Easter Weekend

Ever and I read a story in the Friend that included a recipe for Easter rolls. You make the dough, then dip a marshmallow in butter and cinnamon and sugar and put it in the center of each roll. You then dip the top of the rolls in butter and cinnamon and sugar. The marshmallow represents Jesus's body in the tomb. When you bake the rolls, the marshmallows disappear. The rolls can be made on Good Friday, frozen until Saturday night, and baked on Easter Sunday morning, so it's pretty perfect. Ever, of course, wanted to make the rolls, and I agreed. We invited Ella Rondo to come over to play and make them with us Friday morning.

I was hoping to get them made while the littles took their morning nap. After a while, I started hearing Wren and knew she was awake, but I really wanted to finish the rolls (to the rising point) before I got her up. I was concerned about her taking off her clothes and diaper in her crib, as she's done I think twice before, but I forged ahead with the rolls. Ella finished her half and wanted to go out to play, so I told Ever I'd finish hers. They went outside, and I couldn't keep my fears about Wrenzy at bay any longer. I left the not-quite-finished rolls and went upstairs.

Sure enough, Wrenzy had taken off her clothes and diaper and pooped in her crib in two places. I'm going to go ahead and post pictures of  excrement here.

The damage was extensive. There were bits throughout, and it was smeared on the side of the crib in a couple of places. This was the worst of the crib-smearing:

I yelled at Wren, "No! No, Wren! You do not take your diaper off in your crib! No!" I carried her downstairs to the bath. (As I write this, I wonder why I did not put her in the upstairs bath. Habit, I guess, since I've been bathing them only downstairs for a long time.) It was a mess. I cleaned her up, with intermissions to clean the bathtub as necessary, knowing I'd come back and bathe her again to ensure she was clean. After the preliminary bath, I left her in the tub forever and ever. Tyna was crying, but she had to wait. I picked up the dung piles in the crib with the diaper, stripped Wren's bed, and tried to clean the crib. Ever and Ella had fun trying to sneak up on me and then laughing and asking each other if I'd seen them. It was pretty annoying to me, given my rage and what I was dealing with, but I was glad they were having fun and staying out of the way. Finally I fetched Tyna. Her diaper had soaked through. I changed her and took her clothes out to the laundry area. As I was on my way to the bathtub to get back to Wren, I smelled a pooper on Tyna. I changed her again and then finished up with Wren. She was pretty cold by the time I got her out, but I have to say - she was pretty amazing about staying in the bath for so long. 

I finished up the rolls, covered the pans with plastic wrap, and took this picture so I'd have a non-grotesque photo by which to remember the day:

Eventually I got out to the garage to deal with the bedding, etc. I threw away the new pillows Nanny had bought to go in the pillowcase she made, as at least one was definitely soiled. I rinsed the new pillowcase and quilt from Nanny and started laundry. Needless to say, that was not how I wanted to spend hours on Friday. Oh, also in the middle of all that, I was trying to frost the carrot cake cupcakes I'd made the night before for the Rondos' annual Easter party/flashlight Easter egg hunt Friday night.

The Rondos' party is significantly more convenient now that they live just up the street from us. Wren and Ever wore the bunny ears they'd made at the Y on Thursday, although Ever ditched hers somewhere along. The biggers got plenty of candy-filled eggs, in which Tyna was highly interested:

We left Wren alone for a while, and she consumed almost all of her candy:

It's a little sad that she's now familiar with treats because she's started asking for them all the time. Now I have two sugar-obsessed girls with whom to contend.

Saturday morning Jim and Ever went to building cleanup. Jim goes early (7:00 A.M., when it starts at 8:00) and spends about three hours there every Saturday during our month. Hardly anyone shows up, so he does most of it himself. It's crazy, but he doesn't seem to mind too much. We managed to squeeze in a good five-mile run before a baptism at 2:00 P.M. Then we ran an errand and got the girls to bed. 

Inspired by Ella, Ever had gotten really, really excited about the Easter Bunny and all the things she hoped he would leave her - particularly an Easter dress. I'm pretty sure the Easter Bunny had to do some late-night Target shopping to make dreams come true. He may have picked up groceries for the next day's dinner, too.

