Little miss crafty

This Rielee girl really loves to do crafts. I picked up these foam animal shapes at Michael's yesterday so she could paint them and maybe make some kind of ocean scene next week, something she can save to enter in the fair. I showed her some examples of a painted whale and a striped fish, and she used her imagination. She absolutely was not going to have a black and white whale, even after Papa backed me up and told her it really should be black. Now she wants me to buy her all of the other shapes they sell, she had so much fun painting these.
This afternoon Macee had a JV double-header vs. Ilwaco and Montesano. The first game was easy, but the one against Monte was close, and ended in a 7-7 tie, due to darkness setting in. Macee played catcher and really had a good game, with 4 base hits.

A fun day

Our Wednesday went pretty well. After breakfast and baths, we all played on the floor until it was time for the babies to take their morning nap. Papa and I took turns reading books with Rielee while the babies settled down, then we got out the easel and paints and she and I painted a picture of her room. In the afternoon, Rielee wanted to sit in Harper's high chair and be my "big baby"for a little while and Ava was pleased yet puzzled to see her there.

I got a very funny video of the the girls today. Auna and Rielee had taken Ava in the playroom and were sitting on the bed with her. Rielee started to pretend she was a puppy (or a wolf maybe) and Ava was cracking up, so I took Harper in there too and it just got better.

Twins on Tuesday

Rielee ran out to the woodshed after school and grabbed a sack full of craft paints that Des had left there for her on the way to work this morning. She was happy to have lots of new and different colors to paint with, and went right to work on a picture of flowers. It was all we could do to keep the twins away from her, they were under the easel and Ava was trying to pull herself up on Rielee's leg.

We had an really interesting morning - when I was giving Ava her bath, I took her diaper off to find a big mess that went all the way up her back. I hollered for Papa and he grabbed a piece of newspaper to lay her on so the towel wouldn't get dirty, bad idea, cause then we had a messy baby with newspaper stuck to her back, too, squirming and kicking like mad. I had him grab the wipes then and wipe her off while I held her up in the air, he was grossed out and ran to wash his hands as soon as he was done--he hasn't changed either baby's diapers yet, and is hoping he doesn't ever have to.

For lunch we had Rielee's favorite, bean soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, and the babies liked both, especially Harper-she liked the soup so much she even ate it off of the spoon!

Oh, and we had a fun last night when Auna stayed over. We watched Dancing With the Stars, she always comes over and watches it with us anyway, but she got to watch it all last night. We always try to guess what the judge's scores will be, and Auna often gets it right. Last night we were pretty disgusted with Len's judging, it just didn't seem fair. This morning I had Ava wake Auna up for school, and we all ate pancakes for breakfast together.

Luke turns 9

Rielee was ready to play today, and hauled out all of her ponies for a parade in front of all of her Barbies. She was pretty tired today, she was up coughing during the night, I guess. She doesn't nap every day any more, but on Monday she is tired from the weekend so she can't stay awake even if she tries.

Sunday we went down to Luke's birthday party at a pizza parlor in Orchards. All he wanted was money and he was thrilled when he got a lot of it, he had his wallet ready to stash it all away.

Emmy's spring ball

Today we went to Hood River to watch Emmy's team play against W. Oregon. They scrimmaged in the morning and then played a match in the afternoon. It was really fun to see her play, and she had some good hits and blocks. I know she will hate this picture because she had just finished playing in the morning and her face was all red, but, oh well, Em...

Friday treat day

Rielee was so excited today when the twins followed her into the playroom for the first time. I was ready with the camera to take a picture of Ava when she crawled up close to the closet door mirror and looked at herself, like I have with the other kids, but she had no reaction to seeing herself, none at all, then it dawned on me that she sees someone, namely Harper, that looks just like her, all the time, and she just glanced at herself and turned around and crawled away. No big deal there. They explored the playroom for a bit, then took off to find Papa on the computer. It was Friday treat day and Rielee got a maple bar from bakery, so after I finished up feeding Harper some banana, (chopped in little pieces, mind you, not mashed, no spoons) I gave her a little bite of it-and she went nuts! Started making all kinds of noises to get her point across that she wanted "MORE". She went home smelling like she was wearing "eau de maple bar" cologne.

