It's too quiet

No babies-they are home sick with the croup and their folks (I know you love that word Em), no Rielee or Parker or Macee-they went to Sun River, no Auna, Will or Emmy-don't know where they are at, no James either, no kids around, just us. It's way too quiet. I've been cleaning out closets and cleaned up the shop, Steve has been working on the lawn mower and is organizing his screw collection, a wild and crazy New Year's Eve!

Chipmunk movie

Steve went to Astoria today to watch the girls play basketball, and I stayed home with Rielee and Parker. We decided we would go to see the matinee of the Chipmunk movie, James was still at his Papa's, so we invited him, too. We had to wait in a long line, and then Laury showed up with Auna and Gracie, so Laury waited in line and I went inside with the kids. The theatre was very full by the time we got in, and there was nowhere for us all to sit together, so Parker and James found a place in the back, while Laury and I and the girls were in the 3rd row. It took awhile, but my eyes finally adjusted to sitting that close...it is a very cute movie, we all enjoyed it. 14 thumbs up!

Snowball fight!

I took Macee, Parker, and James with me to Will's basketball game tonight. As we are sitting there, James says "snowball fight in your yard tonight, Aunt?" I looked at him and said nothing...he says"we'll take that as a 'Yes'", he and Parker laugh. Towards the end of the game, I hear the same question, say nothing, and hear "We'll take that as a 'Yes'"... (I know I am messing up the punctuation here, but you get the idea.)

So they end up riding home with Steve, and I no more get in the door and they are outside on the porch, waiting for me, at first I said no, and in the first picture they are calling the Dolan's, inviting them over, James has the phone inside his hat. I couldn't resist the temptation to join in the fun, though, and we ended up having a great time. Dave came over with Auna and cousin Gracie. Alan came out and took pictures, Laury and Max showed up, too. Max ate a few snowballs. It was perfect snow, packed into snowballs easily. I love that Parker and James, they are such fun guys when they aren't being ornery little turkeys! Or making giant snowballs and throwing them at old Grandmas...

Rielee's Bed Head

Rielee came in the house this morning and I just started to crack up. She had the worst or would it be "best" case of bed head I've ever seen! Our cute little girl was transformed into a wild child...and she did not want me taking her picture either. (Des said she went to bed with her hair wet which explains this very strange "do")

We were going to the girl's basketball game a little later and of course, she wanted to fix her own hair. She is very particular about how it is styled, and she has learned how to put a pony in by herself. She is very proud at how long her hair has grown, if she tilts her head way way back it will touch her back. She also likes to comb Grandma's hair, and I've had to walk around the house with some peculiar looking "dos" when she is done with me.

Unfortunately, the girls lost their game to Toutle today. Darn.

Parker showed up last night at 9:00 to spend the night with me, said things were boring at home...like there is something exciting going on at our house?? We stayed up and watched "Dumb and Dumber", opened one of the bottles of Sparkling Cider we had for New Year's, and drank some with our popcorn, then went to bed about 10:00. He slept in until 10:00 this morning. I was very tired when I got up at 7, after a night of listening to him snore.

Christmas Day

Our Christmas morning started bright and early, Gabe and Des and the kids were here at 7:30 for breakfast. For the last few years, I've made biscuits and gravy, eggs and bacon. This year was a rushed meal, since Rielee couldn't wait to

get to the stockings. The kids seemed to love all of their gifts. We got Rielee a scooter and all the pads to go along with it, and her Barbie can ride in front. "Suicide Barbie" is what it looked like to everyone. Rielee tried riding Auna's scooter last summer and did pretty well, I think she can learn to ride it, but I was taking some flack as her parents are skeptical.

Parker got a remote control truck, he had it up and running in just a few minutes. I made Macee a shadow box with pictures of the State Volleyball Tourney and her sportmanship medal in it, she really liked it, and then she fell asleep shortly after the gifts were opened, just like she did last year. She has those little siblings waking her up early though, 6:00 a.m. this year.

