I apologize in advance

Let me apologize in advance for anything that Daniel says to you that may be rude or offensive. Like most kids and many men, the boy has no filter whatsoever. But somehow he's so cute that people are willing to overlook his comments :) Here are a few from this week alone:

• At the gym, he was asking me the name of the child care worker. I asked which one he meant. He replied "The big fat one. I don't know the fat one's name." I calmly told him I thought he was referring to Miss Nancy, then grabbed him and made a dash for the car, hoping she didn't hear us. In the car we had a talk about calling people "fat". Hopefully it got through.
• At Harris Teeter, he looked at the very heavy 70-year-old woman ahead of us and said "Wow, you have a baby in your tummy! There's a baby under your shirt!". The poor woman just smiled at him.
• At the gym a black car pulled up beside us and he said "Look, it's Boo Boo's car!" I asked him how he knew it was Boo Boo's car and he said "Because that car is black and Boo Boo is black." The girls and I explained to him that people's skin doesn't match their cars, giving our gold van as an example. Then, out stepped an African American man from the car, and totally blew our theory. Daniel yelled "See, the black man came out of the black car! I told you black guys drive black cars!" Another moment of me wanting to disappear....
• We walked past a VERY tall man in Harris Teeter and Daniel looked up at him and exclaimed "Hey Guy, you are VERY big!!! Look at him, Mommy! He's so much bigger than we are!"
• While Daniel was watching basketball last weekend, I kept hearing him say "That guy has a tampon". I couldn't figure out what on earth he was talking about! I finally realized that he thought the players' tattoos were stamps, and since he can't say the "st" sound, he was calling them tamps....So the players had a "tamp on". It's been pretty funny since then, when he's seen someone with a tattoo and said "Hey, you have a tampon!" That will bring some funny looks from a big tough guy :)

Welcome, Spring!!!

I feel like I have been glowing all week! With weather like this, you just can't help but be HAPPY! We've had a whole week with no sickness (quick, find some wood to knock on!) and have enjoyed several impromptu playdates with friends. It's really amazing what sunshine and friends can do for one's spirit! Below are some recent pictures:

The kids are LOVING their swimming lessons at Charlotte Aquatics. Everyone there is so wonderful!

Lexi has enjoyed the great bike-riding weather. She's the ONLY one that enjoys riding bikes now, so I find times to sneak out with just her for a quick ride on the weekend.

What would Dave do without his helper when mowing the lawn?

My little gardeners :) They each chose seeds to plant and painted their pots.

Jr. Choir Performance

For years, Emily has been waiting for 1st grade so she would be old enough for the Jr. Choir at church, made up of 1st and 2nd graders. She's enjoyed choir practice every Wednesday night all school year, and was so excited to get a part in a duet in the end-of-year performance! The musical was about 40 minutes long but I edited it down to under 5 minutes for the blog :) The 2nd song in is where she sings her duet.

Tap Dancing Fools

I knew I was in trouble as soon as I pointed out the "boys' tap shoes" to Daniel at a consignment sale today. His eyes lit up and he said "BOYS' tap shoes????" It was immediately clear that we weren't leaving without those tap shoes. It doesn't matter how many action figures and trucks I showed him at the sale, he only had eyes for those tap shoes. So of course as soon as we got home, he got to dancing. He LOVES tap dancing!!! He gets such a kick out of the noise he can make!

Prince Charming

Daniel's new hero and favorite character is Prince Charming. When the girls play Polly Pockets, he always takes the boy one and pretends to be Prince Charming. The same goes for Barbies. He also has decided that he's going to BE Prince Charming when he grows up. We've had many discussions about him living in a castle with his princess, how he's going to love her and yet still come to visit Mommy and Daddy. He seriously talks about this all the time! I got one of our conversations on video below....

It can only get better from here!

I think we've had every single infection and bug going around this year. Wednesday night Daniel threw up all night, then Friday night was the twinnies' turn. Sidenote--I'm not sure I've seen those 2 in a sadder state than when they were both huddled around the "puke bucket" between their beds throwing up together :( Awful. Monday night it was my turn and I really couldn't move all day Tuesday. Thank goodness Dave was able to work from home and the kids were able to fend for themselves. I finally was able to keep sips down and get out of bed around 3:30pm. It's a good thing I started to feel a little better because Tuesday night Emily started in--in the top bunk, of course. We now owe the library a good bit of money from the library books she threw up all over. She was feeling so sick that she refused to come down from the top bunk, but meanwhile was throwing up all over her bed and it was running down to Lainey's bed on the bottom bunk. I finally had to drag her vomit-soaked 45lb body down the ladder and into the bathroom. She spent the rest of the night on the floor in our room with a trash can next to her. I'm now on my 30th load of laundry in the past week. The washer and drier have been going around the clock for days now! At least the end is in sight....with myself and the kids almost over the stomach bug, that just leaves Dave. And hopefully he can be a little neater if he does get it, and not create so much laundry for me :)

Sickness, you've worn out your welcome!

