Saturday, March 31, 2007

the weekender


This morning I started bathing the girls but Allison was protesting so John had to chase her down and get her into the tub. Then John tried to get the twins dressed while I was helping Erin, and I heard more protesting from the other room. Once Allison was dressed she was released while John attended to Kate, but immediately Allison removed her clothes, put her robe back on, and plopped on the couch to watch some TV.

It was saturday morning dammit, and I guess no one was going to get her day started before she was ready.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

science day

For the future physicists of america, this week's meeting involved exploration of levers and fulcrums. The backyard served as the laboratory today.





And while Kate and Erin were busy with their outdoor mechanics lesson, Allison decided to focus on geology. She examined and somehow concluded that there were several rocks around the yard that were in the wrong place, so she spent quite a while collecting particular rocks from everywhere and depositing them over to the side of the deck, which has a layer of rocks up against the fence. I'm not sure why the rearrangement was needed, but then, I never took studied geology.




Erin also dabbles in horticulture. She took time today to tend to her potted flowers that's she's been growing for a couple of months now. She very diligently remembers to water them regularly and they've been growing very well. Unlike nearly everything I plant.








But Erin isn't merely a bookworm. She enjoys regular playtime. Take today for instance...with her science lessons for the day complete, Erin was anxious to show me that she's learned to jump rope in her spare time.



I think she should stick with academics.

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

just pictures

Well, mainly pictures. I've been extra busy this past week but I try to snap a few pictures every day and I'm posting some of these.


watching some TV after dinner and a bath


some park pics

















Enjoying rice













Erin proudly showing the elephant she assembled, painted pink, and adorned with colorful feathers. She is in desperate need of a zoology course, although Elton John would be proud of this rendition I'm betting.

Speaking of education, we found out today that Erin will attend the alternative public school we applied for last month. The acceptance process was a just a lottery drawing and I really didn't have a lot of hope of getting in since they typically get 350 applicants or so for about 70 kindergarten spots (there are actually 90 spots but younger sibs of current students are taken first, then a lottery for the remainder. In 2 years K&A will get to enter kindy there automatically).

The excitement about this news is tempered by the fact that two friends with kids who Erin has known since she was an infant also applied for this school and were not as fortunate in the lottery. It would have been fun to enter this new chapter with our friends.


An aside, the girls call my mom Grandma Jan and John's mom just Grandma. Some comments from the girls:
Erin: "How old are you?"
G'ma Fergy: (answer withheld to protect the innocent)
Erin: "Oh my gosh, that's almost 100!"


When Grandma Jan (from North Carolina, last visit was several months ago) came over recently Allison looked at her and went running to Danielle.
Danielle: "That's Grandma, Allison."
Allison, while shaking her head: "That's NOT Grandma!"

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

there's something about Kate

Kate makes me laugh. Her continuing dog fascination, which I've written about previously, continues. This weekend she encountered a group of small dogs at a new park and didn't know which one to chase after first. They had her spinning and their owners were very amused.



At Grandma and Poppy's house sunday afternoon she met Uncle Jeff's family's latest doggie, a dachshund puppy named Walter. Love at first sight. Through dinner she kept asking, "Where's the doggie? Where's the doggie?" Uncle Jeff isn't so crazy about Walter (he barks and bites quite a bit) but luckily Kate didn't understand Uncle Jeff's jokes about Walter suddenly being gone just as dinner was being served.

Besides her dog fetish she is quite the talker. Normally she speaks very well and in complex sentences and has a very good vocabulary for 2.5 in my estimation. But when she gets excited she sounds like a cage full of parakeets--if I'm lucky I can understand a word every now and again, as in when she was giving a puppet show for Erin, John, and myself today.




All in all, she's adorable. Bright, curious, beautiful, and thrilled as pie to be served yogurt.


