ignored them.

And you know what? They eventually stopped crying and screaming and ate. Will ate the apple that was now "disgusting" because the places he had already bit had turned brown. Sawyer ate the smashed cheese stick. Then Will made himself peanut butter and jelly and Sawyer got himself a plate of salad.

I think I won.

Like, I seriously beat them. +1 to Mom

And I once had to lick spray Cheez Whiz off of the back steps of my childhood home, so really, I think they got off easy. -10 to Erin

Grumble All the Way - Hey!

I am actually doing pretty well on my Christmas to-do list this year. Not because I've done anything that amazing...but because I dialed my expectations waaaay down. Neighbor gifts? I won't even tell you what I originally planned to do - the totally-not-going-to-happen-ness of my original plan is ridiculous! So Plan B: dollar store treat bags filled with candy. Candy that I did not make. They are even delivered...well except for the HALF of our list that wasn't home last night. We didn't leave them on the doorsteps because I failed to put our name anywhere on them and by golly if I'm going to pass out candy produced by the good folks at M&M Mars then I want credit for it.


Of course, I probably should have worried about mailing Christmas cards before I worried about delivering treats to people 2 houses away. Last Saturday I managed to buy Christmas cards and printable labels because won't just typing in my addresses and having them all print out be such a time-saver? Actually no. No it isn't. I've been sitting here for 2 hours trying to figure out why the printer has decided to not print anything. It has been "warming up" for hours and has yet to actually do any work. Which is kind of like my approach to exercise, come to think of it. I could have hand-written all of my labels 4 times by now...but that would be letting the machines win. And as Hollywood has taught me, we can't let that happen. So the Christmas cards are sitting here waiting for labels. And stamps. But after my fight with "David" at Walgreens over whether I should be allowed to take my photos home it feels like I've invested way too much in these cards to just let them sit here and welcome 2012.

My shopping? Done. Well, except for a couple things for a certain spouse who came up with a list for Santa on Monday. And a certain oldest son who decided all other requests can fall by the wayside because what he really wants for Christmas is a shiny gold bell from the harness of Santa's reindeer. (Guess who read The Polar Express at school 2 days ago.) 2012 rule: all Santa lists must be submitted by Thanksgiving.

Wrapping? Not even started. Blank notebooks that need to be turned into books for spy maps, codes, and plans? Hmm. Better get on that. Grocery shopping for Christmas Eve and Christmas dinner. Nooooope.

And yet I feel like I'm actually way ahead of where I normally find myself 4 days before Christmas. That is sad.

The baby is screaming - did you know those things like to be fed like every 4 hours?!

Things I'd like to do...

Update my blog...but typing one-handed is so very slow and tedious.

---I now interrupt this post to transcribe Sawyer's current rant: "It's like you're a big, mean bully. It's like you don't like anything of mine. It's like you're a big robber. It's like I'm about to cut all your hair off. It's like we should live in the jungle and roll around and get covered in dirt. That's what it's like. Would you like that? I wish you were never in our family. Cuz it's not very nice. So I guess I'm thinking I SHOULD put it on the wall. You shouldn't have said that because now I'm very mad. See? I guess I'll say You're Stupid. So I guess I'm saying that you're stupid now. I think I should say you're stupid now...since you were mean and I wasn't. You were mean and I wasn't. You just wouldn't leave me alone. So I guess I changed my mind...I'm not letting you go anywhere. Even not to my birthday. I guess you're not going to get to go to my birthday. I guess you're not going to get to go to my birthday. I guess I changed my mind...we're not going to do anything on my birthday. And William doesn't get to. Only Daddy and me. Only Daddy and me get to do stuff on my birthday I guess. I guess you're gonna just do stuff by yourself. And I guess, maybe, I should wob (rob) your computer. I should wob (rob) it. I should maybe just steal your money...YOUR money. Maybe I should just steal your money. Steal it. Maybe I should steal your money. Maybe I should just steal..(pause)...Anyways, there are no more robbers. None more. Cuz there's no more people that could hurt us. So give me my candy back!! Mom, will you give me my candy bag? Since I ate a swandwich...a piece of bread...that's all I ate. So now can I have my candy? So I guess I changed my mind, we're not going to West Virginia and do fun stuff. And I guess when you make me stuff I won't say 'thank you' - I won't say anything to do. I'll never talk to you if you act like that. I'll never talk to you. I'll never do annnnnnyyything. Maybe I should never let you do anything. Maybe you should still come to my birthday but you don't really get food. And only Daddy and me are gonna get to play games. I guess."

---- This had been going on for probably a good 5 minutes before I decided to start writing it down. And it is all because he made a "hand" by taping together some random scraps of paper and presented it to me as a gift and then said he was going to tape it to the wall and I asked him to tape it to the window instead. Of course, he responded by taping it to the wall and I told him he needed to take it down and tape it to the window. Cue rant. This is the type of diatribe I listen to all day every day from him. I love how he forgets what he is yelling at me for and switches to yelling at me to get his Halloween candy for him. And somehow Will gets dragged into the mix and is forbidden from attending his birthday party as well...because every disagreement ends with him uninviting me to his birthday party. This time he also decided we wouldn't go to West Virginia after all. We have never actually had any plans to go to West Virginia, but I guess now it definitely won't be happening. How it all relates to rolling around in the jungle and getting dirty is a question only Sawyer can answer.

Now back to what I intended to write down. Things I'd like to do...
1. Update my blog.
2. Take a shower without the sound of a screaming baby in the background.
3. Stand up without holding baby.
4. Sit down without holding baby. She's lucky I kind of like her, because this is a baby that likes to be held. As in will scream if she is not being held. No matter how long she has been sleeping and no matter how carefully I slowly transfer her to a bed/couch/crib/playpen and set her down and slowly remove my hands...she will be awake and screaming within 2 minutes. I don't really make any attempts to accomplish anything these days so it isn't too much of a problem - but a 30 minute window to shower and, say, use the bathroom would be appreciated.
5. Wear non-maternity pants. Seriously hips...it has been 10 weeks...feel free to go back to normal width now. And I had a c-section so no need for hip-widening in the first place. But they didn't get the memo.

