We Have Zucchini

Zia was more interested in smooshing her zucchini cake today than eating it. We bought two giant zucchinis at church today. The twins wanted them and they were funny, so who am I to say no. 20 cups of shredded zucchini, zucchini cake, and zucchini for dinner later, I've taken care of the giant squash. I thought about making zucchini pineapple and decided to not bother. Instead, I just shredded it and put it in the freezer.

Cheesecake

I made this "cheesecake" today. It's from home made goat milk ricotta and has zucchini in it. A nice savory cheesecake to go with dinner. It was awesome!

Make Up Ap

When good aps go bad.

Arya saw my hair gel today and asked me if it was "died jellyfish".

I made Monkey Butter today. It's basically coconut, banana, pineapple and sugar. I canned it too. I've never canned before. I knew I'd done it right when I heard that familiar pop of cans sealing. I totally forgot about that until I heard each one popping. My mom used to can when I was a child, so I know the sound well.

I called the girls teacher and principal this morning and left messages. Five hours later I drove up to the school to see if I could talk to someone. There was a woman in the office who helped me with registration in February. She is the one who wrote down my request to have the girls in separate rooms and told me it would be possible as long as there were two A.M. classes. She was less than happy to help me today. She made sure I was aware that there aren't always two morning classes, so they can't always separate twins. I'm not sure why she told me this since there are two classes, which means her information doesn't mean anything to us and our situation. I explained that the girls look alike and how no one knows who is who, and a bunch of my other reasoning. She reluctantly switched them. I was very nice and made sure that by switching one into the other class, she didn't have to displace another child. She didn't. I asked if there was any paperwork she or I had to fill out. There wasn't. I'm not sure what the big deal was. She asked what their "proficiency level" is and then told me it doesn't matter since they're the same age and are probably at the same level. I'm not sure why she would ask that. It's not like they've tested any of the kids going into 4K and have any clue what any know. So they can't have the kids arranged in classrooms based on ability. And both Arya and Eiley know just about everything they'll be taught this year. They know their days of the week, letters, months, numbers to 20, what letter words start with, how to write their first and last name etc. Of course repetition is great, so it won't hurt to go over this again. They will be learning some sight words and hopefully be able to tell you if today is Saturday that tomorrow is Sunday. Right now they know the order of the days, but can't always tell you what is next if you pick out a day at random and they aren't reciting them in order.

Indukala Returns

I painted all the kids' toenails today, and Arya and Eiley's fingernails. I mentioned that all three kids have toenails like their daddy. Arya asked "If we named Zia Indukala, would she still have toenails like daddy?" And there is that awful name again. LOL.

Zia ate lunch faster than the rest of us today. She was begging to get out of her high chair, so I cleaned her up and put her down on the floor. A few minutes later, I see her head pop up at the table. She'd climbed onto one of the chairs, for the first time. She then helped herself to markers and Eiley's salami sandwich. I had to fish a giant blob of salami out of her mouth. She doesn't have molars yet, and there is now way she was going to chew that.

I made this "dress" out of the giant shirt Eiley got from the library. I still need to add a bow to the back. I think it looks more like a nightgown than a bow, but I can't convince her to wear it at night and not as a dress. She's so proud of the shirt.

The girls just crack me up. I was cleaning up tonight and found these.

I am a bit frustrated tonight. I registered the twins for school back in February. I requested that they be in separate classrooms. Tonight, we went to school orientation to find out who their teachers are, drop off school supplies etc. We found out that they are in the same classroom. I did not make my decision lightly to separate them. Academically, I think they could be in the same class and do fine. I know that there would be some disruptions as they battled things out. They would have periodic disputes in class this past year. For individual development, I really feel strongly about having them in different rooms. I think about how I would feel if I were four years old and the majority of people never called me by my name. If I was knows as "that one" "hey girl" "which one are you" etc. By being in their own classrooms, they will have a teacher who always knows who is who. A teacher who can't group them into one entity in their own mind. A teacher who will always know who is doing what. They will also have friends of their own. Friends in a classroom who can always call them by their own name. Who won't have to ask which one they are. And, the girls are excited about having separate rooms. We've been talking about it since February. I have so torn as to what to do because I do love the teacher. If I had been thinking, I would have gone and introduced myself to the other teacher. By the time we met their teacher, Zia was done and I was a sweaty mess. The room was way too warm and my shirt was soaked with sweat. I wasn't thinking and we just left. I should have also talked to the principal to see what we could do.

Ghetto Gate Yeller

Zia cracks me up. We were at the kid museum today. She was walking around as if she always walks. She was moving things in the grocery section. I took a little video of her. She had a melon and was doing her chimp crawl with it. She then threw the melon and yelled. Not sure if it was in triumph or what. I showed it to a couple friends who think she's yelling ball, but she just yells all day long. I really don't think she's saying ball.

She loves to stand at the ghetto gate when I'm upstairs. She just stands there, licks the gate, and yells "Mom" as loud as she can.

Not So Safe

Possibly not the safest activity. I was cleaning up lunch and saw them go through the room like this. Eiley was pushing and Zia was having a ball.

We have three very good looking kids. Zia looks so old to me here. She climbed onto the seat herself.

Zia was starving tonight, so I fed her just before 5:00. She was falling asleep and could not finish dinner. I took her out, cleaned her up, changed her diaper, and put pajamas on without her waking. Of course she took a little power nap and was awake within 10 minutes of falling asleep in the chair. The rest of us ate dinner after Cork got home and we had cookies for dessert. Zia was more than happy to join us.

Camping Take 3

I woke to this today. Not a bad way to wake up. I think there were only two groups camping last night. It was so quiet and peaceful.

Since it's the last day camping for the season, I decided a roasted peep would be a good ending to breakfast.

Zia is so worn out. She fell asleep holding this box.