8.13.12: When it's hot outside...

Daphne, Stella and Fiona had fun painting their own flower pots.  We picked them up while making yet another weekend visit to the hardware store. 

Fiona, Stella and Daphne modelling their hats once they are finally dry and ready to fill with soil and seeds.  (yes, I realize nothing will grow in this heat, but perhaps I'll transplant one of the weeds from our yard - they sure enjoy the heat)

This weekend we also adventured to the annual zoo ice cream party with Nicole and Peter.  It was ridiculously hot and I think this picture of the Stella, Fiona and Daphne summarizes it all.....anything you can do to cool you off, you do.  In this case, eating ice cream sandwiches and mr. freeze at the same time.  Yes, in hind sight it was way too hot to go outside.  Lesson learned.

8.10.12: Old McDonalds

It's hot here.  I'm running out of things to do. The mall play areas are getting very old and the crazy temperatures make our car unbearably hot when parked outside.  We have a lot of energy and nowhere to exert it.  About a month ago, Nicole suggested the McDonald's play area.  I just assumed we were too young for such a play structures, but I was wrong.  The first time we went, the girls immediately started climbing with no fear and those structure are a good 20+ feet high.  No fear, none at all.  Since then we have been several times upon their request to go to 'Old McDonalds'.  Can you find the girls in the picture above???

Today we were the only ones playing for a solid 30 minutes, the girls had a blast.  I bought my token french fries (for stella) and oreo mcflurry (for daphne and fiona) and sat back laughing.  I know, healthy right?  There aren't too many vegetarian friendly options, trust me I've looked.  After every slide down they had to come and take a bite of something only to immediately run back into the structure and do it all over again.  I don't think they stood still for more than ten seconds (and that's only because I make them chew/swallow their food before returning to climb). 

(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)

8.8.12: Repurposing crayons

Broken crayons + hot day = art project.  That's right, the girls (left to right: stella, daphne, fiona) had several broken crayons that I deemed useless until I realized that we could repurpose them.  I cut them up into small pieces and let the girls put them into their own bear cookie cuter.  We then set the tray outside to see what would happen?    Sure enough, within an hour those crayons were shiny and starting to melt.  I had to take them inside before the day was up due to the monsoon coming, but we will put them back outside another day.  Then of course, we'll have to see if I can actually get them out of the cookie cuter.  

8.1.12: Mama smoothie

When I was pregnant, I loved smoothies.  Brant and I even joked about how the kids were going to love strawberry smoothies too.  Turns out, we were right.  However, these are special 'mama smoothies', made with strawberries, watermelon, orange juice, water and spinach.  Since we are big into favorite colors here and mine is brown, the girls (left to right: daphne, stella, fiona) were more than willing to try a special smoothie in mama's favorite color.  I couldn't even bring myself to try it due to the terrible color, but the girls loved it!  In fact, Stella (the pickiest eater) finished all of hers before I even got Daphne and Fiona their cups and she started eyeing their drinks.  Not a bad way to sneak in a vegetable.

7.26.12: Sewing

While recovering from some belly trouble, we've been stuck in the house for a couple days. I became desperate today when we had already done coloring, painting, markers, play doh, and read countless books all before 9am. I found some plastic canvas needles, cardboard, yarn, and a hole bunch and what do you know...instant craft project. I taught the girls (daphne/white, stella/gray, fiona/green) to 'sew' the heart shape cardboard cutout. They seemed most excited about the extensive supply of yarn that they got to pick from. As soon as Brant got home, they showed him their sewing projects and were very, very proud.  He was instructed to take them to work and put them in his office.

7.24.12: Welcome Uncle Soren

Uncle Soren (Brant's cousin) was in town for work and was able to stop by (assuming 'stop by' still qualifies for a 90 minute drive) two nights in a row.  The girls made sure to tell him everything they could think of the second he walked in the door.  They (left to right: fiona, stella, soren, daphne) eventually quieted down so that he could read them a bedtime story.

7.20.12: Adventures with Nene

While I was traveling back from Seattle (where I met my nephew Cooper) and Brant was at work, Nene took over watching the girls this morning.  This is the first time since we moved that someone has watched the girls for a couple hours without Brant or me around.  Rumor has it, Nene and the girls (daphne/yellow, stella/pink, fiona/blue) did great.  They adventured to our weekly multiples playgroup where the teacher and other sets of multiples were missing for a majority of the session.  Nene decided to improvise and make up her own circle time and playgroup. The girls sure enjoyed having free reign of all the toys.

7.16.12: Swimming lessons

Totally on a whim, we signed up the girls (left to right: stella, daphne, fiona) for swimming lessons. Another mom at the park told me about the free lessons and I happened to be next door to the registration center (without even knowing it).  Three days later, the girls were in the pool and ready to learn to swim...or maybe float...or maybe just sit on some steps in the pool.

The first lesson was kind of a bust, the lifeguards needed to size up all the kids and group them within their levels.  Since the classes were intended for 6yo +, the girls were in the super beginner class with kids closer to their age.   They spent most of the first class telling the instructor about themselves, their favorite things, etc and did very little swimming.  The girls pretty much dominated the class with chattiness and wouldn't leave the steps (left to right: stella, fiona, daphne) BUT they got in the water all on their own and sometimes listened to the instructors so I consider the lesson a success.

This was the very first time the girls have participated in an activity/class completely on their own.  We took swimming lessons at 2yo, but I was in the pool the whole time with them.  During these lessons, I had to leave the pool deck and stare from behind a chain link fence.  Don't worry, I knew I could jump the fence if needed, I made sure of that first thing.   After the first lesson, the classes were smaller and somewhat more manageable.  I'm not sure the girls are actually going to learn much, but these lessons are a great precursor to preschool and fill up our mornings (which seem to start earlier everyday).

7.13.12: Kaleidoscope

Today at the children's museum, we found a new kid-sized kaledioscope.  Everyone took turns counting themselves in all of the mirrors.  (top to bottom: fiona, daphne, stella) 

7.11.12: Bird houses

We finally set up our hummingbird feeder and have had great success attracting hummingbirds to our backyard.  It only seemed appropriate to have the girls to paint their own bird feeders next.  The girls (left to right: stella, daphne, fiona) took this task very seriously as they were convinced the more color on the bird houses the easier the birds could find it.  After nap when the bird houses were dry, we rushed outside to hang up our bird feeders and stuck them on a branch and then moved them over and over again.  Perhaps the funnest part is finding new places to put the bird houses.