Grumpy

I'm grumpy and tired. Delaney keeps climbing out of bed at obscene hours of the night, and it takes at least 90 minutes to get her back to sleep. The routine goes like this: from the depths of a lovely, sound sleep I hear "Mommy! Door!" and I drag myself out of bed. I note that it is 1:44am. I walk to Delaney's room and open the door. She is out of bed and out of the jammies I sent her to bed in. She is either naked, or wearing some haphazard outfit with her arms and legs in the wrong places. I fix her clothes and put her back to bed. I go back to bed. 20-30 minutes later we repeat the process. Eventually, I put her down and see that it is 3:15 and she stays down for the rest of the night. Except for this morning. She was up (loudly) at 6:30. I do not want to be up at 6:30 on a Saturday morning! Unfortunately, I was.

I consoled myself with the thought of a nap later. Unfortunately, Dan put her down at 11:30, while I was out at the library with Marian. Dan then took off with Joshua for DC and Delaney woke up 20 minutes after he left. So no nappy for me. Grrr. And on that happy note, here are some pictures:


Dan and Joshua stopped by the White House while in DC today. Joshua had to get his picture taken with the new prez!

They visited the Naval Memorial, and I had told Joshua I wanted pictures, so he took this one for me! What a great kid.

Now I have a little follow up.

**On the Red Dresses- My Mother in Law got them in Utah at a store there and she said she bought all the ones they had.

**On the snow.... The kids built some "snow forts" in the yards. We had a little one in front of our house, and across the street was another one. Eventually they got to hurling snowballs at each other. They had a wonderful time, and played till it was dark and dinnertime, and I made them come inside.

Here is a little snow throwing before the forts were finished. Did I mention that Joshua and Marian stayed outside in the snow all day Tuesday and Wednesday?! I sent a LOT of mittens through the dryer!

Marian wanted to build a snowman. The snow was hard to pack. So she thought of a good idea, (That's what she told me!) and she used the big empty ice cream tub to pack snow and stack it to make this snowman. This is it a day after she made it. It was a lot cuter before. She was very thorough- Peas for buttons, branch arms, carrot nose and a scarf. It had eyes, but I forgot what they were made of. I was impressed.

Delaney demanded to go outside. I put her jacket on. I put her boots on. And I put her mittens on. she went outside with Dan, who was shoveling the drive. 5 minutes later, the mittens came off and were tossed in the snow. Next, she shucked off the jacket. Then she got cold, and this was her face as she came to the door to come in. Silly pickle!

Snow at Last!

Joshua has been so sad that we haven't gotten any snow. That all changed this morning! I didn't recall snow being in the forcast, so it was a total surprise to me when I opened the blinds at 8:30 this morning and saw snow falling, and snow all over the ground! Joshua dashed to get dressed and he and Marian raced out the door.

They made snow angels as soon as they got outside.

Then they tried making snowballs.

Delaney wanted out and was howling to do so. Being the mom that I am, I put on a jacket and let her out- wearing her jammies, and Callie's shoes, no socks (which Delaney had put on all by herself so I would let her out!). I figured she wasn't going to be out long anyway. And she wasn't.

Joshua wanted to shovel the drive, so I helped him get out the shovel. Maybe I should mention that at this point, I am still in my jammies myself, and wearing my glasses, and feeling quite frumpy. I did get showered. Then I dressed the girls and did their hair. After all that, I let everyone out of the house, properly dressed. Well, as properly as we were going to get. I haven't justified the expense of snow pants for the small amount we'd use them.

Marian also wanted to do some shoveling. She spent over an hour out there doing just that. Joshua and his friends ran off to the park to sled. They were gone for about 2 hours, having a blast.

This one refused to keep a hat on. She also didn't stay out too long at a time.

Callis is Dancing in the snow for me!

Marian is catching snowflakes on her tongue.

Joshua has now spent nearly the entire day outside. Marian has too. Callie spent about an hour outside and is now content to stay where it is warm and dry. Delaney would like to go out again, but I do not. I agree with Callie. Warm and dry is nice.

Marian has been hauling around a giant slush ball. She keeps coming inside to change mittens. We have about 5 pairs of mittens, and I thought we had several gloves. Apparently not. Joshua has the purple gloves, and there should be some red ones somewhere, but I can't find them. So Marian will come in and swap out her saturated mittens for some dry ones. I have a second load of wet stuff in the dryer right now. I think Marian is also on her third jacket. Joshua is only on his second!

