DC Day 2

We spent our second and final full day in DC today. We were walking by the White House when we were told that the first lady would be leaving soon. We didn't have an interest in hanging around just to wait to maybe see her in a car, so instead we sat at a fountain to eat our breakfast. If she happened to come out that way, we would see her. If she didn't, we would have had our breakfast in a nice place. While we were eating, I heard a big clomping sound. I turned to find these guys behind us. They walked right up and started drinking out of the fountain. They were huge horses and a lot of fun to see.

DC Day

We spent our first full day in DC today. Zia said "hi" to a few thousand people today. She also had some milk and took a poop in the capital. I said that it probably isn't the first time someone had some boob and took a poop in the capital, but the others weren't babies. We saw the WWII, Vietnam, and Korean Crisis memorials tonight. The Korean Crisis one was very haunting. The other two made an impact, but there was something about the Korean one that will stay with me. The statues reflected in the wall at night and looked very much like ghosts.

DC Bound

Cork spent the week in DC, so Zia and I flew there today to join him for a few days. None of us had been there before, so we couldn't pass up the opportunity. Zia did awesome on the flight. I let her run around like crazy at the airport. Then I fed her as we took off and she zonked right out. She didn't wake again until we landed. She and I took the metro from the airport to the hotel, so I didn't have to mess around with a car seat. She was amazing on our trip from the airport to the hotel. She sat in the umbrella stroller I borrowed and was so happy to be going somewhere new. We ate at a Lebanese restaurant tonight. The food was amazing and Zia enjoyed it as much as we did.

Ridiculousness

Look at this ridiculousness. We got to the library today and when I turned around to talk to the kids, I saw Arya like this. I burst out laughing.

Scooter Girl

I bought this scooter for the twins at Goodwill recently. I think it drives Zia a little nuts that she can't figure out how to ride it like her sisters do.

Wishing Cake

We went to our church picnic today. I made browned butter pumpkin cupcakes with caramel cream cheese frosting to take with. Wow. They were definitely the best cupcakes I've ever made.

One of the girls picked out a book at the library last week called Zuzu's Wishing Cake. In it, a little girl, named Zuzu, makes a wishing cake for her new neighbor Hashim, who doesn't speak English. It's a very cute book, and even cuter since her name is Zuzu. Arya and Eiley wanted to make a wishing cake, so I bought disgusting cheap whole wheat bread, that's really just white bread died brown, and cheap jelly. They had a great time making the wishing cake. They used the entire loaf of bread and most of the jelly. The cake was so high, and stacked a bit uneven, so it was falling over. They split it in two and we put candles in both. They then sang happy birthday before digging into the wishing cake. They each only ate a tiny bit. The table, chairs, and floor were covered in jelly, but it was worth it. I cleaned everything up and gasp threw out the wishing cakes. It was a tragedy. I should have known better, but I really didn't think they'd be interested in it once they were done with it that night. I was wrong. They were both so upset. Garbage day is tomorrow and the garbage bag was far from new. Those cakes were not coming out of the bag.

Balloon Animals

We took the kids to a grocery store today because they were supposed to have face painting. We didn't see a face painter, but we did find a buy making balloon animals. He was pretty amazing. Eiley asked for a bear, so he started to make her one and part of it popped. Instead of ditching it and starting over, he added a scrap from another balloon to finish it. Then he added a tutu and a heart around it. Eiley was so happy. Arya asked for a giraffe. He finished hers with no setbacks and even gave it giant white eyes. Eiley asked him if her bear could have eyes, so her cute little dancing bear turned into a freaky little thing. She loved it though.

Pizza Face

Why did I think it would be okay to give her a bowl of grapes to eat while I attended to the other two?

It's Friday night pizza picnic night. For the first time, Zia joined the other two at their table. She had fun, but it was a bit of a mess. She stole their pizza instead of eating her own small cut pieces. She also ripped off her bib when she was done and took off. I didn't catch her until she'd laughingly slammed herself against the kitchen wall and made a pizza masterpiece with her face.

Pretzel Girl

Don't mess with a girl and her pretzels.

I put the kids to sleep in their own beds tonight. When I went to bed I found Arya like this. I guess she'll be able to get her own gloves on this winter.

Look at this gorgeous cauliflower. We made cauliflower alfredo pasta sauce from it. The sauce wasn't as vibrant, but was still a nice purple color.

Totally Normal

Totally normal. Right? Hahaha. She cracks me up as much as the twins did. She loves to throw things over her head. She's stealing stuff out of the dishwasher by feel only.

Playing House

We had our first big blow up today about playing house. Arya came downstairs, just bawling, because "Eiley isn't letting me be what I want to be." Apparently they both wanted to be the baby. I told them that they could have a pretend mom and both be baby. Eiley didn't like that and decided that she could be the mom after all.