Ever was very happy Sunday morning. She went through her whole basket before I got up and then helped Wrenzy go through hers:

They each got a few good chocolate candies, a little bubble maker, an Easter dress (Ever got two because the Easter Bunny couldn't decide), and a bird that mimics you. Ever also got some size 4 undies because the Easter Bunny was hoping to trick her into wearing undies that fit. (She tried to convince me that the ones she had were too small and that she needed size 6. The size 6 ones sag and fall down and are completely indecent. She's constantly pulling them up but has refused to go back to wearing her old size 4 undies.) 

The Easter rolls worked out great. I had saved the leftover cream cheese frosting I made for the cupcakes, and that was key for Jim and me. With the frosting, the rolls were basically cinnamon rolls. Ever asked that we make them every Easter, and I think that sounds nice.

Like a good mom, I took a picture of the girls in their new dresses after church:

Jim gets Sunset magazine and recently saw a recipe for a "spring gallette." He decided we should have it for Easter dinner. He spearheaded the operation, and I was sous-chef. You saute a thyme/vegetable (leeks, asparagus) concoction and then bake it, with goat cheese, in a pie crust. I documented the final steps of the proceedings but did not get a picture of the (lovely) final product. 

Ever wondering what it was:

It was quite delightful. The girls, of course, weren't into it, but they did eat enough to earn dessert. 

That night Ever and I prayed together while Jim put Wrenzy down. She expressed gratitude for such a nice Easter and the bird she loves so much, or something like that, and afterward she told me she was sad to go back to school the next day because "today was so good." I think Easter was a success.

The Beginning of April

One of the best things Tyna does right now is this amazing scrunch-face smile. The full-blown scrunch is rather unattractive (but so cute at the same time). I haven't captured it yet, but this is a mild version:

One morning after the girls got up, they camped out on the floor of Wrenzy's room:

Wrenzy perfected her hair styling skills:

Tyna continued the cuteness:

Sometimes when I'm on the train home on Tuesday nights, Jim texts me pictures like this:

We hosted the big play date during spring break and had Ella, Ashton, and Luc over. Within a half hour, Ashton was totally bored and didn't mind telling me so. He asked repeatedly when his mom was coming and by the end was counting down the minutes. (Apparently he's into electronics, which I don't provide.) Luc mostly played Legos by himself, and that was sad. Ella and Ever really just wanted to be alone so they could play dress up. I kept everyone happy and busy very briefly with popcorn:

Ashton left a little early, much to his relief. Ever then had the bright idea to offer Luc money to play dress up. He agreed. Ella and Ever donned princess dresses, and Luc played their "princess dog." They all seemed to have a good time. When it was time for Luc to leave, he asked for his dollar, and Ever said she'd only offered a nickel. I was not involved in the negotiations; Ever had just popped her head in my room after Ashton left and said, "I paid Luc to play dress up." Anyway, Luc accepted the nickel, so a crisis was averted. 

Jim decided we needed to step up our family home evenings. so after a lesson on the sacrament last week (Ever chose the topic), we took Ever's bike and Wren's trike out for a spin. The evening was lovely, and Wren was so cute on her first real tricycle ride. She can't quite reach the pedals, so after one of the pedals hit her dangling foot, Jim had her put her feet up on the front of the trike. I couldn't get a clear picture on account of the movement.

We ditched the vehicles and walked a short way on the trail to the back of our house, too. I am never outside, especially in the evening, since I'm always trying to get the girls fed and to bed. It felt so good to be out - until we got home and the tired girls melted down and tried to ruin FHE night. It's really hard when your kids need to go to bed so early. I don't know how other people do activities and keep their kids up late all the time.

Tyna is starting to try to pull up on things, and she can get up on the stair in our entryway:

So far she hasn't nose-dived off the other side yet, but I know that moment is coming soon.

T-K Student of the Month

Mrs. Reese chose Ever to be the T-K student of the month for February. Before they went into class this morning, the school secretary (representing the principal, who was in a meeting) presented Ever with a certificate and an In-N-Out coupon for a free burger. (Ever was really excited about the In-N-Out.) Miss Debbie read a little tribute written by Mrs. Reese:

Mrs. Reese always tells me how on the ball Ever is, how she knows what's up, listens well, and remembers what she's told. She's amazing, and we're so proud. Her academic career seems to be off to a good start!

