We've moved.

Come visit us at livesofthecowgirls.com for adventures in cooking and crafts.

More information about our family is at livesofthecowgirls.com/our_lives/  (There's also a link on the top right of the main page; still working on making this a little more obvious.)  This site is password protected.  The login and password can be requested by sending me an email at sarahgs (at) mac (dot) com.

Hi.

It's been a month since my last post.  I don't have a great explanation, other than that my evening blog time has transformed into my reading-trash-on-the-internet time.  You know, instead of creating more trash on the internet.

I got really far behind earlier in the year on documenting what we've been up to.  And honestly, the more I tried to catch up, the more stale everything felt.  I couldn't remember the funny stories that went with the pictures, and I felt mostly like I was just posting "here's pictures of something we did."  It just wasn't what I wanted to be doing with my time.

I've also been going back on forth on whether to password protect this blog or not.  Or whether to split it into two blogs.  I really didn't want to do two blogs, but it's really the way I'm leaning right now.  I'll probably password protect the one with all of our day-to-day craziness, and then have a public one for recipes, crafts, and other random stuff.  It's not by any means that I want to exclude anyone from reading about our day-to-day stuff.  It's more that I don't feel comfortable putting a lot of details out there - I've been intentionally vague about a few things (location, work, when we're going to be out of town, etc) that I'd like to document.  Plus, as the girls are getting older, I want to make sure that I respect their privacy.  You know, when I'm not embarrassing them.

Give me a few days to sort out some details, and I'll keep you posted.  Or, at least I'll keep my brother posted because I'm pretty sure he's the only one still reading this.

Here's my bullet list of the summer so far:

• In full on panic mode about organizing photos after I watched iPhoto eat a picture.  It had been my go to for organizing and quick lighting fixes.  But I don't trust it anymore.  I'm using Adobe Organize that came with Photoshop Elements 11, but I'm not loving it so far.  It's clunky.  I think I'm waiting for tax free weekend to buy Lightroom.
• Had a pretty good trip up to see family for the first two weeks of July.  It rained a lot though, or was miserably hot and sticky.  Oh, and in true awesome fashion, I broke out in a horrible rash that I would call hives but the two, yes two, doctors that I had to see insist is an allergic reaction.  And then the prednisone made me crazy and I had to stop it, so now, 2 weeks later, I still itch but without the bumps.  
• The girls are doing gymnastics once a week for the summer and are LOVING it.  And are going to make me pay for dance AND gymnastics once school starts again.  
• Hoping to catch up on my Project Life album.  I'm currently working on week 48 from 2012 and week 9 from 2013.  I'm trying to keep it simple in order to catch up.  It's really the only scrapbooking I'm doing at the moment.
• I was doing really well with going to the gym in the morning before work back before we went on vacation.  And I did pretty well the first week of vacation ... but then the hives broke out and I was pretty sure the heat and sweat was only going to make it worse.  And then I gave myself the week off when we got back from vacation.  And now I still haven't gone back now, two weeks later.  Sigh.

Recently

Recently we learned that:

• I ordered the girls' dress shorts by the baker's dozen online.
• An emergency kit in my car involves pony tail holders, but no band aids.
• I either spend a lot of time in the shower, or my children only have "problems" when I'm in the shower.
• I am formulating an evil plan to not pack any dresses when we go on vacation.

Awesome.

And today Becca got sent to the office for disrupting Music class.  

By showing everyone her heinie.

Not like "full-on moon" (like Greg asked when we got home).  They were supposed to be sitting cross legged, and she was not, and kept laying back and lifting up her legs.

She did have on dress shorts, though she did make it to the van without them this morning.  Luckily Greg checked and went back in for some.

Her punishment?  No dresses for the rest of the week.

This from the girl who keeps asking why I don't have "ganam sigh" (Gangnam Style) on my phone.

Songs

The girls had a "Song Festival" on the last day of school this year.  Luckily, I brought the big lens this time.  But I swear, after a few of these concerts now, I'm seriously thinking about taking up a fund for risers for the school.  The youngest kids?  Sat sitting down.  People were climbing over each other to try to see and get pictures.  Our kids stood when the sang, but you never know where your kid is going to be (and it's even harder to keep up with 3 at once, right, because they're inevitably spread out), so choosing a seat on the middle aisle seems like a good idea, until the music director (who directs sitting down?) puts a chair right in the middle of the front of the aisle.  Luckily, some friends let me move over by them while the girls were singing.  Seriously, they need rotation seating - I don't have to have a good spot when my kids aren't singing.  But for the three minutes that they are singing?  I'd love to be able to see them and get pictures of them that don't involve them standing behind other kids, or pictures that don't involve the back of the music director's head.

