Runnin' in the Rain

What a busy day! While at breakfast the rumbles of thunder could be heard. A big slow monsoon storm descended on Tucson by late morning and stayed and rained most of the day. It smells wonderful out. That creosote smell is just so clean and fresh. The downside? No pool at the pool party. But we had a great time seeing everyone. It was a long haul out to Talia's house. She lives closer to the Sonoran Desert museum than she does to Oro Valley. It was hard to get the kids all geared up to leave in time to get to school. I booked it across the valley, but we were still a little late to class (and I carried the twins in most of the way). The church has a moms group and I must have made an impact carting two toddlers and leading a third across the commons. They gave me an extra pack of tissues. All my kids were really great today (even when occasionally they were really tired or really 2). Griffin is just the sweetest little guy. And Kenna is becoming such a ham bone. We went to a school function tonight as a family and left the kids in the daycare while we went to the presentation. Griffin freaked out that I was going, but when we came back we found them all having a great time. The ladies all seemed to be very entertained by Kenna. She was just a pistol tonight. Must have been the fishy crackers or something.
Delaney carefully wrapped a fake rose in tissue paper and gave me a special "present" today. It was just sweet. On the way out of school, she ran up to a new friend "just to give her a hug goodbye". All in all (disregarding the occasional freak out), she has been really sweet and helpful lately. Just in time for the twins to get their toddler on. I guess God knew that if they all three were awful at once, I'd have to rip someone's arms off.
So, even though we had a few "moments", it was a really good day. Kenna told me "goodnight mommy, I love you" too. I've had lots of little kisses and hugs, special conversations while we practiced pooping on the potty (both twins! whoo hoo!), received various things wrapped in crumpled tissue, and marveled at all the bugs that surround a light at night in Tucson. Mommy bliss.

School Days

We're back in the swing of things again and every day is full of activities. Yesterday, all of the kids went to the dentist. Laney looked like such a big girl in her chair and she did the full cleaning this time. Griffin and Kenna wowed them with their complete willingness to sit in the chair, wear the sunglasses (are you kidding me? of course they would!), and be generally poked and prodded. The results of our visit? Dental health excellent, keep up the good work. And oh yeah, they will all need orthodontia for their various bite problems. The girls both have signs of a cross bite and all have narrow palettes. I guess I should start an orthodontia fund now.
Today we went back to dance class and gymnastics. Kenna went to dance, G was supposed to do gymnastics at the same time and then Laney started a gymnastics class. Kenna LOVED dance class and I could tell she was paying attention really well. She's so cute and tiny in her little outfit. Griffin outright refused to be left in the gymnastics class. No freakin' way. So we'll see. He might not start an activity until later in life... And Laney of course jumped right to it, though I was sort of wishing she was still in dance when I saw the TAP SHOES. OMG. Very few things are as cute as toddlers in tap shoes. I took picts of Kenna dancing but then my camera ran out of juice, so. Bad mom. After dance we high tailed it home, shoved some food in everyone and got back in the car to go to school.
Laney walked in to her room and quite literally did not spare me a second look or even tell me good bye. We walked past a little girl and her mother who were having a major showdown over whether she would enter the building. The little girl won. I felt bad for her mom.
I took the twins home and put them to bed (eventually), then went to the grocery store and picked Laney up again. She returned to me a little grouchy about not going out on the playground today (it was hot and they were busy). She made an enormous princess hat and a robin hood hat. The princess hat is quite literally as big as Kenna. If I ever get my camera charged, I'll take a picture!!
Both of our outings started with massive drama. Kenna is having a big 2 moment and decided to fight with me at the most inopportune times. She doesn't want to pee on the potty when asked (say, right before we go somewhere in the car) and has a shrieking hissy if I suggest a pull up. She's actually doing quite well with the potty training though. Most days. I have days when I think, well she's got it! And then she pees on the lego table or something.
Laney told me tonight that she wanted Aunt Diane to be her mother. She thought it would be a lot better than having me. I'm too bossy. Tomorrow is our first play group since we've been back--and it's a pool party in Avra valley, which we must attend with a potluck treat and then leave on time to take Laney to school. Not sure if this is going to work well. Anyway, must go shave my bikini line and pass out now.

