When I Got Home Today...

I found the Roses not watching TV, not dancing to HSM3, but...reading!

Rose #1 was reading Princess Peepers.  It is a cute story about a princess who wears glasses but is teased about them, so she stops wearing them.  (Turns out Prince Charming wears glasses too...)

Rose #2 was reading a Disney storybook.  She is starting to show signs of learning to read - she memorizes stories and "reads" them, tries to guess the next words, etc.
Rose #3 was reading the ever-popular Halloween board book.  We got that book from Aunt Tonya and each one of the Roses have loved it.
I love coming home to find the kids reading.  I wish for them that they will become avid readers.  I LOVE reading.  If someone would pay me to read good books all day (rather than statutes and regulations) I would TOTALLY do that job.

I am Scared

Tonight Rose #3 and I ran an errand to a retail store and it was DEAD.  Just DEAD.  This is a store that you would normally expect to have quite a few people in it on a weekday evening, and it was really, really quiet.

I am scared for the normal reasons - immediate fear about my job, H's job, the national economy, our infrastructure and way of life.  

But I am also scared for a new reason.  For a long, long time people have talked about how the American way of life has to change.  It is not sustainable, it is not gentle to our mother Earth, we overuse resources and we hog up everything without regard really to anyone or anything that gets in our way.  I have believed that and thought that change was inevitable and, in fact, needed. 

But when it comes right down to it, I don't know how to change.  I don't know how to envision a future for my girls that doesn't involve lots of THINGS.  I don't know how to lead them or raise them to be other than consumers.  Even though I try - I try to keep them away from the TV, at least mostly, I try to make them earn what they get and be grateful for what they have - I have no idea how to do it in a radically different way.

I guess we are queued up to learn this together.  I guess it depends on what actually happens with our economy, but I can't help feeling like a big change is about to happen.

Haircuts...Whew

So, one day last week I realized that the Kids Were Looking Sorta Shaggy!  And, It Had Been Awhile Since We Had Their Hair Cut!  In another family, one not as fortunate as ours, I would have to call some kid haircutting salon.  In my family, we just log onto the family calendar and sign up for a haircut time with Aunt Boo.

We LOVE Aunt Boo.  ("Aunt Boo, Aunt Boo, How are you? How are you?")  And not just because she gives us haircuts.  Mainly because she is so darn sweet and positive all the time!

Anyway, here is Rose #1 with her short hairdo.  She confided in me today that some of the kids at school tease her about looking like a boy.  What do you say to that?  Some of the kids tease her for going to the girls' bathroom; I guess she looks like a boy to them.  I suggested a couple of ideas - bring a pink t-shirt (we have a cute one that says:  You Can Beat Me.  In Your Dreams!  Girls Bring More Game) or a pink hair clip and put it on when you need to go potty, then take it off right away afterwards.  She didn't like this idea.  Rose #2 suggested saying:  "Hi!!  I'm a girlie girl!  Do you like Barbies?"

I am not sure what to do.  But I did want you to see how cute her hair looks with her new haircut:

Here is Rose #2, who was the shaggiest of the shaggy.  I LOVE her cute bob haircut.  Also her bangs look much better.  She cut her own bangs three times recently, despite my lecture ("who cuts hair in our family?"  "Aunt Boo."  "And who else?"  Blank stare.  "NOBODY.").

And Rose #3, who had the following conversation with me on the phone today:  "Hi Mommy.  How Are You.  Love You Too!"  (She always says "Love You Too" even if no one says "Love you Josie" - since "Love you Josie" MUST be what you mean!)
And here they are together.  I wish I had composed the shot better.  Next time...

Bea's Birthday Party

Today was Beatrice's birthday party. We went to Edinborough Park, along with roughly every other person in the entire Twin Cities Metropolitan Area (including the exurbs and suburbs). But it was fun. Here are Rose #2 and Bea contemplating their entrance into the giant play structure:

And here is Maddie Kay playing on the stairs.  I love this picture.  She is so cute with such pretty pink cheeks, and the photo is actually COMPOSED (by accident of course) rather than just shot:
Here are Guppy and I:
And Guppy and Gus.  Gus was full of BEANS.  He wanted to do EVERYTHING.
And Aunt Heidi and Gus.  

Happy Birthday Beatrice!

A long blogging absence...