Conference Weekend / Wrenzy Turned 2

The Saturday of general conference weekend was disrupted by baby showers. I was supposed to attend one for my old roommate, Greta, in Costa Mesa at 11:30 and then one for a ward member, Kimberly Walker, in Oceanside at 2:00 P.M. I spent time Friday night and Saturday morning preparing a veggie tray and making cupcakes to contribute to the shower for Kimberly. (My master plan was to save half the cupcakes for Wren's birthday. We didn't need a whole batch for the birthday festivities, so I wanted to get rid of some at the shower.) Saturday morning we had conference on, but I couldn't focus very well on account of the food prep. I dropped the food at Melanie Karner's (where Kim's shower was being held) on my way to Greta's. I was really late leaving because of the food prep and the fact that I had to take all the girls with me. (Jim was on backup call, which meant he probably wouldn't have to work but had to be able to go in right away if called. Thus, I couldn't get a babysitter, and I couldn't leave the kids. It was very unfortunate.) Then there was traffic, of course. Greta got teary when she saw me, which was nice and made me glad I went. I realized rather immediately that I needed to prioritize Greta's shower and stay for a bit. After all, we've known each other for almost 20 years. We stayed until she was a good way through present opening. I spent most of the event dealing with children - changing two dirty diapers, helping them with food, cleaning them up, catching vomit (Tyna had a serious barfing episode while Greta was opening my gift), trying to get them (Wren) to stop crying, etc. They were all so tired, and Wren just melted down before we left. It was rough. Then there was insane traffic on the way home. The last 23 miles took about a million years. Tyna was hungry and tired and just screamed the last stretch. Obviously I missed Kimberly's shower entirely, which was fine. Not the most relaxing general conference Saturday, but it was nice to see and support Greta.

On Sunday Paul, Susan, Luc, and Amelie came over and went for a walk with us between sessions. We took the path down to the grassy park area by Rancho del Oro. It was a pretty, warm day.

Ever by the flowers, and a very small Luc at the top of the hill: 

We picnicked at the park:

Luc, Amelie, and Ever used teamwork to carry and hoist a giant stick to hit the branches of this tree:

After we got back to the house, Jim and I put all the girls to bed and watched the afternoon session of conference. 

We had Nanny and Papa over for Wren's birthday festivities that evening. (Jeremy and Trish ended up not being able to come.) We had a very modest dinner of crockpot beef and broccoli, which, turned out, was probably only enjoyed by Nanny and Papa. Then we sang, had cupcakes, and opened presents.

We gave Bear the doll we were going to give her for Christmas but didn't because she didn't show enough interest in her presents. (It's the same doll Ever got for her birthday.) Now they can play together. We also gave her a tricycle (hence the helmet), which Ever commandeered and rode around the house for a few days. Nanny gave her a pillow and quilt she made, along with a stuffed rabbit. It was a lovely gift by Nanny and also wonderful to have them join us to celebrate.

I need to start writing about the girls on their birthdays to capture what they are like at each age. So Wren at two: she's a tiny little thing - taller than average, I think, but light. I'm pretty sure she's weighed 22 pounds forever. She adores both her sisters; she mimics Ever and dotes on Tyna. She's no pushover and will fight for what she thinks is hers. She learned to say "thank you" early on, and she says it all the time, unprompted, in the sweetest little voice. She's also good at "you're welcome" (or just "welcome"). Often I say, "Good job, Bear," and she responds, "Welcome." She's a good helper, and she's good at cleaning up. Sometimes she puts things away after she's done playing with them without my asking. An illustration: I was doing the breakfast dishes yesterday while Wrenzy was playing with the Frozen matching game on the table. Out of nowhere, she said, "Thank you," drawing out the "a" how she does. I didn't know why she said it, but then she continued, "Thank you wash the bib." (I was washing her bib at the time.) I didn't know she was even aware of what I was doing. It was the sweetest thing. Then I brushed her hair, and - possibly because of the very positive response she'd received to the bib thing - she said, "Thank you brush the hair." To really put it over the top, she proceeded to clean up the matching game by herself, without being asked, and put it away (I showed her which drawer). My joy was full.

