Our Weekend

We had a great weekend! We didn't do much but it was fun nonetheless.

On Saturday afternoon we decided to go to mass that night instead of Sunday morning. It was at 5:00 so we gussied the big girls up and headed out. I knew this photo opportunity would only present itself for a small time so I took advantage with the nearest charged camera: my iPhone. I think they came out pretty well - not sure how they will print though...

Grace is in blue and Peyton is in Pink.

As you can see, the color coding is still in full effect.
When they are jumping off furniture it is much easier to yell at them when they are in their respective hues.

This is a framer!

Here's a little outtake - I love Peyton's face in this one.

And another...

Sweetness personified.

Lord, please forgive me.

I could not resist snapping this shot, inconspicuously I must add! In my (nonexistent) defense, this was during the last hymn of the service and church announcements were the only thing that followed. There, I feel better!

What to do after church? Steak-n-Shake for dinner, that's what!
Here is Rowan showing Grace, by way of finger, that she'll take a tall glass of milk and some cheese fries for dinner.

Note about the hat: We were short $3 bucks so she had to go work it off while we ate.

Thanks Roaster! The dishes were spotless!


Speaking of eating, Rowan has entered the world of food (the rice/oatmeal single grain cereal does not count I'm convinced)! She tried an avocado (one of mommy's favorites) and LOVED it! Correction, the first time she ate it on Sunday morning, she liked it - that afternoon, for dinner, she LOVED it. It was the first time I actually saw her lunge forward for a bite and then chew since she started eating about a month ago. That rice cereal must be worse than I thought!

Happy girl!

I got the book Super Baby Food via Amazon and plan to use it as a resource for making some of her food. While I won't be winning Mom of the Year awards (like this Dad of the Year candidate I know) I do plan to try and give her as much "natural" food as a I can. So far, the avocados were easy to slice up and the pieces I didn't use went right into the freezer lickety split! Also, I don't know why it never occurred to me that the .97 jars of bananas were more expensive than the .19 fresh bananas which could be just as easily mashed up. Oh yea, I had to feed two mouths, that could have been part of it!

The face of satisfaction!


No Fuller weekend is complete without a trip to Target at some point it seems lately.

As you can see, Rowan was over it.


While at Target though, we did make an important purchase.

Instant Iris and Sonic Boom

Peyton picked out the purple and Grace picked out the pinkish-red. The key to success with nail polish and 3 year olds: Sally Hansen INSTA-DRY nail polish. This stuff flat out worked! I told them their hands were "glued" to the table and within 60 seconds they were dry and happily for them,"unglued". Pure genius, Sally, pure genius!


Slap a Michael Jackson mask on me and put me to work!
Well done if I do say so myself!


Looks like we're running an orphanage with all those fingers and toes!
Promise it's just 2 kiddos!

All in all an uneventful but memorable weekend doing not a whole lot!

Masterpiece Theater: Family Edition

Here is a gem I picked up one afternoon a couple weeks ago.

Theme: Family

Medium: Markers

Vehicle: Construction Paper

Grace's Family

I'm impressed with the control Grace shows here although I am not sure why only Rowan, Daddy and I have "bodies" and Grace and Peyton are stick figures. Is Grace trying to subtly telling the three of us we need to lose weight? Also, why do I have a million legs? Am I standing on grass?

Even though she is calling me fat, she still gives super sweet hugs.
Grade: A-


Peyton's Family

I applaud Peyton for making EVERYONE stick figures in this drawing. I am however noticing her preference for a certain parent. Also, if you look carefully, you'll notice she make an effort to include Rowan's footprint.

Deduction for favoritism, but sweet to remember Rowan AND her footprint in her family picture.
Grade: A-

Milestone: Writing

I didn't realize how much I was waiting for this moment until we picked up their sheets at school a couple weeks ago.

We are beyond proud of them!

Grace

Peyton

The letter of the week was D and the number was 1. That's what the bottom line was for.

