Welcome to the Roe household blog. We're attempting to post 365 days of pictures in a Roe. Cork and I have been married since 2002 and welcomed identical daughters in August of 2009 after a struggle with infertility. Our girls were definitely worth the wait and I say they were destined to be here because they were conceived on my birthday, due on my sister's birthday and born on my grandma's birthday. What are the chances of that! We welcomed our third daughter in June of 2012. We all fell in love with her right away. She has two amazing older sisters who love to watch over her.

Saturday, November 30, 2013

Early Wakings

As the kids get older, I know we're going to have to be more creative with April. For now, they are just super excited to see where she is each morning. This morning she had ridden down the stairs in the toilet paper tube. Eiley then crammed her into a lego circus trailer. They are waking up earlier than normal every morning to go find April.

Zia did her first Home Depot class today. Her attention span did not let her finish the project, but she loved it while she was doing it.

We went to a Christmas Market today out in Oconomowoc. The girls had a great time. Arya and Eiley both kept asking to go back.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Christmas Celebrations Begin

April showed up today. She brought the girls each a Cliff Bar and wrote them a note on the kitchen sliding door window. They were so excited to see her.

We went to the Pfister again this year. It didn't seem as magical as other years. It's becoming so crowded and I think the hotel has made cost cuts to accommodate. Each year there is less organization than the past. The kids don't seem to mind though. They had a great time decorating and eating cookies, and drinking and spilling hot chocolate. They all got to visit Santa, which went pretty much as expected.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving

We had a great, but small, Thanksgiving today. It was the five of us, Uncle Greggy, Nana, and Papa. Having so few people made it much easier on me. Zia was a riot. She has so much personality for someone so small. She loves attention and does this crazy laugh when she's climbed something and wants attention. She was pouring water onto her tray tonight at dinner and looking around to see who would acknowledge her.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Zimbabwe

The kids have been saying and doing so many funny things lately. I haven't been writing them down and so I forget them. Eiley was "teaching" Arya a song in the car tonight. This song went on and on and on. Each time Arya tried to sing Eiley told her that the song wasn't done yet. At one point she sang "In California, West Allis, and Zimbabwe."

Zia figured out how to press the fridge water dispenser today to get herself water. I learned out to lock it after cleaning up water over and over.

Blackmail for later in life.

This was dinner tonight. They kids wanted "pink fish", otherwise known as salmon. We went to the local fish market and these little guys looked too good to pass up. They turned out perfect.

Cork and the girls had a little dance party today.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Two Instigators

Can you guess what happened this time? If you guessed, "Eiley threw her out of the toy chest onto the hard wood floor", then you guessed correctly. Today was filled with all sorts of fighting between Eiley and Zia. I couldn't figure out what was causing it, but both were instigators.

Monday, November 25, 2013

Ah-Ha

This time, she didn't tip anything. She would not stay out of the grocery cart. Every time I turned around I heard "Ah-Ha!" Zia does this crazy little short fake laugh when she wants to draw attention to herself. Ah-Ha!

Zia can be a very messy eater, but she's still neater than the other two. When she finishes, she can be dirty, but the floor around her isn't nearly as destroyed as it was when her sisters were her age. There are times now where the floor around her is neater than it is around her sisters.

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Uh Oh

How do you think this ended?




If you guessed, "she fell over backwards", you're right!

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Little Goat

There are days that Zia reminds me so much of her sisters. She can easily climb the chairs at Mema and Bepa's house and let herself onto the counter now. Fun for her. Not so much for everyone else.

Friday, November 22, 2013

Super Z

There are things her sisters do that I don't really need Zia doing. This is one of them.

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Writing the Alphabet

Arya and Eiley wrote with pencils last year but haven't been this year at school. So, we're writing and drawing with pencils at home. Eiley was sitting on my lap today when she started to write the alphabet unprompted. Arya saw her and wrote her own alphabet. I'm pretty impressed with how they did with no help from me or each other.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Blanket Party

I read to the twins at least 30 minutes every day. We try to do this while Zia is asleep, but she's been napping at odd hours lately, so some days that's not possible. She will not sit calmly while we read if we're on the couch. She climbs, runs, falls, and is just disruptive. So, we've started reading while having blanket parties. We just read while laying on a blanket. She crawls all over us, but it's not nearly as disruptive. Tonight, she decided she needed to nurse while we were reading, so she shoved herself under me.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Doctor Fears

I had to go to a doctor appointment today. Zia was all bubbly and happy until we walked into the exam room. She must remember going in for her flu shot because she freaked out. After awhile, I got her calmed down but she was not her warm happy self with anyone who came into the room. She was giving everyone her death stare. It was pretty funny to watch.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Growing Up

Zia is all over the place nowadays. After lunch, she decided she needed to sit on the potty. She didn't go to the bathroom, but she did let a bunch of farts fly and seems to have wiping down.

