the patterson girls

Chorus

2011-06-22T13:41:00.003-06:00

Sophia begged me to do school chorus in the fall but I said no for a couple of reasons. She was way too busy with other activities and singing in tune isn't her passion or gift. She just didn't want to wait in line on Tues/Thur mornings before school with the boys since "EVERY" girl in the second grade goes to chorus practice those mornings at 8:00am. In the spring a neighbor offered to drive her to early practice so I relented and signed her up. After a couple weeks of me tiptoeing into her room and gently coaxing her out of sleep in the mornings she decided she really didn't want to do chorus any more. After listening to her whine twice a week all fall I told her this was her decision and I made her follow through.

It all led up to the big Harper Chorus concert in May. My parents came along to help me and thank God they were there. I don't think I could have managed alone.

Sophia did a great job and was very proud to be up on stage. The girls LOVED the show. They are still singing the songs. Ella saw it during the day at school and said that at one point she didn't know why but she got tears in her eyes and almost started crying because it was so "awesome". It was really sweet.

My major fear was that Katie or Ceci would ruin all the videos being taken by proud parents. This didn't happen although at one point during a very quiet song by the small chorus (the older children who can sing in tune), Ceci yelled "I got a STRIKE!" I had given her my phone to play a game with no sound feeling pretty proud of my parenting until she put her stamp forever on the home videos of the performance.

Ceci requested the elaborate "two buns" hairstyle. I did my best. This is the first and last time I did this 'do.

Katie making friends

2011-05-27T08:19:00.003-06:00

Katie and Ceci are very friendly and go out of their way to say hi to strangers and will talk to just about anyone. We were at a restaurant waiting outside for our table on a nice evening when Katie zoomed in on a group of people smoking outside the restaurant. She walked right over and started talking to them. They all kind of chuckled and said "yes". She shrugged her shoulders and said bye. I asked her what she said to them.

Katie: I asked them if they knew smoking was bad for you and they said "yes".

She gave me that same shoulder shrug to say I did my job, what else can I do.

Last week we were at Target eating lunch. This is a sentence I never thought I'd say in my life.

There was a very large construction worker ordering his meat lovers pizza at the counter. Katie hopped up, said hi to him and then gave him a big hug. Her arms barely made it halfway around his knees. He gave her a big smile and she looked up at him and said "I love you". It made everyone smile. He kept saying that made his day. She has a way of cheering people up everywhere.

Deep thoughts with Katie

2011-04-01T18:43:00.002-06:00

I LOVE pizza.

I want to marry pizza.

Then I'm going to eat my husband.

Car rides with Sophia and Ella

2011-03-15T09:30:00.003-06:00

Last night I went with the girls to watch Sophia dance at a local Irish restaurant/pub and we met our friends the Lazars and their extended family for dinner.

We were all exhausted driving home and then out of the total silence came Ella's little voice from the third row:

Ella: I wish I had a step mother.

me: What? Why?

Ella: Carleigh has one.

I realized she was talking about Carleigh's step-grandparents who were there.

Sophia: That would mean that mom was DEAD and dad married another lady.

Ella: I don't actually want a step-mother.

Sophia: AWKward...

Irish Dancing season

2011-03-08T12:57:00.002-06:00

March is Irish Dancing season as Sophia dances in a number of parades and local celebrations. Sophia LOVES Irish dance and Ella has been hooked as well. They both dance around the house saying the steps over and over. A mom taped the one last week at a local church St Patrick's Day party. Sophia is a beginner and in the group with the white blouses and blue skirts. She's the only one in a blonde wig I think. Near the end of the first link and the third. At the end when Sheila Tully asks someone if they want to learn a new step and they say "no"...that's Ceci. :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhVjbCsdx7w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfPoLJYNBHQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqaZ8ZbMEBo

Daddy the hair model?

2011-01-27T18:30:00.004-06:00

It was a slow afternoon at our house and the girls decided to try a hair salon with the little hair Rick has. The were able to put both bows and flowers in his short 'do. Sophia has face paint from the Northwestern Women's basketball game I took her to earlier in the day.

The Collection

2011-01-20T20:19:00.006-06:00

At the Wilmette library they have various collections of residents displayed. Most of these collections reside in the homes of residents over the age of 75. Lots of hummels, salt and pepper shakers, etc. Ella was determined to display the girls' extensive Silly Bandz "collection". They pestered Rick to ask about how to get a display case. He asked at the front desk assuming they would dismiss the girls with a smile.

Rick: How do collections get displayed?

Librarian: I can put you on a list and we'll call when a case opens up.

Rick: Ummmm, it's a collection of SILLY BANDZ...

Librarian: Just write your name here and we'll call.

Rick: The collection belongs to my girls here....RUBBER BRACELETS....

Librarian: OK, write your name and number.

So, he did. That night every time the phone rang Ella would jump. "Was it the LIBRARY?????"

Then, two months later we got THE call. They were ready for our collection of 67 silly bandz. This trend is already passe among the kindergarten set but the girls were beyond thrilled to exhibit their collection. They dug out all the silly bandz they could find from under couch cushions and proudly headed to the library.

Sophia and Ella made a beautiful sign to accompany their prized collection and Rick took them down to organize the elaborate display and decide how to arrange the rubber bracelets. I'm sure that once word gets out they will be selling tickets for this collection. They may have to live without their bracelets for a while because I have a strong suspicion that this collection will be in heavy demand to go on loan to libraries around the world.

Here is the iphone picture Rick took of the proud collectors in front of their display case:

Happy Birthday Katie and Cecilia

2011-01-13T19:00:00.006-06:00

Katie and Cecilia turned four last month and I can't believe it has been four years since I had two sweet little babies. That may be my mom selective memory kicking in but I don't remember them giving me any problems. This year they have grown up a lot and we are really seeing their little personalities emerging.

Katie is a sweetheart. She's the first one up each morning and comes right into our room and puts her little hand on my back or face to wake me up. She's always smiling and loves to laugh. She gives everyone hugs. She gave our real estate agent a big hug last night for putting flowers in her room and said "I can't believe you put flowers in my room!"

Cecilia is a ham. Her sense of humor is coming out and she loves to make people laugh. She's also quick to give someone a hug when then look sad. Kids are drawn to her and she has made lots of friends at school this year.

Watching the bond they have and seeing them interact is fascinating to everyone around them. They don't let each other get away with anything and will correct each other when they don't agree with how their sister is retelling a story. They make me smile everyday.

They both love playing soccer. I signed the girls up for soccer at the park district and they are definitely the stars of their coed class. While the other girls are giggling in a group, Ceci and Katie are kicking the ball and celebrating each goal. They give their coach a hug on the way in and say "I love you Coach Abe". A usually stern Abe looks at me and says he can't believe how cute they are. Their soccer nickname has become the Turkey Twins.

Here are some photos from our family party:

I got a generic birthday cake from Jewel and we all decorated it with a variety of left over cake characters. I think we had Barbie, Dora, a couple Care Bears and a random Sesame Street marching band member. Katie and Ceci thought it was a blast to decorate their own cake.

Soccer

2010-12-05T19:55:00.008-06:00

Our Fall has been full of soccer. Sophia made the Wilmette Wings travel soccer club. She tried out in June and I know I was more nervous than she was. Her tryout bib was #62 and I knew they were only taking 24 girls so this meant there were going to be a lot of girls not making the teams that Sophia was pretty confident she was going to make. She did make the team and at her first game Rick said he had tears in his eyes watching her play. She really plays her heart out in every game and we have all loved watching her games.

Ella has been a soccer star in her own right. She played her first year of Kindergarten soccer this year and the Fireflies dominated the Kindergarten group. :) Their uniform color made the nickname obvious. Ella had at least a goal in each game. One game she had 5 and the Fireflies completed an undefeated season.

Here Ella is on her way to scoring a goal...what a game face!

I don't think I've ever seen anyone more excited to get a trophy:

One afternoon I looked out the back window and saw Ella in shorts, her ski jacket and uggs kicking the soccer ball around the backyard. Here is my candid of her celebrating a gooooooaaaaalllll.

Here's a picture of Ella and Sophia during a chilly game:

And Ella with her BFFs Sean and Jane:

Halloween

2010-11-12T08:28:00.010-06:00

This year we all went Halloween shopping out of the mound of dress up in the basement. Sophia went as a witch to school and then decided to be Glinda the good witch from Wicked for trick-or-treating. It was a little chilly but still a great night for everyone to be out. It was a typical crowded night in our neighborhood with parents towing wagons full of adult beverages while the kids sprinted from house to house. Katie and Ceci were able to keep up pretty well this year.

My rule every year is that they pose for a photo before they are allowed to start the candy dash. I get the frozen smiles for the first one until I tell them that I need real smiles in order for them to go out with their friends.

Here is the better shot after they realized they weren't going anywhere until mom got her Halloween picture.

Katie and Ceci's costumes may look familiar because they wore the same ones last year. They really wanted to be Tinkerbell and Ariel again and the costumes fit! Here they are in 2009:

I love this one of Ella because it captures Ceci sprinting in the background.

This is actually a great candid by Rick because it captures how crowded the sidewalk is with kids and their entourages with coolers in their wagons.

Ceci was keeping up with the big girls and could barely stop for a photo.

Katie was having a harder time running with her fish tail. She kept tripping over her tail and had a difficult time running with it so tight around her legs.

Summer pictures

2010-10-02T16:06:00.012-06:00

We had a great summer and I'm now finally posting photos. Here are some from our trips to Michigan. This one is my favorite of Rick and his surfer girls.

Most of the time was spent hanging out on the beach.

And of course a beach cookout complete with Drier's hotdogs, corn from farmer Dingis and s'mores.

Rick decided that being on vacation also means a vacation from taking pictures so I don't even have his famous "candids" of me doing random things from the angle of him sitting in a chair. I promise I was there for all of the fun. :)

Blonde moments with Sophia

2010-09-14T18:29:00.002-06:00

I made some delicious Ethiopian meatballs last night for dinner and told the girls it was North African food.

Sophia: I wish I lived in North America.

me: We do live in North America...do you mean North Africa?

Sophia: Yeah, right. North AFRICA.

Rick: Maybe you'd rather live in North AMERICA.

Sophia: Well, actually, I wish we moved to England.

me: Why England?

Sophia: So I could speak two languages.

Walking Home II

2010-09-10T10:20:00.003-06:00

Ella: One big difference between kindergarten and preschool is that we don't pray at kindergarten.

me: Well, you can always pray quietly to yourself. You just don't pray out loud together.

Ella: Maybe I can pray to God to not make me so shy at school.

It was so sweet.

She is loving Kindergarten and making new friends. One mom came up to me at the park and asked if I was Ella's mom. She said that her son Charlie is obsessed with her and drew a picture for her and he was so nervous to give her it to her it took a couple days to get up the nerve. Ella showed me the picture which was an adorable drawing of Ella and Charlie playing legos.

She said: "He walked up to me with a piece of paper in his hand and said. 'Take it if you want'. Then walked away."

Walking home

2010-09-02T17:14:00.002-06:00

Walking home from school with Ella yesterday:

Ellla: Was I adopted?

me: No. Do you remember seeing pictures of when you were in my tummy? Do you know someone who was talking about this? Do you have questions about it? Why are you asking?

I was prepared for a long conversation about something that had been on her mind.

Ella: Just checking.

mom: Huh? "Just checking?????" Are you sure you don't have any questions about adoption or any friends of yours?

Ella: Nope, just checking.

And that was that. Ella is really turning into a funny girl.

Happy Birthday Ella

2010-08-28T12:07:00.004-06:00

I finally downloaded all the pictures from our camera and can post the ones from Ella's party back in June.

Ella turned five and was very excited. Since she's a summer birthday many of her school friends are already five so she was very anxious to finally be five herself. We had her party before her actual birth date and she was disappointed to find out that she wouldn't turn five at her party but have to wait until June 13th to tell everyone that she's five years old.

It has been a big year for Ella. The end of preschool and kindergarten in the Fall. Her teachers loved her at school and everyone at St. Joe's will miss her. She is such a sweet girl and has lots of friends. Whenever I'm at school or camp with her all sorts of kids are saying hi to her. She can still be shy but once she warms up she's a true friend. Last week we were taking a walk and talking about how if she's nervous at school she can say a little prayer and know that God is with her. She said "and if I'm shy I can pray to God to make me not so shy." It was so sweet. I've watched her grow up so much this year. She is amazing with Katie and Ceci. Always including them and coming up with games to play together. She loves puzzles and has gotten really good at solving hard ones.

Here are some pictures from the big party:

We had an incident with the cake. Katie dragged her finger from one end to the other before the candle blowing. She's learning from Sophia the master cake sneak. Sophia knows to hit less obvious spots though. Katie just went for it.

I'm pretty sure that's Sophia's handiwork on the backside.

We had a balloon guy come who did big balloon people for all the kids. Here is Ella with her Ariel:

Memorial Day

2010-06-23T09:16:00.008-06:00

We had a busy Memorial Day weekend with three barbecues and a parade.

The highlight was marching in the very large parade in Arlington Heights with the Dold for Congress group. Sophia got to sit in the classic car with Harper Dold and practice her Miss America wave. I asked her if people were waving back:

Sophia "No, mostly just throwing stuff at us."

me "Like candy?"

