Little ballerinas

The day finally arrive. The first day of ballet. Rena started last January and she really enjoyed it. It was all I could do to keep Riley out of class. She wanted to do it so badly. Rachel just wanted to run around the ballet studio.

So all 3 are signed up for this year. It's schedule runs the same as a school year. Actually, the twins aren't quite old enough to be in class...they miss it by 5 days...but for the most part you'd never know.

Rena's class has added tap and I think she really likes that. The twins are strictly ballet. Riley loves it and just glows when she's there. Rachel hasn't made it through a whole class yet. No surprise. She tends to be a little more free spirited.

The cleaning frenzy continues.

It only makes since that since I’m about 6 months behind on everything I do, I’d be spring cleaning now. And boy have I been cleaning. I actually vacuumed my bedroom and hall this morning. It sounds easy, but if you knew how much crap had to be picked up before the vacuuming could occur you’d be amazed. The girls scattered like feral cats as the vacuum closed in on them. I think they think I could suck them up. Some days I would if I could. Perhaps if I could contain them in that little vacuum bag the rest of the house cleaning could be done much faster.

Nixie is making the whole culling of the toys a little easier. A few weeks ago she eviscerated Shrek and yesterday while I was trying to get a few quiet moments to read the latest David Sedaris book, Spongebob met his maker. Both times it looked as if it had snowed in my living room and entry.

This morning the girls are playing doctor. So far I haven’t had to explain anything. It’s so nice to watch them play together. I’m sure we’ll be spending lots of time outside today. We’ve been ‘rained’ in for days now. Trust me, that’s not a complaint. Bring on the rain…just not on the 6th. That’s the girls’ outdoor birthday party. Strange that when you’re in a serious drought you don’t have to give any thought to things like that…or muddy dogs.

Back to cleaning.

Cleaning frenzy

I have been in a cleaning frenzy lately. You'd never know it to look at my house though. A clean space around here last about 2.7 seconds and that's it. For example, 2.7 seconds after I mopped the kitchen floor, Riley spilled her entire cup of milk on it. 2.7 seconds after I cleaned the bathroom floor, Rachel peed on it. yea!





So I've spent allllllll morning cleaning my upstairs. Not the whole upstairs either. Just the bathroom and I've been doing laundry. It's 3:00! My word. Of course most of the time I've been cleaning, the girls have been un-cleaning. I did put them to work cleaning some stuff up here. It's not been a fun day for them. They've kinda been left on their own while I've been knee deep in all this crap.





Of course I haven't even thought about the downstairs.





But now, it's naptime. Nice quiet peaceful naptime. Shhhhh!

The tooth fairy strikes again!

Well, Rena lost another tooth last week....or was it the week before? Man, all my days are running together. Anyway she lost it outside last Sunday night while we were hanging out outside with some friends. The toothfairy did not dissappoint! I can't believe this kid is only 4 and has lost 2 teeth already!

Here she is with the first tooth gone.

And the first visit from the tooth fairy at Uncle Randy's house.

A warning for dog owners

I love my dogs. Anyone who knows me knows that. Right now we have 2. Just a few years ago we had 4. 4 dogs is alot. (side note... as I typed that last sentence I kept hitting 'shift' and the number 4 which gave me this...$. I did this 4 times before I got it right. Then after the word alot, I typed money. Subliminal mind at work!) Anywho...I just came across this story. Please go check it out and be careful with your animals. For all the softies who are afraid to go read that, the dog lives. But I didn't watch any of the videos.

http://thechaistory.blogspot.com/2008/08/chai-story.html

Bowlin' ,Bowlin',Bowlin'

I got together with one of the mother's from preschool and we decided to take the girls bowling. It was the first time we had been and the girls had fun. All together there were 3 of us from Rena's class. I have to say I love the bowling shoes. I can't believe I didn't get them in this picture.

Rena really enjoyed bowling and she was pretty good at it.

Riley enjoyed it for awhile...then she changed back into her regular shoes

Rachel started off excited.

But naptime quickly prevailed.

Rena was the ball.

Mystery Solved

And so quickly! I found the dress. Yea! Kind of. If you could see this thing, you'd wonder why I don't just throw it away. Riley was very happy to see it and wore it to dinner last night. Funny little fart. She was STILL blaming Nixie. I wonder just how it got lost in the first place. I'm not naming any names, now, but maybe, just maybe, it was a male who lives in our house...no, not Max. Oh, you want to know where I found it? Short answer....in a box.