Dynamic Duo

I think some of the things they do would be funny to see one kid do, but they're funnier to see two kids do at the same time.

Corn and Chicken

She's not giving up that corn or that chicken.

Stolen Blanky

While the girls are away, Zia will play. She found Eiley's blanky today while Eiley was at school. She took the opportunity to play with Eiley's much loved piece of cloth without anyone taking it away from her.

Look who now want to make their own sandwiches. It's bittersweet. I love that they can do things for themselves and don't need me for everything. But, my buddies are growing up. Not too fast though. Arya was all concerned today that Cork and I don't live with our parents. She asked if she could still live here when she was my age. At first I started to explain that she might have a family of her own, and then I just told her yes. She really just wanted to hear that she could always live her.

Just Like Cinderella

I mopped my floor this morning. I'm not sure why. By the time the kids were in bed, I had cleaned up breakfast, snacks, dinner, and huge amount of sauce meant for our pepper steak stirfry dinner. I burnt myself when I was pouring it into the pan and it went flying. There was a bit of an over reaction on my part. Me, Zia, the stove, the cabinets, and the floor were covered.

While I cleaned up, the twins kept themselves occupied. I'm so glad they know how to entertain themselves. Can you sense the sarcasm? They were on the kitchen counter and I was paying more attention to my clean up than what they were doing. I looked up to find that they'd road mapped themselves. Wonderful.

Arya asked me today if I would throw her down the stairs. I told her I didn't think that would be much fun. She still wanted me to throw her. I didn't. Before I started to mop this morning, she took the mop from me. She told me she was just like Cinderella and was so excited to clean. I need to remember this and tell her to be like Cinderella more often.

Bear Sesames

We were driving in the car today and there was a R&B song on. I went to switch it and Eiley told me that she liked the song and that she had watched the video for it in Boston this summer with her cousins. Of course I'm picturing the typical music video and wondering why her cousins showed her this. I asked what was in the video. She said a guy with a pacifier. At that point I'm wondering if someone is trying to bring back a fad from when I was in grade school where grown men would carry around a pacifier. Not normal grown men, like rappers. Then she said that the guy was green and Arya chimed in that it was probably the gummy bear. And Eiley says "Yeah, it was. I don't think it was this song." I'm not sure how she confused the two, but I'm glad she cleared it up.

During the same car ride, we went around a corner. Arya told me that I was driving too fast. I guess it's a good thing she wasn't with me when I squealed the van tires while driving on an entrance ramp a tad too fast. The van just doesn't drive like a sports car, even though sometimes I think it should.

Those Bear Necessities are still giving the twins issues. They were helping me make hummus tonight. Arya asked what the tahini was. I explained that it was ground up sesame seeds. And Eiley said "Like Bear Sesames".

Bite Marks

Zia was climbing today, fell, and bit her tongue. It is amazing how much blood comes out of a tooth puncture wound. She was crying, so drooling a lot. The blood just kept coming and coming. Her shirt was covered in it and so was the kitchen floor and a trail through the house. It took awhile to stop bleeding, but when it did, she stopped crying. I gave her our normal dinner tonight, but she seemed to be having some issues eating, so I pulled a squeeze packet of apple peach sauce out of the basement. She happily ate that instead. We also gave her some ibuprofen tonight in hopes that she, and we, will be able to get a good night sleep. If you enlarge the picture, you can see the dark spot behind the food. That's just a tiny section of the bite marks she gave herself.

Eiley came home from school today talking about the things her class did. She was super excited about the cupcakes they had for someone's birthday. I was excited to hear that her teacher seems to be taking notes from Arya's amazing teacher.

Gate Fail

A baby gate does no good when a four year old leaves it open and a one year old walks in and shuts the gate behind her.

Flamanco

Today was Rally Sundy at chruch. The older two started Sunday school and choir. I'm not sure how the choir will go, but they seemed excited.

My parents just got back from Europe. They got these cute Flamenco dresses for the girls. We're thinking we may have our Halloween costumes set.

Home Depot Class

We stopped at Dunkin Donuts today for coffee. Cork got the kids a couple donut holes and the store gave us a few extra. The extra ones were plain donuts with powdered sugar. We got home and I told Arya what they were. She turns to Eiley and says "They gave us vanilla donuts with power."

Before DD, we went to The Home Depot to get wood for my newest project. While there, the kids took a class that they apparently have the first Saturday of every month. They had a blast hammering and painting in their dresses.

Zia is taking her climbing to new heights. She can now get into the toy box. I walked into the living room today and saw her standing on an end table and then she dove onto the couch.

I'm starting my new project and realized that I never showed a photo of my last project finished. This is the girls' desk for art.

