Lady's Bedtime Prayer Tonight

Heavenly Father, thanks for letting me have 3 strawberries, so I didn't eat too many and get diarrea. I love my mom and dad and Jesus and Isabel. I love Scorch (the cat) and his catfood, and I like to spend time with him. And I just can't talk to Mommy right now because she keeps yelling at us because we keep getting out of bed and running around. The end. In the name of Jesus Christ.

The twins first haircut!

I took the twins to get their first hair cut at a fun place called Cookie Cutters. It's quite the full-service salon for kids. They have play equipment while you're waiting (complete with slide), and each station has a tv where you can watch the movie of your choice, while sitting in a "special" chair (e.g. some kind of car, boat, plane or train).Lady chose the pink antique car to sit in and waited while her stylist put in Dora the Explorer.Never been cut. The stylist cut 3 inches to even up the back.

Lady chose to have her hair in two braids.
The finished product!

After the cut, Lady received a helium balloon and a lollipop. Mommy received a little baggie with Lady's hair in it (and the bill).

Bell chose an antique plane to sit in and waited with excitement for her stylist to put the Dora movie she chose. The stylist showed me the 3 inches she would be cutting off to even out the ends. Bell wanted to be sure we would be leaving her hair long (so did Daddy).
Bell wanted two messy buns. Loved this do!

A very satisfied customer

The cape came off, but she wanted to stay and watch the rest of Dora.

Luckily, the lollipop and balloon helped persuade her to leave the salon.

Valentine's Day Pictures

One of my favorite holiday activities is to dress the kids up and take "professional" photos. It's proving to become more and more challenging as we now have to coerce three kids to look at the camera at the same time, smile, and not take the bows out of their hair.

I just couldn't get Baby to leave her hairbow in her hair. And, everytime I stepped out of the picture she would run after me. I gave her a treat to keep her at bay, but then I had to change her clothes.
The best of the group shots. Luckily, Daddy is taking a Photoshop class and will be able to paste a good smile of Baby into this shot, and we will be able to eliminate the obvious "I'm concerned about being left here without my mother" look.

Bell loves the camera

Bell: Look, Mommy... I'm sitting like you.Patience was wearing thin at this point... you'll notice shiny bite size candies in their hands... the promise of something good if they can just hold on a minute longer.

Our little Lady is such a fun, loving character. She doesn't have time to sit still for the camera when she could be off running, dancing, or cooking in her kitchen. A new outfit, a less obvious bow, and a teddy bear did the trick to get a great shot of Baby.

The Big Valentine's Date

Daddy and I have had some pretty spectacular Valentine's dates, but this year was my favorite. We took the girls to see the play based on the book Go, Dog. Go! by P.D. Eastman. All week the girls talked about the big date and wanted to know if it was the day yet. Baby G stayed home with her aunt, while we dressed in pink and red and took our big girls to their first play.
They loved "reading" the playbill. Lady was a little hesitant, not knowing quite what to expect. Bell, on the other hand was jumping in her seat, dancing, clapping her hands and saying "they're so funny, Mom." I didn't know if I was more entertained watching her or the play. About halfway into the show, Lady was a little more relaxed, especially when the actors hit big beach balls into the audience and we had to hit them back and forth. It was so much fun.

The highlight of the show was when they asked for five children to come up on stage. Lady was selected, but had second thoughts. Bell didn't hesitate one bit. She bounded down the aisle and said "C'mon Lady, it's not scary." She marched straight on stage and started dancing to the music. The dogs asked all the children to scatch their ears and do other dog activities. Not Bell, she just kept on dancing. The green dog tried to get her to participate with the others, but she was having too much fun dancing on her own to be bothered. I was laughing so hard that I had tears streaming down my face. The dogs ushered the children actors back to their seats and Bell kept asking to go down on stage again. I told her she had to wait until the end of the show. As soon as the show was over, she ran down to the cubes where the actors were sitting down to meet the audience, and sat down to greet the people in line. Daddy and I couldn't believe how unabashed she was... not even an ounce of fear!

Blue Dog, Lady and our little actress greeting the audience members. After the play we took the girls to Mimi's Cafe for dinner. They had eggs and toast for dinner and chocolate mousse for dessert. It was a most memorable Valentine's day. I'm so in love with these girls!

