Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! We had a nice Christmas and now I'm sitting here in the messy aftermath. Charles and I stayed up late doing the Santa thing. We even set up the train tracks on the train table and it was really fun. When the kids finally got up in the morning (I was growing impatient! They slept in on the only day that I didn't want to!), Griffin was just thrilled to see it all laid out below. They were all excited to go downstairs and see what Santa brought We opened presents and had breakfast and I think that was one of the best parts of my day. We had breakfast in the dining room and the kids didn't have their booster chairs. I sat there looking at my family in the sunshine--Kenna and Griffin sat across the table from me on their own and I could just see Kenna's eyes. Seeing their little faces around my table was just the best. I was really proud of my breakfast too, since I made my own bread just like my Mom always did. Cinnamon swirled wreath bread, scrambled eggs and sliced oranges. Next year, when Charles can walk, we'll have frittata like his dad always used to make. Later, we played with toys and hung out. Last night, walking in after dinner at Debbie's carrying sleeping babies back into my messy toy strewn house I was struck by how my house smelled like Christmas and it was just such a nice feeling to be coming home with my family on Christmas day. I guess it must be the result of baking the bread, but my house just smelled like home always used to smell when we would come home from my Grandma's.
Today I had the traditional day after Christmas. I laid around and did close to nothing (except read a book). I still had to do all the mom stuff and the waiting on Charles stuff, but I kept it to a minimum ;-) I did kick some of the toys under the tree before the pizza guy came. I also ate too much junk food. This is all working up to the traditional feeling gross and needing to eat better and clean everything by New Years day to start fresh again. What can I say? I'm a traditionalist!

Out with the Old Hardware

Hi all. Yeah, I know I've not been writing but it has been a busy month. When I realize that I haven't blogged in a while then it gets harder to do it because there is so much to say. Charles had his surgery today and it went well. I've been busy like crazy and I'm feeling beat tonight so I'm not going to write much. Took twins to dr. yesterday for their 18 month checkup and K is growing! She's now in the 25% for height. Yea Kenna! Still in 5% for weight though. Griffin has a sinus infection again but I forgot to give him his meds today since I wasn't home this morning. The twins are talking more and more. The dr. asked me how many words they say and I have to tell you that I just had no idea. I remember that with Laney I was so involved in each milestone and now the babies I feel like, whatever that's fine. My guestimate on words? about 15 for G and 20 for K. Depends on criteria for counting. They both understand everything you say however. G told me this week twice when I got him in the morning that he'd pooped (and he had). The second time he told me that he "poo poo nigh nigh". On the way home today from the store (he and I went to get C's r/x together since the boy freaks out when his momma leaves and I took pity on my mother in law) he told me that he was going nigh nigh. bye. and fell asleep. aw. Kenna says a lot more than Griffin does and it's super clear. She's also starting to make little sentences with verbs. "Fro Ball" and that sort of thing.
I went through my pictures today for our playgroup dvd and just can't believe how much they have all changed this year. Wow. I didn't think Laney had changed all that much but she really has. I've got to go and get some sleep since I'm dragging butt.

Animal House

My poor son is getting bit by everyone. His older sister, his younger sister. They are little animals and he's so sweet (most of the time). Kenna bit him at least three times today and then Laney bit him too. Luckily the girls are taking some cues from him occasionally and giving him some love too. The twins were so cute tonight while I was making dinner. Griffin hugged Kenna. He's also a kisser, but you have to watch out for the tongue...
Kenna was grouchy all day today and I'm not sure why. She's been drinking an incredible amount of liquids lately and is always thirsty. She also removed her diaper in a rage tonight. So I asked her if she wanted to go sit on the potty and she ran in to do it (!). She sat there very pleased with herself until Griffin pushed her in.
Hmm. What else is going on? The tree is getting raided at an astonishing rate. Somehow G got hold of a glass ornament ball and was trying to eat part of it. I let them walk in to pick up Laney at school today and it was like herding cats. Thought we might try it out, but I don't think it's any easier.
I'm very close to getting the Christmas shopping finished though I need to get nieces and nephews presents. Need ideas... I've been going a little crazy with Christmas shopping I think. I need to wrap things and figure out what I've bought. So I'm probably getting carried away. But it is so much FUN!! I bought G a train table today. Which takes up massive floor space, but I think all of the kids will enjoy it. And I'll be able to pick up trains as well as kitchen crap. Yeah, there is a downside to everything. Practical me says to return some of it. Xmas me is getting excited for Christmas morning. I'm not sure who will win. I haven't been this excited about a Christmas since I was actually a kid. I'm going to start wrapping tomorrow.

Ho Ho Holy Crap that's a Big Tree

We put up our brand new artificial tree over the weekend and it is ENORMOUS. The 7 1/2 footer looked sort of puny at Costco so I bought the 9 foot tree and it is just huge. On the up side, it looks good in our living room with the high ceilings. Downside is that it will never fit in a regular house should we move. I didn't realize that the measurement didn't include the stand height. But anyway, we've been having fun decorating it and starting the Christmas thing. I can't tell you how much I'm enjoying Christmas. I feel like we're really a "family" now and the kids are so excited by all of the stuff that I'm excited too. I even went shopping on Black Friday at 6 in the morning. Which was too late for most stuff sadly. I should have gone at 4. But really, 4? Is anything really worth that?

I got out the Christmas decorations and the kids have all been squirrelling away different objects. I found G hiding in the closet with these little musical tap dancing things I got last year. The tree ornaments are regularly migrating to various parts of the house too. Charles is getting a little upset with them about it, but I don't mind. I just put the unbreakable ornaments at the bottom.

We had a nice Thanksgiving at Ernie and Diane's. The weather was great and we ate out on the patio. Lucky thing since Saturday a big storm blew in and it got windy and cold. It rained today a few times. Charles told the kids that he could make it thunder, but Laney worked out that it had to lightning first. I bought a new picture frame to go with my singing gingerbread house and was looking for a picture to fill it --so I was looking at last year's Christmas picts. Oh my gosh, the kids have changed soo much.

Bobcats and Babies

Aack! I can't believe that it is almost Thanksgiving! This month has just flown by. In fact, this year is going fast. I was thinking about it this morning--we started the year with an invalid husband and the twins were little babies and we're going to end the year with an invalid husband but the babies have grown so much. They will be 18 months old in December and they are walking and talking (and rubbing toast into their hair in the case of Kenna at the moment)
Anyway, I thought I'd post a few pictures today of Halloween and our San Diego trip. Last week we went down to TEP Park and got H1N1 vaccinations for the kids. We also went to the zoo for playgroup (oh crap, must mail passes along to next group today!!) and did the normal school stuff.
[side note: if there are typos involving an L, please forgive. Kids have got crap in my keyboard and it's hard to type Ls now]
Sunday I got Charles to help me take the kids to the park so that Laney could practice riding her bike. I helped Laney and Charles walked the twins on their leashes. They are so funny. Griffin likes to hold a hand and walk slow so that he can look at everything and maybe pick up rocks or whatever. Kenna is somehow a McNearney/Phillips combo--she's charging ahead to the very end of her leash and walking as fast as she can. She is on a mission! At the park there was a group of older boys (10-12) and they were actually pretty good about playing with the kids. Especially Kenna, since she's a walking talking "baby doll". Is it that boy children don't inspire the same caretaking tendencies? I wonder about that sometimes. Griffin is never the baby for other kids. They just ignore him and he them.
In other news, we haven't seen our resident bobcat for a while, but I haven't got an update from the neighbors in the last couple days. About a month and a half ago I was woken up at about 3 in the morning by these weird noises outside. And I mean weird. Sort of a creaking sound with some croaks and other strange noises thrown in. Although I couldn't figure out what it was, it made me instinctually uncomfortable. Then a few weeks later we started getting reports from the neighbors about bobcat sightings. The bobcat took our neighbors' small dog right in front of them. Just jumped down and grabbed it about 5 feet away from them in their backyard. It also tried to take the next door neighbors' dog, but he chased it off. One of those nights, Laney woke up in the middle of the night and got in bed with me and the noises started again like they were right under the window. This time with more growling, so I figured it was the bobcat (confirmed by Google the next day. The internet is amazing--you can listen to bobcat noises). He's been eating the local bunny population on my other neighbors' patio furniture and shredding the cushions. Charles has been a little freaked out and I haven't been letting the kids play outside early in the morning or at dusk just in case. Kenna is sort of the same size as a small dog after all ;-) Hopefully the bobcat will move on to another locale soon.

