... a fleece jacket and flip flops sort of day.
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Saturday, October 15, 2011
A walk and dinner
These pictures are from my phone from last weekend. (Accepting donations for the iphone 4s, primarily for the camera.) We took the girls downtown for a bit of a walk before we went for some pizza.
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| Julie on the bridge |
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| Daddy and his ladies. Love this one. |
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| J, our little lefty |
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| R |
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| Ems |
Even though we had to wait for a table, the girls did great, and we really had a lot of fun. And the restaurant had triangle shaped crayons. It's a little detail that can make a world of difference. :)
Friday, October 14, 2011
Notes from potty training boot camp
So, about a week ago, we left the girls with the nanny for the evening so that we could go out to dinner with some friends. She gave them a bath, and they were upstairs, away from the little green IKEA potties. Emma had to go potty, so she was forced to use the little Backyardigans potty seat that sits on the "big girl potty" (sometimes known as the "white potty) for the first time.
Even more shocking? Julie said she needed to use the big girl potty and ... she did! Ever since then, she's been asking for "panties." (Em and Becca call them "underwear" or "undies," from the potty book.) She still has lots and lots of accidents, but she's trying really hard. I would have never guessed that it was the green potties that were holding her back. But she'll only use the "big girl potty."
While we were at Target over the weekend, we had to get a new potty seat for the downstairs bathroom. They all agreed on the pink Dora one.
Even more shocking? Julie said she needed to use the big girl potty and ... she did! Ever since then, she's been asking for "panties." (Em and Becca call them "underwear" or "undies," from the potty book.) She still has lots and lots of accidents, but she's trying really hard. I would have never guessed that it was the green potties that were holding her back. But she'll only use the "big girl potty."
While we were at Target over the weekend, we had to get a new potty seat for the downstairs bathroom. They all agreed on the pink Dora one.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Random notes from the week
Becca's glowing recommendation for my Mom of the Year application: "Mommy not too bad."
They have liked playing with their blocks lately, build lots of "powers." The also build a whole family of kitty cats: Mommy cats, Daddy cats, Julie cats, Grandma and Grandpa cats (which became an airport with just a few changes), and lots and lots of "Toria" kitties (for aunt Victoria.)
Now that it's getting darker earlier, the girls make comments like "it's getting dark out." My favorite, though, is when Julie looks out the window and says, "I can't see da dark!"
Emma calls Santa Claus on me: "Hi, Santa Claus? Come get mommy."
It's so funny to see the girls trying to characterize their world. Right now, they distinguish things by whether or not they have hands. Like, in their line of reasoning, the cats can't have ice pops because they don't have hands. Cars also don't have hands. And spiders can't get into the car because they don't have hands to open the door.
The girls have started referring to the tub as "the pool," and insist on swimming in the tub. It essentially mimics their swimming in the pool when we were at the beach last month - the lay down on their bellies and try to blow bubbles. (We've had to nix the kicking.) The problem is that when they lay down, there's really only room for two of them in there.
Julie is still our Little General. At the moment, she likes to repeat exactly what I say to her sisters, especially when I'm giving an order. She also likes to point things out to her sisters and say, "Dis is NOT a toy."
Emma, on the other hand, likes to follow me around and go through a play-by-play, but in question form. In the morning: "Dat your tooth brush?" "You gonna brush your teeth?" "Dat your shirt?" "You wear a red shirt, mommy?" "You gonna wear pants?"
Julie will surprise me with some of her grammar. We were reading "Go Dog Go" (which I can probably recite, and often find myself quoting from when we're out) for the millionth time, and Emma points to the dog and says, "That him tail." Julie, at the same time, says "That his tail." She wasn't correcting Emma - they pretty much said it at the same time.
The cozy coupe cars have a hole cut in the back of the roof - essentially a handle for someone to be able to push the car around. Well, the girls started tipping the cars back onto their rear wheels and using the handle to push them around. They started calling them "garbage cans" - as in, the way we have to tip the garbage can back to move it around.
They love to put things into the recycling bin, and are constantly asking "Dat recycling?"
When they want to say that they are scared of something, they say "I scare to him."
They have liked playing with their blocks lately, build lots of "powers." The also build a whole family of kitty cats: Mommy cats, Daddy cats, Julie cats, Grandma and Grandpa cats (which became an airport with just a few changes), and lots and lots of "Toria" kitties (for aunt Victoria.)
Now that it's getting darker earlier, the girls make comments like "it's getting dark out." My favorite, though, is when Julie looks out the window and says, "I can't see da dark!"
Emma calls Santa Claus on me: "Hi, Santa Claus? Come get mommy."
It's so funny to see the girls trying to characterize their world. Right now, they distinguish things by whether or not they have hands. Like, in their line of reasoning, the cats can't have ice pops because they don't have hands. Cars also don't have hands. And spiders can't get into the car because they don't have hands to open the door.
