Tonight, we picked up Daddy at work so we could attend a “Spending Revolt” rally at the coliseum. Being that it took place at their bedtime and all, the kids didn’t make it long, but at least we made it out to the event. But the funny thing was that it didn’t dawn on Stephen and me till we were pulling in our driveway some 2o minutes from his work that we never stopped by to get his car after the rally — a fitting anecdote to typify our zany lives.

Mommy takes the twins for a ride on the Lazy River @ our Surfside Beach condo.

I suppose the big news is threefold. First, Gabriel and Zeke start speech therapy this week. Last week, they had their evaluation with “Miss Pat,” who determined that Zeke scored in the third percentile and Gabe in the fifth on their standardized evaluation for “expressive speech delay.” As said previously, they’re in the top of the charts for hearing, comprehension, following multi-step commands, etc., but they just don’t feel it necessary to use that many words we big people use.

So, Gabriel and Zeke will be meeting one on one with Miss Pat for 45 minutes a week — Gabe on Tuesdays and Zeke on Wednesdays. I am confident they’ll respond quickly to the individualized sessions with Miss Pat, who seems to be the perfect, caring, laid-back but on-the-ball fit for the double trouble we’ll be sending her way starting tomorrow. (Vocabulary update: Zeke’s current favorite words are “nah nah” (Daddy) and “byun byun” (pumpkin), and Gabe’s are “moo” (moon), “doo doo” and “poot” … you probably don’t need a translation for those last two.)

Second, Houston used his last diaper yesterday. We polished off his pull-ups a while back, but still had some sleep diapers left. So we’d let him use them for naps or at night, if he so chose, but always reminding him that once they were gone, they were gone. Of course, he has accidents on occasion, but I’d say he’s 99% there. And to top things off, Gabriel peed in the potty before his bath last night, proudly mimicking big brother. If all three of my boys would soon be out of diapers, I’d be the happiest mommy around.

Zeke (foreground) & Gabriel trek up the Liberty Loop path.

Third, Houston is no longer taking naps on a daily basis. It had become such a struggle to get him to fall asleep (and to do so without waking up the twins). On those days when Houston would nap, he’d end up getting in to bed way too late at night. And on those days that he absolutely refused to sleep, I ended up wasting a bunch of time dealing with his shenanigans, frustrated and wondering why it had to be such an ordeal. Well, being that I get him into bed around 7 p.m. on his napless days, he’s still getting about 12 hours of sleep a day. So, Houston’s well-rested, I’m happier, and Gabe and Zeke have much quieter naps now.

Other stuff … Granny and Grumps came to visit for Labor Day weekend. This gave Stephen (a.k.a. Daddy the handyman) the time he needed to fix our dryer and me the opportunity to work on demolishing our encroaching kudzu. To get to the invading vine and all of its roots, I had to cut an access path into our backyard mini-forest.

While back there in the thick of it, I decided it would be a great idea if I connected the backyard path I made in the spring to this new one. And so was born “Liberty Loop” — a steep and adventurous circular trail that provides the boys lots of entertainment and exercise, and Mommy lots of teachable moments on the subjects of hiking and the great outdoors.

Houston poses for a shot w/ a firefighter @ the “Healthy Kids, Healthy Smiles” fest.

Also in early September, we got professional family portraits done at JCPenney. Let’s just say that Zeke did not want to cooperate and our pics may eventually find their way onto awkardfamilyphotos.com. Overall, though, I think they turned out as good as can be expected and do a fine job of capturing in still shots what a wild ride it is here around the zoo.

Then our pediatric dentist put on the “Healthy Kids, Healthy Smiles” festival. The event featured all sorts of emergency vehicles and personnel, games, play equipment, free toys and dental stuff, as well as free popcorn and Ruth’s Chris sliders — both huge hits with our hungry dudes!

More recently, Aunt Lisa and her awesome boyfriend, Albert, visited Clan Dillingham for a few days. We had a blast with those two cooking freaks and thoroughly enjoyed consuming all of the delicious appetizers, meals and snacks they created for us. Moreover, Lisa and Albert both love kids, so the 3 Amigos were in heaven with all the extra attention and fun.

With boys covered in food, making a mess & screeching like banshees, it’s just a typical mealtime for Mommy.

Then a couple nights ago, we went to a surprise birthday party of one of Stephen’s co-workers. The kids had a great time playing with wrestling action figures, playing pinball, climbing stairs and barstools, exploring the backyard, enjoying meeting new people and staying up way passed bed time.

Click the above photo to view all the September – Part 1 pics; the hiking shot for Part 2 stuff; HL and the firefighter for some of our around-town fun; and the top pic for more beach shots … and a hardy thanks goes out to a nice lady named Amy who took it upon herself to snap these pool photos and actually email them to me after the fact. Very nice.