He's developing his father's skill with the zinger

Lincoln doesn't talk a whole lot. It's not that he's anti-social but he usually sits back and just takes in everything around him. I'm the one that chatters all the time. When we go out with others Lincoln just sits back, nursing his beer, and then - out of nowhere - comes out with the PERFECT one-liner. It's a skill he inherited from his father who does the same thing.

And now Jake is developing that skill.

I know you're saying to yourself, "Wait, Jake never shuts up. How could he sit back and wait for the perfect moment?"

Well, tonight he did.

Our niece Kayla came down for dinner tonight. After the main course the kids made "peanut butter roll-ups" with peanut butter and flour tortillas which Kayla invented. Hannah and Kayla went off on this whole long conversation about building a business around this idea. The whole conversation was hilarious with one or both of them cutting the other out of the business at one point or another. And for some random reason Hannah kept bringing up the fact that they had to make enough money to cover income tax. She's a smart kid.

But anyhoo.....

There was talk of Kayla cutting Hannah out of the business because she didn't like some of Hannah's ideas for expansion. After some good natured bantering back and forth she said to Hannah, "I'd never kick you out. You're family. That's how I roll."

And Jake, who had surprisingly been silent this entire time says:

"What am I, chopped liver?"

Deep Breaths

Earlier today my sister-in-law (the other Diane Snow) called and invited Lincoln and me to join her and her husband to listen to a band down at the Rose Garden. The Rose Garden is a bar here in town that is about 2 miles from our house.

Here's the thing. We didn't have a babysitter. So Diane (94)* volunteered her daughter Kayla to watch the kids.

Kayla is 11.

Yes, I started babysitting at 9. But Kayla is 11. And they're my kids. It's a whole different ball of wax, if you know what I mean.

I wanted to be okay with it. Kayla and her brother Kyle (age 17) are the most polite and most well-mannered kids that I've ever met but Kayla is still 11. E-L-E-V-E-N. It seemed old when I was 11 but now it seems like a baby.

And Jake agreed with me.

Jake LOVES Kayla. He calls her Kiki and she's one if his absolute favorite people in the entire world and yet when we told them she'd be babysitting he freaked out. He started crying and curled up in my lap and said "but won't there be an adult here!?!"

He freaked out so much I asked Lincoln if maybe there was something we didn't know that Jake was having some sort of sixth sense about. We decided to brave it and wrote down the number of the Rose Garden along with the number for Daddy's cell phone and 911.

Yes, I felt the need to clarify the number for 911.

At dinner we went over the rules with the kids and what was acceptable and what wasn't. I told them they should stop and think, "Would Mommy or Daddy say no to this?" before they did anything. It was all worked out and yet as we drove down the driveway I panicked that I didn't know if Kayla knew the Heimlich or not.

I'm usually a fairly laid back parent. When Hannah was less than 6 weeks old I used to leave her with a 12-year old while I went to the grocery store but I was a wee bit freaked out tonight. Kayla is really good with the kids but sometimes they get a little crazy. And Kayla was playing with Jake the night he split his head open jumping down the stairs a few years ago. It certainly wasn't her fault - and I was home at the time - but my nightmare is that he does it again while we're gone and no one is here to drive him the hospital.

Justin and Diane came down to drop Kayla off at 8:15 and I ended up quoting Spiderman. Lincoln would have been so proud of me. I said "With great power comes great responsibility." On top of that I said "Being in charge doesn't mean being bossy. It means being responsible."

Me, the most laid back parent in the universe was having a minor panic attack.

Even Diane (94) was making fun of me.

Me: We even went over fire plans with them. If there is a fire they're all supposed to meet at the apple tree.

Diane (94): Good God. Did you tell them what to do if someone breaks into the house too?

Me: Yes. They're supposed to hide in Hannah's walk-in closet.

Lincoln: And take the phone with them!

Originally I had given a timeline to Lincoln of one and a half hours....that was as long as we were to be gone. We had left the phone number for the Rose Garden (cell phones don't really work in downtown Upton) and had also taught Hannah how to text Daddy from Mommy's phone which we had left at home (texts come through but not phone calls) but I was still a wee bit nervous. Lincoln told me to do a shot when we got to the bar to loosen up but I didn't. I did, however, last an extra hour and we were home after 2 1/2 hours.