Busy Couple Weeks

I might need to do this in several parts because it's been a busy few weeks! We've had Halloween parties, Halloween, Laney's birthday and a trip to San Diego so there ya go. We're trying to get back into the swing of things this week and I think we're all a little tired. The twins have gone back to two naps a day! So working backwards in time...
Today we had dance class and lots of dads were there due to the holiday. Laney missed last week because of our trip so she was a little clueless as they worked through the new "routine" that they are learning. I guess they are doing a little Xmas show. Yesterday I took Laney to the Dr for her 3 year visit and then to school a little late. She weighs 32 pounds and is 36 inches tall. He tested her talking abilities (um, definite pass) as well as physical things. She still can't stand on one foot. I wouldn't say that she is the most coordinated of my children at this point ;-) She was happy to be back in school but had a fight with the teacher's assistant about getting out of the playhouse and hit her! Last week she was in trouble for screaming at her teacher. Preschool is supposed to socialize your children, but I'm noticing a definite decline in Laney's behaviour as she goes to school. I think partially it has to do with the teacher's laissez-faire attitude about the kids interactions. She allows a lot of altercations, which is fine to a point but it encourages aggressive behavior (in my kid!). I don't know. We got our "report card" and they mentioned that Laney needs to learn to ask nicely for things and be less aggressive. If I can't get the other teacher for the twins next year I don't think I will put them into school until they are ready for actual preschool.
side note: I just realized that I spelled behavior in both US and British fashion. I should make up my mind.
Kenna and Griffin are doing great except for G's tragic haircut. Oops. They are starting to talk quite a bit now, especially Kenna. They make me laugh. I cleaned house on Monday and swapped out clothes. Kenna is now in 18 month sizes, sort of. She has things ranging from 9 to 19 months that fit. She's so little in frame that tops sort of swim around on her, but her legs are too long for 12 month pants. She's just dinky.
My brain is tired so I'll add more later.

How Mommy Puts the "F" in Effort

I feel like I'm in one of those dreams where you're running and you don't get anywhere. I'm so tired tonight. I think the crud is catching up with me--I've been ignoring it for a week and a half and I'm running out of steam. Add to that the wind from the massive cold front moving in and it's allergy city here. Bleh.
I guess it is supposed to be in the 50s as a high tomorrow (and it was in the mid 80s today, so wow). Thankfully it will be back up again by the weekend for Halloween and Laney's birthday party. I've been madly dashing about to get a party together by Sunday. I finally got off my duff and decided to do something. It's last minute again. I don't know what my problem is that I can't decide on things in advance. I'm vowing to do better next year. In honor of that resolution, I've picked both a date and a theme for the twins birthday in June. June 12th. Cowboys.
The post title is partially the result of the failure to plan ahead for Laney's birthday and partially due to me running around here this morning after getting up late, realizing that my kitchen floor is a biohazard, having Kenna break a kitchen chair by jumping on it until it fell over while I'm wiping G's crappy butt with dried out wipes because that's all I have left, getting dressed at the couch because all the clean clothes are piled there and then--the piece de resistance! opening the closet door to discover the I'm Special Bag and it's completely blank poster that was supposed to be done for school today. It's Laney's special week and her mother f**cked it up. Then my inlaws showed up.
So. It was Grandparent day at preschool today and Ollie and Don went. Laney thought that was pretty awesome. Hopefully there will not be a problem with her being special on Thursday.
In the win column for the week, I have to mention that I'm steadily making progress on cleaning the garage and I single handedly got my husband's metal Marine Corp footlocker to the top of my garage shelving. It's really heavy, but after much huffing and puffing and failed attempts to lift it to the top of the shelving while standing on a step ladder, I finally had an epiphany: take it apart, lift all the parts up there and then reassemble. While I was at it, I stuffed the contents of another box of Marine crap in there and cut down on the clutter. Ha ha!! Why the top of the shelves for a giant heavy item? Well, our shelves have difficult to change shelves and the top shelf had exactly the right amount of height to the ceiling. So I saved the good storage space for something we might need access to--like the extra diapers and ideally, more wipes. So, you might be asking yourself, "self, what is she doing cleaning the garage when her house is obviously going to hell?" and my answer is "hell if I know".

Oh Crap Croup

We haven't passed the most pleasant of days here. Laney woke up with croup at about midnight and I was freaked out. I moved her into my bed and set up the humidifier but it wasn't a restful night. We were up by 6 again (after yesterday's slap in the head wake up call from her). Kenna woke up with a fever today too, so no one was feeling well. I'm not feeling all that healthy myself. Sigh. So it was a very long day. We got into the doctor early and went to Walmart to buy juice and tylenol.
There are days when doing things all alone is really hard and today was definitely one of them. We're all winding down to go to bed now though and then hopefully I'll be able to tackle the giant mess that is my house. I'm debating about taking Laney to dance tomorrow. Probably should skip it, but we'll see how tonight goes. Laney got a dose of steroids at the doctor but had another attack of croup with afternoon during nap time.
I had sad news last night. My uncle Ray died yesterday of a heart attack. It was a suprise to the family. I feel strange about it. He was very reclusive, so I haven't actually seen him since I was about 20. Still, it's sad.
Can't wait to get the kids in bed and be done for the night. I'm exhausted.

Sicko at the Door

We've had little visitors in the night all week. The babies have been waking up a lot and getting in bed with mommy for a little while (i.e. until they start yelling "hi" at me or rolling over to smack Charles in the face, then it's back to the crib) and Laney has been consistently showing up in the wee hours of the morning and kneeing me in the gut on her way to burrow into the center of the bed. So last night Charles locked the door. This morning we woke up to a sick little girl laying outside our room. I knew I should have left the door open (award for crappy mommy goes to...). Laney was sick all day. The kind of sick where she climbs into your bed and stays there until after lunch sipping juice and sleeping. She seems to be feeling better though so hopefully she's on the mend. I on the other hand am feeling sort of sore throaty so hopefully that is just allergies and not the plague.
Went to my Zumba class today and it was so fun. Then I went out to lunch and to the mall. Where I wandered around with a breast pump under my arm for about 20 minutes. I'm cool like that. Later I was thinking about it and I guess a breast pump is a relatively personal item to be hauling around with you in public. But the truth is, I was at the mall in my sweaty stretch pants following an exercise class. I basically have no shame anymore. I just don't care. The breast pump was a craigslist thing. I've been trying to clean out the garage and it's been satisfying but kind of a pain to do all the meeting/wheeling/dealing. I've got two high chairs to go and I'm fini. I posted a car seat for $10 and got one hit this week. I'm meeting her tomorrow to sell it. But I posted picts of it today and I've got like 7 emails about it. Who knew? Technically, the car seat is supposed to go in the trash because you can't donate them to charity or whatever since they may not be safe anymore or something. BS if you ask me.
Tomorrow I need to get on the stick and get some Halloween stuff out of the way. Like costumes. I originally planned for Laney to be Little Bo Peep and the babies to be sheep, but she wants to be a princess. So possibly I can find a dragon outfit for G and the girls will be princesses. Who knows?

Tang

For those of you not on Facebook, had an adventurous day today. The kids took the Costco sized Tang from the pantry and were cooking with it in their kitchen when I discovered them. Tang everywhere. They looked like ompaloompas and the Tang was piled like sand all over the living room carpet. I wigged out. The Tang vacuumed up mostly but it is starting to come up as a stain now. A huge orange stain.
The kids are doing a lot of playing together now and it's both cute and terrifying. They played out in the backyard together this afternoon and worked out how to use the garden hose. Sand and water was everywhere.
Putting Laney to bed tonight I was thinking about the new "why"stage that we are in. We read Olivia and had an in-depth discussion about Degas, his reasons for painting ballerinas, Jackson Pollock, painting, where Olivia's art supplies are stored, where they should be stored, etc. We had a similar discussion in the car on Monday on the way home from the zoo related to Barack Obama, where he lives, what his job is, how old you have to be to be president, which of her cousins could be president etc. Laney is a big Obama fan and is determined to visit him. She also has a rock collecting campaign in his honor. I'm not sure why. Maybe because rock and Barack sound similar? Not sure but we have been collecting "Rocks for Barack" for a number of months now.
Now off to sweep up the sand that got tracked all over my house and watch a NetFlicks movie, since we just joined.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Big happy birthday to my dad today! I wish I could be there with him to celebrate. But we're thinking of him! Love you dad.

I went to bed last night thinking about my blog. Specifically, I was trying to remember what Laney was like at 15 months. During any particular time you think "I'll always remember this" but the truth is you don't. And if you're pregnant with twins and/or recently had them you remember even less. That's where the blog comes in. If I had kept a journal or blog then I would be able to look back so much easier. So I've decided to be more dedicated to the blog again so that I have a better memory, so to speak.

Griffin was having a major hissy fit this morning for no apparent reason. Perhaps he's hungry. He's a sweet loving baby most of the time but can get into these little crying jags. Laney and Kenna are having an "argument" across the table right now. They are telling each other "no" and K thinks this is a hilarious game. Laney just told me "Kenna is growing her hair mom!". I guess it's a news flash for her. K does have visible hair now.

