Anatomy and the Pasta Isle

Laney and I went to the store together on Sunday. While we were shopping, I picked up a lemonade Koolaid mix. Laney wanted a different color, so as we proceeded down the pasta isle in the bus cart she yelled at me: "Moommm, I can't have lemonade! It makes my penis hurt!". To which I replied calmly, "you don't have a penis". (others in pasta isle are laughing). Laney keeps going with the penis theme. She does have one and it hurts if she drinks lemonade. I decided that a more face to face chat would be in order. So there I was, in the pasta isle, telling her: Laney, you don't have a penis. You have a vagina. Boys have penises. And we don't usually yell about our parts when we're in the store. Then we went back, exchanged the lemonade mix for pink lemonade and continued on.
Charles is off to Denver again and we're holding the fort. We had our first carpool day yesterday. We are picking Rorie up after school for Tues and Wed and Rorie's grandma will pick Laney up on Thursday. So I guess at least one of the school days the twins will get a longer nap. Laney was really whoopin' it up to impress our guest. She took off her car seat straps (a recently learned skill--she can both buckle and unbuckle now), she talked nonsense and then laughed hysterically, she purposely mispronounced Rorie's name over and over again. We had to have a serious talk after dropping Rorie off. It made me realize though what a big personality Laney is compared to other kids.
Off to water the new plants now. The calamondin is not looking happy.

The Streak

It was a long week. Charles left last Monday and was gone until Saturday night. He came home for Sunday and left Monday until Wednesday. The kids were all sick with colds last week too. We made it through though and really it wasn't too bad. We went across town on Friday to shop for some bedding for Kenna. I took the kids to visit Olive and Don and then we went to Homegoods. It was getting a little late and lunch needed to happen, but I was trying to complete the mission. So we did the quick shop and went to the check out--where all hell broke loose. While I was trying to check out I started to hear laughter in the line and turned around to find Kenna stripped butt naked. Like not a stitch on including no shoes. I calmly finished paying for my stuff while she ran through the store grandstanding for all the people. Laney melted down because I wouldn't buy her a makeup kit and Griffin ran off with a rolling backpack and was doing the circular route through the exit doors and back into the store with it. By the time I was done I literally hauled three screaming children, three bags of comforter/pillows/etc, and a twin stroller out of the store and across the parking lot while the crowd of seniors looked on. A definite joy moment
I cleaned all the carpet in the house (and it was immediately peed on again). For some reason I said yes to play dough and moon sand after finishing cleaning the carpet. BIG MISTAKE. BIG. I did not realize that moon sand was invented by the devil. I've swept and vacuumed about 5 times now and am still finding purple moon sand everywhere.
We're having big car seat milestones this week. I threw G in his seat the other day and went around the car to buckle in the girls. When I came back to buckle him in, it was all done. Amazing. Laney figured out how to get out of her car seat later in the week.
Laney and Griffin knocked down a box of hats and gloves right before school on Tuesday. They both decided that they needed to wear a hat. So Laney wore a fuzzy orange hat that made her look like DJ Lance (Yo Gabba Gabba for those not in the know) to school and Griffin wore a snowflake pattern ear flapped knit hat. It was almost 100 out and humid like nothing else. Kenna had to take her plastic Elmo purse and the puppy on the string in with her. We were a parade of freaks. But hey, we're used to the circus effect. Griffin has continued to wear the hat occasionally. He looks a little like Elmer Fudd.
We are off to play group in a little while. We're doing a kindermusik demo today. Tonight we're going to the Greek festival (fried cheese!!).

The Grass is Always Greener (when it's fake)

We have grass. It is very, very green and shiny. I should have installed it with the grain of the grass (yeah, our grass has a grain) facing the house but I didn't want to buy more grass to do the install that direction. So it runs side to side and our view from the house is somewhat shinier than it is from the pool. Isn't it funny how you obsess over little things when you do things yourself?
Ernie came over to help with the install on Saturday. Seriously, he's just the best. And he brings tools. We've started saying the same thing over and over "Yes, we have an X. It's in Idaho". As in we have a hammer, we have a wheelbarrow, etc. Charles moved all three tons of crushed rock off the driveway himself and Ernie brought the plate compactor. We were done installing by early afternoon. Now I have a chunk of grass left and I'm thinking of adding another grass area over by the end of the pool. I'll have to do seaming, but I think I can. Overall, I think I like the grass. It does get hot in direct sunlight but cools immediately in shade and it is a rather bright green, but it's nice to have it out there. I keep feeling this little shock every time I look out the window and see green.

Projects

I should be working on my lengthy to do list, but I'm going to blog instead. We have been working on the back yard and I've been trying to get the twins' rooms put together so it's been busy. One of these days I will learn to take a before picture (and post after pictures...). We destroyed our yard earlier in the year in a fit of enthusiasm. The patio against the west wall was torn out and we removed the dog kennel fencing. We also quit watering the grass. Then we left for the summer. Let's just say that it was a MESS. It wasn't that awesome before our "improvements" this spring, but it was yikes-worthy by last month. I guess once I start spending money, I just can't stop. It's weird. So after buying a second home and working on improving it all summer, we hired a somewhat sketchy team of guys to put in new patios and brick edging plus a new outdoor kitchen. Ooooh, ritzy, yes? We also walled off the mechanical section of the yard with the A/Cs and pool equipment. And we removed all of the dark red ugly rock. I've ordered grass from Costco and it should arrive at the end of the week or so (I'm so done with watering, overseeding, and mowing). Hopefully we'll get it installed without any problems this weekend. Then we'll install new plants all over the yard and paint the new stucco walls. I'm going to buy new pots too. So, hopefully, by my birthday we'll have a nice pretty back yard. We spent Labor Day weekend painting our fencing. We went darker and painted it the house color. I really like it. It's a lot warmer and has less glare (which probably means that the color will absorb more heat, but hey).
The twins have their own rooms now and I've been buying furniture for them. Cheap furniture because I'm broke now. Griffin's room has blue furniture and a dinosaur theme. I got his bedding at Marshals and found the quilt at Homegoods. score! I need to find bedding for Kenna now. Her walls are yellow so I've been trying to find something that I like. The thing about kids bedding is that it's often made of really cheap material that looks bad in about a nanosecond. I'm on the hunt. But I did find both of them headboards, side tables, and toy boxes on clearance at Target. I need to buy a dresser for Griffin still.
The kids are doing just fine. They have been sort of wild lately. Must need to run around more or something. The twins are potty training. Kenna is doing amazingly well. She didn't wear a pull up last night. I have been fighting with her because I want her to use the potty since I don't trust her yet and she REFUSES. It turns into a scream fest. I just need to let her do her own thing and realize that she goes when she needs to. G is working on the potty thing but he doesn't seem to have as much awareness of his need to go. But he's been wearing his big boy underpants more frequently. Laney started school and is going through this "you're not the boss of me stage". I'm quite ready to rip her arms off. She's just so big and independent now.
I went to the rheumatoid arthritis doctor last week and it was a good visit. I really like the doctor. I got sick over the summer and my arthritis really flared again. Turns out I probably had Parvo. The human form of Parvo is Fifth disease and it can cause viral arthritis. Who knew? The upshot of the visit is that I'm renewing my dedication to taking my meds and hopefully I'll start feeling better again. I'm really tired of being tired. The fatigue of RA is really something.

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... ;-)