Here's the long answer. A few days ago...ok, really it was months...I packed up ALL of the girls toys and put them in those clear storage boxes. Then I left them in the dining room to marinate. There were over 8 boxes worth of toys and things. Ridiculous. I would have sold them all right then...if I was having a yard sale...but I wasn't. So there they sat. The problem is there are some really good toys packed up. Most of them are age appropriate, so I don't want to get rid of them. So then I had my carpet cleaned and I moved the boxes to the entryway. Perfectly acceptable place. No one comes to visit us anyway. Anywhoo, that kind of 'organization' was bothering Blair, so he moved them all into the formal living room a.k.a. former playroom. Well, they haven't been bothering anyone in there because we never use that room. But one day, that room will be mine.

So, Thursday I drug a rocking chair down from my bedroom so I could sit in there all by myself. And I did. And I noticed in the bottom of one of the boxes on the bottom was the pwincess dwess. I was so excited!

Unfortunately, that's not all I noticed. We were having a thunderstorm with lots of rain and as I sat in the never-used-room in the rare quiet moment, I realized it sounded like it was raining inside. And so it was.

I would love to say that I was shocked the window was leaking. Surprised even. But I'm not. We must have gotten the crappiest house builder in all of Georgie. His name is Alex Tetterton and he's with Northridge Homes, just in case you are wondering. My problems with this builder and this house,would more than fill up a book, so I won't go into it. But suffice it to say I REALLY think I could have done a better job myself.

Anyway, all's well that ends well and my girl is happy to have her dress back!

She Can Swim!

Riley is going to be a natural swimmer. When Rena was taking swimming lessons a year and a half ago, Riley got in the pool, grabbed a noodled and swam away. In our neighborhood pool LAST summer, she would take off her swimmy and jump in. No fear,I tell ya! So, we've been doing alot of swimming lately and we let the girls practice without their swimmies. At first, they were both hesitant, but it didn't take them long to enjoy the experience. While both Rachel and Riley could keep their heads above it was Riley that really could do it with ease. Once she realized that we weren't going to 'catch' her, she'd stick her face in the water, her butt would come up and off she'd go. She is FAST too. It's fun to watch her swim because it comes so naturally to her.

Smarties

Rachel, who will be 3 a month from today, knows ALL of her capital letter and these lowercase letters: w e y u o i p s j k x v m
I am amazed.

Rena know's all of her uppercase letter too and these lowercase letters: a s f j k w e r y o i z x c v . She'll be 4 in October.

Riley, who will also be 3 in a month, knows these uppercase letters: H P O I U Y R E W B M and these lowercase letters: w r y i o k p(knows sound)

Those letter and sounds came very easily for Rachel. Rena had to work on it. Riley has alot of pressure on her to learn them. I'm so proud of them all.

Big Mystery

Notice anything similar in these pictures?

The dress. 'my pwincess dwess'. It's missing. It's been gone a month. Where could it be? I haven't a clue, but she wants another one. This was her version of a lovey...aside from me. If she wasn't wearing it, she was sleeping with it. Maybe it'll turn up. Rena's 'buda' did after a period of MIA. It's a mystery to me.

Summer Trip - Third and Last Stop - Wilmington

So, we headed back down the coast of North Carolina for our final stop on the summer trip - my brother's house. This is a busy household. Randy and Carlyn have 2 teenage boys, Ryan and Mason. Plus they have tons of friends that are always stopping by. I love being here. I know lots of their friends and I always feel welcomed here. They live near the marina where they keep their boat and going 'over to the island' is my all time favorite summer thing to do.

Blair and I parted ways about 2 hours into this trip because, really, it's a workweek for him. So I have the 3 girls and the 2 dogs. My father met us at my brother's so he could take the dogs for me. He wanted the dogs bathed before he took them to his house. I offered to pay my nephews a few bucks to bathe them and they jumped on the opportunity for easy money! I couldn't keep my dogs at my brother because there isn't anywhere to keep them and my brother and Max don't get along....long story but really it just comes down to the fact that my brother has trouble following instructions...that whole problem with authority thing. So, imagine my surprise at this little scene.

That's right, that's my brother brushing Max after bathing him! Evidently the boys weren't doing it right, so Randy had to step in. I'm so glad I had my camera with me! Doesn't Max look like he's having a great time? LOL

The dogs enjoyed the freedom of the backyard while they could. They're not going anywhere. They both want to be wherever I am. The girls enjoyed playing with their cousins, Aunt, Uncle and Grandaddy.

(My Dad's shirt cracks me up. On the front it says 'We're all here because... ' and on the back it says 'we're not all there.' Oh my God, boat people crack me up!)