After bath, she decided to try to climb into her crib.

After that, she refused to let me put pajamas on her. Cork walked into the house as she pulled her diaper down. She is so much like the other two at this age. She's cracking me up.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Tornado Church

We had a bunch of bad weather today. We went to church this morning, and as usual, Zia didn't make it very far into the service. I brought her down to the nursery, in hopes of leaving her there. She quickly let everyone know that she was not going to let me out of her house. I was going to try to sneak out after a few minutes, then the tornado sirens went off. Everyone moved the service down to the basement, so there was no sneaking out. She just love to socialize during church. She'd be perfectly happy if I let her run up and down the aisles the entire service.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Hula Hoop Party

Who doesn't love a good hula hoop party? Even if you don't have a hula hoop to party with.

We took the kids kids to the Milwaukee Public Museum today. They kept asking "Where are the toys?" "When can we play?" and other things like that. They were less than impressed with the museum. They much prefer Betty Brinn. That is until we reached the butterfly exhibit. After that, all other memories of the museum were erased and if you ask them, they had a wonderful time.

Friday, November 15, 2013

Almost

It won't be long before she figures out exactly how to do this.

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Ninjas

I bought a blender yesterday. Cork has had a busy week and basically hasn't been home. I want to look it over with him before I open it, so I left it in the family room next to the end table, next to the couch. Zia took this as an invitation to climb the box, to the end table, to the couch. Then she'd run around the couch like crazy. I moved the box, in hopes to stop the couch running. It did stop that, but it started the box scaling. The box is no longer on the family room floor.

I sat down with the twins today while Zia napped. Usually we spend a good chunk of her nap time reading. Today we spent that time writing. I don't think they write with pencils at school. It's something they did do last year though. It's not like I think they'll be damaged by writing with crayons instead of pencils this year, but since it's a skill they already know and enjoy doing, I figure it can't hurt to work on at home. Eiley started to write the alphabet all on her own while she sat on my lap. Arya was in a chair next to us and did the same. I'm pretty impressed with their writing skills.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

17 Months of Zany Zia

The kids now come home and report stuff that has happened at school. I'm sure this means that they go to school and randomly report things that happened at home. Today Arya told me that she was the only one in her class with her clip on outstanding choices. Everyone else was either on good or bad choices. Eiley then told me that some days her teacher forgets to move the clips, so she gives everyone a sticker at the end of class. Busted. The kids usually only get a sticker if they are good or outstanding.


Zany Zia is 17 months old today. She seriously went from a baby to a toddler bursting with personality overnight. I am not the only one who feels this way. So many people who know her say this as well. She has a huge personality now. She loves to make people laugh and has the best facial expressions. She gets excited, clenches her fists, clamps her jaw, bares her teeth and shakes. She also laughs anytime anyone farts or burps loudly and tries to do both herself. She says Mama, Dada, her own version of Arya and Eiley, Zia, Nana, Papa, this, that, please, and yes. I'm sure there is more because she'll just surprise me with a word periodically, but those are the ones I can think of. She signs done, more, please, and sorry.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Self Haircut

Zia found a pair of play dough scissors today. She was obsessed with trying to cut anything she could find. We're in trouble. I foresee another self haircut in this household's future.

I put the girls to bed tonight and Eiley had a total breakdown. She was in a good mood until we got upstairs. Then she lost it. Once in bed, she told me her ear hurt. So I went back downstairs to cook up some garlic and oil. She's had so many ear aches since starting school. Maybe it's because she can tell me about them now, but she never complained about them before and has never been on an antibiotic. It took me less than 15 minutes to make the oil, and by the time I went back upstairs, she was asleep. I put the oil in her ear anyway and sat with her for awhile. I then drained it out and she stayed asleep through all of it. Hopefully that takes care of it and she sleeps well.

Monday, November 11, 2013

First Snow

We got our first snow of the season today. I didn't think it would stick, but a little did. We all got bundled up, went outside, made a tiny snowman, and then swung on the swings. They all wanted to go down the slide, but I wouldn't let them. That slide gets super slick with snow. That with their snow pants is not a good combination. I didn't feel like making a trip to urgent care.

