march madness: gilfillan weekend

Friday night we started our weekend by going out for dinner and then going over to our friend's Kim and Dan's house. Kimmy and I have been friends for nearly 20 years (ouch) and have gone through so many phases of life together. Now we are raising kids together and over 4 years we have had 5 boys. Kim and Dan (and boys) just moved back to Columbia and I could not be happier.

Saturday we got Easter pictures taken and then went over to Granny Meg and Pop's for a special birthday celebration! Pop turned 60! The boys were so happy to spend the evening celebrating Pop's special day.

We had a wonderful dinner. Even though it was Pop's birthday, I got the squash casserole that I requested. Ahhhh, nothing like a loving mother to make your favorite even when the dinner is not being served in your honor!

We all had cake and the boys helped Pop open presents. Wyatt did his own thing...which meant that he hung out with Honey dog!


Sunday afternoon we went to an Easter egg hunt at my mom's neighborhood clubhouse! The Easter Bunny even came (thank you Pop). John and Andrew had no idea that Pop was the Easter Bunny; it was very cute and innocent! Kim also brought her boys, Charlie and Walker, and we all had a ball.

Now we are getting ready for our next big celebration: Andy and John's birthday!! Our little bears turn 3 on April 10th.

Grudge Holder

I was recently reading a friend's blog about her daughter who forgives, but does not forget.
It reminded me so much of our precious Andrew.

One time MONTHS ago John "burned" Andy's foot in the tub by turning on the hot water. When this happened it was scary. It could have been bad, but luckily it wasn't. Andrew's foot was not even red and I think that my gasp in response to John turning on the water was the real cause for the tears over the "burn".

Now, anytime the subject of burns comes up, you can bet what Andrew will say next.
Me: "Andy, back away from the stove; I do not want you to get burned."
Andy: "like when John burned my foot."
Me: "Do not touch the faucet; you might get burned."
Andy: "Yea, like when John burned my foot with the wather" (His "t's" are pronounced as "th")


Fast forward...

Wyatt found a small bottle in one of the cabinets and the boys were playing with it. We talked about the fact that this was the first bottle that John and Andrew drank from when they come home from the hospital. They are aware that they were "tiny babies" when they were born and had to stay at the hospital for 2 months while the doctors and nurses took care of them.

For some reason though, last night Andrew got fixated on the fact that we left him there.

We went to run an errand and from the backseat I hear Andrew talking.
"Mama, you left me at the hospital and I was crying."
Me: "No Andrew. You and John were together. You were not crying honey."
"Mama, you left me."
Me; "Andrew, we had to leave you so you could get well at the hospital. Daddy and I cried though. "
"No mama, you left me at the hospital and I cried."


Great....I might be hearing about this for the rest of my life.

Dinner Talk

While making dinner...

Me: "Andy, did you have a good day today."

A: "Yes, I did."

Me: "I am so glad, honey. Can I have a hug from you?"

A: "No, you can't because I have my hat on."

Me: "Okay, what about a kiss? Can I have a kiss?"

A: "Yes, you may."

Me: "Thank you! (Kiss, kiss) I missed you today, Andy."

A: "I missed Daddy."

Long pause....

A: "but I do love you."

Wow, I am really feeling the love!

So after dinner, while I clean up one end of the kitchen, here is what happens to the other end of the kitchen:

This is why I do not put a lot of time into cleaning my house...one of the reasons anyway. :)

Weekend Sun

P bear chillin' in the stroller... As usual, John is climbing. This picture captures him climbing the fence on the side furthest from traffic. He actually tried to scale the divider between the walkway and the on-coming cars at one point.

Andy caught on a ride on "Daddy's head".

It's pretty hard to believe that schools were closed at the beginning of this week due to threats of snow.

Joe Dirt

Merriam- Webster defines a mullet as:

a hairstyle in which the hair is short on the sides and top and long at the back.

P bear defines it as cute!

Friday Night Lights

On Friday night I decided to take the boys to eat dinner with Granny Meg. Saturday she would be heading back to Charleston for a while and she had bought them some clothes that she needed to give me (thank you, Mom) so after work we headed to her house.

We went inside and the boys started pulling out toys, opening drawers, throwing balls...the usual.
We decided on Sun-Ming for dinner and thought that we would just eat there instead of bringing it home. It was still early enough to beat the crowd which meant that few people's meal would be impacted by the boys' behavior.

I start piling the boys back in the car. Snapping them into car seats.
"Who has my keys"
John: "I do." (click, click, click....he is playing with the key fob.)
Andrew and John both start begging for tv....aaaaaackk, we are never going to get to dinner.

Me: "okay, okay, but I have to turn the car on for the movie to play, so let me have the keys."

I stick the keys in the ignition and turn it half-way, not actually cranking the car but allowing the DVD player to come on.
Elmo in, boys happy, Sun-Ming bound.

I get out of the back and shut the door.
Go to the driver door.

It's locked.


"You have GOT to be kidding me...MOOOOOOOOOOOM- I just locked the boys in the car."

We decided that John could probably get out of his car seat, so we start trying to talk him through it. He starts crying out of frustration within 3 minutes. We go around to Andrew's side of the car and try to talk him through unhooking his car seat. He won't even attempt it.

By this point John and Wyatt are both sobbing. My mom says that we need to call 911.

"911. What is your emergency?"
Me: "Well I am not sure if you consider this an emergency, but I just locked my keys in the car with my three kids in there."
"Okay, ma'am. Can one of them unlock the door?"
me: "Uh, no. I have tried that."
"Okay, ma'am. What are their ages?"
Me: "Two are two and one is one."
"Two two year olds and a one year old?"
Me: "Yes, I am serious."
"Okay ma'am, I am going to connect you to Pop-A-Lock"

ring, ring, ring, ring

"Pop-a-Lock, can I help you?"
I explain the situation.
"Okay, it is going to be over an hour. We have 12 people in front of you."

I am thinking "Doesn't having three kids locked in the car move me up in the line?", but I did not say anything.
The 911 operator speaks over the Pop-a-lock person and tells me he is dispatching the police department. He verifies the address and says the they will be there shortly. We hang up.

A couple minutes pass. All three boys are howling at this point.

My mom and I pace around the car trying to calm them down but we only make things worse.

Then we hear the sirens. Here come 2 firetrucks. Several firefighters pile out of the trucks. My mom's neighbors start coming out of their houses. The firemen shine spotlights on the car and start trying to get the door open.

John and Andy are wide-eyed in the backseat. Poor Wyatt is still sobbing.

It takes about 20 minutes, but they finally get in the car. I grab my P bear first; he is pouring sweat and tears.
The big boys just want to get out and see the firetrucks. They give the firemen hugs and high fives and thank yous.

My mom and I thank them all profusely. I forgot to ask their names.

All the neighbors go home, P stops crying, and we pile back in the car.

This time I hold the keys.