mother's day and birthday, all in one

My mom had a blast finding these on the beach while Jim was clamming. This is how old I am. Looks like a lot. Good thing they are not candles.

Tucker helping clean up the clams and sand dollars.

Whitney clamming. She face planted in the water, but didn't cry. What a trooper!

Whitney and Tucker running in the water on the beach

The best part of the beach was climbing up and down sand dunes, obviously. Tucker with Daddy

This one is for Aunt B. Whit's first time wearing the sweater.

Daddy and Tucker after a very long night of throw ups and who knows what else.

Tucker and Whitney running on the beach.

Early morning car ride to the clam beds

Jim with his clam gun, but look at the thousands of people along the shore behind him. The beach was like this as far as we could see
Whitney looking for rocks. Clams are overrated

Mina cooking real chile rellenos for my birthday

Whitney less than excited about the early morning car ride


This week was a week of molars coming in. Very exciting. Tucker also learned to open caps to lotion bottles and toilet lids. Very exciting new skills. Whitney has been taking off all the heater vents. We found out they are not anchored to anything. They also learned how to climb in the stroller by themselves. Whitney continues to pull weeds and Tucker is learning to steer his car and kick the ball with more finesse. It is now fairly safe to let them go up and down the stairs with minimal supervision. Tucker's hugs are getting less fierce, so Rocky is doing better, but Whitney still wants nothing to do with Tucker touching her most of the time, even if he is giving her a hug. We also had a fun time going on a short hike and having a twin play date with friends.

Jim started work this week. That is one amazing feat and wonderful for all involved.

I had my birthday on Saturday and Mother's day on Sunday. A note on Mother's day. First of all, I'm so very glad to be able to enjoy Mother's Day with my own babies and not as "honored woman status". However, enjoying mother's day was different than I expected. I guess it is better to lower expectations significantly, as soon as possible. For some reason, in addition to being spoiled rotten, I expected to sit through church quietly, not change any diapers and generally take a day off from all mothering duties. Hah. No problem, if I have no problem listening to the babies whine and whine and whine and whine. I guess they had too much fun yesterday not really sticking to their nap schedule, so two days in a row of no nap made them both very grumpy and always wanting to be in arms with said honored mother. Oh well. I was very spoiled and appreciated regardless, so it made for an extra special day two days in a row. Jim captured, killed, cleaned and cooked crabs for my birthday dinner yesterday, then made dinner tonight, too. I also have lots of beautiful tulips to look at. My favorite mother's day present was a card I got with Tucker and Whitney's signature and hand prints. Jim colored each babies' hand with a marker to make the handprint, since he couldn't find our ink pad. And he did it on the sly. I had no idea what he was doing. Such thoughtfulness. I'm also amazed because I didn't even notice the babies hand color during bath, which means he cleaned up. My favorite birthday present from hubby was a gift card for a massage. I'm so very looking forward to that one.

As far as my birthday, yes Sis Perry, you got the date right, I got lots of phone calls from people, making me feel loved and important, and time to be outside on an adventure with the people I love most. Couldn't be happier.