A sign of the times?

I'm not sure if some recent developments in the house mean that the girls watch too much TV or if they just compare things to what they know.  As I write that statement, it is dawning on me that the two things are not that far off.  If they didn't watch TV, they wouldn't know about it and therefore could not compare something to it.  I think I'm rambling.  Is anyone else confused?

Anyway, the point of my story...the other day I was reading Ginny a story and she had to go pee.  She said to me, "Dad, can you 'pause' the story till I get back."  Pause as in how you would pause a movie when you have to go to the bathroom.  Then this past week, Jorja was talking about imagination and she said that when you imagine things, your eyes are like the remote.  You blink and then you can change channels to imagine something else.  I guess the upside is that they both have very vivid imaginations.  And now that our desktop computer is fried, they haven't been able to play computer games for a few weeks now.  I don't really think they're missing it too badly either.

On a totally different note, I think Ginny has rounded the potty training corner.  She pooped in the potty twice on the weekend, and then she looked like she had to yesterday, but held off.  Now she went twice today.  Twice in one day!  Who knew that could be so exciting?  Her pull-up is still wet in the morning, but she has been getting up to pee once in the night the past couple of nights too, so one of these days we should be down to one set of diapers.  Crazy. 

Time for bed now.  I'm not sure of it's teeth or what, but CeCe has not been sleeping very good lately.  That means neither am I .  Oh well, another 10 years and they'll all be sleeping in.  Maybe.  Later.

My two year old fashion critic

This morning I decided to wear a sweater with a shirt underneath it to church.  I thought it looked pretty good, if I do say so myself.  I left the shirt untucked so that it was sticking out the bottom of the sweater the way the young people are doing it nowadays.  Every once in a while I like to pretend that I'm still hip.  Anyway, I came downstairs to get the girls' coats on and Ginny looked at me and said, "Why do you have two shirts on?"  I asked her if she liked it.  She said, "No, it's kind of weird."  Do you hear that?  That's the wind whistling out of my deflating ego.  At least Jorja tried to reassure me that I was still handsome, and CeCe was still undecided.  Julie liked it and that's all that really matters.

We've been trying to get CeCe to say Mama recently.  She knows how - she has said the words, but getting her to say it when Julie wants her to is another story.  I think she's just being coy and playing with us.  The other day at supper, Julie was trying to get CeCe to say Mama.  She was repeating it over and over and then Ginny decided to join in.  "Ma-ma...Ma-ma"  Nice slow, distinct syllables.  Then Ginny decides that this was enough of this.  She said, "CeCe, can you say Virginia June?"  Yeah, like that is going to roll off her tongue.

We have been in the teething phase in our household for about five years now.  We have now begun the de-teething phase.  Jorja lost her first tooth this past week.  It had been loose for a while, and she let Julie wiggle it long enough to actually pull it out.  She was pretty excited.  Ginny was kind of freaked out by the whole thing.  She kept walking around saying her teeth were still all 'tight'.  Jorja wrote a note and got all ready for the tooth fairy.  She asked for a tooth brush.  Seems like a logical thing for the tooth fairy to bring, and she did.  She was quite tickled to find her new tooth brush in the morning.

Proudly showing off her missing tooth.

This morning Jorja asked me if I went to Kindergarten when I was little.  I replied that yes I did.  She then said, "Because they didn't have Kindergarten a long time ago."  Glad to know she already thinks of me as old.  Later.

Bible story

Last night I was reading the girls their bible story.  There are questions at the end, so I always tell Ginny to pay attention.  It's not the first time we've read through this bible (they have two that we alternate between) and I remember what some of the questions are.  When I'm sure I know that the part I'm reading is a question, I slow down and say it loudly and clearly for Ginny's benefit.  Sometimes I even ask her right then and there the question.  It's not that she wouldn't know the answer if she paid attention, she's just usually off in her own little world.  We are near the beginning of the bible right now (still on creation) and I asked Ginny what God made one the day I just read.  The appropriate answer would have been Adam and Eve, but she looked at the picture and said, "Trees."  Yes, in case you hadn't guessed, her answer usually consists of whatever picture is on that page.  So we got to the end, and the question was 'What did God make Eve from?'  Ginny responded, "A pumpkin."  Oh so close.  Then the last question was one where I told them there was no right or wrong answer.  The question simply asked what is your favourite thing that God made.  Ginny made up some gibberish word and proceeded to laugh hysterically.  When she calmed down, I asked Jorja and she said, "Diamonds, jewels, anything glittery."  Apparently she already knows what is supposed to be her best friend.  Later.

