Sticking together

This week all of my children have been sick. Rena and Riley both have ear infections and Rachel has a cold. Thursday, Riley stayed with me while Rachel and Rena went to school. Honestly, at the time, I didn't think twice about Rachel going to school without Riley. I was swamped at the time, and still unsure whether Riley was going to go or not even in the drop off line. Then this Tuesday, they all piled out for their last day before Thanksgiving. I headed off for a little 'me' time and to get some things done. Well, about 11:45 I get a call from the Preschool. Slight panic. Don't we all panic when we see that school number show up in the caller ID? It was the twins' teacher. Nobody sick, she said, but Rachel was asleep. She had fallen asleep while they were having indoor recess. What did I want her to do? Let her sleep I said. No problem. This child can sleep anywhere, and I've learned the hard way, it's best to just let her sleep!

So I went to pick them all up a little early and the teacher told me that it was a good thing that it was Rachel that went to sleep and not Riley because Rachel is lost without Riley. WHAT? Are you sure? Rachel is Little Miss Independant. Rachel the Brave! Riley is Little Miss Clingon! Are you sure. Yeah, she say. Riley's fine without Rachel around. I peeked in the classroom and sure enough she looked happy as a clam. Never in a million years would I have thought it was that way. I was sure Riley was more dependant on Rachel then the other way around. Just goes to show what we parents know.

My girls are close. They play well together and get along pretty well most of the time. Oh, they have their fights like all siblings do, but boy are they willing to defend each other. Take last night for example.

Blair was home, so we were all seated for dinner. Riley was playing and not really interested in eating. Blair had told her a number of times to sit down or she was done. Well, he finally took her plate and put it in the sink. This caused her to dissolve into tears and run from the room (oh, yeah, the teenage years are going to be grand!) and for her sister to jump to her defense. "Da-day! Yook what you did! You made Wiley cwy!"

(Rena tries to recreat the look for me, but now she just thinks her daddy's funny.)

Rena AND Rachel both jumped on him.

Poor Daddy. So outnumbered!

Thursday

Thursday was one of those days. It was such a hectic day, that it started Wednesday night! I had volunteered to bring a fruit tray to Rena AND Rachel and Riley's class for their Thanksgiving feast. I was also supposed to bring dessert for the little girls' class. So I got started after dinner Wednesday night getting everything ready. Not great planning. I put a movie on for the girls so, hopefully, they would settle in and watch and not be running around destroying the house. No such luck. Even my little TV head Rachel wasn't interested. But they all wanted to help. Well, I was cutting fruit with a sharp knife and trying to get cookies into and out of the oven as quickly as possible. Not really things they could help with, although that did not deter them. By the time I got all the fruit cut up and all the cookies done, then 3 girls and myself ready for bed and 3 dogs fed and in for the night, I was exhausted. Of course, the dogs went out twice during the night and then Riley woke up about 4 complaining of an earache. Finally back up about 6, I started getting my little indian princesses ready for school. I had everyone dressed in the closest thing to Indian clothes that we had, fixed everyones hair, brushed everyone's teeth....I think....packed the car with fruit trays, fruit tray refills, cookie trays, change of clothes, 3 small children and a travel mug of coffee. Oh yeah, I did all of this while Riley followed me around crying and telling me her ear hurt. She was literally clinging to me as I dashed around trying to make sure I had everything I needed for the day. So off we went. I dropped Rena and Rachel off. Riley decided she didn't want to go to school. (She has an ear infection.) so I took Riley with me to tennis practice. I didn't want to cancel my lesson for a number of reasons, but really I was hoping that Riley would decide to go to school so I could do what I needed to do. However, she sat in the car and watched a video the whole time I had my lesson. She was great. After tennis, we grabbed something to eat and then headed back to school.

Rena has been so excited about this Thanksgiving Feast. She has asked me everyday if I can come, and on Thursday she was so worried that I would be late. (I wasn't!) I did have cling-on Riley with me, though.

So the little indians met in the hall and sang a few songs and then we all went into the classroom for lunch. (Riley's teacher rescued me and took Riley to class) It was great. Rena was so excited for me to be there.

The lunch spread was great too. Unfortunately, I had to split my time between the two classes, so I ran down the hall to see what was going on in the twins room.

They were attempting to sing a song. When the girls saw me, the yelled Mommy! and headed straight for me. I felt bad. Poor teachers. There was, of course, lunch going on in their room too. So, I ate a little there and then just kind of bobbed back and forth between the two rooms for the rest of the time.

