Right Now:)

Here's some things that I LOVE about life right now:

• All three kids sing together in the car
• That we can successfully go to the library (and not get kicked out!)
• Seth is taking longer naps than ever, and Abby and Haley are getting really good at quiet time
• Haley wants to pick out outfits to match mine
• They love being read to
• After Abby screams at or is rude to Carey or I, she comes back later with a sweet, sincere apology
• Haley and Seth are total buddies
• Both girls can play independently for quite a while
• I have "special time" with each of the girls separately in the mornings, and it's so fun
• At any given moment, Haley, Abby, or Seth will say "ready... 1, 2, 3" and they will all burst out laughing:)

Oh, I know there are more, I just can't think of them at the moment:)

Swimming Lessons

The girls have started swim lessons and are LOVING it. Yesterday I told them they only have three days left and they both cried "NOOOOOOOO"! They are doing really well, and by the third day were going across the shallow end with a kickboard, keeping their faces in the water the whole way! It's really amazing how much they've learned so quickly. Now, if they could just realized that they still have more to learn, that would be great (they've been having a hard time listening to their teacher, because they are so confident in their new skills)!

Wonderful Week

This past week has been so wonderful.  First of all, on Sunday I prayed that I would get to sleep through the night more often than not and slept through Sunday, Monday (yep, two in a row), and Thursday nights.

Monday, we took the kids to Happy Hollow (Grandma Jackie came with us) and had a really fun time.  It was pretty mellow there and the girls got to go on LOTS of rides (thanks to having 3 adults there), which we usually can't do.

Danny the dragon, which Seth did not enjoy!

Seth being really nervous on Danny the Dragon.

The rest of the week was really normal, but just fun.  The kids and I just had fun playing at home and the park and running errands.  Seth started saying "look at me, mom".  We picked out super fun books at the library.  Haley hopped out of the car, wearing her fairy wings, saying "ladies and gentlemen, here comes the fairy."  Abby got a terrible stubbed toe, which she's been telling everyone about (I got a really bad stubbed toe, and a big piece of skin came off).  Oh, another great thing was that I changed our dinner schedule a little bit.  The kids always start asking for food around 4:00, and I would give them some little snacks, trying to hold them over until dinner an hour or so later when Carey gets home.  Then, at dinner, they weren't eating, and, worst of all, Haley and Abby were waking up in the middle of the night saying they were hungry and begging for food.  So, this week I started giving them more substantial food at 4:00 and snacky food when we all sit down together at "dinner time". 

 Eating tofu cubes, watermelon cubes, cheese cubes and frozen mango chunks on frilly toothpicks!

Today, we took the kids to their first play.  We saw "Frog And Toad Through The Year" with a cast of kids 4-8 years old.  It was adorable and all three kids did really good (thanks to Auntie Laura coming with us, they each had a lap to sit on).

Haley, standing next to some of the stage props from the play!

Sneaky

Well, this evening while Abby was taking a bath and Haley was vacuuming the van, Carey asked me where Seth was.  I told him he was in the bathroom talking to Abby.  We went and checked on them to find this:

4th Of July

Well, our 4th of July was sort of a dud this year.  It started off with three kids waking up WAY over-tired and pretty much constantly crying/screaming and throwing fits straight out of bed:(  I took them out for a drive, so that a) Daddy could sleep and b) they would be strapped into their carseats.  We stopped and got donuts (only because it's tradition...they certainly did NOT deserve donuts this morning).  

 
We went home and had donuts, watched some shows, and got ready to go to our worship gathering.  The original plan had been to go to the Aptos parade, but then Carey and I both ended up having responsibilities at the worship gathering.  It was a foggy day, we missed the parade, and the kids were all REALLY tired and crabby.  The best part of our 4th of July this year was definitely the kids adorable outfits!

Poison Control:)

This afternoon while we were all at my parents' house, Haley and Abby came running into the house, spitting and making weird noises and scratching at their tongues.  It took a minute to figure out what was going on.  I noticed that Haley was holding an odd looking pod-like plant thing and that there were a few pods that had been picked off.  I asked them if they had eaten it and they both admitted that they had.  We followed them in the yard to see what on earth it was, because I wanted to call poison control, but first we had to figure out what they had eaten.  Turns out it was calla lily seed pods and that Abby had thought they looked like corn!  They just kept scraping their tongues and spitting!

After a call to poison control I learned that calla lily seed pods have little crystals on them that can irritate the mouth and tongue (hence the spitting and scraping).  She said that it may cause vomiting, especially for the child who had eaten two* (Haley).  We were supposed to have them drink a glass of milk and watch for any swelling of the tongue.  

Later, I asked Abby if she had learned a lesson and she told me that she learned that, next time, if she sees those "alla dahlias" (kind of like calla lily!) she would ask a grown up if she could eat one!

Haley and the seed pod!

Abby's non-swollen, yet very itchy tongue!

Haley's tongue!

Abby was trying to hold her milk in her mouth as long as possible to help it feel better!

*Abby ate one and Haley ate two.  When Haley told me that she ate two, I burst out laughing (I had just finished a glass of wine).  Why on earth would she have eaten two when they were so gross?!

Nail Polish...oh my!

I let the girls paint their own toes and fingernails for the first time today.  Oh boy was it fun!  They glopped on just about every color I have, and sat quietly doing it for about a half an hour (until I couldn't take it any more).  Seth really wanted me to paint his toes too, and, since daddy was in the shower and wasn't there to stop me, I did!  He chose blue, red, and white (how patriotic of him).  Then he kept lifting up one leg saying "look, mommy"!  Daddy wasn't so thrilled when he showed him ("look, daddy").  

Happy girls:)

"look at this finger, mom"!

Haley's finished toes!  

Abby's finished product!  

I know you can't really see the color, but it's on there!