Teasers from Tahoe

Our two weeks in Tahoe are almost up, and I have just a few pictures on my phone. I'll have to wait until we get home to grab the pictures from my camera. Until then, you can enjoy the antics of our littlest travel companions.











- posted from my handy-dandy iPhone, with Blogpress

Little Models

We braved the wind and the fog on the beach two nights ago to get some pictures of the girls taken by a friend of mine. Lorraine Murphy lives in our neighborhood and takes her two little boys to all of the same local haunts that I drag the girls to every week. She's been taking amazing pictures of her boys for the last couple of years, and just recently decided to start her own photography business. When she asked if she could photograph the girls to build her portfolio, I jumped at the opportunity, especially since I've seen what a beautiful job she does.

We decided to meet at Baker Beach, which is just west of the Golden Gate Bridge. (And, yes, these photos were taken just a few days ago, in the middle of the summer. Not all of the beaches in California are sunny and beautiful over the summer!!) We got several pictures there, although the babies were literally shivering, so we decided to move to another park near the Cliff House for less wind and happier babies! The first half of these pictures were taken at the beach. Matt and I weren't quite prepared to be in the pictures, so we weren't really dressed for it. But, I am not choosy about pictures that contain all of us, especially when the result looks like this!

Homeschooling

Yep, you read that right. We homeschool. It's never too early to begin educating, and we run a pretty rigorous program here -- lots of crayon-chewing and book-eating. Very academic.

Our subjects include:

Reading

Art

Choir

(I apologize in advance for Bridget's super long and very unique rendition of Wheels on the Bus. Who am I to decide how long it should be? Besides, I just can't bring myself to edit video. It's even harder than deleting pictures. In 20 years, I'll want every last second of this video!)

And, recess, of course!

Obviously dress code is not strictly enforced. Sometimes we let the upperclassman come to school without their pants on.

- Posted using BlogPress from my handy-dandy iPhone

Happy Birthday, Bridget!

Our little Bridget turned 3 this weekend! It's hard to believe that she's had three birthdays now, but for a walk down memory lane, here you go (note the big cheeks that have been there since day one!):

July 11, 2007, born at 11:11 pm

(she was destined to be a lucky little girl)

1st Birthday, 2008

2nd Birthday, 2009

and,
3rd Birthday, 2010

Her big day began with presents from Mommy and Daddy, and Mop and Pop. If anyone can get excited about a card, it would be Bridget...

so you can imagine the show she put on when she opened Snow White!

Later, she had a blast at her party. She was a perfect little hostess. She even excused herself mid-present opening to use the bathroom. She's all "growns up" -- sniff sniff.

For even more pictures, you can head here. We're so lucky to have a professional photographer right next door, who is always coming by with his camera. Al got much better shots than we did!

Happy Birthday, Bridget! We can't wait to see what the future holds for you, but are enjoying every moment with you right now :)

Helping Daddy (Tutu Optional)

Matt's honey-do list is pretty long these days, since he needs to fit any house projects we I want done around his work schedule and the needs of four little girls. So, you can imagine his my excitement over his lighter summer schedule. It means that he can tackle some of the things that have been bugging us me for a while. He started this past weekend (on our anniversary, no less. I know, I'm definitely the wife of the year!) and painted the peeling railings on our front steps and interior staircase.

Of course, the hard part is not the work itself. Invariably, Megan and Bridget want in on whatever Daddy is fixing, so he has to wrangle two eager and chatty handygirls while he does his "manly" work --- a delicate balance made more delicate when one of the handygirls insists on wearing a tutu.

By the end of the weekend, railings were painted, Matt knocked some items off of his list and I added a few more ;) Since I don't think I've posted a picture of our house before, and because the handygirls insisted on posing everywhere that day, here is our work in progress:
(And, no, the color is not off. That's the color of our sky during the summer. Fog. All.of.the. time.)

Annie and Molly...

...a one-sided love affair.