Zia only napped about 30 minutes today. She is getting to the age where she will happily skip a nap, or take a very short one, if allowed. Of course she's incredibly cranky by bed time when she does this and usually sleeps longer the next day. She slept in the car and on my shoulder while at The Home Depot. I put her in the crib around 2:00 this afternoon to try to get her to take a little bit longer nap. She was up there for about 20 minutes. Whining and playing and doing everything but sleeping. I could tell that there was no way she was going to sleep, so I gave in and got her.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Soup Drinker

What a mess. She cracks me up though. She's started running toward the camera when I get it out, so it's hard to get a picture of her and not just a blurry shot of part of her face.

We had zucchini soup for dinner tonight. Z seems to enjoy it as much as her sisters. Her spoon wasn't cutting it, so she picked up the bowl to drink the soup as fast as she could. She poured a bunch out, but she accomplished what she wanted with the rest of itl.

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Christmas Kickoff

We kicked off our Christmas season today with our first holiday event. We stood in line for forty minutes to get a cookie, a cup of hot cocoa, and a cookie cookbook. Actually, Cork stood in line for forty minutes. The girls and I played on the playground for part of that. It sounds a bit ridiculous. We could have made cookies and hot chocolate at home faster than that. But it was fun and the kids had a good time.

Mema and Bepa visited today. Zia was showing off while they were here. She was pushing the American Girl jeep all over the house; running into things and people. She kept looking at everyone for acknowledgement. She definitely loves when we laugh at her.

We raked leaves this afternoon while Zia napped and then we all went swimming. I was going to take Zia last Monday, but she was not feeling well, so we stayed home. She had so much fun. She thought she should be swimming like the other two. She was trying to jump off the side. She held onto my hands and sort of fell into the water. She held her breath to go under. I pulled her back up and then she would try to kick off me to swim to the ladder. She would just sink, but didn't seem to care at all.
I nursed Zia tonight while Cork put the other two to bed. I went to tuck them in once I laid her down. I had heard Arya asking for water while I fed Zia. Her asking was a whine over and over "I need water. I need water." When I went into the room, Eiley was already asleep. Arya said to me "I don't know how Eiley fell asleep with all my whining." I cracked up, but figured those probably weren't her words. Cork had been up to give her water. I asked him and he had told her that about a minute before I saw her.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

Edison

When we played in the basement this week, the girls found Edison. Edison is a caterpillar that sings the alphabet. Edison may also be known as Beelzebub, Lucifer, or Satan. Edison has had many time outs in the past few days. I am about ready to give that toy away. Never before have we had a toy that starts so many fights. I don't know why they want this toy so bad right now, but it's the hot commodity around here. All three kids fight over it and scream about it. I may still end up giving it away.

Zia and I are both thankful that she can drink out of a cup. Me, so that I don't have to clean hot chocolate out of her shirt. Her, because she can take her sisters' hot chocolate and down it before anyone notices.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Falling

The girls and I played in the basement today. Zia was standing on the sofa, trying to bounce. I kept telling her to sit and she kept ignoring me. She took a header off the couch and I caught her by a leg as she hit the ground. I sat her back on the couch and at first she couldn't decide if she should laugh or cry. After a few frowns, she started to laugh. Not the response I was looking for if I wanted her to stop. She also fell off the coffee table twice. Obviously she didn't mind after the first time. I'm sure she would have continued to fall off if we hadn't gone back upstairs. All three were jumping like crazy until about 2 seconds before I took this photo. As soon as it took, they were back up and spazing out.

Arya and Eiley have been fighting over everything lately. I really am not sure how to handle it. They asked today about having a playdate with a friend from school. I warned them that fighting over toys shows me that they can't play nice and that we can't have people over. Of course they kept fighting. While they would like a play date, they always have each other, so the prospect of having one cancelled really isn't a big deal to them.

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Cute Coat

I love when they play together and do cute things. Arya called me into the family room tonight. When I walked in, I saw Eiley putting Zia's coat on. They were both so happy. It's a nice change to have all three of them playing nice because the older two have been fighting like crazy lately.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Candy Sort

It's November 4. Four days after Halloween and the twins just today asked if they could look through their Halloween bags. They've picked a few things out before today, but they hadn't picked through it. Once Zia went upstairs for her nap, they got to dump their bags and sort through. They have no idea what 99% of the candy is. I think M&Ms might be the only thing they recognize. The are happy to sample anything though.

Zia was not feeling great today, so we stayed home all day. I spent most of my morning cleaning. I didn't shower until Zia napped. When I got out of the shower, Eiley was sitting on the dowry chest, and told me that Arya was downstairs. Because of where she was and how she said it, I suspected Arya was not downstairs, but that she'd found a new hiding place. I was right. By the time I got my camera, they had switched places. I'm amazed how they fit in there.