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My Favorite Weekend of the Year

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Memorial Day has always been my favorite holiday weekend of the year!  May is my absolute favorite month of the year so the long weekend in itself coupled with the warm weather and the unofficial start of summer, gets me excited regardless of what else is or is not planned for the rest of the weekend.  Add in Viva Vienna and Memorial Day Weekend Barbecues and I love everything about this weekend.
 
This Memorial Day Weekend the girls got to experience Viva Vienna twice.  Saturday afternoon Avery and Emerson got to go with my parents. Sunday afternoon, the whole family including Karolin went for a few hours.  The weather was perfect…not too hot, not too cold.  
 
Harper watched the girls on the first few rides and you could just tell she was itching to experience some of the rides herself.  After the girls rode a few, Justin took Harper on the chocho train, which was the first ride Avery and Emerson rode at Viva Vienna two years ago.  
I think she enjoyed getting to go on a ride herself. Avery and Emerson enjoyed watching their sister experience her first ride!
 
Harper got to go on a second ride…the carousel! She absolutely LOVED every minute and did not want to get off when the ride ended.
(Ignore the grumpy old lady in the background….I swear I was having a good time!)
 
Emerson was braver than Avery and tried several additional rides that Avery refused….the same rides that Avery had either gone on the previous day and disliked or had chosen not to go on the previous day as well.  That gave Emerson a chance to go on one ride solo and one ride with Daddy.  Look at this big girl!
Both girls really enjoyed the motorcycles and went on those a few times each.
We walked around and had ice cream for lunch!
Although as we were eating our ice cream, Emerson asked me what was for lunch.  When I told her ice cream, even though she enjoyed her ice cream, she didn’t seem to be satisfied with my answer. 
When we got  home from Viva Vienna, Harper threw up all over the kitchen floor.  This was actually the second time she had thrown up in two days. Not to mention she did have diarrhea twice earlier in the day, but I really didn’t think too much of it because she was acting her normal silly self including eating and drinking normally. It wasn’t until Monday morning that Harper woke up drenched in diarrhea (I know it was gross) that her spirit was gone and it was apparent that she didn’t feel well.  She didn’t eat all day and for the most part just wanted to cuddle and be held.  
When she did stand on her own for a few, it was usually only minutes or seconds later that she would crawl up and find a spot on the ground wherever she was to lay down and rest.She was so pitiful but it was so ridiculously precious at the same time. And just in case you are wondering, it took a few days but she is now back to her normal self.

Sunday Funday

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This past Sunday was truly a Sunday Funday.  Our morning started out rising early to go to our 4th Annual Foundation Fighting Blindness Vision Walk.  Emerson was actually the first to get up telling us that she wanted to get up early so we weren’t late to the Vision Walk.  While we woke early, it certainly wasn’t the crack of dawn.  I think it was about 7:15 and we still got out of the house fairly easily by 8:40…..granted we didn’t eat breakfast at home as we knew they would have cereal bars and fruit that the girls would eat at the event, but even so getting out of the house is becoming easier and easier.   We took both strollers although Emerson walked probably about 2/3 of the 3 mile walk mostly with Papa as her buddy.  We were so proud of her.  Avery would get out for seconds at a time only to get back in moments later.  Harper wanted to get out at times but we wouldn’t let her.  The weather was gorgeous and it really was a good energetic start to the day. On the way home, all girls soundly slept in the car seats for close to an hour.

Later that afternoon we went to Meadowlark.  Normally when I go to Meadowlark, I want to walk as much as I can but since we already had done quite a bit of walking already, I was a little more content to just enjoy stopping and doing whatever the girls wanted to stop and investigate.  Meadowlark was packed…I have never seen so many people there at once….we even had to park on the over flow parking area.  Anyway, the girls had a great time exploring and running around.

I tried to get their picture on “the bench” that Justin and I took our first pictures on as a married couple.

Here are some of my favorite pics from the afternoon.

While they enjoyed Meadowlark, they really wanted to go to a park that had swings so after Meadowlark we stopped at the local park by Trap road.  Justin and I were trying to recall if we had been there since having Harper and neither of us thought so.  It was really fun to see Harper climbing and going down the slides.  Every time she turned a corner, she would say to whoever was there…hello…it was super adorable. The girls had a great time and it warms my heart when they are having so much fun.

One highlight of the day was that I didn’t cook all day!  And we didn’t eat a single meal at our kitchen table.  We spend a lot of time prepping meals and cleaning up our kitchen and while I do enjoy cooking, every once in a while it is awesome to see just how much additional time can be spent doing other things doing the day when no cooking or eating occurs in our kitchen.  Breakfast and lunch were at the Vision Walk.  And we picked up some Chinese Food earlier in the day when we were out and we ate in the backyard on paper plates for dinner. Seriously not having to sweep the floor even once Sunday was pretty darn awesome.