Rant over.

The girls were so excited to see us.  Non-stop waving.  When it was their turn, they sang a song about daffodils, and one about a rainbow, neither of which I knew.

They also insisted that we couldn't leave at the end without giving them a hug.  Apparently when they had their winter song festival, they got really upset and cried that we didn't find them at the end to give them a hug.  We made right by them this time, though.

Hot Air Balloons

Flashback to Memorial Day weekend...  There's a big hot air balloon festival in the town next to us.  It goes on all weekend, and, weather permitting, they launch balloons in the morning and evening all weekend long.  And the weather this year was just gorgeous.

Our first spotting was on Saturday morning, driving down the highway on our way to the zoo.  (Rest assured, I was in the passenger seat when I took this.)

When we got back from the zoo later on Saturday, I wasn't feeling well, so Greg took the girls to dinner and then they found a parking lot to sit in to watch for balloons.  I think they're tailgating.  

On Sunday evening, we were a little more prepared.  We packed a picnic, and sat outside in a grassy area along the main road.  We had lots of company, but still plenty of room to spread out.  There were some people on one side of us who were already there when we got there.  Of course, when we got out of the car, we realized they had a dog... and the girls are mostly terrified of dogs.  He was on a leash, though, so we were doing fine.  And then?  People showed up later on the other side of us.

With a cat.

A freaking cat.

Who takes their cat on a picnic?

Seriously, who *does* that?

And the cat's not on a leash, so our most exciting moment of the evening was when a dog got loose (not the one next to us), and comes tearing down the grass in hot pursuit of the cat, and the owner's running after it, screaming.

Anyhow, we had to wait a while to actually see some balloons, but once they started lifting off, the girls quickly lost count of all of them.

And, of course, I didn't think of the bigger lens until after we got there.  Ah, well, next year.

When we first got there, they were watching two boys throwing a football.  All of a sudden, Emma says "Let's be observers.  Shhh, observers are quiet."

I think I'm going to have to quote her in the future.

What life looks like

Emergency pony tail holders everywhere...

Evidence of the need for dress shorts

We are entering the phase of the year where we feel obligated to take advantage of every day that is less than 90 degrees and/or 90% humidity.  This past weekend was warm, but gorgeous.  We went out for dinner on Friday, and then went to the park.

We've been going to this particular park for years.  They've got a nice, fenced in playground for the under 5 set, and then a bigger playground for older kids.  The girls have started making the move to the big playground in the last few months.  It's crazy for me to be there.

Crazy hair.  She never spares a drop of drama.

Someone was having a birthday party, and these two couldn't keep their eyes away.  They kept asking why we couldn't go to the birthday party.  I told them we didn't know the people.  Becca said "Well, we can tell them our names."  Luckily, we had a birthday party to go to on Saturday ... for, you know, someone we actually know.

They insist on running, even when we tell them not to.  Julie was the unlucky one this time - I watched her trip on her own foot and do an almost-face plant on the sidewalk.  Luckily all she had was a scraped knee.  Unluckily all we had was a Chipotle napkin in the car.  We used to have a first aid kit in the car, but apparently we took it out at some point.

And that's when we knew it was "last call" time on our wild and crazy Friday night at the playground.

(sometimes) I (want to) scream

We went out for ice cream last night.  There was (as usual) much debate about where to go.  Finally, the majority (well, the majority of the people under 5.  Greg and I pretty much don't count for anything.) decided to go to the "one with the eyes."  (They put little candy eyes on the kids' cones.)

Emma got chocolate in a cup, and after issuing her grievance for the lack of sprinkles, she was fine.  Didn't get a drop on her.  (Or her sweatshirt.  She insisted on wearing it, even though the rest of us were ok with the mid-80s.)

Becca (and her dress) thoroughly enjoyed her chocolate cone with eyes.  (See how short that dress is on her?  And that's while she's sitting down.)