We'll have Christmas with Charb, Kelly, and the kids this afternoon, so there is more fun to come.

Charb, Kelly and the kids finally made it up to CR about 6:00 p.m. We opened gifts fairly quickly since they still had to go over to Gabe and Des's to open gifts with Dan. They stayed over there for a little while, then came back here and we fed the babies before they left. It was an abbreviated visit, and they vowed to do it differently next year. Kelly has a large extended family so they had a lot of visiting to do in Vancouver today. But we were happy to be able to see Luke and Lexi, even if it was just a short visit.

Christmas Eve

Another wonderful Christmas Eve with the family. I came home with about 80 random goofy pictures on my camera, having made the mistake of giving it to Emmy for awhile. Amazing how long the kids can entertain themselves with a camera...they just laugh and laugh at how funny they look.

Christmas at Jill's

Sunday we went to Kingston to have Christmas with Jill, Ashli and great-grandson Hayden. Unfortunately, Jineen and Kyle had to work so they couldn't be there, but we did go to Starbucks to say hi to Jineen before we left town. (Von also was among the missing, at 21, who knows where he was I guess he had more important things to do.) We were surprised how much Ashli, 12 and in 8th grade now, has matured and is becoming a lovely young lady. She is doing really well in school and even had an article she wrote about the Kingston Inn published in the local paper. Hayden is 3 and all boy, always in motion. Jill is doing great, she is staying slim and healthy, I thought we took a lot of vitamins, but she has us beat by a long shot. Steve was busy while we were there making plans to go back in the summer and put a new roof on her house.
We had a really nice visit with them, and as we were leaving, I happened to admire a picture Jill had on her wall. She told us about Clear Creek Nursery in Poulsbo, said it was her favorite,
so we decided to stop there on the way back. It was perfect timing, as they had all their Christmas decorations 50% off, I shopped and checked out once, went to the car, and decided to go back in for more. They had some unique things, and even had two real reindeer outside. Of course, my camera battery died when we went to take a picture of them for Rielee.

another sick one

Today was Parker's turn to have the stomach flu, I really hope this doesn't continue to spread!
Parker started to get sick last night when we were out shopping, I knew it was for real when he didn't want to finish his Panda bowl. He came over later to spend the night with us, but it was clear when he curled up in my chair and closed his eyes that he wasn't up to it, so I took him back home. He spent the night and morning throwing up, but perked right up soon after. Didn't want to eat though, as Rielee did.

baby break

The babies are on Christmas break with their parents, but we do have Rielee and Parker today and tomorrow. I think they may be at least as time consuming to take care of as the twins are, and as Laury said, at least the babies don't talk back. Rielee had been sick in the morning, throwing up a couple of times, but she seemed fine when she got here. She said she ate some "bad ham" last night and that was what made her sick. I offered to pay Parker if he would help me clean house, and he was happy to do so. He cleaned and organized the play room and cleaned out the fridge for me. But before long, he decided he needed to bring in the TV and his playstation from the treehouse and set them up in the playroom since he would be staying here over the break, and the treehouse is too cold to hang out in during the winter. So now we have more stuff in there, and after a day of playing the room doesn't look much better than it did.
Oh well, it is a play room. Auna spent the day here, too, entertaining both Rielee and Parker, and after Des took Rielee home, I took Auna and Parker shopping with me. Parker bought himself an old-fashioned alarm clock at with the bells on top. I got a couple of stocking stuffers.
Auna is staying overnight since David and Laury took Emmy to Selah for her first practice as a club volleyball coach.

Ava flips

This time it was Harper's hat that slipped down over her face on the ride up to Grandma's this morning... these poor little road-warrior babies.

I had a scary ordeal today with Ava. We were getting ready to take them back home, and I put her in her carseat on the floor, but didn't buckle her in since I still had to change Harper's diaper. Well, she got upset and started to cry, and when she gets really upset she will crank her head up and back to the left and arch her back, well, she must have been pushing with her feet, too, because she completely flipped herself over and was face down in the carseat. It really freaked me out, I could see how she could easily get herself in a position where she might have trouble breathing.