I tried to take a picture of the 3 girls together since they were wearing outfits that were closely color-coordinated, but that was impossible with the twins squirming all over. Harper was fixated on trying to pull the button off the pillow. Rielee posed though. We took the twins back to their parents at Union at 2:30 and then went to the Home and Garden Idea Fair at the Clark County Fairgrounds. They have a huge plant sale there and we bought a cool little Japanese Maple and a canna.

Thursday in Camas

This is what happened every time I would leave the family room, one, or both of them would come looking for me, babbling like they were angry with me for leaving them behind...Ava is smiling here because I was playing peek-a-boo with her, hiding behind the cupboard.

The babies were up and playing when I got to the house at 6:30 this morning. I fed them a waffle for breakfast, dressed them and they were down for a nap by 8:30. They slept until 10 or so, had bottles, then we went shopping at Walmart. After we got back, I called Mary Dolan and invited her up to visit. The babies reaction to her was pretty funny, they just sat and stared at her for the longest time, like they couldn't believe there was a strange person in their house. It didn't take too long, though, before they relaxed and went back to playing. Mary and I had a nice visit.

After Mary left at 1:15, I sat down with both of them for a minute and Harper conked right out. I took her up to her crib, and then tried to get Ava to sleep. I didn't want to lay her down since I knew she would scream and wake up Harper. I should have left Harper downstairs and taken Ava up first, I thought Ava would fall asleep having a bottle, but no way, she would not settle down until 2:45, at which time Harper woke up, then Kelly came home at 3:15 to get them to go to Lexi's track meet since Charb had to stay at school because some kids got in a fight right at the end of the school day, and he had to deal with whose fault it was and calling their parents.

One head bonk after another

This little musical table was the source of several head bonks today. Both babies love it and can manage to pull themselves up to standing on it, which is scary because they are on their little toes and too far away-for about a second-before they lose their balance and fall over, and unfortunately the head bonks aren't a deterrent because they keep going back again and again. We had to put it away unless we are right there to catch them, and even then they can get out of control in their excitement and hurt themselves. They are so busy, busy, busy, exploring everything, and whatever one has the other wants. Now we find ourselves sometimes actually having to look for them, which just seems so funny. Harper is very vocal now, and babbles all the time as she crawls around, and will say "da-da-da"(which is good because I hear she is a daddy's girl).

painting day

Rielee went right back to painting as soon as she got home from school today. She painted a couple of flower scenes, a girl with a sparkly dress, and a bedroom with a window with clouds and rain outside. When she ran out of ideas, she asked Papa to paint with her, he painted some baby chicks, fir trees with birds that we thought were squirrels, and a camel, at her request, since he can't paint a horse. She added a big sun to finish it off, and they painted their names at the bottom.
She was just starting on a farm scene with a red barn when her Mom came to pick her up, so Pap promised her he would paint with her again tomorrow.

Papa's helper

Rielee went right out to help Papa load firewood after school today. Then she headed over to the playfort to swing for awhile. She managed to get herself stuck in the baby swing and had to hang there for awhile till Papa came over to get her out, because I couldn't get it unlatched either. It is baby proof, that's for sure. It started to sprinkle then, so we went inside and got the easel out so she could paint a couple of pictures. One was of SpongeBob, the other was just all the different colors layered one on top of another, she loves just to mix it all up.

Sunday

This was Steve yesterday morning cutting down the fir by the driveway. He continued cutting on it most of the day today.

Parker and I were cleaning up the shop and he kept looking at the scooter and wishing he could go for a ride. He wanted me to take him, but that wasn't going to happen, so we convinced Papa to take a break from the wood cutting and go. They ended up riding up to Ryderwood and then stopped in Vader and ate lunch at the Little Crane Cafe. They said the people there were really friendly and the food was great.

