This past holiday weekend we gave the kids some watermelon outside for their snack. They all were disgustingly sticky afterwards, but really loved it. They ate half of a really big watermelon!! Rosemary seemed to especially enjoy hers. . . .
Rosemary is pretty particular about her clothes, and didn’t like dripping watermelon on her shirt, so she insisted on taking it off after a bit.
We’re going to have to eat that other half watermelon soon – right before bathtime.
This past weekend we went to the zoo with some friends and their daughter. We got there early to beat the heat, then had a lunch picnic. It was warm, but not too bad. The kids had a great time, and Penelope even got out of the stroller and walked around a little bit by herself. I have a feeling that pretty soon we won’t need a stroller at all! Though it is convenient to have it to roll all of our stuff around.
We rode the train on this trip, and I always love the photos I take on the train ride. This time I got several really cute ones of Gary and Piper. . . .
Aren’t they cute?!!
We had a very busy – and very fun – weekend. I’m sitting here a little sore and a little sunburned and pleasantly exhausted. The weekend was exciting, fun, busy, and eventful. As far as the eventful part, we learned that Penelope has a peanut allergy. Last week, she snagged one of the big kids’ peanut butter sandwiches. Miss Sally got it away from her quickly, and she didn’t have a reaction to it. I was thrilled, because peanut allergies scare me to death. As our pediatrician had recommended when we were testing the big kids out on peanut butter, because some kids don’t have a reaction the first time, we waited a few days then this past Saturday gave Penelope a thin layer of peanut butter on a biscuit (our big kids love peanut butter on biscuits) and watched her to see what happened. We drew up some Benedryl and had it ready before we gave her the biscuit. . . .
It wasn’t immediate, but pretty quickly Penelope developed quite the rash and set of hives around her mouth and neck. We dosed Penelope up with the Benedryl immediately. Luckily, she didn’t have any breathing problems. She was fine a stressful hour and a half later, except for the Benedryl hangover which made her a bit grumpy. She did have a little rash come back later that afternoon, but after another dose of Benedryl it went away. We are calling Rosemary and Gary’s allergy doctor in the morning to find out what is the next step. For now, clearly, the big kids don’t get any more peanut butter until we get a handle on everything (and an epi-pen or two).
I have a ton of photos from the weekend to blog and to share, but I have to sort through them all first. I do want to go ahead and share a couple from this weekend. I don’t know if it’s because she has an older brother and two older sisters, or if it’s just her attitude in general, but Penelope has no problem telling anyone what she thinks. For instance, at a birthday party on Saturday (after the big peanut butter scare), a sweet little girl was trying to make friends with Penelope and was trying to touch her.
Penelope was having none of it.
Not at all.
She kept batting away her hand and saying, “No!”
This just cracks me up! Girlfriend has no problem speaking her mind!
After naps on Sunday, the kids enjoyed spending some time outside playing in the backyard. Piper grilled us all up some burgers . . .
. . . and we watched Rosemary spin in circles so we could all see how pretty her dress was.
Poor Piper. Rosemary was spinning and having fun and she was slaving away at the grill.
Penelope helped Piper grill some, then for some reason walked around proudly showing us her belly button.
I love all of the pretend play that we have going on these days. It’s amazing to me to see what all the kids come up with. For instance, this happened tonight:
Piper: “Mama, I need to go get Rosemary’s pajamas.”
Me: “Why can’t Rosemary get her own pajamas.”
Piper: “Because she’s a baby.”
Me: “Oh.” {To Rosemary:} “So you’re a baby tonight?”
Rosemary: {Nothing. She just stared at me.}
Piper: “Mama. Babies can’t talk.”
Well of course! I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself.
We took Penelope to our church’s nursery again this past Sunday. This time she only cried for a few minutes, and seemed to be happy the rest of the time. They said that she stayed close to the door, but she was showing everybody what was in her backpack and seemed to be in good spirits.
When I picked her up I asked her if she had fun, she said yes. I asked her if she wanted to go back to the nursery, and she said yes! Now that is a lot of progress!!
The big kids went to Sunday school for the first time. They were soooooooo excited to be going to a new class. Piper and Rosemary were especially excited. Henry was okay until we got there, then he didn’t want to go into the classroom. We got him in the classroom, then waited for a bit to see how he was doing. He seemed fine, and he was great when Gary picked him up after church. Later that afternoon we questioned them on what they learned during church. Piper had some interesting answers.