Rielee was in a crafting mood today, so I got out a bag of pom-poms I had left from the bazaar-days, we cut out some Christmas tree shapes, and she glued them on. Then she wanted to give Papa his Christmas picture frame that she made a couple of weeks ago. So she wrapped it up, in two layers of paper, found a tray, and carried it in his room for him. Then she tells him she will open it for him. Then she had another frame she made for her parents, but changed her mind and wanted to wrap it up for Papa, too, so we went through the very same deal, two layers of wrap, she opened that present for him also. Practicing for Christmas, I guess.

Tonight we are going to watch Macee and Tierney's game against Clatskanie.

Thursday in Camas

The girls were still asleep in their swaddle blankets when I got there this morning. Ava woke up as soon as Mom and Dad left, but Harper slept till 8.

I got lots of practice rocking both of them today. The first time I got them both settled in the chair with me, both were quiet, I'm feeling good, everybody is happy, and I look over and notice I forgot to turn off the swing. So I had to get up holding both of them and turn it off with my toe, then sit back down and try to settle them in again. The biggest problem with this tandem rocking is that we always hold them in our left arms, so whoever is on the right is uncomfortable, so I have to have her just lay straight up and down on my chest.

This isn't going to work for long, though, they are almost too big for it now. Charb has a big, over-sized rocker-recliner though, which is nice and comfy.

Dominoes dominate

Another busy day with Rielee, I am really missing the days of playing outside...Lately she has show renewed interest in her dominoes, although as little bricks to build stuff with instead of playing a game with them. Today we made a zoo for all the animals she bought on one of our 3 zoo trips this year. She now has 6 boxes of dominoes since Papa decided 3 wasn't enough to build much of anything. Then it was on to the dollhouse, so Harper had to pretend to play, too, since I was holding her at the time. Then Rielee played marbles, putting them all up one of her sleeves and very seriously telling us she had broke out in "bumps" and needed to go to the dr. After that, she took a bath, so I decided to throw the babies in with her. Ava went first, that went great, but by the time I got Harper in there, Rielee had filled the tub with cold water, and I, still thinking the water was just right temp., lowered Harper in, she freaked out, as did I, it was so darn chilly. We ran more hot water in, but Harper was upset by then, so she had like a 30 second bath. I don't know how Rielee could stand that cold water, but I do think she may have enjoyed the trick she pulled on Grandma.

That is Harper also letting Emmy know she doesn't like those glasses on her.

Tranquil Tuesday

What a difference a day makes, and another set of arms. Today was so easy in comparison to yesterday. I had a dr. appt. this morning, so Laury came over to help Steve while I was gone. When I got home, they were each holding a sleeping baby and watching TV.

Rielee is playing with her marbles in this picture. Awhile back, I found a container of old and new marbles in the pantry and gave them to her. She plays with them nearly every day, transferring them from one thing to another, and "cooking" with them, marble soup is a specialty. Harper and I had to play doll house with her today since she was very put out, said I never play with her anymore...(guilt tripping Grandma). But Harper was entertained by it, looking at all the things in the playroom. I asked her (Rielee) if she had sat on Santa's lap yet, and she said she had not, so I suggested we practice and I pretended to be Santa, and asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said "well, the things on my list, of course" I asked her to elaborate on that, and she said she wants the swimming puppy, a For Real pet, and dancing shoes. Then I asked her if she had been good, she said "yes", and then I asked if she was nice to her sister and brother, she looked kind of pained, but answered honestly "well, not to my brother". So we talked about it, and I said Santa understands, as long as you are trying to get along with your brother. She said she would try.

Emmy stopped by to see the babies today. She was talking to Ava, but Ava wasn't saying anything, Em was very impressed when I told her she had to ask Ava to "talk" to her, so she did and Ava starting cooing. Such smart little girls we have!

