Macee's cast

We went over to visit Macee after she got her cast today, she has to have it on for a month, then will be in a walking boot. Such crummy timing, right before her Spring break vacation. One good thing, it has a waterproof liner so she can shower and go in the pool.

These rainy, inside days are making the twins more creative in finding ways to entertain themselves. They started drumming on this stool that was in the bedroom, so I brought it out in the living room and they played with it all day, taking turns drumming and singing.

Papa showed them how to open an avocado and then tried to get them to try a bite, but they would only try licking it off their fingers. Harper made a pretend one out of Play-doh later and tried licking that, too, she didn't like it either.

Smile Ava

Ever since I let them take a picture (that was a big mistake) I have to be careful to keep the cameras up and out of their reach, or else at the end of the day I find pictures on it taken by them... I heard Harper saying "smile Ava smile",

by the time I got the camera away from her, she had also taken this picture of the "Laska" bear she got from Grandma Barb.

Barry's visit/Macee's broken leg

Barry came over to visit today on his way back to Arizona. He parked his motor home at Alan's for the night so he could do some extended visiting. Ava and Harper and I were out for a walk and visited with him first at Alan and Vera's. The girls were able to pretty much ignore Barry over there while Alan kept them busy playing with toy footballs. When he visited at our house though, they were very nervous and stayed glued on my lap until Auna, Parker and Rielee came in after school, then they got down and played and he got to see them in action. Auna and Parker had some pudding with whipped cream, and Papa gave the twins a little taste, of course they loved it and wanted more. Barry suggested that giving them shaving cream tomorrow when they wanted whipped cream would put an end to them begging for that!

Macee went to the dr. today and unfortunately, has a broken fibula, the result of a sliding into 2nd base in yesterday's game. She'll be getting a cast on Thursday.

More bomber ball

This game never gets old for them, and they get the biggest kick out of bombarding Papa!

With all the toys we have around, it seems like they play with balls more than anything.

Today was a nice afternoon so they got to play outside a lot. They have a circle they make on their walk now, through the woods to Laury's, over the bridge to play on the big swing and then to the playfort. Did some serious bubble chasing also. Uncle Alan came over and played outside with us, too.

A sunny March evening

We were walking around the yard this beautiful evening and there went Emmy sprinting up the driveway, back and forth, doing 30 second sprints. Uncle was so impressed he went to the car and grabbed a chair so he could sit and "coach" her when she went by.
"You have to put some effort into it Emmy!" and "No pain, no gain!" probably didn't inspire her very much, unless cussing at him while running made her go faster....

No, Emmy only cusses at her dog when he trips her up.

Rielee came over a little while later and tried to get Auna to come out and practice softball with her. Auna was playing Scrabble on my Kindle and didn't want to though, so Rielee asked Papa. He had bought himself a mitt at a garage sale just for this reason and was happy to get out there and play with her. Rielee is doing well and is anxious for softball to start. Rielee had her face painted at her school carnival earlier in the day.

Parker and his buddies were outside, too, sitting by the bonfire trying to get it to burn, with the help of the leaf blower.

High swings

They were so happy to be outside today, they went out and helped Papa get the firewood and then hauled some inside and put it in the woodbox.

Charb and Kelly came up to get the girls this afternoon after he got out of the hospital. Charb was giving Harper some super high swing rides and she was screaming loudly every time, but loving every minute of it.

We were kind of surprised by Harper when we headed over to the playfort, she ran ahead and climbed right up in the fort in record time, and was just thrilled with herself over it. Ava started to climb up and Harper told her "don't be scared, Ava", but Ava was scared and backed down. She got out the little slide had fun going down it. Harper first was headed down the big slide but there was a big bug on it so she changed her mind and joined Ava.

We had a good day and we were all relieved to have Charb home and on the mend.

Snowww again

This evening, they wanted their blankets wrapped around them and then got the play bottles and pretended they were babies.

