Brrr, a cold day for sports

Rielee got a special treat from her coach after her last soccer game of the season this morning. It was so cold and rainy, we were freezing afterwards, so we ran home and ate breakfast and then went to watch Auna play her last soccer game, a 1-1 tie with a Longview team.

Rielee and Auna sharing a pretzel and hot chocolate at Parker's last football game tonight, a 14-8 loss to Wahkiakum.

Afterwards, Rielee and Auna spent the night with us. They made each other a bracelet, Rielee played with her make-up kit and they watched some TV.

Wigging out

I got out some old Halloween wigs this morning to see what Harper and Ava would look like with hair...also had to get some suckers out for distraction purposes.

Ava is growling, I think, in this picture. She started out growling when she was packing around her lion or tiger, but now she growls when she's mad. A cute, yet scary Halloween picture!

Auna and her friend Morgan came over after school, so they had to try on the wigs, too. They tried to put the wigs back on the twins, but they weren't having it. They fed the girls lunch and then took them outside for rides in the cars and to play on the slides.

Emmy's volleyball

We went to Olympia tonight to see the CWU Wildcat volleyball team play St. Martins College, they won 3-0.

Emmy got to play as outside hitter, she played really well and had 4 kills. She said she likes that position but is still adjusting to it. It was so fun to see her play!

After the game with the family (Will was playing basketball in Vancouver)

Emmy's summer league Alumni teammates Tiffaney Golden and Judy Frandsen came up to watch, too, as did Kyle and his Mom and one of Emmy's old teachers.

Making messes

Ava and Harper had a fun time pulling out the DVDs and old tapes and scattering them around the floor while I was talking to Kelly on the phone, they look sort of guilty in this picture and they also look so much alike, I think.
It was a different story this morning, though, when I was cleaning the floor, they wanted to help, as this video shows:

Auna's here!

I love the look on Auna's face
Auna came over right after school today to help with Ava and Harper. She fed them lunch and then entertained them until it was time for them to leave. Uncle Alan came over, too, so they gots lots of attention.

Ava brought a little backpack with her yesterday and they have both been wearing it around. Today Harper was packing around Rielee's old purse, she would put it on one shoulder, then the other, back and forth. Suddenly they are looking like little girls who are growing up way too fast.

Scary horse

We brought the rocking horse in from the shop today to see if the girls would want to play on it. Harper rode on it, but when she got off she was very scared of it, and Ava wouldn't even look at it.

It is going to be a good week for the girls since it is conference week at CR so the kids are out at 12:40. They were happy to have Parker to play with.

They are always happy to have Uncle Alan stop by to visit since he always has silly games to play, like putting his watch on Ava's leg and putting Ava's socks on her stuffed doggy's paw and nose. He put them on the couch with him today, and they loved that since they don't get to play up there very often.

Parker's night

Rielee playing a Play-doh game where she has to pop the balls up and into the basket on the floor (that one didn't make it).
Saturday started with Rielee's early morning soccer game, she scored 2 goals. In the afternoon Parker had a football game in Toutle, his team won and he got to be the kick-off guy.

It was Parker's turn to spend the night with us, but Rielee came over, too, while Des and Gabe went out to dinner (Macee was busy having a volleyball sleep-over). They wanted to go to Target and promised they would get along if I took them. Rielee found some Justin Bieber stretchy bracelets and a color book but Parker decided he wanted to go to Ross and look there. He found a hat and some motorcycles he wanted, and since Ross is stocked full of toys for Christmas, Rielee was excited with nearly everything she saw. She kept asking how much everything was, so I gave her a refresher course on reading price tags, then it was "is $9.99 a lot, is $14.99 too much?" etc. After she realized she wasn't getting anything else, I suggested she should make a Christmas list and she filled up 2 + pages of my notebook before we left. They did get along really well, too.

Parker and I stayed up until 11, he watched a little Smoking Gun World's Dumbest Drivers with Papa, tried to get me to wrestle before we went to sleep, but I resisted this time since the last couple of times I have been too sore the next day.

A swing,a snake and road rash

Ava and Harper were so good this morning, sleeping in until it was time to take Parker and Macee to school, so I could just put them right in the van. They rode with me while Papa took Rielee to school. It was another nice day so we were able to take them outside to play a couple of times. Yesterday they played on the big swing with Rielee, and today when we were walking by it, Harper started pointing and letting us know she wanted to swing again. Ava wanted on but still isn't quite sure that she likes it yet. Then Harper noticed the cows were out so we had to visit them again, too.

On the way back across the field I noticed a snake in the grass to show the girls. Harper would have picked it up if we had let her.
Later in the day when we took them out for a lawnmower ride, Ava decided she didn't want to ride, she wanted to walk, and then she fell down on the pavement, so she went home with a road rash that looked just awful. Her poor little nose and forehead were red and skinned up.