Sophia "No, like garbage"

They were probably reacting to Katie who was at the front of our pack cruising on her scooter coming within an inch of the crowd sitting on the sidewalk. She may be following in her father's footsteps as an expert in crowd control. She had this grimace on her face while buzzing the spectators. I was cracking up watching the expressions and hearing the comments from her victims while yelling at Katie to slow down. I got lots of bad mom looks during the two mile parade route. Cecilia slept in the stroller through the entire parade. This was a role reversal since Katie is the one who usually sleeps through events.

Here is Katie's patented scowl. She was probably bitter at the lack of candy which was rightfully deemed not appropriate to toss in a parade honoring fallen soldiers. I'm sure there will be plenty at the 4th of July.

Ice Time

2010-06-06T13:39:00.005-06:00

We spent a lot of time at the ice rink in May. Ella began hockey and Sophia and Ella both were in the Centennial ice show which is quite a production.

During Sophia's skating class Ella would go watch the hockey teams practice in the large rink and she asked if she could play hockey. I signed her up for it the next quarter and she really loves it. The first night she slept with her new hockey skates in her bed with her. She's the only girl and could not look cuter. Here she is in her jean skirt and pink tights keeping up with the boys:

The ice show ended up being a huge commitment when each girl was on the ice for approximately 3 minutes in the actual show. They each had multiple rehearsals leading up to the big show which was really shows since there were three performances and a dress rehearsal. Ella's group was first and they were adorable. Ella did not have patience for the slower future olympians and just skated around girls who were slowing her up in the routine of skating across the ice and back flapping their arms like little wings.

Sophia and her buddy Maggie jockeyed for positions once they were on the ice to be next to each other while trying to do the routine which was more complicated than Ella's group of munchkins.

During all the time spent sitting at the rink Katie and Ceci ran around the waiting area while I tried to keep them out of trouble with Polly Pockets, Barbies and various snacks. All in all they were troopers. A low point was when Katie walked up to me and said "Look what I found!" holding a piece of chewed up gum in her hand. When I screamed "Where did you get that!" she proudly pointed to the underside of a railing. She was pleased with her discovery and about to stick it in her mouth when I made her throw it out.

Here are some pictures:

Pets

2010-05-10T19:54:00.004-06:00

We have two new additions to the family. Ricky and Rosie the hamsters. Don't worry, we weren't thinking clearly but weren't crazy enough to buy a girl and boy hamster, just let the girls name them whatever they wanted. Now Rick is not as outnumbered in the house. The pet conversation began when Ella found a pet in the backyard. Lanie the ladybug lived in a Panera cup for about 5 days which was 4 longer than I thought she'd last. Ella gave her fresh grass everyday. Each morning she'd come down to check on Lanie and I'd have the speech prepared that Lanie was in ladybug heaven and Ella would smile and say "she's still alive and walking around". When we went to the pet store Ella was looking for ladybug food and treats. We were surprised to not find a little wheel or yogurt drops made for ladybugs.

First we looked at the guinea pigs. When the petsmart lady told us they live 7yrs we quickly changed our search to a rodent with a shorter lifespan. The girls saw the bin of crickets and thought those would be fun pets until I broke the news to them that those were food for pets and not actual pets.

So...we settled on two stinky hamsters. I made it very clear that I was not supporting this decision and that I would not clean the habitat or play with the hamsters. I actually said, making sure I had a witness and the petsmart lady was present, that I wanted to officially go on the record as being against the purchase of these little furballs. Rick was enthusiastic and said he would do it all.

Here is one of our babies in their ball which is the only way we let them out of the cage.

The girls are definitely not ready to handle them without a hard plastic barrier. One day I looked down and Katie was walking around carrying a hamster ball under each arm like she was on her way to the playground for a game of kickball. She did place them on the ground gently however after my heart stopped.

Rick's morning with the girls

2010-04-12T18:54:00.005-06:00

I tried to convince Rick to write an entry about his morning watching the girls but he couldn't find time between working, teaching a graduate class at DePaul and training for various triathlons and another marathon. So...I'm going to try to summarize it...

Rick took a day off last week and I ran errands in the morning. We went over the schedule in the morning:

Ella had a playdate and that mom was dropping her off
lunch
pick up another girl we carpool to gymnastics then 45min of hanging out at the rec center while all the girls all had gymnastics

I checked in with Rick in the morning to see how things were going with Katie and Ceci:

Rick: We're at the library. Going to take the girls to McDonalds for lunch. Going great.

me: Do you want to pick up Ella at the playdate? Then you can just head to lunch instead of waiting for the mom to bring her home.

Rick: Yeah, that would be better. Hold on...what...UGH! Katie just peed in her pants!

me: At the library??? On the floor??? WHAT IS GOING ON???

Rick: Gotta go...

So, I called the mom and told her that Rick would pick her up at 11:15. I figured he'd bring Katie home and clean her up and go hoping there wasn't a pool of pee on the carpet in the newly redone children's section.

11:40...call from Rick checking in...

me: did you get Ella ok?

Rick: NO! I thought Susan was dropping her off.

me: You said you were going to get her instead.

Rick: That all changed when Katie peed at the library.

Quick call to the playdate to apologize for not picking up Ella and the mom dropped her off.

I checked in with Rick to see how gymnastics was going. Figured this would be some downtime for him.

me: How's it going?

Rick: Well...I kind of lost Jenna

(this is the name of the older sister of Caroline who is the girl he actually picked up)

me: Caroline? What do you mean "lost"?

Rick: I thought they all ran into the gym. A little while later a woman walked up from the front desk with Caroline in tears. I looked up when I heard the crying and said, "Uh, she goes with me. Sorry." I didn't look like dad of the year at that point.

me: Were you playing with your new iPad and not paying attention to the girls?

Rick: Kind of...

Caroline had gotten confused. Didn't know where to go and walked all the way to the front desk which is down TWO hallways and around a corner.

I made my second call to a mom in two hours apologizing for our lack of organization and explained what happened so she wouldn't panic when Caroline returned and told her that Mr Patterson lost her. She said she knew he was having a rough morning when he picked up Caroline and asked if she knew where he was going. He said that "his wife" hadn't left directions. When he said "his wife" instead of "Sarah" she said she knew he wasn't having a good morning and was making it my fault for not being there. Which of course was the case. :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-19T14:38:00.004-06:00

We had a traditional Irish breakfast for St. Patrick's Day:

Lucky Charms!

Glasses

2010-03-05T14:45:00.005-06:00

I got an email from Sophia's teacher yesterday:

Hi Sarah,
Can you tell me a little about Sophia's glasses? Is she supposed to wear them all of the time, including lunch, recess and P.E.? One day she thought perhaps not, but today she said she was supposed to wear them all of the time.
Thanks,
Sharon

Hmmmmm...this was interesting because Sophia has perfect vision and does not wear glasses. I quickly realized that she was wearing a pair of glasses I got her for their career day today for which she was assigned the role of librarian. When I spoke with her teacher she said that Sophia had come in from recess wearing glasses for the first time and said "Mrs Murray, the other kids were making fun of me because of my glasses!" She was milking the glasses for all they were worth.

I'm not sure how Sophia was going to eventually stop wearing the glasses and explain to her classmates that her vision was miraculously restored. She has the best first grade teacher in the world, Mrs Murray, who was quite concerned when I told her Sophia was in trouble for lying. She said "Sophia is the sweetest, kindest girl. It was more deception and not so much lying. Please don't punish her." She talked me out of telling Sophia she can't go to Ryan's bowling party on Saturday.

Sophia is such an awesome girl full of sweetness and fun.

Here she is in her librarian outfit and her new glasses. You can see why Mrs Murray thought they might be a bit "severe" for a seven year old's daily glasses when Sophia informed her she had to wear them all the time.

Happy Birthday Sophia!

2010-02-25T12:46:00.006-06:00

Happy 7th birthday Sophia! This has been another big year for Sophia. A new school and new friends. She has done so awesome and made the transition seamlessly. Her teacher described her as a very kind and sweet girl. She is so fun to hang out with. She has not only excelled at school but also in athletics as one of the stars of her soccer team. Watching her head up the quad lift skiing in Santa Fe after only two days on skis I couldn't believe how well she was doing.

She had two parties. One family celebration with the Vanheukelums and a dinner at Ron of Japan with her BFFs Grace and Jenna.

Here are some photos from the pizza party we had at home:

Ron of Japan was a blast. It felt like we were entering Japan circa 1970. The big girls kept disappearing and I realized they were staring at a small tv looping sumu wrestling matches.

I love all the missing teeth:

Ella was the only one not appropriately scared by the fire. In fact she found it quite entertaining. I made a note to myself that night that we're going to have to keep her away from matches. You can see in this picture that she is really enjoying it.The girls loved the dinner. At one point Sophia told the chef that he is the BEST COOK she has ever seen!

Frosty

2010-02-23T14:03:00.007-06:00

We've had a lot of snow and built a snowman in the front yard with some help from the Sullivans and Hoepers. I did the heavy lifting but the girls did a great job rolling the snow to make the parts.

Makeovers

2010-02-16T18:05:00.003-06:00

Look who got into the new makeup kit Sophia got for her birthday....

I came downstairs in the morning and saw the makeup kit all over the basement floor. My head started snapping around trying to find who had gotten into it when Kate and Ceci popped out from behind the couch with huge grins. It was hard to get mad at them. I did have to promise Sophia that I'd buy her a new one though.

Gym time

2010-02-03T15:58:00.003-06:00

Entering the gym locker room with Ceci and Katie feels like walking through a minefield. All the naked women of various shapes and sizes is too much for them to ignore. They have not mastered the "no eye contact" walk down the aisle and aren't afraid to stare and point as we make our way to the row closest to the pool entrance.

Yesterday after swim class Katie pointed at a large woman changing next to us and said:

"She has BIG underpants!"

I looked over and she did indeed have large underpants on. I just said: "Yes, she is wearing underpants. We all wear underpants."

Katie: "No mom. I said she has BIG UNDERPANTS!"

Ceci looks over now: "Those are BIG WHITE underpants!"

Now the whole row is snorting trying not make eye contact with the big white underpants or anyone else because we'll all lose it.

No more damage control can be done at this point. I just give the smile and shoulder shrug I've done many times.

Christmas parties

2010-01-25T12:58:00.013-06:00

There were lots of festivites before Christmas. I'm going to try to condense it all here.

I signed the girls up for a gingerbread house decorating session at the park district. I should have known that having candy covered houses in our living room would be a nightmare. The girls kept grabbing pieces and when the low hanging fruit was gone they'd do everything they could to detach pieces of stale gumdrops from the frosting front yards. Here are some pictures from the workshop. We definitely got our money worth. I think they consumed more candy than actually went onto the houses.

Another highlight was the University Club party to see the real Santa. They stepped up the danger factor with the animals this year. They had an assortment of reptiles including a LARGE alligator roaming around. Initially I was worried it would use it's tail to smack a child. When I took a closer look I realized he had a full set of teeth and no restraints. Rick asked the handler, since that didn't seem possible, but he confirmed that the gator didn't have his jaw wired and "reassured" Rick that he had never bitten anyone.

Here it is eyeing Ceci's candy cane. I'm not sure it was a wise idea to have the animals stationed right where the kids exited from seeing Santa candy canes in hand.

Here are the girls in their dresses in front of our tree which was kind of puny this year.

Shopping for that tree. It looked bigger on the lot.

The St Joseph Preschool Christmas show was the last of our pre-Christmas events. Ella did a great job with her partner...who else...Sean. I'll post video at the end that Rick took.
Katie and Ceci looked cute in the skirts Kelly and John gave them for their birthday.
Who's having more fun? The little girl next to them kept trying to get in the picture while her mom was yelling for her to move. I was just happy Katie and Ceci were standing still for ten seconds.
Just takes a hug from Ceci to get a smile:
The hug got a little crazy and they pulled down the sign. It was after the performance though so I don't think anyone noticed.
And here is Ella with her bff:

Thanksgiving

2010-01-15T15:44:00.004-06:00

Two months later I'm finally posting some pictures from Thanksgiving. We had a nice, relaxed time at home with the Bergmanns and both sets of grandparents. I cooked dinner with lots of help.

Here's my beautiful turkey:

and Katie, my little sneaker, taking a piece of my garnish. She is obsessed with clementines. She eats one a day and would eat a 5lb bag if I let her.

The girls made place cards:

Here are the kids at their table. Aunt Bobby made beautiful scarves for them that they put on right away.

Ella wore the turkey hat she made at school all evening.

Happy Birthday Katie and Cecilia!

2009-12-27T14:18:00.008-06:00

Katie and Ceci turned 3 years old on November 21st. We celebrated with a party with friends and family including grandma and grandpa Patterson who came from California.

It has been a big year for the girls. They started school and can now go to activities without mom. They LOVE swim class. Ceci tells their teacher to let go of her and just let her swim. She is fearless and doesn't hesitate to plunge her head underwater. Katie also loves the water but is more timid than Ceci. She'll stick her face in and then pull it up with a huge smile saying "Mom! Mom! Look...I did it!" They have so much fun together splashing and cheering each other on. It's amazing to watch their relationship evolve. They really care about each other and have a special connection.

Katie is as sweet as can be but also always thinking of ways to get into mischief. She'll look up and me and say "You're the best mommy in the whole world!" or tell a little secret to me which is usually "I love you". The next moment she's writing on the walls or cutting the tails off of Sophia's stuffed animals. There is always a big apology afterward. She's the first one up in the morning and comes right into our room between 5:30 and 6:30am. She's very cheery and wants to talk and talk and talk and talk. Our little morning ray of sunshine. If someone doesn't get up with her she goes back to her room and wakes up Cecilia so she has a playmate. This year she started school and loves going and playing with her friends. Her favorite is the dollhouse where she'll sit and play family with the dolls.