Time to make the baby mad by putting her in her car seat to go get Will. Sawyer usually rants the entire way to the school and back about how "annoyding" it is to have to go get Will because he "was busy." It's just so unfair that he has to stop doing exactly what he feels like for 10 minutes out of every weekday afternoon.

You're only a day away

Just heard from the hospital and we are scheduled to meet baby girl tomorrow morning at 7:30. Which means I have to have my showered self at the hospital by 5:30. Officially the world's lamest way to have a baby...but I suppose we'll keep her anyways.

If I haven't mentioned it enough times to anyone within earshot yet, I really, truly did not ever think I would have this baby on the 23rd of August. With my first baby being 10 days early and my second clocking in 22 days early I was very, very confident this baby would choose her own arrival date as well. But she seems content to just hang around in utero forever.

I'm not sure the boys believe us that she will be here tomorrow - or maybe they are just really unimpressed with the idea. They know that the doctors will "cut Mom's tummy open and take out the baby and then staple it up again" and they are entirely unconcerned about the idea. I don't think they have a total grip on the situation though because Will keeps saying that the baby will come out and then I will go to the hospital for a few days to get better while the baby stays home. We keep trying to explain that the baby will come out at the hospital and then Mom and the baby will stay at the hospital. It will be fun to see their reactions tomorrow when they actually see her. The boys had dentist appointments a couple weeks ago and the dentist asked Sawyer if he was going to have a baby sister soon and he replied "Well...maybe...she's been in there a long time!" I think he was beginning to doubt the whole thing. And I can't really blame him since he has been hearing about the baby since February, and seven months is basically as much of his own existence as he can remember.

Here's to an early morning!

Oh...did I never really mention I was pregnant? That is because I am still hoping to get around to adding pictures to all the posts sitting in my drafts section. Also, Will started 1st grade today and once I post about his first day of kindergarten I will be sure and get a post up about his first day of this school year as well. This is the kind of thing that happens when I'm pregnant.

My kids are 'special'

WILL

While riding in the car the other day...
Will: Mom? You know what I wish?
Me: What Will?
Will: I wish that Ronald McDonald were real and that I could fly.

On Sunday I was in the shower and Bryce was sleeping in. Apparently someone came to the door while we were thus occupied. I asked Will who it was and he said it was two guys. He said one was older and one was more like a kid. Several minutes later he walked up to me and said "Uhhh Mom? Actually I think they were children of men." Ummmm....ok?

We took the boys to the zoo a few weekends ago. It was free military day and the first Saturday without rain in oh, maybe 6 months or so, so it was insanely busy. At one point we saw a kid on a leash. Will was very interested in it. Later on in the day he told me "Mom? If you want to get me one of those leash things that would be ok I guess." I thought it was funny because his tone indicated that he kind of wanted one but didn't want to admit it - why he would want to be on a leash I don't know - but it has certainly crossed my mind before that he ought to be on one.

SAWYER

The other day we actually had some not terrible weather. The boys spent most of the day outside playing. Later in the afternoon we had to go somewhere and I needed Sawyer to put on clean clothes. I went to pull down his pants and he grabbed the waistband of his underwear and said "Don't pull down my underwear!" with a suspicious amount of panic in his voice. I said "Sawyer? Is there something in your underwear?" He said "Nooo." I said "Let's see"...at which point he reached in and removed 12 jumbo paperclips he had been hauling around in there. Then we had a 5 minute fight about why he couldn't put them back in. He finally agreed to leave them on his bookshelf "for later."

Three minutes ago Sawyer walked into the office and said "Mom? Can I have that pair of scissors?" He was holding a notebook. I said "Why Sawyer? Are you going to cut that paper up into little tiny pieces and make a big mess?" (Not that he's ever done that before.) He said "No. I just want to make a project." I handed him the scissors and with a huge grin he whispered "Haha! I'm sneaky!" I said "What did you say?" and he said "I'm so tricky!" I said "What are you going to do Sawyer?" and he replied "Make a mess!" and ran out of the room.

He's a tricky one all right.

While I was in the shower this morning he took a container of blueberries - purchased last night - out of the fridge, dumped them on the kitchen floor, and then stepped on each and every one.

Happy birthday Mom!

Hope you have a happy birthday Mom! Wish we could be there to celebrate. The boys ate Bomb Pops in your honor. Hopefully this video works.

To Mom - otherwise known as Moooooooooommm!

Happy Mother's Day. Hope you had a good day even if you had to spend it lying down. Just think - there were probably a lot of Mother's Days when you wished you could have spent all day doing nothing.

I tried to get a picture of the boys/me and the boys for Mother's Day...but see if you can guess who the problem child is lately.

We tried before church on Easter:

"Sawyer, can we please just take one picture?"

"Come on Sawyer, just one picture for Mom for Easter."

"Sawyer you are driving me nuts. All I want is 1 picture."

We tried after church on Easter:

"Ok. Now let's get your brother and remember to look at the camera."

"Come on Sawyer, it will be super fast, just 1 quick picture."

"Seriously? We can't even take 1 picture."

We tried tonight before bed:

"Sawyer. Look at the camera. 1 picture for Grandma."

"STOP KICKING."

I give up.

Did you really have 6 of these things?

At any rate - happy Mother's Day from this one:

and this one:



and this one (the most cooperative of all...please let it stay that way for a few years at least):


Love, Erin and co.