I Super Like That

A few weeks ago I signed my girls up for a little ballet class taught by a YW in the Plymouth Ward.  We have spent so much time at home, I really wanted to do something fun for the girls.  The week leading up to their class I really played it up, like "hey, we're not doing anything fun today or tomorrow - but just you wait for next week!" kinda thing.  Well the morning of the class rolled around.  I was sooo tired from a rough baby night.  I got all the girls ready, baby fed, me showered, and all in the car by 8:45am!  I was feeling great about myself as we hit the road.  I realized that it was my first outing with all 4 girls BY MYSELF!  Well I pulled into the driveway of the class and didn't see any cars.  I decided to go knock on the door before unloading the girls.  No one answered.  I called the number on the flier.  No one answered.  I looked up another phone number in LDStools (what I like to call L-D-Stools, heehee).  Finally I got a hold of the mom.  I told her I was in her driveway waiting for ballet.  She said "oh my goodness, I am sooo sorry!  We went out of town last minute.  I thought we contacted everyone."  Well there were only 5 people signed up for the class and 3 of them were mine.  So no, they didn't try to contact everyone.  Against my willpower I started crying on the phone with her.  I really don't cry a lot - but I hate when the flood gates open around witnesses.  I could tell she felt bad, her daughter made an honest mistake.  I don't think it was about them at all.  I think it was all the stress of being alone with the girls, wanting to do something fun for them, getting out of the door on time, my first time alone with the girls, all the days I promised them something fun, the lack of sleep, and the girls in the back seat of the car yelling "I want to get out!"  "I want to go to ballet class!"  I was just emotional.  I tried to not show the girls I was crying.  I took a deep breath and racked my brain how I could turn this moment around.  I called Whitney, hoping she could teach an impromptu dance class.  I asked her if she was in town.  She said she was in North Carolina with her family.  The flood gates opened back up.  She was so concerned.  Poor Whitney.  She tried to help me and even suggested that I talk to Sara about my emotional health (since she's a professional).  I don't have PPD - just normal life stresses.  But later in the week I found out that Whitney had called Sara and Emily and told them to take care of me while she was gone.  How sweet!

After my phone call with Whitney I realized I wanted to save the day if I could.  So I decided to take them to McDonalds at 10am!  The girls were amazing!  The other kids there were nice too.  We stayed for two hours!  I had to pack up everything (food, shoes, burp clothes, etc) and take the whole gang to the bathroom - TWICE!  But it ended up being a ton of fun!

Nursing everywhere!

The next week the ballet lady offered to teach my girls for free.  The twirls wanted to hang out with me most of the class.  Scarlett did ok for a few minutes but then she started crying.  I finally got her to tell me what was wrong.  She was upset that she "messed up in the ballet dance."  Poor girl!  She's been so scared of making mistakes lately.  She cried in her Sunday School class cause she forgot to raise her hand.  She cried at IKEA cause they told her to not crawl on the rocks.  My cousin, Jenn, suggested I buy the book The Girl Who Never Made Mistakes.  It's super cute and really helpful.  We are working on driving home the idea that we all make mistakes but that it part of learning and growing.  

Jake saw Scarlett get some leashes then yell to her sisters "I got the equipment!"  He went downstairs to see what she was doing.  She built a zip line for her and her sisters:

Jaidey Lady riding a tiny dirt bike!  Jaide gets really cranky when she's tired.  She loves slow tickles on her back - watch what happens when I stop rubbing her back (look at 30 seconds). haha!

The twirls love to use the word "super" - they use it all the time.  Like: "I super big girl."  "I super like that."  "I have super strong muscles."  "I super tall."  "It's super gone."  "I super can't find it."  "It's super yellow - for me!" [Siena]  "This is super delicious!" [Jaide]

Not only do they like the using the word "super" but they also like to be superheros!  They will play superheros fighting "bad guys" (they take turns being a bad guy) and they put each other in time out!  They also like to help with Skye.  When Skye was crying one day Siena rubbed the top of her head and said "Super 'Nena make baby Skye happy!"  Another day when Skye was crying the twirls picked up the baby monitor and yelled "I come rescue you Baby Skye!"  Luckily it's only a one-way monitor!

Siena came up to me and said "Super 'Nena Nena Nena Nena Nena Nena Nena" with her voice fading out like a microphone echo.  hahahahaha!!!!!  Not sure where she picked that up!  They also like to do feats of strength:

All that superheroing is exhausting!