We're going to the zoo today with our meetup playgroup. Speaking of which, I saw Mary--the founder of the group who went back to work--at Trinity dance this weekend. I didn't see her daughter Logan though. I'm sure she was there in a tutu somewhere. I was there without a child because I took an exercise/dance class called Zumba and it was AWESOME!! I had so much fun. I'm going to have to get home DVDs or something. It's an aerobics class that combines a bunch of different dance types--belly dancing, african, merengue etc.
Laney took her last official swim in the pool yesterday. It was too cold but she was determined. I have to find another place to swim this winter, which is hard to do weirdly enough because there aren't very many indoor pools or heated pools here. I'm not super psyched about having to get in with her. She doesn't mind cold water but I really do.
Well, I'd better get cracking if I am going to get all my kids dressed and ready to go by 8:15!

Weekend

It's kind of boring in Tucson land. My birthday was last Thursday and it about 80% sucked. I won't go in to details but I spent a good part of the day feeling sorry for myself. The bright side of the day was going out for pizza and gelato (mmm. gelato). On Saturday we went to Debbie and David's for bbq since we haven't seen them since David got home. They were going to Washington DC on Sunday and hopefully will have a great time. Tim and Carol are fun to visit though so I'm sure it will be awesome. Ricky has a new love interest but I didn't get the details.
Kids have been grouchy and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the change in the weather. I put jeans on Saturday after going out in the morning and freezing. It was only about 65! The twins are learning new words and trying to talk more every day though most of it requires serious mommy translation skills to figure out.
I took a photography class sponsored by Tucson Moms on Saturday too and that was interesting. Dealing with f stops makes my brain ache though.

Coffee and the Keyboard and Other Adventures

Blogging is so hard now because if I want to do it in the morning (my least bitchy time) then I've got to hold someone on my lap while I type. "Someone" is always wanting to help by typing too or poking other buttons. The twins are fascinated with the top of the kitchen table (where the laptop is usually) and if I take my eye off them for a second I find them up there. Last week I ran upstairs to get clothes for them and Charles found Kenna sitting on the keyboard where she had poured an entire cup of coffee. Both of them stealthed up there yesterday and I found them playing with my cell phone and the home phone while sitting on the computer. Kenna also knocked another coffee into it yesterday. I had to do a system restore Saturday because my letter keys were typing numbers (?!).
We are done with swimming. Whoohoo!!!! Though I'll miss my daily chat with Pam. I'm not sure what I will do with my free afternoons. In other news, I did have a talk with the preschool teacher about Z the biting/hitting boy. She's got a somewhat more laissez-faire idea of things than I do--which is really saying something since I feel like sometimes I'm approaching the Lord of the Flies method of parenting. I guess the kid is up to two bitings now and they "watch" him. She says that it is all just part of preschool. I'm not so sure, but at least I brought it up. Of course that same day I picked Laney up and she said he hit her in the face.
Friday Laney stole cereal out of the pantry to put in her shopping cart. About 20 minutes later it was really really quiet in my house so I got suspicious. I found Delaney and Griffin behind the couch. She'd opened the cereal and was feeding him cereal and reading him a story. It was the cutest thing!! So I told Charles about it and he went down to have a look. When he checked they both had shoes and were taking turns hitting each other--in a friendly way, but still.
We went to the Greek festival Friday night as part of a sorority thing. But only Jan and I went (we were expecting others...) It was really crowded and we sat at an end of a table at the edge of the patio so for some reason that meant we needed to sit with the smokers. Bleh. I was going to say something to them about maybe not smoking next to my children, but then realized that one of the smokers was pregnant so that probably wasn't going to work. Regardless, we still had a good time. Jan played with the kids and another older couple congratulated her on her beautiful grandchildren (she went along, what the heck right?). The food was awesome. I think I must have been Greek in a past life. Opa!!
Saturday I went out for the morning and met friends for our book group. We had breakfast at Torino's and it was yummy. I had to be home by noon though so C could leave for Phoenix.

Mom-up

We're so close to being done with swimming lessons and I'm so excited. We should finish up by Friday. We're all sitting around the kitchen table right now watching Handy Manny and eating bagels. Kenna is sporting a fu manchu of cream cheese and I must say she does look dashing. K and G are starting to talk a lot more, though it's still sort of an interpretive thing. G says cracker and it sounds a lot like ca ca. Yesterday at dance class we had a first. I told G to not to play with a blanket on the toy table. He was entertaining someone's grandpa and was across the room from me. For some reason, saying no to the blanket caused him major emotional upset. He turned to look at me and did this lip quivering thing and started to cry. He had to sit on my lap the rest of the time.
We were supposed to go to dance and then go to the park for a play group thing where I needed to return a baby bouncer. We got to dance but on the way to the park I realized that a) I was out of gas and b) I forgot the bouncer. So I went all the way home and got the bouncer and went to the park and unloaded everyone only to discover it was the wrong park. Missed my bouncer meetup since I was late. Then we coasted to a gas station and went to Target. I used to have this view of myself as being an organized person. In reality, I'm a complete dork.
This morning I have to have a talk with the preschool teacher about the dreaded Z (the biter, now hitter). Both Laney and Ella find him fascinating, but he hits them. I'm also wondering if the super sassy behavior that happens after preschool (sticking tongue out and spitting for example) is related to this boy. So, I need to have a chat with Ms Barbara. I would rather not, but I guess I need to Mom-up and do what needs to be done.

Beta'd out and Bitchy

Back from convention and tired tired tired. We had a good time this weekend, but a relaxing weekend away it was not. I'll have to get the pictures downloaded tomorrow. I worked like a dog last week trying to get everywhere and get stuff ready to go for the weekend and then came home to a big mess. I always come home and get cranky and then fight with Charles. One of these days I'll just learn to expect it and let it go, but until then I still get really annoyed that every time I come home everything looks like crap. I suppose I should be clearer about my expectations prior to leaving or something. Laney had a good time when Vovo stayed the night. I guess they slept together. Poor Olive ;-) She must have mopped my kitchen floor for me too (so sweet). I need to hit the hay and make up for lack of sleep since I have a mountain of work to do tomorrow.

Pictures

Hey, by the way, I've added more picts to the slideshow but haven't got all fiddly and reordered it so they are somewhere in the back. I've also posted them on Facebook. I don't know if you can click the slideshow and see the Picasa folder. Give it a try and let me know.

Swingin' in the Rain

We had a great Sunday this week (even though Charles had to leave at 4 in the morning). The kids and I went to the craft store and book store, to McDonald's for lunch and then in the afternoon we went outside to paint with our new paints and brushes. While we were out there, a freak little rainstorm started. We just kept playing. Here's some picts:

The girls were running in the rain and having a good time. Griffin mostly hung out at the table and ate his snack. He was in a more pensive mood I guess.

It's been a busy week. I feel like I've just been running everywhere. Tomorrow night I'm heading off for a weekend away for a sorority conference. I have about seven thousand things to do before then and a major sinus headache and a lack of will to do them.

This week has been a big guilt week for me. Last Thursday night Griffin was up for hours crying and I thought he was teething. I took his pjs off in the morning and discovered that the elastic had wrapped around his little toe. The doctor said that it was dislocated and possibly broken (though it doesn't seem to be causing him pain now). I felt like crap. His toe was blistered all the way around and it's peeled off now so it is red and crusty. Poor thing. In general though I've been feeling like the not-so-good mom. My children keep getting saved from imminent injury when crawling out of the stroller behind my back (or in front of me as was the case today when K slipped out the front of the stroller without me realizing it and I started to run her over). Kenna has been having screeching tantrums in public, both climb everything in sight and it is definitely hard to keep track of all three at once. Let's just say I rely on the kindness of strangers. I also don't put on enough sunscreen, pack enough snacks, run out of wipes, fail to brush their teeth often enough and a multitude of other parental sins. I signed up for a parenting class (what the heck) and the first thing they talked about was childproofing the home. The list of things "nonchildproofed" in my house is a long one. Failure already. I was just hoping they would have some ideas on how to stay calm with a toddler who can push my buttons like she's been taking a Mavis Beacon Teaches Annoyance class.

All that whining and self pity/flagellation aside, I do want to point out that I adore my children, even in quantity. And a good portion of the time I love my life and "work". I just feel like sometimes I owe it to them to be better.

[this is why I haven't been blogging as much lately. I'm tired and stressed and it makes me a whiny poster. sorry]

In other news, the twins got their shots Wednesday and got weighed. Kenna is an even 20 lbs and Griffin was 23 lb 6 oz. He is about an inch and a half taller than she is. We'll go back for flu shots in a couple weeks. I'm terrified that they will get the flu or that I'll get the flu. If I get sick we are seriously hosed since Charles will be travelling through to November, including a lot of weekend days. Though I guess he doesn't have to go to Oklahoma next week because they chose a different product, so I'll see him for a few days.

We're almost potty trained now and Laney has been working on night time stuff. It started well but I think we're rushing it a little. I bought some more princess pull ups today and we'll back track a little on the project. She was pleased to use the princess pull up. She just doesn't wake up when she has to pee. We've got to wait for the biology to catch up with us I guess.

