#stuffAvysays

We have a little ukulele for the girls to play with.

Avy: "Can I play with the yuckalily?"

#stuffElliesays

Avy: "Mom! One of the babies is poopy!"

Ellie: "No, that's broccoli."

I was steaming broccoli. No one was poopy.

#stuffAvysays

Avy: "When you put blue with purple together you get the 'S' sound!"

#stuffAvysays

All four kids were outside playing and eating dinner in the backyard. Then Avy and Ellie rap on the screen door.

Avy: "Look Mom! I have the high note!"

They were both holding up their water glasses; Ellie's was mostly full while Avy's was almost empty.

Me: "Hmm, do you mean musical notes? Let's do an experiment!"

And I got out two glass cups and filled them similarly. And sure enough! She had the high note :)

#stuffAvysays

The girls were out riding their bikes when suddenly Avy calls to me.

Avy: "Mom! I found an ammonite!"
Me: "I don't think that's a thing, dear."
Avy: "No, it is! It's an ammonite!"
Me: "I think that's a roly poly dear."
Avy: "No, Mom, it's an ammonite! See the armor?"

For reference, this is a roly poly:


And this is an ammonite (it is indeed a thing):


Suffice to say, I learned something that day ;)

#stuffLilydoes

We start every morning here with Lily bringing me her shoes from the shoe rack. She really likes going places. This morning we've been running a bit slower and Lily has had her socks, shoes and jacket on for over an hour. She decided I obviously need more help: I found her on the stairs with Avy, Ellie, and Theo's shoes in tow, carefully lifting each shoe up a step before climbing up behind them. She brought them all the way up then chased me around with one of Theo's shoe, pointing at Theo in case I wasn't sure what to do with them ;)

At the farm

It was cold but not rainy, so we met some of our friends over at the Kelsey Creek farm. Again, Theo loves animals. I see a pet or three in our future.

These chickens knew the difference between fingers and food, and only gently pecked at his fingers to test them out. Theo would just giggle and stick more fingers out; Lily was more of the "oh heck no" variety and climbed back into the stroller.

The goats love scratches and normally come over to be petted, but this time they were too comfortable. Sorry Theo!

Back at home, after bedtime for the babies. We've recently moved the girls' bedtime back an hour and it's a new world: we spend that hour cleaning up, doing activities and reading. The girls here are doing water play for an hour while I make cookies for the neighbors. <happy sigh>

See that floor? That floor was not visible when I left to put the babies down: the girls picked it all up while I was out so they could get to their activity faster. I'm retiring soon, I swear.

Running errands

We needed some things from the mall so we drove up to Crossroads. First stop: Petco! The girls enjoyed; the babies were fascinated. 

Ellie helpfully leading Theo back to the stroller.

Theo really likes animals. He and these ferrets were on their way to becoming lifelong buds.

Then we walked over to Michaels, then up to the park! First sunny day in months, yep we're definitely spending it outside.

Theo tried going down the slide in a novel fashion.

A lady with her dogs walked by and Theo just.. left. You can see he's realizing he can't catch up and is starting to wonder where is everyone?

And the girls, back at home, doing handstands. Of course they're not tired yet.

#stuffLilydoes

Lily likes sleep; rarely does she protest at bedtime. She's starting to take the initiative though: yesterday she grabbed her sleep sack from her crib and dragged it out to me as I sat on the kitchen floor. She then climbed on my lap, wrapped her arms around my neck, gave me a big kiss on the cheek then rested her head on my shoulder.

Just... aw...

Running the puppies

Running the puppies becomes every more important as they get bigger, rain or shine. Normally we go to playdates or community centers, but with everyone having colds this week we've had to get creative.

The park! Creative. It was good though, the kids ran and slid and jumped and chased squirrels and burned off some of their energy, rain not withstanding.

Hiking in the forest! The girls were good sports for this 2.5 mile hike as it rained the whole time. We brought munchies and slowly doled them out to the kids to keep their spirits high.

Towards the end there was no escaping the downpour and we were all soaked. Hot chocolate at home made everything better though.

Back at home, once dry, a spontaneous band formed!

We've had rock candy in the mix (from this blog) and the girls finally got to eat it. We also took a look at normal sugar crystals vs the huge ones under our microscope, along with some mold on cheese that I had found earlier in the day. The girls thought this was bafflingly cool.

Puppet show

There is a wonderful puppet theater in our area and on Saturday we had tickets to see Hanako and the Cherry Tree. It was a gorgeous performance and the girls were big fans. Immediately after the show Avy said, "That was wonderful!" and Ellie said, "Can we watch another?" like she expected me to rewind it or something. Kids and tv these days....

Lily did not like pigtails - she kept pulling the right one out.

Waiting for the show! Our friend Nikki was able to tag along, which made the girls' day.

After the show the performers came out with their puppets to "introduce" them to the kids. Avy and Ellie were delighted.

Finally a day home

Theo has a cold, and with it raining sideways we decided to roll the dice and stay home. Toddlers still insisted on walking outside in the rain though, although Lily got cold after a few minutes (barefoot). She came inside, grabbed her shoes, dropped them in front of me then plopped down with her feet out like "Well? Comeon, I don't have all day!"

Since we were homelocked we decided to make some cookies! Oatmeal raisin, everyone's favorite.

The babies helped with the "cleanup"

A brief respite from the rain, so I shooed the kids outdoors to run around.

Avy is playing guitar for Ellie to dance to.

Aww, hugs!

Theo wants in on that hug.

Getting our wiggles out

This week has been all about running the puppies - getting the kids to burn off as much energy in the morning as possible.

First, breakfast.

Not shown here, time spent in the community center's toddler time with our friends. After we walked outside and spent another hour at the park.

Theo's having fun chasing birds.

It was really wet though, and Lily flat out refused to get out of the stroller. Avy soon joined her and they contentedly munched their lunch while the higher energy two ran laps.

A very full day

Due to our success having the toddlers eat at the community center's little table, we've moved them to our dinner table for meals and have been fairly successful with the transfer. The girls behave better overall too, as I remind them that they set the example. They love being role models.

Theo looking suave.

Avy helping the toddlers down the stairs. They're getting to that age where they want to walk down, not crawl anymore.

Toddler time! Lily got herself a bit stuck in a hole but was patiently waiting for help.

Two hours of toddler time wasn't enough, so we walked down the hill and spent another hour at the park.

Then home for nap/quiet time, then our friends Tessa and Nora came over!

What a fun day :)