The Rest of the ... Weekend

Our behavior was still sub-par on Friday morning.  And, you know, to reinforce it, Greg took them to the park to "run them."  And while they were at the park, I got to do some Black Friday shopping.

I seriously considered going to Target at midnight, but the only thing I wanted wasn't one of the doorbusters, and was just a little $8 toy.  And I am SO glad I didn't.  At 11am, when I finally got there, they still had a ton of them.  And I didn't have to be out with the crazy people.  (No offense, crazy people.  I'm just crazy in different ways.)  Target was busier than I've ever seen it, but still not bad.  I don't think I waited in line for more than 30 seconds.  Awesome.

I went to Michaels - again, busy, but I still didn't have to wait in line.  And then I was going to drive by Toys R Us to see how bad it was...  But there were parking spaces, so I went in.  The place was a MESS - everything was everywhere.  Again, it was busy, but there was only 1 person in front of me in line.  I was particularly looking for a certain toy... in pink.  Last year, I remember stacks of this toy on the floor after Thanksgiving.  No problem.  And of course when I get there, there are exactly 2.  So I was literally standing next to the bin for a good 10 minutes trying to decide what to do...  Buy 2 pink and a blue?  Buy the 2 pink and go across the street to see if Babies R Us had one?  Buy 3 blue?  And by some stroke of luck that I never have, a woman that worked there came by and dropped a pink one back in the bin.

I ran into the mall briefly (well, just Sears) because that wasn't looking too bad either.  I bought myself a few presents - a pair of boost and ...wait for it... a handheld vacuum.

On Saturday morning, we took the girls to the zoo.  It's been a little warmer than usual all weekend - in the mid 60s - so it was another great day to get outside. They had a lot of fun, and actually spent some time watching the animals. Well, the ones they were interested in. Becca would not go look at the orangutans, and she and Emma FREAKED out when the loud monkeys started making noise. (Julie was going potty, or she would have flipped, too.) R and E were playing in this little amphitheater when the monkeys started and they just about threw themselves down the steps to get back to me.

E playing on the rocking chair at the playground in the zoo.

Julie and Becca change shoes based on their mood, but Emma almost always insists on the pink boots.

I just love the look on Emma's face in this one.

Sunday was originally supposed to be a rainy day, but it turned out to just be overcast and still in the mid 60s. I took the girls to the grocery store, and then they played outside for a while.

After lunch, they actually took a nap (when I told them there was a special surprise if they took a nap. They're such suckers for that "special surprise" phrase.). We woke them up and about threw them in the car to make it to the town Christmas parade before they closed the road down. We made it just in the nick of time. We found a spot on the sidewalk, surrounded by people with enough foresight to bring chairs.

The girls decided to entertain themselves while we waited for the parade, so they found this metal plate that made lots of noise when they jumped on it.

We also decided that it makes even more noise when we put our hands down on the ground and kick our feet. Really, we weren't breakdancing; it just looks like we were.

We did lots and lots of jumping.

I love this picture.

We collected rocks.

Finally, the parade started. Of course it started with a police car and two fire trucks with sirens blaring. And of course the girls hid behind Greg. In fact, I think Emma spent most of the parade hiding behind Greg's leg. There were a couple groups handing out candy, and they pretty much skipped Emma because they couldn't see her.

Julie and Becca also managed to get balloon.

And then Julie lost her balloon.

The awesome families on either side of us felt bad, and each gave us their balloon.  Back up to three balloons.

One big happy.

Random Notes

In a matter of about a week, the girls have become addicted to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse show. They still like Olivia and Dora, too.

They really love to "read" the Olivia books right now, too (particularly Becca). They know parts of one book in particular (where Francine invites Olivia over for dinner). They quote from it the way they used to quote from Dr Seuss books... What comes to mind is Olivia's "big smile" on the first page, the "spork" (they just love that), Ian blowing bubbles in his juice box, and Olivia's Brussels sprout rolling off the table "and onto da white carpet."

The girls are repeatedly asking to see the "pink clouds" at sunset.

The overall level of chatter in our house, and particularly noticeable in the car, seems to have increased dramatically of late. Last Friday, Emma kept telling us that green means go and red means stop. By Saturday, she has changed her mind to "red means go." Not sure if she was tying to be funny, or if she just confused herself.

But when we're at a traffic light or in traffic, they always like to point out "we waiting our turn!"

Some more random babble from the car:

• Emma: "Daddy ears black, they all dirty, he need bath."
• Emma: "Mommy daddy, say 'no turkey don't eat the pumpkin.'" After we said it, Emma would say, "Good job!"
• Julie: "Say hippy hop!"
• Emma: "Say 'trick or treat.'" I asked her if she had candy, and she said, "No mommy, no candy. You gotta eat green beans." So I said, "you have to eat green beans before you get candy? That sounds like a good rule.". To which Emma replied, "No, that not good rule."

