Bedtime Rituals

It is with great certainty that I confess that I am terrible about bedtime routines, rituals, and practice. I regret that I did not take a picture of Hope asleep in her high chair last night, but a few weeks ago she fell asleep on the stairs while I was putting the twins to sleep. I heard her hollering out, but she refused to go with Grandma and insisted she didn't want to lay down with the twins...but she finally gave out on the stairs. Documented.

New Skills for the Twins

I'm normally not a fan of bare bum shots, but it's been happening with more frequency in our home lately, so I could hardly not mention it. I believe it started with Grace gaining the agility to remove her clothing, and then Joy followed closely behind. A few weeks ago, Grace decided to have breakfast in the buff, here she is casually eating her yogurt with no regard that she has not a stitch of clothing on. Then last week, they both removed their clothing after getting dressed for the day. I grabbed the camera and this was the most posed shot I've ever gotten, they must have been so proud. Grace even went down on one knee for her pose. Grandma Dori, felt their behinds were too adorable to miss, so we had to open the fridge as a distraction for them to turn away from the camera.

Puppy Party

Happy 4th Birthday to Hope! Over the past year, Hope has had a certain obsession with puppies. We brought several with us on our trip to Michigan this summer and she tormented her cousins with Hide-and-Seek puppies. I think she has at least ten, all with their own names. So, our puppy theme was perfect. We started with adorable invites for an Adopt-a-Puppy party. Special credit goes to Designing and Motherhood blog for posting this cute idea that I used.

We got puppies from Oriental Trading and each child picked their own puppy to adopt. We even made little puppy carriers for each one.

When each child arrived, they filled out a certificate with their new puppy's name, fur color, eye color, etc, and swore before a witness that they would love and take care of their puppy as its new owner (adapted from a Cabbage Patch Doll certificate).

We had a vet check station, where puppies could receive their shots and make sure they were healthy.

We had a "Make a Collar" station where each child made a jeweled collar and groomed their doggy.

We had a snack station, where guests could enjoy "Kibbles and Bits" with their puppies. We used small cat food bowls for them to serve their snacks in.

A family friend helped make these absolutely adorable puppy cupcakes. She gets extra credit for making such a great variety of different puppies.

We had a station where guests could pose for a photo op with their puppy.

In addition to taking their puppy home, we had favors for each guest including candy dog bones, a puppy ball, puppy puzzle, and a mini flashlight for walking your doggy.

I had such a fun time planning this party, and Hope had a great time too.

I Do Believe in Fairies

It turns out that raising three little girls takes up more time and energy than a mission around the moon and what I'm left with at the end of the day is about enough to eat a bowl of ice cream and watch a favorite tv show without falling asleep 50% of the time. Writing a journaling blog of the cute things those girls are doing just hasn't made the cut of things to get done in the day. Then so much time passes that it's just embarrassing to write something and try to cover all that you've missed. So, I'll work on mostly current, and try to keep up.

Early in October Disney released Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue. This movie entered our home and immediately captured Hope's heart, which in turn captured Andrew's heart as well. On their next walk to the lake

near our home, they found branches and leaves and flowers and made a Fairy house. Soon our home was overrun with Fairy houses as well. Not long after that, Grandma Dori bought three fairy dresses and Andrew wanted to surprise Hope with hers down at the Lake (by their Fairy House) and then in turn have her find dresses for Joy and Grace in our own yard. Here's the note that Tinker Bell wrote:

I had a clever Halloween costume for all the girls, but Hope had become so enraptured with Tinker Bell that she started telling her preschool teacher that she was going to be Tinker Bell for Halloween and the rest is history. So, for Halloween, Hope was Tinker Bell, and Joy and Grace were also Fairies - I think Hope called them Rosetta and Silvermist. We had a Halloween party with the local twin mom group and I think half the party was made up of Fairies. Our cousin, Giselle, even ended up in a fairy costume when we went trick or treating on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland. I don't know how long the magic of fairies will last, but it's delightful to see Hope enjoying something with her sisters.

"Multiples" of fairies
(terrible background editing, but a cute shot with all the girls)

Ready for the some trick or treating

After Piedmont Avenue activities, enjoying our loot

Speaking of Hope and her sisters - they mimic her so much. Today she was clever enough to stand on a basket and plop herself into a chair. Immediately, both Joy and Grace had to try the trick as well. Just yesterday, Grace mastered clearly saying, "Hope." They are all three growing so fast. It's hard to keep up.

Lake Temescal Summer Fun

We adventured to the beach swimming at Lake Temescal this week. It was Grace and Joy's first sandy beach/lake experience and they loved it. We've been hitting the pool and getting comfortable in the water and they were great. Hope had lots of fun getting completely sandy. Instead of the seagulls eating our food at the ocean, we had ducks that came by our blanket to see what scraps they could get. I liked it better than the ocean, because the water was warm and the girls could go in easily, there wasn't an undertoe that we had to worry about with the kids, and the weather was perfect!

Summer Is On Its Way

Mandy has this great practice of playing on her patio in swimsuits on hot days. Hope has been over to her house recently on a couple of our hot spring days, and she thinks she must change into her suit too. Here are all the girls enjoying playing in their swimsuits. Thanks, Grandma Linda, for the water table - it's so much fun! We are looking forward to enjoying it all summer long.

Dr. Seuss Birthday Theme - Thing One and Thing Two

I had so much fun with this "Thing One and Thing Two" theme for the twins' birthday party. In case you can't recall, Thing One and Thing Two are from Dr. Seuss' "Cat in the Hat" book, but we rounded the party out with all kinds of Seuss. Because we mostly had adults (they're the ones I owe big thanks to for help during the first year) I made tags with names of Dr. Seuss books to put on people's backs for them to ask 'yes or no' questions to guess what book was on their back. Many of us realized just how many Dr. Seuss books are that we forgot about. I also had pictures of the twins during their first year hanging from paper lanterns and the other game we had was to put the pictures in chronological order. My niece, Jackie, got six out of ten right and she won a goldfish (remember the fish in the bowl from "Cat in the Hat" - he was at the party too). I put together favors with a blank Dr. Seuss mini-book, bookmark, and mechanical pencil. I found a fun idea for centerpieces online that had Gerber Daisies and a brightly colored boa - very Seuss-like. Thanks to Tracy for making a fun Cat in the Hat cake - I can't believe I managed to miss taking a picture, I really meant to. She took the idea and ran with it and I loved her finished product. She also made individual "Thing One" and "Thing Two" cakes for each twin. The cake was Red Velvet Cake and went with the bright colors we had for the party. Joy and especially Grace very much enjoyed the cake - they started a little timid but we're very thrilled by the end, Grace even managed to get it in her hair. I also had Grandma Dori make special shirts for the girls out of Thing One and Thing Two fabric, very sweet. (Mom and Dad both had Cat in the Hat shirts too!) Oh, and I couldn't forget to thank Stephanie for her photography - it was such a beautiful day that everything looked so vibrant and beautiful. Her candid shots were excellent!