Like Christmas?

The girls (all of them) were up by 5:30 this morning happily chatting and playing in their respective rooms. I am thankful for that because I was still laying in bed trying to calm myself from an intense dream :/ I don't like
Being stressed while sleeping esp. When pregnant.

But why would today be like Christmas? Well, I think the girls are excited about today's outing- Apple Picking!!! Why else would they wake up so early? :) before bedtime we talk about our day and then talk about the plans for the next day (if we have something planned)- so we talked about apple picking and the girls knew who was coming with us immediately! Grand mom and ban-pa, of course :)

Earlier this month I asked the girls if they wanted to go apple picking and they responded with an enthusiastic "with Grandmom and Ban-pa!?" there was no "yes, I would like to go." or "sounds fun" it was an instant implied "YES!" with the request for their favorite people.

So, off we go today to a new orchard for us, Strickland orchard, right around the corner from the strawberry patch we went to earlier this summer. It is supposed to be a high of 75ish in the mountains, a perfect apple picking morning if you ask me! I'll post some pictures upon the return from our adventure. For now I'm going to pack some snacks and a few wet cloths to wipe the apples clean in case a little one wants to have a taste test.

Ban-pa Wednesday

Wouldn't be complete without a trip to Sweet Frog Frozen Yogurt :)
The girls seemed to have a fine day with Ban-pa hanging out at the house while I went to the doctors office to get a check up on little #4. (who by the way, is perfectly healthy sounding :)). Once I returned from my office visit the girls declared they wanted to go to 'sveet fog Fo some I ceam'. How can one resist such a 'sveet' request?

So here are the girls...Alex was sharing he pink ice cream with Kaylee. It is so cool hearing them interact with one another. Here is one conversation that took place:
A: I got a beeg bite!
K: careful Addy wit your beeg bite
A: I be careful Tee-tee wit my beeg bite
K: okay Addy, be careful

And then when Alex was sharing her pink ice cream Kaylee reciprocated and gave Alex some of her 'blue like my bike' ice cream....she even added 'someshing special' aka. A sprinkles.

Love these girls and the time they get to have with their grandpa...it is truly a gift that no money could ever buy! We are truly blessed.

Beds Are So Yesterday

Apparently the floor is the new bed. Recently the girls, Alex namely, has been wanting to sleep on anything...besides her bed. I'm not sure what is going on with that but it seems like daddy and I have made a good decision to get real big girl beds for Christmas.

Rewind: last night. Oh what a night. I mean if my bladder wasn't getting me ready for baby #4 my twins sure were. Those who know me know I'm big on making good sleepers so when sweet Alex woke up at 2:30 in the morning and told me she had to go pee pee. So I can't possibly say no since the night diaper is the last diaper we have to ditch before being fully potty trained...so as I'm taking Alex to the potty and Kaylee wakes up in hysterics. Why? You may ask. Well, my dear kaylee just HAD to go to bed with her 'tap shoes' (aka. Dress Mary Janes) and there are somethings you don't argue with. Daddy took off her shoes around 10:30 last night and she didn't notice then but she did at 2:30 am and queue the sirens!
Little Kaylee was so upset about those shoes! Luckily, I can easily leave Alex on the potty and tend to the shoeless :) I put the shoes on and then she need to use the potty...15 minutes later she was done on the potty. (side note: neither actually went potty). So back to bed we go, or back into their room we go.
Kaylee got in her bed and Alex curled up in the Boppy pillow...alright I guess. I tucked them both in and off to 'bed' they went.
4am: Alex creeps out her door- 'I have to go pee pee!' and we are in the same cycle as earlier, minus the shoe fiasco. But this time Alex curled up in the rocking chair in her room. I advised her that sleeping in the chair would not be a good choice and she chose to sleep in the Boppy, again.
Sweet, crazy girls what am I going to do?! :)

Yep...

You know those simple and fun activities you give your kids so you can get a little done around the kitchen? Sometimes things just aren't that easy- I've seen this done before during my teaching days, the top of the glue bottle spontaneously pops off...so I'm going to give Alex the benefit of the doubt :)
That's a full bottle of glue- awesome.

I've Got Style, I Think I'm BA

That's all Kaylee has to say about herself :)

Our Daughters

Crazy little ones...
If you notice Alex has no pants on. She came out to play with a skirt on but at some point between playing and having fun, the skirt got in the way and she took it off. Let's just hope she grows out of this phase.
And Lily will wave at anything/anyone; she thinks it is great.

All New, All Opened

That would be 8 shiny new boxes of smooth, and oh so enticing crayons....opened, torn, and a few broken crayons later the girls had their way with them :/

At least they saved some so mom can draw with a few new and unbroken crayons :)

Annoyance

I can't post any pictures using my blogger app...so I'm trying to find a way to fix it and google isn't helping much :( I'll get there.

