what we've been up to

Warning: This post is really random!!

We came home one day to find this snake in our backyard. I've actually gotten used to seeing little snakes in our yard. We usually see 6-7 each summer, and the girls love them. I've really come to realize that they are way more harmless than the squirrels that try to live in our attic and the rabbits that eat our vegetation. So, as long as they don't get much bigger than this one, I'm actually fine with them. Did you hear that, Dad? your little girl's growin' up :) (i still don't do spiders, though)



Grace has become quite the "helper" in the kitchen. She loves to cook! This is new for her, and I love it! Although I still find myself hesitating to include her, whether it be to save time, to minimize the mess, or just cause i sometimes like to be alone in the kitchen. But I'm getting better, and as you might assume, so is she! Here she is helping me make bread.

And here is Abby , enjoying the bread--with jam. She still makes a massive mess when she eats. She's getting a little better, but between Eliza and her, we spend more time cleaning up after meals than I do preparing it! But seriously, how can i complain when she's that cute???

The girls have really enjoyed playing with the neighbor kids lately, esp Grace. It's the cutest thing in the world when Brooke's mom calls to see if Grace can come over and play. I can't believe I have a kid old enough to walk next door on her own and play with a friend!! and it's not "babysitting" anymore!!! When Grace is over there she completely ignore Brooke's mom and just dives into whatever they're playing with. But when Brooke is over here, it's a different story. She wants to ask me all sorts of questions about my favorite this or that. And she wants to show me her newest trick, and she is always just dying for Eliza to wake up (which totally reminds me of me, when I used to go to my friend Tiffany's house and hope to have a turn holding her baby sister...who i think was like 2 at the time and probably didn't want to be held anymore:) But she's the sweetest, most polite and kind little girl in the world, and i just love her influence on Grace. When Grace tries to exclude Abby from their play, Brooke is so kind and convinces Grace to let Abby join in with them--how sweet is that???

Marky, Grace, Brooke and Abs

One of the things i love most about living here in Colorado is the weather. Granted, it is insanely unpredictable, but I can't complain when we have park days in February and rainstorms in June--i love it! We've had so much rain this month, we've barely turned our sprinklers on--and our grass looks awesome!! And who doesn't love a warm afternoon rain?

Reid introduced Grace to the Singin' in the Rain song, and she loved it. They were soakin' wet when they came back in, but Grace (and Reid!) couldn't have been happier.

And we had an awesome hail storm a few weeks back. The girls just stood there for the whole 8 minutes, watching it bounce off our deck. As cool as it was, I was glad to not be out in it.

We had the first heat wave of the summer this week (well, it hit 90 most days, and there was an afternoon thunderstorm most days...so, i dunno if you can call it a "heat wave"). So on Wednesday i took the girls and their little friend, Brae, to the fountains up at Civic Green. They had so much fun! Abby didn't really get wet, but Grace did!! Grace, who usually HATES getting water anywhere near her head, was going nuts in the fountains. It was so fun seeing her enjoy herself so much. It was also fun seeing Abby's little belly hang out in her little homely two piece swimsuit (what can i say, all her cute swimsuits were in the wash:)

How cute is Eliza? Honestly? I love this hat that my friend, Jenny C., gave her. I think it was supposed to fit her as a 3 month old! She's thrown us all for a loop with her dimensions!

We just took all three of the girls in for check-ups, and here's what we found out:

Grace--hasn't gained even a pound in the past 14 months. What?!?!?! Yep, that's right. No more 99%-ile for this girl, she's down to the 75th in weight, and 90th for height. I swear i feed her. I feed her around the clock--i really do!

We went to the zoo yesterday with our friends, the Gardners, and Grace has never enjoyed it so much, ever! She even wanted to talk about it when we got home. That's really new for Grace. She's changing so much, she really is. She's becoming my little side-kick. I'm really trying to reduce our "screen-time" for the summer--in hopes to make up for the bagillions of movies we watched during our sick months! And it's given Grace and me lots of time to read, color, play games and do puzzles--all things that she's just recently taken an interest in. Until a few months ago she really wasn't much into things like that. The girl has got an amazing imagination, and really just liked to play with her dolls, her toys, her sisters and me. So, it's been really fun seeing her enjoying these new things!