Julie insisted on strawberry after she tried some of my mom's when they were here.

I'm not sure if she just wanted it because it was pink, but after a few bites, she decided she didn't like it. I wasn't about to stand in line again, so I gave her mine.  And she ate all of my mint chocolate chip, the little brat.  And, for the record, the mint chocolate chip *was* better than the strawberry.  

Next time, I'm going for ice cream by myself.

I almost made her feel like a boy.

When I was pregnant, I worried a lot about logistics - finding carseats that would fit in the car, getting three infants in to daycare, how many swings we needed.  Something that I never considered the logistics of, though?  Dress shorts.

My kids are obsessed with dresses.  I would estimate that they are currently wearing something other than a dress maybe once a week.  They are also getting tall, particularly Rebecca.  (She's actually the tallest one in her class right now.)  And those 4T dresses are like long shirts on her.  They insist on wearing the dresses to school, where I know they're climbing on the playground, sitting cross legged in a circle, and probably just lifting their dresses altogether at some point.

They still make "bike shorts" for girls to wear under dresses, but these cartwheel shorts from The Children's Place are just about perfect.

Apparently we were in a cartwheel shorts crisis last week, because I had to wash them all twice to make it through the week.  So, in the little free time that I actually get, I went to the mall armed with my 20% off coupon to get some more cartwheel shorts.

And then have ONE in the right size on the racks.  And they're black.  We do have a couple pairs of black already, but I was really looking for the white or light pink.  A lady goes to the back to see if they have anymore.

She came back with one pair in white.

And I about laughed in her face.

One pair.  That's not even worth standing in line for.  Can you imagine the fights that would start?

I think I've given up on the mall.  The internet is the only place for bulk shopping.

So, 13 pairs of shorts later, we're still running out routinely.

The other day, Becca pulled out a dress and we didn't have any dress shorts.  (There were some in the washing machine, but realistically the chance of them making it to the dryer by morning was 50/50.)  I told her to pick out something else.  She refused, but said she'd wear regular shorts underneath.  Fine.

This would be a fine place to add that Becca has been caught (multiple times) lying about whether she is wearing shorts.  We have to check now.

So I'm in the shower, and she comes in and says, "Mommy, these shorts make me feel like a boy."

Sigh.

I sent there to the dryer to get some real dress shorts out, and everything was right with the world again.

How this gem came to live at our house.

I know you're jealous.  I know you want your own baby My Little Pony.  Complete with hearts in her eyes.

In case it wasn't obvious, the little car, little orange fish, and the purple My Little Pony are her toys.  No wait - scratch that.  I think the boss said the little blue car is her sister.

So, Julie managed to make it 5 straight nights without wetting the bed.  She still has accidents.  But she made it the obligatory 5 nights.  Which meant she got to go to the toy store for her "big girl present."

At first she wanted a Barbie.  I was slowly coming to terms with that (well, it was a Barbie Ballerina) as we cruised the aisles.  Her original request was for a castle (!), but conveniently we couldn't find that aisle.

So this is what she picked.  And I guess it's better than a Barbie.  And her sisters have been all over her like flies on you-know-what.

Becca is not wearing diapers or pull ups at night, but she only makes it through the night maybe 5% of the time.  She pees, wakes up at 5am, changes her pajamas, and then gets in our bed.  I feel bad, because she so desperately wants to make it through the night - it has been her idea, not ours, to stop the diapers.  (Throwing away a diaper is so much easier than changing the sheets every day.  Or cleaning pee out of the carpet, because half the time she sleeps on the floor.  Awesome.)

We all went out to lunch together on Sunday afternoon before I took Julie to Toys R Us.  As soon as we left the parking lot from lunch, it started to rain.  By the time we got to the toy store, it was torrential, with no end in site.  We had an umbrella, but it was almost pointless.

We both got soaked.  But we were at the toy store.  So she didn't care.

She played with the trains for a while (while we waited for the rain to slow down a little), and then we went for doughnuts.

Oh, and a Julie gem from the day:  We were checking out at Toys R Us, and the lady asked her how old she was.  She said "Four," so the lady asked when she was going to turn five.  And Julie said, "On my next birthday."

Smart girl.

Multitasking...