Ginny's wisdom

I was driving the girls home from daycare today (it was a much better day) and Jorja had made a paper crown in Kindergarten.  Ginny asked if she could wear it.  Jorja replied that it would be too big now and that maybe they should try when Ginny turns three (like it will still be around then).  "I'm still two now," Ginny says.  "Yes, I know," says Jorja, "we'll try when you're three."  "Great idea Jorja!" Ginny says.  Maybe you had to be there, and I'm not doing the story justice, but it was the cutest thing.  She's so supportive.

Our trip for Petland is planned for the morning - the girls are quite beside themselves actually.  As we were getting ready for bed, I told Ginny that if she wanted to go that she had to go to bed good.  She said that she would and we started up the stairs.  I mentioned again that she had to go to bed nice and that I was really looking forward to going to the pet store.  Without missing a beat, Ginny turned to me and said, "Then you have to sleep good."  Touche.  I guess if I want to go, then the same rules should apply to me.  Later.

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year

It's been a busy couple of weeks here, and a while since I've written anything.  I guess I should squeeze one more post in before the new year.  I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and a safe New Year.

Our Christmas celebrations started on Christmas Eve.  We went to the evening service at church which started at 6:30.  It's a tradition that the last song (Silent Night) is sung by candle light.  Everyone gets a candle and the lights are turned off and the flame is passed from one person to another starting with the Christ candle.  We decided this year that the girls could each hold a candle.  Ginny did fine (surprisingly), but Jorja had a bit of a mishap.  She was getting into things and decided to hold the candle above her head.  The only problem with that was that she didn't keep it very level and dripped hot wax onto her head.  Ouch!  It wasn't a very silent night after that, but we made it through and combed some wax out of her hair when we got home. 

We then opened presents Christmas eve when we got home from church.  (Except for CeCe - she had had enough and was ready for bed)  The girls were pretty excited and had a lot of fun.  We got them a doll house this year.  It's funny, one doesn't realize the scale of a doll house when it is set up in Toys R Us.  It didn't look that big, but once it was home and set up, it is a real presence in the room.  Oh well, it will only be around for a few more years, and the shade of hot pink looks great in the family room.

Christmas toes

Jorja and Ginny in their new PJs opening presents

CeCe in front of the aftermath

Christmas day the weather was beautiful and I took the older two girls to the park to go sledding.  Jorja had mentioned once that a friend of hers brought a sled to school one day and they went sliding down the 'biggest hill ever'.  I've seen the playground and I wasn't exactly sure what she was talking about, but I thought we'd see.  Her 'hill' was basically a large trench through the park - pretty lame.  Across the field at the public school, there is a bit of an actual hill, so that's where we went.  We had a lot of fun.  The hill wasn't too big, and for the first few runs, I ended up being the chair lift and pulled the two of them in the sled up the hill.  I came to my senses and made them walk up.  Then we all piled in and went down a few times.  Here's the view heading down.

Not the biggest hill, but we had fun.

On boxing day, we set out for Julie's parent's place where we feasted that evening.  We had another Christmas and the girls had fun again.  CeCe wasn't too into the presents yet this year, but she did have fun with a bow for a while.  The weather there was nice, and we went sledding in some hills in the field.  This was considerably bigger than the school hill, and I think the adults had more fun than the kids.  The girls had fun playing with their aunt and uncle and Nanny and Poppa.  They also got to spend some time with both great-grannies, so that was nice. 

Jorja must have been hearing some politically correct greeting this year, because one afternoon out of the blue she said to me, "Seasons ingredients!"  I smiled and said "Seasons ingredients" back to her.  (Yes, I did correct her after a while.)  Another afternoon she was helping Poppa in his office punching some holes in some papers.  She proudly came up afterward and declared she was his 'secondtary'.  So close on both occasions.

