We spent 5 fun-filled hours with the littlest Fonescas last Saturday night, while Karen and Nelson went to a wedding. Ben ran them around outdoors while I made dinner (quesadillas and chocolate chip cookies), and after dinner we played a rousing game of Zingo and then they settled in to watch Alvin and the Chipmunks (Adlani’s 17th viewing). While we waited to see if Karen and Nelson were going to come back, I read stories and then we played the game where one person starts the story, the next person continues it, and so on. It was pretty hysterical – something about a girl who loses her magic toe ring in a mud puddle and dreams she can fly. We all survived, and I only had to dole out 2 time-outs. Not bad for 5 kids x 5 hours.

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This is one of my work projects – Russia Wharf near the corner of Atlantic Avenue and Congress Street in Boston. It’s planned to be a 31-story office/residential tower. The project stalled for a while when one developer sold the property to another for just over $100M, but it appears to be moving forward again. I drove by last weekend and the existing historic buildings (c. 1900) have been demolished except for their facades, which will be incorporated into the new design. Without getting into a debate about historic vs. modern, whether Boston needs another residential/office tower, etc., isn’t it cool how they built the structure to support the facades?

And just wait until you see the new locksets!

http://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/maritime/rus.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia_Wharf
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As some of you already know…I have a secret. I sleep around. Around the house, that is. I’ve slept in the guest room, in the kids’ beds, on the couch, and even on the floor. I rarely sleep in the master bedroom, because Ben and I are both magnetic and during the night the kids migrate to our bed and we end up a party of 5. If I start out in the guest room I usually end up with 1 or 2 kids but at least 1 ends up with Ben. I place the blame for this squarely on his shoulders. In Morocco, the kids sleep with the parents indefinitely. Under those circumstances, I don’t know how they ever have more kids! I mean really, where am I supposed to sleep? In the 2 square feet of blank space above Aliya’s head? Not to mention the fact that Norah has fallen out of bed about 10 times. Oh well…a family that sleeps together goes to the chiropractor together.
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A few cute sleeping pics of Adlani:
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