The girls have started referring to the tub as "the pool," and insist on swimming in the tub. It essentially mimics their swimming in the pool when we were at the beach last month - the lay down on their bellies and try to blow bubbles. (We've had to nix the kicking.) The problem is that when they lay down, there's really only room for two of them in there.
Julie is still our Little General. At the moment, she likes to repeat exactly what I say to her sisters, especially when I'm giving an order. She also likes to point things out to her sisters and say, "Dis is NOT a toy."
Emma, on the other hand, likes to follow me around and go through a play-by-play, but in question form. In the morning: "Dat your tooth brush?" "You gonna brush your teeth?" "Dat your shirt?" "You wear a red shirt, mommy?" "You gonna wear pants?"
Julie will surprise me with some of her grammar. We were reading "Go Dog Go" (which I can probably recite, and often find myself quoting from when we're out) for the millionth time, and Emma points to the dog and says, "That him tail." Julie, at the same time, says "That his tail." She wasn't correcting Emma - they pretty much said it at the same time.
The cozy coupe cars have a hole cut in the back of the roof - essentially a handle for someone to be able to push the car around. Well, the girls started tipping the cars back onto their rear wheels and using the handle to push them around. They started calling them "garbage cans" - as in, the way we have to tip the garbage can back to move it around.
They love to put things into the recycling bin, and are constantly asking "Dat recycling?"
When they want to say that they are scared of something, they say "I scare to him."
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
More acts of animal terrorism
So I knew they were going to be terrified, based on our recent visits to the zoo and the cow farm, but darn it, I had bought the Groupon and it was about to expire. So over the weekend, we went to a different zoo where their "thing" is that the animals have appeared in tv commercials, movies, or in one case, a Li'l Wayne music video.
Anyhow, they had lots of animals that we don't have at the local zoo - bears, tigers, yaks, camels, zebras, llamas, peacocks, horses. And the girls were pretty much scared of ALL of them.
The spent most of the time like this, glued to our hands. At this point, they decided that daddy was the better defender. What's funny with Emma in particular is that she will determine which hand she wants to hold by making sure she puts Greg or I in between her and the animals.
Me and my ladies. Can you tell they wanted to get up and run?
Whew, a rock! Finally, something that won't make any sudden moves!
So, what did they like? The hippo statue. I can't say I'm surprised, as the bear statue is their favorite part of the other zoo.
I like this one because Julie's hugging Em. :)
After about an hour, we decided to end the torture and went to get some chicken nuggets. Honestly, it was just nice to be outside. When we got to the chicken nugget restaurant (not our usual location), we were tricked into having to eat there after we promised the girls their nuggets, only to find out that it's a drive-thru only restaurant, with some tables outside. It's a bit of a challenge to eat outside with 3 kids and a breeze, but we survived. And, again, it was nice to spend some more time outside and get some fresh air. Love, love, love the fall.
Anyhow, they had lots of animals that we don't have at the local zoo - bears, tigers, yaks, camels, zebras, llamas, peacocks, horses. And the girls were pretty much scared of ALL of them.
The spent most of the time like this, glued to our hands. At this point, they decided that daddy was the better defender. What's funny with Emma in particular is that she will determine which hand she wants to hold by making sure she puts Greg or I in between her and the animals.
Whew, a rock! Finally, something that won't make any sudden moves!
So, what did they like? The hippo statue. I can't say I'm surprised, as the bear statue is their favorite part of the other zoo.
I like this one because Julie's hugging Em. :)
After about an hour, we decided to end the torture and went to get some chicken nuggets. Honestly, it was just nice to be outside. When we got to the chicken nugget restaurant (not our usual location), we were tricked into having to eat there after we promised the girls their nuggets, only to find out that it's a drive-thru only restaurant, with some tables outside. It's a bit of a challenge to eat outside with 3 kids and a breeze, but we survived. And, again, it was nice to spend some more time outside and get some fresh air. Love, love, love the fall.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
I {heart} fall
The weather last week was just gorgeous... all week. The girls have been getting plenty of fresh air, but Greg and I hadn't. We decided to scrap our dinner plans last Friday, pack up some sandwiches and drinks, and go have a "pick-uh-nick" at the park. Perfect.
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| Julie after dinner |
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| Emma and Becca crossing the water |
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| Daddy and his ladies (R, J, E) |
Monday, October 10, 2011
One of the many reasons we love having a nanny...
... not having to battle this in the mornings.
(Oh, and try to ignore the towels on the couch. We're still potty training.)
(Oh, and try to ignore the towels on the couch. We're still potty training.)
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Cow terrorists
We had a tree cut down in our yard last weekend, and while Greg stayed home with the tree guys, I decided that all of the noise would upset the girls. So we went on another 'venture.
