little blurbs and one liners

Today Allie said to me, "Mom, can I be a butterfly for halloween?" (it's february). I said, "sure!" Why do you want to be a butterfly Allie? "So I  can flap my wings and fly."

Audrey and Allie spent a lot of time pretending to be Sofia and Amber from the Disney show Sofia the First. She asks me everyday if I've ordered her dress for halloween. (because she wants to be Sofia). It's sold out everywhere. Even her preschool teacher is asking me about this said dress. Apparently she talks about it at school, often.


Ava has really become a big girl within the last month. She is starting to actually play with her older sisters. It's funny to watch her with a toy that they have that she wants. She waits until they abandon it, and then she scoots as fast as her little chubby feet can muster over to the riding toy car or legos or book or rocking chair and grabs it before they can. Lately though, within the past week she's began screaming to get what she wants. I'm really hoping it's a tooth or side effects of the antibiotics she's on for her ears. And she won't stop, she just constantly and loudly grunts and screams.  I hope this passes.

Ava is always sitting in a box. If there is a box in the room, she will try to get in it, no matter show small. She fit herself into a shoebox the other day. I'm convinced that if I took Ava to The Container Store, she'd never leave. Just tonight, she and I went upstairs to get jammies for Allie. She made her way into Audrey's room instead and found a square plastic box with hearts on it that she just wouldn't leave the room without. When we came back down she entertained herself for at least fifteen minutes putting stuff in the box and taking it back out. I see her do that a lot. If there is a way she can fit something inside something else, she'll do it. Make sure you check your boots and shoes if you come over--that's one of her favorite spots to put toys. The garbage is another. It is, one of the biggest containers we have out all the time. She not only loves to put stuff in it, like Jeremy's baseball documentary DVD set, (he owes me for this one. I was torn for a moment on whether or not to just leave them in there ) but she also likes to take stuff out of the garbage.

Sarah

snow adventures and a great day at swim

Audrey had a great day at swim today! To think we almost didn't go. High winds. Bitterly cold rain. Freezing rain, then sleet. The winds and the sleet made me email her teacher. Not with three little kids and one with an ear infection. Turns out, the winds stopped and it began to snow a half hour before her lesson so we bundled up and headed out. Audrey for the first time ever was begging to go to swim. She's gained a little confidence and I hope it's not short lived. We also got her a new swimsuit on Sunday when we went shopping and she really wanted to wear it. It must have brought her good luck today because she did awesome. It was fun to watch her  and I'm bummed I didn't get a picture or video but Ava did not want to sit on my lap today, or sit anywhere. I had to pull her off the deck a few times. No fear I tell you, no fear.

After we came home from swim it began to snow harder and by mid-late afternoon people were out scooping their drives and sidewalks.  The girls asked begged to go out and play. They built a snowman with neighbor boy Andrew and had snowball fights with Julia and Alex, and they all used the slide as a snow slide, like water, but with snow. It must have been slick because no one landed on their feet. I tried to take pictures but I had to leave Ava inside and she didn't like that much. And my poor feet, slipped inside tennis shoes tromping through the snow. They built a snowman. The best I could give them from our bare refrigerator was cilantro and two cutie oranges. Their snowman looked more like a snow alien. And then, seconds after I took their picture, they destroyed it. 

Finally, snow we can play in! 

Trying Andrews snowball gun. 

Building a snowman

I think the cilantro is my favorite part. :) 

SNOWBALL FIGHT!

This was Ava's view. She got mad if I closed the storm door all the way. Next year Ava, next year. 

Snow angels. I've never seen anyone do this on their belly before. Julia enlightened us

snack break.

Snow slide! They would load up the slide with as much snow as they could and then slide down it.

I love Audrey's laugh in this picture. At Andrew's expense unfortunately. 

Allie lost her mittens awhile ago and now decided it was time to come in. Too cold! 

"Now, if I could only get these boots on maybe she'll let me go out" says a very determined Ava.

neighbors. friends. future classmates.

Sarah

double ear infection, again! & Dad's night at school

Poor Ava. Her pediatrician diagnosed her with a double ear infection today. This is her fifth or sixth ear infection this season. He thinks we can make it to warmer weather and that she'll outgrow it over the summer. Let's hope.

I'll be honest, when my babies are cranky, I'm cranky. I hate not being able to fix the problem. She cried even if I held her today. She refused to sleep. Refused to eat. Cried if I put her down, cried if I picked her up. We got in the car early to take Audrey to school thinking she was just overly tired and needed to go to sleep. Normally, that would do the trick. Today it didn't.

