This kid...

...cracks me up for a million reasons.  Today, two of those reasons are these:

1.  This morning he told me, "Mommy, don't forget to remind me to kill some dragons after my nap."

2.  When I went into his room to check on him tonight after he'd fallen asleep, I noticed his new notepad laying on his bed.  He loves to color, so I got him several of the 20 cent spirals from Target last night to draw in.  I picked up his new spiral to see if he'd drawn anything since I gave it to him this morning.  There was something (usually just a circle or line) drawn on EVERY.  SINGLE.  PAGE.  I'm not exaggerating.  Every page!  All 100 pages, front and back!!! I guess I know what he did for his whole rest time today!!

The tiny one likes to "help"....

I was trying out some new photography equipment the other day, and the tiny one was all but under my eyelid the whole time.  Anyone who has kids understands this phenomena....when you are screaming their name to come put their shoes on, they are no where to be found.  When you are trying to open/set up/figure something out that requires no help whatsoever, they instantly have nothing better to do than "help".  Since she was all up in my business, I made her be my model.  These pictures crack me up...

I love that I have a tiny, shirtless chubster living with me, especially since she insists a princess wand is called a "sword" and makes hilarious faces that crack me and her daddy up.  

Today, we laughed so hard at her, because she is such a two year old.  We were talking to her in the car, and she would randomly holler out things like "I DON'T YIKE IT!" or "NO I DON'T!"  at totally inappropriate times.  She has a natural inclination to defy someone, it just makes no sense whatsoever.  

Here are a few more of my silly girl....

Playdate....

Logan came over for a playdate this week....within minutes, every dress up outfit we owned was on the floor, or on a person.  It was mayhem (but good mayhem).  

Cale told Logan "You are Sleeping Beauty.  You have to lay here and be asleep until I kiss you and wake you up."  He's a bossy prince, that one.  I think in this picture, he is directing her (you can tell from the finger wagging) and she is trying to take him seriously. 

All the "dresser uppers"....Cale looks unhappy, but he was having just as good a time as the girls!

 After dress up, Snow White had a mini-meltdown and had to go down for nap.  We headed outside because it was the only day in the past three months where I can remember something that remotely resembled a breeze happening outside.  It was our lucky day, because it rained, too!  (Not enough to go inside, but enough for it to cool down a bit)

My big girl hung out on the porch with me while Logan and Bub drove the John Deere around the backyard like crazy people.  They had the best time pretending to "gas it up" with a piece of hose.

I kept telling Sis to go play with them, but I think she was ready to go lay down....it was all she could do to sit at the table and drink a juice (and stay awake.)

 Before Logan went home, we got out some supplies to do a little project that we have been planning.  My kiddos are so empathetic, and always worry about people they see on the street.  We made up some "snack bags" to hand out, and they were very serious about filling the bags with a water bottle and something to eat.  Logan took a bunch with her to put in their car, and we filled up a big basket to put in our car.  We haven't had the opportunity to pass any out yet, but Cale asked me today when we were going to "sell our bags"....which we thought was funny.  He also told us, "We need to go look for some people without homes.  Maybe we should look at Ross."  Shawn asked him why and he said "People who don't have homes shop at Ross."  Well, okay.  People without homes, plus your mother.  And a bunch of people who don't supervise their kids....but that is another blog post altogether. 

I'm proud of them for caring about those less fortunate, and although I know our little snack bags aren't going to solve San Antonio's homeless problem, I hope that it will show them that every little bit helps, and hopefully inspire in them a love of helping other people.  So, although we do a lot of dressing up, mess making, playing in the back yard....it's nice to mix in something like this for a change...

Instagram art

As I was scrolling through my phone one day, I was smiling at all the cute pictures of my kids that I had taken with the Instagram app.  It's a fun little app that offers some funky little edits on your pictures, and I play around with it from time to time.  I loved all the pictures I had accumulated, and the story they told.  You know you can't haul your big camera around everywhere, so the phone ends up being the camera of choice most of the time.....all the little memories stored on there are so cute.  Pics of my babies eating paletas at Fiesta, Liv's first time to sit on a potty, playing dress up, running on the beach, being cute at restaurants....there are so many!  I'm not sure how much memory this phone of mine has, but I can't ever see myself deleting these sweet pictures.  Instead of just enjoying them on my camera, I decided to make some art with them so that these cute little snapshots would be on our wall.

Using a little "picnik" magic, this was born:

I printed a 20X20 square print of all our little memories, and I love it!!!  It's funky...not the best "quality" pictures of all time...but these are the images I love best...perfect in emotion, not just technically perfect.

LOVE! 

Bathtime.  Sigh.  Not my favorite time of the day.

In case anyone was wondering, it's hard bathing three people and getting them ready for bed.  (Which I should make a note of when I get baby crazy).  

I understand that I'm the one who filled the tub with these babies, and I adore them, but....  

 Bathing them is not my favorite activity.  

Mostly I make Daddy do it, but sometimes it's my turn.  It's not that I don't love time with them, it's just that by this point in the day, I'm usually at my wit's end.  Not every day, but some days.  Bathing them all together is a shenanigan, because really this tub isn't big enough for it...but bathing them all separately takes longer and that's not going to happen.  

There's a lot of fighting over who gets to sit next to the faucet, who gets the cup to play with, and who gets to "soak" the longest.  (They all want to be the last one out)

There's a lot of splashing, too....which bothers their daddy a lot but me, not so much.  I figure if hot, soapy water is splashing on my bathroom floor and I mop it up, that sort of counts as cleaning my bathroom.