At the Zoo

We had so much fun going to the zoo in Boston with our friends the Welles that when we moved we had to get our own pass. The day was perfect... the first decent, sunny day after many, many cold snow days. Lots of animals were out. Our first stop is always the gorilla house, because that is the girls' favorite place.
Bell and Lady in front of the camels.
The snow leopard
This visit was incredible because of the snow leopard. He stayed in front of the glass the entire time, pacing for his dinner no doubt.
What an incredible animal. But, we're sure grateful for the thick plexiglass separating us.

We'll talk of food and things...

Tonight for dinner I made spaghetti with a delicious tomato sauce and ground turkey. I put the plates in front of the girls and asked them if they would like some shredded cheese on top. That's a silly question, of course. In the fridge, I noticed we had a small block of romano. I thought it would be delicous, so I shredded it on their spaghetti, we said the prayer, and then we began to eat. What follows is their critique of the meal:

Lady: This is bummy cheese!
Me: What is that?
Lady: The cheese smells like bum
Bell: I'm not going to eat bummy food.
Unison: Bummy foood, bummy food, Mommy gave us bummy food.
Me: Um, that's enough. It's not bummy food and I don't like that word.
Lady: Well... I'm not going to eat food that smells like bum.
Bell: I'm not going to eat food that smells like bum either. I need new food. This food smells like bum.

I told them I wasn't going to give them more and they could pick the cheese of if they wanted. They didn't want to, so they didn't eat. I thought it was delicious, but I don't think I'll ever be able to eat romano cheese again.. it does have a peculiar smell...

Dear Baby G... for your first birthday

Dearest Baby G,
I can't believe you're one year old. You have brought so much joy to your Daddy, your sisters, me and everyone who knows you. You came as a big surprise, but you have been the happiest surprise I have known. You have an infectious laugh, a cheery disposition and a very active mind and body. You love music and like to bounce to the rythym. You are a great walker and have been walking for a month now. You love to get into everything, especially things you know you shouldn't (cupboards, staircases, the toilet, and the cat food). You love your bottles, eating big people food, and drinking water from a glass. You especially love to drink from my glass, and then put your hand in it to play with the water after you've had a few sips. You sleep like a champ and are already down to one three hour nap in the middle of the day. You say Dadda, Mamma, Baby and many other words in your native tongue. Your favorite game is This Little Piggy and your favorite books are Go, Dog. Go! and Snowmen At Night. The only time you are willing to sit still is to read, otherwise you are all over the place, trying to figure out how the world around you works. You love your big sisters and get frustrated when they don't want to play with you. Don't worry... in a couple of years, you'll be playing right along side with them and the only time they'll run away from you is when you're playing chase. There are so many things I love about you, that there isn't time nor space to write them all. Please know, you are loved by all who know you, especially your family. Love, Mom

Baby G's First Year

Jumpin Jacks

One of the advantages of living in a state with lots of families is there are lots of places that cater to families, such as Jumpin Jacks... a huge warehouse filled with ginormous bounce houses. On Baby's first birthday I took the girls while my mom was visiting (she took pictures because she didn't want to wrinkle her pants... oh, she's going to get mad at me for telling that one). Here we are entering a big dragon climbing up the slippery stairs.Bell getting ready to go down the slide. Lady already headed down (you can see the tip of her head at the bottom of the photo).Bell gets down the slide... but Mommy is having a bit of trouble.
Wee....The girls got so good, they went on the biggest, steepest bouncy houses all by themselves.

The Birthday Baby liked to bounce, but couldn't get around very well on these inflated things. Happy First Birthday, Baby G!

Playing Around

Ah, the joy of new toys. She's not quite sure what to do with the Giraffe. "Baby... get the ball."

"Yes, honey... now put the ball in the Giraffe's mouth..."
Well... not exactly what I had in mind.

Movin on to greener pastures...

Lady and Bell LOVE to draw... they'll draw on anything: bills, magazines, sticky notes... anything paper. For Christmas they got an Aquadoodle from their great grandparents. It cuts down on the premature death of many trees... AND it has a jeep that can sense where the water trail is and will drive on it.

Well... it will drive on the water trail until Baby comes along.

Bell decides to "color in" the whole aqua doodle map.


Lady goes to bathroom to fill up her pen for some more drawing fun.