 I finally got her to sleep 15 minutes before we needed to leave to pick up Audrey from school and head to Allie's dance class. Luckily, a fellow mom brought Audrey out to the car today so I didn't have to lug everyone in, including sleeping Ava.

On a whim on our way to dance I called her Dr. to see if I could get her in this afternoon. It was now 3:30. We lucked out. Jeremy came to take Allie home from dance and we headed to the Dr. I knew Ava was either getting teeth, or had an ear infection. And her Dr. said the same thing when he walked in and saw her sucking on her fingers.

And later tonight, after only one dose of antibiotic she began to perk up and become her fun loving smiling self. I don't like to overuse antibiotics as I personally fear a leaky gut for them, more so than immunity, but when I mentioned that to her Dr. he said that on the other hand if left untreated it could cause her to go deaf. I think we made a good choice.

Allie was so excited that she got to ride in Daddy's car. When she came in the door after dance she said, "Auds, I got to ride in Daddy's car!" And she was using her "You won't believe this" voice. Too cute.

Tonight was also Daddy's night at Audrey's preschool. When Allie was feeling left out, AKA pouting that she didn't get to go, I told her we could have a Mommy and girls night here at home. In the end, that made it all ok and in the midst of doing stuff we normally do Allie said, "This is so much fun!"

Allie put her pajamas on all by herself--a new skill that she's super pumped about--and exclaimed, "I did it!"

For Daddy's night Audrey was to wear a favorite team shirt or jersey. Audrey didn't have a Cardinal shirt. But more importantly to her, she didn't have any fancy shoes to wear. Or a necklace. AND when we went to the mall and looked at every store for either a baseball shirt or a dress, all she asked about was if she could look at the shoes. Finally, at the sixth store without finding a dress she liked or a team shirt, she started saying that her legs hurt. I'm thinking, thank heavens cause my legs hurt like four stores ago! We found an adorable polo type Cardinal dress at our last stop--and I can't believe I bought a size 6x for her. And, in these pictures it almost appears too short. Gracious she's growing like a weed. We did not get fancy shoes, or a necklace but I did get her "lipstick". Oh my goodness I almost forgot about the make-up crisis. She just HAD to have make-up for Dad's night. It was so precious, I didn't have to heart to not get her anything when she was near tears thinking she had to have lipstick to look pretty, so I got her Burt's Bee's tinted lip balm. She took one of my old red purses with the "lipstick" in it. So cute. She likes having her own lotion and lip balm/make-up. It makes her feel special.

At the supper table tonight before they left Audrey was bragging to Allie that they got to eat cake at Dad's night, even though the invitation said they'd have popcorn and root beer. Allie said "Well Mom, we better get started on our cake." I told her we had cookies and assured her Audrey was not having cake. Jeremy and Audrey came home right as Ava puked up her almond milk. Perfect timing! Audrey made a sports finger--like those foam fingers you get at sporting events for Dad's night because he's her number one Dad. On the other side they had to answer questions about their Dad. I thought her responses to his weight and age were funny. He weighs 80 pounds and is 85 years old.

What a day.

Audrey and Daddy

She built this at Dad's night.

Sarah

a new skill at swim

Audrey still remains in lane 1 in swimming, but she's learning and doing well. She had such an extreme fear of water and going under when we started that when I see her literally moving herself in the water (we do lots of "hearts and arrows"), and under water, I'm impressed. Today at swim her teacher started to teach her how to dive in to the water.

At the beginning of each class they "blow bubbles at the wall" and this is Audrey favorite part.

Sarah

uncle drew babysits and other happenings of sunday february 17

Today my parents came up to see the girls, give valentine's and go to church with us. Dad helped the girls get ready by brushing their hair.

For breakfast we had garlic herb and cheese omeletts and blueberry pancakes.

Then the  girls opened part of their valentine gifts from Mom and Dad. Audrey and Allie loved their giant coloring books and Ava got a new book.

This evening we had small group and our normal babysitter was busy and so were both sets of grandparents. So, we asked Uncle Drew and Aunt Autumn. But Aunt Autumn had to work, so Uncle Drew watched all three girls by himself. When we left he'd never changed a diaper in his life. When we came home, he had one poopy diaper to add to his resume, even if he did put Ava's diaper on backwards.  He will find that next time, it's much easier to put the diaper on and fasten it the correct way. His way was much harder. :)

He apologized for the messiness of the family room and confessed he just let them make a mess as long as they weren't crying. Too funny. We were glad he was up for the task! And, I think the girls had fun too.

Sarah

How Allie colors

When you ask Allie what she wants to be when she grows up, she says a painter. She loves to paint, and color, and create. And not within the lines either. She's way too artistic for that. If we let her, she'd paint the walls and furniture. I don't correct her when she gets outside the lines, or even try to get her to color within them, because I'm just happy she's using paper.