Sunday, March 18, 2007

things to do on St. Patty's day

1. wear attractive and unique head gear


2. enjoy a puppet show


3. find some way to relax, toooooooootally relax






Friday, March 16, 2007

ostentatious

Grandma Jan came to visit yesterday, bearing a sack full of mardi gras beads she'd recently been awarded in Florida. Why there is some confused wanna-be New Orleanian passing out beads there, and what my mother did to earn them are questions I never got around to asking and don't necessarily want to know the answers to.

So mom got them out and one by one the girls chose strings of beads they liked until all of them were distributed. They were happy and fascinated and smiling ear to ear as they piled them on, transforming into mini-Boy Georges. Or Liza Minellis. Or her ex. I dunno, one of those diva-types anyway.


The happy fascination lasted for a short time and then the battles for particular strings started. And then frustration when the beads got tangled together. And then frustration at their sister's nearly choking them to death to remove them. And then frustration when yanking them from their sister's neck, and almost choking them, resulted in a string breaking. And then total meltdown when I told them I can't put it back together and choking your sister is a necklace-losing-worthy infraction.

It's not easy being beautiful.

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

games people play

My blog is back from the grave. Well, most of it anyway. The first two entries are lost, and I have this new, shorter, but similar URL. Dealing with Google technical support (or lack thereof) is less fun than dealing with the IRS and less satisfying than a root canal, that's all I have to say about that.

Another beautiful day, time to meet friends (canine and otherwise) at the park again.

Today was a day spent playing many games. At the park the kids played duck, duck, goose and hide and seek.

Hide and seek took a couple of different forms: there was the more common hide and seek each other, and there was the secretly hide and have Gavin's mom seek her car keys which Gavin and Erin buried in one of several piles of wood chips they made,
just when she is scrambling to leave to pick her daughter up from
preschool. This last version was unpopular with some contestants. We're hoping Gavin can come out and play with us again someday.







The twins met up with their usual dog buddy for a bit then later found a new dog to meet. He was rolling on the ground and scratching at the wood chips as he was being petted and Allison shouted, "He's digging!"
"What's he digging for?" asked Danielle.

"Buried treasure!" replied Allison, and then, with this sudden realization of the importance of this activity, the girls started digging along side him. But alas, there was disappointment for all.


This evening, uncle Brad stopped by. He and Erin had an exciting game of Go Fish, while Kate and Allison opted for a game that's a little more physical and a little less well-known: tackle your sister and see if her head makes a funny sound when it hits the hardwood floors.

Monday, March 5, 2007

G.O.P.

Saturday the girls decided to "have a party" in their elephant tent. This necessary addition to our home decor was an xmas gift from Uncle Jeff & company and the girls enjoy it quite a bit.
Setting up for the party consisted of moving the slowly deflating valentine's day mylar balloons from daddy inside, then adding any toys they could grab, particularly the ones with 10,000 pieces or more, and stir.
This was a pretty lawless gathering. In fact the only party rule I could really be sure of was that there was to be NO looking at the camera at all, ever, no matter how many times mama asks. In fact, if you could manage keep your back turned or your head down, all the better.
As you can see Kate eventually broke down at looked at me. Shortly after that she was asked to leave by the other party-goers. Maybe for looking at the camera, maybe for making fun of Erin's freshly-washed and balloon-plus-nylon-tent-induced statically charged hair.

It was the beginning of a rough day for Kate. She also got in a fight with a doorknob, and lost. Later on she fought with some other item in the home and added another lump just above this one. Then to top it off she ran into the corner of our armoire and insulted the same exact spot. She is precisely the worst height for keeping her forehead intact. She needs to grow about 2 more inches quickly (which would match Allison) or we need to get her a football helmet.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

shades of blue

We have blue eyes, the kids have blue eyes, so maybe you'd expect there is nothing more or interesting there, but I think there is.

Erin:
Darker blue periphery, light almost greyish-blue interior. A bit stormy and serious but her permanent smile says otherwise.

Kate:
Blue-green in the center and mid-periphery getting bluer towards the periphery. Gorgeous and calm, reminds me of the ocean we enjoyed in the caribbean.

Allison:
True, brilliant blue through and through. Bright and beautiful and absolutely sparkling.