Tortilla in my Crack Butt

So tonight Laney got on my chair with me during dinner and shoved tortilla down my pants. Putting it in my "crack butt" as she calls it. The joy. The joy.
We went to school today and Laney just left me behind. Plopped herself down and didn't even look up to say goodbye. Sigh. The twins and I went for coffee (since I was out of coffee this morning. tragic!) and went to see Alycia at Dr. S's office where I bought a sun hat for Kenna. The embarassment of taking my tan children to the dermatologist. They were being beastly too. I'll be better about sunscreen, I swear!
We finally got serious ran today. This has been the weirdest monsoon ever. Luckily we were done with swimming and just finished bbqing before it started to pour.
I'm going to watch Young Frankenstein now.

Fire Starter

We took at trip to the fire station on Monday with our playgroup and had a relatively good time. I didn't have a camera since I still didn't have a charged battery. I do now though, so tomorrow I will take dance pictures. I've been unreasonably grumpy for two days, I have no idea why. But I am. The kids are literally climbing the walls and Laney has been unusually sassy.
We had school today, which I was looking forward to. Last Thursday Laney came home with a bite mark on her arm that showed each tooth quite clearly. My first thought was "what was she doing to that kid?". I got her all dropped off and was going to get coffee and do a couple things when I realized that I forgot the cell phone at home so I had to make a trek back. Then the twins and I went to Costco where Kenna was super cranky the whole time. We picked Laney up and headed home--no biting today, but three kids were out sick including Ella. Richelle told me that the urgent care place she took Ella to for an ear infection said that there have already been 10 cases of swine flu downtown at the U hospital. Swell. By the time we were all lunched, I was definitely ready to be without them for a little while. Laney was bouncing off the walls but I sent her to bed anyway. Things seemed to be going well at first but then she was up and down. I came downstairs to try to figure out a medical bill issue and she went in to the babies room and woke them up and I was PISSED. So the twins got up and Laney got spanked and sent back to bed. Things were quiet (eventually) and I went to check on her. Thankfully. I found her with her lamp on and two stuffed bears shoved in to the top of it. They were at the scorch stage. So no more lamp for Laney since she tries to burn the house down.
Twins and I went to swimming following the mad dash to look for their stuff, which I found wet and mildewy under a pile of toys behind the couch. So I had to come up with alternate wear quickly and then grabbed Kenna on the way out the door only to discover that she was poopy. Strapped her in anyway to change at the pool. Got to the pool and discovered that it was swim meet day and there were no parking spaces at all in the entire parking lot (since the two school buses didn't pull next door to the high school but parked lengthwise through 16 spaces). Monsoon storms were darkening the sky and I had to park in the high school lot and push the twins (after changing the diaper in the car) uphill along the street and into the park. Grrr (fyi the temperature was about 101 at that point). I almost went home instead. Anyway, we got them swam without a pool closure from lightening. I have a feeling that they will end up taking an extra week and I'm not too jazzed about it.
So here I am. My house looks like it got bombed. I have seven million things to do and I'm sitting here blogging. What the heck. Maybe tomorrow I'll be less grouchy and more motivated. On the bright side, our house didn't burn down.

A Brand New Day

Laney pronounced that today is a brand new day while sitting here at the breakfast table. So I thought I should let everyone know. Plus Kenna looks like she's going to shout "Freedom" at any moment and join the cast of Braveheart. It's smoothie day and the purple stuff is now everywhere. Perhaps smoothies aren't ideal baby food? Oh well, what the hell.
[massive smoothie explosion happens here]
Ok, so now it's after dinner. Turns out that smoothies really aren't ideal baby food. Griffin refused his but splashed it all over first. Kenna ate hers but when she was done she threw her glass over board and it exploded purple goop all over the kitchen. So I got them up and wiped off and hosed down. I had to strip K's diaper off too. I put her down to wipe up the floor and turned around to find a puddle of pee behind me.
We eventually got cleaned up and on our way though. We had dance class today and then went to a music class thing to try it out. Here's the thing they never tell you about mommy and me type classes: you work your ass off. Up down up down, dance, sing, clap, bounce baby etc etc etc. You work it even more with two babies. Then it was off to Trader Joe's for a quick shop. Laney pushed the mini cart for me and did a great job. We were with other play group moms and it made me realize that Laney does lot of things that I sometimes take for granted. I'm proud of her. We went to McDonalds afterward for lunch and they played like crazy. The twins are amazingly mobile and climbed up the slide to slide back down over and over. I was tired by the time we got home.
We did swimming this afternoon for the twins and they are doing well. All the little girls at the pool made a big deal about Kenna. That's pretty par for the course though. Kenna seems to attract girls that like babies. Sometimes I feel bad for Griffin because he's often left out of the attention. But maybe he prefers it.
I've got to go write an obituary now for convention. Yippee.

First Day of School

Today was Laney's first day of school and we only had tears for a short while (mine). She was so big but a little taken aback by the chaos. Lots of the kids were screaming and crying for their mothers not to leave, but Laney calmly used the potty and got into her seat to play. I told her goodbye and left, then I was shocked to find myself totally crying on the way out. It snuck up on me. I guess it was just a bigger deal for me than I thought it would be to leave my baby with others at school for the first time. It could have been worse though. My friend Richelle was totally wrecked dropping off Ella. The process of leaving your first is not as hard as that of leaving your last. I was going to take the twins to playgroup at the park, but decided I didn't feel like it. We went to coffee with Richelle and then shoe shopping. It felt so strange to be out without Laney.
It has been a busy week. We went to playgroup at Jaimie's on Tuesday and had a good time. Tuesday night we swam in our pool again and the babies doodled around in the yard. Until they discovered the super fun game of throw rocks in the pool for mommy to fish out. Wednesday was dance day again and Laney did well. We had a planning session for play group afterward since I'm a co leader now. Wednesday night I had to get back from swimming and cook dinner and clean up really fast because everyone was coming over for a sorority work night. We're working on favors for convention. I also have to work through the obituary stuff. We have to do a big thing on Bill Ross, but frankly I don't really get it. I don't know if I'm supposed to admit that as a good sorority member, but I don't feel the tragedy of losing Bill. The Ross family created the sorority in the 20s during the depression and while the sorority is itself a nonprofit, the family makes its living selling services and sorority stuff to the sisters. Which is fine and all, but hardly the noble calling that everyone makes it out to be. Bad Lori. I'll work on a better attitude for convention.
Mom talked to me this week and asked whether the babies had gotten teeth. I said no, but double checked later and sure enough Griffin had a new bottom tooth. Kenna also has a bottom tooth about to pop out and a molar on the way. We're transistioning out of bottles and between naps and I'm wondering if I shouldn't take a little more time. I guess they will survive. I also quit buying pull ups for Laney. She's having a fit about the diapers, but I figure she'll be that much more enthused to do a final potty training. She came home from dance yesterday and carefully removed her outfit and then peed behind the couch. I think it was an experimental thing so we had quite a talk about it. Today she pooped on the potty on her own before school (and peed twice at school). So there's the news. Now I need to go take care of the night time ritual with Laney before C loses his patience.

Toasted Buns

Kenna and I are sitting at the table to do our post this morning (and/or watch some Mickey Mouse). Her hair is standing up in a little tuft in the middle of her head and she's clapping her hands to the music. We were watching the wild kingdom in the back yard earlier. We've acquired a porch lizard and a yard bunny. The absence of the dog is notable. Laney and Griffin are jousting with the mop and broom, aka sweeping the floors. I'm ignoring them and their potential for chaos.

Laney has a little sunburn from yesterday. We went out to fish the toys out of the pool and she ended up swimming naked for an hour. I forgot to sunscreen though, so she has a case of pink butt. Griffin came out and joined us for a little while. He's done with that morning nap thing I think. Kenna demonstrated that she knows how to put together legos yesterday and I was deeply impressed. I don't think Laney figured it out until earlier this spring. I was going to put together the elliptical yesterday, but I read the directions and discovered it's a two person process at step 10 and 11. So I'll wait for Charles to come home I guess. Kenna took such a long nap yesterday morning her afternoon nap was short, so we had one on one time while the other two slept. We had suckers together. It was so cute. We ate our suckers and talked. She thought it was awesome.

I had to wake Laney up to go to swimming. We went to Calle Concordia pool this time. It was hotter than the 7th hub of hell. Absolutely no shade. Pam, our new instructor, was super nice but the babies still weren't enthused about the process. They will come around though. I'm not all that excited about spending every afternoon for a month frying by the pool, but ultimately it is so worth it. Our car temperature was 117 when we got back to it.

The festivities have moved upstairs to Laney's room and I think I need to intervene.