We are still a ways off before they can do this sans highlighter but it was a fun (and sad) realization that they are growing up fast and learning so much. Kindergarten is right around the corner...

Impressive!

So I don't like to toot my own horn but... my kiddos are super smart! More importantly, they have some really awesome teachers at "big girl school"!

Even though the 4th of July has long passed, I present you with:

The Pledge of Allegiance as recited by 3 1/2 year old Grace:

Can you guess who the "echo" in the background is?

Now for Peyton's Pledge of Allegiance:

The focus of a 3 year old at its finest.

Here's hoping this is an indication of the SIZABLE college scholarships to come!

5 month Rowan update

Here is a short update on Rowan who is 5 months old as of last Wednesday (8/18/10).

We go to the doctor for another checkup (and shots) when she is 6 months old but I wanted to share what she has been up to lately. She is a busy girl who loves to spend time in her bouncy seat jumping and squealing away.

Check out these lungs!

We love these squeals!

Grace has been lucky enough to illicit a few herself from the funny faces and sounds she makes for Rowan.

Rowan also just started eating some big girl food! She has been sitting up really well for a couple weeks now. We had to give her some Tylenol a couple weeks ago and realized her thrust reflex is gone. That, coupled with her interest in our plates, made us think she was ready. Boy were we right! She finished off the small little bowl we gave her and the rest is history!

I send her to daycare with a serving for "lunch" and she eats at 5:00 when we get home. I'm thinking the first real food will be avocados... one of Mom's favorites and super healthy for a growing baby!

Rowan after her first meal.

Here's out little trooper in her big girl seat at Rancho Grande.

She had the #5 (Speedy Gonzales - no beans, extra rice)

And here is the little stinker drinking her first (unforced) bottle outside of daycare. Holding it by herself, no less. She had only taken an ounce before I picked her up from daycare and I couldn't bear to pour the liquid gold down the drain so I thought I'd try it. Yes, I realize this will never happen again.

She drank another 2 ounces!

We are super happy Rowan is learning and doing new things everyday but our baby is growing up too fast for us!

Clowns

A couple weeks ago the girls got to dress up like clowns at "Big Girl School".

While they didn't need face paint to act like clowns, they do look pretty darn cute with it on!

Masterpiece Theater: Rorschach Edition

Nearly everyday when I pick up the girls at school we have some work of art to take home that they've done during the day. Some of you might remember a previous project Mommy and Daddy thoroughly enjoyed. Yesterday was no different, except it was... BEHOLD.

Theme: Red

Medium: Paint

Vehicle: Construction Paper

Here is Peyton's RED Heart.

She stayed classic while pulling on Mom's heartstrings. Grade: A+

And here is Grace's RED... bee fountain?!

While she stayed with the theme, I'm not really seeing a bee or a fountain or the color yellow.

Grade: A for creativity and cuteness

I asked her what a bee fountain was (while Daddy told me to stop patronizing her) and she told me, "A bee home is when the bees aren't there and a bee fountain is when the bees are there."

There you have it! Be sure to watch out for your local bee fountains and let the above picture be your summer guide.

A Different View

Sunday Rowan decided to change her view of the world.

"Look self, no hands!"
I was trying to prove to my grainy iPhone camera that she was in fact sitting without support.


What? No big deal. I sit all the time.

Hamming it up!

She's a happy girl!

The biggest thing we learned from Sunday: she's growing up WAY too fast!
Make it stop!

Conversations with Princesses

Ever wonder what Princesses talk about?

Looks like the world may never know!

Who Needs A Disco Ball?

Not my girls!

Check out Peyton's moves in the middle of the "princess" aisle at Target.

Rowan's 4 month check-up

I mean she's only almost 5 months old but it still needs to be recorded! We actually had our appointment on a Saturday morning (awesome right?) when Rowan was already 4 months and a week old and our doctor had to "cancel" (i.e. he decided he'd rather be off on a Saturday morning as opposed to working it). We rescheduled for the next Saturday June 24th. So I'm only 2 weeks late in posting this... To the stats!