CR-3, Ridgefield-0

A positive shopping trip began when I pulled into Fred Meyer parking lot and there was a car cart sitting in the cart return with a parking spot right beside it-score! The girls were so good riding in it and shopping was a breeze.

Rielee after the match, that is Jillian in the background

We met Charb, Kelly, Luke and Lexi in Ridgefield with the twins to watch CR beat the Spudders in 3 sets, which means they have the league championship in their pocket, that was very fun.

A very sweaty Macee and proud Parker after the match

In other awesome volleyball news, Lexi tried out for the 7th grade team at her school (Shahala M.S.) and made the "A" team! She was very happy, except for the fact that practices are at 6:00 a.m.!

A happier day

A lawnmower ride-the highlight of their afternoon. We had a summer-like afternoon so I took them out to play and they were walking around and picking up cones but when Papa drove up on the lawn mower, they were squealing, waving their arms and running to get on it, ready to go.

A cow sighting, they went as close to the fence as they could Papa would let them get.

The girls slept in until 7:45 today and were really happy all morning. Then they took a 2 hour nap and woke up happy for the afternoon, we had such a fun day with them.

In the evening we went to watch Auna play soccer. Her team won 4-0, with Auna scoring all 4 goals! Awesome Auna!

tired Tuesday

During their first trip outside today, all Ava wanted to do was walk around, and she's pretty good at staying upright in the uneven grass. They always want to get in the swings, but then want out in like 1 minute to explore something else.

Harper spent her time on the slide, her she is looking at a cone that Ava picked up and gave to her.

The girls were kind of pills this morning, they woke up too early, right when they got here, and were still tired and really needy. Then they had a head-bonking incident that really upset both of them, they wouldn't even look at each other without screaming. So after they ate and we played for awhile, they went back to bed from 8:30-10:30, and were much happier after their nap.
It was interesting today when Papa left to pick up Rielee, I had to go to the bathroom, and they were just into everything in the bedroom and bathroom, pulling clothes off the bed, getting in to my books on the nightstand, bringing me shoes, pulling the towels off the racks, they knew I couldn't stop them, I guess, so they were really having a good time. They are so busy and so precocious already, it kind of reminds me of their Dad at that age...

Later in the day Papa took them out for a wagon ride, except Harper wanted to ride with him on the lawnmower. When he tried to give Ava a turn on his lap and put Harper in the wagon, she threw a screaming fit so he ended up riding with both on his lap. But he doesn't like to do that because Ava tries to hog the steering wheel and he has a hard time fighting her for it!

Sock monkey

We realized that Harper had a tooth coming in today after she chewed on her sock until it was soaking wet this morning. The girls slept in until almost 9 today and then took a long nap, too. Kelly thinks maybe they are growing since they slept a lot over the weekend, too.

Sharing toys while waiting for lunch. Ava loves that little tiger, she packs it around and holds it out and makes growling sounds.

Homecoming

Macee, Tierney, Maddie and Kenzie
I went over to see the girls all dressed up for Homecoming tonight, they all looked so pretty. Macee looks darker than the rest because she got a spray tan for the occasion. We all agreed that it is too bad they can't play volleyball in high-heeled shoes since Maddie was almost as tall as Tierney with her heels on.

A fun Friday

Rielee got to play with Ava and Harper for a little while this morning before Papa took her to school. She looked at books with them, and we did some singing, too, and the twins danced around.

Harper

Laury came over for coffee early, then Alan stopped by to visit. He always lets the girls play

with his hat, and they put it on and take it off, then put it on him, or me. Great fun for them.

Papa was giving the girls a ride in the wagon today and noticed that the cows were by the fence again. They were so excited and mooing and screaming and waving their arms. (I put a video of them on YouTube.)
After school, James and Alan came over, then Rielee and Parker showed up, too. Ava was acting so silly, showing off for James, she was laying on the floor and squealing and fake-coughing, cracking us all up. Then Rielee wanted to color, and of course, so did the twins, so we sat on the floor and let them try, they did scribble a little but it was a short session since it wasn't long before the crayons were scattered everywhere and they were putting them in their mouths.

Busy busy girls

Harper
Auna came over after school to see the girls and tried her "accessory" glasses on them,

surprisingly, they left them on long enough to take a picture.
They slept in until 7:30 today, and were really busy playing all morning. They love to pack things around so I had them taking books and magazines to Papa, a game that kept them busy for the longest time. They also love to play hide and seek and "I'm gonna get you". Around 11 after a snack they started to act worn out, so we tried putting them down for naps but they weren't ready yet, so we went outside to play instead. They finally went down at 1:00 but only slept for an hour and a half, and both woke up sort of cranky. We took them out to swing and for a ride in the cars to watch Parker kick field goals. Papa was hoping they would sleep on the way home. We got a couple of cassettes of kid's music off Ebay for them to listen to so he doesn't have to sing to them. He's made up some weird lyrics to the "Wheels on the bus"...

