Emmy's volleyball in Portland

Emmy on the left with her trademark- big messy bun hairstyle!

We got to see Emmy play some spring volleyball at the Nike campus today.  What a treat it was, both to watch Emmy, and to see the Bo Jackson Fitness Center.  Very impressive place. 

Lots of family showed up - Cathy, Bob, Tierney and Robin were there in the morning.  Emmy's Grandma Mary, Sue, Tom, Jack, Charb, Kelly, Ava, Harper, Macee, Des, and Rielee all came in the afternoon.  Emmy looked very happy to see everyone there.

The kids paid attention some of the time, you had to watch from above, so it kind of hard for them to see through the screen.  Ava and Harper were impressed with the elevator (the numbers beep!) and the locker room (they visited it 3 times), which had a huge Jacuzzi, it looked like a small pool but was actually an ice bath.

Some of Em's fans-Auna holding Harper, Auna's friend, Macee, Des with Rielee, Laury, Sue, and Mary

Homework

Harper did so well writing her name today, her best effort yet.  They were doing homework and making cards for Grandma Barb.  Following Cathy's lead, I now let the girls pick a "prize" out of my prize basket if they work really hard, it is very motivating for them.  Today Ava picked a Disney princess book out of the basket.  Later she was pretending to read it to Harper and didn't want me taking her picture so she hid behind the book and gave me the evil eye!

They also got to go down and play with Jillian and Bridget this afternoon.  Harper gave Aunt Cathy all of the teeny tiny balls she had in her pocket from yesterday.  Cathy said they played really well and stayed busy.

Umbrella walk, ukelele lesson

 As they were going down for a nap this morning, Harper and I made a "deal" that we would go for a walk with umbrellas when they got up.  She even wanted to shake hands on it, not taking any chances that it might not happen.  It wasn't raining after naptime, but they still put up their umbrellas.  We played a little hide and seek in the woods with Papa and then Harper wanted to walk over to Gabe and Des' to look for more "teeny tiny balls" - Parker's airsoft BBs that are scattered in the gravel around their garage.   Harper picks up the green ones, Ava gets the yellow or white, they bring them back, save them in a bowl, eventually they get dropped on the floor, Papa or I step on them and then throw them away after the girls leave. 

I got to hold all the "beautiful" flowers that Ava picked along the way. 

Rielee and Papa started ukulele lessons last night through Parks and Rec.  Papa took lessons a few years ago and thought it would be fun for Rielee to learn to play.  She came over tonight to practice with him.  He helped her with the G7 chord, it is a difficult one to master, but she is getting used to it. 

Weigh in

Rielee showed the girls the fairies and houses this morning.  Before long they had all the animals out, big and small, playing "mama and baby" with them.  We weighed the twins today, wondering if they were getting close to booster seat size, but not yet, Ava weighed 31.6 lbs. and Harper weighed 31. 

Rielee and fairies

Rielee spent Thursday night with us and  spent a couple of hours painting the gazebo and barn  for the future fairy garden we are putting together out by the play fort.   She also painted the girl on the bench.  After everything dried, she spent another couple of hours playing with them.  The bigger fairy is hers and the smaller ones are for the twins.  She and Papa also built a marble ramp out of legos and paper, she had lots of fun playing with that.  This morning she picked up right where she left off, and also painted some sun catchers. 

Spring break fun

 Our helpers yesterday as we spread a load of topsoil on the lawn to fill in some low spots.  We ended up with lots of little piles of soil all over the place, but boy, did they have fun.  Ava was showing me how she can dig just like I do.

Rielee got a new parrot kite, it flies really well, she has her helmet on because she showed me how she can ride her scooter and fly her kite at the same time, which made me nervous because she kept looking back at the kite, plus she flew it into a tree branch so she ran with it instead.

my blurry picture of her heading down the driveway

 

Chuck E. Cheese

Auna and I took the girls to Chuck E. Cheese this morning.  We had the place all to ourselves for awhile, which was nice.  Auna went up to the top of the slide with them the first time.  Later, Ava ended up at the top all by herself and she called for Harper, saying she was scared and needed her to come up there.  Harper was on a ride but immediately jumped off and yelled to Ava that it was okay, she was coming to help her, too sweet!  It was funny when Chuck E. Cheese himself came out, he threw some tickets up in the air and they fell to the floor.  Ava and Harper just stood there, looking at him like he was nuts for making a mess like that, and they didn't pick up any of the tickets. 

This was a virtual reality type ride, the seats vibrated and it fascinated them, they rode it about 10 times, screaming and giggling whenever the seats started to shake. 

Showing off the loot they got for their 200 tickets.