Parker rearranged the playroom for the kajillionth time this morning. He decided to put the twin bed back in there, again, and promised me that he would actually use it. We have set up that bed I don't know how many times, and no kid has ever slept in it, they always sleep either with me or in the living room. So, while Papa folded clothes, Parker and I are hauling in the bed from the shop room-I asked Parker "what is wrong with this picture??"...(Papa wasn't really on board with the whole idea) but Parker managed to help pack the bed with one arm.

Big girls

Ava sleeping in her pack n' play in our bedroom...

and Harper napping in the playroom, they are quickly learning to put themselves to sleep! Harper will fuss for a couple minutes, Ava a little longer, but today I only checked on her twice, and the second time patted her back for a minute and she was out. I don't know if we are prouder of them or ourselves for doing this, but it is making life with the twins much easier. They are better rested, as is Grandma, and Papa-well, he always manages to nap regardless of what is happening. He loved his power naps with Harper, and fought giving them up, but I was getting tired of all the rocking and walking and then having them wake up anyway when we did try to lay them down. Also, now that they are crawling, they really get tired out and fussy, so once they are fed they are ready to rest.

After we took the babies back, we watched a Rocket softball game at LaCenter and then Parker came home with us while the rest of the gang went on to Corvallis for Regional V'Ball. Later we went to watch James play a night baseball game, and we picked the right game, too, he hit a 3 run homer! It was really a beauty. He also did some great pitching and they won 4-3. Really a fun game.

Babies on the move

Well, the twins are up and crawling all over now. This is Ava who was exploring under the table this afternoon.

They are also getting to be pretty good eaters, although Harper still resists taking food off of a spoon, unless it is mashed potatoes. They are eating a wafer made of potato and rice husks, which they love but they sure are messy and sticky and they get little bits of it everywhere.

Papa went to the track meet in Rochester today to watch Norma throw the shot put and discus, then stayed for the whole meet so he could give her a ride home.

And here is Parker when he got back from getting his cast, he will be wearing it for 3 weeks. He was pretty worn out at this point and was on his way home to take a nap.

Parker's fall

Parker tripped over the shop vac in their garage and chipped a bone in his arm this afternoon, he will visit with the orthopedic dr. next week to see if he needs a full cast on it or not.

A quiet Wednesday for a change, no babies today so we had Rielee all to ourselves. Here she is "helping" Papa vacuum in the morning, they were chasing each other with the hose.

As soon as it was warm enough, we headed outside to cut firewood. Rielee loves to drive the lawn mower, and always shouts a "woo-hoo" when she starts out driving. The only irritating thing is that she sings "Romeo and Juliet" the Taylor Swift song over and over while driving (and she won't let you sing along with her either) and then I have the darn song stuck in my head the rest of the day.

She spent a long time today playing in the sandbox while we split firewood. The sandbox has gotten so much use over the years, and Rielee spends lots of time there.

"It just doesn't get better than this!" Papa said as he and Rielee sat down out on the deck to eat lunch. We had such a fun day with her today, what a joy.

So many questions

Macee up to bat

I picked Rielee up from school today and then took her for her Kingergarten placement test. The teacher said she did amazing and that when they were finished testing Rielee was full of questions about everything in the room. Lately she asks questions about the craziest stuff, like "why don't fish have eyelashes?" or "why do they call it sawdust?"--when Papa was cutting up the tree she was fascinated by the "dust" and went in the house to get a bowl for him to fill up with it. When I asked her the next day what she did with the sawdust, she said she filled the bowl up with water for sawdust soup and Parker tried a bite of it. Des told me that last night at dinner, Norma asked Rielee if she had a boyfriend, so Rielee told her about Kyle and that he was away at college but she was waiting for him, that they were on a break right now.