Is never good. The week escaped me, I admit it. But we had a fun weekend, so here goes.  After dinner out on Friday night (at Fuddrucker's!  The only place that we can really go where no one cares that our kids run all over the darn place!) I got up and worked out and worked on Saturday morning.  But after I got home (and after skiing) we went to Northfield to visit our friends and have a sleepover!  We went to Nadia's house.  Here is Nadia making pizza dough:

And Rose #1 could not believe that I would let her eat the raw dough.  I never let the Roses eat raw dough (since it usually has raw eggs in it).  But Jiffy pizza dough has no raw eggs, so it was safe to eat!
After dinner, due to the pizza dough messiness (and the general pizza messiness), it was time for a bath in the big whirlpool tub.  They LOVED splashing, pouring, etc.
And yes, these are a bit out of order, but here are the very serious pizza dough crafters.
We had a very good sleepover.  The Roses went to bed quite late (9:45 p.m.!) but I got 9 - that's NINE - nearly uninterrupted hours of sleep.  Yay!  Thanks Anna and Nadia.

Bath Night

After a delicious meal of homemade bread, spaghetti and meatballs, and broccoli, everyone was messy. So they all took a bath together.  The first shot is Rose #1, and you can see why we call her sharkgirl:  

Did you know that they do not pull baby teeth, even if the ginormous adult teeth have fully grown in behind the baby teeth, and it is unlikely that the baby teeth will ever, ever fall out?  Like Rose #3 could be getting MARRIED with two sets of teeth, and the Tooth Fairy will not even know our address?  It is true, I have asked our dentist.  Repeatedly.

You can see the evidence of the spaghetti a little bit better in the shot below.  There is the telltale ring of spaghetti sauce around the mouths:
Every now and then people ask me if the Roses are twins or triplets.  I can't see it.  

Also, BTW, and I know Aunt Boo will be glad to know this - the Roses get TONS of compliments on their haircuts.  Aren't they lucky to have such a nice auntie who is also a professional stylist?

Tonight at dinner, on a different note, we were talking about why we are happy that Barack Obama is going to be the president.  Rose #1 is going to watch the inauguration at school on Tuesday.  This made me remember a long, long time ago when Hubert H. Humphrey died and my second grade class walked over to Summit Avenue to watch his funeral procession.  I wonder which memories Rose #1 will have.  When I asked her why she thought it was important that Barack Obama is going to be president, she said it was because he is the first African American president.  I thought that was a great answer.

Trip to the Zoo!

Today we went with Guppy and Sam, Maddie, Uncle Andy and Aunt Tonya to the zoo! It was really fun.  Right inside the Tropics trail is a large tortoise statue which the kids ran to right away.  Of course we had to take a couple of photos.   Here is Rose #3 smiling on the tortoise's neck.  And here is Rose #2.  We went to her school carnival last night, and it struck me how big she is getting!  As soon as we got to the carnival she found her teacher (Ms. S.!) and ran right to her and hugged her.  Very cute.  Rose #2 mostly liked running around at the zoo.  In this picture she is wearing her Christmas shirt from Aunt Tonya and Maddie!
I didn't get any good shots of Rose #1 before the camera battery died (of course it died in the middle of the zoo).  Here is a fairly cute one of Rose #1 and #2 on the tortoise.  The reason I didn't get Rose #1 is she was off like a shot with her cousin Sammy.
Here is the whole crew.  You can see Aunt Tonya on the left, the cousins all on the tortoise in the middle, and Uncle Andy holding up Sam and Maddie in the background.
One problem with going to the zoo with small children is you really don't see the animals.  You mostly see the kids running around and worry that one will slip away.  And fall, for example, into the Tide Pool.  That is an inside joke.

-6 air temperature

And I am going out to shovel.  Why is it that we live here in Minnesota again?  Well, I guess the fact that all of our friends and family are here is one small part of it.  Still.  I am getting tired of my toenails aching because my feet are cold.

Skiing Lessons

Skiing lessons (through community ed! Reasonably priced!) started yesterday. H took Roses #1 and #2 to lessons (while I stayed home with Rose #3 so she could nap and I could read the fourth Twilight book).

Here is Rose #2 on skis!  How I wish I had had skiing lessons when I was 4, so I would not be utterly terrified of skiing!
And here are Roses #1 and #2 suited up and ready.  The skiing helmets are a good story.  We bought Rose #1's at Joe's sporting goods for about $90.  We bought Rose #2's off craiglist for $25.
Why ever, ever buy something new when you can buy from craigslist?  