She often uses past tense, like "I wanted to get up" or "I wanted to brush." Sometimes it's present tense, though: "I make a big mess." She's constantly asking, "What dis, Mom?" or "Who dat?" or "Why?" She knows a million words but never, ever, ever says the word "yes." She answers every question by saying "no" or by repeating all or a portion of the question. Jim's been trying to run the Roomba every night after we put the kids to bed, so she tells me, "Daddy come home, turn Moomba on." She's terrified of the Roomba and will rush into my arms if he turns it on when she's around. She is my mini-me, and she has a tongue thrust as I did. She likes reading. At bed we read a book (unless she loses the privilege by being uncooperative during bedtime preparations), and then I ask her what song she wants to sing. She says, "Jesus Wants a Bean-Bean." (We call hair bands and green beans "bean-beans," so somehow "sunbeam" became "bean-bean.") When I finish "Jesus Wants a Bean-Bean," she says, "I want 'Temple,'" referring to "I Love to See the Temple." She's feisty and funny, and everything out of her mouth is the cutest thing I've ever heard. It's like Sting's line "every little thing she does is magic" was written about Wrenzy. 

The Rest of March

The remainder of March in pictures and videos:

Sometimes Bear does not like to let me brush her teeth. She's gotten better, especially when I say she's not going to get a bedtime book if she doesn't let me brush. But still sometimes this happens:

She likes to play with the bottle parts when I leave them on the counter to dry. It's hard to explain how much I love this face:

(Sorry for the repetitive photos. I have a really hard time narrowing down pictures of the girls.)

Ever and Wren played "swaddle jail":

Tyna put in a little more time in the jump station, although she doesn't love it as she once did. 

She prefers motoring around now. She has been getting up on her knees but is not crawling yet:

Instead she drags her body around as Wren did. She pushes off with her toes and can make good time when she wants to. I tried to get a video of her, but she just stopped and looked cute for me instead:

Sometimes Wrenzy joins Tyna, which I love. Ever sort of ruined this drag race by barking orders the whole time, but whatever:

Tyna's motility causes problems sometimes. She ended up under the bathroom vanity one day ...

... and stuck under the chaise lounge another:

Tyna often heads for the play room:

I love when she's in there alone and I hear the music from this dance pad the girls got for Christmas: 

She's not the one I imagined using that.

Speaking of holidays past, Ever rediscovered the doll that she got for her birthday and has been neglecting since a few days after receipt, so that was nice. Wrenzy was a fan:

The girls continued to enjoy Handel's "Hallelujah."

Carmen may have taken the place as their favorite, though:

Ever finished soccer. She enjoyed playing goalie a few times and made some good stops. They all got medals after the last game to commend them for their participation (Ever's coach is the tall guy behind her):

The Y had an end-of-soccer-season BBQ/pool party that afternoon of the last game. I took Wren and Ever in the pool, which was fun for them. I don't think Ever is going to play soccer again soon, but it was good for her. She wants to return to dance, and we'd like to keep our Saturdays free for hiking, etc. I need to find her a weekday dance class. 

I feel bad about never doing anything with the girls, so we stopped at Buddy Todd park on the way home from Ever's school. Ever has decided that Buddy Todd is for babies, and she's too big for it (which is so weird because I distinctly remember taking her there when she was about Wrenzy's age). Nevertheless, I think it was nice for them to get outside and play for a little while. I enjoyed the flowers:

Reading and twinning in Arkotyke tees:

I let them entertain themselves with Jim's ties one day:

Jim wasn't super pleased about the prospect of having to hang them all back up, but I think Ever put them away by herself with the help of a stool.

