St. Patty's Day Cookies Giveaway!

I love St. Patrick's Day. I admit that it's mostly because it's my birthday and it always feels like everyone is celebrating with me as they raise their foaming glasses of green Guinness and "Kiss Me I'm Irish" or "Kiss Me I think I Might be Irish" pins. I think it's also why my favorite color is green, actually. Oh, and Saint Patrick was a pretty okay saint as well. I've found two four-leaf clovers in my life, so that's amazing. It's not like I comb through pastures of clover, it's just that, well, clearly luck is with me.

In honor of St. Patrick's Day and of my birthday and of cookies and of finding a cool gal with a bakeshop, I am hosting a giveaway this week for some green yummy cookies from Jessica at J & J Bakeshop. J & J Bakeshop is a home-based bakery in Centreville specializing in hand-decorated sugar cookies. I first met the cookies when I went to the NOVA Live blog and charity event last month. I wrote about and photographed one cookie, in fact. I really liked it. (And so should you) Here they are:

She's going to donate a dozen of these green cookies to the lucky(!) winner:

The giveaway starts now and will go through Wednesday evening. She will send them in the mail on Thursday so they should arrive at any local location by Friday, and to some farther away locations by Saturday-- the lucky day. All you need to do is like Whispers & Shouts on Facebook (or just below here on the right) and post a comment below. It would also be awesome if you became a Follower if you aren't already. 

To put you in a green, festive mood, here are some pictures of the boys from their first two St. Patrick's Days and from an early birthday party my in-laws threw me tonight. And so begins preparation for their third St. Patty' Day!

Now go win some cookies!

Angry Birds vs. Angry Clark

Clark is acting like a teenage girl lately. For one thing, he’s obsessing over his hair. If it ever gets any hint of static or he imagines that there is static, he starts wailing about wanting water on it. If his pants are pulled up too high, he freaks out. He doesn’t like his food to touch on his plate. Everything surrounding him is of dramatic importance.

To best illustrate the drama surrounding Clark’s difficult and stressful life, I’ll use an incident from the other day:

1.       Clark hurts his finger and cries.

2.       I tell him that Daddy bought Angry Birds (a new obsession) band-aids for them!

3.       I put on said band-aid.

4.       Clark is happy.

5.       Two seconds later, Clark starts crying because the yellow bird is covered up and he couldn’t see it and that is his favorite bird.

6.       I calm him down by showing him how cool the other birds are.

7.       We leave the house and start down the stairs.

8.       Clark begins screaming hysterically because holding the rail on the normal side he walks down feels weird because of his band-aid on his finger.

9.       I show him he can use the other rail with the other hand and it doesn’t feel weird.

10.   Clark sits down on the top steps, yelling, “no! no!” with tears pouring down his face.

11.   I go to pick him up and carry him down and he shrieks even more, slapping at me.

12.   I go down the stairs with Cal and leave him to his tears.

13.   He eventually comes down and is happy.

14.   We go for our walk.

15.   We stop at a restaurant for lunch.

16.   As soon as he gets his food he starts wailing about how he can’t eat with his band-aid on. “Get it off! Get it off!”

17.   People stare.

18.   I take the band-aid off and put it on his coat, which is on the back of his chair.

19.   He smiles at it and starts eating.

20.   He notices that from where he is sitting and eating, he cannot see his band-aid-turned-sticker.

21.   He again starts wailing about it.

22.   I tell him he’s being ridiculous and I throw it away.

23.   More screams and more stares but he eventually calms down.

24.   He finishes his chocolate milk and starts crying that it’s gone.

25.   We leave.

I guess he’s just going through a phase, but it’s one that makes me want to routinely bang my head against a wall. He also threatens us. He threatens to spank us or yell at us or bang something really hard! on the floor or table or something. I guess he's revisiting this phase from last year. Fortunately Cal has been milder in general these days. He prefers to engage in silent mind games by refusing to apologize or admit what he did was wrong even though it means staying in his bed.

So I’m sure this makes you want to go out and have kids, right? Specifically twins? The amazing thing to me is how quickly they can go from having an epic meltdown to being charming again. I guess that’s how they survive in our house. Cuteness and sweetness outweigh screaming fits of unbridled and irrational rage. 