Monday madness

Went down to Camas today since I have to be home tomorrow for a dr. appt. It was a very, very long day. This picture of the twins was taken first thing in the morning, they were full and rested and happy. Unfortunately, most of the day they were completely out of sync with each other. It seemed I always had one that was fussing, if not crying, or else they were both crying and wanting to be held. That is just the worst feeling, to not be able to comfort both of them. I tried a couple of times, to hold them both and rock them, but they seem to know that it isn't right, and one always ends up crying anyway. (I just had a feeling of deja' vu writing that...) Then Ava wanted nothing at all to do with the swing, as soon as I started to lower down into it, she would start arching her back, stiffen up and cry! I took their play mat down there for them, so they did play under that a little. Fortunately, they napped for about an hour together about noon, they must have felt sorry for their old Grandma and wanted to give me time to eat lunch and recharge my batteries.

Charb had the girls by himself all day Sat., he said that was really an eye opener. He re-swaddled them put them back to bed and Ava slept in until 10:45. He gave me the swaddle blankets in case I wanted to put them back down when they got sleepy, but I just don't want to use them during the day. However, I may change my mind about that if they ever stay over night with me. He also said that they watched Baby Einstein for about 10 minutes.

Friday

This picture is actually from yesterday but its cute so I will leave it here. They are lying on their playmat, they love to look at the black and white fabric and toys on the arches. I've kept this mat since James was a baby, I think, it is the best entertainment for a baby. They are really getting more animated by the day, and will coo and "talk" to us when I ask them if they can. This week, they have switched roles, with Ava being the more tempermental, and she can get so mad, oh boy, she can get herself worked up.

So anyway, I went down to Camas today. The girls alternated their feeding and naps so it was an easy morning. Kelly called later and said I could bring them in to the school if I wanted to go home early. I had already dressed them, but the outfits they had on were sort of boyish looking (especially on bald little girls) so I decided to change them into something cuter. Well, that didn't make either one very happy, one too many times with clothes over their heads, so then they alternated screaming their heads off. Even went into tandem screaming a few times before I got them loaded up in the car. Then on the way to the school, the sun was shining in their eyes at a couple of stop lights, reason for more screaming...usually they are so quiet in the car.

Of course, by the time we got in the school, they were on their best behavior and happy to be held by Mom and Dad and all the ladies in the office.

Grandma's nerves were just slightly frazzled.

I took this picture of Steve while he was walking Harper, this is the "head-back" position they like. Doesn't look comfortable, but they both do it.
Riels went to play with Jillian again today after school. She loves going to Aunt Cathy's house, and was thrilled today because she saw Tucker, Julie's puppy.
Steve took the babies back this afternoon since I had a 5:15 blood donation appt., something I will not do again since the parking lot at the Trinity Church is poorly lit and spooky at night. I was very nervous going to my car.

Picture Day

We took Ava and Harper into Sears today to have their picture taken in the outfits that Auna found for them. It was sort of, okay very, frustrating session as there was a young guy working and he was training a young girl. First she tried to put both of the babies on a pillow in a basket, that didn't work, they were too big and it made them mad that they were crammed so close together. She had nothing to prop them up on so Steve and I had to get down on the floor and hold them up as they sat on the rug-a table to set them on would have been nice! Then she wanted them on their tummies on that furry rug??, with Harper on top of Ava, that went nowhere fast...then she wanted to have them lying on their backs with their heads side by side to take their picture from above, that scared them, too. By then they were both in meltdown mode. So this was the best picture we could get, with an unhappy Harper. But it is still pretty cute.
I should have known it wouldn't go well--the girl called yesterday to set up the appt., she asked how many children would be photographed, I said "4 month old twins" she asked their names and then asked "and are they both 4 months old?"