In the meantime, I had called the pediatricians office to make an appointment for Riley. I hate that they close for lunch from 1-2. We get out of school at 1 and are literally 5 minutes from the office. So we either have the last appointment of the morning and have to leave school early (not a problem) or one of the first appointments for the afternoon. Our appointment was at 2:50. So I either kill almost an hour and and a half, or I go home...25 minutes to get there...30 minutes back to the peds office...give me about 55 minutes at home. Pointless. But that's what I did anyway. Riley does have an ear infection, so of course on the way home we have to stop for a prescription. By the time the day was over, I was exhausted!

Then Friday night, Rena ended up waking in the middle of the night with, what has turned out to be a double ear infection. Poor little things. I'm sorry they all feel so bad. Rachel, so far, has managed to avoid the infection....although she was the first one to complain of her ear hurting. I'm hoping we can make it through the night with not interuptions. hahahahaha. Wish me luck!

One of the things I love most about Rachel is she marches to the beat of her own drum. She's always so carefree. Here's a picture of her watching tv in her flannel pajamas, her flip flops and her ladybug hat....which she is also wearing right now, as she stands beside me waiting for me to finish up this post. So there!

Why my life is chaotic

I run nothing, if not a chaotic household! It's no wonder I can't get anything accomplished. This morning as I was trying to get Rena ready for school...well, let me start with this.

Since Rena is the only one that goes to school today, I figured I'd wait 'til the morning to give her a bath since the little girls could take one later. I was really hoping that she'd take a shower...quicker and easier...then Riley wanted to take a shower....then Rachel wanted to take a bath....then Rena decided she'd take a bath instead....then we started to run out of hot water (go figure) so Riley got in the bath too. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep my coffee cup full, pick out clothes for the day, start laundry...etc. Then, I hear laughing and squealing coming from the bathroom. And this is what I find.....

Yep! That's Jake. He had 'retrieved' the stuffed Winnie the Pooh from the tub. What are you gonna do? He is a retriever after all. And on a side note, who needs a tub that big?

The rest of the day has proved to be just as chaotic. While Rena was in school, Riley and Rachel were playing with an aquadoodle in the foyer. You use water to write on it. When it dries out you start again. Well, if you are three, then you start thinking if a little water is good then alot of water would be great! So Riley filled up a tea kettle and poored it all over the entry. Flood! So I made the girls clean it up and then it was time to head to the grocery store. Then to pick up Rena.

On the way home from picking up Rena I decided to stop and pick pecans from this tree that I had noticed earlier. It's right off the highway and kind of behind a warehouse type thing. By the time I got there the twins were asleep so Rena and I picked them up. I got a whole grocery bag full. Let me tell you, if you haven't eaten fresh pecans, you don't know what you're missing. Yummy! We had alot of fun picking them up too. As I was walking back to the car the guy that works there and owns the house next door came out and talked to me. He didn't care that we picked them up and he even showed me their chestnut tree. Have you ever seen one of these things? It looks like a mini porcupine and feels like one too. Youch! We got a few of them just for the novelty of it. Are they even edible? Or do you just roast them on open fires? I'll have to google it.

When I got back to the car with Rena, I discovered that the twins were awake and crying! I felt so bad. I was sure they would sleep the whole time we were gone. (By the way, I could see the car the whole time and if they had looked to their left, the would have seen us too.) But the upside is that they didn't nap for very long so hopefully everyone will go to sleep early tonight.

On the way into the neighborhood, a deer crossed the road infront of us! It was big too and just strolled across the street and back into the woods that back up to my house. Who knows, maybe he's still back there. It was really cool and that's the first one I've seen in the 'hood.

Then I tried to get the girls to go outside and play. But nobody wanted to. Too bad. I guess it's too cold for them. Now everyone is whiny and driving me crazy. I'd feed them dinner and put them to bed now if I didn't think I'd pay for it about 4:00am!

God Bless America

I tend to have a pretty tough exterior. It's not necessarily and act, there just isn't alot that gets to me. I can see both side of most situations and I tend to not be that emotional. I run on an even keel.