Allie and I have been doing workbooks together while Audrey is at school. The instructions were to use all the colors she'd learned that day to color the picture. She picked up all the colors she had out (about a dozen) and colored with all of them at the same time. When she was done she said, "Look, now it's pretty." Indeed it was, Allie. And then, she used stickers from the book to embellish it.

Sarah

February 14th

Allie had swim lessons tonight so we didn't plan a huge family meal. When I ran out to get a few staples before dinner I saw a stretch limo and thought to myself, oh how Valentine's Day has changed since we had kids! It's not as romantic now, that's for sure. But that's life in general, not just February 14th. No more candlelight dinners with bottles of wine in front of the fireplace. Just loud dinners with half of it ending on the floor, everyone complaining about not liking what's on their plate and thinking up lots of excuses of why they don't need to eat it. That's not every meal around here, but it's close. I'm not complaining. That's just life right now. There's still love. It's just expressed differently.

The girls opened their gifts at breakfast. Audrey got a Sofia The First book, a show that she's completely enthralled with right now. We got Allie the Peter Pan movie and Ava got a fun puzzle with animal sounds.

Then, we went to Allie's gymnastics class where Ava tried with all her might to get out on the floor and had no interest in playing in the provided playroom. It's a long 45 minute class for Momma. **Short blurb about Allie. While stretching today in class and sitting in a straddle the kids were supposed to reach down and  touch their nose to the money on their mats. Instead of bringing her nose to the money, Allie just picked up the mat and brought it to her nose! 

The kids exchanged Valentine's with some of their BFF's this afternoon and the girls made peanut butter cookies with me. It's our staple gluten free PB cookie. peanut butter. sugar and an egg. We just rolled it in colored sugar for V-day.

Audrey begged and begged to go "cheer Allie on" at swim, so we let her go. This meant it was just me and Ava. I actually got to play with her, one on one without interruption. Those moments are rare, but I love them when they do happen.

A very low key Valentine's Day it was.

the tags on the girls' gifts

Allie's gift before she opened it

Peter Pan!

This is the only Sofia thing I could find locally, and I scored the last copy. 

,

a cupcake made with love packaged up and ready to go

our cookies before they were baked. if you can see the smashed cookies in the back, those are Allie's. She lightly flattened them herself. 

Sarah

tuesday. pink cupcakes, swim and the dentist

Today Grandma came in to help with swimming lessons and dentist appointments. Audrey and Allie are huge handfuls at the dentist. Luckily, there were no cavities. There is always drama. Audrey hates having her teeth cleaned, hates the noise of the machine, doesn't like how their brush feels in her mouth and loathes the painted on fluoride at the end. Many tears. And yes, this is a children's dentist, who is exceptional. We just can't do anything easy around here. Allie, well, she started off fine, and then kept pushing the dentist away so much that I had to hold her on my lap, one leg on either side of my hips and the dentist then leaned her back into her lap. She kicked and squirmed the entire time. It's a good thing we didn't have Ava with us.  Oh and she hated that fluoride paste too. And the flossing, and the brushing.......

Audrey did well at swimming. She's asking me to take lots of pictures lately and send them to Daddy on the phone. Video too, of course. I'm hoping her confidence takes a big leap. She's still kinda stuck in lane 1, the beginning of the road.

In between swim and the dentist Grandma gave the girls their Valentine's. Individualized poems alongside stuffed bears and heart lockets. Perfect!  I love non food gifts!!! And the girls, I'm sure will love reading these poems again when they are older.

Then, it was time for cupcakes! We made our Valentine cupcakes today because tomorrow is Ash Wednesday. I've thought and tried and experimented with quitting sugar for awhile and decided for the next 40 days to be pretty strict with it and see if it makes a difference in how I feel. So we had to make the cupcakes and homemade buttercream icing today so I could have one or two. Ahem, or three. And then be done. No sugar. 40 days. 

Before we could make these delectable goodies we had to...

go to the dentist.

 Then, Audrey and Allie both helped stir up the cupcakes, but only Audrey helped put them in the liners. That proved to be too difficult for three year old Allie.

while the cupcakes baked and cooled the girls played princess figurines...

 and Ava waited for someone to feed her lunch

 and then she had to go find her sisters...

they were playing underneath the piano bench. It was kinda hard to capture that, as the space is quite tiny.

time to decorate!

 less sprinkles is more . cupcake by Audrey

Allie believes more sprinkles is better

These are Allies cupcakes. I love how she globs the icing on them. And I'm being serious. Very artistic.

Audrey's are in the front. Allie's in the back.

Sarah