High Maintenance

I tell ya, this kids is high maintenance! No, just kidding we were playing last night and she just put her head down and closed her eyes. It wasn't her usual bed time. Usually she'll grab taggy and her pipe and say na-na, or want to be held. Todd was on the computer and I looked over and she was asleep on the floor. I put her to bed and she slept all night.

Baby Jaguar

Those of you with little ones may be familiar with the show Go Diego Go if not check them out at www.nickjr.com . He is an animal rescuer, works with his cartoon sister Alicia, and they go on an animal adventure to save an animal in trouble. My animal loving girls are crazy over Diego and Dora. We went onto Nick Jr. and found games, coloring pages, masks and crowns. You simply print them and the kids have a project. The girls and I made baby jaguar masks. Do you know who is who? They are both squinty so you can't see their eye color...

Aubrey is in the dress, and the closeup is of Ray.

They were running around saying growl, growl and acting out one of the episodes. We also have it as a book too, which we read...

almost every night.

'I'm Dre and this is my friend Chad'

'I'm Dre and this is my purple cast, I'm Dre and this is my friend Chad.' This is wash Reagan said to me in the kitchen.

Reagan was pretending to be Dre and Aubrey was Chad (he got a boo-boo leg too by the way). The girls were putting the sleeves to their camping chairs on their legs and pretending to be the two of you.

They were picking that leg up and trying to hop and hold onto furniture to get around.

The Princess Diaries

With all of our summer adventures we have found the girls fall asleep if we tell them a story, a princess story.
At the Lake House this weekend Daddy told them a beautiful story about turning into a princess. The girls listened with a quiet intensity that was so cute. Daddy went on to tell them, they too, could turn into a princess if they got some sleep.
Reagan woke on Saturday morning, her eyes still filled with sleep, she turned to me, and in her raspy, whispering, munchkin morning voice she said,
'mommy, did I turn into a princess?' I sat up and looked at her, had her move her head left, then right. I asked her to stand up and twirl around.
'Yes, yes I think you did! How are you princess Reagan?'
'I have to go tell Daddy!!' She ran into the other room and asked him the same question. For the rest of the day it was Princess Aubrey and Reagan. When we came home, I had a surprise waiting for them. The princess stories always start with...

Up in the tallest tower of the tallest castle...

The twin princesses had new princess tents on their beds. A special place to sleep and dream of all things pink and purple. They were anxious to climb the tower and see their new beds. Throughout the day on Sunday they wanted to climb up the tower stairs and be a princess for a little while. I was so adorable to see how Reagan would look herself over looking for her gown, sparkly shoes and long gloves. We have our tutu's from Uncle Moo so it was important for the princesses to dress like one.





The jester was here too! Edie was having fun dancing with the twin princesses. She can really keep up with them!

Faster.....Slower!!!

The girls love Grampy's new motor. Auntie Amy took the girls and I for a ride in the boat. We found that Reagan Loves to go fast and Aubrey like to go slow. They took turns with the throttle and Reagan would tell Aubrey to go faster and Aubrey would tell Ray to slow down, yet another difference.

My Growing Garden

Flowers come in many beautiful shapes, sizes and colors. As do these stunning little girls. My garden grows in more ways than one. These are some tall girls and some tall Foxgloves. The girls measure about in at about, Reagan 33 and a quarter inches tall. Aubrey is 33 inches tall, and Edie is 26 inches tall. The Foxgloves are about 3 feet tall. Notice the girls body language is mirrored again. I love catching pictures like this.

Rockin' Out

Todd has taught the twins how to fork their fingers and make this lovely face when they hear certain 'mommy & daddy' music. I keep the radio on most of the day and there are some songs we sing or have a dance party to. At this particular moment Aubrey was comfortably seated on Edies new car and found a song she liked and decided she needed to rock out for a minute!

Helpers

The twins helping me after dinner. Edie needed a solo bath after her watermelon escapades. The girls helped me pick up from dinner, such god little helpers today!!

kiss, kiss

Pack-Packs

The girls received their rewards for good behavior while Daddy was away. They each (yes, Edie included got pack- packs (backpacks). Not just any pack-packs, but an orange Diego Rescue Pack, and a Purple Dora Backpack. I originally gave Reagan the purple one and Aubrey the orange one...without a blink they looked at each other and switched. It was so stinkin' funny. Then Aubrey looks at me and says, 'is that OK mama?' Of course I said. They wore and played and napped, and went to bed with their new treasures. I caught Reagan on more than occasion hugging her pack-pack, and saying, 'Mama, I love my reward for good behave-ya!'


The little pack Edie is wearing came with 4 card games, memory, go fish, old maid and crazy 8's. We tried the memory game and they loved it! We had a great weekend!! and...We were in big girls undies for most of it, AND Aubrey even took a nap in big girl undies!

WATERMELON!!

Edie could eat a whole watermelon if I let her. She loves it. I've been limiting her starches, and grains lately she was haveing some problems again. But with the amount of fruit and veggies she has been consuming she's doing alot better. Her redundant colon is something we'll have to be careful about. She wants to eat what the twins are having, although convient, it's not for her.

Recently I've taught her some sign language. This one means more, she used it tonight after she got out of the tub, of course it was more watermelon she wanted.

So,...I finally got to the girls closet...

Lucky 13, thirteen totes came out of the twins closet. JUST THE CLOSET!! I then dragged each one downstairs and sorted through each tote, organizing all the clothing by size, instead of storing them with no rhyme or reason. Each tote is marked and ready to be sent to the basement.

