Ketchup Graduation Mustaches

They've come a long way since the beginning of the year. Eiley has a mark on her forehead today from Arya pushing her into the butcher block yesterday. Fun times. I put a little butterfly bandage on it last night to try to hold it together in hopes that it would heal faster.

Today was the twins' graduation from preschool. They had the cutest little program where they sang a couple songs they had learned through the course of the year and a poem for the dads since Father's Day is coming up. Cork helped the twins get ready this morning and put their shoes on for them. Usually they do their own shoes and most days they are on the wrong feet. Each kid walked across a little bridge during the graduation and one of the teachers, Miss Maria, commented that Eiley's shoes were on the right feet. She then commented again when it was Arya's turn. I told her later that they'd had help this morning.

It amazes me how fast the last two years of school went. I was pregnant with Zia for most of the first year and juggling the twinado and an infant for the second year. Both years were so much fun and we couldn't have asked for a better teacher than Miss Maria. Their second teacher got off to a bit of a rocky start, but turned out to be a great fit for the girls. Instead of each parent giving a gift at the end of the year, we wanted to do something very special, so one of the parents came up with the idea of hand print quilts. We found out this week that this is Miss Maria's only year teaching. Another teacher stepped aside for a year but always planned on coming back. Maria home schools her three kids and a three day per week class wasn't something she could commit to for more than one year. She will still teach small enrichment classes at the gym, so maybe Zia will get a chance to have a class with one of the best teachers out there. Maria commented this week that going into it she wasn't sure why she had said she would do it, but felt like there was a reason. After meeting the kids and parents in Arya and Eiley's class, she knew the reason why. I know my kids were part of the class, but it really was an amazing group. We are going to miss them next year.

After graduation, we brought the kids out for lunch. I think that's something I would like to continue with them on the last day of school. It's such a small thing, but a great way to build memories.

Climbers

Our entertainment for today came from our swing set and a neighbor cutting down a tree.  I don't know which kid was more entertained by the tree cutting. They were all pretty enthralled. Zia also lovd Eiley pushing her in the swing. I was pushing her and she was happy. Eiley started pushing her and she was full of giggles.

She's climbing more and more. She's trying to follow them everywhere they go.

I think Zia signed "more" for the first time today. I was asking if she wanted more of something to eat and I signed in. In response, she clapped. I think her clapping is her trying to sign more. I'll have to watch it, but I don't think she was just clapping.

Sister Love

How cute is this? I am so glad that my fears of the twins would exclude Zia were pointless. They love her so much and tolerate her destroying their stuff. They got her this snack today and then sat down and ate with her.

Corn Husk

Zia is obsessed with the cars around here. She's even figured out how to climb in to stand on the seat and turn the steering wheal.

She had her first taste of corn today. I think she spent more time trying to nurse the ear of corn than chewing on it.

The twins were cracking me up today with stuff I probably shouldn't laugh about. They went to the bathroom after lunch and Arya announced "I went elephant poopoo!"

Chili Face

We went to our annual Memorial Day parade today. It was cold and raining, but the kids still had a great time. A couple years ago it was so hot that Eiley burnt her face on a metal pole. You never know what kind of weather you're going to get around here.

She thoroughly enjoyed her chili tonight.

Sticky Hands

I thought the twins were messy from running around all day,

until they ate a giant fire toasted marshmallow. Arya was much messier than Eiley. We were about to head to the bathrooms to clean up when I heard her say "Eiley, you got marshmallow in your hair." Which she did, but only because Arya had just grabbed a chunk of Eiley's hair with her super sticky hand.

Zia had a ball playing with the clothes pins in the tent today. She would take them out of the container, hand them to Eiley, and they'd both crackup.

Do you think she wants to get picked up by me?

Here I Go Again

We're camping this weekend and tonight we decided to make things easy and go for a fish fry. We ended up at an American Legion, where White Snake's "Here I Go Again" played over and over and over again the entire time we were there.

Sink Bath

She's getting faster and faster walking behind things. She is standing by herself when you help her stand and let go. Today she stood for about 10 seconds before she got overly excited and fell. Poor kid. I didn't mean to take a picture of her poo.p.ing, but I did.

The other two got butterfly nets at school last week. Zia thinks it's fun to put it on her head.

We have some major plumbing issues here and can't get a plumber until Wednesday. Since we don't want to use the kids' tub, we bathed Zia in the kitchen sink tonight. She thought it was amazing!

All By Herself

Arya went to the ba.th.room by herself today while at Trader Joe's. I cracked up at how her dress looked when she was done. I pulled it down before we walked back into the store. Or so I thought. She went bounding off toward her little cart and I saw that one side was still stuck. I scampered after her, with Zia on my back in the Ergo, and tried to unstick them. She wouldn't stop jumping though and I was laughing, so it took me some time to straighten her out again. A bunch of people saw and were all laughing too.

Zia is on the move all the time. It is getting harder and harder to get a picture of her sitting still.

I've been periodically trying to get Zia to drink from a straw. She just had no interest. Tonight we took everyone to McDonald's for a smoothie since they had them on special. We figured it would be a nice little treat. I let Zia try mine, but she had to drink it from a straw to get it. I put a drop on her tongue and you better believe she figured out right away how to use the straw. I guess she needed something besides water to figure it out.

Princess Tent for Three

The older two wanted their princes tent upstairs today. Bepa brought it up for them and Zia was quick to check it out. She wasn't sure if she wanted to go all the way in at first. Eiley grabbed her by the neck and dragged her in though. At one point she tried to climb in one window and out the other at the same time. Obviously it didn't work.

