September

We girls didn't leave the house much in September (or October or November). Here's the month in pictures:

Tyna slept a lot downstairs during the day. She is reminiscent of Ever in this picture:

She also continued to smile and look like Eric Stonestreet:

One day Ever asked to hold her and then began tenderly singing a Primary song to her:

Jim started a tradition of watching Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday mornings. I always have too much to do to get ready for church, so I don't get to sit and enjoy it. I like the tradition, though.

The goodbye ritual around here has developed into something quite amazing. I've mentioned this before, but now Wren is involved, too. Ever follows the car out to the road and then waves and screams, "Bye! I love you!" until the car is out of sight. Jim (or I, on those rare occasions when I leave and the girls stay home) waves and yells, "Bye! I love you!" for the same duration. As of September, Wrenzy would stay in the doorway, wave, and yell, "Bye!" As I write this in December, however, I can say that she now usually goes out into the garage but stops at the top of the driveway. Sometimes her screams of "Bye!" are very forceful and funny. This video doesn't really capture the girls in their best form, but it gives an idea:

Jim had a man cold for a few weeks. He thought he was getting better, and then he took a turn for the worse. He was burning up but felt freezing, so he watched a movie like this: 

He started to get really concerned that it was something serious, like leukemia or tuberculosis (to which he had recently been exposed by a patient), and ended up going into the hospital early one morning. Our home teacher, Eric Johnson, and good friend, Eric Perkins, came over in the five o'clock hour to give him a blessing, and then Eric P. drove him to the hospital. I started to get a little freaked out, but tests came back normal, thank goodness. It took a long time, but he eventually recovered his health. Worst sickness he's had.

Wrenzy started "jumping" on the couch. She just gets enough air that she can get her legs out from under her, and then she lands on her bottom. It's like a seat jump on a trampoline. She was kind of trying to jump on the floor once, and I made the mistake of encouraging her by saying, "Jump!" She did, landing on her bottom, and I don't think it was super comfortable. 

I tried to get a video of her jumping on the couch, but she just started spazzing with her arms and not actually jumping with her legs at all (à la my all-time favorite video of cousin Betsy when she was around the same age):

Ever started preschool at Little Bugs. She's doing the Monday/Wednesday class again, plus pre-k on Fridays. We were about 15 minutes late on her first day, so we got a clear shot with the "welcome" sign:

After we took that picture, when it was time for me to leave her, she started crying and clinging to me. I really had a hard time getting rid of her. When I picked her up at noon, she was happy and said she'd made a friend named Gigi. She continued to have a hard time in the mornings for weeks, though. I'm afraid she's like her parents in social situations, and it's hard for her to walk into a room full of people she doesn't know well. 

She continued taking dance class at the Y. Jim would sometimes meet us there so he could watch the end of her class. We took the girls to In-N-Out after one of her classes. Ever was nuts for the burgers, while Wren was partial to the fries.

Sometimes Wren gives the sweetest snuggles:

Random picture of Tyna in a trance:

Feeding children continues to be the bane of my existence. One day I was trying to make dinner, but Wrenzy couldn't survive that long without food. I got her a snack of cantaloupe and yogurt to tide her over and get her to stop yelling at me. She made this mess, after which I had to clean her and the high chair, etc., only to put her back in shortly thereafter for dinner: 

Another day, Wrenzy broke her peanut butter sandwich into little pieces, smashed them together into a ball, and then pulled it apart again and ate some of it. 

Ever taught Tyna the art of the selfie:

Ever needed to get her teeth cleaned, and I took all three girls to Ever's appointment. I was so scared, but they did great. I was very proud.

I let Ever and Wren play in the front area for a few minutes before we left. They couldn't get the electronics to work very well but enjoyed them anyway:

Tyna waited patiently (and a little sternly):

Paul and Susan Oddou moved into Gary and Jane's house up the street while Gary and Jane were in France and Paul and Susan's kitchen was being renovated. It was fun having them closer for a little while. They had Ever over to play one afternoon and enjoyed a new game where people kick the ball over/near the seesaw, and sometimes the seesaw riders get hit. 

It was hilarious to watch. It's all fun and games until someone gets hurt:

Wren spent some time reading in her room with a really bad hairdo:

Then she came downstairs and took care of cute Tyna:

She is very good at wiping Tyna's mouth when she spits up, giving her toys, etc. I don't know what's up with the arabesques here:

This was another day, when Ever was adoring Tyna:

We got some real rain for the first time in a million years. Ever got to bust out the rain boots she got from Auntie Trisha and family for her last birthday:

The squirrels ate pretty much all of our apples this summer. I picked one prematurely so I could try it before the squirrels did. Ever polished it off and made me proud (you can barely spot the teeny tiny core):

Tyna at two-and-a-half months:

I made the mistake of trying to make the guest room bed when Wrenzy was awake. She had a lot of fun on it.

