Belatedly Grateful

Since Christmas isn't quite here yet, I still have time to slip in a road-trip-to-Thanksgiving-in-the-OC post.  I'll blame my tardiness on both my camera and my computer, but I'll spare the details.  Suffice to say, neither is an over-achiever these days.

And, neither are we when it comes to road trips.  I'll just get these first two pictures out of the way, and you(all ten of you) readers can decide if you ever want to read this blog again.  First, I present our completely unsafe alternative in the portable entertainment world.  We've taken your standard dual screen DVD player that normally attaches to two headrests, and entertains your standard two-kid family, and snazzed it up a bit...by dangling it precariously on some bungee cords stretched from one side of the car to the other.  Why?  So all of the girls can see!  Basically, the small chance of a collision hurtling this screen directly into Annie's face can not compete with the larger chance, nay, guarantee of more damage being caused by three girls in the back seat fighting to see the screen. What can I say?  We're gamblers like that :) 

And, if you're going to get judgy looking at these photos, I would urge you not to notice the pajamas that everyone is wearing (and continued to wear for the entire eight-hour trip!) or the offensive item in Megan's hand in the picture below.  Look away if you can't handle kids eating french fires!

But, you can look at this cute face.  Happy 1st Thanksgiving, Mary!

I don't have any pictures of the adults eating our scrumptious food, but I do have some (poorly lit) pictures of the kids scarfing down their feast...

while watching Home Alone!  Somewhere along the way in the Raley household, we started watching Home Alone every Thanksgiving -- not during the meal, but usually afterwards -- as a fun way to kick off the holiday season.  Maybe it's just us, but that movie just never gets old :)  So, we figured we would introduce the little ones to this uber-sophisticated flick, and we did let them watch while eating their dinner!  This whole set-up just blows Grandma Raley's Thanksgivings of the past out of the water.  These are some lucky grand kids...or our old Thanksgiving kid table left a lot to be desired!

Lest you, dear reader, think that our Thanksgiving this year was all french fries and movies, we also introduced the kids to another great tradition -- fighting over the wishbone!  (Boy, I sure am painting a pretty picture of my side of the family!)  Do other families do this?  I'm not even sure!

Megan and Joey were the lucky contenders, and Joey was intent on learning the rules of this game, while Megan flirted with the camera.

Some wishing and tugging ensued,

and we had a winner!

We're working on fulfilling Megan's wish: to live in a castle!

But, first, we're grateful for another amazing Thanksgiving, and thankful for a year full of good health, happiness, little girl giggles and a baby!!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas here!

We got our tree,

decorated it, over the course of a few days,

stuffed and mailed our Christmas cards (with lots of help!),

unpacked the audience that has now patiently viewed many the impromptu play or concert,

dressed like Santa (times two),

acquainted ourselves with our very own elf!! (the girls named him Henry Jolly, and he is always watching!)

and allowed a bigger elf to put up our outdoor Christmas lights for the first time in 6 years!

We also made sure to introduce this newbie to all things Christmas!

And we got all of these crazy cousins together for a photo shoot,

indoor and outdoor.

We got festive at preschool,

hung our stockings with care (notice Vanna Annie showing these off),

and experienced our very first Christmas pageant with Megan starring as a dove. Okay, maybe not so much starring as featuring...and forgetting that she was supposed to sing...and adjusting her wings and looking around while the rest of the class was singing...

but, she sure was a cute dove!

That same week, we brought the girls with us to Matt's faculty dinner, and we left so late that they changed into their jammies. We had to get a picture of them in front of the tree at SI. If you look closely, you can see Tessa's frown because it's so chilly. Sorry, Tessa!

The next day we were back at SI and the faculty kids and grandkids got to see Santa. The Cecchin cousins are faculty grandkids, so this is always a fun day. Here are some of these cousins goofing around on Santa's chair before he made his entrance.

Once he made his entrance, our girls were more than happy to accept what he had to offer!

The twins both yelled. "I'm Santa, too!!" when Santa came in the room. And, they sang a couple verses to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." No Santa fear in this house this year!

Five more days - yikes!! I hope everyone is enjoying the last few days before Christmas as much as we are!

Mary is 4 Months Old!

Okay, I'm a little behind on this one -- mostly because I don't want to admit that Mary is already four months old! Despite the "la la la" I have going on in my head, there is no denying she's growing. She had her four month check-up at the pediatrician this week, and she weighed in at 15.5 pounds, which puts her in the 80th percentile. And, 95th for height at 26 1/4 inches!

Mary continues to be a super easy baby for us...when we're with her. Or, more specifically, when I'm with her. She does not like taking a bottle, so she's not winning any favorite granddaughter prizes yet. She's most happy when she can happily observe her big sisters doing what they do best --- creating pure chaos for her entertainment. So, maybe they'd do that anyway, but she's the happy audience!

She's also loving her little playmat now, and just beginning to reach for her toys and explore things with her hands and mouth. Her favorite combination of these two things is sucking her thumb. She's become a pro in the last week, and she usually finds her thumb in the middle of the night too, although this habit has not fully replaced her other habit of waking to nurse. But, that's perfectly okay. It buys me some extra cuddle time with her.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find that "pause" button I've been looking for on Mary. I'm sure it's there somewhere.

