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.