We came home on the 29th, and now it seems like the crunch is really on.  Julie goes back to work on Monday, the girls start at the sitter full time and Jorja goes back to school.  I'm back at work too.  It seems like this January back-to-work date for Julie has just sort of been looming in the distance, but now it's here and there seems like there is so much to do.  We went on a big shopping excursion yesterday to buy all the supplies for the sitter - diapers, wipes, zinc cream.  Plus we needed all that stuff for ourselves.  Julie needed some new shoes and uniforms for work, so we got that taken care of as well.  It was rather draining by the time we were done - physically, mentally and financially.  But we're getting there.

Now we are having some friends over tonight, my parents tomorrow for one last Christmas and then it's back to reality.  Have a good New Year's and try to stay warm.  Later.

Feliz Navidad (or something like that)

I sit here this evening in silence, at least for the time being anyway.  Until someone wakes up and wants something - a soother, drink of water, to go pee.  Julie is out at our church Bible study group this evening which we both usually attend.  Today I am on poop patrol though.  Let me back up.  Wednesday evening as we were getting the girls ready for bed, Julie was feeding CeCe her bottle.  She was no sooner done than she threw up.  She has always had little milk spit-ups, but this was her first full blown puke.  So it was back to the tub with CeCe and Julie hit the shower.  The next morning (I was conveniently at work), the diarrhea started.  We had three solid days of that - a full outfit change with every diaper change, full bedding change if it happened there, Lysol the crib railings.  Oh yes, it has been fun.  If I had known about all this stuff before we had three kids, I would have bought stocks in stain remover and Lysol.  Anyway, we managed to keep it off the carpet this time although it was close.  There were two instances when I walked down the stairs to the family room to see some bubblin' crude coming over her pants and heading for the floor. 

So yes, here I sit.  We didn't think that any baby sitter would ever come back if we left her with the situation that was going on here this week.  So I took the older two to Sunday School this morning and Julie went out this evening.  I don't want to jinx the night, but I think CeCe may have started to turn the corner.  She kept the same outfit on all day and only had one semi-solid poop.  All right, enough about poop.

I was driving Jorja to piano lessons yesterday and I switched the radio station from the country one to the eighties one.  Steve Windwood's 'Valarie' was playing.  I've always liked Steve Windwood, but I digress.  Jorja asked me, "Dad, is this your station, the '80's on eight?"  I replied that yes it was.  "You know, your station isn't that bad," she replied.  Thanks Jorja, I'm glad you approve.

I had a couple of errands to run this afternoon and CeCe was napping and Julie was doing some Christmas baking (yes!!) so I took the girls along with me.  I was standing in line at the post office in Shoppers not really paying much attention to the conversation the girls were having.  All of a sudden, Ginny looks at the woman behind us and says, "Maybe she could be our mother."  This caught my attention.  Then Jorja said, "You think she's our mother?!"  and then the two of them laughed hysterically.  I had nothing.  What do you say to that?  I looked and the lady, and she was smirking, so that was all right.  What did she really think?  Were these two kids looking for a new wife/mother like something from Sleepless in Seattle?  I told them to stop being so goofy and wished the letter to the Philippine consulate in front of us would move along a little quicker.

Jorja likes to think that she is Ginny's teacher some days.  She especially likes to sound out words for Ginny when she hears something new.  She does it syllable by syllable to help her sound the new word out.  I forget what the word was now, but this was going on the other day.  Then Jorja said, "I know almost all the words, except Spanish, I only knew a few words in Spanish.  Like Natalise La Di Da.  That means Merry Christmas."  How does that go again I asked her.  "Nah - Tah - Lees - La - Dee  - Da" she says to me very clearly and slowly so that I too may learn this second language.  Thanks Jorja, but I think we'll have to play a bit more Bony M. this year.  Later.

Christmas parties

This is the weekend of Christmas parties.  Tonight is my work party and Sunday is the kids' Christmas party put on by my employer.  Julie and I are pumped for tonight, and the girls are pumped for Sunday.  I guess when the organizers were putting this together, they didn't think Saskatchewan would be in the Grey Cup.  Now it turns out Santa is scheduled to arrive right at opening kick-off.  Oh well, we should be home by the time the first quarter is over.  We are trying a new sitter tonight, so hopefully we're not home by 7:00.  I broke the news to Jorja last night and she seemed all right with it, so we'll see.  It's also the first time we've had a sitter for all three, so here's hoping the new girl does all right.

