Picky Eaters

My girls have taken "picky eater" to a whole new level.  This is totally new territory for me.  The boys ate everything I put in front of them.  If they didn't like it....well, tough cookies.  Eat it anyway or starve.  I didn't play that game. 

Not sure what really changed.  Maybe with the more children I have the more relaxed and laid back I get?  Or is it they are girls and I'm more lenient with them?  What ever it is, they don't eat if they don't want to.  If it's new or different....not interested. 

This is how Maya eats her toast.  Yeah, most kids don't want the crust, I get it.....but only the top layer of the toast....that's just crazy! 

Camille

In efforts to get the girls to eat more I have been trying to include them in the cooking. 

Maya

We made pizzas the other night.  Kids love pizza, right?

They had so much fun making them. 

My plan didn't work.  Maya still would not even try the pizza.  She picked at the cheese a little, but only drank her milk.  Hoping this phase will end, but have a feeling it's just her personality.  Oh well.  Thank heavens for smoothies....I think that is her only form of nutrition (which I sneak all kinds of veggies in!)

vaseline & ken dolls

Saturday night I went to my friend Danielle's bachelorette party and had WAY to much fun.  With that said, Sunday I received the World's Worst Mother Award.  I was tired and crabby all day.

Monday morning came around and I had to make it up to my sweet children for putting up with me the day before.  I decided to make french toast for breakfast in hopes for their forgiveness.  The way to my children's heart is definitely maple syrup. 

I called the kids down for breakfast.  Maya did not come.  I went upstairs and found this...

She found a tub of Vaseline.

"I pretty Mommy?" she asked me when I walked in.

These pictures do NOT do this giant gooey greasy mess justice. 

If you ever have this mess to clean up, alcohol works on the carpet and dish soap on the hair.  As for the body.  Lots of paper towels and time.  Ugh.  It's a nice way to start a Monday morning before your coffee.  But really how can you be upset with a two year old this cute?  

In other household news, Saturday I bought a Barbie Dream House for the girls for only $2!  I know they are a little young but I loved Barbie when I was a little girl and always dreamed of having her house.  I couldn't pass it up. 

They only had one doll that they received for Christmas from a relative this past year, so we went to Target to buy another.  Zander (my almost 6 yr old BOY) begged me to buy a Ken doll for him...so I did.  Two of them, one for each boy.  The boys have been playing Barbies all weekend. 

I haven't the heart to tell them they are "girl toys"

I have to come clean before school starts....or their friends come over.

It thrills me to  have these pictures to torture them when they are older. 

Evil?  maybe.  Funny?  definitely.

uno, dos, tres...

Say what you want about children watching TV, they can learn from it.  Maya came walking downstairs last night counting in Spanish!  She can count to 8 all by herself....and to 12 with a little help! 

We don't watch a lot of tv in our house, but I do allow the children to watch morning cartoons on netflix.  They usually choose Diego, it's the only show ALL the kids can agree on.  It gives me a little time to myself to drink some coffee and check my email and facebook. 

I got all excited when I heard her and decided to sit the girls down just to see how smart they were.  We got some of our favorite counting and color books and I got to work quizzing them. 

camille

That's when I observed something very interesting in my girls. 

I've been asked several times "Which one is the dominate twin?"  I never really know how to answer.  They are just different.  Both have pretty strong personalities but neither one dominates the other. 

When the girls are together Maya answers all my questions.  She is very bright and articulate and loves to "play school."  Camille lets her sister do all the work and just sits there quietly listening.  She doesn't speak up or participate.

I separated them and asked Camille her colors and we practiced counting.  She did great....away from her sister.

So this makes we wonder about school in a few years.  As parents of twins we have the choice to separate them or keep them together.   On one hand preK is a HUGE adjustment and maybe having each other would be nice....but I want each of my girls to shine and not be thought of as a unit. 

Maya Princess

A while back at our TMOM's (Tulsa Mother's of Multiples) meeting we had a panel of older twins and their parents.  One mother decided to keep her boys in the same class throughout elementary school because she wanted her children to have the same foundation in education.  She feared one twin would get a "better" teacher.  Not to mention the annoyance of different homework. 

I have 2 years before I need to make a decision, but this observation in my girls really got me thinking on the subject.  A question for other MOM's ......

Are you going to separate or keep you twins together in school?

Happy 2nd Birthday Maya Louise!