The girls are absolutely obsessed with this You Tube video of Elmo doing his "abcd's" with India Arie.

Rebecca likes to say, "I'm busy now."

And Julie, who is apparently 2 going on 13, likes to scream at us, "I WILL!" when we ask her to do something.

Julie is such a ham for a mirror. Since it's been getting darker earlier, I often catch her checking out, playing with, having a conversation with, or just generally hamming it up for the Julie in the window (or the oven or the dishwasher).

Julie has started calling her pink nose bear "my sweetie."  Becca also calls Momo (who she has also sometimes insisted now be called "Monkey") her sweetie.  And I've heard Becca call Julie "sweetie."

Julie was sitting on the couch with Pink Nose and one of her dolls, and she comes out with, "I have twins!". The doll was Becca, and Pink Nose was Julie. Greg asked Julie who she was and she said, "Grandma!"

I heard Emma say, "So much to do, bear."

Monkey Toes

Becca can now climb over the gate across their bedroom door. I'd seen her get out twice before, but only when she was really mad. But now, when we're laying in bed in the morning, we'll hear *thunk (because she doesn't have the most elegant method of getting out)* and then *patter patter patter* and there she is. Actually, the first time she did it, she crawled right into bed next to me. I wouldn't have even known she was there, but she started trying to dig out my hand to hold it and she woke me up. I was really confused, because she was on the outside edge of the bed, and whenever we got get someone, we always put them in the middle.

And that, folks, is the exact moment when I realized that she had outsmarted us.

I've never actually seen her get out, but Greg was in there once when Becca didn't realize that he was there. He said she goes over to the gate and throws Momo over to the other side. Then she sits down on the floor and takes her socks off so she can use her little monkey toes to climb the 1 inch square mesh gate. And then I think she just kind of tumbles out.

When Becca gets out and runs into our room, Emma will stand at the gate yelling, "Becca climb the gate!"

I don't think I can punish her, but I can't quite bring myself to take the gate down yet. (There is a gate across the top and bottom of the stairs that they have not mastered... Yet.). And I don't want to let on to how much I love snuggling with them in the morning. Even having them around while we're getting ready in the morning is kind of fun.

Post-Thanksgiving Assessment

Well, the girls totally didn't get the whole "Thanksgiving is a holiday" thing, or that we should be celebrating the things that we are thankful for, rather than throw a fit when we can't have more stuffing.

I think it started out on a bad note when they woke up demanding Mickey Mouse, and sure enough Disney Junior had to go and change their whole schedule today.  They got in our bed and watched a cartoon that was on, but when that one was over, they were demanding Mickey again.  Luckily, I figured out that we can get Mickey Mouse using On Demand, for free.

But seriously, have I raised spoiled brats, or are other peoples' kids like this?

Greg offered to make pumpkin pancakes, but the girls wanted cereal instead.  Sigh.  And then I tried to get them to watch the parade, but there were too many commercials and not enough balloons for the girls' liking.  (Is it me, or did there used to be a lot more balloons in the parade?)

They wanted to go play in the leaves, so Greg took them outside for the rest of the morning.  It was gorgeous here, maybe 60 degrees.  They played in the leaves, the swings, and the sandbox in the back yard while I was working on the turkey, a pumpkin pie, and peeling 5 lbs of potatoes (which for the record, is WAY too much for 5 people).

Greg made them some pb&j, since I had the oven pretty well monopolized at this point.  They were beasts trying to go down for nap, despite all the fresh air in the morning.  Greg and I finally both went in there with them.  I got Julie and Emma to fall asleep.  Greg stayed up there with Becca for a while, but she was not going to take a nap.  She was reading fairly quietly in bed, so he left after a while.  He heard something, went up to check, and found Becca standing over Emma in Emma's bed, trying to wake her up.

That child can be so bad sometimes.

Once she came back downstairs, she was really good, and played quietly while I worked on dinner.

But once Julie and Emma woke up, it was like a whine fest all over again.  Seriously.  First, Becca wanted to go upstairs with Greg to get Julie and Emma.  She pulled the little stools out of the bathroom and over to the gate to climb over it.  Then, they had the wrong color cups, the wrong color forks, the wrong color spoons.  They wanted water bottles AND milk.  Emma didn't WANT to try cranberry sauce.  She ONLY wanted to eat stuffing.  Or potatoes that came off of Greg's plate.  (Oh, and for the record - we used some cute little turkey paper plates today.  They DID like that.)