Liliana is "walking"

She has on a few occasions lifted those chunky thighs and moved her feet a few steps, but then she slowly squats down to a sit. It is awesome that she has the ability to walk...now we need to work on that confidence! We all know she can do it, heck the other day she was enjoying drinking her bottle while standing up...I think that is probably trickier than walking.

So get going girl- you got this!

Made Somesing Fo Daddy!

The girls were cooking today! Earlier in the day they made some play dough for themselves and this afternoon they made some pumpkin bread for daddy! We think he is going to like it...it is always important to double check your recipe when cooking with kids (we almost forgot the sugar!) but as you can see we taste tested :)
The girls always learn something when they cook today Alex learned a handful of all purpose flour does not taste good. *shocker* and Kaylee learned that she does not like a giant finger full of cloves *shocker* I wish I had her reaction on video, she tried scraping it off her tongue with her hands and then a towel. That didn't work so she tried licking the table. That too didn't work so she just moved her tongue like a lizard and that seemed to do the trick for her...or something.
The girls tried out the electric mixer after it was too hard to get the fork through the batter. Neither wanted the mixer on after I told them to be careful because it can be dangerous...but I got them to hold it at least to get a little comfortable with it.
And I know all the pics are of them eating, but I was too busy to take pictures as 3.5 cups of flour were being measured :) maybe next time.

Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
2 cups pumpkin, canned or cooked and pureed
4 eggs
1 cup oil
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. each nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon
1 1/2 cups each granulated sugar and packed brown sugar


Preparation:

Sift dry ingredients together.

Mix dry ingredients with the oil and pumpkin, stirring until well combined.

Add eggs, one at a time, blending thoroughly.

Bake in well greased loaf pan for 50 to 60 minutes in 350 degree oven.

**i almost 100% of the time add more spice to the mix...never seems enough with just a tsp of each** and if you want a little bite, and a dash or two of ginger

Love you Daddy! Xoxo

Hi. I'm 10 Months Old

I have 7 teeth. I use sign language, but I'd rather talk. I climb stairs in my free time. I think I'm as big as my sisters. I can walk, but choose not to. I'm 20 lbs, 15 of which comes from my belly button down. I love to talk on the phone. Wednesday's and Friday's are my favorite days. I love play tunnels and any toy A and K have...especially puzzles.

Oh and I smile.

Park Play

On Monday we headed to the park since the girls had been asking and momma just hadn't been up for it :( sadly it had rained that morning so the Mosquitos were out during our last 20 minutes at the park. I thought I took the majority or bites, but poor Kaylee got bit quite a few times and she is so sensitive (see 'We got The Monkies' post). She doesn't itch them for the most part which is good.
The girls loved playing outside, no surprise, and lily just wants to be in the mix. She, I think, will be like Kaylee and never want to get off the swing :) Alex was really brave and tried the big girl swing. She did so well and was so proud of herself! I love giving her praise that makes her smile, but it is best when realizes her awesomeness and has a giant grin on her face before you acknowledge her. She certainly is not an arrogant child, but she does know when she has done something cool :)

Part of the Walk

The girls wanted out of the wagon to walk...Lily was happy just cruising.

Feed The Bunnies

Alison came over one day this week to take a walk with me and the girls. When I was getting the girls ready to go out...
Me: Do you want to go on a walk with Alison?
Them: Yes!
Alex: Mommy. You stay here!
(I think they like Alison...and I do too!) I informed Alex that I too would be going on the walk and she seemed okay with that. So off we went on our walk and upon our return the girls bunnies needed to be fed so they spent a good 30 minutes tending to their needs. The bunnies were fed leaves, dirt, and grapes (aka. Those purple flowers from liriope). Sweet girls

We Got Mommy's Phone

Lily Needs A Few Life Skills

Like learning how to use a spoon...or how to not grab the container of yogurt and smear it all over your face.
Lovely. gross. Do the kids realize how gross they are????

Important Life Skills

Learning how to dunk a cookie :)

Photographers?

Not quite yet, but they are eager to learn! Every day both kaylee and Alex asks me if they can 'Take a pic-cure, momma?' and then in the snap of the shutter the girls have taken 50 pictures of who knows what...but here is one of Alex's attempts at taking self portraits ...perhaps. <3

Helping You!

I have a new little dishwasher :) she is eager to help like her sisters!

Having A Picnic Snack

The girls and I enjoyed a little picnic snack with a toy of choice outside yesterday. Alex choose a big reindeer and Kaylee choose her Woof Woof. The girls chose Tiny, the little baby doll, for Lily to dine with.
We had pb&j on little play plates and water in our tea cups. Lily had some animal crackers but ended up snagging Kaylee's sandwich when she thought the coast was somewhat clear. :)
I think the kids enjoyed and soon after we started the little picnic our neighbors came out to enjoy the beautiful day with us.
It was a great Friday! Daddy even came home early to play and spend some good time with the girls-we had a happy house for sure.