We came home and walked in the door to find Jake fast asleep - in his room no less! - and Hannah declaring Kayla to be "the best babysitter ever!"

It's amazing to me to think back to my childhood and how I started babysitting so young but now I'm a wreck when someone who is only 11 babysits my kids. Perspective on these things seriously change as you become older. It truly is amazing to view your own childhood through the lens of a parent. I always marvel at what freedom my parents gave me and how important it is to let my own kids have the same freedom.....it's just that much harder when they're your own.

*Diane (94) is my sister-in-law of the same name that lives on the same street. Her house number is 94 while ours is 106 so therefore she is referred to as Diane (94).

Snakes

Tonight I pulled into the driveway to see Lincoln, Kayla, Hannah and Jake all gathered around the stairs leading from our "garage" to the "breezeway".* Apparently there is a lovely little collection of snakes living down there. Yes, snakes....with an s. More than one. More than two I believe. Thanks to the Internet we identified them as a milk snake and a couple of ringneck snakes. And Hannah informed me that a garter snake went up our drain pipe the other day when she almost ran it over with her bike. We have lived here for over 7 years now and I think these are the first snakes I've ever seen. I've seen mice. I've seen frogs. I've seen toads. I have never yet seen a snake but I guess we're getting six years worth of them in one week. And while I would take snakes over frogs any day of the week, I'm not really digging it. Hopefully now that Lincoln cleared out their habitat they'll head out of our yard but I'm not really counting on it.

Sometimes I really hate living in the woods.

*I use the terms garage and breezeway in the loosest way possible since we poured the foundation walls for both when we moved into the house in 2002 but never put in floors, walls, or a roof. So while we technically park in the bays of our "garage" it's not really a garage as evidenced by the fact that, well, it doesn't exist.

I swim down a river with Al Gore and Lincoln still gets the last word in

Me: I just had the strangest dream.

Lincoln: Oh yeah?

Me: Tracy drew the state of Texas on my cheek while I was sleeping.

Lincoln: What?

Me: Yeah. And for some reason I have a dresser full of clothes at work. Kayla and Hannah were there and I asked Hannah "Did Tracy draw the state of Texas on my cheek?" and she said "Yes" so I decided to leave it on there and change into an old "Don't mess with Texas" t-shirt that I used to have. I was wet from swimming down a river with Al Gore.

Lincoln: So Tracy, Kayla, and Hannah were all there with you? What, no hubby?

Me: Well apparently you were off doing something which is why I had Kayla and Hannah with me at work. You and Jake were off somewhere.

Lincoln: Therapy probably.

Aspirin? Check. Water? Check.

This afternoon/evening is my niece's 11th birthday party. Hangover anticipated.

Life Lesson Learned (courtesy of Grandpa Dan)

After a long weekend we decided to go out to dinner tonight with the kids and our niece Kayla. Kayla has been down at the house the past two days playing with the kids while I work on the yearbook and Lincoln does everything else around our house (including our taxes which we haven't filed yet).

Jake: What's that noise?

Me: A blender.

Jake: What's a blender?

Me: It mixes things together. They're probably making a drink.....like a margarita.

Kayla: He probably doesn't know what a margarita is.

Me: Yes he does.

Lincoln: He's gone out to eat with Grandpa Dan often enough to know that one.

Grandma and Grandpa's Hotel

Since my parents live in Seattle and we usually see them either here at our house or at a hotel somewhere else in the country Jake firmly believes that they live in a hotel. This is only slightly different than the fact that Hannah used to believe that they lived at the airport because she always saw them at various airports in the country. Hannah was in 18 states before she turned one and we did a lot more traveling back then because she could travel for free as a lap infant. By the time Jake came along we had to pay for Hannah's ticket so we had slowed down quite a bit. Before that we used to meet Mom and Dad all over the country....Ft. Lauderdale, Las Vegas, Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Seattle, etc.

Anyway... Jake, Hannah, and Kiki are playing "hotel" right now and apparently Grandma and Grandpa's hotel is right next door.

The shovels have been found!

We finally let Jake, Hannah, and Kiki loose out in the snow to go sledding and they managed to find the shovels. One was at the end the driveway and one was laying in the yard between the "garage" and the playset. The other is still MIA.

Check out the snow that Jake is walking in. It pretty much comes up to the bottom of his butt.