Cecilia goes with the flow and is such a joy to hang out with. She's always smiling. She loves playing with other children and goes out of her way to make friends wherever we are. At the park she doesn't hesitate to go up to a group of older kids and say "Hey guys, here I am!" and just joins in the game. She loves to sit on my lap and read books or play. She plays with Polly Pockets and will sit and change the clothes and act out families all by herself.

The girls are playing together so well and always look out for each other. I love watching them grow up and mature.

Here are some pictures from their party:

Daniel came and managed to sleep through most of the festivities.

There wasn't a cohesive theme. I thought it would be fun for them to pick out their own cakes so we all went to Jewel to flip through the big cake binder where they picked and then changed their minds over and over with help from their sisters. Finally we settled on Care Bears and Tinkerbell with a Scooby Doo pinata. Scooby Doo is their obsession right now.

Permanent Pedi

2009-12-22T17:37:00.003-06:00

Katie came up from the basement this afternoon and said "Mom, Mom, look at my toes!!"

She had given herself a pedicure.

With a Sharpie:

Halloween

2009-12-03T14:26:00.006-06:00

We had a lively Halloween. The neighborhood was hopping despite the chilly temps. Katie and Ceci didn't remember last year so were thrilled all over again to get candy from strangers and managed to keep up for a while in the mad sprint from house to house with their cousins and big sisters.

Here is the crew:

Sophia was Hannah Montana. The wig didn't last long.Katie put on a hat but didn't want to ditch the tiara:
The adults on Greenwood dress up as well. Our neighbor John was Batman:
Ceci was very concerned to see the Riddler a block later. We assured her that nothing bad would happen to Sean's dad:The real excitement of the evening was the arrival of cousin Daniel at 10:15pm. Elizabeth went home and her water broke while reading stories to Anna:

And of course there was the day after candy breakfast. Sophia took an inventory to make sure her full size Skittles were still there. We passed out 400+ pieces of candy. I couldn't believe how many large candy bars they got. Must have been someone new to Kenilworth Gardens.

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-11T14:55:00.004-06:00

We went to the pumpkin patch for our annual trip to pick out pumpkins, see the giant pig, ride on overpriced carney rides and polish off a six pack of apple cider doughnuts. It was a chilly but beautiful day and the girls all had fun. They got to run through the corn maze. Whenever Ceci and Katie are allowed to just run and run they have a blast.

Katie is my runner. I'm hoping she pays me back for my racing heart most of the day with a track scholarship. Today at Ella's skating lesson I literally looked away for a minute and she had run away from me onto the large ice rink...onto THE ICE. Another mom there said to me "you really have your hands full." Which I hear ten times a day. It's like when a stranger is staring at me and doesn't know what to say that's what comes out. Then she said: "I recognize you from pick up at Harper School. That one really can run. I've always wondered how you do it." Katie loves to just take off running. She's still doing that road runner sprint where her upper body is still and her little legs are a blur. On the way home from picking up Sophia she'll run for a long block without stopping a smile on her face the whole time. She just loves it.

The biggest take away from the pumpkin patch was that there are more chickens in the world than people. On the tour of the barn we learned that and Sophia reminds us from time to time. Usually when we're having chicken for dinner.

Here are some photos from the afternoon:

The Marathon

2009-11-01T15:24:00.010-06:00

Rick ran the Chicago marathon and did an awesome job!

I brought the girls and my mom and dad helped me while we cruised around the city catching Rick at various points in the race.

Our first stop was mile four. We soon realized as runners kept peeling off behind us that we were standing in front of the first set of trees along the course. We called it the pee tree and I kept having to tell the girls to turn around and stop looking at the urinating runners which were fascinating to them.

Here are Katie and Ella blowing on a dandelion.

Unfortunately we saw him more than he saw us. At one point all seven of us stood on a corner in Little Italy for 30 minutes waiting for him to come by. We finally spotted him and all were yelling and screaming. He totally ran past us without looking up. He just ran by looking straight ahead and unfortunately like he needed some encouragement. So we jumped back into the car and headed to mile 22 at Comiskey Park where we did catch him. While waiting for him at Comiskey the girls started sticking their hands out and got excited when the runners were slapping them. Katie and Ceci were trying to get in on the game too but faced the wrong way. I think Ceci was waiting for the errant runner coming the other direction and was confused when no one was coming toward her.

Here are Luke and Katie ringing cowbells that were passed out to the girls. I was hearing those bells in my head for a week after the race. We insisted Luke take home that bell to get back at Hans and Cathy for the High School Musical microphone they gave Sophia for her fifth birthday.

Maddy and Sophia wearing their dads' medals:

Ella's on two wheels

2009-10-27T12:06:00.003-06:00

We took off Ella's training wheels. She is a little speed demon on her two wheeler. The walk to school to pick up Sophia had gotten pretty painful. For Ella, because her bike kept tipping over and for me following with 60 lbs of twins in the stroller stopping and starting and picking up Ella each time her bike toppled. I told her she needed to learn to ride without the training wheels in order to keep riding to school and she was excited. It only took about an hour for her to be comfortable without the training wheels.

Now the challenge is keeping up with her on the way to school. I have to run with the stroller so now we're both getting a workout. She loves riding her bike and rides with Rick when he runs.

She's so proud of being able to ride her bike. When we're talking to an adult she'll whisper in my ear "does she know I can ride a two wheeler?" and then I'll tell her to let them know.

Soccer girl

2009-10-10T12:05:00.011-06:00

We opened a youtube acct, finally! Rick posted a video from Sophia's soccer game this morning. She had an awesome game and scored two goals. The part Rick taped with his Iphone here is one that hits the post. She's got the gold jersey and blond ponytail. You can tell she's very aggressive and loves soccer.

Go Hornets!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4bikQ8IlX8

Fall

2009-10-07T11:33:00.002-06:00

This morning was the usual rush to get everyone into the car and to school on time. As I'm yelling at Sophia and Ella to buckle their seat belts, Ceci says

"Mom! Mom! LOOK!"

I'm annoyed and turn to ask her what is wrong. She points out the window to the tree next to us. I still don't get it. "Whaaat?? We need to get going."

"Look at the tree mom, it's yellow!"

I realize that this is the first Fall for Katie and Ceci since they were one last year. She was staring at the leaves turning on the trees. It was a nice wake-up for me to stop and enjoy the "firsts" my girls are experiencing.

THE Wedding

2009-09-30T15:13:00.014-06:00

Last month we traveled to Sacramento for Stephanie and Tyler's wedding. I was apprehensive as always about flying with all four but looking forward to being with family and celebrating with Steph and Tyler.

Everything went well on the way out. We flew out of Milwaukee because the flights were cheaper and since we were buying six tickets it really adds up. We also thought the smaller airport would be easier to navigate. Rick had printed out diagrams of the Milwaukee airport parking garages since we had a 6am flight and we wanted to get in and out quickly. Rick dropped us at the curb and I sat with the girls and all the luggage. And sat, and sat, and sat. I was starting to worry what had happened to him. He had the maps and I could see the parking garage about 50 feet from where we were waiting. He finally ran up and said he got turned around and wasn't sure exactly where he had parked but would find the car when we landed.

The girls were all awesome on the flights. At the Denver stop on the way out Rick went to grab breakfast at McDonalds and I ran to the bathroom. When I met him and the girls in line three unrelated strangers looked at me and with an expression of relief and said: "We are all glad to see you! We were worried about him traveling alone with that crew." You could tell they were trying to figure out how they could help this courageous dad.

When we landed in Sacramento and were walking to baggage Ella looked at me and asked why we got back on an airplane just to go back to the same place. She was right, SAC looked just like DIA and she thought we flew for two hours to be right back at the same place.

We had an awesome week. We stayed with Tyler's parents in their beautiful home with a pool we couldn't get the girls out of. It was like staying at an exclusive resort complete with gourmet meals fresh from Ron's garden every night. I think it was Mark Twain who said "House guests are like fish - they stink after three days". We were way past our expiration date but they made us feel so welcome all week. The girls still ask when we can go back and see Terrie and Ron.

Here are some pictures from the week:

Here's Ceci doing her patented belly flop. She's behind Ella but you can see her legs. She would just stand at the side of the pool and flop forwards then come up with a huge smile on her face. It was hysterical.

The wedding was the highlight and went off without a hitch. Sophia and Ella were the cutest flower girls I have ever seen.

Katie and Ceci looked pretty cute too:

We all had a blast at the reception. It was a fun wedding with friends and family who really loved Stephanie and Tyler. The girls loved dancing and Katie and Ceci discovered sparkling apple juice. I think they each drank a bottle. Katie looked at me at one point and said "Apple juice makes me haaaappppyyy!"

Here I am dancing with Katie. She's "raising the roof"

I love this picture from the end of the night. It reminds me of the fraternity party pics from the end of a formal. It cracks me up to see Ceci in the background cruising around solo drinking apple juice from a champagne flute. They just kept going up to the bar asking for refills.

After the wedding we took a day trip to San Francisco with grandma and grandpa. The girls did A LOT of walking and were awesome. Here are some pics:

A reward for all their walking with minimal whining was a trip to Ghiradelli's for sundaes:

We were all exhausted at the end of the week but the girls did an awesome job on the trip home. Actually, we all held it together until we got to the airport and remembered that Rick didn't know where the car was parked. This time it wasn't just Rick running through the parking lot alone. It was Rick, Sarah, Sophia, Ella, Kate and Ceci and a stroller, carry ons, car seats and a luggage cart stacked perilously high full of bags. We started out wandering aimlessly through the rental car area. I told Rick that this didn't look like somewhere he could have parked but he kept plowing ahead. It looked like the circus had come to the Milwaukee parking garage. At one point I turned around and at the end of our line was a strange woman dragging one of our roller bags. She must have just felt sorry for us and joined the caravan when Sophia dropped her bag. We finally realized we needed to be on the upper level...why Rick didn't at least remember an elevator I don't know. Inside the elevator the entire luggage mountain tipped and we were all six madly trying to restack in the elevator while the alarm was going off. Then inside the garage the luggage toppled again. A guy who looked a bit unstable was having a smoke and suddenly sprinted away from us at top speed. A nice couple witnessed this yard sale around us and Forrest Gump running the opposite way and asked if we needed some help. I looked at them and said very seriously "what would make you think we need help?' and then started laughing hysterically. Like clinically insane person hysterically. Rick joined in and we now both looked like lunatics. They tried to gingerly put some of our bags back on the useless cart and we were laughing too hard to even speak. They slowly backed away. Forrest Gump returned with another cart for us. I tried to pull the cart and push the stroller which was not working at all.

Rick had the bright idea that I wish we'd thought of in the terminal to leave us to wait while he found the car. He walked around pressing the alarm button on the key fob until he heard it and we all started cheering. The girls were all sound asleep the minute they hit their seats.

A Bead

2009-09-23T17:51:00.004-06:00

We hit a milestone Tuesday. First trip to the emergency room for a foreign object inserted into a nostril.

We were parked in the driveway after school pickup and Ceci started crying LOUDLY. I asked Sophia what was wrong.

"Ceci put a bead in her nose but don't worry because I'm getting it out."

I turn around to see Sophia's finger in Ceci's nose.

"OOps...I can't see it anymore."

She stuck it in deeper and I couldn't see it when I looked so we headed to the hospital. I called our pediatrican who said we really needed to go to the ER because they didn't have the tools in their office.

So all five of us spent 2 hours sitting in a crowded emergency room without any toys, crayons or anything to occupy the girls. They were surprisingly good. The people watching was exceptional and the tv was tuned to the WB which was showing something that was totally inappropriate for the girls to be watching which meant they were transfixed by it. I just sat there counting the minutes until Rick got home from work to pick up Sophia, Ella and Katie.

We finally got called back to a room which meant even better people watching as this was where the really sick people were and a couple crazies accompanied by police escorts. The nurses kept telling Sophia and Ella to stick their heads back into our room.

Finally a practitioner came to see us. Apparently the method for extracting a bead that works "95% of the time" did not work for us. Ceci had picked a clover shaped bead to lodge into her nose that we could not blow out. Finally the ER doctor came and used long tweezers to pull it out.

While this was happening the nurse asked Sophia to be a big girl and watch her sisters outside the door. She didn't realize that Sophia turns into Joan Crawford when you put her in charge. We all started laughing when she said to Katie "Get back into that chair or...I'll shove a bead into your nose!"

By this time it's 5:50 and Rick gets home at 5:05. I figured he'd be here at 5:25 at the latest. I left my phone in the car and since he couldn't get in touch with me he decided to clean the basement. REALLY!?!?! CLEAN THE BASEMENT??? He knew I had had all four girls at the hospital since 3:30 when I called him on the way in a panic. I was freaking out worried that Ceci would suck the bead into her throat and choke which the woman who checked us in smugly assured me is not possible. I guess that's something I should have learned in 8th grade biology. Rick decided after a HALF HOUR hanging out at home that maybe he should head over to the hospital to see how we're doing. When he didn't come immediately I had this vision of him going for a run and was rehearsing the major meltdown I was going to have when I saw him in his workout clothes "cooling down".

Here is Ceci posing with the bead:

That's Katie standing next to her about to hit me in the head with a giant level. Don't ask.

The upside is that the girls were so traumatized by our stint at the hosptial that I don't think anyone will stick anything in their noses.