Snow again this morning and a 2 hr. late start for Toutle, CR, and Evergreen, so Charb brought Ava and Harper up a little later. Rielee and Parker came over early and Rielee played with the girls and took a bath with them.
Charb's dr. appt. this morning turned into an all day and night visit at the hospital for more tests, so the girls are staying the night.
Ava caught Harper's cold so she was tired and crawled into bed before 9:00 p.m., Harper reluctantly followed her and they both watched a little TV with Papa before they conked out.

Emmy's smoothie

Emmy was drinking her special spinach smoothie this morning when she came over to visit us. She swears you can't taste the spinach, but Uncle couldn't get over the looks of it, which reminded him of pond scum... Em is quite the healthy eater these days and a gourmet cook, too, gone is the girl who used to eat Reese's Puffs by the handful, now she snacks on her own homemade granola bars. She has a lean, strong body to show for it, too. She is an inspiration to me, but Uncle, he says she's sick, he'll take a Zinger any day over a spinach smoothie.

Rocket Softball

Macee with a hit

After taking the girls back home this afternoon, we picked up Rielee after school and took her to piano then went to watch the Rocket softball team win an easy doubleheader at Kalama. There was a freezing cold wind so Parker and I spent much the time in the car.

Macee and Tierney keeping their hands warm over Dan's little propane heater.

Ukes and the mouse

Rielee spent a lot of the day with us, helping to keep the twins happy and entertained. She got the ukes down and then Ava wanted Papa to play along, too.

She especially liked it when he sang and played "Honolulu Baby".

Later, Rielee and the girls had been on the Starfall website and had the sing-a-long page on autoplay, but had gotten down and were playing in the playroom, all of a sudden, Papa heard the songs being changed around and looked up to see first Harper,

then Ava, using the mouse, clicking around and listening to different songs.

Both said "I dood it all myself".

They are staying with us tonight, too, while Daddy gets better, but they will all be home again tomorrow.

Potty training injuries

Saturday--This is what happens when you have twin 2 year olds, a 6 year old (Rielee, giving a demonstration) and an adult in a very small bathroom during potty time. Somehow, in the chaos of taking turns, they managed to whack each other in the forehead with the potty seat...

Parker-proudly wearing cousin Will's old shoes, which he calls his "Air Dolans"!

Potty training

Harper decided she needed to get really comfortable while potty=training this afternoon. She asked Ava to get her the stool so she could put her feet up while she read. After having some success Thursday night and again this morning from both girls, things are definitely looking up.

Banana bread

Harper loves banana bread and kept a close eye on the mini-loaves I was baking this morning. She begged for a piece while it was still warm and ended up eating an entire little loaf and still ate pancakes with Ava when she woke up. She was a hungry girl.

Overnight

Ava and Harper spent the night with us and slept in until almost 9, and we did, too. They both woke up happy and got busy getting breakfast made for their babies and putting them to bed. Harper was so funny, she found her baby and gave her the biggest hug and kiss on the forehead. These two girls are so demonstrative, expressing their love not only towards their babies, but their favorite toys, blankets and pillows, too, by kissing and nuzzling them. Later, Harper came out of the playroom with her purse and her baby wrapped in a blanket and told me she was going to work.
We had a mostly uneventful day, filled with coloring, Play-Doh, dominoes, Legos and computer time.

The Mighty Gourde girls

Ava spends a big part of every day drawing faces. She is adding more detail to them now, and varying the sizes, too.
They both love using Rielee's markers, much better than crayons.
And here is a little video of the cousins:

Bandaids

Their fascination with bandaids goes on-Harper had only been here for an hour this morning and had her leg covered. They are so dramatic about it, too, any little bump of any sort will bring cries of "bandaid, Papa, bandaid!" Or sometimes it's just that a random body part that "urts bad" out of the blue. Then for bathtime, they all have to come off, Harper threw all of hers into the tub today, hoping to make a game out of scooping them up and catching them in a bowl but Ava was grossed out by this so we had to remove them right away.

Parker cutting stump

Parker was helping Gabe cut down the big maple stump beside the driveway yesterday. He likes everything about logging, his favorite TV show is Ax Men, he asked for a chain saw for his birthday (didn't get one) and hopes to be a logger when he grows up, taking after Great Grandpa Piercy maybe?
It was a good thing they cut down that tree last year since the center of it was completely rotted out.