Late Start

The kids had a late start this morning due to the icy roads (and Rielee's class was canceled), so Parker and Auna got a chance to play with the babies. Since often I can't tell them apart, I always photograph them with Ava on the left, so that is her with her lip sticking out. Parker is holding "big-eyed Ava" as he decided to call her today. Rielee is holding her "Miss ChrisMoose" baby, I think she was a little jealous today of all the attention we were giving to the babies, so she wrapped up her moose to join in. She wanted to do a craft today, so she
painted a couple of Christmas picture frames and an ornament. She has gotten much better at painting, and made each side of one frame a different color, and she remembers to paint the edges, too. Then she further embellished them with about a half a jar of glitter. She really likes glitter.

Snow!

It snowed last night, YEAH! I went out this morning to cut some greens to make wreaths with and heard the squeals of the kids out sledding. They were sledding down the hill in the field but I suggested they try the driveway since it was so icy. That worked well, Rielee is a real speed demon, too, and could steer that weird looking little sled pretty well. Parker was out on the 4-wheeler cutting cookies everywhere also.

It has been so cold lately that I was ready to just buy a wreath this year, but Des had some boxes to fill for a friend, so I decided to go ahead and make a couple with her. She had a candy cane shaped form that I made up also. It turned out nice.

Christmas Tree

No babies today, so we did some speed-cleaning and decorating. Steve brought the tree in since he was afraid it might rain or snow tomorrow, so I threw the lights on it and when Rielee got home from school she decorated it with us. I put a few lights on the trees outside, but it was way too cold for me to do very much. When Auna got here, she and Rielee finished up the tree. Papa and Rielee were very proud of the tree they picked out, even though he realized when he was putting it up that it was a lot wider than he thought, and it has a dog-leg in it, which makes it look crooked, and a big section of brown needles, but hey, any tree looks great decorated! I think this is the earliest we have ever put up the tree since we got the woodstove, thank goodness for LED lights.

Tonight Auna, Rielee, Parker, James and I are going to watch Will's basketball game. Steve went to watch Macee and Tierney play in Montesano, they are both starters on Varsity!

Steve the bus driver

Steve said he felt like a bus driver today, he did so much running around.
His day went like this:
6:15 a.m met Charb in Woodland to pick up babies
7:50 took Auna home to get her piano books, then to school
10:40 pick up Rielee at school, take her to Cathy's to play with Jillian
11:45 go to Cascade for groceries, pick up Rielee
12:00 go to high school, cut paper for Cathy & I to mount the basketball pix on
2:40 p.m pick up Auna at school, take her to piano
3:15 bring Auna home, take her home to water the tree, feed Sara
6:00 meet Charb in LaCenter to return babies
But, mind you, this is the guy who is always telling me "honey I feel like a road trip", so now he is getting lots of them...
Then, he says-"every time I would walk in the door at home, it's like there is a baby flying through the air at me!"
Yeah! He survived another day!! Me, I stayed home all day with the babies. They were good little babies.

Christmas tree

I took the picture of Rielee because she was so happy this morning. She was looking forward to going with Papa to get our Christmas tree. I was kind of nervous at what type of tree they would return with, but they brought home a good one, 6 feet tall and not too wide. (Someone actually listened to my instructions for a change!)

I couldn't believe how much Ava and Harper look alike in this picture--they were happy this morning, too.

Rielee was in tub the taking her bath later, so I thought I would try bathing them at the same time, one at a time, of course. They sure loved it, they just floated in my arms and were very still, watching Rielee. Rielee sure got a kick out of helping wash their hair.

Auna is staying with us until Saturday since Laury and David are in Palm Springs. We went Christmas shopping after the babies left. She is really a good shopper, we went to Target then Ross where she found the babies matching Christmas outfits, she has the patience to dig and find the good stuff. After that, we went to Panda Express for dinner, then to the Mall for a couple of things. It was a fun trip.