Hello, Blog, it's been awhile

My last post left us with soggy weather in June. I can't believe that I didn't post the rest of the summer! It's been a busy summer and doing techie stuff just didn't figure highly on my to do list I guess. Here's a short summary of the summer:
We went cruising on the river in Post Falls right before the 4th and then did dinner and dancing to celebrate is one Lynda and Curtiss' 25th wedding anniversary and Curt's 50th birthday. We had a great time and I danced all night to the groove beats of PJ Destiny and his one man band--which was composed of two people since his son Fred came along as backup. The sun finally came out (as per usual) immediately after the 4th of July. We spent the 4th in Sandpoint. I went to the Forrell (no, I don't know how to spell it)/Smith picnic. It had been quite a few years since I went last. The place was just swimming with the Brickers and similar clans. I think there were very few people I recognized in the crowd. Isn't it funny how the older people still look the same after 20 years? I guess the major differences between 50 and 70 aren't as huge as between say 5 and 25! The twins had a great time playing there with the other kids. Laney didn't come with me. I went with Mom and Dad (because I'm the good daughter ;-). After that reunion picnic we continued on to Joyce and John's for another picnic. Then we went home and passed out so the kids didn't do any fireworks this year.
Once the sun came out, things got rockin' and rollin' for summer. We worked on the house and the yard. I collected yardsale furniture and did my magic spray painting. Our little house has the brightest colored furniture ever. Our dining table is apple green and our bedroom furniture is a dark aqua.
After the 4th, we went camping at Sam Owen's on Pend Oreille lake outside of Sandpoint. We originally intended to stay at Springy Point, but it was full. It all turned out pretty well with the exception of extremely predatory deer that ransacked our camp and ate a bunch of stuff. Andy and Jenny visited with us several times and swam. They brought their boat over one of the days and Laney went for her first boat ride and went tubing. Of all the kids that went, which included all of the older boys who are about 6, only Laney was brave enough to do it and just loved it. The best part of camping for the kids was riding bikes on the road. Kenna can't reach the pedals on a trike so she does it Flintstone style. She looks just like those lizards that run on their hind legs. She's completely fearless and took off down the hill once. She must have hit about 20 mph before she steered into the bank. I almost had a heart attack when I saw her start down. I started running and expected to find her broken at the bottom. And there she was, smiling away on the side. Griffin can pedal--the pink and purple trike. He 4x4'd through the forest, he rode on the road, he would not stop. All the kids went for a long bike ride and Laney and Griffin just pedaled away. Kenna walked instead of trying to push that distance.
The weekend after camping, we went up to Priest Lake to visit Dana and Jeff at their vacation rental. They had also rented a boat for the weekend and we went all the way up to the upper lake. I haven't been boating in about a decade. It was fun even though Griffin peed on the boat a couple times.
At the end of July, we had Art on the Green and my 20 year high school reunion. It was awesome to see my old high school friends, less awesome to see the people who annoyed me then and still annoy me. I guess a typical reunion. Art of the Green was a little too brief for me. Charles and I took the kids and he was done before we made half of the loop. Next year we'll do things a little different...
After that we got the house ready for the big party. We had a big birthday bash for my sister's 40th birthday. Charles even made a dance floor and we hung lanterns made of glass jars from the trees. I'd say that we had about 50 people or so. I think there were 21 kids there. I warned the neighbors ahead of time thank goodness.
After a very busy summer we headed home to Arizona. We got back on Wednesday it's been go go go ever since. We bought new beds for the twins on Thursday. No more baby beds. Sigh. Friday we went to school to meet Laney's new preschool teacher. Who is AWESOME. I was so excited by her description of the year she plans that I was almost ready to go to preschool myself. Friday night Laney went to Leah's on an official sleep over and I went to sorority. It was so good to see my sorority sisters after such a long time. I'm going to miss those who will be leaving this fall. Today we cleaned up the old office and broke down the crib and pack-n-play before the beds were delivered. I must say that it is so strange to see the beds in those rooms. Sigh. A new era starts and we leave babyhood behind. Unless we have another baby that is... ;-)