Bedtime Shenanagins

Last night the 3 girls went to bed. After a manner of speaking, I mean. Callie and Marian giggled and faught and whispered and wandered around the hall for a while. Eventually, it was mostly quiet. Marian was quietly in her bed, and Callie finally settled down to sleep in the hall. I went up to check on her and I heard distinctive rustlings behind Delaney's closed door. Curious, and knowing she was out of bed, I opened the door.

Sure enough, Delaney was out of her crib. (She learned to do that on her Utah trip.) Even more interesting than that, is the fact that her pjs were on the floor, and she had dressed herself in a short sleeve shirt and purple pants. Amazingly, she had put them on correctly, in the dark! My silly, silly girl!

She was most upset when I tried to put her jammies back on. Apparently, she no longer wants footie pajammas. So I had to find a 2 piece set for her to wear. And then I tucked her in and I think she went to sleep!

The Beautiful Red Dresses!

While in Utah, Dan's mom got matching dresses for all the girls. She also got the same dressed for my Sister in Law's 3 girls, so all 6 kids have matching dresses. I think that is so cute! And the dresses are beautiful. The girls loved them. Of course they had to wear them today! Once they had them on, I had to take lots of pictures. And then I tried to get a group shot of my incredibly uncooperative children.

My 3 lovely princesses. You can't tell, but I did all their hairs in 2 ponytails with red ties. They all matched!

Marian is trying to make a silly face. Callie was looking so cute, I wanted a picture of it and Marian wanted to sneak in on it.

Callie was having a good morning and was very cheerful and she really really wanted her picture taken.... 100 times!

This is Marian, shoving Callie out of her picture.


Delaney loves this dress. She wanted to put it on every day since she came home. She also was thrilled to have pictures taken. Both these girls were so funny. Callie would call out "Take my picture!" And Delaney would just grin and say "Cheese!"

Yes, I wanted to try a nice group shot on the stairs. Although this is the silly shot, it is also the nicest shot!

We moved to the couch to see if they would cooperate better. Joshua gave this horrid grin and tried to make a hiddeous face, but I was too fast. Marian had her arms in front of her face, which prompted Delaney to do it for the next 5 pictures. Only Callie looks great in every picture!

I think this was the winning shot. It was the one where everyone looked mostly good and no one looked awful. Gotta love kids and pictures!

After the good shot they got to make a silly shot again. Then they got the chocolate I bribed them with so I could take 500 pictures. Then we went to church.

Dan's Trip

Dan had a very good trip with the girls. He flew in and out of Salt Lake and drove down to visit his folks in Cedar City. Callie told me every time I called, that she was having "the best" time. And since she is smiling that huge smile in many a picture, I must assume it is true! They arrived home very late Tuesday night. Fortunately, all the Inauguration insanity was about over and the drive to the airport (at 10pm) was great. I met them at the gate and Callie was thrilled, but Delaney wasn't sure she knew me for a bit. They had plenty of time to run around while waiting for the baggage though. So, their trip was wonderful, their flights out and back were wonderful, and while we didn't get home till 11:30pm, all was well.

Here are some of the shots Dan took while he was away. Darn Blogger keeps putting them in our of order and I'm not in the mood to put them where they belong, so, in no particular order.....

The girls loved eating out with Daddy. They seemed to like everything about the trip with Daddy!

Ah, here they are on the airplane, on the way out. I had packed them little backpacks of fun stuff to do, and I guess they had a good time.

My brother in law and his family went to Utah to visit while Dan was there and here are their 3 girls, plus my 2. Grandma got them all matching dresses! Isn't she wonderful?! And aren't they cute?!

Here is Delaney with her gandma. She's being a helper! I'm not sure about that face though.

Nice faces! Dan took the girls to Salt Lake City.

Or, more specifically, he took them to Temple Square.

There was snow to play in and Callie was thrilled to meet a new cousin and to play in the snow. No, I didn't send them with any proper snow equipment! Dan only wanted to take one suitcase and keeping it under 50lbs was tough! So, no appropriate snow stuff.

Yay! This is them at the airport Tuesday night! I was so happy to see them, I got a little teary, which made Dan very amused. I missed my babies. Oh, and I missed Dan too! Now life is back to normal- messy and noisy and crazy! Just the way I like it.

