A few last pictures with Arwyn

Before Auntie Emily (& co.) left (on Saturday), Miriam requested that she get to hold both babies at the same time, so I helped her get situated for double cuddles. I don't know what's so exciting about holding more than one baby at a time but something about it simply is. 

Happy birthday to Riley

I can hardly believe that Riley is three years old now, first of all because it means that Riley is three, and second of all because it means that Zoë's third birthday is right around the corner. 

She has been anticipating Riley's birthday party all week long...and wondering about her own birthday. There was a flurry of birthday preparation at our house this afternoon: Miriam made a card for Riley (she drew the most amazing Lightning McQueen on it, which I forgot to take a picture of), Benjamin picked out his Mac truck from his stash of cars to give to Riley ("because [he] doesn't use it that much anymore and Riley will love it so much!"), and, unbeknownst to me, Zoë had picked out a party outfit. She didn't put it on until we announced it was time to get in the car, and then she ran upstairs as fast as she could and returned with a flouncy skirt on over her track pants. 

She looked divine (that's a fancy way of saying beautiful).

Cory had been planning on holding the party at a park but the wind had really picked up, making a park outing a little uncomfortable so instead we met at their house. All the little cousins had a blast running around in the backyard with Abby (the dog), even my not-so-fond-of-dogs kids! Miriam would have you know that she "made friends" with Abby and even threw the ball for her once or twice. I, on the other hand, said, "Sorry, Abby, I don't play with dogs," when she ran up to me with the ball. She didn't seem too heartbroken about it because there were a billion other people seemingly happy to wrangle the slobbery tennis ball from her dangerous-looking jaws and hurl it through the air for her to run after.

We had pizza for dinner, but Riley was most excited about getting to open his presents. He had lots of little helpers (Zoë and Benjamin on our side of the family and twins (right around Benjamin's age) on Cory's side):

Choir concerts

The girls had their final choir concert Monday night (aside from, you know, the one next month, but that's only the show choir and it's at the high school) and it went great. They went with a Disney theme and sang a good mixture of classic Disney songs, as well as songs from newer movies, and even some songs I had never heard before. 

Here's a picture of both choirs singing their opening number together—the Mickey Mouse Club theme song, of course:

Miriam is on the righthand side of the stage in a green shirt and princess crown. Rachel is "somewhere in the back," as she put it. I have no idea where.

Two (very different) babies!

 Zoë was thrilled to have "two babies!" in the house this week. It certainly was fun to see these little ones interact. Arwyn is content and calm, but when she's in the mood can be quite chatty. Alexander is squirmy and demanding and so, so, so messy.



Case in point: We went to watch Rachel's musical together. Arwyn sat in her carseat, perfectly content, the whole time. Alexander, on the other hand, wanted to be bounced around. He ate twice and soaked Auntie Josie, Naanii, and me (and himself) with multiple deluges of regurgitated milk. He fussed, grunted, and moaned about his life (because he desperately wanted to go to bed).

Let's go Duke!

I think Duke is out of the March Madness running as of today, but the kids were sure rooting for them earlier this week. Gavin wore a Duke shirt and track pants on Thursday so when Zoë got dressed she picked out the very same outfit. She was so excited to be twins with Gavin!

Everything's coming out Annie!

After weeks of rehearsals and a handful of performances, Annie is over. Rachel was thrilled on Thursday to not have to wear makeup to school. She started crying on Wednesday morning while I was in the middle of doing her eye makeup; I was like, "Gah! Stop. Why are you crying? Stop!" as makeup started racooning (real term) around her eyes. She really did not want to wear makeup to school (at least not that much makeup). She did, however, have to wear makeup Thursday evening. 

She did her own lipstick and blush because I had to go to gamelan before dinner and she didn't want to put lipstick on before dinner. Here's a picture my friend Kara took of Rachel at Thursday's performance:

Kate the orphan, Rachel the New Yorker, Kenzie the maid (with Annie photobombing)

Teeth

I skipped gamelan today so that I could go to the dentist because I was sure that one of my teeth was about to rot out of my head. My mouth has been so sore. Talking, eating, yawning—all of it painful. I stuck a little mirror in my mouth so I could look at my molar on the way, way back and I saw what looked like a big, gaping hole, and I kind of freaked out.

Because how do you not notice that your tooth is falling apart, right?

