Frozen Rielee

This was the picture I got when I asked Rielee and Papa to pose for me. They are "frozen"- something that happens to Rielee nearly every day when she comes in from school. Papa will come in and tell me she is frozen, and I have to go and find her, usually she is frozen on the porch or just inside the door, and I have to "unfreeze" her, its been going on for months and she still thinks it is funny. She was a busy girl today. She wanted to bake something first thing this morning since she was still upset that Papa ate all the sugar cookies we made yesterday while she was down at Cathy's and she had only eaten one--so we made Cardamom bread, 2 small loaves, 1 to eat and one for the dinner they are having tonight (Macee is having the 2 foreign exchange girls over). Then she wanted to color bird pictures, so we looked on Google and found some she liked. After that it was on to working in her math workbook, she is doing well with math, but still has trouble writing the numbers 2 and 5. Then she wanted to play Go Fish, so we played a few games, but Papa kept mixing up the cards and it was bugging her big time. Then Laury and David came over, so we got a break and David read some books to her. When they left she painted a wooden butterfly plant stake, and we played with her beanie animals, she ate lunch and it was time to go home.

Ukulele entertainment

We're thinking that Ava and Harper might be teething a little, as they were a little fussy today and the continual drooling is another big hint. I asked Rielee to sing to them so she got her ukulele and started with "She'll be coming around the mountain...", which didn't get a whole lot of response besides looks of disbelief, but it quieted them both right down. I have some video which I will put on YouTube since it is pretty long.

We were surprised when Alan and Vera showed up at our door today, they were out getting Alan's new knee some exercise while the sun was out. Steve decided that Ava and Harper's legs, pudgy as they are getting, look just about like Uncle Alan's swollen one from his surgery.

Rielee got to play with Jillian again this morning. She was worn out and kinda grumpy when she got home, but perked up a little after some lunch and helping with the babies. She got out her collection of Littlest Pets to show them. I told her we will have to save those animals for the babies to play with when they get older, but she said no, she was going to sell them some day, but they could buy them if they wanted to.

Stinky burps

Rielee doesn't have school this week due to conferences, so she was here bright and early again, and eager to see the babies. She couldn't wait to feed Ava and wanted to try burbing her, too, but as soon as we got Ava up on her shoulder, Ava let out a big old burp right in her face. Rielee was very shocked at how bad it smelled, and I thought that might be the last of her wanting to burp them, but when it was time to feed and burp Harper, she just kept her nose plugged.

Harper was rolling today from back to front then over again so she was on her back. Just getting a different view of life from the floor, I guess. They were "talking" a lot today, it seems they are going to be very vocal little girls. I also noticed that Harper was dropping her rattle then staring at it on the floor until I picked it up so she could do it again.

First firepit

Sunday was such a gorgeous day we were all outside either working or playing. Parker decided to wash his 4-wheeler since it was pretty muddy from riding down to the creek. Later in the day we had a firepit, probably the earliest in the year we've ever had one. No one wanted to hang around for long once the sun went down though, it was too cold out.

Rielee spent the nice weekend practicing on her new scooter and was getting so good at riding it that Mom and Dad decided to try her on her bike and she learned to ride it, too.

Magic oven update

Could this be a revelation for Papa, could he be turning over a new leaf?-he was so distraught that he upset Rielee with the Magic Oven Story that he went over to see her the next evening and apologized for lying to her. Of course, by then she had forgotten the whole episode and greeted him with hugs and kisses, so all is right again in their world. He said he told her he would never tell her another story again!
Yeah right, I don't believe it, every kid in this family, adults, too, know you can't believe most of what comes out of his mouth! This won't last.

Thursday-Petco day

I went shopping this morning since we didn't have the babies, and Steve picked up Rielee. I got a call from Rielee right after school wanting me to come home and get her so we could go to Petco and buy some goldfish for the pond-something we had talked about a couple of weeks ago, and it popped into her head today. So anyway, after a few tears on her part it was decided that Papa would drive her into town, and I would meet them at the store. Rielee had recently visited Petco when they bought their parakeets, so she gave us a tour of the place like she was a regular. She had to get one of the kid-sized shopping carts, too. She picked out 4 little goldfish and then decided she better get a treat for her birds. We had to look at all the pets in the store, of course, but I passed on the reptiles for fear of a possible spider siting. She rode home with me and we spent the whole drive picking out names for the fish. She settled on Nemo, Flounder, Dorie and Goldie.

Wednesday

Rielee was proud of herself today-she fed the babies 2 bottles all by herself! And in Rolling Baby News, today was Harper's day to show us her stuff and she did it 3 times. So the play mat has to go away now, since they just roll over and get hung up on it. Laury's suggestion was that we need like an 8 x 10 wrestling mat to put down for them.

