Sunday randoms

Today was another sunny day. Hot for April...close to 90 degrees. It felt like it was the middle of summer. So, what do we do when it's hot and I haven't bought the girls a kiddie-pool yet for the summer? We go over to my brother's house and dunk the girls in the drink cooler. My 3 girls and my niece fit inside and could barely move around, but they played in there like it was the best thing ever!

Later, we went over to the house next door because all the big kids wanted to go swimming in a real pool and since the water had finally reached 70 degrees, they thought it was warm enough to go swimming. My girls waded on the 6 by 8 foot step that is built-in on the shallow end of the pool. It was perfect for them. Until my daredevil Makena, decided she wanted to skip right into the pool and launched herself off the step. Thankfully, I was 2 steps behind her and grabbed her before she got too far, but she managed to dunk herself all they way under! She was ready to jump right back in too. Crazy girl.

The girls are talking so much and really showing their independence. They want to climb into their car seats and highchairs, which seems to test my patience on a daily basis when we have somewhere to go. They have opinions about what they wear and it cracks me up. Riley wanted to wear a certain pair of shoes the other day, so she said the shoes we had for her were too small and she wanted the pink ones. They tell on each other all the time now. Sissy pushed me, sissy took my toy, sissy pull hair....it's funny and even helpful now, but I can see what the next few years will bring. DRAMA!

The girls love to pretend they are cooking. Favorites on their menu are "roni-roni" (macaroni), a "cracker sandwich" and "dinner soup."

I was trying a dress on Riley recently and I told her she looked pretty. She looked at me and said, "like mama." My heart melted!

Alyssa is scared to use the potty after she accidentally pooped on it the other day. She hasn't sat on it since.

We have a check-up with the pediatrician on Friday. Can't wait to get current weights and heights and see how they are doing on the growth curve.

I can't believe how often I have to go to Costco. We go through milk and cheese like crazy.

That's all for my random Sunday thoughts. I'm off to bed.

Hugs!

Fun in the sun

We had beautiful weather here in California today. I think the temperature got up around 88 degrees and we soaked it up. I hauled my girls to the park in the choo-choo wagon this morning and worked up quite a sweat. I figure I'm pulling 75 pounds of toddler and 30+ for the wagon so it's good exercise!

We enjoyed the afternoon with BF Jess and her boys. The kids played in the sprinklers and ate ice cream cones! One of the things I LOVE about the warm weather is that I just hose the girls down before we come back inside.

Makena

Alyssa

Mmmm.....ice cream!

Calum ate the entire cone! Not bad for a 13 month-old!

Evan always helps me get the girls home safely by escorting them to our front door!

Three little monkeys

Downward facing potty

The girls have come up with their own yoga method for coaxing the pee-pee out. Not the most conventional method, but as long as they are trying, I'll take it. They are enjoying the M&M prize at the end when they do manage to pee. Makena has also figured out a way to get as many M&M's as possible...she gives a little squirt and stands up for all the fanfare and retrieves her M&M. Then she'll sit down again and give another little dribble so that she can get another M&M. If she's lucky, she repeats the trick 2 or 3 times.

I have also figured out that I am a lazy potty-trainer. It's alot of work to....

• take 3 sets of clothes off
• monitor who is sitting on the potty
• monitor who is running around naked (making sure they don't pee on the carpet by mistake)
• when someone does go pee, I have to snatch up the bowl promptly before six admiring hands are splashing around in it
• award the prize M&M AFTER cleaning hands of the toddler who just rubbed her hands all over her nether regions
• try to put a diaper back on one trainee while the other two are either sitting on the potty or running around naked.
• Dump pee-pee in the toilet and clean out the potty bowl
• Assist the successful trainee in flushing the toilet
• Eventually get everyone dressed again

So, I'm happy with the 1-2 times a day that the girls make it on the potty! We are still using chairs rather than the big potty in the bathroom, because they usually want to go pee together.

Go figure..... three girls already developing a co-dependent bathroom relationship.

Childhood Memories

I found this old picture of myself and I'm guessing that I was about 5 years old. The bunny pin stuck to my jacket clued me in that this must have been taken on Easter Sunday. The chair that I am sitting in, was an antique chair of my grandmother's. Many of my childhood pictures, specifically from holidays or special occassions were taken in this chair. My grandmother used to make clothes for me when I was a little girl and she made the pink jacket I am wearing. I really admire people who can sew. I think it takes such talent.

My grandma also used to make barrettes for me. Remember the ones with the thin ribbons that were braided into the barrettes? And to make it extra cool, you would put beads at the end of the ribbon that would whip you in the face when you shook your head from side to side?

My grandma was such a wonderful person. She had the kindest heart and was always so happy. One of my favorite memories from childhood was hanging out at my grandparent's house during the summer. Sometimes my cousins were there with me, but lots of times it was just me. One of our favorite games to play was Bingo and my grandma always had a bag of wrapped prizes for the winner to choose from. I would watch old episodes of "I love Lucy" or "Leave it to Beaver" while snacking on Velveeta cheese and fudgesicles. They had a crotchety old dog named Philly who would curl up with me on my grandparent's bed in the afternoon and we would take a nap.

Little things used to excite my grandmother. She used to tell us that she enjoyed getting the cute little gift bags with the pretty tissue paper and we didn't need to bother putting a gift inside. She went through her first drive-thru carwash when she was in her 60's or 70's with my aunt and I think she almost peed in her pants because she thought it was so funny. She would get a little tipsy off a glass of champagne on special occassions and giggle like she was a teenager.

She was full of life and laughter until the day she died.

I miss her.