The Return of the Nubbies

 It was wacky hair day at school so we pulled out an oldie but a goodie.   I forgot how much I loved putting nubbies on my girls.   I think it is going to be moved from the "wacky hair" category into the little known "my mom actually did something to my hair" category.  If we add the nubbies  then that category will actually exist.

Dance Party!  What else  would we be doing on a Thursday afternoon?

 The girls were thrilled that it was time for the first of this year's OTC 5ks. They looked forward to it all week.  When Daisy got home from school on race day she told me that she was careful all day not to waste her energy because she was saving it for later. I was a little hesitant because my running has been,  let's  just  say, sub-par.  The evening was beautiful and the OTC crowd is just so amazing that we couldn't miss it.  Brandon bravely struck out with Rocky and I had the chance to stick with Daisy.  She was an amazing little trooper.   Thanks to a few injuries and a growing belly my new running buddy is Daisy.  We match our paces perfectly and we both need to stop for a drink and/or potty break at the same time.  She was tired but she stayed on  her feet the whole race.  Even though the empty spot in the jogger was calling her name she overcame the temptation and finished strong.  

 Rocky just runs because she wants someone to tell her stories.  She was there to cheer us into the chute.  Rosy made sure to tell everyone that I made her ride even though she would have preferred to run. 

 

There was no school on Friday and we were all a little sore so I turned on a yoga DVD that we checked out from the library.  Of course the Eugene library has like 100 pregnancy yoga DVDs and of course the one that we happened to have at the time was the weirdest one.   The girls tried their best though and they really focused on putting their hands on their bellies and sending their love and energy into their babies. 

Ohhhmmmm

 In the end we all actually benefited from spending some time breathing deeply and preparing for labor.

 

Bonus Picture:  Katie's  Birthday

Fortunes, Forecasts, Lucky Charms

 I know, another kid-in-the-laundry-basket photo  but seriously how could I resist?  She is in the basket, she is wearing the cutest coat ever, and she looks like she could eat you alive.  This might be the best picture I ever get of her so I am going to use it.

The other day Rocky got some of the kids organized and they put together a little business.  They posted signs all over the stairwell.  I saw them working on it but I wasn't sure what it was all about. 

 They have played entrepreneur before but until now it has always been with their budding restaurant but this time they moved on to an entirely different market.

 Kudos to Rocky for picking a product that would appeal to the local demographic but I don't know how much money they are hoping to bring in by telling fortunes for free.  Then again there is an option of paying 1$ which seems like a shrewd trick on her part.  I mean, if I am going to have my fortune told I would want it to be from someone who was feeling pretty good about me as a customer. I might accept  a free sample from the lady at Costco but I would think twice before I went for a free haircut from a stranger.  Who is this fortune teller anyway? 
I like that they included  a testimonial but have to deduct some points for the lack of an apostrophe.
I decided to get  in on the deal and read Rosy's future.  She didn't look kindly upon the idea of potty training.

It's Cool!

 The weather has been incredible for weeks.  We have been soaking up the sun and taking advantage like Oregonians do because you never know when it will leave.  I have run on the Ridgeline Trail lots of times and figured I would be able to navigate it okay with the girls. The thing I forgot is that running with your friends and walking with little people are  two very different activities.  It took us a lot longer than I expected but it was a lovely hike.

 Rosy, show us how you really feel.

 Daisy felt compelled to demonstrate how she would feel if she saw a cougar and then Rosy had to do the same in true little sister fashion.  Rosy looks  more  like she is participating in some kind of meditation.  She believes  in embracing  her fears.

Daisy May

 Daisy turned 5 years old.  This self-portrait that she made is not only awesome, it is also horrifying at night when the light from the lamppost outside hits it. 

Luckily the girl herself is not scary at all, even when she sneaks right up to the side of the bed in the middle of the night to whisper in your ear that she thought she heard a ghost.  That only happens like 2 nights out of 3 so it isn't really a big deal.

For her birthday she was very specific.   She wanted a blue cake with pink frosting, a basketball hoop, and a pink soccer ball.  She also wanted to go bowling and to eat at Wendy's.  She is just the kind of kid that knows what she wants.

 So we gave it to her.  

 Things were going well until we realized that all of the Wendy's Restaurants in Eugene are closed.  The buildings are all still there mocking little birthday girls, but the places themselves are out of business.  Daisy turned her giant eyes into heartbreaking teary puddles and her little frown came out and even a mean mom who believes in tough love turned to mush.  Her sad face might more aptly be considered a super power.  If she joined the Avengers Thor could just lift her up and  point it at the super villains and they would crumble and give themselves up for arrest.  It is that sad.