This has to be the sickest year in history. Our pediatrician and my facebook friends' updates tell me that our family is not alone in this. Everyone's sick! We kicked off the school year with the swine flu in early October and I feel like it's been one thing after another since. Of course Daniel's propensity for unexplained fevers doesn't help--that poor boy is the embodiment of the "weak white male" cliche! As I was cleaning up vomit all through the night last night, it occurred to me that I don't think we have played with friends since early January. We have missed more church this year than any year before, we've dropped out of playgroup, and lost touch with most friends! Yesterday we saw a curly-haired boy at the store and Daniel was sure it was Holt--he hasn't seen Holt in so long I don't think he could pick him out of a lineup! He asked me recently if we'll ever play with Brody again...I think it's been about 2 months since he's played with his best buddy. Our social life has shriveled and died. I finally made it to a MOMS club event recently and got countless compliments on my new haircut....that I got 2 months ago. Yes, it's been ages since we've seen friends.
Our track record shows me that spring and summer are no healthier for us. We've had just as many ear infections and stomach bugs in the middle of the summer.
But, it could be worse. I'm convinced that when the kids are teenagers they won't be so sick. Instead of up at night snuggling my poor sick babies I'll be up worried about their whereabouts. So I'll take a little (okay, a LOT) vomit if it means another day snuggling with these precious kids. And hopefully my friends will still be there when this is all over.... :)

Not everything makes a good hand-me-down...

Lainey's new favorite hand-me-down shirt is this "I'm the Big Sister of Twins" shirt :) Of course, it's funny because the message is not true, but also when I think back to the fact that this fit Emily when the twins were born and she was 23 months old....And now it fits Lainey when she is less than 2 months from turning 5!!! I looked in their baby books and realized that indeed, Emily weighed at 2 years what Lainey weighs now! So thanks again, Lisa, as you can see we're still getting enjoyment from this shirt :) And of course it only adds to the confusion when people constantly think that Daniel and Lexi are twins and Lainey is older....Good luck trying to convince them of the truth when she's wearing this shirt!

Growing up too fast!

When Emily lost that last tooth on Sunday night, she woke up the next morning with a new tooth grown in!!! Literally, overnight the new tooth grew in and filled that space. I didn't even get a DAY with my toothless girl!!! Boo hoo...she's growing up way too fast! (and yes, ONE tooth grew in where 2 came from...not sure how that works out...)

Viruses

It's official: our family wasn't able to dodge the stomach bug going around. Last night I awoke to Daniel next to my bed puking all over me. Poor guy just can't catch a break! He goes from one sickness to the next! He was up most of the night throwing up, but learned to cry in time for me to rush him to the bathroom. Meanwhile, Dave and I STILL have pink eye (this is like 2 weeks for me and 3 for him). It's viral so we can't take drops for it, but I wish it would go away already!!! I'm so tired of waking up with my eyes crusted shut!
I'll be doing laundry and sanitizing today (in between getting puked on) and hopefully the girls can avoid it. I know, fat chance.

Quirky kids

Since I have a slight children's book addiction and my kids LOVE to be read to, we spend the majority of our days reading (and reading and reading). The funny thing that I've noticed lately, however, is that I can read a book just once to them and the younger 3 will have it memorized! They then incorporate book lines in their daily conversation (sometimes in context and sometimes just randomly). It feels like a constant game of "name that book" as I try to figure out where the line came from!
Some recent examples:
We were talking about all of Emily's loose teeth and Lexi starts in with a story..."One day I bit into a peach and I felt my tooth wiggle. I didn't know teeth could wiggle. I called for Mom and Dad. They told me that when little critters get bigger their baby teeth get loose and fall out." It took me a minute to realized that this was not her own story, but a page out of a Little Critter book!
Another example was at lunchtime when Daniel and Lexi were fighting over a chair. Lexi shouted "I wouldn't sit next to you if you were the last bear on earth!" This one was from a Berenstain Bears book.
I especially like it when they include the "said so-and-so" part. Example: Lexi was eating lunch and out of nowhere said "Why, are you scared?" teased Brother Bear. :)
When the girls were tested for kindergarten, the psychologist commented on how amazing their memories are but I had never really noticed until lately. I wish I could commit something to memory so easily after just hearing it once!
So next time you're around my twins and hear them say something that doesn't sound like an original idea, good luck trying to figure out what book it came from!

Another one bites the dust

Emily pulled out a tooth tonight! After she lost the one last Sunday, the one next to it got really loose. Tonight I offered to pull it, but she said she'd do it herself. A minute later I heard her yelling "I pulled my tooth!!! I pulled my tooth!!!" She was running around screaming that, SOO excited! This was followed by "Now I get to stay up an extra 20 minutes and eat an ice pop!!!!" Somehow this has turned into a tradition in our home...pull the tooth right before bed and get an extra 20 minutes and ice pop. :) This is her 4th tooth that has happened that way! (the 5th occurred during dinner). I'm enjoying my toothless little girl while it lasts, because those top teeth are already growing in and pretty soon she's going to have her grown up teeth....it happens too fast!

All the world's a stage....

Long video, but I thought Grammie would like seeing Lexi dance :) She's a nut!

Another lost tooth!

Emily is ALWAYS looking for an excuse to stay up past her bedtime. She's also figured out that losing a tooth is a surefire way to get an extra 20-30 minutes at night. So she's had this dangling front tooth for a while now but doesn't let me touch it during the day. Last night, as we were walking to her room to tuck her in, as a last ditch effort to stay up she said "MOM! Pull out my tooth!!". I grabbed it and with one quick tug it was out and she was running downstairs to get a popsicle :) Check out her new toothless grin...I guess the pain of having a tooth pulled out is nothing compared to the joy of an extra 30 minutes at night with Mom, Dad, and an ice pop :)