In which I write about Doughnuts and Tires

Our friends Lucy and Peter had a joint birthday party over the weekend.  It was a pajama party at 9:30 Saturday morning.

There was something for everyone.  Case in point - the Salad thought it was hysterical that we didn't have to change out of our bedtime clothes.  And the party was outside!

For R, there were doughnuts in lieu of cake.

For me, there was bacon.

After the bacon thing, I don't feel the need to say more, except that I will.  Say more, that is.

We popped balloons, played games, and invaded Lucy and Peter's house.  And if all this weren't enough to make a great day, we had to get new tires on the van.  M could have stood at that garage all day watching the mechanic work.  But we opted to hike up a dangerous stretch of Baltimore Pike to check out a few things at Home Depot.  I wondered briefly if the people in the cars that we were dragging our Salad in front of when the lights changed, thought something along these lines, "Dude, if you didn't have so many kids, maybe you could afford a car."

I scream you scream, we all scream for . . .

Last week was busy for us - swim lessons each day, play dates and lots of pool time.  So when the only thing on our Friday schedule was speech therapy for S, we had a low key morning, snacking and staying in jammies until 10:30, topped off with a fun preschool lesson about the 5 senses.

After S's session, we headed to Dairy Queen for our afternoon snack.  There has been much talk of ice cream intake this week among our friends and family, and it hasn't gone unnoticed by the Salad.  I'm not much of an ice cream fan, but as I zoomed down the frozen food aisle with the Salad on Sunday, this caught my eye.  The rich color, the creamy texture, the words "blood orange" and the clean packaging.  It called to me.  I did the right thing.  I bought it.  And it's been taunting them all week.  Thankfully, the less glamorous, but equally delicious soft serve from DQ satisfied their 4 year old taste buds.  I also used it as part of our 5 senses lesson.  You know, to help justify ice cream instead of blueberries for a healthy afternoon snack. 

After our treat, we headed over to Grammy and Poppy's house to check out the robin's nest we've been watching for the last 8 days.  4 beautiful eggs had hatched this morning and 4 tiny birdies poked their heads up at us.  I cannot begin to express our excitement.  Most of the excitement might be mine.  During a search in the yard for the broken blue eggs, we stumbled upon yet another nest, with 5 eggs this time!  Quints in the making.  What an incredible learning experience we are having. 

We stopped and got a new kick board for M.  His old one that S bought him last summer seems to have vanished into the black hole that is our garage.  I let them each get a new inner tube also, as their old ones are too small to lounge on.  We got back in the car and had this conversation:

S: "Mommy, thanks for all this great stuff today.  Our ice cream and the birds and the tubes."
Me: "You're welcome.  Let's be sure to thank daddy too."
S: "OK, was this great day Daddy's idea?"
Me: "No baby doll, but Daddy works hard so we can do this fun stuff."
S: "Oh.  Well, I'll thank him too.  Should we get him ice cream?"

Never fear, sweetheart, so long as I don't polish off the blood orange sorbet before he gets home, I'll share mine.   

What we did 9 days ago.

We spent Father's Day with the 2 best dads on earth - R and my dad.

We spent Father's Day at the Zoo, brushing a pygmy goat's beard.  Strange, but true.

We spent Father's Day trying to get many ducklings to follow us.  I feel your pain, Salad. 

We also spent it seriously enjoying corn dogs. I mean, serious enjoyment.

Like Fish in Water

The Salad started swim lessons Monday. There was no fear as they ran from me straight into the arms of the instructors. I watched from across the pool as they listened attentively, spoke respectfully, and were the first to volunteer for anything the instructors asked. As happens so often these days, I wondered where my babies have gone. Of course, if someone gets a boo-boo, or has to pee in the night I get called, but for the most part, gone are the days of babies and toddlers. Though, I've said before, I have never wished those early days back.
But these days. How I love these days, before I send my Salad out into the big, wide world in September. Savoring their sweetness. Protecting their innocence. Shielding them for a while longer. Wanting to fill each second with fun. Hoping against hope that they will remember any of it. Realizing they won't recall specifics, but if in 10 years or 20 years they remember feeling happy, I've done my job well.

"And if we ever leave a legacy,
It's that we loved each other well."
-Indigo Girls

I think

M is an athlete.

Or maybe not.

Splat

Ms. Amy hosted yet another awesome Messy Art Monday this week. We arrived to find 2 clothes baskets full of water balloons. The catch was some of the balloons were filled with paint. She had given us a forewarning, the paint may or may not come off of skin.

Rules were simple:
1. No throwing at faces.
2. No eating the balloons.

The Salad had fun, although A would occasionally forget that the purpose was to throw balloons at each other. She came to me at least twice claiming, "X hit my leg with a balloon!", taking it as a personal offense, rather than the game it was meant to be.
At one point, the Salad and 2 additional children were heaving balloons at my feet, a crazy glint in their eyes, no doubt feeling the cathartic effect that pegging a mother with paint and water was affording them.

Who's looking at Who?

Our triplet group's 4th annual zoo trip was Sunday. We chose a very small, local zoo so that we could stay together as a group. I mean small. Maybe 40 animals. Maybe more if you count those animals' mates. But not many more. The redeeming factor of the Zoo is the playground. Here are the stats:

8 sets of parents = 16
8 sets of triplets = 24
older siblings = 2
twin* younger siblings of 1 set of triplets = 2

*Were you paying attention there? That's 4 year old triplets and 3 year old twins. In one blessed family. They are the 5 missing children in the picture.
That's 44 humans. More humans than animals. We were the most extraordinary exhibit there.