More shots

The babies got their second RSV shots today. They were weighed, Ava had gained 6 ounces in a week but Harper only 1, so she will probably have to go back on the old formula. They want them to gain an ounce a day. They were very good babies today, I only had about a half an hour after they woke up from their nap when they both needed attention at the same time. This picture of Harper is at one of the times when I was holding Ava. They both show this sad little lip when they are unhappy.

Ava's First Cold

I had to laugh today when we got in the house with the babies and I went to take Ava out of her carseat, her hat was completely covering her eyes, poor thing.

She was a little congested with a cold, but was still in good humor. I had to put some saline drops in her nose and then suction it, which really seemed to help her, although she wasn't thrilled with the process.

Rielee and Papa started a puzzle this afternoon. She picked out one that is a picture of a zoo, and she found several animal pieces right out of the box to put together.

Calling for back-up

I watched the twins tonight while Steve, Kelly and Lexi drove up to watch the Union football team in the semi-finals. Luke rode up earlier with Charb since he is the ball boy. I was doing all right with the babies, had lots of company. Emmy came over right when they got here to help me feed them, and then the rest of the neighborhood (and James, too) filtered in. It was after they all left that things got interesting. It was 7:30 or so, I had them both asleep, Harper on the floor and Ava in the bouncer, sent Kelly a text telling her that both babies were sleeping. Then I made a big mistake, a huge one, and turned off the bouncer...Ava instantly woke up and started crying, Harper was right behind her. It wasn't long before they were both crying inconsolably, and believe me, I tried everything to get them to settle down. Finally, after about a half an hour of screaming, I called Laury and told her I needed back-up! She came over and we walked them and walked them and walked them...I had heard that they can be very fussy in the evenings, and now I really believe it! Ava did doze off for about a half hour nap, but Harper never slept for more than a few minutes at a time. I would get her to sleep and put her on the bed, so I could take Ava and let Laury go home, and she would wake right back up. Steve, Kelly and the kids got back about 11:00, and Ava was wide awake, Harper had finally crashed about 10:30.

12 hr. shift

Had a long day Tuesday with the babies since Kelly went home sick from work, and Charb couldn't meet us until after football practice. Our day went well, but it is funny how tired we can get just from taking care of them even though we aren't doing a heck of a lot.

Charb said the nutritionist from Kaiser called and said they could go ahead and change the formula, said the Kirkland brand was okay but they are going to try some Enfamil samples they have at home that are supposed to help with gas and see how that works first. The girls have a little trouble with gas.

Today we just had Rielee and she was her usual busy self, wanted to play Barbies first, then take a bath, make french toast, and watch a video. The kids were home early from school, so she got to go over and play at Auna's, too.

Check-up and shots

I usually watch the babies at home on Monday since we have Rielee all day, but today the babies had a dr. appt. so I went to Camas. I went shopping for a couple of hours while Charb and Kelly took them in. Ava weighed in at 11 lbs. and she looks every bit of it in this picture with her double chin. Harper weighed 10 lbs. 8 oz. They are healthy girls although Kelly did ask about Ava's tendency to look to the left so they are going to physical therapy for perhaps a pinched nerve in her neck. Harper is going too, just because her sister is, I guess. And they have to stay on the expensive NeoSure formula, which didn't make Charb very happy at all. Oh, and they can continue to swaddle them at night until they are 6 months old.

They were worn out from the trauma of the shots they received, and slept most of the afternoon, with a few cranky wake-ups now and then. It was the first time I ever had both of them over my shoulders, since I tried to put Harper in the swing (and she wasn't having anything to do with it) while I was changing Ava's diaper, and they were both all worked up and screaming. Kelly said she told the dr. that little Harper pretty much was the boss of the house. She is the more tempermental baby. Doesn't like the swing, likes to be walked, but not rocked so much, and boy when she hears her bottle being made, she lets you know she really wants it and now. But she did sit happily in the bouncer for a few minutes while I took her picture though.

Rielee made her Papa laugh today. She was on the way to the potty and a toy commercial came on, so she tells him "I want that Papa" and then as she is sitting on the toilet, she can hear another toy commercial come on and she's yelling "I want that, too, Papa!".