So I went to the dentist—who happens to be in our ward—and he did a bunch of tests (an x-ray, a cold test, a bite test, a knocking test, and a gum measurement) to see how my tooth was doing and from what he could tell my tooth was perfectly healthy. The black spot I'd seen on my tooth was a filling because apparently I already have a filling in that tooth (so maybe not perfectly healthy, but healthy enough). There was 100% nothing wrong with my tooth.

I wanna hold your hand

Yesterday Auntie Emily arrived with her youngest and oldest in tow. Benjamin and Zoë have been so excited to play with Gavin! I think they overwhelm him a little bit (they fight over him, literally tugging him in opposite directions (no matter how much I've tried to convince them to stop)). Zoë always wants to hold Gavin's hand—going up the stairs, going down the stairs, going into the backyard, just because they're both standing there.

We went to Rachel's play last night and Zoë insisted on holding Gavin's hand as we walked to the school (from the parking lot; we drove because I told my mom we'd meet her at the school at 6:20 and we didn't leave the house until, like, 6:17). Things were fine until we made it to the school doors. 

DARE and The First Day of Spring

Here's my confession for the day: I was totally not planning on going to the DARE graduation. Like, I'd heard about it and everything but I didn't put in on my calendar because, well, I didn't. I guess it didn't seem like a huge deal in the big scheme of things. 

Kind of like kindergarten graduation photos. I didn't order those either. So sue me.

But I did get up this morning to bedazzle Rachel, 1930s-style, for her first performance of Annie. She had to be at school at 8:30 this morning, so Andrew stuck around to herd the other children while I played makeup artist and hairdresser for Rachel (I don't know what we're going to do without him tomorrow morning). He drove her to school and then went to work and I finished getting Miriam and Benjamin out the door and then sat down to pump and check my email.

There was a general reminder from Rachel's teacher about the DARE graduation (ha—ignore!) but there was also a second email from her teacher that was just for me (so I read that one):

Just wanted to let you know that Rachel was selected as one of the winners for our D.A.R.E essays. Please do not tell her she will find out this afternoon. Hope to see you there :)

—Miss L

So then I had to go back to the email I'd just ignored to find out the details. Today at 2 PM. Completely doable. So after picking Benjamin up from school, having lunch, and then getting the kids ready to go again, we headed back to the school to watch the DARE graduation assembly. 

We got excellent first row seats and seat-mates. 

Another kindergarten mom sat behind me. She has a baby just a couple of weeks younger than Alexander and those two baby boys chatted and giggled with each other through the whole assembly, which lasted an hour and had me really regretting attending with three little ones in tow. 

But the mom sitting beside me was such a great help. I have no idea who she is but when she noticed me trying to juggle Zoë and Alexander and the camera she said, "Can I hold your baby for a little while so you can take pictures? I don't have any little buddies at my house anymore." Then she turned on her baby voice for Alexander and said, "All my widdle buddies are all grown up, yes they are!"

So she held Alexander and I convinced Zoë to sit on her own (Benjamin, who has had a hankering for some math homework the past few days, was in his own little world, sprawled out on the floor with a math workbook and a pencil) while I snapped a few pictures of Rachel.

She was quite surprised when her name was called, but she bravely stood up, retrieved her paper from her teacher, and read it in front of everyone with a clear, unwavering voice. Like a boss.

Leprechaun gold

Years ago, I a leprechaun decided to hide some (paper) gold coins in the backyard on St. Patrick's Day and since it occurred when my children were old enough to form memories it's become somewhat of a tradition. So this morning before my kids got up I made some gold coins and hid them around the house. And by me, I mean "the leprechaun."

When they got up they went downstairs for breakfast and spotted leprechaun gold peeking out from various places. Rachel and Miriam were less than impressed with how the gold was hidden and Rachel came upstairs to file a formal complaint.

"Is all of the leprechaun gold this easy to find?" she asked, holding up a handful of paper coins and looking severely disappointed.

"What do you mean?" Andrew asked (he'd just woken up and didn't know that any gold had been hidden).

"The leprechaun gold," Rachel repeated. "Is it all easy to find?"

"Leprechaun gold...?" Andrew repeated.

"Yes, Dad! Ugh! Mom?"

"What?"

"Is all the leprechaun gold easy to find or are there some harder hiding spots? Because none of the coins are hidden very well."

"How should I know?" I asked innocently, "I'm not a leprechaun."

"Mom! I know it was you!"

"All the gold is hidden exactly as it is," I answered mystically.

"Mom!"