Say it with pictures...

Typical weekday morning...my kids LOVE dressing up, and I think it's great too!

I've been catching Owen being sweet on Baby Ginger quite a bit lately, it's so sweet. He wanted to hold her the other night...

We have MUCH sibling rivalry over these heels.

Made Lilly and her friend matching "pillowcase" dresses. They turned out really cute...after ripping out many, many seams. Next ones will be a cinch. Lilly put it on, said it was pretty, then said she wanted a purple one instead.

Ms mellow Baby Ginger, always happy as long as the scenery is changing..wonder where she gets that from?

Owen created his cowboy outfit all by himself. Took me a few days to realize Lilly's easter hat was his cowboy hat..until he asked me to take the ribbons off his cowboy hat...oh. And those would be his cowboy pants...aka mouse costume pants. Don't worry, I made him a REAL cowboy outfit since, that he loves! Still wearing that easter hat though...

Heard Owen yelling from the dining room "I'm a cheerleader!" No idea where he picked that up from but I love his creativitiy!

Funny girl with her funnies

A great big bro.

Grape stomping at the Montgomery food and wine festival...no food or wine for us, just hot, and the grapes felt great on my feet. If it was 20 degrees cooler and we didn't have 3 kids with us..oh what a day!

Train ride at the wine festival.

BABY GINGER!

Activity has picked up in our household. We just re-joined the YMCA and are having fun going there during the week. I like the exercise and the kids are doing pretty well in the child watch - I think they like getting out of the house too. I signed Lilly and I up for a mommy & me ballet class so we're looking forward to that! She literally screamed out of joy when I told her about it!

The twins are doing good at school and Owen is taking it much better and I think he really likes it because he really doesn't put up much of a fight anymore and it is short-lived.

We are still doing good on our no TV thing and getting stuff done. We do watch some TV, but don't have cable and it is probably only on a few nights a week, usually the weekend. I've been sewing, cleaning out closets and cabinets, and working on a long-overdue photo album. I haven't done a photo album since the twins were born...or really ever :( I decided doing it on Shutterfly was the way to go and am making progress. Hopefully I'll get caught up until now, and then I can be better about putting new pictures in regularly, rather than scrounging for three years worth of digital photos.

We've moved Ginger from our room into her crib finally, and she seems to be sleeping a little better, although definitely not great. She is still up SEVERAL times a night but this too shall pass. I end up sleeping in the bed in her room, but Paul at least is getting great sleep now! That's OK because he lets me sleep in every weekend :)

Ginger had her 4 month appointment last week and she is 26 inches long...that's the 95% for height! Guess she is going to take after her Daddy. She is doing great and big and healthy. She really is a mellow baby and pretty happy most of the time. I've figured out that she likes to see what's going on...one of those girls who doesn't want to miss anything. As long as she has something to watch, she's pretty happy. I plop her down on the floor for the twin's story time at the library and she is happy as can be watching everything going on.

We are doing great, and still waiting on that fall weather...grrr...It was 97 with a heat index of 104 today...so much for my plans to make banana bread....just doesn't feel right!

School!

This was the week I have been waiting for, for a long time! SCHOOL! It's only one day a week, for 5.5 hours, but I'm not complaining. We got to go to a meet the teacher last week, so that really helped Lilly & Owen adjust to the new place and their teacher. Owen didn't cry AT ALL and was excited to go see Miss Debbie and the playground, and even wants to go back next week! If anyone remembers, he cried EVERY Tuesday all last spring, from the moment we left the driveway, so this is a big improvement! I tried to get a cute picture of them together with their backpacks etc, but you can probably guess how that went...







While the twins were napping yesterday, I had a fun little photo session with Ginger since she was looking especially cute :)







Last but not least, my little musicians had an impromptu jam session the other day, and then turned into a marching band...can you tell they take after mommy? I love that they love music, and are so creative! Hmmm, if the professional golf thing doesn't work out, maybe we have the next Jonas Brothers (have to change the name) on our hands, hehehe.