Monday Monday

We had a good weekend playing in the pool. The Phillips clan assembled at our house yesterday for bbq and swimming. Olive and Debbie didn't stay very long though. I think Debbie was tired out after her weekend of watching kids at Roseann's. Happy 30th to Roseann by the way!! Charles left this morning for Kansas again. I imagine that he will be travelling a lot in the next few months. Laney was a pill all weekend. I'm not sure what has got in to her, but yikes.
We went to Trinity on Friday to do open gym with our playgroup and had fun. The twins explored everything and Laney had a great time. She walked the high balance beam herself about 4 times. For perspective, she was the only kid to do so... and there were kindergarten age kids there. She's so fearless it scares the heck out of me. She also thought that the bars were cool. Maybe in the spring we'll do gymnastics.
Laney and Leah had big fun yesterday (when they didn't fight). They swam and swam. Laney swam to the far end of the pool by herself with just a noodle. Charles about had a heart attack. He has a hard time relaxing. He needs to learn the art of relaxed vigilance--letting go while still being close enough to jump in to save them--both figuratively and literally. He either hovers over them or he isn't watching. I'm looking forward to having all of them swimming. We start lessons again today. It's a pain in the butt, but definitely worth it.
This is sort of a random post today, but I didn't sleep well last night and haven't had enough coffee yet. I'm still sick, which totally sucks. I'll probably have to go to the dr. Though I am getting better, just not very fast. I should go and do dishes and wash the toy piano. Laney has never thrown anything in the toilet. The twins are already starting. They threw in a toy piano. They also know how to flush so I expect some big plumbing bills in our future...

Preschool

A week of firsts for Delaney. We had our first dance lesson, complete with tutu outfit on Wednesday and went to preschool today to meet the teacher. I can't believe she's getting so big. I'm sick sick sick. Bleh. Thought I was getting better but I was wrong. Wrong! Anyway, I'm carrying on. Today Laney had to go to the doctor unexpectedly because she had her first ear infection. No kidding. It came out of no where. We came home from preschool and she suddenly started crying and telling me that her ear hurt. So we went to the dr and pharm instead of taking a nap for mommy. Twins were super cute today. Kenna was running around the living room twirling around to make herself dizzy and falling down. Griffin was busy playing with all the toys and making me help him put the parts in the right spot. I'm not doing too well in weaning them from the bottle and I think I need to step it up. We're all registered to start swimming again next week with our new teacher. Laney will just do a one week refresher and the twins will go for a couple weeks to learn the swimming part of the technique. So we will have three swimmers shortly.
Swimming, preschool, dance, playgroup. Should be a busy fall. And if I could just get well, it would be better.
Also, I had sorority last night. It was a late night but fun, mostly. Had a couple weird moments that made me wonder what I've been missing...

Flying Hoo Hoo

What? July 12 was the last post? It seems like just the other day. I guess I took a summer vacation from blogging. We are officially home again. We took the drive slower on the way back and stopped in Pocatello and then in Kanab Utah (Kanab rhymes with blab) before getting home on Saturday. It was a record breaking trip: no vomit!!! Not once. It wasn't a very eventful trip in general, however I will say that I had the worst meal I've had in a long time in Kanab. We went to the restaurant that looked family friendly instead of like it had good food and were so sorry. Yuck. The beer was good though. I had an Evolution Ale that was a Utah brew. Packing up all the kids at 5 in the morning though, I thought to myself that I wanted to remember that moment. The feel of sleepy baby bodies in my arms. That tiny heavy weight snuggled up to me. They are little for such a very brief time.
Prior to coming home we did the usual stuff--Art on the Green (I bought more jewelry from Spirit Lala. No kidding. Spirit Lala is actually her name), we swam in the lake and river, played in the backyard a lot, ate fresh picked green beans, that sort of thing. We've spent the last couple days trying to dig out of the massive mess that moving house 1500 miles with three kids creates. Laney was thrilled to be home and back in her room and all were happy to find their toys which immediately were strewn from hell to breakfast.
Today, while the twins were napping, Laney and I went outside to play. Looking at the pool led to some wading which led to a wet dress which led to getting naked which led to skinny dipping. I sat there and watched as my two year old swam lap after lap across the width of the pool. She must have gone back and forth 50 times. When she finally got out she was laying in a chair and yelled at me "Mommy! I just saw a hoo hoo!"
I was thinking she meant something, um, anatomical. No, she saw a hoo hoo. A flying hoo hoo. Then it dawned on me. She saw an owl!
All of the kids were playing later that afternoon and ran after a toy together. I watched them and thought that they looked like a little herd. I can't believe how much they have changed in such a short time.
Kenna can officially say a word now. Bird. She clinched the inheritance of my grandmother's McCoy pottery today. She looked up on top of the hutch and said "bird!". She was so enthused about the bird vase. Last night she stood outside saying bird and flapping her little arms.
This evening we all went swimming and ate pizza in the backyard. I've decided that I may have been too hasty in deciding never to have a pool again. I'm going to have three little swimmers by next year. Wow.

Reading List

I decided my comments on the reading list we too cumbersome, so I'll start doing a "review" of whatever I read in a post and maybe linking it. "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" was good. It's a thriller-ish story set in Sweden. I'd read another by that author and I don't usually read the murder thriller genre.

Flowers from Laney and Lotsa Jam

Laney and Charles went to Costco together today and Laney decided to buy me flowers. Here's a shot of what she picked out. The disposable camera really didn't do the bouquet justice. The flowers are acid green, acid yellow, purple, bright blue, and fuschia. It is really something to behold. But my little girl picked them out and I just love them.

I took my berries over to Mom's this afternoon and made jam. I think/hope it turned out pretty well. I ended up with 19 jars of jam. We stayed for dinner and Matt and Michelle came over with the kids. Looking at all the kids running around in the yard (even Kenna was "running" out there) makes us all somewhat fear the next few years. That's a lot of kids... We had a thunderstorm during the last part of dinner and all had to make a run for it inside. Laney was just done in tonight and Charles put her to bed without a fuss. She's out. The last couple nights she's been staying up until 9 or 10 (even though we put her to bed at 8).

Wild Water

Saturday we went on a white water rafting trip in Montana on the Clark Fork river. The kids stayed with Dana and we took our nephew Sean. Mom and Dad, Matt, 'Chelle, Nick, Sunny (Nick's girlfriend), Nickie (Sunny's sister), Joe (Sunny's brother in law), Aunt Lynda, Ian, Ethan (Ian's friend), Liz, Charlynne (Liz's friend), Travis (Liz's friend), Mary Jo (Mom's friend and the family chiropracter), Antigone (Mary Jo's daughter) and Jan (friend) also went. It was as big group.

Here's a shot of Sean and Charles

We drove about 55 miles into Montana to the Lozeau exit and they took us down to the river in a bus. We had a really fun time. Charles, Lynda and I rode with the boys in the only boat that didn't self bail. We got the "baptism" boat.

Our guide was Pete, who was quite an interesting character. Pete, who sports a mohawk, taught English last year in Russia and came back with a girlfriend/fiance who was our photographer. He was in the Moscow Idaho shooting a couple years ago (guy in a tower killed several people and a few policemen) and has four bullet hole scars from being shot. He's a nice guy. The picture of Pete above only shows half of him, but I was working with a disposable waterproof camera.

We were strong paddlers (so strong we sort of missed a few of the bigger rapid holes). We did a couple rescues when Mary Jo's boat dumped (twice). Sean had a really good time.This shot shows him jumping on the water slide made of overturned boats during lunch.

He was wiped on the way back though. We stopped at the $50,000 Silver Dollar bar for snacks on the way back and then at the Enaville SnakePit for dinner (it's been in business for over a hundred years and is on the north fork of the Cd'A river. It's got "ambiance" in its own way.)

This picture is of Ian after he fell off the boat "riding the bull".

Berry Picking

We went berry picking at Green Bluff today with Dana and her family. It was really fun and I can't believe how good strawberries taste when they are just picked. The babies were going crazy stuffing strawberries (and straw, sticks, unripe berries, leaves) into their mouths as fast as they could. I'm planning to make jam but will need to make non freezer jam in order to get it home, so uh Mom? help?

Laney did ok with it all, but she got bored fast. She ended up picking rocks and leaves at the road. After picking our berries we went for lunch at another farm. I was initially disappointed that the cherries weren't on, but in retrospect I think strawberries were a lot more fun for the kids.

Fireworks

It was a long weekend and we're all still a little tired! I finally pried the computer out of Charles hands (he went to a beer tasting--yes a beer tasting). We went up to Sandpoint Thursday afternoon and from the looks of our cars you'd think we were leaving for weeks. I felt like I took load after load after load down to the cars. Uncle (Uncle Phillip, my mom's brother) lives outside of Sandpoint. He's pretty close to the lake (Pend Oreille, pronounced ponderay) and has a little pond stocked with fish on his land. We had a big family dinner on Thursday. Friday all the girls went shopping and the guys stayed home and taught the kids to fish. Charles also worked on his "ground food". We traditionally cook in iron dutch ovens when we camp, which either Nick or Ian named ground food years ago. We brought a giant hunk of rib eye for dinner and Charles carved it up into steaks. The rib eyes caused a grease fire and when Joe and his family came up the road they were sure that the house was on fire there was so much smoke pouring from the porch!