Little cousin Molly came for a visit two days ago, and while all of the big kids played together, the babies had a chance to bond a little. Yes, I still call Tessa and Annie "babies," even though I'm very aware they should be called "toddlers" by now :(

Tessa poked a finger or two at Molly, giggled a little, and then settled down to read her books (her favorite thing to do lately when she's not doing some stunt to make Annie laugh). Annie, meanwhile, took this little sit-down very seriously. Imagine a 15-month demanding to hold a baby. That's what happened, over and over again, and Sara just kept giving in and placing Molly on Annie's lap. Annie can be very persuasive :) Doesn't she just look so serious here and motherly here?

When it was time for Sara to hit the road back to Moraga, no one was more sad to see them go than Annie, who clung to Molly's car seat in a desperate attempt to keep her at our house, and then threw a little tantrum. I think Molly was glad for the change of scenery when she was safely in her car!

Clippies, Climbing and Cattiness

Another day, another Stecher party :) This week, we celebrated our nephews Jack and Aidan turning six! They are the first set of twin grandchildren in the Stecher family (that's usually not something you need to differentiate!), and I can't believe they're six already. They had a great pizza party, and the girls had a blast, except for the fact that Tessa and Annie refused to let anyone else hold them. Stranger anxiety x 2 ... except that the "strangers" were Grandma, aunts and uncles. You'd think they'd be more than happy to go to some open arms and some undivided attention for a change. Maybe next time!


Before leaving for the party, I tried something new. Since Tessa and Annie's hair has been slow to come in, they've never had anything in their hair. Sure, I could have been doing cute headbands this whole time, but - let's be honest - I barely manage to change them out of their pajamas most days, nevermind adorn their hair. So, I was attempting to put little clips in their hair for the first time for this party, but they had other ideas. It's hard enough to have a toddler "allow" clips in their hair without yanking them right out. Add in a grabby sister or three, and those "clippies" are doomed. I did manage to get some pictures before Annie's was stolen, and Tessa managed to keep her's in all night. They looked so...old :(

Of course, while I was doing all four girls' hair, things were being undone. This is my life. Matt may be the physics teacher, but I can tell you this: Anytime I try to do anything productive, something opposite and destructive is happening elsewhere. For every action, there is an opposite reaction. While I'm doing the dishes and cleaning up breakfast, the girls are playing "boat" and piling Bridget's bed with every object in their room. While I'm changing a load of laundry, babies are pulling every book off of their bookshelf. I feel like a clean-up crew, just one mess behind the kids all day long. The mischief during our "salon" time? Tessa and Annie decided to perfect their new act of climbing onto the dining room chairs, and then climbing onto the dining room table from there. And then prancing around on the table. Over and over again. Hilarious, right?

Now, chairs can not be trusted on the ground when the babies are on the loose. Or, the babies can not be trusted with the chairs. Either way, something tells me that this will get old:

When we were finally ready to leave the house, we had a little team chat:

Me: "Okay, girls. Raise your hand if you're going to be really friendly tonight."

Tessa: Blank stare. (Obviously she was plotting exactly how loud to cry when a friendly relative attempted to hold her.)

Annie: Blank stare. (Plotting how loud her sympathy cry should be. She still needs to add real tears to this act for it to be believable.)

Bridget (hand up high): "Me! Me! I'm going to be very friendly!"

Megan: "No, I am!! All of the beautiful people...I'm going to talk to them!"

???

No time to even question where that came from. We scrambled out the door and I was left wondering which Disney movie I'm to thank for instilling this principle.

Two Kids in Diapers!

This may not be cause for celebration in most households, but I am overjoyed to report that Bridget is now fully potty-trained, and we now have just two kids in diapers! Bridget has been daytime and naptime potty-trained for almost a year, but she was still wearing a diaper at night until 3 nights ago.