She weighed 17lbs 4ozs and is in the 97th percentile.

She is about yea high and in the 95th percentile for height. (I need to go back and find her sheet)

Rowan was sick a week or so before this appointment so we had an inkling what the weight would hold and we were able to get over our shock then. We asked how such a young and darling infant could weight 17lbs (already) and he just laughed.

*side note: we are coming from a world of preemies - which means 4 1/2 lb babies who gained weight slowly so this is all a bit foreign to us even though we've done this before!

He said she was completely normal and given that her height percentile mirrored that of her weight she was right on track. We're not complaining... Just gives us more adorable baby to hug and kiss on!

We were curious what he thought of her gross motor skills since (not to brag) one of her teachers had told us the week prior that she was doing things at 4 months the 6 month olds were doing. We were very proud (and not shocked at all :)) when he pulled her up to a sitting position by raising her arms up and instead of sitting there she proceeded to skip the sitting and go straight to a stand! He was just looking to make sure she used her neck muscles to keep her head up. I think our Dr. was caught a little off guard! He proclaimed, "Yep, that's a 6 month skill!" We were proud parents that morning.

She did great with the 3 shots and crying lasted only a couple seconds. What a champ! Here are some things she did/is doing these days at almost 5 months old:

- She loves to sit up and will be doing so unassisted VERY soon. Gone are the days we can hold our baby, like a baby.

- She loves to play with her feet while she is laying on her back.

- All it takes is a big smile and you get one right back!

- She is grabbing things will such accuracy and determination you better watch out! Your hair is next!

- She is chewing on her fingers like crazy! We keep checking but no teeth yet. Mommy's not complaining, trust me!

- She is falling asleep around 7:00pm after she eats and will sleep until we all wake up at 6:00am.

- She loves her jumpy seat at home and at school.

-She LOVES to watch her sisters and smile at them as they talk/shout/hug/poke/sing to her.

- When she gets really tired she lets out these whines almost, kinda like she is yelling. It's pretty amusing (and cute) to mom and dad.

- Of late, she has been "talking" into our shoulders when we hold her. If you "talk back" into her neck/shoulder she'll answer you. It's super cute :)

Sardines

Check out these moves!

Rowan was in a great mood this morning (after waking up at 5:15am). How does a 4 month old express her jubilation for the upcoming day? Please see below.

Check out these moves!

I'm not sure if she's dancing or assisting the Memphis International Airport ground crew as they help a 757 taxi in... but whatever it is, it's cute!

Rowan's 1st zoo trip

We headed to the Memphis Zoo recently for Rowan's first visit. She really wanted to see all of Peyton and Grace's family and the only time the monkey's are out is in the morning before it gets hot.

So we decided to tell the girls we were going to a store that morning. Daddy put some Toy Story 2 on in the truck for their viewing pleasure. Once we arrived, Grace was the first to realize we weren't at the store... we were at the Zoo (aka home). Peyton quickly caught on and squeals ensued.

Rowan had on her hat and was sitting up like a big girl in the stroller.

She was THRILLED to be at the Zoo, can't you tell?

Actually, here is some proof she really did have a good time.

The girls needed some hats as well so Daddy stopped by the gift shop...

... and two red hats later we were ready to!

Here's Peyton and Grace checking out the flamingo's.



Daddy and the girls leading the way to Teton Trek.



By the time we made it to the Teton Trek, Rowan had had enough.

My secret for a baby that sleeps the night... check out those thighs!
She could sleep for a week if she wanted to!


Also at Teton Trek, one of the sweetest moments to date of the big girls.

Grace put her arm around Peyton and they stood like that for a minute or two.
I think/hope they realize how lucky they are to have one another.

On our way out we stopped by the monkeys where Mommy actually got in front of the camera for a change.


All in all, a great morning at the Zoo and an even better time hanging out as a family of five!

Where's Grace?

Peyton takes a moment to ponder, "where's Grace?"...

Playing croquet in the backyard of course!

Croquet Anyone?

Grace enjoying some 4th of July croquet this morning...