When the babies* are at Nana's House. . .

. . . the rest of us can go SNOWSHOEING!  Have you ever done this?  It's incredibly fun.

 You can hang on a branch.

 You can model your stunning borrowed (the girls') or military surplus (mine and John's) footwear.

 You can pose in front of the gorgeous Uintah Mountain scenery.

 And you can fall on your duff again and again and again.  Favorite quote of the day, "Quit whining, Mimi, and just use your claws."  (This from Liv, referring to the crampon on the bottom of the snowshoe.)

We'll definitely have to get some kids' snowshoes of our own and do this again.  Does anyone want to join us?
*Bella hates it when we refer to her as one of the babies.

Some of our favorite things

Maddie's favorite activity is to shove as many little pebbles down the drain as possible.  When they have to bring a super-industrial vacuum to the hospital parking lot to get those babies out, I'm pretty sure they are going to present me with a bill.

 This tree is the favorite play spot for my big girls.  Zoom in, and you'll see several interesting things.  First:  the treehouse in the bottom.  My fun-loving mother-in-law cleared that space out and hung some small swings as a we thought it would be make-shift, but it turned out to be awesome little house.

 Second, two girls near the top of the tree.  And yes, that is the power line across the photo, just to give you a sense of how high they are.  (They're at least 25 feet from the power line in horizontal distance, but they are definitely higher.)

 And about halfway down, you'll find the third interesting thing:  Bella--doing what her sisters are doing.  Only I've had to put my foot down about how high she's allowed to climb.

And to think, I thought pine trees were only good at Christmas time.

Happy Birthday to Me!

This year I was super lucky on my birthday because there was a new performance group in town.  I mean, really new.  They'd only ever done small gigs before--nothing big-time like my birthday.  But they agreed to do it, in full costume, just for me.  (Because I'm awesome like that.  And because they love me so much.)

You can see how they were interpreting nature through their costumes--channeling flowers with the head tutus and goggles.  

 This smallest performer was both enchanting and energetic.

 I think this oldest performer had been moonlighting as a make-up artist.  I loved the judicious application of lipstain on all the participants.

 There was acting, and singing, and many happy birthday wishes.

 I was especially enchanted by their original musical compositions--songs about flowers and growing.   The harmonies were novel and interesting, almost atonal in nature.

 Plus, again, I have to say:  I just can't resist tutus on heads.  They could have just walked around the room, and I would have been thrilled.

Happy Birthday to me!

Colorful Recital

All right.  I'm trying to pull myself together and be a regular blogger again.  June's goal:  Blog every stinkin' day. Let's see how that goes.

At the beginning of the year, Olivia signed up for art class and Naomi joined Miss Heather's dance classes.  Can I pause here for a moment to sing Miss Heather's praises?  Miss Heather is a "big picture" woman.  To me, a very literal, very small-picture, very step-by-step person, her productions are an absolute wonder.  She thinks on a grand scale--big themes, big group movements, big music.  (And can I pause for a moment again to sing her husband's praises?  He's the detail-oriented guy that puts it all together.)

So Mimi's spring concert was based on the book "Red Sings From Treetops" by Joyce Sidman, and Naomi's class were the redbirds that started the whole thing off.  I loved their red costumes.  

 So did Mimi. She felt extraordinarily beautiful in her red leotard and tutu.  And then she remembered the hair feathers and, no joke, squealed with the delight of it all.

I love the music Miss Heather picked for all the dances--only instrumental, and quite emotionally moving.  As a girl who never used to cry, I was a little embarrassed to find myself with tears in my eyes.



Granted, those tears may just have been because I could not believe that long-legged blond dancer was my little Mimi.  Crazy that they grow up so fast.

Lucky Number Seven!

We started Naomi's birthday with an idea I found somewhere on the blogosphere, running through the crepe paper barrier.

She loved it.  (Please ignore the honest pictures of the messy room.)

My sister Annie joined us for polka-dotted presents and hamburgers, Naomi's favorite.

We followed up with a teeny-tiny party.  This is quite possibly the easiest birthday party theme on the planet.  Make teeny tiny food, turn traditional party games (bingo, pin the tail on the donkey, don't eat pete, treasure hunt, bowling, etc.) into their teeny-tiny counterparts, and send out teeny tiny invitations.  Perfect. 

 I used the three ounce cups from Wal-Mart and cut regular straws into teeny-tiny straws.  Buying mini vanilla wafers and mini Chips Ahoy cookies saved me tons of time, and the kids loved it.

 I wish I had taken video of ten kids (including five boys) in my teeny-tiny house for the two hours of the party.  I laughed nearly constantly over the chaos.  I always thought I'd be a boy mom, but it turns out I have forgotten how crazy boy parties can be.  Whew!

So, Happy Birthday, my favorite second child.  I can't believe you've grown from this. . .

. . .to this. . .

. . . to this. . .

. . . to this . . .

. . . to this.

First Day of School

 The first day of school was as exciting as always.  The girls received outfits from Nana the very day before school, and they were immediately picked as the favorites.  (My girls have thoroughly embraced the maxi trend.  So comfortable.)

 Naomi is in first grade, and loves it.  Her teacher is friendly and organized and perfect.

 Olivia is in 3rd grade (which is in a different school here in Roosevelt--weird), and she also has a fantastic teacher.  Plus, two of the girls from her Primary class are in her school class.  How lucky can you get?

 Bella wanted to join in the "getting dressed" event, so she ran to put on her Dora swimsuit.  You really can't go wrong with a Dora swimsuit for any occasion.

 Classic backpack shot.  Am I a bad mom because my kids are using their same backpacks from last year?  (And actually, these same backpacks were used for half a year the year before that.  Not so sparkling clean anymore, but still functional, still in use.  Just call me Cheapskate McGee.)