The Sweetest Sounds

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8:20 Sunday morning – Justin and I turned to our alarm clocks to see the time and were pretty elated to find that the household was still sleeping.  Moments later we could hear Avery and Emerson open their bedroom door and come out but much to our surprise, they didn’t come in our room.  They played together in their bedroom and their bathroom instead of waking us up.  We heard their sweet voices playing and it was literally the sweetest sound!

Recurring – Harper is attempting to say more words and some words she does say pretty clearly.  She probably is somewhat still behind in her spoken language but her receptive language is above and beyond. She nods her head VERY slowly for a yes usually and she is finally starting to say no.  I need to video her no because just like her slow yes nod, her “no” is quite slow, drawn out, and so soft spoken.   I’m sure in time her spoken “no” won’t be so sweet, but for now it too is literally one of the sweetest sounds.

Glen Echo Park

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In Spring 2010 just as Justin and I were starting to think about starting a family, we randomly went to Glen Echo Park one weekend afternoon.  We walked around and explored the old train and the art galleries and both us couldn’t help but think that this would be a great place to come with our future kids one day. Fast forward exactly five years and three kids later, and we went back to Glen Echo for a second time, the first time since having kids….kind of funny that we had three kids by the time we went back, but that’s us:).  We had high expectations that it would be a fun event for our family as we both recalled how we felt five years ago.

While Justin and I both enjoyed the hour plus we were at the park as we love being outside with the kids, we both couldn’t help but feel an overall sense of disappointment.  The park was an amusement park starting in the early 1900’s so it still has the old amusement park look.  Today the park has art studios, dance classes, a small playground, a restored carousel, and other visual arts and performing arts classes.  But unless you go on a family day or another time where there is a big event, there truly isn’t a whole lot to do unless you plan for one of the classes in advances.  They did have a puppet show while we were there but it was recommended for kids ages five and over.  Anyway, we tried to get a few pics of the ladies together…these were the results…

They had lots of picnic tables so we had our little picnic….Harper loved her hot dog with ketchup….

Emerson was a little moody at times while we there….she really wanted a cupcake and Mommy and Daddy said no…

Avery only ate chips and clementines and was a happy camper….

After lunch, the girls were eager to play on the playground.  It was actually a weak playground in comparison to many of the playgrounds that we have closer to home; however, the girls enjoyed it (especially the swings) as you can see from these happy faces.

Easter 2015

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The Easter Bunny came through the open dining room window and left these baskets for the girls.  We assumed the peeps were left for Daddy:)Avery couldn’t wait to test out her new jump rope!After Church we tried to get a few pictures.  Harper did not want to partake and hung out with me on the sidelines at first.Emerson and Avery unprompted!Mommy and all her girls!Daddy and his girls!Waiting patiently to find Easter Eggs!And the hunt is on….they are off!Harper for the most part took turns being held by me and Justin.  Emerson made sure that Harper got her fair share of Easter Eggs even though she didn’t want to hunt for them:)Time to enjoy the jelly beans!Emerson made sure that Harper knew to only eat one at a time!Later in the day it was bike time in the cul-de-sac!Followed by a second Easter Egg Hunt of the day!Lots and lots of laughter present through out the entire day!

Ordinarily Extraordinary

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Again the past few months, I haven’t had many specific events that I felt warranted a blog. Believe me we have been doing things on weekends. We’ve had 6 kids birthday parties in less than 2 months which have all been so different and a lot of fun!  Luckily they have all been different weekends or days of the weekend so we have managed to go to all.  Between the birthday parties, our normal weekend errands (grocery store, laundry, cooking meals ahead for the week, etc.), there hasn’t been much time for other big events….other than buying a Honda Odyssey one Sunday last month!  We knew the Odyssey was in our family’s future; however, we held out for a really long time….and every month we held out was one less car payment.  Truthfully we probably could have even held out a few additional months; however, the Honda had two separate incidents (dead battery, and some other issue that caused the car to not steer) in the course of one week and it left us sharing one car between three drivers.  While we got the Honda fixed both times, I think that really sped up our car buying process.  We even took the girls with us and they were very well behaved. Now that we have the minivan, it’s proving to be really great.  Karolin now has a car every day of the week and now that it is getting warm, it’s nice that they have the ability to go places if they want.  This past week is Spring Break.  Karolin’s sister Louisa is here visiting from Germany and they have been having a great time taking the girls places.  Friday after school they picked the girls up, took them to the dentist (which the girls love) and then out for lunch at Wendy’s.  Avery and Emerson both told me the play by play of what the dentist told them quite accurately!  Monday and Wednesday they all went to Great Falls Park since the pass was good for three days, they went back a second time on Wednesday! Tuesday they all went to Udvar Hazy where they had story time and learned about astronauts and spaceships and had a fun time viewing all the airplanes. Thursday they went to Clemyjontri Park and Friday (tomorrow) they will go to a kid’s concert at Jammin Java and then out to lunch before going to my mom’s  (Grandma’s) house for the afternoon.