We finally got to meet Joe's baby, Sydney and she is very cute at 6 weeks old. Liz is seeming to do pretty well with the mothering thing and got lots of unsolicited advice all weekend from us all. Poor Liz!

Saturday we went to the parade. It was really long. I hadn't been to the Sandpoint parade in a long long time (like 20 years or more).

We went down to the lake that afternoon to swim and had a big fireworks blow out courtesy of Sunny and her "connections" (Sunny's grandma is a Colville tribe member). I put most of the photos in the slideshow... I'll try to post more about the weekend eventually, but I'm tired now. I cleaned house for my sister today and I'm just beat.

About that Quail

I didn't realize that I hadn't posted on the poultry drama. Monday evening I went over to Starbucks as an excuse to take the kids out of the house. Fresh air makes them less cranky for some reason. Laney told me on the way over that she wanted to go to Barack Obama's house in the city he lives in. She's going to wear a pony tail. She picked out a nice rock in the fountain on the way to Starbucks to give to President Obama. At Starbucks we were going through the usual routine when the barrista said that she had a baby in the back too and would the kids like to see it. A couple of bikers had picked up a quail chick on the Centennial trail and "saved" it. While looking for someone else to complete the "saving" process, they stopped for a coffee and ended up leaving the quail at Starbucks. So there it was, in a coffee cup. The barrista said that she wasn't sure what to do with it and I volunteered that my sister might take it, so I called Dana and she and the kids came down to Starbucks and got it. It went home with them and after it kept trying to fly out of the nest box they put a bantam chick in with it. The two cuddled up and were supremely happy. It's still hanging in there.

Thursday Already?

I decided to do a quickie post and was shocked that my last one was on Sunday. Yikes, what have I been doing? Monday is a blur. I think I went to Costco with the circus (my kids) and that took the bulk of my day and good humor. I couldn't find the milk anywhere and had to go through the drive through bev barn across the street. Tuesday we went to the Kroc center in the morning and I put all the kids in the daycare and worked out (1 hour and 20 minutes to myself). I met Mark Rakes (those not in the know--my high school boyfriend who is now married to one of my good friends Lisa) as I was on the way out and he was heading in. He's doing good but man! he's going super gray. We will not discuss the state of my own hair... Tuesday night we went to the park for Em's 3rd birthday and had a good time. Laney had such a great time that the next day she wanted to know if it was Emi's birthday again. The purple lip crap in the treat bag: not so great. Laney and another boy took turns throwing dirt on each other at the park and when a police officer came to ask about who was illegally parked on the street, a little girl took him aside to tell one of the other kids to play nice. That's what I call using the big guns!
Wednesday we ran errands and then went to the park in the afternoon where Laney had a wonderful time playing with two boys. The older one was the dragon and Laney and the younger boy were the prince and princess. Then I worked feverishly to get everyone fed and bathed so that Ian could babysit while I went to the movies. We saw "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock. It was cute. I have to say that it is mighty convenient to live right next to the movie theater.
I didn't get any sleep last night and my children were beastly all day for various reasons. Mostly, it was just a typical day 5. It seems like we're all fine for the first 4 days that Charles is on the road but by day 5 the wheels start falling off. Today we went to the park and I took toys. I put a ball in the stroller with Kenna and Laney had a fit. She said that Kenna would throw it in the lake. Sure as God made green apples, we started around the lake and Kenna chucked the ball out of the stroller, down the embankment and in to the lake. So off I went climbing down the bank to retrieve the ball. Did I mention that there is a restaurant with a patio next to the lake and that everyone on it was watching me?? The kids in the park weren't nice today and we had to leave after Laney fought with a little boy. He taunted her as she left too and I had a repressed but strong desire to shout insults back at him. Doodie head. After a quick nap we got dressed and washed the snot off so we could walk over to dinner at Red Robin for Matt's birthday. It was fun, but there is something about that place that seems to set the kids off. All the noise? I walked over to Starbucks afterward and ran in to the Quail Girl barrista (on her day off) and gave her an update on the quail--it's doing well with its surrogate sibling the bantam chicken at Dana's.

Farmers and Fathers

Saturday we went to the farmers market and with the kids. Dana and Jeff met us there, since Jeff wanted to scout egg prices and the general lay of the land. I miss the market. There's one in Oro Valley but it is really tiny and most of the stuff isn't really grown or made by the people there. It's always festive to go to this one. A 90 year old woman did a dance to Itsty Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini and had on one of those t-shirts with the fake bikini lady on it. I'm a little scarred. I was terrified to stick around too long because I heard she was planning to hula later. May I live to be 90 and doing vaudeville. I couldn't resist taking picts. Those yellow tomatoes above were delish by the way. I got an invite from the peony man to come check out his farm, so I think I will do that if the weather improves. Little known fact about Lori: Peonies are my all time favorite flower. They are just so exuberant and slightly over the top while still being so fragile and fleeting. Sigh. When I was about 5, I rode my bike to school (first grade at Washington Elementary) and took the scenic route. On the way, I passed a house with the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen (peonies). So beautiful in fact that I couldn't resist them and picked one of the raspberry colored blooms and took it to school (sorry about that mysterious home owner). I admired that flower all day. I still remember the way it smelled and its velvet petals.
Today we went to breakfast with Charles for Father's Day after giving him his tie. Ties are traditional, right? We went together and bought my Dad a Ryobi toolset that includes a two saws, a drill and a flashlight--so basically Charles got the shaft. Perhaps I'll make it up to him on his birthday. C flew to Oklahoma after b-fast and I stopped by the parents. Carter had spent the night so they were up and at 'em early. He had many new acquisitions from yesterday's yard sale at Aunt Lynda's. I'm sure his mother is thrilled. One of his new treasures is a green cosmetic bag with sequins. He and Griffin will make a good pair one day, since Griffin also enjoys accessories particularly headbands with Barbie on them.
This afternoon Kenna walked most of the way across the living room. She's on a roll now. Look out. We went back to Mom's for dinner tonight. We had turkey and mashed potatoes. Which was a great meal on a rainy cold day. I think the high temp was 65. I think Tucson's temp was 106 today. Cool and rainy isn't so bad. As long as it goes away soon.
PS Trying out a collage feature in Picasa...how does this look to you? Not sure how this will display on other's computers.

Gardening at Dana's

Ok you lurkers, where are the comments?? I admit that I was a bad poster there for a while but it is sad to see no comments. sniff.
We seem to all be over our little plague. Laney had a little tummy bug and puked a few times and ran a fever. Kenna had something that made her feverish and Griffin is, as usual, running massive boogies from the nose. I took G to the Dr this week and will call tomorrow for results on the allergy testing.
Today I went to Dana's to garden again. It was so nice being outside in the garden in the sunshine, listening to the crickets and the calls of the pheasants, pulling up nature just as fast as I could. I still didn't get very far since pulling all the grass out is very painstaking. I'll have to go back....
Dana has another new chicken which puts her at a total of 7 (I think). She's got 4 teenagers, 2 just getting their feathers and 1 in fluffy fluffy peep peep stage. You know what I mean. She also has bunnies coming out her ears. That saying about rabbits is no lie. Laney had an incident with Colleen and a ball point pen today while I was out in the garden. She has a scratch from her nose to her eye, with a cut under the eye. I must admit I was a little freaked out about it. I mean, a 1/2 inch higher and she could have been in the punctured eye honey category (if I have not posted on the eye honey story, let me know and I'll fill you in on the grisly details). I'm not sure how you can accidently stab a toddler in the face with a pen. But things do happen I guess.
I think G stealth walked behind my back for the first time today. I turned around just in time to watch him sit back down--about two feet from my chair. Hmmm. The two of them are really getting in to the walking thing. Griffin can also climb things quite well, like in to his stroller seat or up onto Dana's rocker. He thought he was the man when he got in the rocker today. Just beaming and trying to make the chair rock. Kenna has been the sweetest baby lately. Just darling. Laney is just discovering the art of the tantrum, which is just awesome. really. May this stage pass quickly. Tomorrow we are going to the park again and maybe to the pool.

