You say it's your birthday . . .

It's not anybody's birthday at our house, but have been invited to some awesome throwdowns at various Bouncy-Gym-Zoo-Kid places this month. A&S LIVE for these parties. It's all they talk about for a week before and after. In fact, if your preschooler is planning a party and needs some extra guests to round out your numbers and liven up the crowd. CALL US. We will come and bring you a gift. And only the birthday child will be more enthusiastic than our children.

Here's some snippets of conversation Pre and Post Party today. Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Sasha: "Mama, is it the right day for Becca's party?"
Alex: "We're going to BOUNCE!!!! HIGH!!!!! [Jumps up and down for effect]"
S: "Wheeeeeee! I'm so excited!!!!! Will there be presents?"
Mom: "Yes, but this is Becca's special day. Remember, you already had a birthday party and Becca brought you presents. "
S: [Tears, scrunched red face] "But I want presents. It's MY birthday."
Mom: "No. It's Becca's. We are going to be happy for Becca or you are going to sit in the car while Alex bounces."
A: I'M GOING TO BOUNCE!!! AND RUN!!!!! AND BOUNCE!!!! [still jumping around the room]
S: "Noooooooo. I want presents. For my birthdaaaaayyyy!" [tears return]
Mom: [remarkably calm considering this is the 7th time this week we've had this conversation] "Sasha, can you keep it together and be happy for your friend? You need to be happy for her or wait in the car. Which do you want?"
A: "I'M GOING TO JUMP AND JUMP AND BOUNCE AND EAT CAKE! CAN I EAT CAKE?"
S: [sniffling and holding on by the thinnest of threads] "O. K. but at my birthday party I want presents. Princess presents. Pink Princess Presents. "
Mom: "Yes. In 10 months, you will get presents again."
A: "BOUNCY, BOUNCY, BOUNCE!!!!!!!!!! LETS GO BOUNCE RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

Random bits of Yama

We're very busy having a great time here in the land of Yama. Some recent highlights:

• Blake and Casey are smiling a lot--at us, at lights on their swing, and when they poop their pants.

• Sasha is deeply entrenched in the D1SNEY-PRINCESS-MARKETING-COMPLEX. Another mom might object to this completely transparent advertising strategy designed to increase corporate profits at the expense of her daughter's soul. I think it's adorable and love talking about all the princesses stickers, dresses, purses, and various other accessories she has or wishes she had. I've even found that I can use this branding hysteria to my advantage. If I want to convince her to do something against her will, I preface it with "pretty" or "princess." Like, "Don't you want to eat these Pretty Princess Green Beans?"

• On that note, Sasha wants to DANCE. She longs for dances classes and *pretty* dance dresses and shoes. Our current scheduling situation doesn't really allow for a regular class, but we're looking into some temporary summer options. She is likely to take a class with her brother, so we're trying to find some good gender-neutral camps. According to Nu , "Fairy Camp" is not an option.

• Alex and Sasha are signed up for Soccer this spring. We're looking forward to the family outings and hysterical stories about a bunch of preschoolers playing their first organized sport. While they both like playing Soccer with dad, Alex has shown the most interest so far. He has mastered the Dribble, the Drop Kick, the Header, the Heel Kick, the Fake, and the ridiculous dance Brazilian players do when they score a goal. Now if only he could use these skills while actually playing soccer . . .

• Nu and I are back at work and finding it to be . . . pretty good actually. Multi-tasking is the name of the game and we're finding creative ways to save time and still have adult social interactions. For those of you planning to have multiple multiples (as I'm sure MANY of you are), let us share some of our slightly shady but effective short-cuts:

1. We accept that we will be late to everything. Not that we were on time before, but not now we have a really good reason.
2. We eat mostly from our freezer or our pantry. We keep soda and beer in our produce drawers now. Again, it's not that we were organic vegans before kids, but now we don't even pretend to eat fresh food.
   
3. We do not change anyone's clothes unless they are smelly or visibly dirty.
   
4. Same rule from above applies to diapers.
5. Same applies to baths. Unless we're at Babas where she does it for us. :)
   
6. We invite our friends over after dinner to have fun at our house. Long live Club Nu!!!
   
7. We utilize DeboYama's hard-earned higher education to figure out how to get 4 kids and the groceries in a shoppinig cart at Target. It's pretty heavy to push, but it can be done.
   
8. We hold onto the kids' naps with a ninja-like-death-grip. Our sanity relies upon rested children and afternoon down-time. I will do everything short of tranquilizers to keep the big kids napping--or at least reading quietly on days they're not tired. So far, so good.
   

We'll post more pictures soon, but we're having trouble finding the time to take them! We MUST, MUST break out the video camera soon or B&C will grow up to think we kidnapped them as toddlers! Until we get it together, check out our Picasa Feed on the sidebar.