Back to our activities the past few months though, weekends have also included going to the gym regularly, which all three the girls now thoroughly enjoy.  The first two months Harper just cried or stayed in the same spot while she was at the gym.  Now she can’t get her jacket off and walk away from us fast enough when we get there.  Perhaps it’s the fact that our activities are becoming more routine and easier (in a good way) that the weekend events haven’t seemed like significant events. Perhaps it is because we haven’t taken many pictures the last few months to document the events.  Life has been good though…busy as always, but good, real good!  Avery and Emerson are really starting to show some more independence like getting dressed themselves, going to the bathroom themselves, putting their own jacket and shoes on, taking their plates to the sink, and even sometimes helping themselves to their own snacks.  They don’t always do these things on their own, but the CAN now, which as Emerson would say is “wonderful”.

In other events, we started the au pair search again in February.  It’s hard to believe that Karolin only have a few more months here.  We would never have chosen Karolin in our initial search as we were only looking at Brazilian au pairs at the time, we are so fortunate to have found her.  She is part of our family and the girls adore and respect her. The au pair experience has been wonderful for our family and we are cherishing these last few months with her as she will be missed.  As a working mom, it’s hard to leave your kids each day but I have always been able to do it because I know that my girls are with someone that truly loves and enjoys being with them….Karolin now and Ana and Ari before Karolin.  In just over two months, Ludmila will be joining our family!  We are quite excited and while we know the girls will need a little time to adjust, they have already started welcoming her to our family.  Today is Ludmila’s birthday so the girls and I skyped with her for a little bit and we sang Happy Birthday to her a few times!  They were even “fighting” over having their own turn.  And tonight we are going to celebrate Ludmila’s birthday with cake and ice cream!

So life is becoming ordinary…ordinarily extraordinary!  Life is great…I love my life and my family!  Every night (well most) Justin and I and the older girls say what they are thankful for…occasionally they say they have nothing that they are thankful about that day, but most days they have a range of things that they are thankful for (their family – often naming individuals by name including both immediate and extended family), their dinner, school, ballet, vacation, going outside for the day, or whatever they did that day, and often circling back again with FAMILY.

Little Miss Independence (X a few)

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Absolute An0nymity
The girls are constantly making me smile.  Avery and Emerson are becoming so independent…at least when they want to be.  Emerson now gets dressed by herself most the time.  She continually says “I’m a big girl”….she also says those same words when it comes to provide her rationale as to why she doesn’t need to nap anymore.  She likes to race Avery sometimes especially when it comes to getting dressed or putting on pajamas.  She happily exclaims “I am the winnest.”  Avery uses that same phrase when she is the “winnest” too! 

We finally took the plunge and bought the Honda Odessey last weekend.  Justin and I brought all three the girls to the dealership.  We joked that the salesman would scatter when they saw us walk in.  Overall the girls were pretty well behaved.  I did end up caving into the girls request and buying the older girls Skittles from the vending machine that they shared and I somehow managed to make last several hours. We visited the bathroom a few times while we were at the dealership.  The first time we went Justin was taking a test drive so I had to take all three of them.  While I wasn’t looking forward to the experience, it actually went fine.  After the second time in the bathroom, Avery and Emerson insisted on going on their own.  They wanted me to even lock the bathroom stall for them.  I peaked in as they were each using a different stall at the same time….which is glory in itself as that already cuts the time in public restrooms in half!  Anyway, all on her own, Emerson managed to cover every part of the potty seat!  This SO fits her personality!

Avery covered the sides of the potty seat but was so vigorous jumping on the potty that she knocked the toilet paper off when she sat on the potty, not even realizing it and holding herself up by holding until the bare potty seat.  But at least she used her foot to flush the potty!  This SO fits her personality!

Avery can be just as independent but she doesn’t thrive on it like Emerson does.  Emerson loves to be the helper and the little Mommy to Harper as well.  Emerson is constantly saying “I can do it, I can do it” and constantly trying to hold, hug, and guide Harper.  It melts my heart.  Avery on the other hand (also adores Harper) but she loves to play the role of the baby.  She constantly says “I’m baby Harper” or “I’m baby Quinn”.  Avery knows how to dress herself but often demands she be dressed by somebody.  The same goes for going potty at home.  She is quite capable of wiping her pee pee but she claims that “I am the best tucas wiper”.   Avery is sugar and spice…she’ll wine and demand and then turn to me as she frequently does and say “You are the best Mommy” or “Mommy, I love you so much.”