Birthdays, Babies and Blood

Ok. So last Thursday I finally overcame my party block and got cracking on thinking of something to do for the twins. Friday I worked like a little beaver to order food, cake, buy party supplies, etc. Plan A was to have the party in a park, but the park was booked, so plan B was my mom's. We had a backyard bug theme (for my Kenna bug) and it turned out well. Charles and I made hanging bugs out of paper lanterns and bug antennae for all the kids out of pipe cleaners and headbands. We made the cutest treat bags that were little honey bees. So I got all Martha at the last minute. The cakes turned out cute. I got a mini cake for each child and a big cake for the rest of us. We lit a candle and sang to each of them. I think it's a shaft to have to share everything--it doesn't take that much to sing to each kid. I think we had about 18 people or so. I forgot my camera (!) so had to use my mother's. I need to run over there and abscond with it to get my pictures, since anything I take on that camera goes into the great black hole of never downloading to anywhere.
Sunday we had a relatively quiet day. I went out and bought some new running shoes. My feet and my chest changed sizes with the babies, not in a good way. I've got to start working out at the gym we joined since I've been eating like I'm on vacation for three weeks. We went over to Mom's for dinner and I had to have the discipline discussion with my dad again. He thinks my children are unruly. Honestly, my kids are sort of pesty (at home--they are usually quite good in public). Disciplining children is a tough thing and I'm sure I need to do a better job of it. Or at least figure out how to do it well before I have two more toddlers! Yikes.
The babies have been a little cranky. Kenna was sick on Sunday with a fever (and was awake allll night) and Griffin is still leaking from the nose at an alarming rate. I finally bit the bullet and took him to the doctor today. The doctor says that some kids are just snotty, but that he might have allergies. He suggested a blood test to figure out what the boy might be allergic to and possibly treatment with Singulair eventually. So we went for a blood draw. Turns out that taking blood from a tiny baby arm is not really that easy and Mr. No Nap was not happy. He did ok until the needle was removed and then he had a hissy. During the hissy the little piece of gauze got dislodged and he started squirting blood all over the place. Acckkk!! Once we got that taken care of he calmed down (basically so he could smile and wave at all the people in the waiting room).
I met a woman in the waiting room who was expecting twins as a surrogate. It's her second time as a surrogate. How cool is that? I admire most deeply anyone who can go there for another woman. Twins though.... wow. She says that she has very easy pregnancies. But I'm here to say that having a single baby is a whole different ball game than having two at a time. The upside for her is that after a grueling pregnancy she doesn't have to spend the next six months with two new babies. I hope it goes well for her (and the new parents/babies).
We also went over to Dana's today to play in the garden and check out the latest bunny and chicken additions. It was muddy but fun. Though I hate weeding out grass. Grass is a pain in the ass. I will be returning to weed and clean her house for her since she volunteered to watch my kids when we go rafting in July. After we went there and prior to the doctor I had to take my children to WalMart to buy bottle sleeves. I went in there with mud all over me with my children looking like hell all covered in snot and dog hair and dirt and ketchup. I walked really really fast to get the shopping done. Though, in a way, I sort of blended. Sadly.

Laney's First Haircut

Yesterday, after awaking at an ungodly hour, we all went to the mall to go bra shopping. What incredible fun you must be thinking to yourself. I bet you can't imagine what could be more pleasurable than trying to navigate through the unmentionables with a twin stroller and try on bras (lamenting the sad results of nursing three children) while your toddler yodels out the bottom of the door. I can hardly think of anything more joyful. Laney shoplifted from Gymboree, so we had to go back and return some things. Cute stuff though. If I was in the mood to spend stupid money on kid's clothes, I would totally go there. After our lunch at the food court--kids were all good, people all stared--we had to make a trip to the potty. Gross. What is with people and their willful disregard for hygiene? Then we got Laney a haircut. I made the mistake of answering my cell phone while in the hair place and my daughter found herself a lovely lip balm on a key chain for $9.50 (!!) that she thought was so great she tried it on. So she got her first "real" haircut and a rockin' lip balm. Said lip balm was the impetus of a massive meltdown at Hallmark and then again at home prior to nap. All of the kids passed out immediately upon entering the car (and Laney promptly peed in her sleep). Twenty minutes later, I unloaded everyone, got them upstairs, fed the babies their bottles, put them back down for a nap and then fought with Laney for 2 1/2 hours about taking a nap. I needed a nap. No nap.
Tired and disgruntled, I thought we'd make it easy and go to the pizza place for dinner. Pizza place is closed. So we went to Red Robin. It was not an easy dinner. But eventually they all went to bed. Today is a new day, right?
Speaking of today, we got up at a more reasonable hour, waking me out of a dream in which I was running a marathon that involved hanging on to ledges and going through other obstacles--weird, things are going better. Griffin was just trying to put his shoe on and said "ball". They are about to go down for an early nap.

Books, Bunny Ranch and Birthdays

I remember a time when no one woke me up at 5. I even remember a day when I could ignore a certain someone until around 7. You cannot ignore three someones, especially when two of them are right next to your bed. I should have gone to bed earlier but I was finishing my book. I've read two great books this last week: "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and "Julie and Julia", which are very different but I really enjoyed both. The GLPPS was a very sweet read and interesting for incorporating WWII information on the occupation of Guernsey and JandJ is about a blogger's quest to cook her way through an entire Julia Child cookbook in one year which involves lots of the f word and staying up until 11:30 at night to eat sweetbreads, but was really a fun read too. So I give them my two thumbs up.
Laney is watching our crappy cable right now. They've got some weird kid shows. Sometimes I watch her watching something and wonder if she's just thinking to herself "what the hell?". I was hoping she would sleep in today since we went swimming last night at the Kroc center (finally). We had to wait an extra half hour for them to open up the cove pool and tried out the roped off part of the lap pool. Coldest water I've ever been in in an indoor pool. Yikes. We were all turning blue. Then we had to wait again for the other pool all wet. We went in to one of the family dressing rooms and hung out in a hot shower while waiting. Brrr. (Fast Fact: did you know that British people never say the word "brr"? True. I guess they just say it's cold). It was just cold in general yesterday. The high was about 65 and it rained for a good part of the day. Sun is back today though.
So to continue the recap of last week: after our day out on Wednesday we got back to the condo with the intent to not leave again, but I discovered that my near freak out at the Kroc center was perhaps somewhat hormonally fueled and I had to go out to the store again for stuff I didn't bring with me. So I did what anyone would do and called my sister and invited us over for dinner. We went over to the Post Falls Bunny Ranch and Goat Hotel to check out the animals (some of which we consumed for dinner. Yes, my sister raises rabbit for food). Thursday we went downtown for lunch at Bonsai Bistro. They have a koi stream running through the restaurant with turtles and koi. Laney thought it was awesome. They sat us on the island too, so we went over a little bridge and were surrounded by water. Afterward we went to the city park and played and went wading in the lake. Summer spirit was everywhere and people were already swimming in the lake, but it was seriously cold. Friday we had dinner at the park in Post Falls with Mom, Dad, Matt, Michelle and the kids. I took a picture with my camera phone, but am not sure how to transfer it--there was only one baby swing, so we put the babies in back to back. Hilarious! Charles came home on Friday night. Saturday I finally went in to get my "natural highlights" covered and a haircut. It was great. The place I went even gives you a glass of wine. Rock on. Then Saturday night Charles and I went out for dinner and Lizzie babysat. Sunday we went up to Sandpoint for Vadin's 6th birthday. Brian and Renee (Vadin's parents) decided to move here from San Diego. We saw lots of relatives that I haven't seen in forever. When did everyone else get so old??
Ok. Now that I'm caught up, I'll try to post regularly so I don't have to do giant ones.

Move In Day

I've been radio silent for the last week because my darling husband used my computer last weekend and then packed up my power supply and took it with him to Kansas City. So it didn't return to me until late Friday night and the weekend was weekendy as per usual.

So, you may ask, what are the Phillips up to? Right now the girls are fighting with each other. Laney is in her room and won't let Kenna in. It seriously amazes me that sibling in-fighting can start so early. You'd think it would at least for the end of babyhood. But, sadly, no.

We got moved in to the condo last Monday after much running around by yours truly. It is quite nice and I can't complain at all. I just wish it had a third bedroom. My son insists on waking up at 5 and I'm just not ready for his chirpy little face that early in the morning. We're on the third floor and conveniently located near the elevator. Eventually I got the code to use the parking garage and that has simplified things as well. I've never lived in a condo before so it's all new and exciting. Sadly, they were supposed to have a Barnes and Noble here, but it didn't get put in yet but otherwise the necessities of life (Starbucks) are close at hand. Here's some picts of the new home:

Tuesday the kids and I went to the park and Laney fell and massively bit her lip and scratched up her face and leg. Blood was pouring. She's looked pretty bad ever since. But she's a tough little bird. I asked it she wanted to go back to the condo and she said no, she wanted to play. Tuesday night the kids had their first real babysitter (someone not related to them who I actually paid) and I went to graduation for Nick. Wednesday I had a massively bad morning trying to take the kids to the Kroc center and take Laney swimming. But it got better when we went to the garden party at the Post Falls middle school that was sponsored by the lifeskills class that my sister works in. Laney enjoyed playing with the kids and the kids enjoyed my children being there. It definitely gave me an appreciation for the things I have.