It's hard to believe we still have these sunglasses. It seems like everything else gets broken or lost around here.

Fangs

We were late to story time at the library today. All the people there got to hear about why we were late. Arya interrupted what was going on to first, call the librarian by the wrong name and second, explain how we went home to get the library bag we forgot. I was just glad that our reason for being late wasn't an embarrassing one.

Check out Zia's fangs. I'm still trying to get a really good shot of them. So far this is the best I can do.

A Fork for Z

I love Arya's sense of fashion.

Zia was yelling at us during dinner tonight. She was very unhappy until I figured out she wanted a fork. As soon as I gave her one, she was as happy as could be. I know the twins started with forks when they weren't much older than Zia. She isn't using it as a fork yet, but it doesn't hurt to practice.

Happy Pretend Princess Birthday

We have rhubarb in the backyard. The twins wanted to make a dessert out of it. I looked online and picked out a cake that looked easy and wasn't too unhealthy. It had a lot less sugar and fat than most recipes and was made with whole wheat flour. Of course once the cake was made they wanted it frosted. I've never had a frosted rhubarb dessert, but it was just us today, so I let them decide what we'd do with it. It quickly needed sprinkles and then became a pretend princess birthday cake. We even sang happy pretend princess birthday.

Even Zia got to try the cake. She seems to love sugar as much as her sisters and me. Poor kid.

ROE

The twins were doing mazes at preschool today. The kids in the class did not know how to do them, so the teachers explained that they needed to draw with their pencils, avoid crossing any lines, and get from the beginning to the flower at the end. Their teacher told us that Arya got the gold star for the day. She immediately drew from the start, all the way around the outside of the maze, straight to the flower. I cracked up when I heard this because I'm sure it's something I would have done as a child as well.

I was picking up today and found this. Eiley had written her last name on a sheet of paper. She knows how to spell it, but I've never worked with her to write it. She's stubborn and refuses to write a lowercase "e" even though she can trace it just fine. Her teachers have been working with her on this, but she tells them over and over that she wants to do the "other E." Her teachers are not working on writing last names either, so this was all on her own. I was pretty proud when I found it and made sure she knew so she will hopefully be willing to do it again.

We all went out for dinner tonight. I've had a very rough week with the kids. I let the older two watch an hour of tv today while Zia napped. They haven't watched tv in weeks and I did nothing while they watched. I sat and read a book. That's something I never do during the day, but I needed the break, just as I needed a break from cooking. We went to Cheesecake Factory because we had a gift card to use up. We had enough on it that I got a mojito and we all split a piece of cheesecake. We'll see how Zia handles that tomorrow. I'm sure she'll spit up some, but she's handling dairy much better these days. Zia didn't get any of the cheesecake, but Cork did give her pieces of Oreo. She loved it. It was hilarious to watch her. She had already plowed through so much food. I don't know what happened this week, but on Monday she just decided to eat and since then she's been eating three meals per day. She's not taking one or two bites and then deciding she's done. She's feeding everything to herself to.

Favorite Photo

I love this photo so much. I'm just glad Zia wasn't the one under the car. I think it may be my favorite photo of the kids yet.

I tried to wear the older two out today. They've been a little insane lately. We played at a park this afternoon. I now know that there is no tiring them out and I can still flip around on a parallel bar even if my body doesn't like it quite as much as it did as a kid. I also know that Arya can scale a climbing wall and a cargo net type thing. Eiley can do, but is much more cautious, as she always has been. She's good at climbing, but not quite as good, and she seems to know it.

Who Needs a Skirt?

My day was insane today. I told a friend this morning that she could drop her daughter here any time this summer if she's ever in a bind for childcare. I let her know later in the day that she might not want to do this if thins continue like they have been lately. I was trying to clean up our kitchen after lunch today. Zia loves to eat food off the ground and attack anything in the dishwasher the second it opens. Because of this, I have to clean up in an organized fashion. Or at least I try. Today was so unorganized. It took me forever because I had to keep stopping to break up a fight, pull Zia out of something, pull things out of her mouth etc. When I was finishing I heard the twins yelling at me that Zia was in the bathroom. Eiley had used the potty and not flushed, shut the lid, or the bathroom door. I found Zia throwing around dirty toilet paper. Wonderful. I got her and the floor all cleaned up. After dinner I got to clean the floor again since Eiley wet it while I was bathing Zia.

Sometimes I feel like having twins isn't that hard and at other times I realize that having two three year olds in the house, or out in public, definitely is harder than just having one. A simple trip to the fabric store can take an hour. I realize that can happen with one kid, but if I'm paying attention to one, the other is into something. While I help her restock a shelf, the first one is into something else. This is my day everyday. A third mobile child adds to that, but as Zia gets older, I realize how much easier each stage is with one child in that stage. As a first time mom, I don't always realize how insane life with multiples can be. Someone recently put something on facebook about Twin Escalation Syndrome. How each always tries to outdo the other, which makes them louder, messier, crazier etc. than a single child. I laughed because that's my life. They love to outdo each other. It makes for some very crazy days, but also makes for a lot of laughter and entertainment.

Let Me Out

As it's getting nicer out, we're spending more and more time outside. It's so nice to not be inside all day. The twins were up to their old tricks as soon as it was nice enough to drag toys outside.

Zia did not want to be left in the house.

Yesterday, Zia decided to actually eat more than a bite or two of solids at each meal. She's now begging to eat at each meal and plows into the food. It's pretty cute. I love this age because she'll eat anything I put in front of her.