Then they wanted "bizzert."  They wanted candy.  They wanted pudding.  Emma wanted a second vitamin.  I told them that "bizzert" would wait until after we talked to our grandmas and papas.  So we start a video chat with Greg's parents, and Emma starts turning the tv off.  (She is obsessed with the fact that she has the power to turn it on and off.  They fight over who gets to turn it on or off, so every chance she gets, she'll ask if she can turn it off.  And then do it no matter what I say.)  We called my parents, but by this time, the girls were fighting over toys (a toy phone, I believe), hitting each other, etc.

We had "bizzert" finally, and they all ate some pie - Emma ate the pumpkin, and Becca and Julie had the chocolate chip cheesecake that Greg made.  All was calm.

I decided that our new tradition would be to watch The Polar Express after Thanksgiving dinner.  But Emma threw a fit because she wanted to watch the parade.

But we watched The Polar Express, and they surprised me by sitting through the whole thing.  I think they liked it, although I thought it might have scared them.  Emma got up from the couch at one point and was standing in front of the tv.  All of a sudden the train went into a tunnel and the screen went black, and that's when she high tailed it back to the couch.

Becca's into metaphors

Even though our lives feel all sorts of upside down, we still have an awful lot to be thankful for.

Julie is thankful for:  my Gramma and my Papa, my sisters, my daddy, and my orange ball.

Emma is thankful for:  my mommy and daddy, my Becca, my Bear, my. Julie

Becca is thankful for: you guys, my Toria, my Gramma and Papa

And me?  I am grateful for the life I have, for my family and friends, for the roof over my head, for the people in our lives.  And I am grateful that my kids are grateful for their family.

The story of JoJo

Let me preface this by saying that I hesitated in sharing this story.  Just so you know.

So, a few months ago, Julie farted and then said "JoJo!"

And we were like, "wha?"

And then she did it again.  Was she trying to blame it on some imaginary friend?

And then the other two started doing it.  Pretty soon Greg and I were calling them on it.  "JoJo!"

We had no idea where it came from, until we learned from a former employee at the daycare that they were at.

Apparently there was a little boy in their class.

And apparently he farted a lot.

And apparently, his name was JoJo.

So, whenever he farted, which apparently was pretty frequently, the teacher would say "JoJo!"

And even when the kid moved up a class, apparently it stuck.

So yeah.  I think Greg is secretly pleased that the girls enjoy a good fart joke.

And I guess "JoJo" is better than exclaiming "whoa!"

So, if you're at our house, just pretend that "JoJo" actually means "excuse me."

Recently, Emma started saying "No JoJo.  That Phenie! (short for Josephine, another former classmate)"

Or maybe after this, you just don't want to come to our house after all.

Ladies Day

Last week, I took a day off from work and we had a ladies day.  In the morning, we went to a moms of multiples play date at Krispy Kreme.

making their cheese faces

Then, like everyone does on a good Ladies Day, we went to Target.  For new toothbrushes.  Julie picked out "Tigger the Tiger" and Emma and Becca picked princess (sigh) toothbrushes.  

It was way past nap time by that point, but I decided to push it and went into JoAnn's.  Oh, what a bad idea.  They were AWFUL.  Running all over the store screaming.  And I only have two hands.  They were quite a spectacle.  I tried to ignore it, I tried threatening ("Do you want to go out to lunch or not?"), I tried dragging Becca toward the front of the store with Julie following screaming only to get to the front of the store and find out I had no idea where Emma was.  It was bad.  So bad that the lady in front of us in line to checkout let us go ahead of her.  And then, at the checkout, Emma runs out the door.  I almost lost it.  Luckily, she ran right back in the entrance door and back around to the registers.  But oh was I mad.  In the end, I knew they were tired.  I knew they needed a nap.  Lesson learned.

We did go out to lunch, and then headed home.  They were asleep in the car within about 10 minutes.

Grocery Shopping with the Ladies

We start out with two in the cart.  Actually, someone has to volunteer to walk and "help with groceries" before I'll get them out of their car seats. 

We can't go out without our accessories, which in this case included sunglasses, pink cowboy boots, bling "medals" from the Little Gym (x2).

Then, after the deli (where they get all hyped up on turkey and cheese samples), everyone had to get out and help with groceries.  They walked along the whole back of the store saying, "walkin', walkin', walkin'."

This?  This is how we roll.

Playing in the leaves

I can't believe these are from last weekend already.  Emma was still napping when Julie and Becca went outside with Greg to "rake" leaves.  Greg kept scooping up some leaves and dumping them on top of the girls.