Our House....even better

2009-09-09T15:58:00.004-06:00

Last year we purchased a watercolor of our house at a charity auction. It came out so great and the artist posted it on her website. She did a nice job of beefing up my flower box and making the crab apple tree look much more lovely than it does in person.

I thought I'd paste it here so the girls can see the house they lived in when they were young in case Rick's master plan to sell everything we own and buy a Winnebago actually happens after I suffer a tragic laundry accident and kill the part of my brain containing common sense.

School Supply Shopping

2009-09-03T15:47:00.006-06:00

Since Sophia started at a new school this year I wasn't in the loop on how the school supply list worked. I knew there was a prepackaged box of school supplies that I thought I'd purchased as part of the fees I paid for registration. I learned during the orientation on the day before school that the ordering was separate and had occurred in the Spring. I asked her teacher what was necessary for her to have the next day because I was certain that it was going to be challenging dragging all four exhausted girls to Office Depot that afternoon when we'd traveled home from California the night before.

I have romantic memories of school supply shopping with my mom at the local store picking out just the right Trapper Keepers. This experience was pretty much the exact opposite.

Three out of four girls were sound asleep in their car seats during the 5 min drive to Office Depot. Two year olds don't wake up cheery when they've fallen asleep in their seats. Actually, my girls wake up pretty hard. I thought about just turning around and going home and shopping that evening alone but that memory of skipping down the aisles deciding between the puppy and the kitten folder cropped into my brain and I said out loud "we're going to do this!". I would not deprive my eldest daughter of this special experience.

Ella sat in the cart and Katie and Ceci held onto the sides while Sophia checked her list for the items. We were a wide load knocking down end caps and displays but I just kept moving. Guess what was the ONE thing they didn't have. C R A Y O N S. I was wishing I hadn't asked and Sophia hadn't heard that the only necessary item to start First Grade was a box of 48 crayons.

Sophia kept begging me to find more employees to ask if maybe somewhere they had a box of 48 crayons. I promised her we'd check somewhere else.

As I was checking out in a full sweat Katie looks up and me and says "I pooped". I looked around as casually as I could to see who heard in this line full of moms and kids. Katie thought I hadn't heard her since I didn't immediately freak out like I do when she poops in her underwear so she yelled "I POOPED!" Then just to make sure the guy back in the toner department knew, Sophia and Ella yelled "MOM....Katie pooped...IN HER UNDERWEAR!" I saw the 18yr old check-out girl swallow. I think she threw up in her mouth a little bit. I asked where the bathrooms were while everyone watched us do the walk of shame to the back of the store. One thing they had in the Office Depot bathroom that I'd never seen before was disposable gloves. I cleaned Katie up and stuffed her underwear into one of those gloves.

Not exactly the school supply shopping trip of my youth but memorable nonetheless.

MIchigan part two

2009-09-02T08:13:00.012-06:00

We had an amazing week on the beach with all the cousins together.

Here they all are eating dinner on the porch:
Lots of beach time:The seagull patrol was in full effect:
Our friends the van Heukelums came over for a beach cookout. More s'mores and Ella got to spend time with her future husband (I'm not kidding) Luke. They were practicing their poses for the engagement photo:
Here's one of Rick's candids of the group:and a couple more from the evening:
Sophia and her bff Maddy:We attempted to take a Christmas card photo on the front deck that was less than successful:
We spent a morning at Captain Mike's go-carts/miniature golf/arcade. They had something for everyone. This was our first time golfing and I was pleased that no one got a putter in the face. Katie kept yelling "I WIN! I WIN!" every time she got the ball in the hole.
Captain Mike is in the back super-sanitizing those balls after each use, right?
Sophia and Ella drove the junior go-carts:
And Katie and Ceci seemed to get over not being old enough when they saw the big plastic horse that rocks:

Our triathlon

2009-08-05T09:49:00.006-06:00

We spent last weekend in Michigan with our friends the Dublins. Rick and Matt competed in an Ironman 70.3 triathlon in Benton Harbor. At the end of the day we all felt like we'd completed one. Matt was going to finish about an hour ahead of Rick and Lisa wanted to get there early to make sure she didn't miss his finish. So we all went early and ended up spending more than three hours waiting for Rick and Matt to finish.

On our walk from the car to the race site a couple walked past me holding Katie and Ceci's hands with Ella and Sophia trailing behind, did a double take, looked at me and said "Good luck with...that." Then we passed a boy selling lemonade with a sign on his table that said "It's a loooong walk". At that point I wondered what I was thinking bringing everyone to this circus.

They did a great job on the walk and actually were quite good until the winds picked up and it started pouring rain. We ran into a shelter and crowded in with hundreds of spectators. The wind was really whipping and the rain was blowing sideways into the shelter. Sophia said "I see a tornado" and all of a sudden I thought the roof was going to fly off...how can I get all four girls to safety. Rick said he was on the run at this point and picked up the pace imagining me and the girls in the monsoon waiting for him. Ceci was chanting "Go Daddy! Go Daddy!" over and over driving the people around us crazy. All of a sudden I realized that it was 2:00pm and we hadn't had lunch. There really wasn't much to eat there so I dragged everyone to the snack station where we had pop-tarts, trail mix and granola bars. They finished off the snacks in about five minutes. I was pouring trail mix into their hands like a mommy bird. They just stood there with their hands in the air and I kept pouring.

There weren't a lot of young children at this race which made perfect sense once I saw what it was like waiting and waiting. I kept repeating in my head and probably out loud "never again...never again...never again."

I don't have any pictures since I left the camera bag in the car. At first I was upset that I'd left it behind but once we got there I was so thankful that I wasn't carrying that all afternoon. We didn't even see Rick cross the finish line since it was pouring rain and we didn't know within an hour what time he'd finish.

When the guys finished they were exhilarated to have completed the day-long race and I think Lisa and I were even more excited to see them. We were all proud of Rick and hope this satisfies his need to do a distance triathlon.

Here are some pictures from the beach in Michigan. This was the fun part of the weekend. All the girls love the water:

Here's Ella leading the pack while they terrorized the sea gulls....Katie called them "beach birds":

Taking a baby shower

2009-07-24T10:15:00.006-06:00

Last week Sophia, Ella and I went to a baby shower for our nanny Veni who was with us from when Sophia was born until I stopped working last year. Sophia and I were very excited but Ella seemed apprehensive. This made no sense because she LOVES Veni and is always jumping off the walls when she knows Veni is coming over.

The night before the shower I was trying to encourage Ella that it would be a fun afternoon:

me: It's going to be so much fun tomorrow. You are going to have lots of friends there. Gosia, Michelle, Val, Emmy.

Ella: But not at the same time.

me: Yes, everyone will be there together with Veni.

Ella: But we can't all be there together.

me: Why not?

Ella: It's too small!

(at this point she is getting frustrated with me and speaking to me like I'm a toddler and she is tired of explaining why I can't have candy for dinner)

me: Veni's house?

Ella: No, the BABY'S SHOWER! We can't all fit in it!

We all started laughing and I explained to her that we weren't all going to actually take a shower.

Here are some pictures:

Happy Fourth of July!

2009-07-08T13:41:00.011-06:00

We had an All-American weekend at our friends the Dold's lake house in Michigan. It was a weekend filled with friends and family. For the kids is was all about swimming, fishing, watersports, sparklers and s'mores.

Everyone caught their first fish:

Sophia was very excited
Until she realized the fish was still alive and it started flopping around
Here's Ella's whopper:

Ceci even got in on the action:

Life is good

Rick took the girls out on the jet ski:
Sophia went tubing and on the wake board:
Rick went waterskiing:
Well...he wasn't technically "waterskiing" since he didn't actually stand up on the skis but he did get pulled behind the boat a number of times. I think you can see his skis sticking out of the water on this one. The other shots were just a big splash.

S'mores were definitely a highlight:

The kids decorated the pontoon boat for the boat parade:

Katie was meticulously wrapping the streamers
Sophia and Harper made a lego flag:
Here are a couple more photos from the weekend:

Happy 4th Birthday Ella

2009-06-18T17:57:00.002-06:00

Ella Bella turned four last week. She was so cute when she realized that she didn't have to wait for her party to turn four but that when she woke up on her birthday morning she was going to be four years old. She kept telling everyone on June 12 that "tomorrow when I wake up I'll be FOUR! Not at my party but when I WAKE UP in the morning!"

Ella is our little ray of sunshine. She has a quick smile for everyone. She's a great big sister and so sweet with Katie and Ceci. She has been my little buddy this Spring when we got to hang out together in the afternoon. While Sophia was at school and Katie and Ceci were napping Ella and I would play the Memory Game, Uno, Bingo, puzzles, etc. She loves to play games.

Almost every day she'll look up at me at some point and just say "I love you mom." It melts my heart.

She's a little speed demon on her bike. Still got the training wheels on but rides for miles (literally, ask Rick who has dragged Sophia and Ella all over town on their bikes).

Ella has a great sense of humor. There's a twinkle in her eye and she's quick to laugh and make light of a situation.

We love you SO much Ella!

Happy Birthday Ella Bella Cinderella!

Here are some pictures from her gymnastics party:

Then we brought the cake home for a family party:

The Bergmanns got her a light up Cinderella dress:

And a box of dress up shoes that Katie and Ceci promptly put on with their pjs:

Spring Concert

2009-05-25T13:38:00.004-06:00

Sophia had her Spring Concert at school last week. We all went and I was sure they would have the Kindergarteners go first but someone decided it was a good idea to have them go at the end. All the younger siblings were getting restless and Katie and Ceci were leading the charge. A couple times Katie looked at me and said "I'll be right back" and just started walking down the center aisle by herself. I made a lot of trips up and back with her. Rick finally took them outside and they came back in to see Sophia.

Here they are on the back deck before we left:

Here are the Kindergarteners on stage. I was worried when I saw their "instruments" but no one tried using them as a light sabers and they all did a great job:

It was a beautiful night so we walked. We were regretting this decision on the walk home. Rick had to push the stroller with Katie and Ceci crying the entire 5 blocks. I stayed with Ella waiting for the show to finish but Rick bolted with the twins who were in full meltdown mode.

Halloween in May

2009-05-23T12:21:00.003-06:00

Last night we were at the St. Joseph pasta dinner and cake walk. The girls wanted to skip dinner and just do the cake walk part.

Ceci was sitting next to me when all of a sudden her eyes looked like they were going to bug out of her head. She yelled "MAMA!" and pointed behind me. I slowly turned around wondering what she was so excited about and saw a table of nuns sitting next to us eating rotini. When I turned around to ask what she was looking at she yelled "WITCHES!"

It was hard not to chuckle. I guess it was obvious who the Protestants were.

Scared Straight

2009-05-11T18:47:00.006-06:00

The Wilmette Police Department held an open house last Sunday. We had planned to go after church then Rick had to leave for three days for work (same trip he made last week I might add). I wasn't going to try to take all four by myself but my sister Elizabeth came over with Anna and we decided to go ahead with the plan. It's about six blocks away so I put Katie and Ceci in the stroller and the big girls walked. The stroller was impossible to push and we realized halfway there that one wheel was completely flat. I was sweating (not shocking) after pushing 60 lbs of two year olds with a flat tire and we decided to abandon the stroller and forge ahead instead of turning around. I figured Elizabeth and I could each hold a twin hand. This was somewhat successful.

The police station tour was fun for the girls. Here are some pictures:

Outside of the jail:

As I was taking this photo inside a jail cell Elizabeth started yelling "NO!!! KATIE!!!" as if she was holding a vial of the swine flu virus to her lips. Katie was lying down on the bed with her head on the jail blanket. I thought it was cute and was snapping pictures while her horrified aunt was yelling to sit up and get out. The officer said "We did sanitize everything" but I realized this was a situation where I should not have been so encouraging. I'm sure she thought Elizabeth was their mom and I just went with it to be safe.

Here are Katie and Ceci inside the police car. Hopefully we won't repeat this photo in 15 years:

And here they are on the Coast Guard jet ski:

The officer in the jail asked them to look around for a comfy pillow, warm blanket or Wii game. They all looked and couldn't find any of those. She let them know that in jail you have no privacy and none of the comforts of home. Last week Sophia had some poopy issues and said to me that she was "DEFINITELY" glad she wasn't in jail because there is "ZERO privacy in jail". I realized that that visit really had hit home for her. Now when she sticks her hand out of the car window I tell her we both might get arrested if a police officer sees us and she pulls it right back into the car. I'm sure that threat of getting arrested is going to work well for me going forward.

Thanks Wilmette PD!

Singing in the Rain

2009-05-11T18:25:00.003-06:00

We had a couple days of rain. We're short a pair of rain boots so I suggested snow boots for Ceci and she was fine with that. It was about 70 degrees outside so I'm sure her feet were sweating but she was just happy to be wearing boots.

Pushing buttons

2009-05-05T15:46:00.003-06:00

Katie and Ceci were being loud at bedtime and I went in to tell them to keep it down and go to sleep. Then I stood outside the door to see if they would really keep quiet.

Ceci: Katie BAD!

Katie: No! I'm GOOD! No Bad.

Ceci: Katie BAD.

Silence for a minute while Katie's thinking of a better comeback.

Katie: I'm a big girl. No bad. I wear underpants and pee pee on potty.

Silence while Ceci is taking this in knowing that she is still in diapers and the best she can come up with is...

Ceci: AAAAAGGGHHHH!