Crying at the door when Auna left.

Overnighter

It was a beautiful afternoon, we took the girls out to the slides and then they walked to Laury's house to see Max. They were so excited to walk, and they squealed and laughed the whole way. Fortunately, Papa followed us over there with the cars because I don't think they would have made it walking back. On the way in the house, they noticed the skeleton in the tree.
I was cleaning the sink while they were having a snack of apple and cheese. It was hard not to laugh when I looked over and noticed they both had food in their hair.

Ava had stacked a neat little pile of apple pieces on top of her head.

Harper was feeling a little tired this afternoon, I guess, because she got a pillow off the couch and a blanket and laid down on the floor.

Auna came over to help me take the girls to the volleyball match since Papa left early to watch the JV. It was cute when Harper snuggled up to her when they were playing before we left. They were pretty good at the match, we had them corralled in with Auna and Rielee and Grandpa & Ann helping to keep them happy. It helped that the Rockets won in 3 so we were home early. They got a second wind when we got home, and cracked us up when I made them some toast with cream cheese--they would take a bite and then toddle off and walk a little lap around the kitchen, then come back and get another bite, over and over until it was gone, like little wind-up dolls! After a little milk, though, they crashed and were asleep by 9. The girls are spending the night since Kelly's Mom had surgery today, thankfully, she came through it okay.

James football

Every day now I spend some time with Ava and Harper on Starfall. They love it, and now if they see me sitting at the computer they are begging to get up on my lap. We had a fun day with them, with visits from Aunt Laury and Uncle David. Auna came over after school and helped Uncle with the twins because Parker and I were leaving to go to James' football game.

James is smiling as he comes off the field because they won! Parker enjoyed watching James play but we had to make a run to the minit-mart at half-time for seeds because he was hungry since he didn't get an after-school snack. After the game we went shopping for a little bit then stopped at Panda for take-out bowls for he and Papa. After that I supervised while he did his homework and then Gabe picked him up.

soccer, v'ball, football

It was sports all day from Rielee's soggy soccer game in the morning to Parker's football game in the evening, and in between it was a day of volleyball with the Rockets winning the Lumberjill Invitational V'ball Tournament! This was the winning point against the Woodland team, Tierney serving, Maddie setting, Macee hitting:

Ladybug lesson

Some excitement on their car ride today, a tiny lady bug was crawling around on Ava's hood. Papa kept turning it around so the girls could get a good look at it, but he had to keep Harper from picking it up and trying to eat it.

It was cute today when they sat down on Papa's lap to read a book, Harper threw her arm around Ava. They pay so much attention to each other now, babbling to each other and pointing when they saw Laury's cat outside the door today, sharing food and laughing with each other during their high chair time. They make us laugh so much. Papa was trying to get them to give him a hug this morning when he was down on the floor playing with them, so he covered his face with his hands and pretended to cry a little, thinking they would come running with a hug, but their response was to cover their faces and cough, they thought he was coughing. So funny.

Little cuddlers

Ava and Harper are so cuddly these days, especially after they wake up from their naps.

Papa making them laugh during snack time.

Today was an odd day with no visitors, it seemed so strange to have them all to ourselves. They are very busy little girls these days, on the go from the time they wake up, I would love to put a pedometer on them and see just how far they do toddle in a day! They are babbling more now, too, and surprising us with words here and there, today I heard them say "bite" "more" and "thank you" while they were eating. I gave them some raisins and neither one of them were interested in eating them, it was funny because they passed them back and forth to each other and then they just disappeared when I wasn't looking, I found them later stashed down in the sides of the high chair seats.

After we took the babies back to Charb, we went to Kalama and killed some time shopping and sight seeing at some of the housing developments up on the hill before we went to watch Macee's volleyball game. The won easily in 3.

Auna

Ava and Harper were excited to see Max this morning when he came over with Laury, he always gets lots of squeals from them when they see him.
Rielee rode the bus to school for the first time this morning. The bus stop is at the Jehovah Witness parking lot off Studebaker Rd. now since there are so many out of district students. One boy from her class was there riding it, too, so that made it easier.

Tonight was a warm, gorgeous evening to watch Auna play soccer. She played forward and stayed in the entire game, scoring a couple of goals to help her team win.

"I don't want my picture taken!" she said, hiding from the camera, being hot and sweaty just doesn't make for a great photo op.