A look at our more recent everyday stuff.....
We do things like go to the park.....while our house is being cleaned. I cannot keep my own house clean. Can't. It's impossible for me. So I give up things like new clothes and pedicures to get my house cleaned by someone else. For me, it's totally worth it.
We take our shoes off at the park......because I used to think that parents who let their kids be barefoot at the park were so gross. Now I keep the kids from wandering away and that's ALL I can do at the park. God knows how many leaves and little tiny pieces of colored rubber they've eaten-bare feet are nothing.
We go to Skywalk and JUMP. Not really. We went once and I will take the big kids again but it's too much with the littlest two.
Gracie likes to get all dressed up to meet dad for lunch. She chose this whole outfit herself. It's a little too much for me but I let her do her thing. I wish Tulare was in Fresno so we could do this more often. A trip to Hobby Lobby and lunch with Matt every now and again is a good change of pace for us.
We go on nature walks. I used to walk with Gage outside EVERY day. When I lived in the apartment I would walk to the grocery store, to get ice cream, to get a coffee, to just get out. Then when we moved to the house we walked the trail at least 3 times a week and talked about all the little critters we would see. It was SO nice to take him to this little gem of a trail, we'll for sure be going again soon. I miss being outside with him, he loves it so much. I blame it on school. It has taken our most precious resource-time.
These two spend a lot of time longing to be bigger than they are. They love to watch the big kids (in this case Gage and Matt) play outside. They usually get to go too but not when Gage is practicing catch with a baseball.
We forget to consider consequences.....she really thought she had a great idea here. She is the worst with this stuff. She climbs the barstools with absolutely no thought of "careful" and is always in some precarious situation like this.
We love to cuddle. These two are pretty lovey babies. Anytime I get down on the ground they are both all over me. It's the best and worst all at the same time.
I took the twins out to lunch for their first birthday. It's probably only the second or third time I've done this. I took Gage out to lunch almost daily. This trip was no joke. I had Ashlyn in the carrier, Jay on my hip and Gracie by my side. There was only one available high chair so Ashlyn sat on my lap until another came available. We left with more rice on the floor than in our bellies. But, they were very well behaved and I would do it again.
Gracie cracks me up. She was feeling pretty good in some red high heels.
We spend a great deal of time in mealtime mayhem. With three under three it takes much longer to clean up a meal than it does to eat it. I started giving the twins real food a while back and there was a major downside. They no longer let anyone feed them-they insist on feeding themselves. It's led to complete disaster every meal.
Fortunately my kids are pretty healthy but sometimes it hits us. This is what sick Ash looks like, it's terrible.
We get all pretty and match for church. Not true. The girls rarely match because 90% of Ashlyn's wardrobe used to be Gracie's. I don't think we're too far off from them being the same size. This series of pics made me laugh, Ash was determined to get that necklace.
We love to have parties at the potty. Gracie's getting pretty good at doing this on her own and we're big on keeping the door closed. When she forgets to close the door this is the result. Everyone in her business-she clearly doesn't mind.
This last weekend I had the four kids at Costco. It was on Monday; normally it would be slow but it was busy with the President's Day holiday. I always hear comments (sometimes directed at me, sometimes not) like, "She sure has her hands full" or "Oh my gosh, are they all yours?" but this visit to Costco I got something else. As I grabbed a year's supply of wipes, that only lasts us a few weeks, a family was walking by. They had two boys I would guess about four and six and a little girl around two in the cart. The dad walked by-looking right at my cart and I heard him say to his wife, "Look at those four kids.....that could be us". It wasn't in the tone of fear or pity that I usually hear, and it wasn't sarcasm either. He was looking at my life with hope. The hope that he might one day have what I have. It was one of my first opportunities to have a stranger actually believe me when I say, "It's totally worth it"......
Love.
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