I’m so glad they won’t one day be teenage girls. Then the drama would be over things like boys and shoes and purses and tampons and things. I'm way better with band-aids and chocolate milk.

Can't imagine him angry? Come visit in a few minutes. 

Pool Wars I and II

This summer there have been two pool wars.

The first one was so horrendous, so heinous, so traumatic, that no photographers were able to capture a single picture of the incident. According to alleged eyewitness accounts, the timeline of events went something like this:

POOL WAR I

1.    Happy, excited parents get ready to take 2 year-olds, who liked the pool last year, for their first swim of the season.

2.       Parents load said 2 year-olds into the stroller and stroll over to their clubhouse.

3.       Children are chatting, talking about the pool and swimming.

4.       Children are divided up, one per parent, and ushered into separate dressing rooms.

5.       Parent 2 hears shrieks and screams coming from other dressing room as Parent 1 attempts to wrangle Child 1 into his one-piece floaty swimsuit doo-whopper.

6.       Parent 2 tries to wrangle Child 2 into the other one-piece floaty swimsuit doo-whopper and hears eerily similar shrieks and screams in the process.

7.       Flustered parents make their way out to the pool, dragging tear-stained Children.

8.       The scene: A father and his two happy sons frolic in the perfectly blue water and two willowy women of leisure recline with chunky sunglasses, discussing yoga and wine-tastings.

9.       Parents, thinking the children will calm when they enter the water, quickly enter the water, Parent 1 by way of jumping in and taking Child 1 in his arms, Parent 2 by carefully walking into the water from the shallow end.

10.   Childrens' bodies stiffen.

11.   High pitch shrieks of terror reverberate off the white pool deck.

12.   Parents talk calmly, exchanging panicked glances with each other, trying to comfort and soothe the monstrous creatures writhing in their arms.

13.   Foreign exchange student lifeguard shifts uneasily in her chair.

14.   Happy young boy swimmers offer Screamers their kickboards, hiding their shock at the sound level reached.

15.   Women raise waxed eyebrows.

16.   Parents return Screaming Monsters to the deck.

17.   Parent 1 jumps in the water, showing Screamers that he is fine, that he is having fun, that nothing bad is happening to him.

18.   Screamers start gagging they are crying so hard, “Daddy get out!”

19.   Daddy gets out.

20.   Screamers huddle together for comfort, still shrieking, but calming slowly.

21.   Parents agree they cannot continue to torture their fellow swimmers and must leave.

22.   Parent 2 points out a spider on the edge of the pool on the way out.

23.   Both Children stop fussing and bend over to see the spider.

24.   Spider goes into water.

25.   Children don’t want to leave the spider and start screaming again.

26.   Parents haul Screamers out.

27.   Lifeguard chuckles awkwardly in Polish.

28.    Parents exit clubhouse and stuff children, now calm, into the stroller, still in their one-piece floaty swimsuit doo-whoppers.

29.   Children look at each other and say, “Fun pool.”

30.   War ends, Children having defeated Parents.

POOL WAR II

For Pool War II, which was a good solid month and a half after Pool War I, the parents were much more prepared for possible reactions and sought to minimize all reactions beforehand.

Children were shown a slideshow of pictures of themselves enjoying the water last summer as little 1 year-olds. This time the destination was a backyard and the pool was a blow-up pool with water maybe a foot and a half deep. There was temperature control. There was a lot of talking about the pool being a big bathtub. There were several toys to play with in the pool. The stage was set.

Upon time to enter the screaming began anew. Just as loud. Just as dramatic. Just as violent. It was neighborhood noise pollution in its most natural form. This time we did have a photographer on hand and so it is with pleasure that I present to you Pool War II, as a photo story.

Children watch slideshow of water fun last year

Brilliantly fun little pool

Drama increases as Children pace, wailing

After shrieking does not subside, Parent 2 enters pool fully clothed

Agony!

WHY?

I do not deserve this.

Okay, this actually feels kind of good.

Child 2 humors Parent 1 with shark face

Fun toys!

Can I slide down the tail?

No, but the car can!

I'm still not sure, but I think the Parents won Pool War II. Only time will tell. Meanwhile, those of you whose kids are normal like the pool, count yourselves blessed.