A Chill in the air???

Ok, well there's definitely not a chill in this Houston air, but by this time in the summer, I like to convince myself that it's just around the corner, even though realistically we'll still be running the AC at Thanksgiving... The temperatures have dipped just enough to make playing outside a little more feasible, so we've enjoyed doing that this week, and are officially settled in from our 3 week vacation to upstate New York. Whenever we get back from the cottage, we always spend the next few weeks scheming about how we would be able to spend even more time up there in the cool air and in the river, the next year....

Paul and I are on quite the kick around the house at the moment. We are tearing all our drawers, cabinets, closets apart, and getting rid of STUFF. How on earth we collect so much of it always amazes me, but it feels so good to be getting rid of it. We will be having a HUGE garage sale just as soon as that chill really is in the air!

After we tackle that project, it's on to painting the outside trim and working on our landscaping. Eventually this house will look the way we have always intended it to!

In other news, I've had lots of fun putting together a nursery for Ginger. She is still sleeping in our room at the moment, but I'm hoping to try putting her upstairs in her own room very soon. I'll be posting pics of the finished project just as soon as it's finished. It's fun to get to be girly since I couldn't do that with the twins...although I suspect one little two year old girl I know might get a little jealous when she sees it...

Oh, and besides football season for Paul, the other best thing about this time of year.........SCHOOL! Or preschool, mother's day out, whatever you want to call it, it's happening in one week! The twins will only go one day a week, but boy is it a great day! I'm really hoping Owen does better this year than last spring. They are going to a new school so that's not going to help, but hopefully him being a little older will help. He always says "no school mommy" everytime he hears me mention something about it in passing :(

That's it for now, I'm off to clean out something! But here's some pictures:

Two little monkeys...

Budding artist.

Anytime is the right time to be a princess with a magic wand!

We went to a "touch a truck" event last weekend. Kids are allowed to get on all sorts of big trucks...this was an ambulance. Lots of fun but WAY TOO HOT!

Owen LOVES school buses!

Miss Ginger in her bumbo. She rolled over this week!

Cottage Days...

It's Monday afternoon and Paul and I are sitting in Clayton's only coffee shop, "downtown." This is the first time I've had real internet access in the 12 days we've been up here so far! His parents have dial-up at the cottage...it's not even worth the effort getting on, I can't believe people still have that.

Anyways we are having a good time and enjoy the weather...highs in the high 70's most days...don't hate me. Enjoy our picture show. I have to go now..I actually had to pay for this real internet access, and my time is up...plus there are more ice cream cones to be eaten and boats to be driven :)

Lilly

All about Lilly

I thought it would be fun to spotlight each of my tots, so of course, I must start with the oldest, even if it is only by a minute!

Full Name
Lilly Sue

Height
35 inches?

Weight
about 28 lbs

Favorite Foods
Strawberries, grapes, watermelon, milk, yogurt, french fries & ketchup, noodles, raisins, & ice cream to name a few

Favorite Show
Dora the Explorer

Favorite Activities
Reading Books, Playing dress up - especially wearing heels, Playing in the water, Singing, Dancing, Acting like she's a baby, baking pretend cakes and making you blow out the candles

Current Favorite Accessory
Magic Cape (aka red bandana) and her wand. She wore her cape to CVS the other day, announcing so that all could hear "look mommy, I'm flying!"

Current Favorite Book
Princess Baby!

Favorite Word
Mine!

Signature Move
the throw down
(hands in her face, head in her lap, immediate tears, or pretend crying, anytime something doesn't go her way)

Potty Training Status
has pooped and peed many times in the potty, but not that interested
loves the Dora underwear we got her, but it's purpose doesn't seem to be clicking quite yet

Lilly, our first born. I'd have to say she is definitely the epitome of a drama queen and girly girl, which can be both good and bad. But she's also the first one to grab at a frog or worm long before brother would. She is simply fearless. And stubborn. And definitely knows what she wants! She is so very sweet and thoughtful too. She is constantly telling everyone and everything "I love you" and always makes sure that Owen has his book for bedtime.