There's an all organic dairy farm where you can buy non-homogenized, low temperature pasteurized milk. I've never actually had it, because we go through SO much milk at out house. Anyhow, they were having an anniversary party/fall festival... and we needed to get out of the house.
We got there, and parked in the "big" grass. There was a hay ride to get across the street from the parking lot to the farm. When we went apple picking the weekend before, there was also a hayride, and of course the girls were terrified. On the way home that day, though, Emma said she wanted to "ride on the tractor." So, when we got to the hay ride, I didn't give them a choice. They were scared at first, but didn't have too much time to think about it.
There was lots of free chocolate milk.
Grandma will notice that I let them all wear their boots.
There's an all organic dairy farm where you can buy non-homogenized, low temperature pasteurized milk. I've never actually had it, because we go through SO much milk at out house. Anyhow, they were having an anniversary party/fall festival... and we needed to get out of the house.
We got there, and parked in the "big" grass. There was a hay ride to get across the street from the parking lot to the farm. When we went apple picking the weekend before, there was also a hayride, and of course the girls were terrified. On the way home that day, though, Emma said she wanted to "ride on the tractor." So, when we got to the hay ride, I didn't give them a choice. They were scared at first, but didn't have too much time to think about it.
There was lots of free chocolate milk.
Grandma will notice that I let them all wear their boots.
We walked around a little bit to check out what was there, but there wasn't much that they weren't terrified of. There were pony rides, but we couldn't even get close. The one thing they weren't scared of was painting pumpkins.
We got a little bit on our boots.
And some in our hair.
And of course the pumpkins weren't totally dry when we left, so we came home with even more paint all over us. But momma asked if it was all washable before she agreed to the pumpkin painting.
After pumpkins, the girls had some hot dogs and more chocolate milk. Since momma doesn't eat hot dogs, we went back to get some popcorn. We were trying to find somewhere to sit with our snack, so we went over along the edge of the cow pasture. Which was fine.
Until the cows got too close.
And the girls took off running, crying and screaming "I want to go home!"
So I gave up. And we took the hay ride back to the car.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Random notes from the week
The girls love to look at this panorama picture from our wedding with all of our wedding guests. They asked to be picked up to see it, and to see grandmas and grandpas. We've started trying to point out other people that they know, and they've started to ask, "Where Emma?" "Where Julie?" "Where Becca?" The best, though, was when Julie said I was wearing a towel.
Becca has started calling me "mommy honey" (probably because I say, "Becca, honey, could you..." all the time. She was on the "phone" tonight and I heard her say "Hi, daddy hon." The nanny says Becca does it to her, too.
More of my words are coming back to haunt me. Whenever I have the girls by myself and we have to go through a parking lot, Emma and Becca insist on holding my hand. Julie is the only one who will hold Emma or Becca's hand instead of mine. But Emma has started to only hold Julie's hand grudgingly, and she'll grab my hand with both of her hands and say, "no, my hands are full."
The girls got their flu shots last week, and barely made a peep. Julie did one of those "how could you?" inhales and her chin quivered, but that was it. Becca and Emma were a bit surprised, but their first ever trip to the toy bin before their shots seems to have taken the sting out.
Now that it's cooler out, the girls like to wear socks, and pull them all the way up to their knees (or as high as they will go) and say, "I wear boots!"
Julie, and occasionally Emma, will cross her arms in front of her chest. So funny.
Apparently, we are also potty training our stuffed animals. They have lots of "ask-i-dents."
Becca has started calling me "mommy honey" (probably because I say, "Becca, honey, could you..." all the time. She was on the "phone" tonight and I heard her say "Hi, daddy hon." The nanny says Becca does it to her, too.
More of my words are coming back to haunt me. Whenever I have the girls by myself and we have to go through a parking lot, Emma and Becca insist on holding my hand. Julie is the only one who will hold Emma or Becca's hand instead of mine. But Emma has started to only hold Julie's hand grudgingly, and she'll grab my hand with both of her hands and say, "no, my hands are full."
The girls got their flu shots last week, and barely made a peep. Julie did one of those "how could you?" inhales and her chin quivered, but that was it. Becca and Emma were a bit surprised, but their first ever trip to the toy bin before their shots seems to have taken the sting out.
Now that it's cooler out, the girls like to wear socks, and pull them all the way up to their knees (or as high as they will go) and say, "I wear boots!"
Julie, and occasionally Emma, will cross her arms in front of her chest. So funny.
Apparently, we are also potty training our stuffed animals. They have lots of "ask-i-dents."
Friday, October 7, 2011
Apple picking
I'm so far behind! We actually went to this new place almost 2 weeks ago now, partly because it was closer (and was something we could do in half a day, including lunch) and partly because the old place is just so busy... and has lots of hills.
