We love Play-Doh

The girls were upset this morning when Papa left to take Rielee to school so I broke out some new Play-Doh. They wanted to play the usual "gingerbread man" with a bed and a blanket. Ava asked for a sad face on her gingerbread man, then she tucked him in and gave him a kiss.

Harper wanted a happy-faced man and picked him up and rocked him like a baby. We had a good day with them, they are so fun to watch now as they play make-believe, tucking their babies and Elmo in bed and shutting the bedroom door, or playing with the Lil' Petshop animals. Harper separated all the dogs to play with, and she had 2 little ones she called the "babies". Ava was riding around on the stick horse, carrying a purse and said "bye-bye, town".

Yummy corn

Auna came over after school (since she was staying overnight with us as were the twins) so we took the girls outside to play. We decided to take them in the garden to pick some corn for dinner and they were excited about that. I shucked it and then gave them each an ear to carry in the house, but when I turned around to check on Harper, she was already eating hers and didn't want to give it up either. They really love corn. In the evening we all went to watch the Rockets beat Ilwaco in 3 sets. The twins were really good and kept busy coloring with Rielee and Jillian, eating snacks and watching all the action and people.

Crawling Harper

Rielee had early release today so she and I took the twins for a walk this afternoon while Papa was blowing off the driveway. On our way back from seeing Buttons at Rielee's house, Ava decided she wanted to be carried so I picked her up for minute. Then Harper cried and wanted to be carried, so I put Ava down to give Harper a turn and Ava started crying. So I put both down and tried to explain to them that I couldn't pack them both that far, they would have to walk. Now both are crying and refusing to walk, Harper even started crawling a couple of times while Ava was dragging her feet and screaming. I knew they weren't tired, they had just got up from their naps, they were just upset because each thought the other was getting all the attention. Harper trying to prove her point.
Okay, having had enough of that, I packed both of them from the woodshed to the playfort...
This vying for attention is an on-going theme with twins. Papa and I are fortunate that both of us are home to take care of them so they normally each get plenty of attention, but it is times like this that remind us how hard it can be sometimes to have them by yourself. You always feel like maybe one of them is getting short-changed, or that they might feel that way and it is worrisome.

At the playfort, the girls wanted to swing. Alan came over and he pushed Harper while I pushed Ava. They love "twisters" and stayed on the swings longer than ever. Rielee said she loves Fall the best. She wanted to rake leaves but I pointed out that they haven't fallen yet. She decided she could rake all the pine needles into a pile and try jumping into those. Not much fun she decided, they were stickery and poked into her legs.

Playing with Alan

The girls were still in the tub when Alan came over to visit, but it wasn't long before they were out, dressed and playing with him. We were able to visit with him, too, while the girls took a break and watched Caillou. They loved wearing these tutu dresses today. It was funny when Papa was leaving to run to the store, they decided they wanted to go along with him so I told them to get their shoes on. Of course, Harper grabbed her boots and since they were only going to Castle Rock, I just let her wear them. She was looking like a country girl.
We took them back to Vancouver and met their Papa Mike at Costco, they squealed with delight when they saw him. Then after doing some shopping we went to Ridgefield and watched the Rockets win easily.

Little helpers

This morning the girls helped Papa load up the recyclables and went with him to town to drop them off. It was rainy and muddy by the bins though so they didn't get out to help unload. After their nap I asked them if they wanted one pony or piggies in their hair, they went for piggies and were looking and feeling pretty darn cute.

Em & James party

Rielee picking corn, we cooked it after the craft party-she was so excited since she helped plant the corn.

Emmy and James at their party today. Laury made this cute "cooking" themed cake since Emmy really developed her culinary skills over the summer. It was a fun party, especially the yummy "cake batter" ice cream, which surprisingly Ava didn't like, but she did eat lots of chocolate cake.

After the party, the kids went over to Des' and did some crafting in preparation for the Christmas Bazaar. We started with earrings and that was pretty funny. Tierney just couldn't get the hang of putting beads together into a pleasing design and never did finish any earrings, we laughed a lot at her attempts, but laughing with her not at her! Fortunately, Macee got into it as did Auna and Rielee and they made several nice pairs. Tierney decided she was better suited for cutting out felt shapes and decorating ornaments.

Some of the earrings they made.

Emmy's home

Today is Em's 20th birthday! She drove home this morning and will have a party with James tomorrow. She and Auna came to Parker's football game in Longview. Parker's team lost, but he played well, with a sack and a couple of good tackles. After the game, we took Emmy and Auna to Applebee's for lunch. The girls and I all ordered soup and salad, and then had to wait and wait since Uncle ordered a Phillie sandwich, which took forever to cook. Seemed like forever anyway since we were starving. But it gave us extra time to visit with the girls which was really fun.