Well, she finally had three nights in a row with a dry diaper, which was our rule for losing the diaper entirely. She did it!! Her reward? We all went out to ice cream together, and she picked her own flavor - Strawberry Shortcake.

Sisterly Love

Tessa and Annie - 15 months

Before their check-up this morning, Matt held Tessa in one arm, and Annie in the other, and tried to guess what their weight difference would be. For the past couple of weeks, I've been convinced that Tessa is at least a pound heavier, but Matt's very calculated guess of 8 ounces proved to be right on the money!

Tessa: 23 pounds, 14 ounces (70th percentile!)

Annie: 23 pounds, 6 ounces (60th percentile!)

We have some chunky babies this time around! For comparison, Megan and Bridget each weighed 21 pounds exactly at 15 months.

These little girls are doing new things every day right now. They're now pointing to objects in books, understanding simple commands, throwing their diapers in the diaper pail (we run a tight ship around here and put them to work early!), still climbing every ladder, staircase or step stool in sight, and mastering play structures at every park we go to. They haven't mastered much in the vocab department beyond "Mama" and "Dada," so we also don't speak their language, so who knows what they're saying to each other? ;)

They're also showing their different personalities more and more. Annie is proving to be very alpha in their relationship. She takes things from Tessa, and Tessa usually just lets her. Annie is very curious, relentless when she wants something (won't stop "asking" for it), and pretty stubborn. She hates to be told "no." Meanwhile, Tessa is happiest when she's being held and cuddled. While Annie tries to play with Megan and Bridget, Tessa is content to lounge in a lap, surveying the action from a distance. They both love to flip through books, and are just now loving the girls' baby dolls. They give them kisses and hold them while patting them on the back. Best of all, they're really playing with each other quite a bit. Just tonight, they were holding hands while running around the house after dinner.

These are all pictures from the last week:

Annie

Tessa

Disneyland 2010

We made it back from our trip to Southern California over a week ago, so this is officially old news. Prepare for a lot of pictures!!

And, let me preface this by saying: Long road trips are officially right up there with potty training in that cozy little inner circle of parenthood hell. And, dealing with the potty while on a long road trip...well, I'll leave that to your imagination. Whatever you imagine it was like, it was probably worse :)

Sure, they look adorable here, all packed up and ready to go:

And Annie paused from chewing on her toes to smile here:

Those were taken before the 8-hour trip to Orange County to see Mop and Pop. The remainder of the trip was spent with the big girls debating (read: arguing) what movie to watch next; passing (or refusing to pass) books back and forth in front of Tessa's head; squealing about the cow smell intermittently; asking, "Are we there yet?" (I didn't think kids really said this that much on car trips. I was wrong about that. They say it every 10 minutes while they're awake, starting not five minutes out of your driveway); and, oh yeah, needing to pee about every 20 minutes. Or not really needing to pee, as Bridget demonstrated on more than one occasion, which led to Daddy telling everyone a little story called "The Little Boy Who Cried Wolf."

While the girls took turns getting unbuckled to use the potty while we were driving (I know - bad, bad parents!!), the babies took turns dropping their sippy cups, or dropping whatever toy they were playing with. As it turns out, keeping a 14-month old entertained for that long is not that easy! I'm not sure who had it easier - Matt driving almost non-stop for eight hours, or me, crawling back and forth from the front seat to the zoo in the back to manage the potty, shuffle movies and dole out snacks.

Thankfully, we stopped at a Denny's in Coalinga to eat, let the girls run laps in the parking lot, and change into pajamas. They were all asleep soon after, and we rolled into Mop and Pop's driveway at 1am with four sleeping kids to transfer in.

Once the journey there was over with, the fun began!! We had a full week of activities planned by Mop, and we started the next morning with a trip to their local Mission Viejo beach club. And, when I say "beach," I mean sand on a man-made lake. This is Orange County ;) And, it was perfect for the kids, with a sandy beach, grassy picnic area and even a little playground.