In the afternoon, we went to watch the Rockets play a double header against LaCenter, they won 13-0 and 15-0.

fabric and fish

I picked Rielee up from school and we headed into town to buy fabric and fish. First we went to Joann's to get fabric for a new blanket for her, as she left her old blanket in Colorado. She ended up buying 2 pieces of fabric, one with puppies, one with flowers. I was going to sew them back to back for 1 blanket, but she wants 2. Then we went to the Pet Works for new pond fish, since all of ours died recently. They are nice there and will catch you any fish you want out of the hundreds in the tank, so Rielee got to pick out each one, 6 different goldfish. Hopefully these will be healthy and last awhile, our last new batch had a fungus that also infected my 3 big fish that I had for over a year. After that we went over to Kid's Resale and found some bibs and swimsuits for the twins.

Parker

Parker spent Friday night with us since his family went to Springfield for Macee's volleyball and he had to stay home to go tohis friend's birthday party on Saturday. We went into town for dinner at Panda, then went shopping. Parker bought a dry-erase board, which I figured it was for his treehouse or his room, until he called me into the kitchen and there it was on the wall-with a note for me! Parker also spent a gift card at Target, buying a lock box. His obsession with locks continues.

We got up early to go to a garage sale, where he found a pretty nice guitar for $20. He was excited to get one that he can take to his music class at school or to the group lesson he is going to start. His electric guitar is a little cumbersome for him, I guess. We spent the rest of the day working outside, I spread some bark, Parker mowed, Papa cut down a tree.

Just give me the good stuff Papa

What a surprise, Papa found a food that Harper will eat, BK fries, actually she just sucks on them since it would be a choking hazard if she got a piece in her mouth. She also likes to suck on toast with butter. I found out today that Ava likes string cheese, too. Ava ate some old-fashioned oatmeal for breakfast, Harper ate one piece of oatmeal, and chewed on it for several minutes. Harper and Papa took a marathon nap today--3 hours! Ava only slept for a little over an hour since I put her down in the pack and play.

Auna coaxing the girls to smile, which is pretty easy for her since they just love it when she comes to play with them.

Ava's baby

I had so much fun today with the twins, they are getting so animated. Little Ava has started to show a serious interest in dolls, here she is latched on to one of her babies. The other day we showed her one of Rielee's Barbie dolls, and she got so excited. I sent a Barbie home with her last night so she could show Mom and Dad how she reacts to it, and they couldn't believe it. So then Dad got out a Han Solo doll, and she liked that one, too. So today I got out this soft baby she had in her toy basket, and she wouldn't let go of it. Ava also took a nap in her crib today, a first.

Harper likes all of the toys, especially ones that play music, she is crawling/scooting better every day, and can cover quite a bit of ground now. We went to Walmart today, and I managed to get them mixed up and called Harper "Ava" the entire trip until we got home and I took her out of the car seat--gosh, that makes me feel so awful when I do that...

3 busy girls

Harper in front
It was our typical crazy Wednesday today, Rielee kept us very busy as did the twins. Rielee wanted to make some jewelry, so we spent the twin's morning naptime beading. She made a necklace for Norma and a bracelet for herself. She went to the store later with Papa so she could buy a tattoo, then when they got back he took her outside to play in the water a little bit. They made stick boats and floated them down the stream. After lunch, she was getting bored, so I suggested that Papa take her to the library, then we took turns reading a couple of her books to her, Ava listened, too. Harper had to take a break from the amoxicillin for her ear infection, she had so much diarrhea yesterday. Tried feeding her some banana this morning, but she wouldn't open her mouth at all, it was clamped shut. Then we made pancakes, and her little mouth was opening right up for those. Ava had both, she likes lots of food, except peaches, tried those yesterday and neither one liked them.

Tuesday-twins 1st uke lesson

Papa wanted a picture of his trio of uke playing girls, this was the best I could get...with better smiles out of the twins than Rielee. She gave them an intro into the ukelele, and it was short and sweet.
Harper had a blowout reaction to the amoxicillin today, with several awful diapers, so Mom is going to contact the dr. before we continue with it. Both girls eyes were better today.

