the triple bath day

And I'm back.

Today started off with a bath for the kids, then breakfast, and taking Erin to school and the twins to gymnastics and doing a couple of errands before it was time to pick Erin up again (tuesdays are short school days for her, she is done at 12:30).

Tangent here...we stopped at a bagel shop for a snack and when we got out of the car there were two asian men having a sort of loud, spirited conversation in chinese. As Kate walked by them she said, "Yay-ay-ay-anananana, blee, blah, bleh! WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!"

Not to be outdone in the causing me embarrassment category, as we waited in line Allison asked and, even better, pointed out, of the woman behind us, "Mama, why does that lady have such a BIG BUTT?"

Somehow I managed to get us out of there unharmed and shortly after getting home with all three in the afternoon I got Erin started on her homework and a few minutes later I heard her yell from the bathroom. Accident all over her pants and the floor because she "didn't make it there in time". She was in my bathroom because one of the twins was in the hall bath, so I just threw her into the shower and Erin had bathing number two.

A little later the kids took out their bikes and we went to the nearby park to meet up with some friends. Everyone had a good time blowing bubbles for a long while, and afterwards everyone was pretty sticky and bubble solution was splattered and poured on everyone's clothes and shoes to some extent.

Those are the girls' friends Gina and Andrew in the photo, by the way. Gina is about 5 months older than Erin and Andrew is 2 months older than the twins. Kate is a little shrimpy to be sure, but Erin isn't short for her age. These kids are just giants, always have been, and it's just remarkable to see the difference when they are right next to each other.

Then the kids took their shoes off and found some mud to have fun with, and they also enjoyed playing in the sand box and doing some chalk drawings on the walkway.


By the time we had to leave to make it to Erin's softball practice, all the girls had blackened feet and dirty clothes and filthy hands but no use cleaning up now. After dropping off the bikes we headed to softball where the twins rested for a few minutes as they watched the team, but soon they were wrestling each other on the grass and trying to climb the nearby trees.

When we got home from practice the girls were sweaty, sticky, soapy, dirty, and grass-stained and I asked John to give them all a much needed bath, again, as I made dinner.

Then after dinner the girls watched a show, and 20 minutes later as John was rounding them up for bed he discovered that Allison had soaked her underwear and pajamas, and part of the couch. Allison's turn in the shower, and so both Erin and Allison had a family record (so far) 3 bathings today.

I'm gonna throw in some good photos from sunday here--we had dinner at grandma and grandpa's house and afterwards the girls got to pick a flower each from grandma's garden.