Early Fireworks

We had a treat while visiting Virginia.  Scot and Kathleen smuggled in fireworks!  

We dressed the kids in cozy PJs and brought them outside to watch.  Emily who still remembers last Fourth of July, was excited to see the show.  Allie naively followed the big kid's lead and was looking forward to seeing the pretty fireworks.  However, we forgot to tell her about the noise.

Ryan waiting with Daddy wondering what's going on.

and then...BOOM!!!

  "Whoa!  What was that???!!!"

"I don't know!  But, let's never do it again."

"That was awesome!  Can we do it again?"

Courageous Allie giving  

fireworks one more try.

Big Mistake!

Allie scrambling for safety with Poppy.

Ahh, safe at last.

Great idea Allie, move over!

Everything is better with Poppy nearby.

Next Sparklers!  These were the biggest sparklers I had ever seen.  They like their pyrotechnics huge down south.  

Allie was still a little scared (and deaf) from her recent experience with the fireworks.  It didn't help that one of the kids also singed the top of her head with a sparkler.  She's going to be so traumatized by our patriotism she'll probably defect. 

Big kid Emily's not scared...as she keeps a close and wary eye on that stinging fire creeping towards her.

Kristin the Brave.  She'll teach her cousins how things are done!

Finally, rest for the weary...as soon as he's done reading the kids a book.

Anyone who likes to cook, or wants to cook, there is a monthly recipe swap hosted by "I Have to Say".  It's a pretty cool idea.  

My MOPS group has a recipe club which is genius.  The club meets every month and each person brings a dish according to a theme, such as, freezable meals, favorite dishes, or vegetarian dishes.  In addition, one person is assigned to bring a meal for the kids like mac & cheese.  Often, we meet in the church nursery.  There, we can set the kids up at a kiddie table with their meals.  Once they're occupied, we can sit down, chat, and try a plate of samplings from each other's dishes.  It's a great way to socialize while expanding one's recipe box.  

Happy Cooking Everybody!

Here They Come!

Ryan is 8 months old and FINALLY getting his teeth.  The two bottom ones are already cut and showing more each day.  I can see he's working on his top ones too.  Poor baby, all of his teeth at once.  He must be miserable!  

The upside, is that I was kind of sad to be forced to wean him, because I'm returning to work.  But now, with sharp incisors making an appearance, that's suddenly over, and I'm making a bottle every time a flicker of hunger crosses his face!  He's like a lion in a zoo, feed him well and he won't attack his usual prey!

He was devilish when he nursed though.  The girls used to accidently clamp down too hard and as soon as I yelped they jumped off and cried in sympathy.  I responded to a hard nip by Ryan the same way the other day, and this was his response...

You should have heard the laugh...

Whistle while you work, eat, sleep, play, bathe...

Ok, I am really proud of Emily.  She can speak a little Spanish, a little Chinese, she knows geography, addition and subtraction.  But by far, her proudest accomplishment to date is the fact that she can whistle...a lot.  Some girl at church taught her one day, and Emily has not stopped whistling since.  I'm not kidding, she whistles ALL of the time. What's more is that she whistles only one note.  No tunes. It's always the same, breathe in one note, breathe out the same one long monotonous note. 

However, in the stores, she never gets lost, I can hear her hiding in the clothes rack a mile away.  But, I get afraid of other things, because she's constantly running up to strange people reciting, "Hi, I'm Emily. I'm four and I can whistle."  Stranger Danger, Em!  

I'm getting a leash.  Think it comes with a MUZZLE?!  

Don't Blink!

I'm finding out how different boys and girls are to raise.  With Ryan now mobile and curious, it's a learning experience each day.  When the girls were toddlers we baby proofed everything.  However, once they started crawling, we wondered why we had worked so hard.  They were always more interested in people than in cords or breakable things.  But Ryan, well, that's a different story.  He makes a beeline for every cord he sees, relishes pulling up on tipsy things, and always shows me how much I need to vacuum, because he can find dozens of choking hazards from a mile away.  

A few days ago, I was tired of chasing Mr. Into It, and put him in his saucer to chill for a bit.  Safe, secure, not a single way to get in trouble, right?

WRONG!!!

Play Date

Allie just found out how tough growing up can be. The other day, Emily asked me if her friend from church could come over to play.  Both Emily and Allie were so excited that their "best friend Malia" was coming to our house for the day.

Emily, Malia, and Allie

Best Friends  

See no Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak no Evil...Yeah Right!!!

The day started off well.  The girls went outside to play.  There were enough bubbles for all, the more the merrier.

Ryan in his sisters' hand-me-down hat

  No dice.  I bought a camouflage one the next day.

Later, we moved indoors.  The girls raced upstairs to raid the dress up trunk.  Matt was home, and we heard them all giggling and having fun.

But soon, Allie came downstairs, sucking her thumb, and twirling her hair.  She sat down beside us, quietly staring off into space.  After a few minutes, it dawned on me that she should be with the other girls playing, not hanging out with Dad and Mom.  

I asked her why she looked so sad.  She looked at me with tearful eyes as if she had just been waiting for me to ask her that question.  Tears ran down her cheeks in earnest now as she sobbed, "Because I'm not a big girl!".  

After some investigation, we discovered that Emily and Malia had told Allie that she was too little to play with them.  There is nothing that breaks your heart more than a little sister who suddenly realizes that she's the LITTLE sister.  Her best friend is really only her sister's best friend.  

Well, we had quite talk with the two other girls.  Fortunately, both Emily and Malia have kind and soft hearts beneath their 4 year old "leave em' out" tendencies.  They came downstairs contrite, and apologized to Allie right away.  After a couple of minor setbacks, she was included in their world once again. 

Best Friends Forever (we hope!) 

I found this later.  Mommy's play date...with the dust pan.