Saturday

I know I promised to write a lot while in Idaho, but it's been hard since I'm using Mom's computer (too lazy to get my own out and add to the chaos in the house) and we've been busy busy. We had a family bbq last week on Monday and admired Dad's deck. The roof collapsed while we were here at Christmas due to the snow load and Dad rebuilt it all the spring -- bigger better stronger. It looks really good and when the grapes come back it will be really nice. Dad stained it right before we got here, so all the kids are getting covered in stain every time they go outside. It mostly comes out with spray n wash though.
I've spent the week gardening my little butt off. Which I can't complain about. I just love to weed--seriously. It's a sickness. And my parents' yard always provides lots of opportunity to get my fix. I've also been cleaning house in preparation for the big party this weekend to celebrate Nick's graduation. We're having a luau tonight and 'Chelle has been working really really hard on it. I'm sure it will be really fun. We're expecting around 55 or 60 people.
Laney and I helped Dad plant the garden this week too. I used to plant the garden every year with my Grandma too. The kids and I went to Rendezvous at Ponderosa Elementary on Thursday to visit Colleen. The 4th grade class ends their year with this big exposition on pioneer living. We learned archery, horseback riding, cast iron cooking, fishing, log sawing, native american crafts, and participated in storytelling in teepees, soldier reinactments (including cannon fire) and some other stuff. It was pretty cool. We met Matt, Michelle and the kids at McDonalds for dinner and play time on Thursday night.
I still haven't bought a stroller. I went to a big used baby sale today in the hopes of finding another used one, but people either bought them all already or just don't have a lot of need of twin strollers here. So I'll probably have to go to Spokane tomorrow to buy one. I look sort of pathetic running around with a missing front wheel.
We move into the condo on Monday (but Charles won't be here for the whole week. Maybe I'll tell him where we are... maybe not! ha ha).

And here we have Idaho

We've officially arrived. The journey was long and wet. It rained in Arizona, Utah and Montana and was cold, but as soon as we made it over the pass into Idaho the sun came out and it was 80. It's just gorgeous here and was beautiful the whole drive. Everything was green. In Montana, it looked like the hills were covered in bright green velvet and the canyons and rocks near Kanab were beautiful and bright red with the water and the sun coming through the rain clouds. The kids were really good throughout although Laney puked a bunch of times again. The only time in my life massive allergies were a blessing. I couldn't smell the car. Our hotel in Provo didn't have a second pack n play, so I slept with Laney and Charles slept with Kenna. I use the term slept loosely. We haven't really slept much in two nights. We did swim with all the kids last night and that was fun. Laney wowed 'em with the new skills. It was crowded in the pool though. I love that about Utah--we fit in just fine. We were joined by a family with a least 5 kids and then another with around 9 or so. The circus effect of our family is definitely blunted in that state. On the other hand, cribs can be scarce...

Mash it with a Can

Laney was doing patty cake with Elizabeth and here's the words:
patty cake, patty cake baker's man
roll it up roll it up mash it with a can

We're having a good time with Liz. I don't know if she's having the best time of her life, but Laney thinks it's awesome to have her to play with. I'm busy busy busy trying to get everything done before we leave and I suspect tomorrow will be crazy. Not to mention the endless drive that I am completely dreading. It will be a bummer not to have Charles in the car with me. Lonely. I have lots and lots of kid dvds to listen to though. yeah

I will post like crazy once in Idaho, I promise.

One Small Step...

We have a new walker. Look out world, Kenna has taken her first steps! Laney had a horrible rash yesterday from some unknown source, but it seems to be better now. I guess she touched something she was allergic to. The G man is eating like there is no tomorrow. I'm not sure where he's putting it all, but seriously he eats more than Delaney. I'm still pretty sad about the cat. I keep expecting her to be there--like maybe she's just sleeping somewhere. I just feel weird without her and Des around. I realized that this is the first time in 13 years that I haven't had a pet. We finally got our storage unit emptied yesterday and then I ran errands all afternoon. Today I did yardwork and blew off the yard. There is something about blowing off the yard that seems to attract the neighbors to me. I'm covered in dirt and sweat and snot (allergies make me sneeze like crazy) so that is of course the time they all come to say hello. Yeah! They probably wouldn't recognize me with a clean face now.

Goodbye LC

I'm feeling bummed today. I need to take the cat in and decided this was the day (but we'll see if I don't chicken out later). I feel like there isn't a lot that is exciting to report. We don't seem to be doing much lately. Desi is doing ok at Mike's but she discovered skunks the first night there. She's also been trying to go home with anyone who opens a car door. That sounds more pathetic than it probably is though since she always tried to get in our cars if a car door opened and she was there. Kenna is doing a lot more stands on her own. Griffin is being Griffin. He's playing with the tank right now. They all love that thing--I bought it as a gag gift for Charles for Christmas and the kids think it's the best. It drove into G's tummy yesterday and he laughed like crazy. Swimming is going well, though G is still having troubles rolling. I'm looking forward to the end of it. A bug stung me twice yesterday at the pool and I had a brief panic moment, but it wasn't a bee.
Our big deal yesterday was that we had an entirely diaper free day and no accidents with Laney. Good job! Griffin was up last night a whole bunch of times and I was just not sleeping well anyway, so I'm fading already and it's only 8. Not good. I have to go retrieve Kenna from the time out pen now. I've instituted the time out pen for stair climbers...

Getting a Do Over

I think I need a Mother's day do over. The majority of my day was spent in the car with screaming children. Charles fought with Laney on every leg of the trip. We spent the day at Mike's place at it wasn't too bad actually. But it was hot hot hot and really dusty. The kids rode quads and horses, played with the chickens and turkeys and generally had a great time. I went around the corner and found Laney on a horse so I volunteered to get up there with her. The horse was not super cooperative and I was afraid to insist too much with my baby up there, so Mike had to come get us when we got stuck. At first I wasn't too keen on letting Laney go on the quads and Ernie gave me a hard time about it. Since I was willing to let her get on a horse I decided perhaps I was being unreasonable. I should have been more specific and said that I didn't want her to get on the quad without an adult. The babies both went for rides on the quad with Ernie. We returned home hot, dirty and tired after a long screaming trip. I put everyone to bed early and took a bath.
I called my own mom later in the evening since I thought she'd have company last night. She was pretty bummed that neither my brother or sister came by yesterday--especially since they told her they would and she got home early just for them. So I think she deserves a do over too.

Happy Mother's Day

Ah, Mother's Day. I woke up at 6:15 and thought "that's weird, the kids are still sleeping" and about 30 seconds later I heard Laney's door open and in she came. Chaos has ensued since. I need to be quick here because I have to get us all ready to leave at 8:30. We're going to Mike's today to BBQ and take him the dog. Hopefully she has a good summer with him patrolling for illegals on the property.
A small hawk just landed on our back fence. How cool.
It is supposed to be cooking hot here today again. This will be our 4th day over 100 I think. Makes me glad to be leaving for the summer, however I checked Idaho's weather and it's in the 50s. Yikes! So we will be having a rapid cool off. I need to pack warm clothes as well as summer stuff.
Charles and the kids are making me a mother's day card right now (I had to suggest it, but it got them all out of my hair long enough for me to write a post and drink some coffee).
Happy mother's day to all the moms who read this blog. Especially to my own mother.

Unscrewed

The screws are out and Charles is at home recovering. Everything went well today but it was weird not being there with him. That is definitely something we won't do again. It wasn't good for him to be alone and I worried all day.
Kenna graduated from swimming class today with lots of long floats. She's so calm and collected as she works and then is all smiles when Shannon picks her up. Griffin and Laney also had good lessons. Two more weeks until we're all done. Although we will go back again in the fall for a refresh and to teach the babies the swim and float technique once they are walking.
Ollie came over today to help and who knew how incredibly handy that would turn out to be. Thanks to Olive for helping me out!!

What's Goin' On

Mom pointed out that it has been quite some time since the last post. I'm a slacker lately. Charles was in Hawaii all last week and I'm always a lot more pressed for time when I'm doing things on my own (and I read two books, naughty me). Pretty much same ol' thing around here. The kids have been swimming and doing the occasional play date. Somehow, the last week and a half or so I have been unable to have an uninterrupted night's sleep.
Swimming lessons are going great and today is Kenna's last day. I'll post some pictures once I get them off the camera. Griffin has another week and Laney has two. G is going longer because he's had a problem with tummy bloat and his lessons have been shorter. Laney is doing the swim and roll to breathe now. Diane and Leah came to lessons on Wednesday and we all went to lunch at Burger King. Charles went yesterday. It looks like Olive is coming today.
It's a good thing that Olive is going to be here since Charles went to the doctor yesterday for his follow up and he has broke one of the larger screws in his ankle. So he is going in for surgery this morning. This seriously throws a wrench in my plans, since I was counting on a functional hubby and now he'll be back in his brace for a week or so. Great. He had a big meeting this morning so he went to that prior to going to his appointment. I have to go pick him up after swimming lessons I guess.
We went to dinner with his boss and all our children last night and it was nice--as a dinner can be with three little children.
This weekend I'm supposed to go to Debbie's on Saturday but I'm going to have to see how functional C is. Then on Sunday we're taking the dog down to Mike's and bbq at Debbie's.