Friday's Stroller ride

Morning play time, Ava in the Exersaucer, Harper in the walker

Ava is in the back, she conked out as soon as we started rolling

I went to Camas today to watch the babies. It is getting easier to watch them by myself, since they entertain themselves now for longer periods of time. Today we ventured out for a walk since it was such a nice day. It was windy though, as it often is where they live. But we walked around some of the many cul-de-sacs near their house, the twins really liked the ride and I enjoyed looking at landscaping. I found out that it is good exercise to push a double-stroller, especially there since it is hilly, and after awhile I was pretty winded, so I looked at the time-but we had only been out for 17 minutes! So I forced myself to keep going for a half-hour. The highlight (well, maybe lowlight) of my day was when I put Ava in the Pak N' Play to try to get her to sleep, I thought she was drifting off after awhile so I sat down in the family room, and suddenly I hear a scream that is HORRIBLE, like she has hurt herself somehow, it was that bad. So I run in there, and she is just mad, really mad. Charb and Kelly have talked repeatedly about how these girls scream at night and how they just can't ignore it, it is so awful. Now I know what they are talking about, it sounds like it is a cry of pain. I really feel for them and the transition to getting the babies to sleep without the swaddle blankets, that is going to require some nerves of steel.

Here is a short video of the twins playing this morning.

Harper had a lot to say today. She had two long-5 minute one-sided conversations with the ceiling fan, which seemed to contain jokes and some very serious stuff, too. It is so much fun to see their little personalities developing.

The magic oven

Sadly, Rielee saw her Papa through new eyes today. She came home from school, and Papa was showing her our new stove. He proceeded to tell her how it was a special stove-that all you had to do was get your food ready to go in the oven and an automatic arm would come out of the oven and grab the pan and put it in the oven. She was so impressed by this news, I tried to intervene at that point and asked her if that sounded like it could be true, but she said "yes, of course!" She hurried and got some chicken nuggets out of the freezer to bake so she could see this magic arm. It the meantime, Papa took off for town, leaving me to explain his big fat story. When I told her it wasn't true, there was no arm, she said "But Papa told me there was!", she was crushed. I then had to explain that sometimes Papa likes to make up stories...she was not happy at all, and I'm sure he will hear about it from her tomorrow as soon as she gets here.

A short baby visit

We got to watch the babies for a couple of hours today while Charb and Kelly went van shopping.
They brought us a beautiful picture of the girls for Valentines Day, and also a great one of all 4 kids. Kelly had them photographed at Picture People and they turned out so well.
Ava showed us how she can roll from her back to tummy today, and they both were doing a lot of what I would call "squawking" almost-its a very loud yell but not a cry, just making noise. Auna came over for awhile and helped me feed them, then Emmy stopped to say goodbye as she was leaving to go back to Ellensburg.

Cousin rivalry

I was tired this morning after having Rielee and Parker spend the night. They came over Sat. at noon, Rielee played with Auna for a couple of hours and Parker had James come up to hang out. The boys were bored and asked to go to a movie, so I dropped them off at Three Rivers to see "Valentines Day". I was surprised at how much they enjoyed it. We took James home and then came home and I fixed a late pork chop dinner for us. Rielee talked Papa into a game of Pictureka!, and later I played one with her, its a fun game for kids her age.

It seems Rielee isn't just jealous of the time we spend with the twins. Last night Emmy came over to visit and had been here maybe an hour when Rielee came and sat down by me and whispered in my ear "isn't it about time for Emmy to go home?" She wanted me to play with her. Cousin rivalry between a 4 yr. old and 18 yr. old?

winter break begins

Okay, I do not understand this whole winter break deal, or the two weeks of half-days for conferences coming up either...
So we had Parker, Rielee, Auna and James hanging around this morning. The girls and I made more Valentine sugar cookies, they love rolling the dough and eating it,too. Rielee made the green, blue, and for some semblance of normalcy--pink frosting. She makes some weird colors, the girl loves to mix them. The boys went with Alan on the 4-wheeler to the creek to see the new bridge. James and Parker spent some time on the Playstation, then I chased them all outside to play since the sun was out. We heard a lot of screaming going on, but it was just Rielee being chased around by James. Then they were playing hide-and-seek and the boys ran into the house begging for me not to tell Auna where they were. Auna came in about 10 minutes later asking if I'd seen the boys, she said Rielee had been hiding in the car for quite awhile waiting to be found, so she went back out to hide with Rielee and I got James and Parker to go out there to "find" them so Rielee wouldn't be disappointed.
Tonight we are headed to LaCenter for boys and girls basketball.

A Thursday at home

I didn't go down to Camas today since we were only taking care of the twins 2 days this week due to Winter Break, and Steve thought seeing them only 1 day just wouldn't be enough for him.

They were sweet little girls today, taking almost 2 hour morning and afternoon naps and at the same time. They even watched 10 minutes of TeleTubbies while Grandma took a shower and Papa read the paper. Auna came over after school to see them, and Ava really put on a show for her, squealing and jumping wildly in the Jumperoo. They like it when Auna comes to visit them.

Rielee came home from her Valentine party with a whole bunch of goodies, she was even thrilled with the Spiderman and Cars pencils she got from 2 of the boys in her class. I asked her if she was going to give them to Parker, and well, "no of course not Grandma, I'm going to keep them in my room." She continues to be her injury-prone self. Yesterday she fell off her little chair (she has picked up the habit of leaning back) into the coffee table and cut her chin. Today she threw a dog treat for Mocha and forgot to let go of the leash and took a tumble. Then when she got home she tripped over the baby bouncer and hurt her leg on the coffee table again. Her poor legs are covered with little bruises.