So we took the wagons (this is where Becca insisted they were "dragons"), which certainly made it easier. But once we got to the trees where the apples were, the girls were clearly more interested in the wagons and pulling them around than they were the apples.
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| Julie's in the wagon that Emma is pulling. |
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| Emma hordes the apples - 2011 |
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| Emma hordes the apples - 2010 |
They had some other stuff to do there, and we're planning to go back another time this season. We were intent on getting the girls to eat lunch and fall asleep in the car. Of course, that didn't happen.
Anyhow, while Greg was loading all of our crap stuff into the car, I let the girls run over and check out the little school bus cutout.
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| Julie, Em, Becca |
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Books
I've been reading voraciously again, sneaking in pages and forgoing housework wherever possible.
I finished Mudbound (thanks, Beth!) in just a couple of days. Really good.
Next I picked up The Ten Year Nap, mostly because it was on top of my pile of books. I can't say that I recommend it - it was kind of unpleasant to read. Not that I could put it down once I started it, but it is one that I wouldn't reread.
I just finished with Sarah's Key, which has been in my pile forever. Loved it, mostly. I'm not quite sure I like the ending.
I finished Mudbound (thanks, Beth!) in just a couple of days. Really good.
Next I picked up The Ten Year Nap, mostly because it was on top of my pile of books. I can't say that I recommend it - it was kind of unpleasant to read. Not that I could put it down once I started it, but it is one that I wouldn't reread.
I just finished with Sarah's Key, which has been in my pile forever. Loved it, mostly. I'm not quite sure I like the ending.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
One more vacation post
I can't believe I'm still catching up from our beach vacation, which was weeks ago now. I'm sure there are a million more things I want to remember, but I'm doing good just to get as much of it down as I can.
On our last Saturday at the beach, it was cloudy and overcast again, so we ventured to a children's museum.
Our little engineer (Becca)
Emma needs a haircut
Making a bubble around Julie
Love these two of Becca
A rare pic of the three of them together
Emma checking on her patient
And Julie makes sure her foot sounds ok.
It wasn't a museum in what I'd call the traditional definition of a museum ... more along the lines of "if my husband were a carpenter, I think we could open up our own children's 'museum.'" But it was something for us to do on an otherwise chilly and gray day. And the girls enjoyed it.
Monday, October 3, 2011
A day with my ladies
Our nanny had asked for a vacation day last Friday, so I figured it would be a good day to spend some time with my ladies. I had planned on taking them to the zoo, and we actually ended up meeting up with some other moms of multiples.
The girls, surprisingly to me, were afraid of more of the animals this time that they were the last time. The didn't want to get up on the little ledges throughout the zoo, except where the animals were really far away. The liked the elephants, the huge tortoises, the giraffes (until they got too close), and the flamingoes. They were afraid of the lemurs, the lions, all of the different kinds of monkeys, and the pig.
But they loved the playground.
And the lion water fountain.
And about half way through the zoo, they started asking for the bear.
After we made it through the zoo, we had a "pick-uh-nick" just outside of the zoo. The girls love a good "pick-uh-nick." And the bonus was that they all fell asleep in the car on the way home, and took a good solid 2 hour nap.
After they got up, we went to Costco. If you haven't been there lately, the beginnings of the Christmas "stuff" is up. The girls have been obsessed with the snowman and Christmas trees since they saw them with Greg last time. We had to go see the snowman no fewer than 3 times.
In all, it was a great day with my girls. I feel guilty for not always enjoying my time with them ... when they are getting on my nerves, when they're not listening. There were times I got frustrated today (I swear, if I have to tell them to put their shoes on one more time...) but it was manageable. I don't know if that means that I'm growing up, or that they are. But it was wonderful.
The girls, surprisingly to me, were afraid of more of the animals this time that they were the last time. The didn't want to get up on the little ledges throughout the zoo, except where the animals were really far away. The liked the elephants, the huge tortoises, the giraffes (until they got too close), and the flamingoes. They were afraid of the lemurs, the lions, all of the different kinds of monkeys, and the pig.
But they loved the playground.
And the lion water fountain.
And about half way through the zoo, they started asking for the bear.
After we made it through the zoo, we had a "pick-uh-nick" just outside of the zoo. The girls love a good "pick-uh-nick." And the bonus was that they all fell asleep in the car on the way home, and took a good solid 2 hour nap.
After they got up, we went to Costco. If you haven't been there lately, the beginnings of the Christmas "stuff" is up. The girls have been obsessed with the snowman and Christmas trees since they saw them with Greg last time. We had to go see the snowman no fewer than 3 times.
In all, it was a great day with my girls. I feel guilty for not always enjoying my time with them ... when they are getting on my nerves, when they're not listening. There were times I got frustrated today (I swear, if I have to tell them to put their shoes on one more time...) but it was manageable. I don't know if that means that I'm growing up, or that they are. But it was wonderful.
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