Eventually she sighed and agreed to go to Little Big Burger.   She perked up when she realized that she  was going to get a whole hamburger to herself.

 I didn't think she could do it but one bite at a time she worked at it until the job was  done.  And she  still managed to have some space for cake and ice cream.  The girl stands up to a challenge.

 Anyone who knows Daisy loves her.   She is tender and loving and also has a belly laugh that is contagious.  Her favorite song is Katie Perry's  Dark Horse and every time it comes on the radio she will  wait for her favorite part.  She likes the deep voice that pipes in with, "There's no goin' back." 
She wanted a basketball hoop because she wants to play basketball with her dad, Abi and uncles when we go back to Utah.  She has a lot of friends and out on the playground they pretend to play Frozen almost every day.   Daisy is always Elsa and Rosy is always Olaf.  The other roles sometimes switch around.   She loves to show her "girl power" by lifting heavy things and will complain when we are carrying in groceries if I try to give her something that is too light.  She likes  to play by herself.  Lately she is making all kinds of things out of her new Legos and she surprises me with her creativity.  When she grows up she wants to be a cheerleader.  I asked her her  favorite color and she said, "every color" but we all know that it is pink.  I asked her what she liked to do and  she said, "everything."   She prefers to be mysterious like that.

She just gets cuter and more loveable every year. 

Nice job photo-bombing Rosy.

Rosy and/or Georgie

Rosy still wants to be called Georgie about half of the time.  It doesn't seem like she has multiple personalities because the two of them are exactly the same.  There is no way to predict which name she wants so you just have to wait until you are corrected. 

She has been sleeping in lately, sometimes even as late as 9:00.  She wakes up talking and doesn't stop until she falls asleep for her nap.   Most of what she says sounds like nonsense, but she is becoming increasingly easier to understand.  The first thing she says when she wakes up is "No eye monsters," and she will repeat it over and over until you acknowledge  it.  I asked her a  bunch of times what she meant.   I thought it was because a while ago she had an infection that made her eye goopy when she woke up.  It wasn't until I heard Brandon putting her to bed that  I figured it out.   When she asked about monsters he answered in Spanish, "No hay monstrous" (There are no monsters).  No eye monsters. I wonder what kind of images she had in mind when her dad kept bringing up these terrible creatures every night as he tucked her in. 

She is very particular about how she wants things.   She will  not sleep  if  anything in her room  is out of place.   One day she was crying and I went to check on her and she was mad because there was a sticker  that someone had stuck to her shelves.  Once I removed it she snuggled into her blankets and fell right asleep.  She insists on having her pillow in one corner  and the giraffe toy on the opposite side.  She must have her "manta" as  the first blanket  and the second blanket is rotated according to mood.  Her Deer Friend and the Bush Baby are allowed to stay as well as the Duck and Goose Have Feelings board book. She freaks out if  her shoes, or socks are left in her room.  If she is taking a nap they can be placed outside her door but if it is night  time they have to be in the box in the kitchen.  We are planning on moving her into the big girl room soon but Rocky and Daisy are really going to have to step of their cleaning game or none of them will be getting any sleep at all.

On  one hand it is a pain to deal  with all  her  demands, but on  the other  it is super easy because once the problem is  fixed and things are the way she wants she will snuggle in as happy as a little clam.

She refuses to have her picture taken unless she wants it and will deliberately ruin a photo if she isn't in the mood.

That Face

I like to call her the bag lady.  She has  gotten really into dress up and that generally includes 4 or 5 bags filled with trinkets.  She spends all morning while the others are at school filling bags, carrying them around, and dumping them out all over the house.  Then when Rocky and Daisy get home I make them go around and pick up the  piles of their toys while Rosy is napping.  This is probably the one time they are right when they tell me that their lives aren't fair.

Caught!

 I busted out my camera because I knew that I hadn't taken very many photos in the past months and was surprised to find hundreds of pictures that had been taken.  Luckily due to my sleuthing skills I was able to figure out who had  been taking them.   Advice:  Never take a selfie on a stolen camera.

I don't know how she had the time to take all those pictures without me knowing.  I am a very attentive mother and I would not have been hiding in my room reading for any reason.