They are already figuring out each others' buttons and pushing them. I can't wait for the teenage years. :)

Spring Break

2009-04-21T09:12:00.006-06:00

Last week was Spring Break and we decided to head to the Keys for a night...not the Florida Keys but the Gurnee, IL keys. We went to the Key Lime Cove water park for one night with our friends the Lazars. Between our two families we had NINE girls which was a bit of a spectacle at Outback steakhouse. We got a lot of double takes. You could see other diners counting how many we had with us in their heads while staring at the table.

This was all of our first water park experience and the best way to describe it is Vegas for kids. The girls had a blast. The next day Sophia said that she wished we lived at Key Lime Cove. Ceci gets up every morning and says that she needs her bathing suit to go in the water.

We had a babysitter, Michelle, come during the day to help with Katie and Ceci. I made the mistake of not fully briefing her on Katie's deceptive speed and agility. I was checking in while Michelle had Katie and Ceci. All of a sudden I saw the flash of Katie's red polka dotted coverup dashing behind the front desk personnel. I turned around and Michelle hadn't even seen her take off. Turns out she had run through the gift shop into a back door that went down a short hallway to the front desk before I yelped "Katie!" and Michelle noticed she wasn't right next to her. That's my little road runner. When she was corralled and we figured out how she'd gotten back there Ceci looked at her and said "KATIE...go to TIME OUT!" The desk personnel kept saying "this is supposed to be secure".

Ceci was the most popular girl at the kiddie pool. She had three 8 year old girls fighting to play with her and help her up and down the slides. She'd stand at the top of the slide with her arms in the air like the queen of Key Lime Cove and then slide down to the waiting arms of one of her new friends. Ceci was up and down that slide about 1,000 times. She had a smile on her face for 48 hours straight.

Ella and Sophia were brave venturing into the larger pools. Ella spent a lot of time on the lazy river which was such an adventure for her she called it "the crazy river". She corrected us whenever we said lazy river so we all just started calling it the craaaazy river.

Rick and Katie on the crazy river:

We did have a lazy river episode with Ceci. Rick put her in the front seat of the tube which had a seat in place of the hole. He came quickly paddling back and said frantically "the water is brown". I thought someone must have had a pretty explosive accident to have a big brown area of water with all the chemicals circulating in this pool. Then he said "no, look, brown water where Ceci was sitting." He started walking toward a guard to ask what to do with this tan water when I had visions of us closing down the 10 million gallon pool and all being shamed out of the park. So he did the next best thing and dumped the affected water into a plant. Michelle deserved battle pay for washing Ceci in the shower while I bought another $3 swim diaper from the flip flop shop.

Sophia and I went down the big tube slides together on an inner tube and once she got the courage to go down the single slide on her back she was off to the races. She went on everything she was tall enough to go on and loved being one of the big girls.

Here are Sophia and her friend Maggie. What would Spring Break be without braids and beads? Instead of a hut on the beach there was a lady outside the bathroom braiding for $5. The girls were thrilled with their fancy hair accessories.

They also had an arcade that was like the casino for the kids. There were games full of candy which blew the girls' minds. They just stood staring with their mouths wide open at the illuminated mountains of penny candy.

Katie and Ceci jamming out:
The great thing about bringing 2-6yr olds at an arcade is that they think they are really playing all the games when it's just the display so it doesn't cost anything for them to have a blast "playing". We only had to pony up for the candy game for Sophia which made her feel like she hit the ultimate kid jackpot.

Ella entered her coloring page of Gabrielle and Troy from HS Musical into the daily coloring contest and we were all so proud at the end of the day to see that she was a Grand Prize winner. Ella's face lit up when she saw her picture hanging in the hallway. Rick was hoping her big prize might be a flat screen tv or maybe all-expenses-paid trip to Mexico, but the big prize was a lollipop and tattoo that said "girls rule". The tattoo was appropriate since I think we were the only family there without one tattoo among us. At least Ella could now help us fit in a better with the water park crowd.
We all slept in the same room which was fun for Sophia and Ella. Not so much fun for mom and dad. They started in the same bed but that wasn't working so I slept with Sophia and Rick with Ella. I felt like I was sleeping with Bruce Lee. She kept kicking me and trying to somehow climb me and Ella fell out of bed three times. Ceci and Katie were in a living room area with a door and when I went into their room in the morning Ceci was walking around so had somehow climbed out of the crib.

This is the only photo of me. I'm coming down the slide with Ella and Ceci. Not the most flattering but at least it proves that I was there too.

The girls were so exhausted when we left that they were all sound asleep within ten seconds of pulling out of the hotel. Rick and I were actually wishing for a longer drive home to enjoy the peace and quiet.

Easter

2009-04-17T19:25:00.012-06:00

Despite our efforts to emphasize the real meaning of Easter and Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for us, Easter this year was all about eggs and candy for the younger girls. Sophia had a better understanding of why Easter is important and it seemed to sink in more for her this year.

One day in the car she said to me out of the blue:

"Mom, I really hope Mimi (her great-grandmother) rises from the dead. I'd really love to see her again."

me: That was only Jesus.

Sophia: But God can do anything. He can raise Mimi too.

me: Yes, God can do miracles but I don't think you'll see Mimi until you're in heaven.

Sophia: OK, but I really do miss her.

It was pretty sweet.

Here are some pictures:

Dying eggs:

Easter morning, Katie and Ceci discovered peeps:

PEEEEPPPSSS!!!

Katie just stuck her face into the box:

See Katie behind Sophia devouring a Peep after I showed her how to take them out of the box. Also notice Sophia's overflowing basket. She was the only one to actually hunt for eggs. Ella went after them a little half-heartedly while Katie and Ceci were just happy to have a basket with marshmallows coated in sugar:

Ella wasn't afraid of the purple chicks either:

Couple more from the morning:

Then we got dressed for church:

And dinner at grandma and grandpas and more candy:

Princess Dance

2009-04-03T07:49:00.006-06:00

Ella started Princess ballet class at the park district yesterday. I am glad to have gymnastics over and ballet class went really well. Ella loved it and Katie and Ceci were great while we waited.

The grown-ups could stay for the first five minutes and I was so relieved that Katie and Ceci didn't run out on the floor. They watched and then wanted to each give Ella a kiss when we left. There is a big break room with a tv and little tables. We ate animals crackers and made the sounds of all the animals while watching Clifford.

Here is Katie watching Ella:
I was feeling so good about how our morning was going that I decided we'd go right to the dance store to get some ballet shoes for Ella. I had totally forgotten that she would need them and she wore Sophia's old ones which were too small.

I had a friend in business school who used to grab me and say we were going home whenever we were in the middle of a fun night. Her theory was to always leave when you're having fun because the night will only go downhill. I need to start practicing this now. Kind of like quit while you're ahead. Instead I decided to push forward with our morning when we probably should have just gone home.

There was one salesperson and a couple girls ahead of us who had to buy shoes which was a bit nerve-wracking for me since we were in a store chock full of pretty leotards and tutus right at their eye level. The girls were good though. They kept picking up different items and saying "Soooo cute!" and then putting them back. There was a set of 3yr old twins in front of us with both a mom and nanny who were having a difficult time with them. Lots of whining and sass which made me feel even better about my well behaved brood.

Then as Ella was trying on shoes I smelled fresh poop. Not the end of the world until I looked over at what I assumed was Ceci next to me with a poopy diaper to instead see Katie who said "I pooped in my underwear". The salesperson looked horrified so I quickly replied "you mean your diaper sweetie" and asked the salesperson hopefully if they had a restroom we could use. Luckily it was something I could clean up in the bathroom and stuffed her underwear into my purse.

From now on I'm not going to push my luck when a morning is going well.

Hoping for Spring

2009-03-27T12:14:00.008-06:00

We had a beautiful day yesterday. In the sixties and sunny so I'm posting a couple pictures of Ella, Katie and Ceci playing outside.

They've all got facepaint on from our morning at the Children's museum. We left when Katie and Ceci started poking and knocking on the glass of the baby chick display yelling "CHEEP! CHEEP!" I think the volunteer was as terrified as the chicks. Unfortunately they couldn't read the "don't tap on the glass" sign and I did my best to get us all out of there quickly but when Ceci goes boneless it's a challenge. This is when I usually break a sweat. I'm going to just start wearing t-shirts when we're out regardless of the weather because I'm always sweating when I've got them in public in an open area.

Here's a picture I took last week of Sophia and Ella on their way to church. Sophia is wearing a dress handed down from her cousin Emily. What is so cool is that Emily is now in her twenties! Sophia has been dying to wear the dresses from Emily in the back of the closet. I thought they were all bigger but she came down in this on Sunday and looked beautiful.

Not so Super Mom

2009-03-20T07:36:00.005-06:00

Yesterday a woman at the library was observing me trying to keep Ella, Katie and Ceci in check and after a while walked over and said "You are super mom." I wanted to give her a big hug but decided that wasn't socially acceptable.

It came at a great time because I'd had a rough couple of days. Sophia was home sick for two days. Having a extra child home who is sick meant we were confined to the house which made it a tough 48hrs for mom.

I try to bathe Ella, Kate and Ceci together and have worked out an assembly line procedure for bath-time that helps it run somewhat smoothly. Nonetheless bathing three toddlers is always hectic and with Sophia lying on the floor moaning outside the bathroom door it had an added dimension of stress. After the bath Sophia came in the bathroom and was joking with Katie when I witnessed her spit on Katie's face. Are you kidding me??? I couldn't believe my eyes. This was the 6yr old I had been following around with anitbacterial wipes all day to prevent anyone from touching anything she had just touched and she just SPIT into Katie's MOUTH. I don't know what the point is of even trying to keep them apart.

After I snapped at Sophia she told me that she loses a little bit of love for me when I get mad at her. Way to top off my morning. She then very sweetly came back to me a couple minutes later and said that she actually didn't lose any love for me but was just mad so she said that. "I still love you the most you can mom."

At least two people in this world think I'm a Super-Mom.

Gymnastics part 2

2009-03-14T14:02:00.002-06:00

OK, if next week weren't the last week of gymnastics I am positive they would ask us not to return. We went from instructors asking where is the mom to everyone knowing Katie and Ceci's names because I'm always yelling..."Katie wait for us!" "Ceci, leave the baby alone!". There are easily 100 children most of whom are part of 3 (Ella), 4 and 5yr old classes with teachers. We don't even have an instructor since we're mom and tots and just roam around but they now all know us.

Periodically I hear people yell "Katie" or "Ceci" when they are running from me. Katie is FAST. She has this roadrunner sprint where her upper body is still but her legs move like they've got a motor. At one point I was dragging Ceci out of this big donut shaped pad that she had dove head first into the middle of when I heard multiple adults yell "Katie! No! GET DOWN!" I turned and Katie was perched on top of a platform surrounded by tension wires over the big foam pit. I put Ceci under my arm like a sack of potatoes and sprinted to grab smiling Katie who was having a ball. I wanted to say, I'm very sorry, we're out of here, I realize this class does not work for my girls but resisted since they LOVE it and Ella has to go to her class.

What almost makes it worse is that there is another set of twin girls in this class and they seem to stick together very nicely while their mom talks to other moms about summer camp and the Bachelor. I can't take my eyes off my girls for a second and am in perpetual motion. Last week a couple people noted that I get the biggest workout there chasing and carrying the girls. I guess that's the bright side.

I think we'll go to McDonalds to celebrate our last gymnastics class next week. Too bad they don't serve wine there because I'll be ready for a glass.

Twin bonding

2009-03-11T14:03:00.003-06:00

Katie and Ceci are able to communicate with each other and play together more as they are getting older. It's fun to watch the interaction and I'm seeing the twin bond that everyone talks about who is a twin or has twins.

They are really sweet together. I took this last week in the basement. Katie said to Ceci "Ceci tired? Lie down on my lap" and Ceci hopped on the couch and put her head on Katie's lap while Katie rubbed her back. It was a very tender moment between them. I wanted to record it so they could see how their friendship began. I hope that as they get older and fight over jeans, boys and the car that they'll always return to this special bond.

Today after Katie went potty Ceci's face lit up and she said "Yeah Katie! Good job! Hug! Kiss!" and gave Katie a big hug and kiss. They are definitely each other's cheerleaders.

Then Ceci threw herself on the floor and started crying hysterically when she didn't also get an m&m. She wasn't upset enough though to actually sit on the potty even though her tantrum wasted 10x the energy it would have taken to just sit on the potty.

Potty-training

2009-03-08T12:10:00.005-06:00

I am not looking forward to potty training Katie and Ceci. I really wanted to do them at the same time but Katie is really ready while Ceci won't even sit on the potty. I think if I told her the real Barbie was going to come bring her a dreamhouse if she'd go pee-pee on the potty she still would say "NO potty Ceci."

Katie on the other hand is becoming a pro with no help from me. I've started putting her on the potty, but until this week was actually telling her to go in her diaper when she said "Mama potty". I was waiting for a sign from Ceci that I'm now realizing may not be until her 4th birthday.

So, I bought some princess underwear for Katie and she's been doing a great job. One roadbump yesterday though. I was giving Ella and Ceci a bath and Katie walked into the bathroom bringing with her the distinct smell of fresh poop. She looked up at me with her big eyes and said:

"Mama, I poo-pooed on Ariel."

It was so sweet. Who thought cleaning poop out of underwear would make me smile.

Ceci did get new underwear too. We went to lunch at Subway yesterday after our trip to Target and she would not let go of her little plastic bag of Hello Kitty underwear. After I ordered our sandwiches I turned around and saw her three pairs of underwear scattered on the floor next to the chip display while she was holding two bags on Doritos yelling "My chips! MY chips!"

Separated at Birth?