Aunt Jami found these gorgeous little costumes.  Scarlett put some on a baby doll and said "My baby is wearing butterfly wings cause she was a caterpillar but just got out of her chrysalis."

Scarlett looked down at her freckles and said "I'm getting camouflaged!"

One day Scarlett told me "I don't want to get married (Why?) Cause boys are stinky."  Then a few days later I saw her chasing our neighbors Jayden and Karden on their way home "Wait!  I want to give you a kiss!"  haha!  I had to explain that we only kiss our family members.

Scarlett fell asleep in the hallway.  The next photo shows how Scarlett did her very own ponytail.  The last photo is an old tissue Jake found in Scarlett's scripture bag.  He tried to throw it away but Scarlett started crying "nooo!  It's special to me cause Aunt Jami gave it to me."

I saw Scarlett hang this toy on the front door.  She told me "If someone comes down in the middle of the night and their legs stop working, they can just push this button for help."  I can't believe we've never thought to have a button for that!

Often the girls will ask something and I'll say "how do you ask nicely." So they say "Puh-leeeese." Then I reply "Say the whole sentence." Which means to say "Please can I have ___." But a few times I've told the twirls "Say the whole sentence." And they say "Sentence!" haha!!!

Little ghosts!

Scarlett told me "A baby is a lot more work than I expected."  haha!  Somehow it felt validating for me that she thought that.

Jake and I mix up the twirls occasionally (more often then I'd like to admit.)  Which is why I love that they enjoy our color coding - it makes all our lives easier.  But in the shower there's no green or yellow to help determine who they are.  That's where I mix them up the most.  Until I really look at them it's hard to know who I'm dealing with.  One day I even heard Scarlett ask a twirl "Are you Siena or Jaide?"  hahaha!  #IdenticalTwinProblems

These girls love to wear their "Name colors!"  And they like to point out everything they see that is yellow/green/red/blue.  They also like to claim anything that is "their" color.  If a toy is yellow Siena has first dibs, same with Jaide and green.  And they all seem to be okay with it.  I think we push the color thing pretty hard, but it seems to be working out - at least for now.  And I know that our friends appreciate knowing who is who as well.  In this picture Siena reminds me of The Man in the Yellow Hat from Curious George.

I heard noise upstairs so I looked on the monitor and saw Scarlett checking on her sisters.  So cute!  The best part?  She was wearing her puppy ears!  She even wore them when she climbed into bed!

One day Jaide started banging on the wall and making weird sounds, Siena looked up at me and shrugged her hands and shook her head like "Huh? I don't know what she is doing!?"  haha!

Hanging out with my girls.

While my mom was here she helped the twirls use the potty.  They've been excited about it for several months but needed someone to give them constant attention.  In the morning the twirls tell me "I have a soggy bum!"  They hate wearing wet diapers!  We had lots of potty accidents until I decided to switch them to pull ups.  They are pretty good at using the toilet and the pull ups catch the occasional accident (like forgetting, not getting there fast enough, falling asleep, being in the car, nervous at a friend's house, etc).  I think we'll use them for the summer to help them get lots of practice.

When they need to pee they'll say "'Nena/Jase go potty seat." (Siena says 'Nena and Jaide says Jase for their own names).  In order to motivate them to use the potty I bought wrapped candies.  I bought some small and some large.  I put them in two boxes.  Poo poo treats and pee pee treats.  It's a big deal in our house.  Even for Scarlett!  She keeps track too "Mom, I went potty 3 times upstairs so I get 3 pee pee treats."  Their favorite parts is that some of the treats change their tongues different colors.

One day Jaide yelled from the bathroom "I'm pooping antennas!"  haha!  Apparently her fecal matter took on a unique shape.

Another day Jaide was on the potty and started screaming.  I was nursing Skye, so I hurried and put her down and ran into the bathroom thinking that maybe Jaide had fallen in the potty or something.  When I got in there I saw her sitting on the potty seat squished on one side leaning away from a spider hanging from the ceiling!  Poor girl!!!  That morning she kept looking around herself saying "no spiders?!"

Water fun!

Our whole family went to Noah and Zander's first birthday party at a splash pad.  So fun!  Sara is really into birthdays - just like me!  It was a fabulous party!!!

The twirls get nervous being in the splash pad, so they were just watching from the sidelines.  The next thing I knew I looked over and saw Jake standing in the middle of the water hanging out just so that they would be comfortable to go in and play.  He's so awesome!  Love that boy!