What a Wednesday

Harper and Ava

Harper and Rielee

Ava in the Jumperoo

I really noticed today how much the twins have grown, they look so much bigger in their carseats, and certainly feel much heavier in those things. It is always interesting when we bring them in the house in the morning, because we are never sure who we are carrying, and will make a guess which one it is. I was right this morning, I had Ava.

This was another one of those days where I never did manage to put on any make-up or do my hair. The only free time I had was during afternoon naptime, and by then I needed a nap, too.

Rielee brought her school valentines with her today so I could help her with them. That was an all-morning job since it was so special for her, being the first time she gave out her own valentines at school. She had to pick out just the right card for each kid, write their name and sign hers, tape on a sucker and then pick out just the right stickers for it...it was a long process but she had fun with it and did all the writing herself. She only has trouble with the letter "S".

We got out the Jumperoo for the babies today. Kelly had mentioned that Ava was scooting around in the walker last night, we got our walker out, but it wouldn't adjust low enough for them. But this Jumperoo was great and they both loved it. It is going to get a lot of use.

Crafty day

Today Rielee worked on some Valentine crafts. She painted a couple of picture frames and then decorated them with jewels and stickers, and also made several cards for family and Kyle. Whenever she makes anything, she always includes Kyle. She had some foam "KISS ME" stickers, but she would only put those on the card she made for her Dad. She said her Dad told her she can only kiss people in her family.

coupon redemption

Parker called Saturday and asked if he could redeem a couple of his birthday coupons. I said sure, and since James had spent the night with him, so they both came over. James said he still had a couple of coupons left over from his birthday a couple of years ago, one of which was for a "group hug", so he calls Uncle to come out and join in, and we all share a big group hug! It was funny, and just one of the many reasons I love James. He is such a lovable, funny kid. Then we all took off for town, first stop was for Panda bowls, which both boys scarfed down. Then Uncle and I had to stop at Lowes, where the boys managed to temporarily tick off Uncle/Papa, who sometimes has a tough time understanding their goofy, uncontrollable laughter without thinking it is directed at him... He lightened up before long, though, and then held us all hostage while he made a long stop at Home Depot. Finally, we made it to the mall so the boys could use their other coupon there. After some wandering around, looking at GameStop and PacSun, they managed to find a couple of air-soft guns at Big 5. Didn't get to use them when we got home, however, since the big one needed the battery charged, and James had to leave before that.

It's a good life!

Today was a really nice day. The sun was out so Rielee could play at the playfort for a little while. The boys and girls both won their games against Ilwaco, a big win for the girls as they lost to Ilwaco previously. It was all good. Ava and Harper were sweet little girls today. They play a lot now, and the interaction with them is so much fun. Papa had Harper laughing when he was playing with her on the floor. I had to take a picture of her sleeping in his arms, his little napping partner, she is so relaxed. She often sleeps with her eyes open a little bit. We talked about how he is going to have to start laying her down someday after she falls asleep, but he isn't ready to give her up yet. We got some back-up from the dr. at the appt. yesterday when she told Kelly you can't spoil them when they are babies, yes, that was just what we needed to hear!

6 month check-up

Ava and Harper had their 6 mo. WellBaby Check-up today. I went along to help Kelly since Charb had a meeting. Their dr. was actually raving about how big their are, and how well they are developing. She said to look at them, you would never guess they were born at 31 weeks. They are off the preemie growth chart now, and on the regular one. Ava is about 1/2 a lb. heavier, but Harper is 1/2 an inch taller. They still can't have anything but formula until they are 6 months (adjusted age). They also got 5 shots, 3 regular plus the flu shots. I was afraid they might be fussy after all those, but I took them home and fed them, and they played and were happy all afternoon. Tough little cookies.
Tonight Auna is spending the night with us since Laury and David are on a date night for David's birthday. We mixed up some cookie dough, she wanted sugar cookies again, and it is chilling while she is over playing with Rielee and Parker. Uncle told her that her folks called, and they are actually in Disneyland without her. He got an eye-roll for that remark.

Wild Wed.

Rielee loves all babies, toy babies and real babies, and Ava and Harper do love her, too. They love it when she is around, and they really watch her all the time. But, I must have said to her about 10 times today "be gentle, they aren't dolls, honey". The last time was when she had taken apart the links on one of their rattles and had them draped over Ava's ears, to see what she would look like with earrings on...

These pictures who how she is often right there with them helping them play with their toys (chewing on a toy right along with Ava, she thought was hilarious), and she is helpful at keeping them entertained, as long as I am right there, too, of course. She was proud of herself today when she put Harper's socks on her, usually there is too much wiggling going on for her to succeed at that.

The babies are getting better at using their hands (that is Harper holding her bottle) and are grabbing at everything, and playing for longer periods of time now. They had shots yesterday and Ava weighed 14 lbs. 3 ounces and Harper was 13 lbs. 11 ounces.