Is it because I've been spending so much time at home lately, or the fact that there is so much 'stuff' crammed into every nook and cranny of this house that has triggered this urgency and follow through of gutting every room from top to bottom. I'm not sure but it feels good to organize!

Play Doh

Of course pink and purple Play Doh. We came home from our pizza party at Dre's house to find our neighbors coming down our drive, they had stopped by to see if the girls wanted to play. By now the girls were at near meltdown, so we talked in the drive and let the girls run around. Emily had brought her two little dogs. The girls were not to sure of them so Kim and Steve held onto them while we talked. Emily, was delighted to see the twins and Edie. The girls were delighted to see Emily. Therefore I had to bust out the Play Doh to unwind everyone. It's a great little trick, as long as Aubrey doesn't touch Reagan's and Reagan doesn't try to mix her pink into Aubrey's purple. Everything seem to be clouded with the drama of individuality lately.

Sharing Snacks

Two peas in a pod. Sofia and Edie seen here sharing a snack. Actually Sofia was eating quietly when Edie decided she wanted in on that and helped herself to the treats. Thank you for sharing Sofia!

Future Softball Star

Todd bought the girls a t-ball set. Aubrey was shown you place the ball on the t and swing. Here she is showing her fantastic form. The more she did it the farther the ball would go. She was so excited, and we were all impressed as she continued to hit ball after ball.

In Your Corner...

This was the phrase repeated over and over again when all the little ones were in the jumping tent. Each one had to stay in their corner as to avoid someone being bonked by all the flailing limbs. Auntie Kerry, Becca, Uncle Brian and I all took out turns too! As you could imagine we were just a exhausted by the end of the night a the little ones.

The kids had a blast in here. It was a good chance for them to burn off some their nonstop energy. Here are the twins hysterically laughing as I ran around the outside of the tent chasing them.

In The Pool

We had the opportunity to use the pool at the campground. It was hot in the sun and we were quick to jump right in. Todd had a chance to play water basketball with the guys and the girls and I got to visit with my sister and Jen. Edie and Sofia were with my mom and Moe at their camp taking a much needed nap. And yes this is my bathing suit, for the first time in a long time and it's NOT maternity I am in a bathing suit determined to be a confident role model for my girls.

Happy!

Happy Edie Baby

Foxglove

Blinded Sphinx Moth

We woke to find our screen door packed with Blinded Sphinx Moths. They are very docile in the morning, and wait for the morning sun to warm their wings. They are called blinded because when their wings are open the "eyes" on the hind wing lack a pupil.

These moths are part of the Hawkmoth Family and wing spans can reach up to 3 and 3/4 wide. The ones on my door easily filled the palm of my hand. The girls and I watched them for most of the morning until they all fluttered to life and flew off. I must be a bug geek, because I think I'm hooked on finding out what each and every moth on the side of the house was.

More pictures and stories to come. Say tuned...

Christmas Recap

Let me start by saying I did not have the time to bust out the camera. Since the kids were here, there, and everywhere.
Let me paint a picture for you. It was a sea of tents and camp chairs. The Piccolo's had a tent (4 in that one). Krys, Matt, Becca and Liz had theirs, Kerry and Fred and Darla (cute little pup) had a tent, actually more like a suite nice set up guys! Then we had our little villa of tents towards the back of the site. Actually I think we all took up about 6 sites. In the center was the fire ring (thankfully fires only after 5.) Surrounding that were camp chairs of every size, make and model. There were kiddie chairs, rockers, and a love seat. Hidden in the back behind the tented community was a jumping house, like you would see at carnivals. The kids...and Auntie Kerry had a blast.
From these pictures you can see the babies (Edie and Sofia) loved their Dora riding cars. Sofia your doing a great job walking! Ethan enjoyed playing with his cousins. Jen Nick and Trevor came up and added to the summer time fun. Aubrey and Reagan teamed up with squirting water toys to go after Ethan. He was a trooper, in the end everyone was soaked and belly laughing




Here is daredevil Sofia, testing the limits of her new ride. The kids had a blast. They were free range for most of the weekend with the freedom to explore and always be with in view. No-one wandered off, and everyone stuck close to camp. The twins went in a pool for the first time, again no fear, they loved it. They each took turns floating around with Daddy and I got a chance to visit with Dani and Jen. Mom you have those photos, cant wait to see them.
We returned to camp to dry off and fill our tummies with dinner.




Aubrey was very serious in this picture.
The kids all got special cars and other assorted goodies. They were the entertainment for most of the day and into the early evening. Thank you everyone for helping us with them. Utterly exhausted by the end of the night each tent settled down and the delightful sounds of sleep filled the clear night air. The weather was perfect and we had a great time. I told the twins stories of princesses and tall castles and (eventually) they drifted off to sleep. She opened one eye and asked if we sleeping under the stars.

Pops

She is so stinkin' cute! To keep cool we had pops...lots of pops today. She just loves them.

Playdate

Andy came over today for a playdate. Gosh it was so hot. We were outside in the water all day. They had a blast, running here and there, up the hill down the hill, in the pool out of the pool, catching grasshoppers and chasing a frog,phew I'm exhausted writing it imagine tagging along with them all day! Here is a great shot of the twins and Andy enjoying an icee pop. Everyone played really well together and Edie kept up with the 'big kids' too. Here they are lining up some peanuts for the chipmunks. They thought if they put them on the ground and stood right over them the chippy's would come and eat them. No luck. We came in for lunch and then the little buggers came out. Every now and then a brave one would dart across the drive and Edie would stand and point, and yell Haaaa Haaaaa (Her little way of saying hello).