Monday, November 26, 2007

Bath Time!

So it's bath night. Jilli was supposed to go first, but Suzy had other plans. Mike went to go get a mountain dew out of the garage and left Suzy to visit with Jilli while she took her bath. When he returned, this is what we found. Yes, she is wearing pants, a onsie, her jacket, and socks. Praise the Lord we had at least taken off her shoes earlier. Good times.

Dad's Night

The twins are having a great time at preschool these days. Jillian is betrothed to a nice christian boy named Jack, although I believe that perhaps Ali may also be betrothed to Jack. This was the aspect of preschool that I was not expecting, but at least they are nice boys from christian families:) The girls had a very special night of preschool a few weeks ago. Daddy's night is a chance for all the dads to spend an hour with their kids at preschool and see what they do during their school days. (It is a co-op, but generally it's stay-at-home moms who do the working in the class. ) One of the neat things they did for Dad's night was to interview the kids during the preschool day about their dads. Here are Jilli and Ali's thoughts on their father.

Ali's Interview:
My dad's name is : Michael
My dad is 11 feet tall
He weighs 9 pounds
He has blue eyes and blonde hair
His favorite color is orange
His favorite food is chicken with sauce
His favorite TV program is football
My dad's job at work is a teacher
He helps mom at home when he: clean up the food
The thing my dad does best is: clean up the kitchen
The thing I enjoy doing the most with my dad is : play goldfish

Jilli's Interview:
My dad's name is Michael
My dad is 15 feet tall
He weighs 15 pounds
He has blue eyes and brown hair
His favorite color is red
His favorite food is red and green peppers
His favorite TV program is Jasmine
My dad's job at work is teaching students
He helps mom at home when he: holds the baby
The thing my dad does best is: works on the computer
The thing I enjoy doing the most with my dad is : I love him and I like to watch him tie my shoes.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Time to workout

The girls were playing in the guest room downstairs and Mike and I heard a very terrible thump. It was probably the only time we have both gone running at once. We burst forth into the room to see what had occurred, and scared the dickens out of the twins. They about screamed for their lives. Both were fine, I don't even remember what made the thump, but I certainly remember what they said next. "We thought you were bears!" Time for electrolysis or the stair machine I guess.

Look out sister!




Today the girls were playing a game called Lucky Duck. It was their first time playing with their new game (compliments of Nanny) and all three of them were very intent. Yes, even Suzy because this is a game of a moving stream with quacking sounds with lots of little rubber duckies. The twins were playing with Nanny and they had very nicely given Suzy a game piece and were letting her take turns (ie letting her grab random duckies and create log jams of duckies while the rest played the game). This was ok for a while, but then Suzy got a bee in her bonnet and began stealing Ali's pieces that she had collected out of the stream (collect 3 and you win). Suzy would grab them and hold them as far away from Ali as she could. She would turn her back on Ali with a quite gleeful look on her face. There was much commotion as we would take the pieces back and try to continue with the game. But Suzy was not to be satisfied and Jilli had finally had enough. THOSE ARE AAALLLLLIIIIIIIS! came the loudest holler I have heard out of my firstborn and I can tell you that everything in the room came to a stop. It was actually quite hilarious. Nanny couldn't help but chuckle and I'm looking at Mike like, should we even say anything about that because it's how we all felt and her sister was being a huge pain in the rear. Mike said as sternly as he could muster that we don't scream at Suzy because she is so little and doesn't know any better. However, I firmly believe that my ornery third child knew exactly what she was doing:)

Saturday, October 06, 2007

Motzerella

The girls have taken an interest in the story of their birth. So every morning on the way to preschool this week, I have been asked and have obliged to tell them the story of when they were born. Weds morning Jillian asked to hear the story of Suzy's birth when I was done with theirs. I told them that Suzy's birth was a little different because there was only one baby in my belly. Ali omits this huge and I mean HUGE gasp. "Oooh, poor Suzy!" and Jilli adds "She had no company, no friends!" It was incredibly sweet and just a reminder of how the twins see life a little differently than the rest of us singletons. There was consensus amongst all of the members of the vehicle that Suzy is now very happy to be out of Mommy's belly and have the company and friendship of her big sisters.