Gary: “What did you learn in Sunday school?”
Piper: “We learned about coloring.”
Gary: “Anything else?”
Piper: “More coloring.”
Gary: {he’s clearly hoping for some religious learning at this point} “Did you learn about anything else?
Piper: “We learned about music, and more about music, and more about music.”
Gary: “What else?”
Piper: {making the sign of the cross} “We learned to say, ‘Father, Son, Holy Man.’”
Gary: “That’s GREAT!!! It’s ‘Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.’”
Piper: “Yeah. Father, Son, Holy Man.”
We thought that was awesome. And close enough! I wonder what they’ll learn about next time. . . .
This past Saturday we celebrated Gary’s constructive birthday. Since Gary got home around bedtime on his actual birthday from his 40th birthday guys’ trip, we decided to celebrate his birthday on Saturday. Gary decided that for his birthday he wanted to go hiking then have a picnic at Tannehill State Park.
The morning didn’t start out quite as nice as we expected. Everyone (including the birthday boy) was a little grumpy. I seriously thought about suggesting that we stay at home – but then I figured that a meltdown on a hiking trail had to be better than a meltdown at home. At least it would be different.
The hiking trip didn’t start out perfectly. Henry was squatting down checking out something when all of the sudden he started screaming and ran to Gary. I saw something black on his thumb on the way, so I grabbed his thumb and saw a fireant. We immediately stripped Henry down to his underwear and were flicking off every fireant we could find.
Henry got bit on his hands several times. They were swelling up a bit, so we gave him some benedryl and then just kept an eye on them. At some point during this process, one of the fireants bit me on the knee. It hurt. Bad. I can’t imagine how much it hurt Henry to be bit so many times on his hands. Luckily, by the end of the hiking trip his hands looked almost normal. I bet he keeps his eyes open for fireants from here on out. . . .
To our great surprise, the kids started talking about all the bears they were seeing. Piper named one bear and one little bear, and made friends with them. This is “little bear”:
And this is “bear”:
Penelope really, really enjoyed herself, especially the lunch. We stopped at a chicken place on the way to go hiking, and got an 8-piece chicken box with 4 biscuits. All the food was gone. Gary and I each only got one piece of chicken. The kids destroyed the lunch, and Penelope especially enjoyed herself.
Even though she’s almost 4, Piper still gets really tired at naptime and WANTS her nap. Especially after she’s gone hiking and then had a chicken dinner. She barely made it home without falling asleep.
After lunch, we found a few crumbs and the kids went down to the water to feed the fish. They love it!
By the time we made it to the car, all of the kids had that glazed eye look. They were exhausted and so ready for naptime.
I really think that hiking is our favorite family passtime. We all seem to really enjoy it, from us parents down to Penelope.
For Gary’s birthday cake, he requested a banana pudding (the first dessert that I ever made for him – he still loves it). Auntie Ann came over to help us celebrate, and I made some twice-baked potatoes and Gary grilled steaks while the kids ran around outside and played. We even ate outside. It was awesome. I love this time of year.
In the days that have passed since the unauthorized haircuts, I’ve noticed many things. For one, Penelope unfortunately inherited my cowlick right on the front of the hairline, which doesn’t work so well with her new way-too-short bangs.
We also discovered that Henry cut two layers of bangs for himself. One layer right above the brow, and another layer higher than that.
It could be worse, I know, but it could also be a lot better!!!
Miss Sally says that every day after nap he proudly announces that he stayed in his bedroom during nap and that he didn’t cut anyone’s hair. Which is good news, of course.
I see a lot of hats for us in the near future. A lot of hats.
P.S. As a reminder, please vote for us HERE. It’s a one-click thing on the little thumbs-up symbol. Voting only lasts another day. . . . I think I signed up a little late for this one, but I’m giving it a shot nonetheless! Thank you!
A couple of weeks ago I did a photo session with the big kids’ awesome playschool teacher and her daughters. It was so much fun! There is a LOT of personality going on in that family! I think I got a few great shots. . . .
Gorgeous family!
In other news, a friend recommended that I put my blog in the running for the contest for the Circle of Moms Top 25 Moms of Multiples Blogs. I signed up on this one a little late, but I figured it was worth a shot. Voting lasts 3 more days. My blog is still listed as pending approval for some reason, but you can go ahead and vote for us HERE. You don’t have to sign up for anything or “like” anything – just click once. You can vote every 24 hours for each IP address that votes. Thanks for your support!!