Freckles, Fashion and Friends

It's been too long since I've documented some good Bridget stories, or pictures.  I'll start with her recent self-portrait on the easel in our garage.  Nope, she's not sick with the measles or anything.  Those are her freckles.  Or, her "dot skin," as cousin Clara (lovingly?) refers to it, like Bridget's another rarely seen ethnicity.

Those freckles will be Bridget's distinguishing mark for her entire life. I just know it.  She gets comments every day on them.  Everything from, "You've got the map of Ireland on your nose," (my personal favorite) to "Each one of those freckles is an angel's kiss."  Even if people don't remember her name, especially as they all get older and there will be less of a height difference to distinguish them, Bridget will always be The One With the Freckles.  She doesn't seem to dislike them, for now, and probably regards them as another accessory in her ensemble every day.   

Speaking of ensembles, in Bridget's mind, every day is an opportunity for a new outfit.  She strongly dislikes wearing an outfit twice (boy, will she LOVE to wear the same uniform every day next year!!), and enjoys mixing and matching items from her wardrobe, as well as Megan's and the twins'.  I can never guess what she'll want to wear, so she's left to her own devices in her closet every morning, and comes up with some crazy stuff.  I present a few exhibits:

I can not forget her hair either!  This is a project every morning after we drop Megan at school.  Once we've all scrambled back into the car, we have an hour to kill between the two drop-offs, and the two most important items on the agenda are feeding Mary and doing Bridget's hair.  Sometimes these two things can be done at the same time, depending on how nimble I'm feeling.  Her hair is so fun because she has a different request every day, and I always have time to do it.  Tessa and Annie wait patiently while Bridget details some hairdo she has seen in a book, or better yet, brings the book along for me to look at.  She doesn't want me to screw it up, after all.  Take this ponytail for example:

I totally screwed it up.  It's not a perfect "little r."  Don't ask me where that idea came from, but she wants "high, high" ponytails that look like a little "r" on her head.  This picture was taken at her request so that she could survey my handiwork.  It wasn't "high high" enough.  I really can't wait for the girls to start doing each other's hair every morning!

And she is a shoe lover!  Currently, she is wearing right through some open-toed patent yellow flats that Mop and Pop gave her.  They are completely inappropriate for preschool, but they make her happy.  This is her happy face:





These are some other emotions I can't quite label.  But, that's Bridget.  And, it was her idea to take these pictures, and then inspect each one afterwards.  Ah, technology.










I'm pretty sure she's going to be The Actress With the Freckles before we know it.

Until then, though, she is trying very hard to master preschool.  It's hard to be four.  The art of making girlfriends is proving to be a tricky road for Bridget.  Her concept of friendship was a little skewed for the first few months of school, while she was "friends" with a rather manipulative little girl who told her what to do, when to do it, and even hit her and pinched her!  Bridget kept wanting to play with her, too.  Even after many long conversations about what friends are and how she's too special to have anyone hit her, it took a little while to sink in.  A few days after the pinching incident, she was about to hop out the car to head to school for the morning.  Before saying goodbye, she proudly proclaimed, "I will not be playing with Jane* today....(dramatic pause) ...if she's not at school today."  Baby steps, I guess. (* a name has been changed to protect the identity of Bridget's "friend," even if she doesn't deserve it!)

In keeping with Bridget not quite getting this friend concept, she very eagerly reported that she did have another friend.  "I was washing my hands in the bathroom, and Greta* came in and asked if I was done."  And...that's it.  There's nothing more to that story, but in Bridget's mind, the fact that Greta* spoke to her is proof enough that they are friends.  (*Once again, I'm protecting Bridget's "friend," -- this time with Bridget's favorite name, and my guilty pleasure girl's name.)

So, it would seem that we have a long road to hoe before Bridget is ready, socially, for kindergarten next year.  I'm happy to report, though, that just this month she had her first solo playdate, and we have another one in the works. There is hope for her yet, especially since she came back from the first playdate talking a hundred words a minute about her new friend, and even more about the layout of the house.  She is my daughter :)  Her self-confidence was through the roof!

When she's not worrying about her friends or fashion, this little freckle face is my little buddy when she's home from school.  She loves being the oldest kid in the house between the hours of 12 and 3, when she dictates any games and helps me with anything that needs to be "orzagized."  I think this is really her stall tactic to be able to go down for a nap a little later than the twins, but she takes way too much pleasure in cleaning up her room before naptime, and likes to surprise me with what she's accomplished when I return from putting the twins down in their room.  I am not discouraging this!!  She's also our go-to table setter.  I'm going to ride this helpful train as long as I can :)

As the one kind of stuck in the middle, she, very stereotypically, is pretty sensitive and dramatic.  We really try to give all of the girls individual attention they deserve, but especially Bridget.  This morning, she jumped at the chance to go grocery shopping with me, and reminded me that it would be just like our little date a couple months ago.  She wanted to sit in the baby seat of the grocery cart, and of course, she was accessorized to the max in a princess crown, clip-on earrings and a huge jeweled necklace.  She glowed when people passed us and called her a princess. 