While I was in the shower yesterday:

E:  Mommy, can I color a picture for you?
Me:  Yes, as long as it's not a picture of me in the shower.

R:  Mommy, can you open my stickers?
Me:  Only if you want me to get them wet.  I'll open them when I get out of the shower.

J: (mumble mumble mumble) poop (mumble mumble mumble) bathroom floor.
Me:  You pooped on the bathroom floor?
J:  No, I slipped!
Me:  Oh.  (I swear I heard the word 'poop.')  How did you slip on the bathroom floor?
J:  It was wet.
Me:  Can you get a paper towel and dry it?
J:  Ok!

R:  Are you done yet?
Me:  No.

E:  Mommy, Julie made a mess on the bathroom floor, but I already cleaned it up.
Me:  Let me guess, with water?
E:  Yeah, and mulch.  But I already cleaned it up.

R:  Are you done yet?
Me:  No, I keep getting interrupted.

Wet Weekend

We had another wet weekend this past weekend.  (It rained the previous weekend, too, but I'm pretty sure we got more this weekend.  I think we got something like 4 inches of rain this weekend.)  We only had some drizzle on Saturday up until about 2:30.  That's when the rain really started.

We started Saturday morning with dance pictures.  They've got a recital in about a little more than a week now.  It was the first time I've had to get them in costumes, and then do their hair.  We tried little buns, but they just don't have quite enough hair for it yet.  So there were lots.  And lots.  of bobby pins. Luckily, they were so excited, they didn't mind.

This is the only even partly decent picture I got (and it's still crooked and blurry), but oh my - so cute.  I caught glimpses of pictures being taken and I can't wait to see how ridiculously adorable they are.

After that, we went to Lowe's to pick up some more plants for the back yard.  The beds in the back yard have been pretty well neglected, and we've got a lot of holes to fill in.  Plus, I found this gardenia tree at Costco the week before, and it got me motivated to get it together.  That being said, the plants are still sitting in the front yard.  Maybe I'll have time this weekend.

We went to lunch, and, after checking the radar, decided to try to go downtown to the rubber duck derby that we went to last year.  I'll be honest - it was cold and windy.  I'm glad that we didn't get there much earlier (except that we missed free hula hoops).  And I'm glad we found a really nice lady who let the girls stand in front of her on the bridge.

This happens a lot lately when we take pictures - posing, making faces...

We finally convinced Emma that the giant inflatable duck wasn't going to bite, though by the look on her face, I'm not sure she believed us.  Oh, and more posing + faces.

Julie and Emma got a duck tattoo on their hands.

Watching the ducks.

They all got duck stickers, too, but Becca couldn't decide where to put hers, so she gave it to me.  While she wasn't paying attention, I put it on her shoulder.  Love that you can see the bun in her hair still here, too.

The rain literally started with the duck race.  It was light enough still that it wasn't awful, but with the radar, we knew it was just the beginning.  So, we didn't stick around for long.  And as soon as we got in the car, Becca asked why we didn't do a lot of things ("tings") there.  

And Sunday was pretty much this:

and this.

Costco

Just another trip to Costco...

Becca had to stop to look at the bling.

We are so pushing the weigh limit of the cart seats.  Plus, our long legs get stuck every time we try to get out.  Wearing boots pretty much means you can't sit in the seat.

They insisted on bringing sunglasses (and you can see Julie insisted on the bracelet and necklace above, too).  Today they thought it was hysterical to put them on upside down, and then ask me "Mommy, are these upside down?"  It made them laugh so hard when I said "No, those look right."

We had to stop and ride on the swing.

February Flashback: Hair cuts

We finally went for what is probably their 3rd official hair cut ever.  We ran into another family there with two boys, one of which goes to school with the girls, and I realized how much easier we have it with haircuts right now.  They can seriously go a year between "real" haircuts, but little boys are probably in there a bit more regularly.

Becca riding the horse.

Just give Emma a book and you can do whatever you want to her hair.

Julie (and the paparazzi)

Becca was done first

Becca's "princess hair."  I think we figured out it was the long ribbon that made it "princess."

Julie

Emma's consisted of a bunch of little clips.

Of course, before we left, we had to play "hair dresser."  She's got a toy blow dryer on that doll's head.

We went out for doughnuts afterwards, and got to admire each other's hair while we waited in line.