2009-03-07T08:36:00.004-06:00

Last night Sophia and I were watching a program about Siegfried and Roy and the tiger attack. In retrospect probably not the best show to watch before bed but she didn't seem scared and liked seeing the white tigers and lions.

This morning the news was on while I was getting the twins and Sophia said:

"Look mom, that guy who got bit on the neck by his tiger is in a rock band!"

I looked up and saw U2 performing and realized there is an uncanny resemblance.

Surprise

2009-03-04T13:33:00.008-06:00

I threw a surprise party for Rick's 40th on Saturday. It was a small gathering with just our families. The big surprise was that his family flew in from California. His parents, niece Kaytlin, sister Stephanie and her fiance Tyler and his brother Tim and wife Ellen all came out from California. I am SO relieved that the party is over and I don't have to keep the secret any longer. I kept looking into his eyes for any hint that he knew and wanted to say so many times over the past month: "Do you know??? If you do, just TELL me NOW so I can end this charade because I feel pretty stupid acting like we're just going to dinner if you know what's up." He had an idea there was something up but I really don't think he had a clue that his family would be there.

It was a great night which was mostly due to the awesome group of family and friends who were there.

Sophia and Ella were also surprised. A couple people asked if I had told them ahead of time. Are you kidding me??? It would have taken about, ummm...ONE SECOND for them to tell Rick.

Here are some photos:

Rick and Stephanie

Hi, I'm Ella, I just sucked down five Shirley Temples because no adult is really supervising me. Look at my red lips and sugar powered smile.

Valentine's Day

2009-02-28T10:37:00.004-06:00

This year I was prepared for Valentine's Day at school. I bought two boxes of fairy valentines for Sophia and Ella to distribute complete with a piece of laffy-taffy for each recipient.

Last year was not one of my shining moments as a mom so I wanted to make sure I was on top of it this year.

Ella came home from preschool last year very excited carrying an envelope full of valentines from her classmates. Each one had her name on it. Many of them handmade by the moms. I thought that was interesting since I hadn't sent Ella to school with ANY valentines. I totally missed that post but Ella didn't seem to notice or care that she hadn't had any to pass out. Just happy to have an envelope full of candy and notes. I was more worried about her teachers thinking I had dropped the ball. I just avoided eye contact with them for a while until my guilt passed.

Here is her outfit this year for the party that she picked out all by herself. I thought the pink cowboy boots and fuchsia tights were a little much, but I was going to be all about Valentine's Day this year so I just went with it. Sophia's in the background in her pjs.

Lent

2009-02-24T19:08:00.002-06:00

Sophia: Mom, how long is lent? A year?

me: No, it starts tomorrow until Easter. Some people give up something that is important to them. How about if you give up Gigi?

(Gigi is the stuffed giraffe Sophia has snuggled at night since she was a baby. It would be like giving up air for her. )

Sophia: Ummmmm....how about my fake American Girl doll that I really don't like since I have a real American Girl doll now.

(said "fake" doll has ball point pen colored all over her forehead)

me: That's not how it works. It should be something that you'd miss.

Sophia: OK, how about picture frames.

me: huh?

Sophia: How about the dvds on the top shelf, but not the rest?

me: Try again.

Sophia: OK, chocolate. Well....maybe just Hershey's kisses.

This was the final decision although I don't think she's had a Hershey's kiss since Christmas. It's a start.

Gymnastics

2009-02-20T09:26:00.004-06:00

I signed Ella up for gymnastics at the park district on Thursday mornings and at the first class I realized that there was also a parent/tot class going on and it seemed like a good idea at the time (you would think I'd have learned by now that when something seems like a good idea I should re-think it) to sign up with Katie and Ceci.

It's a HUGE gymnastics space full of equipment, mats, trampolines, etc and the parents and toddlers are able to use whatever they'd like to. They just ask you to stay out of the way of the classes going on. Sounds easier than it is.

When I let Katie and Ceci loose in that room you would think I keep them in cells at home and this is their one hour in the yard. I have come to dread that hour which has turned into an hour long adrenaline rush for me. They don't stick together and are both fearless which means lots of head first dives off of vaults, stacks of mats and into the big pit of foam squares.

I probably say "Sorry" one hundred times during that hour to moms of small children who have been stepped on, slid over or run down by one of the girls. At one point yesterday I was helping Ceci on the balance beam and thought Katie was right next to me when I heard an instructor saying "who does she belong to?" I didn't have to look because I knew who "she" was. Katie had run into the path of a four year old sprinting for the vault and almost been flattened.

I also hear over and over..."my, they are busy." I think they are nicely saying craaazy.

They love to find Ella's class and cheer for her "Ella Bella! Ella Bella!" Ella's teacher doesn't find it as cute as we do.

We are always the last ones out of the gym. Ceci refuses to leave. She lies on her stomach boneless. I end up trying to get her out of there with one hand because with my other hand I have a death grip on Katie's little hand afraid she'll take off back into the foam pit. It is not an easy task without looking like Mommie Dearest. The first day I ended up just dragging her for a while across the floor routine pad which resulted in rug burns on her nose and chin. I felt terrible.

babies

2009-02-13T20:09:00.004-06:00

I brought dinner to a friend today who has one week old twins. Holding her tiny babies brought back memories of when Ceci and Katie were born.

I remembered Sophia coming to the hospital the first day and excitedly pulling back my sheet saying "Mommy, your stomach is back to....MOMMY, there's ANOTHER baby in there! You're having TRIPLETS!"

We all had a good laugh. Everyone had been telling me how "great" I looked, but I knew I still looked six months pregnant and Sophia confirmed it.

Fast Food

2009-02-12T11:54:00.004-06:00

Last night I wasn't sure what we were going to have for dinner and with a bit of scrambling made a delicious pasta dinner with spinach and ricotta cheese. I looked at the clock when we sat down and it was 6:11. I was happy to have put a nice meal on the table in thirty minutes.

We had a calm time. Katie asked if she could say grace. We bowed our heads and she said "Say grace" then looked up with a huge smile so proud of herself that she said grace by herself. It's a start.

Ella told us who had show and tell that day at school. Sophia told us who she played with at recess. These are about all the details we usually get about their days. The girls asked to be excused and after they left the table I looked at Rick and said I was happy that we'd had a nice quiet meal together. Usually dinner is much louder.

Then I looked at the clock...6:22.

We ate dinner and discussed our days and excused the girls in ELEVEN minutes. Scary thing is that I don't see meals getting longer anytime soon. I guess I should be thankful that we actually sit down at the table together every night even if it is for less time than it takes me to get everyone loaded into their car-seats in the morning which I have timed. We start putting on coats at 8:10 hoping to be all strapped in the car at 8:25.

morning tv

2009-02-07T09:11:00.005-06:00

I've got to turn CNBC off in the mornings.

Last night Sophia and Ella hopped on the couch and said. "Look Mom! We're wearing our Snuggies!" Those Snuggie commercials are on non-stop. Maybe they're targeting the laid-off bankers sitting on their couches watching financial news afraid to turn up the heat in their penthouses.

Then Katie and Ceci jumped up and said "snuggie, snuggie, snuggie."

Here's the real Snuggie for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about because you do more productive things during the day than watch tv:

makeup

2009-02-01T09:41:00.005-06:00

Sophia got a case of real Barbie makeup for her birthday from Aunt Kelly and Uncle John.

So, she gave her sisters makeovers:

I now know that pink and lavender are the new colors for Spring and looks like pink noses are all the rage for the pre-school set.

She was thrilled to have REAL makeup. Rick not so much. The makeup case and Sophia's new recorder are at the top of Rick's list of least favorite gifts this year. He almost snapped her 2 hour old recorder in half last night after hearing the same note over and over played quite loudly. When he told her she could only play it in her room by herself. Her response was "Don't you support MUSIC?!"

Happy Birthday Sophia

2009-01-31T09:00:00.007-06:00

Sophia turned 6 years old this week. It seems like yesterday that it was just me, Rick and Sophia living in our condo on Southport. We used to walk down the street with little Sophie stopping to smell the flowers outside of stores while she said "hi" to every Cubs fan and Streetwise vendor we passed. She was always outgoing and friendly and still is.

I am so proud of her and the girl she is becoming. At times she is definitely 6 going on 16, but in a good way most of the time. There is plenty of sass, but it's always with a little smile. She is a big help to me when we're all out. She is also the social coordinator for the girls. She's great at getting them together to play school (she's always the teacher) or sports class. We were joking last night that Ceci and Katie know all the school rules and will be totally prepared for Kindergarten. Sophia reads to them while she has them sitting cross-legged in front of her and makes sure they raise their hands to ask questions and wait to be called on before speaking.

She had a whole week of parties beginning with a family dinner with her cousins and ending with a pizza party at Whole Foods with friends.

For our little family dinner on her actual birthday I let her pick anything she wanted for dinner and she selected the gourmet meal of hotdogs. I got cupcakes which were the highlight. I was going to put one candle in Sophia's but when I turned my head she stuck in six which worked just fine.

Sophia's pizza party at Whole Foods was a lot of fun.

You can see Rick in the background reading a book. He found making pizzas and sundaes less fun than the six year olds.

Stamps

2009-01-28T12:33:00.005-06:00

Taking Ceci and Katie to various gym and art classes I've learned something about them I didn't know before. They are OBSESSED with stamps! Not the postage kind, but the stamp pad and ink kind. They both sit patiently after the other children walk away happy with a stamp on each hand and get stamped on their:

feet (top and bottom)
knees
shins
hands (top and bottom)
wrists
tummies

Today they both asked for stamps on their faces but the Gymboree teacher Miss Gina wouldn't go there.

I have visions of them as eighteen year olds lined up at the tattoo parlor asking for just one more butterfly on their wrists. I just hope that their stamp obsession isn't going to translate into ninjas riding giant tigers on their backs in 17 years.

Brrrrr

2009-01-19T08:45:00.005-06:00

The weather has not been kind the last two weeks. First we got a couple feet of snow and then below zero temps (with windchill in the negative 20's). This is the time of year when Rick reminds me multiple times a day of the temperature in California and I remind him that we don't have wildfires, mudslides or earthquakes here and call him a wimp.

The girls however are enjoying the snow.

Ella looks a bit uncomfortable here because she's wearing Katie's snow suit and Sophia has on Ella's snowpants. Guess who dressed them?

Here they are the next day after mom dressed them:

This weather has led to a lot of inside play time.

Making brownies:

And playing dress up:

Wicked

2009-01-18T12:33:00.004-06:00

Rick and I took Sophia to see the musical Wicked last week for her birthday. We all loved it. At one point she looked up at me and whispered "If this is my birthday present, this is a BIG present!"

The next day there was a new theme to dress up:

Notice who got to be Glenda and who was the Wicked Witch.

Christmas

2009-01-13T15:38:00.005-06:00

I'm finally posting some Christmas photos.

Here's the gang on the stairs waiting to go down and if Santa made it to our house this year. Katie and Ceci were jumping around excited but just because Ella and Sophia were. They really didn't get it that Santa was bringing gifts.

Sophia got Samantha the American Girl doll which was at the top of her list. The marketing geniuses at Mattel "retired" her right before Christmas so my mom had to find her on ebay since the estimated delivery date for Samantha is now May.

All Ella wanted was Dora roller skates and she almost broke her neck but she was happy:

Katie and Ceci were most excited about the candy in their stockings:

Here are our four little rudolphs:

Grocery shopping

2009-01-11T09:23:00.005-06:00

A number of people have asked me how I go to the grocery store with all four.

Here's how we roll:

Ella actually walks but on the way out she wanted to hop in the cart once we were bagged up. I end up with a couple open boxes at the checkout but it's worth it to have occupied kids. The major hazard is the candy display at the checkout. I wait back with the cart until we're clear to go through to the bagger and we zip past faster than little hands can grab M&M's.

The Christmas wrapping paper was 80% off!

Seeing Eye Mom

2009-01-05T09:40:00.005-06:00

When I'm alone in public with all four girls I'm starting to think I should wear a sign that says "Mom at work please do not engage" similar to the ones you see on seeing eye dogs "at work".

At the mall yesterday Rick was going to the bathroom and I had all four free ranging. Twins not in the stroller in an open place at naptime is a recipe for disaster.

A very nice young couple started asking questions about how much help I have..."um, my husband", THE weddings, etc. All of a sudden the woman looked over my shoulder and said. "We should let you go..." and they strolled away with their one toddler shaking their heads.

I turned to see Ceci yelling "POTTY! POTTY! POTTY!" with her pants around her ankles dangerously close to the wishing well while her big sisters were laughing and egging her on.

Tooth

2009-01-04T14:23:00.003-06:00

Guess who lost her first tooth on Christmas Eve:

We were concerned about the Tooth Fairy bumping into Santa but the night went without incident. Sophia swallowed her tooth by accident and decided to write a very sweet note explaining to the Tooth Fairy that she thought it was a seed and swallowed it while eating an orange. She was also concerned that the tooth fairy may eat Santa's cookies but I assured her that it was obvious that they were intended for Santa.

Legoland

2009-01-01T10:28:00.010-06:00

Legoland was our second visit to an amusement park in California and this time we brought Katie and Ceci. We learned pretty quickly that there is not a lot of flexibility at Legoland. In fact, we observed that on the spectrum of amusement park regulation it is the exact opposite of Kiddieland where anything goes. We all had fun but because they wouldn't let even Sophia ride most rides without an adult we had to skip a lot of the more fun attractions. At a couple rides the operators felt sorry for our kids who looked heartbroken when we got to the front and they were turned away. A worker would volunteer to go on with one of the girls but that still left Sophia waiting for us since we needed four adults for the kids to all ride. We kept trying to play dumb and get them on the rides but they'd measure each girl and there was zero flexibility.