I'm hoping this freckly princess remembers us when she's on Broadway someday!

Super Twins at Two and a Half

This post has taken a while to come to fruition, mostly because I'm lazy, but also because it's so hard to pinpoint these little personalities in a few short paragraphs, especially since they're changing daily.

These pictures were taken a few weeks ago.  They like each other...a little bit.

Being a twin is a lot of fun.  I can attest to that.  However, raising two-year-old twins comes with certain, ahem, challenges.  (Sorry, Mop and Pop!) The mild "terrible twos" we experienced with Megan and Bridget in no way prepared us for this amped-up, doubled version!    They feed off of each other, bicker over the most ridiculous little objects, mimic the not-so-great behavior of their older sisters, act like crazy cribbed animals at nap time and bedtime, and require twice the attention (as they should), all while still perfecting their potty skills, which is enough to keep us on our toes. 

The good outweighs the bad stuff, though.  The connection they have with each other is amazing to witness.  I think it's tempered a bit since they have Megan, Bridget and Mary in the mix, but they do have a special bond.  I see it more clearly while the older girls are at school.  They are a mellow pair, these two, when they're on their own.  And their little conversations are so cute!  Since they're the only vocal kids in the car for much of the day, I often listen to little conversations like this:

Annie: "Mommy, are we almost to Bridget's school?"
Me: "Yep. Almost. We have to wait for the light to turn green."
Annie: "OK, green means we can go.  Red means we stop. Tessa, did you hear that? We're almost there, okay, Tessa?"
Tessa: "Okay, Annie!"

And. lately, their vocabulary seems to be building exponentially, with the daily use of words like "actually" and "instead."  "Last night" and "remember that one time" are popular, too.   Just today, I was inundated with "Mommy, I know Bridget is going on a playdate after school, but what is she doing after that?" from Annie.  I think she might be more nosy than I am!  More disturbing. though, is Annie's recent attempts at acting like a little teenager. She now says "Thanks, Mom" and "I told 'ya!" all while strutting around in her favorite pair of shorts with her hands planted deep in the pockets.  I'm hoping "Mommy" makes a comeback.  While they don't have their own little language, they do understand each other, even when we can't.  It's pretty useful to ask Tessa to explain what Annie was trying to say, and vice versa.  Of course, they also have their own funny words.  If they are ever collectively referring to themselves, it's always "we guys."  For example, who took down the big basket of shoes and scattered them all over the room??  "We guys did it." 

They are also enamored with everything school. I feel a little guilty for even considering keeping them home an extra year, which would give them just one year of preschool (gasp!).  I want to keep them home longer for a few reasons, but mostly because I really feel they get so much socialization at home that they don't need to be there next year.  Plus, selfishly, I've realized how fast these years go, and I have no desire to send them any sooner than I need to.  But, they drink up every detail of the girls' school days. As soon as Bridget hops back in the car at noon, the twins are asking 20 questions about her morning.  They know her friends' names, and they give knowing nods when she tells them what she played with. "Oh, okay, Bridget. You played with Ainsley, with the dollhouse?"  They're filing that info away somewhere. As for their own "schooling," they love love love to color and "draw" and we're looking at a strong possibility of Tessa being a lefty!  We'll see how that pans out, but I'm so curious, because that may mean that they are mirror image twins - kind of cool!

Annie, with her right hand, has quite suddenly started to draw people!  I love it!!  I'm pretty confident Megan and Bridget didn't draw anything that actually resembled something until 3, maybe 3.5 years old.  Apparently, that's me on the left.  She's very meticulous when she adds the eyes, a nose and mouth. In typical Annie fashion, she acts like she's been doing this forever.  She is two.

I feel like I've given more examples of Annie's personality than I have for Tessa.  In a word, Tessa continues to be the cuddlebug.  And very sensitive.  "I got my feelings hurt," or "That's not fair" are common utterances from this one.  Every morning carting the girls in to drop off Megan, Tessa wants to be carried.  It's not always possible, since she has a little bit of competition.  So, she's also prone to making a very compelling frown, much like I did when I was little.  I wish I could always scoop her up and cuddle her, but alas, she is one of five kids.  I'm hoping she won't be too damaged by that fact!  Lest I paint her a sad, sad child, though, I have to add that she is also very silly -- definitely our silliest.  She breaks out in songs and giggles many times a day, and especially loves when we notice and tell her what a good song that was!  She has one deep dimple in her right cheek that makes an appearance a LOT, so I think she'll turn out all right.

In the coming months, we're planning to transition the twins to twin beds and make room for Mary in their room.  We'll see how that goes, and hope that little trio will be peaceful roommates for a little while.  I'm slightly worried about the mayhem that may ensue without the benefit of crib rails, but we'll worry about that later!  At that point, I may really have to stop calling them the "babies."  Even with a newborn in the mix here, I still can't break that habit.  Even at two and a half, they're still my babies!