I have decided I love driving around with the girls in the Jeep. Especially the twins, they are at a fabulous age for discussions while we tootle around town. Today, my favorite passage came from Ali. Consider that we are singing along with the kids CD when all of a sudden....
"Mom, did I have Motzerella when I was a baby?"
What? Yeah, I mean, I guess. Not when you were a brand new baby, but after a while you're allowed to have cheese . Why?
" No momma, did I have Motzerella when I was a baby?"
What are you talking about Ali?
"Did I have Motzerella poopers like Suzy did today?"
ooooh, you mean Diaherrea?
"Yes, did i have diaherrea when I was a baby?"
Indeed they are both long and complicated words:)

My favorite mis-speaking of Jillians: underrupted. as in "Ali! You underrupted me! I was talking first!"

A little known fact to share... Suzy loves to body slam her sisters. If the girls lay down on the ground on their backs (for instance in the driveway to be traced with chalk), it is like a sonar beacon to Suzy who will arrive from wherever she was previously occupied and launch herself across their stomachs. She giggles and wiggles around there for quite some time, in fact she has never ended a session on her own.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

The Yeazels

For quite some time we have been hanging out with the Yeazel family. They are wonderful friends and we love them very much. In fact, they are so much a part of our daily lives that Ali's mispronunciation of their last name went unnoticed until a few weeks ago when Ali walked up to Mrs. Yeazel and, in trying to get her attention, she used her name. "Dayeazel". It took us a while to figure out how she got that one, but Mrs. The Yeazels finds her new name very cute.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Really?

We had a very interesting conversation with Jilli this morning. In the process of helping out an upset tummy, Mike gave her a peppermint and was telling her that her tummy knew the peppermint would help but that her brain needed to learn that information. Then he came up with the question, "Jilli, what does your brain look like?". To which Jilli had this reply.....

It's a bunch of teeny tiny little monsters (fingers demonstrating very tiny) who think and think and think until they decide and then the stroke in your belly goes away.

Now you know.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Suzy's ear thing

Something new about Suzy. We discovered it with ice cream first, but it works with ice water as well. When you give the girlie something cold to eat or drink, she pulls at her ears. "Is it cold Suz?" and she answers with a tug, tug, flappity flap. Every time.

The Dog

Ok, normally these posts are places to read the cute wonderful stories of my children. Well, to break with convention and simply because it has, and I mean MUST, be noted... this one is about the amazing lack of intelligence in our precious Cleo. She is a wonderful sweet and loving dog, couldn't be better with the kids. It's the screen door she has a problem with. This evening, once again, for the 8th time actually, the dog has tried to sprint outside through the screen door. While the words are leaving our mouths "wait for the....." the dog is running into the screen door. Tonight she actually took out the whole door. She kills me.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Little Prayers

Ali: Thank you God for all the things God gave us. Amen.

Jilli: Thank you God for making Ali get healthy and make Daddy happy forever. Make Mommy happy forever so she will not give us spankings. And thank you God for not letting the trees die or anything.

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

While I was blogging

Ali comes over wearing two beaded necklaces. She says "Mom, I love you. Would you like a necklace?" I say " That would be wonderful Ali. I would love a necklace." So Ali takes off one of her necklaces and says "Hold your hair up." and she fastens it around my neck. Then to top it off, she says "This means that you are special Mom. God made you special and I am special too because I have one. Jilli is mean. She has been mean to me all day long." and off she goes.

And don't let anyone tell you that an 11 month old doesn't know right from wrong. I busted Suzy in the kitchen with a bag of crackers she took off the girls table. Jumped a mile high when I said her name (just a sing-songy name, not even a "hey what cha doin" name) and began to shove the crackers in her mouth hand over fist.