But then I went and woke Emma up, because we were having too much fun.  Emma got right to work. At first, she had absolutely NO interest in getting in the pile.  She was all about the raking.

workin' hard

And then... the girls decided that they needed to be using the big rake.  Seriously, I'm just glad no one lost an eye.

Emma finally decided to jump in the leaf pile, or at least walk through it.

"swimming" in the leaves

And then the guy across the street came out with a leaf blower.  I think her expression kind of says it all.

They huddled down with daddy on the porch for a while, hiding from the leaf blower.  Which is where they discovered their pumpkins.  Which were clearly not having enough fun on the porch.  So, they needed to come visit the leaf pile, too.  I don't know how many times I said "please be gentle with the pumpkins!"  They just wanted to sling them around... on the porch, in the leaf pile... on the porch, in the leaf pile. 

Becca finally gets a turn with the big rake.  I love the hair flying around.

And then we decided to share the rake.  And take off for the neighbors' yard to rake their leaves.

And, um, yes, that would be Rebecca.  Pulling leaves off the neighbors' tree.

What a difference one week makes!

vs

Random notes from the past few weeks

When we went to the zoo in Atlanta, we were driving through the middle of Atlanta, probably the first time a girls have seen a city.  Or a building more than 3 or 4 stories.  Looking at the skyscrapers, Julie said, "Look at the sandcastles!"

Julie likes to be in charge of dealing things out.  She still talks about the time that she went to the doctor and got three lollipops and gave them to her "stisters."  There was something she had once where she made Emma and Becca sit on the couch before she would give them whatever she was giving out.  That one likes the power.

The girls have been helping to set the table for dinner lately.  They love it!  We let them do pretty much everything, and I know I'm jinxing myself, but we haven't broken any dishes yet.

At some point recently, the girls picked up "No paws on the table," which is what we say to Dusty and Lefty when they're just stretching up and their paws happen to land on the table.  Dusty has also been hanging around the table a lot lately, and she will sometimes just stretch up and put her paws on one of our legs.  When the girls started yelling at her, to distinguish between what's ok and what's not, Greg was trying to explain that what Dusty was doing was ok.  He must've said, "Paws on daddy are ok."  Because now, all the time, whenever someone says "No paws on the table," someone else ALWAYS follows up with "Paws on Daddy ok."

We had to take Julie to the doctor a few weeks ago because when she woke up one morning, both of her eyelids were hugely swollen.  Her eyes weren't swollen shut or anything, but something definitely wasn't right.  They'd been playing outside a bunch the day before, and she had two mosquito bites on her face, so the doctor thought it was from the mosquito bites.  She was still red and swollen after two doses of benadryl, though, so we called back and got her on some antibiotics.  It was just weird.   She's actually had something similar before, but I think it was just one eye last time.  Just swells up.  Not pink eye or anything.  Somehow her eyes just seem to get infected.

My kids thing eggs are the coolest thing ever.  Whenever we have to crack a raw one, they all want to gather round and watch, and they'll scream and squeal.

I'm in class again, trying to satisfy a work objective.  Oh how I do not miss being in class.  It's only 9 evenings, and we're more than halfway through, but I wish I hadn't left this until November.  There's too much that's more fun to do this time of year.

I've never been much of a texter, but it's just become really convenient the past few months.  Random, I know.

November is Prematurity Awareness Month

Over half a million babies are born too soon every year.  And being born too soon can bring with it a whole host of lifelong health effects on those babies.

And half a million?  That's 1 in 8 babies born in the US.

Think about it.

Do you know eight babies?

Earlier this month, the March of Dimes published its Premature Births Report card, and the US as a whole received a grade of "C."

Really?

"C."

Really.

The three main factors that the report cards asses for each state are the rate of uninsured women (as in, identifying and mitigating risk factors before they result in preterm births), the rate of women smoking (is there any good that comes out of smoking?), and the rate of late pre-term births (as in, elective preterm c-sections and inductions).

I guess I should be thankful that we are as lucky as we were, given that we're in a "D" state.

But really, it just upsets me that, in this day and age, in this country, we can't get prenatal care right.

And kudos to Vermont for getting it right.

Craftiness

I haven't shared anything crafty in a while because, well, I haven't been doing a whole lot.  But this wreath that Beth posted to Pinterest, and then made herself, got me hopefully back in a groove.

We did manage to take down the "Trick or Treat" sign from the door before Thanksgiving, so the door had been looking pretty blah lately.  I'd actually been trying to find a fall wreath, but nothing was really striking me.  Until this.  I know it's not traditional Thanksgiving, but I love the warm, homey feel.

I actually also finished a layout that I started probably about a month ago.

based on a layout by Stephanie Howell

my button butterfly

I'm working on a December Daily album this year, too.  I'll try to update with some photos of that in progress.