So sweet your teeth will hurt

My kids spend a good deal of time thinking of and implementing new ways to annoy the snot out of each other.

But then there are other times. Times that are so sweet my teeth hurt.

Times like.......

Allowing his sister to perfect her make up technique on him

Her allowing him to perfect his gentle touch. And not knocking him 

over when she inevitably gets poked in the eye with a make up brush

Ooooooh what else do you have in there? 

Allowing him to go through her purse.

She has a purse. He has a murse. 

There are times like riding bikes. 

And..... 

Walking into school

Allowing your little brother to play with you & your friends

Allowing your sister to play video games with you

And not throwing her off of you when she tries to say she's stronger. 

Being a good sport while trying on some fancy heels. 

Everyone knows... the first step to being a fabulous drag queen is learning to walk in heels

Yeah..... The days like that make me not care that it looks like a supermarket exploded from my kids' kitchen. Or the days when it looks like Nascar threw up all over my living room.

It makes me sigh with relief that we must be doing something right. 

Sibling Love

   

Have a brother, but wanted a sister

Here's what happens when you order a little sister, but the stork delivers a little brother. You make due. 

Poor Seany. It's gonna be cute when she's dressing him up in tiaras & tutus. 

Indian Summers Rock!

Today it neared 70 degrees. Normal temperature for this time of year is in the 40's. And that might be stretching it just a little. I mean.... we did get snow before Halloween this year. I know that everyone from farmers to weathermen were telling us that this year was shaping up to be generally milder than last year, but 70 degrees? 

We took full advantage of it. We went to Coney Island. 

First we stopped by the freak show. The performers were not performing today and won't be back until April, but we did go through the museum. I wasn't able to take many pictures, but..... It was cool. 

 

We went to the aquarium. Something we haven't done in a couple of months. It was like visiting friends you haven't seen in a while. 

Even the fish seemed to notice that we were back. 

We watched the sea lion show. For the first time in 34 years, I saw a kamikaze bird who saw an opportunity for a free easy meal. Unfortunately for him there was a sea lion on duty. The bird got away, but yeesh. The trainer went down and the bird flew away. 

 

It was so exciting for me to see my kids getting so big. Today we left the stroller at home so Sean could practice his walking and while he didn't walk as much as he should've (because of us, not him), he did get some practice in. 

Check out that action. Check out the lifting & bending of the knees. 

It was so exciting to see Sean sitting there clapping and Meredith acting silly. 

 

And then it happened. 

Some days it sneaks up on you. Those little moments when you look over at your kids and realize "Hot damn! They really do love each other!" I know I've said it before, but we're having more & more of those moments lately. We're having amazing moments that let me know life is grand. My kids' lives are perfect and they're going to be ok in the future because they have each other. 

We headed to the beach and the view could not have been nicer. 

I didn't let the kids get all sorts of sandy, but we did have some fun. 

 

And then I got sad that some of my favorite places won't be there next summer. We have learned the real story now about why they won't be back so that takes some of the sting away, but..... some of the boardwalk joints I grew up with are gone. 

It was cool to see the original signs for the spaces though.