Sick babies

I went to Camas today since Kelly needed to take the twins to the doctor. Sat. night Harper got an eye infection and then today Ava woke up with it, too. The dr. said they both have pink eye, and Harper also has an ear infection. So Harper got amoxicillin and Ava got eye drops. The dr. also said that the girls could start having table food if they wanted it, and said not to worry that Harper refuses baby food, she said it could just be a texture thing with her. The girls were in pretty good spirits today for being sick. But one change in them was very obvious--if I left the room or was out of their sight, one or both would instantly cry. They have also started to really notice each other, if they are on the floor by each other, they stare and touch each other.

Surprise on Easter

Norma and Macee

Norma is an exchange student from Italy, and will be living with Des and Gabe until the end of the school year. Macee got to know and be good friends with Norma and another exchange student, Uma (from Germany) this year. Uma helped Macee a great deal with her German homework.

What a cute bunch of cousins, and such an age spread now, from 8 mo. old Ava & Harper to 18 yr. old Emmy.

The weather cooperated today, thankfully, and we were able to do all the outside activities without getting rained on. Harper was sick though, with a cold and an eye infection. Both she and Ava were pretty subdued all day, overwhelmed by all the unfamiliar family members.

Parker won the egg hunt contest, and Will and Cale won the egg toss.After the Easter games and dinner, we surprised Cathy with a 70th birthday party. She was a really good sport about wearing the silly "Birthday Queen" crown, but Jillian and Rielee liked them a lot. Cathy got some nice gifts, and she enjoyed the scrapbook we gave her. It was a really great day.

They're back

Rielee seemed to miss us as much as we missed her while she was in Arizona for Spring Break. She was over first thing in the morning to visit and show us her new stuffed animal, a kitty from Build-A-Bear. She was ready to do some crafts, so she made 3 cards and an Easter flower pot.

Then she got her workbooks and did a bunch of pages. Parker showed up after awhile and they both had lunch with us. They ended up coming back later to spend the night. Parker was hungry for vegie Boboli pizza and brought all the ingredients, so I showed him how to put it together, then Rielee made pancakes, her favorite food. After dinner, Parker played his video game and Rielee was ready to play the Horton Hears a Who game she brought over. Papa was frustrated because the instructions were confusing him, so we just played Rielee's abbreviated version of it. Then she got her workbooks out again, and she did page after page until she was worn out. The kids talked me into renting a couple of movies after that, Rielee and Papa watched the new Chipmunk movie and Parker watched Land of the Lost.

Spring break babies

Doni with Harper and Ava Wednesday night

Harper and Papa reading the paper Wed. morning.

The twins stayed with us Tuesday and Wednesday nights while their family went to Disneyland. We picked them up Tuesday afternoon, that evening they started to get a little cranky so Papa got the ukelele out to entertain them. It works well, they like the music. Unfortunately, I think they may be tone-deaf, as they seem to love Papa's singing just like they do mine...or else they are humoring us. Uncle Alan came over to visit, and they had a good time playing with him.

Put them to bed about 10 that night, Harper woke up at 3 for a bottle, fed Ava one, too since I was up. Harper woke up again at 5:30 to eat a little bit, then they both slept until 8.

Watching Tubbies while Grandma took a shower.

Wednesday we went to town. Met Doni at the Frontier nursing home and she and I took the babies in to visit Ruby, her 91 yr. old friend. Ruby wasn't feeling very well though so we only stayed a couple of minutes, but I think she was happy to meet Ava and Harper and they brought a smile to her face. After that, we went to Target, we each had our own cart w/baby and I'm shopping and come around an aisle and catch Papa putting some Little Debbie cakes in his cart (supposedly forbidden food on our diet)--he said that Ava mouthed the words "Little Debbie" to him so he had to buy them.

Harper on the left, they are staggered in the bed so that flailing arm on Harper's doesn't wake up her sis.

Doni came up later after work to visit with the twins. They were a little afraid of her at first, but that didn't last long. By the end of her visit they were playing with her and she then she put Ava to sleep by rubbing her back, and walked Harper to sleep. Alan came over, too, and we all had a nice visit. The twins took about a 45 minute nap, that was about 7 and then stayed up until 9 p.m. Ava slept straight through until 7 in the morning, Harper woke up and ate at 10:30, then slept until 6. Good little sleepers!