The Spirit of the Season

Today the kids had their cousin Kiki* over to play. She stayed to have dinner with us and during dinner I was telling her there was a present under the tree with her name on it. That of course started the conversation about when the kids can open presents and what they've asked for from Santa. With three kids and two adults around the table that become a very involved and loud conversation. Out of the craziness Hannah spoke up:

Hannah: You know, it's not the presents that you get. It's about family.

Kiki: (sputtering) Oh...oh....oh please! You got that from a book!

*Kayla is her real name but when Jake was a baby he could only call her Kiki and it stuck. Considering she's a tomboy to the extreme it's pretty hilarious to call her Kiki....or Keeks.

The Snow Begins

The snow started coming down about an hour ago. The kids are out with their shovels right now with their cousin Kiki.

Maine

Our trip to Maine this past weekend was fantastic. We had gorgeous weather and it was very relaxing. The kids and I got up there about 4:15 on Friday afternoon. Lincoln, who had to drive up Justin's truck, got there about 6:30. We just hung out in the afternoon. Kayla took the kids down to the playground while Diane and I enjoyed our Leinie's and cheese curds. For those of you who don't know, my sister-in-law's name is Diane too...just to confuse everyone.

Diane's sister Donna has a trailer right next to Diane and Justin so it's great we get to hang out with her as well. Friday night we BBQ'd on the grill out back and started a campfire. We didn't stay up too late that night. Jake slept in the tent out back with Lincoln. Hannah and I slept in the built-out room off the trailer.

Saturday we hung out in the morning and then headed down to the beach. I couldn't believe it but I managed to forget my camera back at the campsite. The kids had a blast playing in the sand and the waves.

After that we headed back to the campground to take showers. I went in with Hannah and then took Jake in the shower with me. He normally takes baths, and not showers, so when I put the shampoo on his head and some dropped down he screamed "you got some on my wee wee!". Some lady who had the fortune to be using the bathroom at the time started cracking up as did I.

After that Jake went down for a nap while we waited for everyone else to come back from the beach and shower. For dinner we went to Ruby's in town. It was a great dinner and we ate outside which was nice but my feet ended up getting chewed up by the bugs. I have 7 bites on just the top of the my left foot. After that we headed back to the campground and played Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture. No matter how many magazines I read (People, Entertainment Weekly, Star, US Weekly, etc.) Lincoln always manages to pull out a win somehow. Damn him.

Sunday we got up and started to pack up the car. I always like to pack up in the morning so that we can enjoy the rest of our day without that hanging over our heads. After that Lincoln and I took Hannah, Jake, and his niece Kayla to Fox's at the Nubble Lighthouse for lunch. The restaurant is nice but the kids' favorite part is climbing on the rocks afterwards. I'll post a few pictures below.

We headed home a little after 6 p.m. Surprisingly there wasn't much traffic and we stopped in Westford for dinner which broke up the trip nicely. We still got home about 8:45 p.m. The kids went right to bed and then Lincoln and I both crashed. Another successful trip. We don't have another one until August when we head to Seattle (and our trip within a trip to Couer d'Alene, ID). Then in September I'm going on a mystery weekend away for Tracy's 40th birthday. I can't talk about the trip on the blog until after it happens because while she knows we're going away Tracy doesn't know where we're going yet. Denise and I have planned the whole trip and have only told her which days to take off from work. But trust me, it's a good win.

That's all for our weekend in Maine. See below for pictures of their rock climbing adventure.

Go Red Sox!

Today we took Lincoln's niece Kayla to her first Red Sox game for her birthday. Along for the ride were her mom and her brother Kyle. We had a great time. It was hot as hell (95 degrees at game time) but a lot of fun. We played the Seattle Mariners so for you Seattlites reading this....GO SOX!!!

Two days in a row of sporting events in 90+ degrees heat has done us both in. We are beat. Mom has been staying with the kids and they're having a blast. She took them to the small, local zoo today and they had a great time despite the heat.

Tomorrow kicks off another week of crazy schedules. Monday is dance recital pictures and Little League, Tuesday is her piano recital, Wednesday is dance rehearsal #1 and Little League, Thursday is the office party I'm hosting, Friday is dance rehearsal #2, and Saturday is her dance recital. Sunday, of course, is Father's Day. Wish us luck that we survive this week. Maybe Lincoln will actually get a chance this Father's Day to lay in his hammock (a Father's Day gift from a couple of years ago) and strum his guitar (last year's Father's Day gift).