At a friend's suggestion, we started letting Ever earn pom-poms when she does something good, and she gets a movie night when she fills her jar. We watched Despicable Me for her first movie night. With her giant bowl of popcorn and her jar of pom-poms:

Ever found out from Oddous that she could get her own library card, and she just obsessed about it until we finally got to the library to get her one. It's hard to explain how much it takes for me to do a little excursion like that. We've never been back since, but hey - Ever's got a card. The girls at the fountain by the library:

The Primary program was on Sunday, September 25. Ever was asked to tell who her favorite scripture hero is and why. When I asked her, she said Nephi. I thought she was talking about Nephi, the son of Lehi, in the beginning of The Book of Mormon. When I asked her why, she said something about how he could do anything. Turns out she was talking about Nephi, the son of Helaman. I have no idea why she thought of him. We hadn't read that for a long time; we were reading Bible stories then. (Her memory always amazes me. When we read scripture stories before bed, she always says, "Ooh, I love this one!" She says it about pretty much every story. I generally think she's lying just to get me to read more. Today, though, we finished a Bible story, and I said the next one was "Joshua." She said, "I love that one! I love when they march around." Turns out she totally remembered the Jericho story.) Anyway, the majority of the kids said Jesus was their scripture hero. Nobody else picked Nephi, the son of Helaman. Here's her talk:

Monday morning, September 26, there was a big lizard in the middle of our kitchen. It just sat there, right in the way. I wanted it gone but of course couldn't bring myself to deal with it. I hoped it would stay there until someone else would take care of it for me. It was stationary for an incredibly long time. Then I got too close to it, and it scurried under the toe kick and eventually behind the fridge. 

As we were waiting for Susan to pick Ever up for preschool, I spotted something on the top of her head. When Susan arrived, we looked through her hair together and confirmed - ukus (lice). The thing I spotted was a nit. Mel and Susan had both dealt with ukus recently (Mel more than once), so they coached me through it. Susan picked up the treatment from Sprouts for me. Mel came over to help me get started on it. I mentioned cutting Ever's hair, and Ever was totally on board. I lopped a bunch off very quickly, and then Mel started the treatment. She said nothing really kills all the nits; you just have to comb them all out. While Mel was working on Ever, the lizard friend darted back out into the kitchen. Mel asked if she could take it home to Christian. I was thrilled that she was willing to catch it. I gave her a cup, and she went after it. It touched her at one point, and she screamed. Then she said, "Your house is so exciting today!" She got it into the cup and then transferred it into a jar, which sat on the counter until she had to leave. Gecko in the foreground, uku lady in the back:

I put a show on for Ever to watch while we worked on her. She thought having ukus was the best thing that could ever happen to her. For real. 

She sat naked on that stool for hours - all afternoon, until after the sun went down. I combed and combed, and sometimes I had to leave her to deal with other children. She was amazing.

I never saw an adult uku, and I managed to get all the nits in that one treatment. (Once in a while, it pays to be a crazy perfectionist.) I did a second treatment a couple days later just to be safe, but I never saw anything else. Hallelujah.

That night I pulled the van out of the garage and saw a ton of droppings under it. Miraculously, Terminix was coming for a regular service the next day. The technician determined that rats were getting into Jim's topper for the lawn, which was in front of the van. He set a couple of traps. Jim later moved out the bags the rats were getting into. A couple days later, I spotted a big fat rat in one of the traps. It was so incredibly disgusting. I tried not to look at it as I went in and out of the garage, and eventually Jim took care of it. We haven't seen another since, thank heavens. We had just dealt with two rounds of pin worms. Then ukus and rats. It was a rough time. (Only to get worse in October with pantry moths.)

Let's end on a more pleasant note. Ever dressed Wren in princess clothes for the first time.

Wren quickly became very angry about the dress, so it was removed after a couple minutes. Ever remained in her Cinderella dress, however. They went outside to play, and I got this amazing picture of Ever on the swing and Wren doing peek-a-boo from the slide:

One last note: This summer may have been the peek of Ever's obsession with the neighbor boy, Nathan Cicanek, and his with her. Ever's goodbye ceremony with Jim each morning became an excuse to look for Nathan (who just turned two in July). If one of them heard or saw the other outside, they'd want to get together. Ever would run outside to watch the garbage trucks on Thursday and the street sweeper on Friday. Nathan was always out there with Scott, so she'd end up hanging out with them. Once I told her she could go watch the truck, and then when I passed the windows on my way upstairs, I saw her sitting at the end of Cicaneks' driveway with Nathan and Scott. They had her over to swim a number of times. She was always trying to go outside to see Nathan. It became a real problem for me because I always had the littles to deal with, change, feed, put to bed, etc., and was never available to go outside with her or to watch Nathan if he came our direction. So Ever would always end up in the care of Scott and Rebecca. Plus if Ever was playing outside, Wren wanted to go, and it just became a nightmare. I do, however, love how much they love each other. They are really cute together. Ever is really good with him and lets him boss her around. She says, "Hi, Nathan" and "Bye, Nathan." She is always so shy with other people and certainly never calls them by name. Nathan doesn't even talk much, but they have so much fun together. Once in a bedtime prayer, Ever said, "Thank you sooooooooo much for our nice neighbors." It was really sweet. We're so lucky to have them next door.