Harper meanwhile thinks that she is just as old as Avery and Emerson and wants to and attempts to do much of the same things that Avery and Emerson are doing. She thinks she is funny (okay, she isJ) and her feelings get hurt easily when she isn’t able to participate in the same things as her older sisters.

Justin went out tonight for some much needed guy time shortly before the girl’s bedtime.  The three girls and I were all playing this random game I made up having to do with “eeiniemeeniemineymo” that also involved jumping jacks.  It was a blast…we were taking turns, laughing, and truly enjoying the company of one another.  These three little ladies who are becoming more and more independent and it is so wonderful and amazing!

Cold Winter Days

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It’s been a COLD winter!  We’ve been keeping busy running around doing errands, attending birthday parties, and even going to the gym on weekends as a family.  We have had a few snowfalls this season as well although nothing too major that has resulted in more than one day of school being cancelled at a time. They have been having fun playing indoors…

and playing outdoors in the snow….

It’s the end of February and we are more than ready for some warm weather!!

 

Avery’s Transition to Glasses

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Since September’s Avery’s eyes have been irritated more frequently than in the past and truthfully too often.  Her eyes (usually the right and left at different times) would get irritated to the point that she would squint her eyes so much that they were barely open.  We would usually end up taking the contact out and treating her irritated eye with Vigamox for three days as it often would stay red for an extended period if we didn’t do the Vigamox treatment.  Meanwhile she would be without a contact (sometimes even two) for days at a time.  This was problematic especially on days where she had pre-school or ballet.   We were also finding that her eyes would often become irritated again within days after clearing up.  While Avery does navigate fairly well even without her contacts in known spaces, she is for the most part navigating with her other senses.  After visiting with Dr. Sideman and Dr. Ellis a few times, we came to the conclusion that the chronic irritation and redness may be a result of the contacts themselves.  We tried a fresh pair but the irritation still continued even with the new pair. That left the doctors and us to realize the best course of action was to switch Avery from contacts to glasses as the irritation was likely being caused by a new intolerance to the contact lenses. 

The process for prescription glasses has been a long one so far.  Avery’s prescription is so strong (+19 in glasses) that some options that would have been available for standard prescriptions were not available to Avery.  Since Avery is extremely light sensitive, we needed Rx sunglasses in addition to regular glasses.  We were originally going to have Avery get transition lenses so that she would only require one pair of glasses; however, transition lenses aren’t available for her prescription.  Thus we had to get two pairs of glasses….one for indoors and one for outdoors.  We ordered Avery’s glasses two days before Christmas and to date received her Rx sunglasses one week ago, yet we still haven’t received her regular glasses. The process has been long – Avery’s strong prescription made the ordering processes including the options and the timing complex and long.  For the past week Avery has been wearing her sunglasses all the time (even indoors) and she seems to be adjusting quite well.  Her regular glasses are supposed to be ready by tomorrow (although we heard the same thing last week) and while I think it is going to take some initial adjustment as she has not been exposed to light without sunglasses for a few weeks straight, I’m hopeful that she is going to adjust well to her regular glasses.  We ended up including a slight tint in her regular glasses so hopefully that will help with Avery’s light sensitivity some.  Since Avery has been keeping her sunglasses on all the time (with the exception of sleeping and bathing), myself, Justin, or Karolin have been around to take her glasses for safekeeping.  She knows she can see better with her glasses so I think she will take decent care of her glasses; however, she is only three and I am concerned with her accidently misplacing or being too rough with the glasses mostly when she switches from her regular glasses to sunglasses (i.e. when they go outside at school).  Her teachers have been great and I’m sure they will try to keep a close eye on her; however, there are two teachers for 12 students, so there is only so much they can do. Speaking of Avery’s teachers (Ms. Kristen and Ms. Denise), they are wonderful.  They have made some simple yet very helpful accommodations for Avery in coordination with her vision and occupational therapist (i.e. marking her coat and school bag spot with an blue “X”, providing her a copy of the book read during circle time for her to personally look at).  Both Avery and Emerson love Ms. Kristen and Ms. Denise (and even Ms. Marnie).  They love to play make believe at home and will often appoint themselves or someone else to be Ms. Kristen or Ms. Denise.  We couldn’t be happier with VPC Pre-school.  Anyway, back to Avery and her Rx sunglasses.  Here she is!

Emerson Loves Harper

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Emerson truly adores Harper…always watching out for her.  She is like her little Mommy at times and always wants her to be a part ot things.  Harper is slowly learning that tight squeezes aren’t always meant to be death holds and that tight squeezes and hugs are just one of her sister’s way of loving her.