Yard clean-up

After all the wind we had this week, the yard was a mess of limbs and fir boughs. I recruited Parker and James to help me with the clean-up. They got their 4-wheelers and wagons and it didn't take very long to get most of it picked up. Then they got side-tracked by a couple of bigger limbs and decided they wanted to cut them up with my battery-operated chain saw... then they noticed that the ditch beside the driveway was backed up with debris and thought they should clean that out. Digging by hand got old fast, and Parker's idea of getting the excavator out was shot down fast by Gabe, too muddy. They were very wet and muddy by then so they headed inside. Later we took James and Parker to the Union football game, which was a lot of fun. They were so silly at the game,

though, oh my gosh, being cold and bored since the game was a blow-out, I guess they figured that pretend picking on each other would pass the time faster! Thankfully, we got to leave right after the 50/50 split was announced!

An all-nighter

I went down to Camas today to watch the twins. Ava was still asleep in her swaddle blanket, they had slept through the night, wow.
We had a good day, Harper was a happy girl, Ava a little fussy, she didn't want to nap in her bed, but finally took one in the swing. Harper took the pacifier for a little while, which is rare. They only had one short crying contest, which Harper won since she was madder and her face was redder.

Thursday with Jillian

Jillian came up today to play with Rielee after pre-school. They had a great time and in this picture are taking an ice cream cone break. I probably shouldn't confess this but occasionally I allow the Grandkids and nieces and nephews their "morning ice cream" if they want it, I think it does wonders for their disposition, and we eat pretty healthy the rest of the time. Well, except for that raw cookie and bread dough, but generally I try to keep their food healthy.

We had lots of company today. Laury and David came over for a baby fix and coffee this morning. Then Cathy brought Jillian up to play, and she and I held the babies and visited. Later in the afternoon, Linda came up to have Steve change the oil in her car, and we visited while he did it, and we held the babies. What a fun day.

Papa can't paint

Rielee came in today slightly grumpy and wanted to paint right off the bat, so we got out the easel. She wanted to paint a picture of "Pinkie Pie" her large stuffed Little Pony. Well, first the paint didn't quite match her Pony, which made her unhappy, and then she realized she didn't know how to paint a Pony, so she asked for help. I was feeding one of the twins, so Papa painted an outline for her to fill in. She looked at it and just started crying and said "that doesn't look like a pony". (We later decided it looked more like a pink camel)...Grandma to the rescue (like I can paint anything but a stick pony!), but I managed to draw a pony's head that appeased her, thank goodness, so she was finally a happy painter. All this before breakfast.

But she was so sweet later, after some food in her tummy, she was holding one of the babies, and whispered to me "Grandma, I wish I was a Mom".

I made some Cardamom bread dough for her today, since she loves to eat it raw (sorry Papa) and dip it in brown sugar. Then we made the dough into cinnamon rolls. She said she had never eaten them, and didn't think she liked them. But when Papa had some later, she changed her mind, of course, and ate two. She worked on her "homework" - writing the word "turkey", piece of cake. She is really writing well now, is going to be a perfectionist in her printing, if a letter doesn't look just right, she will start over. Much like Macee was at that age. We also played Barbies today and dominoes.

As for the twins, they were good today, did not sleep well last night, so they slept quite a bit. Steve was holding Harper when he called me in to take this picture of her, she looks so thoughtful.

