lots of glitter = lots of love

the vision

the process

the reality

I am too wimpy to embark on activities involving glitter, glue, and four children by myself these days, so I enlisted the help of my good friend and lifesaver, Bev.

If you want to make your own singing heart valentines, just cut up a few cereal boxes and some sheet music, then water down some glue and decopage the music to the cardboard. Decorate with hearts of whatever materials you have on hand. We used cut-outs from felt and construction paper, and some cute wooden heart beads that I found at an epic yard sale last summer. Glam it up with glitter or other sparklies (I think I preferred the plain style, but our audience was 4, 3, and 2 year old girls, so glitter was required). Write "You make my heart sing", or "You put a song in my heart", or whatever other cheesy sentimental musical phrase you can come up with on them. The writing will stand out more if you use a colored gel pen, but I didn't have one :).

The girls actually did turn out some pretty cute ones (and Bev and I managed to make a few without toddler assistance), but aesthetics tend to fly out the window when you break out the glitter. This age group does not understand the "less is more" concept. Just remember:

lots of glitter = lots of love.

True or False?

Boys love getting kisses from their sisters.

I'm gonna say false.

ye olde facebook statuses

After days of relentless begging, I finally made the time to sit down and have a tea party with the girls yesterday. Did this satiate their thirst for tea parties? By no means! They are back at it with a vengeance.

I love that Ingrid has to bark at every dog she sees when we're out and about.

I choose going to Walmart the day before Thanksgiving with 3 toddlers in tow and a full-term baby in utero as my form of purgatory for the day. Light a candle for me.

If I had a dollar for every stranger who's told me they're sure I'm having a boy throughout all 4 of my pregnancies...

Eliza somehow managed to bite through both her lip and her tongue today. Two separate falls. Poor little disastrous child. :(

Jessie called Eliza a "little corker", and she responded (quite innocently) by calling him a "little porker".

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Following are the statuses we posted at the beginning of active labor,

after the birth, and the next morning. We were on the naughty list with our fb friends for not revealing the sex for over 12 hours :)

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Really? Already? Bring it on! :)

As of 9:48 tonight, we are a family of 6. Everything went great!

So, what does one DO with a boy? :)

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Theia, while holding Emeth this morning: "He loves me so much - and he thinks I'm so pretty." ........What am I raising?

Theia and Eliza are both very concerned about Emeth's lack of teeth. They have both said that the reason he cries is because he has no teeth.

(although Eliza usually refers to him as "she" or "it").

I had forgotten how infants automatically make you 20 minutes late for everything

(on a good day).

Theia: "God watches out for us cause he's really big, right?"

Me: "He watches out for us because He loves us.

" Theia: "Yeah, and also because He's a really big guy, and He doesn't want to step on us."

Overheard: Theia to E & I: (enthusiastically) "Let's go look at that dead lizard in our room again!" Moments later... All in unison, gleefully: "Eeeeeeeeeewww!"

We took Emeth to church for the first time today.

He slept angelically for about 10 minutes, then spent the rest of the time with mama in the nursery, where he could grunt loudly to his heart's content.

[stolen from my brother's status the morning after the girls spent the night at their house]

As I am pouring her syrup this morning, Eliza informs me: "Uncle Pat, I will obey you. I won't even hit you."

Eliza and Ingrid both refer to all varieties of nuts as "almuts"

- sort of a hybrid of almonds and walnuts (?).

I love hearing the girls call each other "my little honey" when they play together.

Mealtimes are feeling more and more like purgatory these days. Seriously NONE of my children like sweet potatoes?? That hardly seems fair.

If Ingrid introduced our family to you, you would know us as Sayah, Yaza, Ingan, Emiff, and Mama and Daddy (Or the interchangeable "Moddy").

Ingrid to Jessie: "Mama has hair, you have a head!"

Hey you. Didn't I just get done telling everybody what a good baby you are?

I am washing our sheets for the third time in as many days. Babies (especially boys) are hard on sheets.

Theia: "I'm afraid Emeth's gonna get sick, cuz I'm sure I saw Daddy kiss him on the cheek yesterday." (in response to being reminded that "We only kiss babies on the head.")

For Eliza, anything that happened in the past was either yesterday, or last night, whether it was 4 hours ago, or 4 months ago. [and I have to include this comment from my sister, who posted in response an example of a typical conversation with Eliza] "Hey, hey. Knowwat Aunt Robin? I saw a alligator yesterday" - "Really? In our house?" - "Yep. And it was eating blueberry pancakes, but........my Daddy put diapers on it." - "Wow. When did that happen again, Eliza?" - "Last night"

I can't imagine why this piece of hair over my shoulder should be so stiff and crusty. hmm....

Theia: "Maybe I won't get married, I might just stay here forever.... buuuuut, I really like wearing wedding dresses."

Toys with "Parental assembly required" should really specify a minimum IQ for the assisting parent.

Eliza: "Dad! Firemans live on trees! Did you know that?"

...You learn something new every day...

Play-doh is meant to be used once, and then thrown away, right?

And the brilliant quote of the day goes to Jessie: "Ingrid! If you'd just be still, you'd quit moving around like that!"

Bathtime for Mr. Emeth; who knows what might be lurking in those lovely neck rolls of his...

(Hopefully not) overheard while eating out tonight: Eliza: "Daddy, don't worry, that's just my bottom makin' noise." - Jessie: "I won't. Please eat your supper.

superlatives

...curly...

...curlier...

...curliest.

life with girls

three sets of freshly painted nails.

easy.

obtaining photographic evidence of the same,

not as easy.

{Beautiful}

{Beautiful} {Beautiful} {Beautiful}

Beautiful Girls.

that's one mother's opinion.

I wonder...

I was watching Sleeping Beauty with the girls while folding clothes today, and I was struck with the same question that always plagued me when I was a child: "What was the gift that Merriweather was about to bestow before Maleficent showed up and altered her plans?" I like to think that Merriweather, as the most practical and realistic of the three fairies, would have given Aurora something really useful, like common sense, or a personality. In fact, if she'd given her common sense, the last 45 minutes of the movie could have been avoided, because she would have known better than to follow an eerie greenish light up a dimly lit stairway. Sometimes its just best to stick to the original plan.

I really am in a blogging funk this month. I am certainly not suffering for lack of material, its the time and initiative that is lacking on my part. I could share about how my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law/cousin came to stay with us for 5 days last week, along with their 3 under 3. I mean, could you ask for a better blog post scenario than 6 girls under 3 under one roof?

I could show you what mealtimes might look like in such a scenario

I could share tips on bathing 4 girls under 3 at once

I could tell you how to build an enclosure that small

rambunctious girls actually beg to be contained in

Or how to efficiently transport 4 girls under 3

Or how to multiply cuteness and fun

exponentially in a water balloon fight

I could post pictures of our Easter egg hunt

(because its Easter, and that's just what you do)

And I should inform you that there is some pretty stiff

competition this year in the adorable girls department

And in the cute niece department

I could admit that I must be a horrible aunt because I did not get

a single picture of my brand spankin' new niece, Taylor, while she was here!

But I just don't feel like it.