Here is the one ride they could all go on and had a blast:

Ella had to be four to ride this one and I was surprised they didn't ask me to see her birth certificate. Rick was on a ride with Sophia and Katie, Ceci and I watched Ella while the girls yelled "Horsey! Ella! Horsey! Ella!" and "MY turn next!"

Here is evidence that we in fact brought Ceci and Katie:

"Wow, FOUR girls?"

2008-12-29T15:20:00.007-06:00

I just got back from Costco with the girls and have figured out how I'm going to pay for four weddings. I 'm going to tell every stranger who says "Wow, FOUR girls! Start saving for those weddings!" to fork over a nickle. In twenty years I'll have more than enough to pay for four princess dream weddings.

Any suggestions with witty responses? Please post in the Comments! I know everyone means well, but it's getting old. I also need a reply for "your poor husband". That one really gets to me especially when the girls are standing right there. Rick LOVES having four girls and I'm sick of telling everyone how much their dad loves his girls and how blessed we are to have these four unique beautiful children.

Disneyland

2008-12-27T20:31:00.009-06:00

We had a lot of fun at Disneyland on our trip to California before Christmas. Rick and I took Sophia and Ella while Ceci and Katie stayed with their grandparents in Temecula.

We saw lots of characters including all the "major" princesses.

We waited thirty minutes to see Tinkerbell and I was expecting her to be a perking twenty-something aspiring Disney actress but instead we got a slightly older looking frumpy fairy. Sophia tried to open the door to her "house", but was dismayed to find out it was just a fake door.

Rick had his heart set on staying to watch the Christmas Parade which started at 7pm. After spending the entire day walking around the park the girls were on the verge of a meltdown and we snuck inside the line where there was an opening next to a mostly empty blanket. Turns out that family was shopping while the dad was saving the spot and when the mom returned she was VERY unhappy that her husband had let us sneak in and Sophia and Ella had no qualms about spreading out although they had zero interest in the parade that Rick was INSISTING we all ENJOY. We just pretended to be clueless and not notice the friction we had caused in their family vacation. Rick has romantic memories of watching nighttime parades at Disney but our girls were tired and hungry...actually so was mom. We sat there for 30 mintues until the parade reached us and everyone decided it was lame and bailed.

I got a bit ugly with the facepainters earlier in the day and made one of those scenes that embarrassed the girls as well as Rick. There was a new facepainter who was obviously on her first day and I think Ella was her first actual face to paint. We asked for a simple flower which ended up looking like Ella had done it herself without a mirror. Lots of black smudges and to say it was messy is an understatement. The master facepainter acted like she didn't quite understand why I was unhappy with the $15 black mess her apprentice had spent 1o long, painful minutes painting on Ella's cheek. So....she offered to redo it herself, but when they tried to wash off the black it wouldn't come off and was just a big black smudge on Ella's cheek so they made a "pink background" and a bunch of butterflies. Sophia of course wanted the same.

A couple more highlights:

Character dinner after the parade. I was happy for a big glass of wine while the girls couldn't believe it was the real Minnie Mouse.

U Club Party

2008-12-22T19:57:00.007-06:00

Each Christmas we go to the family party at the University Club to, among other Christmas-y activities, see Santa. Sophia was studying pictures of Santas past that I bring out at Christmas and she pointed out which Santas were "fake" and which were "real".

"I can tell by the beard. The big curly beard is DEFINITELY fake. The real beard must be the real Santa".

So I explained to her that Santa has helpers who do know him and report back what the children ask for. She seemed to be ok with that. She told me that if it was not a real Santa she would still act like he was real and not let on that she knew he wasn't the real deal.

The Santa this year was "real" fortunately.

Last year Rick and I had to jump in the shot at the last minute when Ella started melting down:

They had a menagerie of animals that Katie and Ceci were obsessed with. They saw the sheep and started yelling "BAA! BAA!" I think the animals were all a bit frightened but the girls were not intimidated in the least. Katie even tried scaling the fence to get inside and play with her animal friends.
Here they are "petting" the monkey. It was more like "squeezing" they were so excited. I kept having to say "gentle...gentle":
And a little too close for comfort with a turkey:
There was a cookie decorating station where I realized Katie was taking scoops of sprinkles and putting the spoon in her mouth and eating them straight:

And what would a Christmas party be without face painting? Ella got a Christmas tree and Sophia went with the popular Christmas unicorn:

the Next Chapter

2008-12-19T09:16:00.003-06:00

It has been an eventful two weeks. The whole family went to California and had a great time in the mostly warm weather playing with cousins and visiting Disneyland and Legoland. The flights were actually manageable which is always the wildcard with four under 6yrs old.

The night we returned I got a call from my boss giving me a heads-up that I would be part of yet another wave of layoffs the next morning. Now I am all of a sudden a stay-at-home mom to my girls and after next week will not have the help of our wonderful nanny or house cleaner.

The blog will become more interesting I am sure. My dear friend who also happens to be a successful financial business owner and mom to twins, Shauna, called to tell me she has a Plan B for me. I was anxiously listening to the job opportunity she was going to hit me with when she said she was laughing to herself at the thought of me home with my girls all day long and thought I should have a reality show about an Investment Banking Director turned stay-at-home mom. Not so helpful Shauna.

I'm looking forward to the ups and downs of being at home and actually enjoying Christmas this year since I don't have to work on the 24th and 26th. I don't miss the 4:30am alarm or walk in the dark and cold to the train. For now I'm going to enjoy this time with my girls and try to stop dust and dirt from taking over our house.

I've got loads of pictures from California and stories to share...when I have a minute.

Christmas Show

2008-12-03T08:00:00.008-06:00

Last night was Ella's preschool Christmas Extravaganza. She did a great job and all the kids looked adorable in their Christmas best. She loved being on stage and waving to us. Rick is out of town so my mom thankfully came to help me. The twins were bouncing around the gym before and after the program and I don't think I could have physically done it alone. They were like the wrong sides of two magnets repelling each other. They kept running in opposite directions and each got knocked to the floor multiple times by slightly older kids also sprinting around the gym. They kept grabbing cookies and pretzels from the treat table. My mom said that at one point Katie ran into the hallway where there is a large tree and she one by one lifted up baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph and examined each of their faces then replaced them in the creche. Sophia had fun being one of the big kids and hanging out with her Kindergarten friends.

Once the program began Katie and Ceci pushed their way up front and stood watching intently the whole performance. They were jumping up and down for Ella. I think they thought they were at a rock concert and their sister was the star.

Watching Ella up on stage I had a flashback to Sophia's first Christmas show in 2006. I don't remember much from that holiday season when I had newborn twins, an 18 month old and a 3 year old. Memories mostly return in flashbacks as if I spent 3 months on LSD and just get flashes of things that I think happened but am not altogether sure they actually did.

I do have photographic evidence of Sophia's show though to document one of those times when I felt like I was failing miserably as a mom. She came home from school the day of their show and told me they were supposed to wear their Halloween costumes that evening. I assured her that was not the case but she was pretty insistent that Ms Jones had told them to wear their costumes. I completely ignored her pleadings and put her in what I thought was a very cute pink sweater, brown corduroy skirt and knee high brown boots. As we walked into the gym and I saw one little girl after another in their Christmas dresses and patent leather maryjanes I realized that Sophia had been told to "dress up" which to her meant in costume. So...I sat there watching her in her Fall outfit in a sea of red dresses and felt terrible. Why didn't I stop for a minute and consider that she was trying to send me a message that they were to wear something special? All the blood intended for brain activity had been used by my milk ducts and I could not believe it hadn't occurred to me to put her in that beautiful red smocked Christmas dress hanging in her closet. I am sure that there were also multiple sheets sent home reminding responsible parents to, of course, dress their children in their CHRISTMAS outfits for the CHRISTMAS show. Sophia didn't notice or care. It was just her sleep deprived, unshowered crazy mama tearing up in the audience at her own ineptitude.

Here's one of Ceci and Katie I came across from the same week. Just posting because it seems like a hundred years ago that they were this little. The baby days with them are a total blur.

So Much to be Thankful for

2008-12-01T12:08:00.005-06:00

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at my parents. Now that we don't have to worry about Katie and Ceci falling down the stairs or eating a limoges fruit basket, holidays have become more enjoyable for me and Rick. The downside is that they roam pretty much unsupervised when they declare themselves "alllllll done" and we are just starting our meals. Every time we come for dinner we leave their beautiful apartment in shambles.

Aunt Bobby knit adorable reindeer hats with jingle bells that the little kids did not want to take off.

We were happy to have the whole family there and get to play with cousin Henry again.

Ceci and Katie turn two!

2008-11-26T07:38:00.009-06:00

We had quite a party for Ceci and Katie Saturday night. They had more fun than anyone. They are so used to playing the parts of back up dancers, school pupils, basically anything but the stars and they basked in the birthday girl glow at their party. They also learned a new word: "pwesent!"

Here is Ella holding court with Luke and Sean. She was so excited to see Lukie that she gave him a very aggressive hug which resulted in a headbutt and bloody nose for Luke. He's learning young that love hurts. His mom brought pjs for the drive home and he had to change because of the blood on his shirt. Ella went right upstairs and put hers on in sympathy. It was pretty sweet seeing them running around in their pjs all evening.

Rick was the pinata police. He spent 15 minutes laying out the rules for how and when to pull the string in addition to the penalties that would be assessed if anyone prematurely pulled their string or grabbed someone else's string. He told them that any rule infraction would mean they would have to wait a minute before grabbing goodies which is the same as saying all they'll get are a couple of those woven things left on the floor that you get your fingers stuck in when you try to pull them out. I think Hans got the whole speech on video and if I figure out how to do it will post a youtube clip. Here he is posing with his beloved Dora carefully holding the ribbons out of reach of the kids.

The crowd is patiently listening to Rick's speech. You can see Elizabeth in the background cracking up as he outlines the ribbon pinata rules of play.

Katie and Ceci are used to getting trampled around pinatas and had a blast being princesses for a day and getting to be front and center for all the festivites. Watching them laughing and smiling all night reminded me that we need to make sure everyone gets to be princess for a day more often.

the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2008-11-21T10:00:00.003-06:00

Before I had children I hated that retailers started the Christmas decorations and marketing so early. It just didn't seem right to hear Christmas carols before Thanksgiving. It was a reminder that I hadn't begun my shopping. I now welcome this time of year.

I can employ the best discipline tool ever given to parents. Santa! Just the whisper to Sophia and Ella that Santa is watching totally transforms their behavior.

Sophia strolled into the kitchen last night with gum smeared all over her pants and explained that she didn't know how this happened and she DEFINITELY didn't take it out of her mouth.

Sophia: It just slipped out of my mouth while I was talking.

(this was laughable since she had chewed up gum smeared all over the legs of her pants. I still can't imagine how this happened)

Rick: Who were you talking to in the bathroom all by yourself?

S: Ummmm...just myself.

R: About what?

S: Lots of different stuff.

Me: Do you know who is watching all the time who knows when you fib?

S: God?

Me: and....SANTA!

S: OK, yes I took it out of my mouth. I'm really sorry!

Unfortunately God does not instill the same sense of regret as the potential tragedy of being looked over by Santa. I remember a couple years ago talking about where Santa lives with Sophia and she all of a sudden perked up and said: "I know where Santa lives! At the North Pole...with Jesus!"

Indoor fun

2008-11-20T11:23:00.007-06:00

Now that the weather has turned colder we have moved into the time of year, that Rick will tell you lasts 10 months, when we spend more time playing indoors. It's great to watch everyone having fun together with Sophia as the social coordinator. Katie and Ceci are now becoming part of the action with their sisters and are able to participate more in the games of school (with Sophia as teacher) and High School Musical or Hannah Montana as they are growing up.

Our family room mantel transforms from Polly Pocketville into a stage in the evenings. Here is Sophia with her back up dancers Katie and Ceci singing a selection from High School Musical. Ella looks like she's playing the part of a crew member. Sophia probably instructed her to clear out the books so the talent doesn't slip.

Here is Sophia giving Katie a horsey ride. Ella kept trying with Ceci, but had less success.

Sweet Katie

2008-11-14T13:03:00.010-06:00

Katie is a very sensitive little girl.

It's fascinating to watch the emotional roller coaster she's on while watching tv. She has this pained look on her face watching Dora and Boots run away from grumpy trolls and yells "Oh No Dora!" multiple times during a half hour show. When Swiper Fox jumps out from behind a bush she gets very upset and says "OH NO! OH NO! OH NO!". When Mickey Mouse falls off a building or gets hit by Goofy's jalopy she is visibly upset "Oh No Mickey!!!" It really is exhausting to watch. After a 30 min cartoon she looks like I felt walking out of Schindler's List. She hasn't figured out yet that in the end Dora and Boots accomplish exactly three tasks safely and make it to the gumdrop mountain unscathed. I guess it does make sense for her to be concerned for the safety of a five year old girl roaming the jungle with only her pet monkey and no adult supervision in sight.

I took this of the girls watching tv Saturday morning in their pjs (don't ask why Ella is wearing a bow because I have no clue. She probably slept in it. I swear I don't stick bows in her hair when she comes down for breakfast). Ella and Sophia have the standard blank stare telling the world that they are watching tv and their brains have totally powered down. Katie has that little furrowed brow and clenched fist waiting for something terrible to happen to one of her tv friends.