I love walking into the room and being greeting with a "good morning mommy" :) Lilly loves to wear pretty clothes and loves to accessorize, she gets much more wear out of my heels than I do. Jewelry, hats, headbands - she loves it all! I had an impromptu moment last week when I decided to paint her toe nails for the first time....after I started and she realized what I was doing, she kept saying "thank you mommy, thank you mommy, thanks"....and then, of course..."do hands, do hands!"

Lilly definitely got Daddy's clean gene. She gets very concerned if she or Owen accidentally makes a mess, and has been known to go and get a towel, etc and clean something up without even being asked. Pretty good for not even 2.5! She'll also put her clothes in the laundry room without being asked.

I can't imagine life without this little girl, and I know she will keep us on our toes for a long time!

getting a pedi...

In other news, our great friend "uncle" Mikey came to visit us this weekend. Unfortunately I'm on a roll and again too no pictures of his visit. But we had a great time! We went and let the twins play in the fountains, ate lots of good food, played some pool, and had a great time! Owen has been asking to go to Mikey's house all day....Mikey lives in Dallas. Thanks for the visit Mike!

Our cooking class for the week. We tried out the bread machine we borrowed from LaLa and made some zucchini bread. These kids, especially Owen love to help cook. Anytime he thinks I might be making something, he tries to drag the chair over the counter and has a fit until he gets to do something...I've always said this kid is going to be a chef!...or a rockstar.

I've been trying to make an effort with the potty training. They have both used the potty on numerous occasions, but aren't particualary interested in it. I'm not sure if they're really ready or not, but I am! Three in diapers is a little much.


We are eagerly counting down the days until vacation to upstate New York. We can't wait to escape the heat and be outside and on the river! 10 more days!

Ginger and my other babies.

It's the end of another week. Paul had the day off so we made an exursion to the Children's Musuem at the mall...and all that fun stuff. Now Paul has a better idea of what the kids and I are up to on some days. I think he had a good time but not sure he's ready to be Mr. Mom any time soon.

Baby Ginger is 5 weeks old today and still all over the place with her sleep She's not getting enough of it, I'm sure. I keep reading about other babies the same age that sleep 5,6,7,8 hours in a row at night...and take a few 3-4 hour naps during the day. Do these babies really exist? If I have had 3 babies now, shouldn't I have at least gotten one baby like that??? I still haven't figured out how you're supposed to get a newborn to sleep with two constantly-shreiking 2 year olds. I'm open to suggestions :)

The twins are doing OK with Ginger. Most of the time they are indifferent to her, although I'm starting to see a little reaction from Lilly. For instance, Lilly now calls herself a baby, asks to be fed and rocked quite frequently, and is constantly wanting her binky - something she hasn't used in two years. I'm trying to indulge her a little bit, but I have to say it's getting old. One funny thing is that Ginger is exclusively breastfed, yet both kids now drink from baby bottles on a regular basis. Note bottles and binky in picture below. Ginger has 4 binkies and I'm lucky to find one most days - not because I am losing them, but because I have two pint-sized binky theives, ugh!

I don't beleive it has rained since before Ginger was born..so for over a month now. So Mommy made rain!

I can already tell Ginger is going to be another Daddy's girl. She smiles and "giggles" for him already! She just started smiling this week, and it's adorable!

So I got brave and let the kids do some "cooking" last week. I got that Monkey Munch recipe from the Jon & Kate show to make (which incidentally, the recipe is also on the side of the Chex box -who knew?). I waited until Daddy got home for backup. We let the kids stir the melted peanut butter and chocolate into the chex, and even shake the powdered sugar bag. They were quite proud of themselves. They were not so happy when I did not let them eat ALL of it in one sitting.

This is what we wish Ginger did more of. But this week was definitely better than last!

My happy girl!

I hope everyone has a happy 4th! We don't have any grand plans but hope to take a trip to our neighbors pool again. And sleep.