 This is the point at which Bella realized she was not actually going to school with her sisters.  Can you guess her attitude about that revelation?

 Luckily for us, John and Olivia can walk together since her school is right by the hospital.  And Mimi has a first grade buddy just two houses away, so we can carpool too.

 I love that they have school and friends and learning again, but I really miss my big girls.  It's sad how much I look forward to 3:00 every afternoon.

Quotes from Silly Little Girls

Scenario #1:

My sister Annie was playing tea party with the girls, and it came down to the favorite little girl pasttime of making wishes.  My little cousin Elli mentioned that she wanted a prince to come and marry her.  Mimi squealed with delight, saying, "Me too.  And I want him to kiss me."

Then it was Olivia's turn.  She said, "I wish that people would just stop changing their plans.  I HATE it when people change their plans."

Doesn't that just illustrate the difference between the girls?  Mimi in the clouds.  Olivia worried about concrete annoyances.  I love them.

Scenario #2:

Mimi and Bella went outside while I was making dinner and played in the huge dust pile created by all the construction vehicles that pass by our house every day.  They came back inside absolutely filthy, and I told them they had to take a bath.  Later, I heard Bella shrieking from the bathroom.  Mimi dealt with the shrieking by saying, "Bella, I have to wash your hair.  Don't you want me to wash you hair?"
Bella:  NO!  I don't want you to wash my hair.
Mimi:  Bella, would you cry if Jesus was washing your hair?

Bella:  I would still cry.  Even if Jesus was washing my hair.

Just call her "Gappy!"

Did we all think we might die if Mimi didn't lose a tooth soon?  Well. . . no.  But did MIMI think she might die if she didn't lose a tooth soon?  Yes.  And that darn lower right tooth has been a teeny bit loose since October.  Even with all of Mimi's vigorous wigglings, that thing just wasn't getting any looser.  So, she decided drastic action was called for so she could lose it before school was out.  Monday night she brought me a spool of thread and said she wanted me to pull her tooth out.  I gave the usual warnings about it not being quite ready, but she said she just wanted me to pull really hard.  

I tied that string on, pulled really hard, and (in Mimi's words) "just made my tooth bleed."  But now it was loose.  Really loose.

 So, the next day, when I showed up at her kindergarten class to help with field day, she was complaining about how the pizza party pizza was hurting her tooth.  And we all know how well I deal with complaining.  My solution?  "Let's just go into the bathroom and pop that sucker out."  Which we did.

Two seconds of sobbing, 10 days (so far) of elation.  There are just so many cool things you can do with a hole in your smile.

How to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies

How to Make Coclit Cip Cooce by Naomi

 1. Ccolit cips (chocolate chips)
Bol (Bowl)
Spon (Spoon)
Musen (Machine)
Get bol and spon and coclit cips and flawr (flour) and milk and sugr (sugar) and str it turnt up (stir it turned up).

 2.  Do (dough)
Pan
Spoon
Get owt pan and str with scopr (scooper).  Dow (dough) is opt (out). Het (heat) up ovin (oven).

 3.  Put it in ovin for 15 minits (minutes).  Aftr, get it awt.  (Out).

Just in case any of you were looking for a good new recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  This looks like the one to try.

The Three Piggie Opera

The kindergarten class has a fantastic tradition of putting on an opera, a "Three Piggie Opera", at the end of every school year.  I don't know who wrote the opera, but it's darling.  Naomi was the closer, which means she was the one to say, "Thank you for coming to the 'Three Piggie Opera.'"  Obviously, that is the most important part in the whole pageant.

Because I forgot my camera, I don't have any footage of the actual event, but I have these recaps performed by Naomi on her own.  Here is the song that the parents sing to the piggies before they leave home:


And here is the song the piggies sing to the wolf.


It's sad to think that my other two girls won't get a chance to sing these songs.  We've sung the wolf's song ("I want a big . . .  fat . . . pig to eat, I want a big . . . fat . . . pig to eat.") for over two years now, especially when there is any pork product on the table.

The Best Part of my Day

 2:43 p.m. Every school day.
I love this face.

 And this face.  (I can't aim my camera)

 And this crazy fashion sense.*

 I had big plans.  We were going to happily work on a fun spring project.  (One of these.)  The house would smell of cookies and sunlight and I would bustle about my perfectly clean house in a smile and a fantastic apron.

My girls would smile and laugh and helpfully help each other and Maddie would play quietly on the floor next to us and Bella would never even dream of cutting her shirt with the scissors or touching buttons on the Cricut or having meltdowns every three minutes or poking herself with the pins or demanding more cheese sticks.  

Well, at least the wreath got done.  And I never actually yelled.  Success!  It's still my favorite time of the day.

*Sidenote:  Olivia's teacher asked me, as I was volunteering at the book sale, if I was "responsible for Olivia's unique sense of style."  (You can tell she thought that question through for a while before she decided on the least offensive wording.)  I told her that Olivia was entirely at the helm of her own fashion boat, and I just tried to make sure the clothes were clean when they left my house in the morning.  The fantastic combinations of elements are pure Liv.  

Christmas Concert

Our school puts on the cutest Christmas concert in a church building every year.  It's one of my Christmas highlights.  

I love getting my daughters in their Christmas finery.  (Naomi's dress was sewn start to finish in that day.  I hate how events often creep up on me and end in a sewing frenzy.  Note to self:  Don't do that next year.)

 "Must Be Santa" was sung, complete with props and hand motions.

 I love kindergarteners.

 "Who's got a beard that's long and white?"

 The older kids sat further away for their part of the concert, which made photography more difficult.

 However, they weren't far enough away for us to miss Olivia's solemn faces of concern,

 anxiety,

 and confusion.  I love that girl.

 Yet another thing I'm going to miss about South Bend.