We've been doing Wednesday afternoon play dates with the Rondos and the Yateses (both families are in our neighborhood now) and sometimes the Martindales. The kids did a short bike (Ever and Ella)/scooter (Ashton) ride when we hosted, while Wrenzy pushed the little stroller:

Ella and Ever smelled the little white flowers (jasmine?) that had crept over a fence:

The Goodwins were back in town for their spring break, and Rachael brought Addi and Lincoln over briefly at the end of the big play date:

Ever had her 5-year-old checkup. She's around around the 50th percentile for height and the 30th percentile for weight. She's getting so big and grown-up, although not big enough for her taste. She weighs herself a lot and desperately yearns to gain a few more pounds so she can qualify for a booster seat. 

For St. Patrick's Day, I made the girls green banana chocolate muffins (recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, where I get nearly all my recipes). Spinach provided the food coloring, and I used half wheat flour. The girls didn't mind - I'm pretty sure because of the chocolate chips I added. 

Tyna donned a burp-cloth hat during one of our Saturday jaunts:

On Dr. Seuss day at school, Ever's class had green eggs and ham. She came home raving about the food and later asked me for eggs. When she was younger, I tried more than once to give her scrambled eggs. She always rejected them, so I gave up long ago. So now I figured she would reject them again when I made them at home, but it was worth a shot. In case the food coloring had something to do with the appeal of the eggs at school, I used it at home, too. She and Wren gobbled them up, and we had green eggs multiple times. Dr. Seuss changed our lives.

Wrenzy doted on Tyna:

Wrenzy and Ever officially became the worst breakfast-eaters ever. This day breakfast seriously stretched out over a period of three hours:

They ate. They made a mess. They said they were done. They went outside to see Nathan for a while. They came back in. They said they were still hungry. They wanted to keep eating forever and ever. It was so annoying. I really don't want to spend my entire morning feeding kids and cleaning up their breakfast mess multiple times.

There was a parent/student dance at Ever's school on a Friday afternoon to raise money for the PTA or something. Ever wanted to go, and I felt bad about not contributing to any of the other fundraisers they've had. So I took all the girls. Ever's teacher, Mrs. Reese, walked in with us. She later told me that we stuck out like a sore thumb. No other T-K kids were there. When we arrived, everybody was sitting on the side eating pizza; no one was on the dance floor. Mrs. Reese called out, "I can only stay for one dance, so anybody who wants to dance needs to come out and dance with me now!" She got the DJ to play a fun song, and she got the party going (that's Mrs. Reese in jeans and a blue top next to Ever):

Ever had most of a piece of pizza, and Wren polished it off:

Someone gave them lollipops, and Wren ate hers out on the dance floor:

There was a raffle. The DJ called the numbers before and after ours, but we didn't win. Wrenzy watched the action from the back:

Ever and Wren spent a lot of time right up by the stage/speakers in front of the DJ. He went over and gave them tops, and they played with those for a while:

There were some fun group dances. Ever got to learn the macarena. She had a good time, so assuming Tyna hasn't suffered permanent hearing loss, I'm glad we went.

JoAnn came over to give Wren birthday presents, one of which was pink sunglasses.

This inspired Ever to bust out her long-ignored glasses:

(Yes, Wrenzy turned two. No, we did not acknowledge it until April. Originally we were going to have the Wilsons over the Sunday after her birthday to celebrate, but we had to postpone it a week because of a Wilson scheduling issue.)

The Young Women did a girls' camp fundraiser. They did an amazing job. The setup included tents, trees, camp signs, crickets chirping, lanterns, and stars. They served camp-inspired food like hot dogs, potatoes, and chili and did a dessert auction. This meant that kids whose parents didn't buy a dessert in the auction did not get dessert, so there were some distraught children. There was face painting for the kids. I think Wren was supposed to be a deer:

Wrenzy annoyed Ever by asking her 100 times, "Do you want a [partially eaten] carrot?"

We found a pretty little path on one of our runs:

Ever watched the women's session of general conference with me at home, and then we went for Baskin Robbins:

Ever started asking Jim and me to make her homework. A few nights in a row, Jim found some kindergarten/first grade homework sheets and printed them out so she could work on them the next morning. The first couple days, she said it was too easy. The first grade homework was more challenging - adding double-digit numbers, completing missing letters in words, telling time (we didn't end up doing the time one). She needed help that day, so she brought it into the bathroom so I could help her while I bathed Tyna:

These girls. Sometimes I cry because I love them so much.