Dress up with Jillian

Ava and Jillian
We went to visit to at Cathy's this morning so we could give Jillian her birthday presents. Jillian took the girls in the playroom to play dress-up and it wasn't long before she brought Ava out all dressed up. Ava wore wig and all the whole time we were there. Harper kept busy at the play kitchen and with Jillian and Bridget's babies. The girls were very ready for a nap when we got back home, having been awake since Papa picked them up at 6:15.
After their nap and lunch, they were ready to head out and play. Harper wanted to swing but when we got there she went to the playfort and said she could climb it herself. And she did, even with the missing 2nd step. She really had to muscle it but succeeded and was so proud of herself, jumping up and down and yelling "I did it, I did it!" Ava tried but she wasn't all that interested since she still gets a little nervous up there.
Every day now it they'll each say "me do'd it" meaning "I'll do it" to something new. We keep hoping soon it will pertain to the potty chair...
On our walk they found some crocuses in bloom and picked all of them, then brought them in and arranged them in small vases, they got a kick out of that.

Chalk

The girls slept in until 8:30, then took a good long bath, only wanting out because their fingers were wringled. It was a beautiful morning so we went out early so they could play with chalk. First they drew faces, then Ava said "hopstock?". I was surprised that she remembered from last year.

Outdoor girls

Boy, these girls are loving being able to play outside. It was beautiful out but still chilly when we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Harper wanted to look for the cows. We found them and they were sitting near the fence so both girls went right up and started talking but when the cows got up and came closer, the girls turned and ran away fast! Harper was shaking she was so scared. They played on the big swing, little swings, teeter totter and then we noticed Alan and Vera were home so we visited with them, checked out their pond and got a tour of their newly remodeled kitchen. When it was time to go back in our house, the girls wanted no part of that, so I brought some toys out on the deck and got them a snack and they played for a long time out there. Right after I took this picture, Ava took her phone and put in a call to Papa Mike, the only person she ever calls.

Will

Will made it into the very exclusive "1,000 point club", a nice finish to his high school basketball experience.

Outside

They found a kitty they could actually pet out at the little picnic table at Laury's when we went for a walk today. They took right off through the woods, just like we did last week, talking to each other the whole way, taking turns being the leader. Had to splash around in the stream on the way there and back. When we got back we stopped to sit in the sun and I gave them each my camera to take a picture.

Harper had a little trouble figuring out where to aim, but actually I really like this picture of Ava and I.

Ava got both Harper and I in the picture, but it was an accident since she was holding the camera up to her forehead.

By the time we got to the swings, Ava had wet her pants (she wanted to work on potty training today)and boots, but she didn't want to go in and get changed until she got to swing for a couple minutes. Watching her walk gingerly to the swing with wet pants and boots on was pretty darned funny. Papa took them back out again while I went to get Rielee for piano.

5th in State

We are so proud of these girls, 5th in State! They had a great season of basketball. Today's game against Lynden Christian (with 5 players 6' and over) was a tough one, but they went out there trying to have some fun. Despite losing, they were smiling with the trophy.

Now they are on to softball.

Macee's very proud family.

Semi-finals

What to write? They lost in OT, were heartbroken-to be so close to playing in the championship game.
Still getting a trophy though, playing Lynden Christian for 3rd/5th tomorrow.

State Basketball

Macee, Kenzi and Maddie after their win over Onalaska! They were so excited. Tierney wasn't around for the picture, they looked for her and didn't want to take this one without her either. They are playing Okanogan tomorrow night in the semi-finals.

Emmy came down from Ellensburg to watch the game with us. Rielee and I met her at Target. Em was excited to try on some clothes since she hadn't been shopping for awhile. She found a dress and cardigan she liked and Rielee found a skirt and top. We went out to eat at a seafood restaurant, Em and I shared coconut prawns while Rielee opted for nothing since she hates seafood, being stubborn-she wouldn't even eat a hamburger and pretended to cower in the corner so she didn't have to smell our prawns. Emmy's phone kept her happy while we ate. We had our usual interesting time trying to navigate around Yakima...but managed with only one little glitch, well, two actually, but never had to get out the GPS.