 I  will spare you the majority of the  shots but feel compelled to share 2.   I wanted to keep this one though so you can see how bad the big teeth are hitting this kid.   It is the beginning of the awkward  stage but so far she  is owning it.   It's not always pretty here folks, but we have to share the truth.
There is also a hint of a possible accomplice.

 I swear  that  I didn't take this picture of Pandora playing Nick Jonas.  I have proof that I was busy in the other room.

I do occasionally stray from the coziness of my bed every now and then to actually parent.    Most of those times as usual have to do with food.  While we have tried to cut down on sugar around here, and have had a small margin of success, I draw the  line at Valentines Day.  We just had to make sugar cookies and cover them with sugary frosting  and  then cover that frosting with candy.  If we didn't it just wouldn't be American.

 I am not a total loser though because those Valentine cookies were in the shape of skulls.  We have to keep with tradition.

 Despite all my efforts with bribing and sugar Brandon still ends up being the cool parent.  (Unless we are taking a trip to get frozen yogurt because when I take them they each get their own.)  When he gets home he has four of us competing for his attention  and it isn't unusual for us all to be talking at the same time. 

 I let the girls have him and selflessly give up my time with him so that he can brush their teeth and get them in their jammies and do all of the night time routine while I look at Pinterest on my iPod.  That is what being a mom  is all about right?  Sacrifice. 

 We really did things up good this year for Valentines.  A pink smoothie (you know we are using  that Vitamix every chance we can get) and a heart pizza. 

 This looks like one of those Pinterest Fail pictures but I wasn't embarrassed about how it turned out.  Mostly I was just chagrined that I did it at all.  It is surprising what those giant eyes of my second daughter can convince me  to do.

 Bonus  Picture:

Who is Running This Place Anyway?

I haven't been  that good at recording things lately.  It isn't because the girls have suddenly stopped doing weird things or that I have stopped taking pictures of them eating.  I think it has more to do with the ratio of energy to need.  The amount of energy that I have is grossly undermined by the amount of attention that these girls need.  Also the fact that I feel it is necessary to lie in my bed reading for several hours at a time kind of cuts into my free  time.

With another little Riglet on the way I have gotten serious about making the kids into child slaves.   If there is a job that they can do they are getting used to doing it without me.  This has resulted in one statement being made over and over again.   "Why do we have to do EVERYTHING?" I tried to remind them that it  was their dad who washed all the clothes and their mom who folded like almost half of them but  they don't seem to understand.  I have resulted back to the foolproof method  of bribery.  They get a dime  when they help out.  These dimes have been building up and are traded at local junk stores for toys that will be thrown into the Goodwill pile as soon as they aren't looking.  Despite the support to the crap toy trade in Eugene there haven't been any drawbacks so far.   I  feel justified  in the bribery because life, after all, is a bribe.  We go to work for money, we exercise so that we can eat brownies, we have children so they can do all the chores.  I am just training them for their futures as human beings. 

And then there is Rosy.  She still doesn't help with anything.
Good thing she is cute because otherwise she is totally not pulling her load.

 

Daisy doesn't take naps anymore unless she accidentally falls asleep crammed into a laundry basket with all her pillows and blankets.  I guess all that hard work just tuckered her right out.

Rocky has kept herself busy mecing samthng. 

She has gotten into creating treasure hunts out of arrows on sticky notes posted around the house.  Two words of advice if this fascination continues.  1.  Buy stock in Post It and 2. Follow the arrows and you will likely be generously rewarded.

Just look  at this portrait  that  she made of Brandon.  It looks just like him.  He just finished lifting his weight, clearly.  I can't think of a more interesting treasure (unless it was a bowl full of Cadbury Mini Eggs).

Daisy has been captivated  by her newest love,  Tinker Toys.  I never had  these when I was a kid but I remember they were the substitute that Ralphie  asked for on A Christmas Story when his mom said  no to the Red Rider BB Gun.   Because of this I always figured they were lame.  Then we were generously gifted this set from the Three Kings and they have  become a daily activity.
Boy was I wrong about them being a dumb toy.  Daisy makes  incredible stuff with them and Rosy uses them  to try and poke out the eyes of her siblings.  Ralphie's  dad maybe did his eyes a favor by going with the gun instead.  She builds a  lot  of vehicles for ants, animals (mostly giraffes) and foods (this is my daughter after all.)

Also, Daisy prefers to dress like a Ninja on  Fridays when she doesn't have school and I let her wear anything that  she wants.  Black on black is always in fashion right?  It has been the uniform of brooding artists for generations.   Why stop now?