No Fear

"How about this for dinner tonight, Mommy?" says Beach Boy.

"Though I do appreciate your 'hunterer and gatherer' self taking matters into your own hands, quite literally, I'll think we'll just go with pizza tonight," responds Mommy.

"Are you sure? He's already dead. I tackled him in small war I waged at the shore of the Atlantic," gleams Beach Boy.

"Yes, yes, I know Young One. I witnessed the act and amidst all my pride at your victory, I will abstain from crab legs for dinner just this time," notes Mommy.

"Tomorrow night then it is!" gloats Beach Boy.

(the onset of vocubalary for the 19 month old was amazing this week, as noted in the aformentioned documented conversation)

A Day in the Life...

I have been asked many times (mostly by men, mind you) what I do all day long. Most of the people are definitely asking in a "You must be bored to tears" kind of way. Others are simply asking to see if I enjoy it and/or to see if they might enjoy it one day.

I've often thought about keeping my hours and punching a time clock as soon as I hear "MOMMMMMMMMYYYYYY" coming from the crib down the hall at 7:30am and then punching out as soon as Carter walks in the door (because sista I am OFF DUTY when Daddy crosses the threshold!).

But lo, keeping my hours would take up too much time and I have other, very important things to tend to.

Obviously, during wake hours, my time consists of preparing meals, feeding meals, cleaning up meals, playing, drinking lots of coffee, refereeing, separating, and entertaining chillins.

HOWEVER, when that sweet hour of 1pm(ish) rolls around, I send babies to Dreamland and it's Mommy-time! Herein lies the 2-3 hour window of opportunity that my question-askers want to know about....What DO you do exactly?

Typically it begins with a little email time, a little silent blog reading, a checky check of the news to make sure there are no hurricanes coming, and a catch-up on hollywood gossip.

Then I play with money. Whoever invented online banking is a GENIUS because that little "transfer funds" button is so fun to play with.

Then I take a stroll through the house to see what should be cleaned up (note: key word is "should"). I decide if it's mandatory (typically it's not) and act accordingly.

For example, during today's stroll, I meandered through the garage/playroom and noticed the upheaval left by either Mr.Biggles or his cohorts Red & Blondie. I labeled it a "mandatory" and acted accordingly.

It would have been a travesty to leave them girls nekkid as they were. What with 2 gentlemen in the house whose eyes I must protect. I even did their hair so they wouldn't feel so disgraced.

Call it a day. I'm punching out.

The Best Medicine

I'm not much into dieting, nor exercise, really....unless it's something I enjoy like softball, swimming or running after toddlers. However, I firmly believe laughter each day can keep me healthy - the gut wrenching kind of laughter - that maybe burns 24,000 calories or so.

I used to say that my goal was to have one gut-wrenching laugh per day. That was a bit ambitious considering you can't force a gut-wrencher under any circumstances, particulary the mundane. So I lessened the goal to once a week. Doable.

I guess the stars were aligned just right last night because I definitely had a gut-wrencher that I believe may have just burned 72,000 calories . It got a tweed bit out of control. Carter and I were jousting (verbally that is) with little cracks back and forth when he said something that, to a normal human outside of the conversation, wouldn't have been funny at all (thus why I won't share the comment). However, something struck a cord and I lost it. When I regained a little bit of oxygen, he said something else (which again wasn't altogether that funny) but it took me over the edge.

It's kind of awkward when laughing turns into crying. Weeping is even more awkward.

Carter had joined right in with the gut-wrencher until he noticed the transition I was making into Weepville. Is it a woman thing? Because I was down right out of control. TEN MINUTES LATER as I was doing those short breath breathing things that babies do after sobbing, Carter looked at me and said "What just happened?"

72,000 calories went to calorie-heaven. That's what.

Home for good

Our final vacation for the summer is done. This time it was Orlando with the brothers and their fams. We enjoyed the 217 degree heat at Sea World for two days. Carter and I enjoyed it much more than the kiddos and kept saying "If they only knew how awesome this is!" but they couldn't see much past their sweat and lack of naps. Sister LOVED the dolphin show and Buster HATED all things show because anything that requires him to be seated for 30 minutes is utterly against his personality and he let the world know it EVERY TIME. We even got to ride Kracken, the insane roller coaster surely invented by someone who is not right. I can't wait to go back and do a weeklong full-out Disney trip when the kids are older and can enjoy it more. We better start saving now because if the tix are $70 now, they'll be about $350 by then!


The dolphin show


This is how they really felt about Sea World


The fam @ SW

Needing a Vacation from the Vacation

Our week away at the beach was just what the doctor ordered. For me. For us. And definitely for Buster Boy who had a struggling first 3 days but after a run to the helpful pediatrician who decided to see us as a visiting patient, he beat the virus. And thankfully he beat it right when the sun decided to start shining again, so things looked up! We had a great time swimming, playing, eating, and hanging out with the LARGE amount of family who trek it down every year (and this was the 25th year in a row - tshirts to prove it!). And to any Gillis crew reading this bloggy blog, we have GOT to get a vacation on the calendar. It's just too dang fun not to do!

The Akins clan (minus the 3 families+ who had to leave early)


The kiddos with their matching crab outfits given to us by our friend Allison.


4th of July BBQ lunch.



Kiddos at their favorite place.


Sandy toes.