Tootie Bum

It's the girls new insult. They made it up all by themselves. You're a tootie bum. Try it the next time you get in a fight with your hubby. :)

Sparkly World

There are a few small differences between growing up in the country and growing up in the city. When we had the girls, we naturally assumed we would move someplace more "country" since Mike and I both grew up in rural areas. Being a kid growing up in a city is something we know nothing about and as the parent, one wants to feel quite confident in their "all knowing" status. It's funny how God's plans differ from our own sometimes. We are beginning to appreciate the "city" side of living, and the girls are showing us the perks from their point of view as well. My favorite so far is "Sparkly World" (which is actually pronounced Spark-a-lee World). Whenever we are driving in the evening or in the dark, the girls are in awe of all the city lights in the distance. We never actually arrive in Sparkly World because city lights look their most sparkly from a little bit of a distance. But you are guaranteed at some point in the drive to hear "Look Mama! Sparkly World!" with just enough excitement to remind us that God has great blessings in store for us wherever we are.

Friday, March 23, 2007

where are you hiding?

Jillian comes into the kitchen and says "MOM! Ali put chapstick on something!" alrighty then.... guess it's time to figure out what the children have been up to. "Follow Me!" says the daughter who is in the right at this moment. so we wander into my bedroom where I see that there is a certain gleam to the bedside table which we all know has not come from my dusting or waxing of the furniture. scanning the room, one notices a certain lack of the defendent. "Ali! where are you hiding?" I call into the emptiness. and a very very small voice calls back "in the closet"so I head to the hall closet and sure enough on the second shelf up, curled into a tiny ball is my middle child. needless to say, she was not punished, but simply explained the proper use of chapstick (even though her hiding proved she knew right well how to use the chapstick in the first place) but some things are too funny to take seriously.


As I sit typing this, my Suzy is gleaming all over with the sheen of butter as I have decided she doesn't get enough fat in her diet and forgetting the slickery side effects of adding butter to her peas, I went ahead and did it. Now she is shiny from head to toe as 10 months old are wont to be as they eat by rubbing food into their pores vs putting it in their mouths. I am thinking of setting her on the ground and offering the twins a chocolate cookie for whoever can catch her first. aaaah the fodder for therapy when suzy is older.


and since it has been forever since I blogged, I will add one more story and press my luck with my attention elsewhere from my children for an additional moment. Last night we went for a walk around the neighborhood. One of our new favorite pastimes in the warming weather in the new neighborhood. The girls go on their bikes with their training wheels, suzy gets pushed in her comfy stroller and mike walks the dog. it's a nice arrangement, or so we thought. The girls have been pretty good about staying close, even though they are getting braver and going faster on their bikes. Last night however was a new story. We went down a new street which is very short and a culdesac. so we let the girls ride ahead of us as much as they wanted. (since there really was nowhere for them to go). Ali likes to ride fast. Jilli prefers to ride with "the rest of her family". Ali did well. she stopped at the end of the street and we let her ride back to the stop sign and she stopped and waited for us when she got there. she did the same at the next street as we headed toward home. the next street was cavalier and it turns left into Doepke which is our street. we all turned right together and headed off. ali started going a little faster and was soon about a half a block ahead of us. we assumed when she got to the end she would stop and wait. however, we neglected to remember our daughter's thought processes. There is no stop sign when the road turns left, so Ali did not stop. As she turned the corner and kept going, Mike started calling to her. We decided he would run after her and I would stay with Jilli. as mike sprinted off after Ali, Jilli became a little confused as now the "rest of her family" was split up. so she started following Mike. We became quite a long parade. Ali leading the way with Mike about 1/4 block after her and Jilli 1/4 block after him and Suzy and I pulling up the rear another 1/4 block behind Jilli. The thing to remember is that the training wheels on the bikes are Exceptionally Loud. So Ali never heard Mike yelling for her, at one point she did stop and look back only to discover that there was a great race going on and she was in the lead. This compelled her to go even faster much to Mike's aggravation. Needless to say Ali won. she lost her bike for 3 days as her reward (safety reasons required a punishment for this caper, no matter how funny I thought it was - please note that I had not sprinted the last two and 1/2 blocks home.)

well, i promise more Jilli stories next time. Ali's been on a run the last few days, but Jilli does hold her own I promise. Love you all!!