The Rest of August

The rest of August, in pictures (because I remember nothing that wasn't recorded):

Ever loves to help me bake. She LOVES batter/dough. Any kind. Even french bread dough. We made caramel brownies to take somewhere, and she spent more than 15 minutes scraping and licking. No batter left behind:

Wren is adventurous. It's a little scary. Jim let her climb on the play set before she could really walk. I told him to watch her (meaning stay right with her so he could catch her if she fell), and he said, "I am." This was happening, and Jim was nowhere near:

Wren is obsessed with belly buttons. If she and Ever are in the bath together, she goes for Ever's piko (one of the few Hawaiian words we use) over and over. Ever likes it, but it's a little weird. Here, she checks out her own:

Aven Dalton, Ever's nine-year-old friend, still likes to play. I had her over once in August, figuring that since I can't seem to leave the house, I might at least bring in a little diversion. The girls sported matching jumpsuits/rompers:

Tyna, being alert:

Resting:

Wrenzy reading, Mardi Gras-style:

Ever proudly posing with the completed Frozen puzzles she got from Auntie Dawn:

Wrenzo looking her finest:

Sisters:

For the first time, I put on Baby Bach or something for the big girls to watch while I cooked dinner one day. They seem to get so needy around 4:00 P.M. when I'm trying to get dinner done (on those occasions I cook). One day I finally couldn't take it anymore and realized I had to turn on a show if I wanted to get it done. The show consisted of numbers and shapes flying slowly across the screen while classical music played. Wrenzy was mesmerized:

When Ever saw what was happening, she joined the party, equally excited:

Wrenzy has the best expressions:

Tutu gave Ever 100-piece puzzles, and she finished them all by herself:

I took a selfie with the baby once so that my posterity will know I existed:

Aardvark is the happiest, most smiley baby. I was trying to capture her smiles one night, and Ever wanted in on the action:

Feeding children is a nightmare because they are picky and messy. So messy. A lot of each day is spent feeding and cleaning up after feeding. (And to think - in the next month I have to start feeding solids to another baby!!!) When left alone with Honey Bunches of Oats, Wrenzy got them all over her hair, face, and everywhere else.

It's hard to watch:

Yogurt is the worst, and unfortunately I give it to her nearly every day because it's pretty much her only source of calcium:

Ever congratulates Wren on a job well done (mess well made?):

This face:

Sometimes it's incredibly hard being the parent of small children. They can make me crazy. They bring out a temper I never knew I had. The whining, crying, fighting, screaming, sassing, dirty diapers, disobedience - SO HARD. One really bad day culminated in Ever and Wren's breaking a small Pyrex dish. Having to clean this up was just the cherry on top:

On the other hand, these girls can be so incredibly sweet. One day I went upstairs to put away laundry and returned to find Ever reading to Tyna, who seemed to be enjoying it:

Ever loves her sisters.

Wrenzy started talking. In the last couple months, she's had a word explosion. One of her first words was "hello":

Ever continued her dance class at the Y. Mad skills:

Auntie Dawn gave us a book of "You Are My Sunshine," where you can record yourself reading the story. Ever and I recorded ourselves singing it, and we dedicated it to Wren and Arden. Wren was really into it when we showed it to her. I tried to record her bopping, but then the dancing stopped and turned into a brief sister snuggle session that Ever clearly loved:

We went on a family run for the first time in a long time and hit the traditional smoothie place afterward. Wrenzy's quite the card:

Tyna slept:

Wren tried an acai bowl for the first time:

Ever always gets strawberry banana:

Note the woman in the mechanized chair behind Ever in the above picture. Upon ordering, she maneuvered herself into a position near the counter, out of the way of people going in and out, and close to our table. Jim, whispering, asked me if we should invite her to sit with us. He asked a few times. I didn't know. Then he said we needed to, and he asked me to do it. (I was closer, and he had Wrenzy on his lap.) I was a little uncomfortable, but I went up to the woman and said something like, "It looks like you've got a good spot here, but you're welcome to join us at our table. We've got room." She accepted, and we chatted with her until we finished. Her name is Kathleen. She lives in an assisted-living facility near the smoothie place. She has a son in Orange County. She asked all about our girls and admired them. We told her we go there a lot on Saturdays, and maybe we'd see her again. We told her to have a good day. She said something like, "It is now." I was so grateful that Jim felt prompted to reach out to her. The really unfortunate news is that we didn't make it out for another run for months after that, so we haven't seen her again. But I'm so grateful that we got to brighten her morning that day. I imagine she's very lonely. I love my husband.