She is also the first one to comfort her sisters if they are crying. Ella will burst into tears at whatever horrible thing I have done to ruin her life at that moment like given her the wrong color cup or cut her sandwich in half and while Rick and I completely ignore outburst number 1,452 for the day Katie will say "Oh no Ella!" and run over with a stuffed animal or a hug for her.

Katie is our little nurturer.

Halloweens Past

2008-11-12T11:44:00.012-06:00

Since I just started blogging this year I thought I'd add pictures from Halloweens past. It's fun to see some of the costumes recycled.

2003:

Sophia 9 months old

2004:

Trick-or-Treating on Southport while we still lived in Chicago. Sophia was adorable. She got the hang of it pretty quickly and ran from store to store yelling "twick or tweat!"

2005:

I remember taking this picture and Sophia refused to let me hold her Skittles. She agreed to hold them to the side, but would not let them out of her grip. I don't think she was clear on the concept that there was A LOT more candy to come.

2006:

You can see Rick making goofy faces reflected in the window. Since he saw these pictures he refuses to try to get the girls to smile when they are sitting on our front steps where most of our photo ops happen.

2007:

This was the best shot I got of all four girls. Katie and Ceci had zero interest in sitting still for a picture. Sophia and Ella were determined to get them to sit and smile because I told them no trick-or-treating until I got a picutre that I never got.

Progress Report

2008-11-06T09:11:00.006-06:00

We got Ella's report card for preschool yesterday.

She got mostly 2's which means making progress. They never get 3's until the end of the year. I guess that's to show how much progress they made during the year learning how to line up squares and count to twenty. It's pages of academic and practical skills and characterisitics. She did get a couple of 3's though:

Hand washing (When she was two I remember telling Rick I was worried there were some OCD issues since she LOVED washing her hands. So glad all that practice paid off)

Snack table

Singing with Sister Henrica

That's my girl!

Master Negotiator

2008-11-04T10:29:00.004-06:00

The great candy negotiations began Saturday and have been ongoing ever since. I think Sophia could wear down the UN with her torturous jockeying for more candy. She never lets up. I'm convinced she lies in bed at night coming up with strategies to get more. She has really stepped up her game from last year and I think we may offer her services to the Israel/Palestine conflict. This 5yr old could get that mess solved. They wouldn't know what hit them.

me: After dinner you may have one piece of candy.

S: ok, how much EXACTLY do I have to eat to get candy?

me: three big bites of chicken and all your broccoli.

S: (with a very full mouth) Done. How many pieces?

me: one

S: How about five?

me: one

S: I just LOVE these TWO. I can't choose. PLEASE may I have just two pieces?

me: one

S: What about two very small Jolly Ranchers? they are TINY.

me: ok, that sounds reasonable.

S: But I really don't like Jolly Ranchers. SO how about one small Jolly Rancher and one very small candy bar.

me: no

S: But these are mini candy bars. Not as big as the other ones I was going to have.

me: OK. ONE small candy bar and ONE Jolly rancher.

S: But two Jolly Ranchers make up one small candy bar so how about two Jolly Ranchers and one mini candy bar.

(Ella has already finished her ONE mini 3 Muskateers bar and is watching amazed at Sophia's progress)

me: Fine, but that's it!

Ella: Why does Sophia get THREE!

me: ok, you may have one more since yours was a medium sized candy bar.

Sophia: so do I get one more small one since Ella gets two BIG ones? that's not fair! I should get 4 mini candies to Ella's 2 medium ones.

By this time I have pretty much given up. She has totally worn me down. And she knows it.

Halloween

2008-11-03T10:26:00.008-06:00

This was a BIG evening in our house. Sophia and Ella had been counting down the days. Katie and Ceci were just excited to get to finally wear their costumes. They were clueless about the amount of candy that was about to be showered on them.

We had a snow princess, batgirl, Elmo and Cookie Monster.

Sophia saw the costume in a catalogue and HAD to have it. The week before Halloween had been quite chilly so in preparation I had told Sophia that I was pretty sure snow princesses wore Ugg boots since it's so cold and snowy where they reign. She went for it however this deception backfired on me when it was almost 70 degrees at trick-or-treat time and she held firm that to be an accurate snow princess she HAD to wear snow boots. You can see them peeking out of the bottom of her dress:

Ella must have seen a batgirl costume in a catalogue and had her heart set on it. She never wavered so in a sea of princesses we had batgirl. She was running around saying "da na na na na na na na...BATGIRL!"

When I saw her buddy Sean was batman it made a little more sense to me why she was determined to be a superhero.Katie and Ceci were the ones I could still pick costumes for. As I remembered Halloween as a child being forced by my mom, who I was sure was trying to ruin my Halloween, to wear a coat over my costume I thought head-to-toe fleece would be a great idea. Unfortunately, I'm sure they were sweltering, but their astonishment at going door to door for candy took over and they didn't seem to mind. After each house they would look at whoever the nearest adult was hold up their candy and say "OPEN!" They wanted to stop and eat each piece of candy as it came in.

They loved their costumes. They kept looking at each other and cracking up saying "Cookie! Elmo!" and hugging. It was really sweet.

Baby...Bath

2008-10-29T09:23:00.004-06:00

Last night before dinner I found Katie and Ceci huddled over the toilet in the downstairs bathroom.

I peered in worried about what I would find lodged in the bowl while calculating the plumbing bill in my head and saw a baby doll.

"Mama, baby bath. Baby water."

They were giving their dolls baths in the toilet and quite proud of themselves.

Other People's Plates

2008-10-24T08:40:00.002-06:00

Why will my children only eat food off of other people's plates? They have the EXACT SAME meal in front of them that they will not touch, but when their sister is not looking they eat off of their plate. AND when someone eats the food they just deemed "revolting" off of their original plate they scream and cry like someone has told them the American Girl store burned to the ground and Kit Kitteridge is dead.

Last night Katie frowned and took each piece of broccoli off her plate saying "No Bwoccowi! NO BWOCCOWIIII!" She was looking at me like I had lost my mind and put a steaming plate on Eeewws in front of her. "Done, done, done, done, done!" She then hopped into my lap and ate ALL of my broccoli like it was chocolate chip cookies with a big smile on her face.

Go Blue Dolphins!

2008-10-21T12:56:00.005-06:00

The Blue Dolphins (sometimes referred to by players as the Blue Rainbow Dolphins) are now 1-1-2 after a tough tie with the Green Shamrocks.

Sophia is athletic but her need to socialize takes over when she's with a group of 5 yr old girls. She can't control it. She gets to the ball quickly gives it a kick and then tells the other team members how much she LOVES their bow or that their uniforms are SO cute as they take off after the ball.

She's unscored on in her 2 quarters in goal.

After Dinner Fun

2008-10-16T07:20:00.009-06:00

Most nights there is about a 30 minute window when some sort of trouble is gotten into while Rick and I are cleaning the kitchen after dinner.

Tuesday night while I was changing Ceci she did her patented double twist move and was on the couch peeing in about 5 seconds.

Last night Katie and Ceci took off their clothes and pushed the chairs from the family room into the living room and pulled them up to the coffee table. They were each holding onto a chair chanting "push, push, push..."

I was laughing at Ceci in Ella's bike helmet. I think that came from the garage. She was determined to get up onto the chair while holding both Cookie and Monkey.

They were very proud of themselves and I think were trying to show me that we can in fact actually use the living room. Since no one sets foot in there they were testing it out. In between this picture and the previous one Katie ripped the helmet off Ceci's head and Monkey from her hand while they both screamed "SHARE!!!!" at the top of their lungs.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-07T11:41:00.008-06:00

We took the girls to the pumpkin patch Saturday:

They had a hay ride to the pumpkin patch where we actually did pick pumpkins on the vine. Ella was not excited for the hay ride. She wanted to go on the giant spinning strawberry ride and kept threatening that if we make her go on the hay ride "I am going to.......FALL ASLEEP!". I'm not sure why she thought this was a particularly terrible thing to do to us, but she kept repeating it. I was thinking to myself that if she'd said she was going to launch herself out of the tractor (which is exactly what Katie and Ceci were doing on the way back from pumpkin picking) or pee in her pants we'd skip it. Falling asleep I can handle. She ended up managing to stay awake and actually had fun.

They had one of those big bumpy slides. Nothing says pumpkin farm and Fall like carnie rides. Rick and I took Katie and Ceci on our laps. At the bottom they would jump up and make a break for the stairs yelling in chorus "again! again!" Rick and I were considerably slower getting to our feet and kept having to chase them as they climbed the stairs or ran into the crawl space behind the slide.

Katie did not like the dirt on her pumpkin so she held it with her palms so her fingers stayed clean.

I love this picture of Sophia and Ella from 2005:

Family dinner

2008-10-06T09:12:00.005-06:00

Last night was a big one in the Patterson house. We took the trays off of Ceci and Katie's highchairs and pulled them up to the big table with the rest of the family. They have been in their highchairs at meal time and starting last night they are eating off of plates just like the big girls that they are.

Now we can all hold hands for grace where before we all reached out our hands to pretend to hold hands with Ceci and Katie. Sophia says grace most nights something like this:

Thank you for the food we eat

Thank you for the flowers sweet

Thank you for the birds that sing

Thank you God for everything!

Amen

One night last week she was particularly excited to say grace. We all bowed our heads and she began very solemnly:

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America..."

Rick and I each opened an eye and smiled at each other and tried not to laugh hysterically. After she finished a perfect rendition ending with "Father, Son and Holy Ghost". We explained that this was not actually a grace. Now we have a new tradition at dinnertime. We say grace and then all (including twins) put our hands over our hearts and say the pledge of allegiance. Does this mean that I have to hang a flag in our kitchen? We've been saying it to an orchid plant. If any of our neighbors are watching this I'm sure they think we've lost it.

Here are the girls recovering on the couch after our first meal all together:

It was so sweet I had to capture the moment. Sophia with her arms around Katie and Ceci reclined like Archie Bunker after Thanksgiving dinner. Ceci hugging "Cookie" and Katie her "Elmo". Ella's hair is wet because as I was plating dinner she staggered out of the bathroom with her pants and underwear around her ankles dragging urine across the kitchen floor. She had made it into the bathroom, but for some reason could not hold it the extra second it took to sit on the toilet so Rick had to give her a quick bath while dinner got cold.

Road Trip

2008-09-24T10:11:00.010-06:00

Sophia, Ella and I drove to Detroit to meet our new cousin and nephew Henry and celebrate his baptism. It was just like Thelma and Louise. Except the total opposite. We watched the first season of Little House on the Prairie and did a potty tour of the McDonalds bathrooms along I-94.

As we were packing up the car Ella dragged out her hello Kitty suitcase and insisted we put it in the back. When we arrived at the hotel she rolled it into the room and proceeded to bring it EVERYWHERE. People kept asking her if her dolls or toys were in it. Nope, her soccer ball. That was it. Here we are on the way to the bathroom at brunch. She refused to leave it at the table.
Henry is adorable and was a trooper with all his cousins hugging and poking him.

Sophia and Ella looked cute at the baptism:

There was a lovely dinner following the afternoon ceremony where they brought out a beautiful cake for dessert. As soon as I saw all the kids gathered around it I instructed Sophia and Ella NOT to touch the cake. I could see their little fingers itching to take a swipe at it. I didn't see it happen, but heard a number of people at my table say "Did she just LICK the cake?" My stomach turned and while there were a number of little girls there I knew exactly WHO had just licked the cake.

Sunday afternoon

2008-09-18T10:48:00.005-06:00

Just posting this because I love this picture. We were actually about five minutes early for church and the girls looked pretty cute so I asked them to gather for a picture. Ella took a digger walking up the stairs and skinned her knee and was crying hysterically so opted out of the photo.

After getting a band aid we were our usual ten minutes late.

Singing in the Rain

2008-09-16T05:49:00.004-06:00

We got our piece of Hurricane Ike over the weekend. Well, not the 100mph wind part, just the rain for 72 hours straight part. I have officially crossed Seattle off of my list of cities I would someday move to.

Sophia and Ella had fun wading in the lake that formed in our neighbors' backyard (after I told them they could LOOK at the new body of water, but not go INTO it). They came home soaked to their waists saying they only looked at the water. Someone told me yesterday that all the back up in our neighborhood was sewage. I have chosen to ignore that statement. I'm pretty sure they got baths Saturday night. I know, gross.

Hair brushing with Ella

2008-09-08T08:44:00.002-06:00

me: Ella, I really need to brush your hair.

Ella: Right. Because if I don't brush my hair nuts will crawl into it.

me: Nuts? Like peanuts?

Ella: Yep. Peanuts will crawl into my hair.

me: ....no Ella. You will get KNOTS in your hair. Not NUTS.

Ella: Oh.

First Day of School

2008-09-05T09:32:00.005-06:00

Sophia and Ella started school last week. Sophia is now officially a Kindergartener. It's hard for me to believe that she is now doing things that I remember experiencing at her age. She looked so cute in her uniform. Ella is now in Sophia's old room in Miss Jones' preschool class.

Everything went smoothly. I surprised myself by being able to keep it together.Here Sophia is giving me the "Mom, please leave. Most of the parents are gone and I would like to get on with my day" look.

Ella was a little more nevous until she saw her BFF Sean. Then it was all smiles.

After her first full day Sophia said that she thought she'd like to go back to Miss Jones' class. I asked why and she said that Kindergarten is just too long and Miss Jones' class has many more things to play with. Now into week two she's getting used to the full day and loves school.