She's really taking on the "big sister" role...in all ways. Sometimes i love it--like yesterday when she figured out how to undo Abby's buckle on her carseat, or when she picks up Eliza when she's fussy or getting into something she shouldn't. But sometimes I can tell she thinks she's the mom. Like when she says, "Okay, Abby, if you're not going to cooperate you're going to lose the privilege of watching Annie" or "Abby, i'm going to count to 3 and if you don't give that to me you're going to your room for a timeout." It's really kinda cute, and oh-so eye-opening to hear her "mother" abby. Abby, of course, hates it. And i really don't know what to do about it. I've talked to moms who say that when the first is a girl, it's really likely for her to be like that. What does that mean? what should i do? Nothing? Just try to tame it a bit? Any advice/suggestions greatly appreciated!

Abby- stayed about the same--85%-ile for height and weight. The pediatrician recommended that Abby see an allergist once she really, really realized just how many times Abby has been sick this winter, and in her life. So, we're slowly unfolding the mystery--i'll keep you posted as we learn more about that.

Abby's speech is improving every day. And she's repeating things that Grace and I say all the time. Like the other day, when she wanted something Grace had, she turned to Grace and said, "I count to three--one, two, three--okay, you lose pwivwedge of watching Annie"--funniest thing ever. There are still times that i don't understand her, and she can tell that i don't understand, cause when i do i repeat back what she's said. For the past three days she's brought this little plastic toy C.D. up to me and said something that sounds just like "here, mom, it won't kill you"--but i'm POSITIVE that's not what she's saying--i just can't figure it out, and she keeps saying it!!

She's the moodiest little thing, too. She folds her arms and pouts about 40 times/day. It usually just cracks me up, and she can't keep a frown for more than 2 seconds if i'm laughing at her--which is really cute.

She loves puzzles, and always has. She sort of enjoys reading, but only certain books. She LOVES games. She'd play games all day if she could. BUT she's turning into a bit of a poor sport. Any advice on how to avoid that would also be appreciated :)

She's a little bit interested in potty training. But i'm waiting until she can get her undies down, get herself on the toilet, wipe, wash her hands and say "Mom, i just went potty"--that's when we'll potty train :) Today she went upstairs, pooped in her diaper, took it off (with the help of her elder sister) and smeared it everywhere as she tried to sit on the toilet. She's just not quite connecting that you gotta sit on the toilet before you do the deed. And that's why we're still holding tight to diapers :)

Eliza is still our little under-weight anomaly. Her weight is in the tenth percentile, people!!! Tenth!!!! For height she's like 50%. This little lady of ours out-eats us all at dinner-time. There's not a thing she won't eat. She loves beans--especially lentils-honestly! And she LOVES brown rice, pasta (with pesto even!), blueberries (she screams at me if i give them to abby or grace first!), peppers, any crackers, broccoli, and cheerios. She still eats baby cereal, nurses 3 times a day, and takes a bottle once a day. She's always eating. And she still chokes all the time! I am not kidding when i say i've done the full on Heimlich maneuver on her at least 5-6 times. Usually she chokes on something that she's totally mastered--like cheerios. I don't know if she just gets lazy, or what. Many of you have probably seen it, or close to it. I blame it all on that LaffyTaffy wrapper....

And, here's a cute picture of these little friends. I'm amazed at how much they're including Eliza in their play, now, too. Eliza started crawling about 3-4 weeks ago, and i think that has helped. It's definitely helped me cause she doesn't want/need to be held nearly as much. it's been really great!! Although i have to be on my toes more than ever (yes, i've already found one barbie shoe in her mouth!!) i feel so much happier when she doesn't whine all day long. And Grace loves to just pick her up and take her wherever they're going....even upstairs!! well, only once :)

We're excited for Reid to come back tomorrow. He spent the weekend in SLC with is brother, Tom. Remember how brilliant i was a few months back when I flew Tom out here for Reid's b-day so they could golf it up? well, it rained that weekend, so this weekend has been their rain-date. And Reid's had the time of his life. The guy deserved it, too. He's been working so much lately, yet he always finds ways to be home by 6pm to have dinner with us--cause he knows how much that means to me. And as soon as he's home he plays with the girls, and lets me get to the gym or to the store. This usually means him staying up late or getting up way early to finish a project. He's been doing this lots lately, so i'm really glad he'd planned this trip back when he did. He needed this break, and judging by the 7 giddy phone calls i got today, he had a great time! he even golfed 2 over on the first 9 holes! (they played 36 today!)

So, to make sure that today didn't feel too long (somehow weekends without him are SOOOO much longer than weekdays!!) we went to the pool this morning. Eliza hated every minute of it, but the girls had a great time. I was just proud of myself for braving a pool with three little ones. Now that i've done it once, it doesn't seem quite so daunting... I'm really enjoying our summer together. We're keeping just busy enough with little activities, play dates, and each other. I've got awesome kids, and i'm really liking hanging out with them. And I love my husband and really like hanging out with him, too.