4.26.12: Haircuts

Today was a big day for us, the girls got their first haircuts.  It has gotten quite warm here and become uncomfortable to have long hair.  They wake up from nap upset because their hair is sweaty and I find the long hair tangled around their necks.  After discussing with Brant, we decided that it was time they got haircuts. 

Having feared for the worst, we decided to get it professionally done for the first time and will probably follow-up with home trims as needed for a while.  I didn't know the level of squirming and tears that would occur.  Turns out nothing.  The girls were amazing.  Sure we'd been talking about how wonderful it would be to get their haircut, trying to get them excited for a neck that wasn't sticky, hair that didn't tangle, and the wind blowing their lighter hair...and it seemed to work.

As part of the quintessential mom experience, I kept a few ringlets of hair even though I'm not sure why, I didn't want to regret this decision later.  I will miss those ringlets for sure. 

On the way home the girls were so excited about their hair, they didn't want any clips or pigtails at all.  The requirement of such hair accessories had been a huge issue each day unless it was precisely accommodated.  The girls seem happy about their experience and don't find it to be a huge deal. I couldn't ask for anything more.

stella before & after

 fiona before & after

 daphne before & after

4.22.12: Happy Birthday Daddy

The girls were so excited that daddy made it home from Uncle Ragan's (bachelor) party to celebrate his birthday.  They colored the brown bag wrapping paper on his presents and had a great time discovering what they got him.  Yes, I had to keep it a secret from the girls too because they love to tell him what we did each day.  The girls also decorated his cake with red, green, yellow and blue icing.  Then they tried to tell me that tomorrow was 'their' birthday.....hmmmm.

4.18.12: Shopping with mama

For Christmas great great uncle vince and great great aunt dolores gave the girls (left to right: fiona, daphne, stella) some spending money with specific instructions to pick out some dresses.  Since our winter season is so short, we wanted to wait and get some summer dresses the girls could enjoy for a majority of the year.  For the past several weekends we had mama/daughter shopping time.  Brant had quality time with the other two girls at home while I ran errands (incl. dress shopping) with each girl individually.  This 1:1 time is rare, but everyone had a great time (including those at home with daddy). 

Fiona loves this bright blue color and once she found this bright dress she was not changing her mind about her selection.

Stella had a variety of pink dresses to choose from and selected this very colorful pink and white dress with flowers.

Daphne loves green but green dresses aren't very common this time of year.  She opted for this yellow dress with oranges and lemons.  Perhaps because there were green leaves on it and perhaps because it was not pink or blue (stella and fiona's colors).

4.13.12: Backyard

We finally got our pool full enclosed which means the girls (fiona/blue, stella/pink, daphne/orange) can finally run free in the backyard (minus any surprise animals of course).  It feels like our home grew 1000sqft overnight.  After hours of discovery we began watering everything in sight (flowers, rocks, sticks and of course themselves).  

4.6.12: Egg hunting

While we have celebrated many Easters past (2011, 2010), I feel like this Easter the girls really embraced the egg hunt.   Perhaps it was because they each had a basket in their favorite color (fiona/blue, daphne/green, stella/pink).    

The cutest part was about fifteen minutes after completing their egg hunt when they discovered that the eggs had something inside.  Since the girls don't eat candy, their eggs were filled with new magnetic letters for their white board easels. They were thrilled to find eggs and even more excited when they learned that the eggs were filled with a new surprise.

They also dyed eggs for the first time (left to right: fiona, brant, stella, daphne)

They were really excited when their names magically appeared on some of the eggs.

4.3.12: Family time crashers

(left to right: alyssa, kim, stella, daphne, fiona)

Kim and Alyssa were in town visiting Kim's parents.  Making sure not to miss an opportunity to hang out with one of my dearest friends, the girls and I inserted ourselves into their family time whenever possible.   They were in town trying to enjoy the sunshine, we were enjoying our time with them. As expected actual adult conversations were very limited with four toddlers chattering amongst themselves.

For one play date, we all adventured to a local bounce house. This bounce house was like no other I have been to before.  Supposedly intended for 2-6 year olds, it was challenging for me to even navigate, let alone when assisting three little girls.  Eventually we found a couple areas that were manageable for us but of course agreement to stay in one place was challenging.  Let's just say I am very grateful that Kim and her parents were there.  I can confidently say I will only go there again when the girls are older and definitely when someone else is with me.  Insane I tell you, insane.

On another play date we all went to the zoo.  The girls got to see the new elephant environment with five new elephants, they were super excited.  They also took a quick liking to Kim and her parents. I was old news to them, but I embraced it.  We (sort of) got everyone to stay still for this picture while looking at the lions, a task not easily accomplished with four little ones.

Overall we had a wonderful time with Kim, Alyssa and her parents.  We didn't get to spend as much time together as we would have liked due to illness, but I was thrilled to get the time we had.  We very much look forward to crashing their next family visit.

3.29.12: Painting explosion

A very brave friend decided to have an art play date at her house with free form painting.  She invited not only us but several other toddler friends, did I mention she was very brave?  Supplying the kids with brushes, rollers, trays, sponges, buckets of water, tons of paint and a giant canvas....the kids went crazy.  It took the girls (left to right: fiona, daphne, stella) some time to get comfortable with the idea that making a giant mess and painting whatever they wanted was okay, but once they did - they sure embraced it.  Their favorite discovery was the bucket of water.  Intended for washing off various painting utensils, the girls instead took to painting the water various colors until it turned into that lovely preschool brown.  Of course all three of them tried to fit into the bucket at once, but it only held two so they all took turns standing in the bucket.

Due to some poor planning on my part, we had to drive home mostly naked but overall we had a fantastic time.  No word on how our friend's garage and driveway fared just yet.

This also marked the first time Brant or I have ever given the girls a group bath by ourselves.  Trust me, it wasn't planned but my options were to do a solo bath time or repaint every wall in our house - these girls were covered from head to toe!