Incapacitated by a book

I will regret making this post, I fear, because it reveals two things about me.

One, I am terminally uncool.  I am so far behind trends it kind of makes my teeth hurt.

Two, I really like romance novels.  This pains me to admit.

But, I have to get this off my chest.  I read the first two books in the Twilight series and now I am literally waiting by the mailbox to get the second two from Quality Paperback Book Club.

(This will reveal something else about me - when I get it into my head that I need to get a bargain, no amount of inconvenience will stop me.  That is, I could go to Barnes & Noble, or even to Red Balloon, and just buy the darn books.  But I got a good deal at QPB.  Only they decided to ship them on the back of a camel who took the long way around the globe from Pennsylvania to ship the books to me.  Sigh.)

OK, enough confessions of a mother tonight.  The Roses are just fine, because I know you were wondering.

Better. Whew.

Maybe it was back to school, maybe the (ever so) slightly warmer weather, but the Roses are better.  Phew.  

I got home from work tonight and we were saying farewell to our old nanny, Tam.  She swooped in and saved our life after Jill had to go on bedrest.  Now she is off to college.  Good luck Tam! Goodbye!  We will see you in the summertime.  Enjoy college.  I wonder if it means that I am old that I am thinking that she should enjoy college while she is young, youth is wasted on the young, etc. etc.  

For Pete's sake, I am only 39.  I'm not THAT old YET.

The Roses weathered the farewell pretty well, and we had a nice taco dinner (even though it was a late dinner).  Rose #3 is having a bit more of a hard time with the transition between nannies, and she has been regressing in her potty training.  Turns out that if you pee in a booster chair, it does in fact drip down onto the dining room chair.  YECCCH.

I cleaned up/took out garbage/made lunches, and H supervised showers and jammies.  Now we are having a quick movie interlude before bed.

Wish all our evenings were this peaceful.  Rose #3 just leaned her head on my shoulder.  How could it get much better?

Tricky Bedtimes

I hate bedtimes.  To any new parent who comes across this blog:  when they tell you that your baby needs to learn to sleep by her/himself, you should listen.  It is true.

I have a 2-, a 4-, and a 6-year-old who scream if I leave the room during bedtime.  They literally cannot (or will not) put themselves to sleep.  And, if this isn't bad enough, they also migrate to our bedroom.  Every.  Single.  Night.

Now, I know, when they are teenagers they will SHRINK in HORROR at the thought of even a bedtime hug.  For now, I must admit, I could do with a little less closeness.  Every single night, I am awoken by someone either crying first or just coming directly into my bed.  Every single morning, I wake up with my arms asleep (because they are cradling a 38-lb. 2-year-old).  The sleeping with your baby thing is great when your baby is, well, a BABY.  Not when your "baby" is a giant Rose #3. 

We have some serious improvement to do around here in terms of sleeping.  And in terms of TV time (don't get me started), gratitude for what we've been given, peace, love and understanding, etc.  The work is unending.  And daunting, no?

Rough Weekend

For some reason, yesterday was a rough day.  Everyone was crabby - the kids want to watch TV nonstop, so when I forced them to turn it off and come to the library with me, well, it wasn't a pretty picture.  You know the articles in the newspaper or a women's magazine you read about moms who look like they might be getting really mad at their kids in a public place, and you aren't supposed to shame them or yell at them, but instead to offer to help?  That was me at the library yesterday - the mom having a hard time, that is.  Rose #3 wanted me to read stories ONLY to her, and then started screaming and crying when I tried to read to Rose #2.  So, it was time to leave.  Then Rose #3 really lost it.  We had about 30 books to check out, all in a big canvas bag, and I could not manage Rose #3 crying, Roses #1 and #2 protesting, and checking out the books, so I was getting ready to simply unload all the books and leave the library.  Well, that set off Roses #1 and #2!! So a kind onlooker helped Roses #1 and #2 check out their books while I struggled to get Rose #3's coat on. 

Sigh.  A simple trip to the library, fouled up by tempers and inexpert mothering.

Things did not improve much over the day, and we ended up all in bed at about 8:30.  (Except H, that is.)  Here's to a better Sunday, we hope.  We have church, and some errands to do, and the football game is on TV - so maybe moods will be better.