Life with 2 children

I have been having a very good time with just Joshua and Marian. It is a little tough to feel the pressure of having to squeeze every drop of enjoyment out of this time, and there are so many things I haven't done still. I think the kids have been enjoying themselves. I think I mentioned I bought a cheap kiddie camera.... well, it takes cheap, kiddie shots. However, being the photo addict that I am, I have used it to provide you with cheap, kiddie quality pictures so you can see what we've been up to this week.

I didn't take this picture! I volunteered at Marian's school for art time in her class, and another mom came around and took pictures of everyone. This is Marian's dinosaur, made of clay.

(And as an update, that boy who told me Marian kicks and pushes.... well he also told me she bites and that she kicked him- from 5 feet away. Um, she does not bite, and I know she did not kick him, so now I think he was lying about all of it. Especially since her teacher says Marian does not kick, or push and she only sometimes says bathroom words, just like all the other kids. I felt better.)

Since we have a dishwasher now, I am happier to make the kids cocoa. Marian and Joshua both had cocoa with marshmallows, because we could!


Since it was just the 2 of them, I let them play with Play Doh. I know! I did! They had a great time and we went from 4 different colors down to 2- funky blueish and almost poo brown.

It was 11 degrees outside on Saturday. It was stinking cold. I let Marian wear whatever pants she wants when we're not going anywhere, and this was what she chose. Then she saw a cat outside and off she went. I made her come in and put on boots and a jacket, but those knobby knees were still bare.

This is Joshua's downstairs room. It is a Lego haven right now. Joshua had a slumber party with his friend Giovanni, and I think they put every lego on the floor and bed here.

Marian, after church. You may notice that for once, her ruby red sparkly shoes actually match her dress! Joshua has enjoyed leaving his legos all over the house without having to worry about them being destroyed by Callie and Delaney. He has even let Marian play with them. It has been a very quiet week here. A little lonely as well.

Hee hee hee for the Day

Yesterday I had a flat tire on the interstate. So I eased my car over to the shoulder of the road, carefully, got out of the car and opened the trunk. I took out 2 cardboard men, unfolded them and stood them at the rear of my car facing oncoming traffic. They look so life-like, you wouldn't believe it! They are in trench coats exposing their nude bodies and private parts to the approaching drivers.

To my surprise, cars started slowing down looking at my life-like men. And of course, traffic started backing up. Everybody tooted their horns and waved like crazy. It wasn't long before a state trooper pulled up behind me. He got out of his car and started walking toward me. I could tell he was not a happy camper!

"What's going on here?" the State Trooper asks.
"My car has a flat tire," I said calmly.
"Well, what are those obscene cardboard men doing here by the road?" he asked.

I couldn't believe that he didn't know. So I told him,
"Oh Hellooooo! Those are my emergency flashers!!"

(If you didn't realize by now, this did not happen to me; its a joke and I thought it was vastly amusing!)

Fun with Joshua and Marian

I decided that I needed to do fun stuff with Joshua and Marian, since Dan is having so much fun with Callie and Delaney. Callie told me on the phone that she was having the BEST time! Maybe just because she got to play in the snow. Well, Joshua had the best day yesterday. He told me so! I took the kids with me to the chirporactor and they did homework while I was adjusted. Then we went to Toys R Us, where Joshua blew all his months of saved allowance, and Christmas money on a Legos thing, and we wandered around the store and had a good time. Then we went to dinner at Chevy's (that was their choice). The floutas there are marvelous! And their salsa is phenomenal. And apparently that all makes for the best day ever.

At the toy store, I did find a kiddie camera on clearance, and I figured since Dan had our camera, I might need pictures too, so I sprung for this Tinkerbell camera. It is pretty crummy. I guess when you buy cheap, you get what you pay for! Still, Marian is thrilled that I let her play with it.

Today I went to the school and had lunch with the kids. Joshua has lunch right before Marian, so I bought lunch with him and then shared Marian's lunch with her. There is a huge difference between 2nd graders and kindergardeners! Joshua's group was loud and spent all of lunch messing with each other. Marian's table was delighted to have me there and loved talking to me. I was informed that she kicks and pushes kids and says bathroom words. Hmmmm.... that does sound like my girl!

I went to recess with her class after lunch and everyone wanted me to watch them. I felt like a celebrity! I used our crummy new camera and took some pictures of Marian doing what she likes best- the monkey bars.


Here is a very blurry shot of Marian and some girls from her class. They are lined up waiting to go out for recess.