HOWEVER, my achilles heel is when I hear children sing. I don't know why, but get a group of kindergarteners together singing the ABC's and I become and emotional basket case. And I taught Kindergarten for YEARS. (Sidenote: I can't read the Polar Express without crying either and I usually had to have my assistant finish reading it everytime I read it to my class. One year she was busy and didn't realize I was circling the drain. I did finish reading it, but I was a mess. It was awful!) Anyway, I was mopping the kitchen this morning and the girls were sitting on the back of the couch watching me. What? You didn't know that mopping is a spectator sport. So Rena starts singing God Bless America. I didn't even know that she knew this song, but she didn't miss a word or a note. Her sweet little sincere voice got to me. I had to turn my back to them so they wouldn't see me. And when she finished she said..."Mommy, did you like my song?" Bwahaha. I was bawling! Beautiful.

Happy Halloween 2008 style

I sent my computer off to Dell on Monday. The whole thing was falling apart...literally. I'm kinda hard on things. So all week without a computer. Yikes! Except I did have one. My old computer which actually works just fine except the power adaptor only works if you hold it just right against the back of the computer. And even then you have to move it around alot to get a connection. Oh and the battery won't hold a charge. Anyhoo I could at least go online and check email, etc. While I was there I checked out some old pictures that are still on that computers.

3 years ago. God, aren't they just delicious? Rachel is in front and Riley's in the back.



Halloween 2005.

What a cutie little fairy this one was. Recognize the dress? It's the same one that Riley is wearing in the majority of pictures of her on this blog.



2 cool cats.

Halloween 2005.

My front porch in Wake Forest. Rachel on the left. Riley on the right. Ray wasn't too happy about something. Riley did alot of sleeping in the early months. So they were about 7 weeks old in this picture. Wow. where has the time gone?



The BIG sister. And what a great big sister she has been.




My how time flies. Now the twins are older than Rena was in these pictures and we live 2 states away.


So Halloween 2008

We had a GREAT time carving pumpkins.

Trick or Treating was fun.

Can you say Sugar Overload?

Rena turns 5!

So we had Rena's 5th birthday party in October. For the longest time I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for her party. My sister in law suggested a treasure hunt. That sounded like a lot of work at first but the more I thought about it the better I liked it. So that is what we did. I did a treasure hunt where everyone had to find clues to find the next clue.

The last 'clue' was a ticket for the hayride to the pumpkin patch where everyone got to pick a pumpkin to take with them.

So it was a bit of a 'redneck' hayride.

But I think everyone had fun.

Rena had decided that she wanted an all girl party. That was fine with me. It has started getting more difficult trying to decide who to invite and who not to. Rena has LOTS of friends. So a couple of the neighborhood boys had been left out of the party plans. But that didn't deter them. Once they found out it was 'girls only' they decided to take matter into their own hands.

It cracked me up! I gave them cupcakes and sent them on their merry, crossdressing way. I'm not sure some of our guests knew exactly what to think.

There was a kind of Fall/Halloween theme to the party so I made a black cat for the birthday cake. One of the guests informed me that it was brown not black. No cake for YOU!

The kids always seem to end up sitting in the foyer eating cake at every party. Too funny.

The birthday girl got a little clingy with Daddy around.

So another birthday party down. I really can't believe that she is 5. And she is such a great kid. Everyone loves her. She's smart and funny and sweet and generous. She is everything that I hoped she would be and more. I taught this age for many many years. And I had some really great kindergarteners in that time. Rena would rank #1! I love her more than words could ever express and I'm so lucky to be her Mom. Happy birthday Rena.

THE PARADE

Our preschool does a Halloween parade of sorts. The children get to dress up in their costumes and then they parade around the carpool lanes while happy parents and grandparents snap pictures. It is very cute.

RANDOM THINGS

On the nights I play tennis one of the neighborhood girls comes to watch the girls for me. She loves to have them dress up and do fashion shows for me when I get home. It is hysterical. They love it.

Riley in particular!

Now the babysitter is kinda young and shy and quiet. So it surprised me when I showed her this picture of Rachel

and she said "Well now you know how she's going to be looking at you from the time she's 12 until she's about 17."

Turns out she's funny too!

And because I'm constantly amazed at where and how this child can sleep, here you go. She's asleep with her finger stuck in her hair.

And now for the truly amazing. THIS is my side of the bed. That right. That's where I sleep. Just moments before I took this picture Riley had her arm slung over Rachel's waist. Rachel wants her space when she sleeps. She always has. So a few minutes later I ran into Rachel in the hall headed to her room. "I'm going to sleep in my woom." she said in her most groggy voice.