Maya,

I can not believe that you are already two years old!  You will always be "Maya Princess."  You are definitely a momma's girl and you have your daddy wrapped around your little finger.  You love to make your sister laugh.  You have a special bond with Zander and LOVE to go pick him up at the bus stop.  Everyday you ask him, "Was school?  Was school?  Was school?" until he answers you.."It was FINE!" 

Maya, you would rather be in the kitchen sitting on the counter helping me cook then outside playing with the other kids.  You love to sing.  You are an extremely picky eater and mainly survive on goldfish and raisins. 

You have your special baby that you chew on her feet every night.  When it makes a laughing sound you make a sad face and then say, "awww, baby cry." 

You're definitely a bossy boss and I think you kinda like tattling on your brother Gavin.  You come to me daily saying, "Bubba hut mee" with your bottom lip out.  Gavin comes in yelling, "No I didn't!"  I may never know the truth. 

You've already mastered playing hard to get.  Every morning when your dad leaves for work we all kiss him at the door ....everyone but you.  You are stingy with your kisses and you make your daddy work for them.  You will go to the other side of the room and pretend to be sad or bashful....make HIM come to you.  Then he picks you up, you put your head down and bat your lashes and say "noOOoo" until he smothers you in kisses and tickles before you smile and say goodbye. 

You love for me to read to you.  When we look at animal books everything is a bear or a cow.  You are such a sweet baby girl.  I am totally in love with you.

~Momma

Irish Mafia

I took the 3 youngest to the mall today after we dropped Zander off at school. Thought we'd play at the indoor playground before it got to busy. The first 30 minutes or so were very pleasant. Only a few other children were there.

Don't be fooled by these sweet faces, Camille & Maya

But as time passed my 3 little angels decided to start a turn into brats. I will now refer to my 3 redheads as the Irish Mafia. They were terrorizers! Gavin just crawled around growling at the other kids. His goal was to scare as many little girls as possible. And my sweet little twins? They were even worse. They would actually gang up on other kids....and hit!



Maya as this high pitched squeal that she let out anytime anyone tried to get near her, then Camille would come running to her rescue and slap the innocent bi stander. It was very embarrassing to see them act this way. I am hoping this is "just a phase" and I can nip this behavior in the bud real fast.



When I told Ely (my hubby) about this new problem he grinned, sat up all proud and said, "Well, they aren't little sissy girls. They're tough." Great. They already have their daddy whooped into thinking they can do no wrong.



I did learn a valuable lesson in all this. Never, EVER will I judge another mother for the way her children act. Jeez, my kids are hellions.

Easter Fun

The boys had a great time coloring and decorating eggs this year. The boys are finally starting to "get" the holidays and it's so much fun. Gavin put at least 30 stickers on each of his eggs.

Easter day was rainy. That didn't stop us from having 25 egg hunts...in a row. I think it's the boys favorite game now. This egg on Ely's head was probably the hardest one for the boys to find.
The only downside to the egg hunts indoors...we used real hard boiled eggs. After a few rounds of "egg hunt" they were all cracked by getting dropped or thrown into baskets. We all took turns hiding the them. When it was Gavin's turn...well, he couldn't remember where he hid them. Good thing we're moving this weekend, otherwise we'd probably find a rotten egg between the cushions of the couch or in a closet somewhere! I'm still finding random pieces of egg shell, even though I've vacuumed twice since Easter. Maya found one of Gavin's "missing" eggs.

Screaming

Don't let that sweet innocent face fool you.

Anyone who has been to my house knows it's loud! You can imagine with four little ones. But the past few days the decibels have raised! Maya has discovered that high pitched scream...and uses it often. When she happy and playing she's screaming. In fact, her brothers think it's funny and egg her on. When she's in the highchair, between bites, she's screeching. But she gets to the highest pitch squeal when she's mad and wants me to be there...pronto. It's 7:30 AM and I've about had my days fill. I don't remember my boys doing this. Is it a girl thing? What ever it is, I've got to figure out how to stop it...or invest in some earplugs.

The mystery tube of lipstick

I was on the couch watching cartoons with the boys yesterday morning. The babies were crawling around getting into everything...like usual. The living room is pretty much baby proof so I wasn't watching them to close. Maya had her back towards me and was playing with something. After a minute or two of extra quiet play, I got up to see what she was playing with...LIPSTICK! I have no idea where this lipstick came from. It's not mine. The only thing I can think of is my mom and grandmother were here a few days ago...maybe it fell out of their purse? But I've cleaned since then and never noticed it. Who knows.