Still Adjusting

We're 4 days into the new school year and life at home is great...and rough. The kids are tired by the end of the day. They still want to play at night instead of sleep and that's making for some rough afternoons. They are both used to being away from me for school, but this year it's almost double the time it was last year when you add in the time for the bus. I know they are going through an adjustment and things will get better. They're both super cuddly and lovey. They want tons of mommy time. Our afternoons have been busy, but they need one on one attention. Lots of reading and lots of time on my lap or wrestling on the floor. Eiley had a particularly bad day today. She threw so many fits. Each time I was able to calm her down and get her to make a better choice, until after dinner. I was done and she wouldn't stop throwing a fit. I went to kiss her head and then she rammed her head into my mouth and nose. Ouch. She didn't mean to do it, but it only happened because of her fit. I was less than happy. She lost her right to have a cantaloupe popsicle after dinner because of a fit. When she calmed down, we were able to sit and have mommy time. She wanted to play Memory. The first game she found a pair on her first selection and I was thinking it was all luck. She did the same thing with the second game and I had to laugh. She had laid down a pair in front of her before each game started. Both of them cheated the whole game, so I figured one more pair wasn't going to hurt. Arya ended up having 12 pairs that game, to Eiley's 3...so basically Arya cheated more.

Both kids are getting into the routine of telling us what they did at school. To them, the most important thing is what they got to have as a snack. So far, the snack foods have mainly been things we don't snack on at home like gummies, pretzels, and gold fish.

See this beauty? Hopefully in a few months it will be transformed. It's my new project.

Little Zucchini

We started this book chart at the beginning of the summer. A friend was doing one with her daughter and the twins and I liked the idea. I wanted to put 500 spaces on the poster, but the girls decided we should have space for 1,000 books. Yikes. I knew we probably wouldn't hit 1,000 for the summer, but I was okay with the idea of going into the school year. We did not keep track most of the time we were gone this summer, so I'm sure we hit 500 awhile ago, but our stickers hit 500 today. The girls get to choose what they want to do as a little reward when they hit 500 and 1,000. They decided ice cream would be their reward for this goal. 

We headed to the zoo this afternoon after school. Zia wanted to get out and walk everywhere, but she didn't want to walk with us. I had her buckled into the stroller and I looked down to see that she was almost completely out of the buckle. I called her "Little Houdini" and Arya asked why I was calling her "Little Zucchini."

The three girls and I have a routine for when we're out and about. When we get back to the car, if Zia wants to nurse, she says "nah" and points to the passenger captain seat. I feed her sitting there and the twins sit in the driver seat. Usually they just sit and talk to me. I was distracted today with Zia trying to grab things while she nursed. She finished and I got all three kids in their car seats. I sat down in my seat, started the car, and then laughed. Arya had drawn a set of purple crayon eyes and a smiley mouth on my steering wheel. I should be mad, but it is pretty funny. I just explained to her, again, why she should only write on paper I give her and not other objects.

Popover Cheese

Zia will not leave a certain kitchen cabinet alone. She is constantly raiding it. Today, she stole the popover pan and put cheese from her snack bowl into it. Who wouldn't want to eat out of a popover pan?

First Day of 4K

Arya and Eiley had their first day of 4K today. Their bus was early this morning and we weren't. We didn't miss it, but we were not quite to the stop when the bus showed up. Cork and I drove to the school separately and got them off the bus. Their classes met in the gym for a good 30 minutes of chaos. Eiley got to meet her teacher for the first time and some kids in her class. Arya got to meet all of the girls in her class. She has only three boys and I think fourteen girls. Crazy. Arya's teacher is definitely more enthusiastic and more fun. Eiley's teacher is new this year and I think she was just feeling first day jitters. Or at least I hope. She seemed very nice, but Arya's teacher is so great. I hope that Eiley's is just as amazing once she feels more comfortable. Eiley didn't seem to notice.

I waited for the girls at their bus stop for almost an hour this afternoon. Their bus driver apparently didn't know her route and they were 45 minutes late. I called dispatch twice during that time. I know that a bit of a delay is normal on the first day, but this was too much. When they finally got here, Arya was asleep and the bus driver had to wake her. Both girls were starving, despite having a snack at school. We had a great lunch and talked about what they did at school. Both seemed so excited and truly loved being in different classrooms. I am so glad that my gut feeling was right so far.

This picture absolutely cracks me up. You can't tell, but we're all leaning way back in a rocking chair.
So far back that apparently Zia thinks we may tip.

It was only a matter of time before she climbed in.

Frinkles

We were driving around downtown today. Arya said "Eiley, when Ingogh was a little baby, he did not die. He fell in the garbage a little bit." Eiley just agreed like it was the most normal statement.

Dance Party!

Zucchini chocolate cake is much better with "frinkles" on it.