The Catch-all Post

Several weeks ago, playgroup hit Linvilla Orchards playground. About 5 of them spent more time looking for caterpillars than sliding or climbing. I emptied one of our lunch containers and they set up a "nice little house" for the bugs. Unfortunately for the caterpillars, I think we loved them right to death. We went to a parade on Memorial Day. It was hot. R and I took shelter in the shade while they Salad sat on a curb, waiting for the parade to come by. Eventually, it got too hot for M and S, and they joined us in the shade. But not A. She sat in the hot sun the entire parade, waving her little flag. It was so patriotic of her. I felt proud.

We've been doing some work in our backyard lately. R and M found a frog one morning. The Salad all held it, though A would only hold it if it was in a bowl. She's kinda like me that way. Sophia is not.
We went to see R play soccer last Thursday. I brought popsicles to encourage sitting and actually watching him play. S is a natural cheerleader, chanting "Go Daddy, go Daddy, go Daddy! Yeah! He kicked it! Great job, Daddy!" Of course, between the bugs, the soccer ball we brought along to play with and an ancient swing set, we missed the 3 times Daddy did score.

I spent a good 30 minutes refilling things today. I refilled 3 hand soap dispensers, 1 coffee machine, 1 toilet paper dispenser, the paper towel holder, 1 reusable bottle of SHOUT, 1 butter dish, 1 baby pool, 3 water guns and 9 drinks.

A has been digging the pirate life lately. There is much shouting "Yo ho, let's go!" and searching for "gold doubloons." On Saturday, I came out back to find her helping R in the yard. Digging holes in full pirate regalia, banada and boots.
M wished on a dandelion the other day, "for all my friends to be with me always." When I asked which friends he was talking about, he looked at me like I was crazy for not knowing that he meant his "sisters."

friends for always

That's a Bunch of Berries

It was the 3rd of June before we had beautiful weather here in the northeast. It rained the first 3 weeks of May and was blazing hot during its last week. But on Friday, the cool sunshine was too perfect to pass up, so the Salad and I headed out to Linvilla Orchards. The strawberries were ripe for picking. So, pick we did. 10 pounds of red, ripe berries. Once again, I was reminded of how enjoyable age 4 is. They were such a capable crew of laborers. And cheap, too, paid only in berries. But what in tarnation did we do with so many berries? Gave 2 pounds to Grammy and Poppy. Gave 1 pound to Meglet for a house warming present. And the rest?

We may or may not have eaten those 7 pounds on our drive home.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

We have a lovely house. However, as the Salad grows bigger, our home seems smaller. So I want to utilize every bit of available space we have for play, without cluttering up our living areas. We keep hula hoops under our couch. We have a chalkboard on our laundry room wall. Our coffee table is now a train table. We have magnetic boards on both side of our kitchen island for our letters and numbers. There needs to be a place for every thing and every thing need to be in its place.

Recently, A and S have become interested in makeup, jewelry, hair accessories and all things ladylike. They brush and brush and brush their hair, then clamp in 17 barrettes, and top it off with a huge bow or headband. They often wear 3 necklaces and 4 bracelets. I saw A wearing a homemade beaded anklet the other day. The problem is, we don't have a designated space for feminine accoutrement, so we have Tupperware of jewelry and our "makeup" aka chap stick, perfume and hand cream strewn about our kitchen.

Usually, after they doll themselves up, they ask me for a lift so they can see themselves in the bathroom mirror. The other day, as A asked me to pick her up so she could apply chap stick, I had an epiphany. They need a mirror in their bedroom! And a space for jewelry! I set to work picking out a spot in their room where a mirror could fit horizontally, so all 3 could sit in front of it. Then I cleared off the floor in half of their closet to put their jewelry boxes and hair accessories on the floor for easy access. Voila! New play space! Within minutes, the girls had M seated in the "hairdresser's chair" and were spritzing his head with detangler. He was being such a good sport, that when they came to me asking for eye shadow, I had to give them some. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but trust me when I tell you, M wears his eye makeup like a man.

Good Mom / Bad Mom

Around 4:00 on Thursday, I realized I needed a few things for dinner. It's not the best time of day for us. We are tired from our morning activities, getting anxious for daddy to come home, a little hungry. Not every day, but most days. Nonetheless, I needed to go to the supermarket. I did the "good mom" and told them what kind of behavior I expected. Then, to cover my bases, I did the "bad mom" and bribed them with gum balls, if they exceeded my expectations.

Ahem.

We hit the deli counter first. The guy behind there doled out free slices of cheese to the Salad. They were thrilled.

We quickly gathered up the few things I needed and stopped by the bakery to look through the book of the cakes you can order. The guy behind there came out with a free cookie for each. Seriously, is it Christmas? their looks seemed to say.

We headed to the checkout counter where the girl handed each child a sticker. Cloud nine, I tell ya.

I couldn't deny it, they were excellent. Of course, they didn't have time to misbehave, they were too busy eating. But a promise is a promise.

Gumballs for everybody!