At some point, we realized that both of my Dad's children (that would be me and my brother) and all of his grandchildren were in the same place, so we decided to take advantage of the photo op. Now, none of us are great at following directions and my girls aren't exactly the easiest to get a group picture of, but thank God for digital. The series of shots cracks me up. We are obviously having fun trying to get the shot, dogs are wandering in and out of the picture, everyone is talking and my dear sister-in-law graciously agreed to be the photographer. Nice shot Carlyn! (click on the picture to make it bigger)

After dinner, Daddy headed back to his house with my dogs and we settled in for a little wine and conversation. Randy engaged the girls with a game of, oh, I don't know, let's call it "People in the Mirror". The object of the game is to see if 'those' people are still in the mirror. You do this by crouching down on the couch and then popping up to look. It was great entertainment for everyone involved!

(They're still there!)

So, this was Tuesday the 15th, and Rena tells me her tooth is loose. What! She's only 4! Are you kidding me? Nope, it's loose. Really loose. I check her other teeth to make sure they are all in place. Fine. She ends up loosing it on Saturday! It all happened so fast. Good thing the tooth fairy didn't have any trouble finding us. (Picture coming soon!)

Now because we aren't in North Carolina often, we have to make the most of the trip. I have an Aunt who lives about an hour away so we decided to go to Wallace to see her on Wednesday. I love going here and I hope my girls do too. Aunt Jewrell's house is this tiny little thing that she's lived in for as long as I can remember. She has a really nice little yard that the girls can play in and this is small town living at it's best. We went out for lunch and then we hung out with Aunt Jewrell on the backyard swing, while she told stories about what it was like growing up in Duplin county. I could listen to these stories all day. I stayed as long as I possible could, but I had promised to make dinner, so we did have to get going.

Thursday, I decided to go back down to my Dad's, check on the dogs and then take the ferry over to the aquarium at Ft. Fisher. Daddy went with us, brave soul that he is. I thought this was a great way for the girls to spend a little more time with their Grandfather. We could have driven to the aquarium from the north, but I wanted the girls to have the ferry experience. It was fun! Miffi (my father's wife) had given us crackers to feed the seagulls. (Thanks so much Miffi. That was great!) Obviously the gull know the complete ferry schedule.

(You see that bottle in Riley hands? It's a Sundrop we bought before we got on the ferry. She wouldn't share it. Do you know Sundrop is LOADED with caffeine? I didn't!)

Unfortunately, Riley, who needed a nap, had a complete meltdown (see Sundrop 'disclaimer above) about the time we got there. She HAD to be held or she pitched such a fit I was afraid they were going to ask us to leave. My dad was mortified. If I wasn't so damn tired, I probably would have been too. Rachel and Rena were having a good time though. Riley recuperated about half way through, thank goodness. Then we hit the gift shop and where my children evidently couldn't hear the words "Don't touch that" despite the fact we said it over and over. We managed to get out of there with a few souvenirs and then had a little snack before we headed back to the ferry.

(this alligator was eyeing Rena like she was going to be his lunch! She's just hot and sweaty in the tropical climate of down east NC)

The seagulls obvious knew that we were a good source of food. They followed us from the aquarium snack bar out into the parking lot. Rena had one last chip in her hand from the snack bar and THEY wanted it. They stalked her. She was weary of them. "Throw it Rena, throw it!" She did. They called in reinforcements and waited. Alas, they were out of luck. No more food.

We headed back to catch the ferry. We were the last ones on! How lucky for us that we caught it, because it was the last one out.

Friday we loaded up the boat and despite a brewing tropical storm, we headed to the island. It's not far at all from the marina. We anchor on the sound side and can walk across the island to the ocean. Perfect. The water was great. The girls had fun feeding the minnow and catching sandfiddlers. Carlyn's sister, brother in law and their 3 children were there too. Once the twins took a nap I walked over to the ocean with my brother. We had a nice little walk and we got to talk about some personal things. Later we cooked out and ate some burgers. Perfect I tell ya!

That night another friend showed up with his 4 year old daughter. So, there was my brother's family, my family, Carlyn's sister's family, Randy's friend and daughter...4+4+5+2. Wow. That's alot of people. But we had fun. Saturday, Blair joined us as did the tropical storm. It rained off and on all day, so none of our beach stuff got dried off before we had to pack up and head home. Yuck! Boy did I have my work cut out for me when we got back home.

We headed back to Georgia on Sunday. I was so thankful that Blair had come back and met us at Randy's. It sure makes traveling easier when there is another adult along.

All in all it was a great, albeit busy trip. So, until next summer. I'll be waiting