Some nights...bathtime is sweet.  We sing, do a little lesson with the bathtub letters, and no one screams or talks so loud my ears bleed.  Some nights, they all get along, and share the cup and play so nicely it almost makes me like bathing them.  Plus, I love how their little hands and feet look all prune-y.  

This is another one of those activities that fits into the "days are numbered" category....I know I won't be able to bathe them all together for long.....their little bodies won't be little enough anymore, plus, it's bound to get weird at some point....I'm sure first graders won't want to bathe together.  

Anyway, I love this picture of them, even though no one is smiling...it was a good bathtub night.  I love their pruney feet....and how they all still fit in there.  

(Is it just me, or do my kids all manage to look like their father, even though they all look different?? How is that fair, or even possible?)

Baby buns....

I saw these leg warmers last weekend and knew just what I needed to do with them....stick them on some chubby baby legs and get out my camera!

 

 I love this tiny girl!

"Baby Wivi"

At two, my baby is a hoot.  She's a real jokester, this one.  She:
-is obsessed with "po-meese-man" and thinks they are coming to get her.  I think she must have seen the mailman on our front porch, because she keeps saying, "The po-meese-man come in my room!".  We keep telling her policemen are nice, and they will help her.  She's still a little wary.
-she only drinks milk and water.  We gave her an Icee at Sea World and she literally scraped it off her tongue like it was liver.  She told me, "Mommy, I no yike it."
-she's the best eater of all our kids.

-she still loves her paci....even though she tells me it will give her "wabbit teef"
-she looks the most like me of all my kids.
-she asks where her Daddy is every morning when I come get her out of her crib.
-she is happy almost all the time.
-she loves her brother and sister.
-she's tough as nails.
-she's not scared of much.
-she has pee pee'd on the potty twice, but that's it.
-she asks for a hairbow every morning.
-she can't ride in the car for two minutes without taking her shoes and socks off....she likes her feet bare, like Mommy!
-She loves to sing, and be read to.
-she loves baby dolls
-she has the bluest eyes of all my kids, which is hilarious because her eyes were the darkest at birth and I was sure that meant hers were going to be brown like mine.
-she's the only kid in our family with curly hair.
-she's really athletic....can climb, run, jump, hop on one leg like a champ.
-she can count to ten (even though no one can remember teaching her that)
-she recognizes some letters.
-she tells stories, and recounts things that have happened to us...and does it with such animation and facial expression that we crack up while she's telling us.
-she loves the water
-she wants to do everything by herself ("I DO IT!")
-she is so laid back and easy going....
-She wants a behavior sticker chart like her siblings....Hayden and Cale decided her chart should say: "No biting, No hitting, No climbing."  I'm not sure she's ready for a chart yet. :)

Our mornings....

Sometimes we're still in our jammies at lunchtime.  Sometimes we're still in our jammies much later than that.  This doesn't make me feel too much like a schlumpadink, because I know these days are numbered....not just because it's still summer for us, but because there isn't much time left where our days are just ours.  Pretty soon, my babies will belong to the school system, and their extra curricular schedules, and we won't just be able to sit around in jammies all morning, or go play at the park when we want, or go walk around Central Market for an hour just to kill some time.
These days of having three tiny people are exhausting sometimes, I'm not going to lie.  There are days when no one can manage to be nice, everyone talks back and has to be told thirty times to put their shoes on, and no one naps.  But some days are much sweeter....the days where all three play together, with no peep of discontent.

 "Zoolie Bear" and "Pink Zoolie" were set up to watch the action...

 Sissy especially loves the hearts....

 I love her crazy bedhead...and how the tiny one has to "supervise" everything.

I bought these little plastic things at the Dollar Store when I was teaching kindergarten, and my students always loved them....it seems like my kids love them, too.  I'm not sure why they ask to play with these all the time, but it keeps them happy and quiet so it's okay with me.  Yesterday morning they spent hours sorting them, making little piles, patterns, long lines of counters...it was pretty cute.  Of course, the baby gets in the mix and messes up their piles every once in a while...and then I have to referee, but for the most part, the three of them play really well together.
School starts in a few weeks....so we're trying hard to fit in as much play as we can....

A party for the baby....

Trying to keep it minimal is a big joke for me.  TRY is the operative word, I guess.  On Livi's birthday, we invited our family and a couple friends to my mom's for dinner and to swim.  The tiny one was super excited, and talked up her party for weeks.

 First picture of my baby as a TWO year old.  Sigh.  Where has time gone? Sidenote: you can tell Daddy put her in these jammies the night before.....mismatched top and bottoms.  Hey, I'm not complaining.  At least we have a daddy that helps!  Sidenote number two:  how many items are in this crib?? Sheesh.  A pillow, a pillow pet, about four stuffed animals, a mini blankie, a big blanket....it's a wonder there is any room for a baby!

 Owl cookies for the party....on the fifteen minute ride from my house to my mom's, the pink cookies bleached themselves.  How weird is that?  I just pretended like I tried to make pink, hombre owl cookies. 

And "owl food" for the little ones....

 

Mommy's heroic attempt at "owl cupcakes"...we were laughing at how the position of the M&M's either made the owls look embarrassed or ashamed.  

 Sweet two year old girl!

 Her candle....she carried this around Wal Mart the day we bought it, and got mad whenever one of us called it a "candle"...she kept insisting it was "my candy".  

 Sis and Logan in matching swim wear....

 Swimmy swimming!

 Our group of five.  

 Blowing out her candle...

 Sissy providing party entertainment, a la Evil Kineval.

 Opening her little presents....she was so excited to have a day all about her!!

Time is literally flying by at a rate that I can hardly stand....it feels like weeks ago that I was hoping for a baby, and now I have twin four year olds and a two year old.  Ridiculous!!