Papa is learning

Every morning after breakfast, Papa sits down at the computer with the girls for some Starfall fun, all he has to say is "let me get my glasses" and they know that it is time. They don't want to do the ABC's now, preferring the stories and games. After that, it's bath time, and Papa has gotten quite comfortable with putting them in the tub and washing their hair. He has always helped me, but now he will go ahead and get started on his own. When they get out of the tub, he dresses Ava, I dress Harper, they won't have it any other way... While she was in the tub today, Harper noticed an owee on her knee from falling down outside yesterday. So after they were dressed, Papa put a bandaid on it and then put one on her baby's knee, too. Both she and Ava were very serious about the whole process.

Charb surprised us and came up to get the girls this afternoon. We got a kick out of watching them dance around to music on his phone, they really seem to like hard rock.

Twins are funny

Twins are really so entertaining, and this is such a fun age to watch them grow and develop. Our little DynamicDuo, have developed such funny little likes and dislikes. Harper likes things just so. She chose the blue highchair as hers, prefers the orange-topped sippy cup, and always wants to wear the same bibs. Ava also is particular about the bibs. They play a lot of pretend nowadays, always putting their stuffed animals and babies in the highchairs and pretending to feed them. Or they will go in the playroom and play at the dollhouse with the little dolls and Barbies. Harper is also very independent outside, she has mastered going up and down stairs, even the high ones at Alan's shop, she would not let Papa help her go down them today, but she was right, she could do it by herself. She insists every day on sitting on the big girl swing, doesn't want to be helped, she can do it herself, and get off it by herself. Ava loves to run and is fast at her little side-skip move she does. They both continue to love to hunt for rocks, the bigger the better. Rielee and Parker stayed with us for a couple of hours tonight. Parker spent his time pressure-washing the basketball court and then shooting hoops. He has been practicing lots lately and is getting better every day. Rielee and Auna dug up 4 worms for Rielee's collection, and then we played with Play-Doh.

Separation anxiety

Seems like adjusting again after spring break is going to take a little while for Ava and Harper. They are very nervous if either Papa or I leave the house. Today Papa went to town for an hour, they cried when he left and when he got back it was like a love fest, they kept hugging and hugging him, even hanging on to his legs when he put them down. Then when we took them back to Charb, Harper cried and wouldn't let go of me. Thankfully, we got them outside a couple of times again today, still windy enough to require hats on though.

Auna and Ava

They were so happy to see Auna and Parker after school. Auna came in and read several books to them before it was time for them to go home.

We went to the Rocket's doubleheader in Ridgefield after meeting Charb there, they split, losing the first game 2-1 in 9 innings, winning the second 4-0.

Back in the swing of things

We missed having Ava and Harper so much over spring break and couldn't wait to see again this morning, but when we brought them in the house-they didn't want anything to do with us! It was awful. Wouldn't sit on our laps, wouldn't come to us, wouldn't even make eye contact with us. They were thrilled, however, to see Big Dog, Baby, and the rest of the toys. It was a good half an hour before they started to warm up to us. Then they wanted to play in the playpen, and started laughing when I played peek-a-boo with them. Whew! When Rielee showed up before school, they were very excited to see her. We had two chances today to take them outside, Ava wanted Papa to swing with them.

Rielee had her first t-ball game tonight. She did a good job. She is learning to bat left-handed, just like her sister. I think she had the most fun playing in a mud puddle that was close to where she was fielding.

We're lonely

This is Rielee in April '07, at about the same age as the twins are now. This rhodie was blooming, as it always does in late March/early April. It isn't blooming this year, not even close. I called Kelly today, Papa got on the other phone, just to check in, and, well, actually to hear Ava and Harper-even though they don't talk on the phone yet, just hearing them playing in the back ground was so nice. This has been the longest week without them around. Rielee's caterpillers came in the mail today. She was disappointed though, because for some reason she thought I had ordered 10, and she only got 5. She is stuck on 10 of everything, she wanted 10 chickens and 10 goldfish, too.

Too quiet

It was a very quiet day without the twins, too quiet.

But Rielee was over and we made breakfast together before I took her to school, she even got our aprons out. I think she kind of enjoyed having me to herself, although she really misses the "babies" as she still calls them.

After Papa picked her up from school, we met Des in Longview for Rielee's first Spanish lesson. She is taking them through the Parks and Rec dept. and said she really liked it.

I had to laugh when Papa took this picture of us, I previewed it and said I thought I looked old, Rielee looked at it and said "yeah, you really do look old Grandma".

Friday

We took the girls out for a ride in their cars today, but they didn't want to stay in them for long. I suggested we take a walk but then they got distracted by the stepping stones. We count them as they walk on them, and they went up and down that trail about 20 times. We got a package today and Papa gave the girls some of the peanuts to look at. I showed them how to lick them and stuck one on my forehead first, which got me some weird looks. Then I put some on their foreheads and they thought it was really funny, but they didn't want to do it themselves.

In the afternoon, we took them back to Kelly at the high school and Harper made a bee-line for an old keyboard she spotted under a table. Pretty soon she was packing it around like she had a real treasure.

Next week is Evergreen School District's spring break, we are missing them already.