Megan, Bridget and Annie got a lift in from the parking lot in this little wagon (poor Tessa was getting a ride on me and missed the fun):

And, as soon as we settled down next to the playground, Annie wasted no time conquering this chain ladder that is most definitely not intended for babies. She climbed it several times and found a slide to go down all by herself!

Our little fish Megan loved the water!!

And the babies enjoyed this version of the beach, too. They'll get a shock later this summer with the cold water in Lake Tahoe!

Next up? Disneyland!! Our girls are spoiled, big time! They are lucky enough to have grandparents who live 15 minutes away from the park, and going to Disneyland is something we always work into our visits. Megan has now been at least six times, and she's only four years old. That's close to the number of times I've been in my entire life :) It's so nice to not have to rush around in the park. We hit up different rides every time we go, and never feel like we have to stay all day. And, this trip was much more enjoyable than last year's visit. Last year, the babies were only 10 weeks old - 'nuff said!

Stechers in Disneyland - 2009

For this trip, we took all four girls on the first day, and began in California Land, where we lined up the kids,

and Mop led the way:

We were tipped off to the need for swimsuits in the Bug's Life area, and we were glad we brought them. The girls had a blast! There were several water features with sprinklers and fountains that they had fun with, but they also took a little break for Ring Around the Rosie, a favorite at the moment:

A drenched Tessa:

Megan, Bridget and Annie:

These are happy screams from Tessa - trust me!

A wet, giddy Annie:

I love how the babies are looking at each other in this picture:

Mop and Annie were attached to each other that day, literally, since Mop was saddled with Annie in the Bjorn. But, Annie was very happy there. They have quite a cute little bond. Annie preferred her to me on more than one occasion during this trip!

Mop and Annie strolling,

cuddling,

and sleeping:

These two go way back. Last year, they had a good time together at Disneyland, too ;)

And, all of us got to pose with the big man, er, mouse, himself (minus Matt taking the picture):

What trip to Disneyland would be complete without a spin on It's a Small World? Megan and Bridget love this one!! I had to capture their reactions as we headed in on our little boat.

Pop and Uncle Kyle joined us after work, and were immediately put to use pushing and carrying kids:

The girls insisted that they ride Dumbo with Uncle Kyle,

and then conceded to another ride with Daddy.

Day Two at Disneyland found Matt and I with just Megan and Bridget. We left the babies back at the house with Mop. I know my perspective is crazily skewed, but it was such an enjoyable experience to just have two kids there that day! We were each able to ride with a kid on Autopia, and we were all able to go on the carousel and the teacups. The girls really wanted to go on Pirates of the Caribbean and the Jungle Cruise that day, too. Odd choices for the preschool set :)It was a lot of fun, quality time with the "big girls."

You'd think two days at Disneyland would be hard to beat. As it turns out, our girls are either very easy to please, or "Buckets of Fun" is even cooler than Disneyland. We spent the last day in Orange County relaxing around the house a little, and then headed to the rec center up the street to play in the water feature next to the pool. Megan and Joey have dubbed this "Buckets of Fun" because there are buckets of water constantly filling, overturning and splashing an unsuspecting child below. This was the highlight of Megan's trip, and the cause for at least one meltdown when we didn't go earlier in the week. Here she is, barely stopping for a picture, and sporting her goggles (very necessary that they be heart-shaped!).

If Megan is our little fish, Tessa is her little protege. Funny that a 14-month-old would so enjoy getting buckets of water literally dumped on her head over and over again, but she loved it. This was the happiest we saw her all week, without a doubt! She's on the right, with the wet hair. Annie carefully avoided wetting her do.

Meanwhile, Bridget surveyed these "fun" buckets from a distance after giving it a spin. After one dousing, she was out, and in her towel. I can't say I blame her.

The next day we headed home. Our daily routine here leaves a lot to be desired when compared to Disneyland and Buckets of Fun. The girls are already planning the rides they'll go on next time. Get ready for another invasion. Mop and Pop!