I was rewarded for my very rainy, windy drive down to Camas this morning by two very happy little baby girls. They entertained me for the longest time with their smiles, coos, and frantic kicking and arm waving that they do when they are excited. They had slept from 10 p.m.-5 a.m. so they were well-rested and it showed. They grinned at me, at the clock, and the ceiling fan, which never ceases to fascinate them (as it did James, too, when he was a baby). I thought this was going to be a perfect day, and it was a perfect morning anyway, the afternoon proved otherwise. They took short naps in the morning, but after that, I could not get them to settle down for any length of time. So it was a cycle of one in the swing, hold the other one, rotate-then try the bouncer, then the floor, then the Pack n' Play...oh my gosh it was crazy. And they weren't just a little unhappy either, they were tired, it was the "screaming like their hair was on fire"-as Charb describes it, their special ramped-up scream. Like they go from regular crying for about 1 minute ("pick me up please Grandma, I'm a little unhappy") to this beet-red faced scream ("GRANDMA, PICK ME UP NOW I'VE TOTALLY LOST IT!!"), kind of unnerving, to say the least, especially when they are both doing it. I can't ignore them, since they just want to be held and they are infants, after all, I just need a couple more arms! Finally about 2 p.m. Harper laid on the floor long enough for me to walk Ava to sleep, then I did the same with her. I'm afraid these girls might be just like their Dad, who hated to go to sleep and managed to airmail himself out of his crib at 8 months, and kicked the bars out of his crib at a year...he still fights sleep. Thankfully, Steve came down to drop off the van at the dealership in Vanc., so he drove home, I fell asleep.

Monday

We thought the girls looked like they had grown since we saw them last week, they are getting quite "roly-poly" now. They were eating every 2 hours today, then I realized maybe they are needing more formula, and sure enough, Kelly said she is offering them 4 ounces, although sometimes they don't finish it. I had given them 4 this morning and when they didn't drink it all, just made them 3 the other feedings, and while they seemed full, it didn't hold them for long. They have a dr. appt. next week, and Kelly said she is curious to see if the dr. changes their formula, and hoping he will, since they are still on the Neosure for preemies, which is over $15 a can, and a can only lasts a day and a half. Twins are expensive, that's for sure. We had Rielee today for the afternoon, and she and Papa took their nap together, so I had the twins and they got kind of fussy. So I managed to get both of them in the recliner with me and we rocked until we all went to sleep for a bit, Harper lying beside my legs and Ava in my arms.

Now it is evening, and Auna is here to watch "Dancing with the Stars" with us. We pretend we are the judges and score each dance!

State V'ball Tourney

The girls got 4th place! It was awesome! After dropping a 5-game heartbreaker to Cascade Thursday night, they came back Friday and swept Lynden Christian. We were really worried about that match, as LC has a player 6'1"and two that are 6'2", but the girls got it done. Then they beat Freeman in 3 to take 4th.

Emmy came down from Ellensburg Thursday to watch their first match, then came back Friday night to watch them finish. It was so fun to have her there with us, and I know how much her support means to her cousins.

One day

Today is the only day we will have the twins this week since tomorrow is Veteran's Day and Thurs. and Fri. we will be in Yakima for the Volleyball State Tournament. This picture is what we get to see every morning when we get home with them, and sit them on the floor, then hurry to get bottles made since they are usually starving. This morning when we pulled off the freeway, we could hear Ava loudly sucking on her knuckles all the way up the hill.

I tried today to get a picture of them with some little Santa hats on for a Christmas card. It didn't go well, it seems Harper really hates hats. She would start squirming trying to get it off and that led to getting really mad and screaming until I took it off. Will have to try again another day. Kelly told me later that the nurses in the hospital had told her that preemie babies often hate wearing hats since they had to wear them in the NICU.

We had an easy morning (the girls were really good once I quit trying to photograph them), until Rielee got here, then she wanted to play right away, made a bee line straight to the playroom, and if either of us said we couldn't play with her because we were taking care of a baby, she would say, "just bring her in, too", and she would include which every twin we were holding in her pretend play saying she would be their Mom also.

We get such a kick out of playing with Rielee, and although she runs us ragged sometimes, we don't care, she is growing up so fast, soon she will be in school and these days will be gone. Steve said we are "the Bobble-head Grandma and Papa" because we are always nodding "yes" or saying "ok" to everything she suggests we do! She isn't spoiled, just well-loved...