Marian wanted a picture of her up on this bar. The other 2 kids wanted in on the shot as well.

Here she is, doing her thing! She is really good on all 4 different kinds of monkey bars that they have on their playground.

I know, the quality of picture is quite poor. But here's Marian again!

Highs and Lows

Today Dan left. He took Callie and Delaney and got on a plane and flew to Utah. He should have arrived about an hour ago, bu he hasn't called yet. I, of course, wonder how they were, did the girls have a hard time, how was the flight, are my babies happy.... Dan, of ocurse, will tell me it was fine and give me no details. that's probably what I need to hear!

I have been looking forward to this day for weeks. 10 days with no little ones. Just me and the big kids, who will go off to school and leave me with ZERO children to tend to. Now that this moment is here, I'm actually really sad. Every time I walk by Delaney's room, I want to cry. I miss my girls! This is much too depressing. I am suppose to be partying.

Well, I did take Joshua and Marian to the Zoo. It was really cold, but we had a good time. A lot of walking though. I liked the elephants the best. Marian was enthralled by the reptile house, which was pretty darn cool. She also liked the lions, cheetas, and tigers. Joshua seemed happy with everything, except my lack of snacks. So we hit McDonalds for a late lunch; there is one right by the Metro station.

And that's how I am. I must mention my computer though. It is on its way to a slow and agonizing death. I have backed up everything, which is good. I can no longer access hotmail, which is very bad. I can't check my email. I cannot send email. I am cut off from life! I figure I'll lose more internet access soon. I need to call Robert and get some help. I think I may have to format the hard drive, and I want a new computer. I want it now. Since Dan is gone......!

Happiness

There are a lot of things that make me happy. However, right now, Happiness is a dishwasher! I have a fabulous, beautiful new dishwasher! I am so filled with joy at this, that my mind cannot even grasp the idea that no longer must I stack everything in the sink and wait till I am out of silverware before I finally break down and wash it all. Now I can load up a machine and viola! It is done!


Yesterday, some very nice men from Lowe's came and removed the old one. This is the old dishwasher and the empty space it left under the sink. That was nice because it gave me the opportunity to rescue a spatula and 2 rolls of paper towels that had fallen down behind the fridge.

This is the new little beauty that the nice men brought up. I swooned.



Then they installed it for me, which was good, since I don't know that I would have been able to do it properly. Yay! Isn't it fabulous?! It looks so clean and nice. I love it!


And today we had Play Group at the church. Happiness for me because I get to chat; happiness for the kids because they got to play. And at the end of the Play Group, the kids were still running around like maniacs, and herding them out was tough. So I told my girls to go outside and splash in the puddles. They were delighted, and all the other kids ran out as well.

Here is Callie and her friends, having a ball! It has been raining for 2 days straight, and it actually wasn't really raining this second. (But it is again now.)

Check out Delaney! That's a high hop!

Callie and her friends in the big puddle. Look how wet their pants are! Shoes, socks, pants... all came off before we got in the car. I'll feel bad if any of them get sick from this!

Today, happiness is fun in the puddles and a mug of hot cocoa afterwards!

Bowling and Funny Faces

So, I have been reading, and doing little else that's not on the must-do list. Now I must make up for that. I took pictures, therefore, I am required to share. Fine, I don't HAVE to, but what's the point of having cute kids if you can't show everyone how adorable they are?

We went bowling on New Years day. The kids had fun for 10 minutes, then ditched the bowling for the arcade. Delaney and Callie hung around to bowl and it was successful enough. Delaney even bowled a strike (spare? Sorry, I bowl a 60 and think that's good, so of course I don't know the difference between a strike and a spare!). Here are shots of the fun.

Here is Joshua in one of the 3 frames he actually rolled the ball. He did enjoy it, but it was hard to compete with the arcade.

There's my big girl! That was one of the heavier balls too... Wait, maybe it was only the 9 pounder. This was right before she knocked out all the pins and won a free game!

Marian did pretty well. She liked bowling, but when Joshua called, she went running away to the video games.


Callie was a trooper! She bowled for Joshua and Marian and still asked if it was her turn! She had a good time.



And, I realized I had not taken a group shot in a while. Since church is now at 11am, we had plenty of time Sunday morning, and I made them sit for a picture. It took 8 shots and this is the best one.


I know. For the best one, its not too great. But it is better than the next one!

Yeah, I tell them they can make silly faces and this was what I get.