Jorja and I were talking about Santa last night before bed.  I told her she was going to see him on Sunday and that I had been talking to him that afternoon.  I told her he came to visit me at work.  Little does she know, Santa has a day job.  Anyway, I asked her what she would tell him of he asked her what she wants for Christmas.  She said, "I want a doll house with a grey elevator."  It's good to be specific I guess.  There's no point dropping subtle hints (with men regarding presents), you may as just spell out what you want so that you're not disappointed.  Then I asked her what she would say if she had been a good girl.  She looked at me and sheepishly whispered, "What should I say Daddy?"  I told her she could probably say yes.

Ginny was awake at 6:300 this morning, and I managed to convince her that it wasn't morning yet.  By the time she was back asleep CeCe was awake and not going back.  So much for sleeping in.  Jorja is up now too, and Ginny is the only one sleeping.  How does that work?  Oh well, time to put the coffee on.  Later.

Halloween

Thursday was Julie's birthday, and it was a good day.  She enjoyed her presents and cake, and the girls had fun too.  We all wore our party hats for cake at lunch time, and then we went out for supper.  Jorja told Julie that she got to pick the restaurant because it was her birthday.  In reality it wasn't entirely Julie's decision because we have to go somewhere that serves either chicken fingers or pizza (that is all the girls will ever eat at a restaurant).  We went to Boston Pizza.


The girls in their party hats.



Just to prove I had a hat too.

Jorja was asking Julie something about her birthday, and Julie said that she wasn't going to have any more birthdays.  Jorja replied, "You have to keep having birthdays so that you can die.  Don't you want to go see that golden place?"  At least the thought doesn't frighten her I guess.

After church today we went to Jerry's for lunch (as we do most Sundays) and after we were done eating the girls were playing in the play area.  Jorja had to go to the bathroom and Ginny continued to play.  She introduced herself to another little girl and found out this girl's name was Isabel.  She knows another little girl who also has that name.  As I was buckling her into her carseat to go home, I asked her about her new friend.  She told me that 'she is one of the Isabels.'  Maybe there's a whole gang of them, I don't know.

Tonight we took the girls out trick or treating.  They had a blast and ended up with way too much candy.  Ginny was dressed as a kangaroo, and her costume had a little joey sewn into the pouch on the front.  She spent the entire evening with one hand on her baby and said at one point, "When Joey gets scared, I just cover his eyes."  The later she said to Julie, "Joey is doing awesome, isn't he?" 

It is obvious which one of them takes after their father with respect to eating Halloween candy.  Ginny.  We let them have a couple of things when they got in, and Jorja was taking her time, and Ginny was 'can I have one more? ...chomp chomp... I'm just gonna have one more... chomp chomp ... can I have another?'

The kangaroo.

The skunk.

The princess.

The haul.

This marks my last Sunday evening without having to wake up for work in the morning.  It's not like the girls ever sleep in anyway, but I'm not looking forward to that 5:20 am alarm clock.  I guess I better make the most of this week.  Later.

Outside

The other day while Jorja was at school, Ginny and I were watching TV while she had her snack.  We had on the Playhouse Disney channel and 'Johnny and the Sprites' was on.  This show is pretty lame, even by kids' show standards.  The story this day was that Johnny had a new video game and was obsessed with playing it.  The sprites (some sort of little creatures that live in his garden) wanted him to come outside and play cloverball.  He wouldn't go and insisted on playing his game.  He played so long that he fell asleep.  In his dream he played his video game long enough to look like Santa when he woke up.  All his little sprite friends had moved away and he was devastated.  He woke up and was relieved to  find he was still young and then went outside to play.  Was the irony of this totally lost on the writers?  Is there really a difference between TV and video games?  I guess  so.

It is definitely starting to feel like fall here.  The girls went outside to play this morning before lunch (no evil video games or TV - I learned from Johnny) and they had cold hands and ears, so we dug out mitts and toques.  Jorja wanted to wear the toque and mitts to school this afternoon, and it was still cool, so I said sure.  So when I went to pick her up, she had the toque on, and didn't have the bottom rolled over like it should be.  It was sticking straight up way over her head kind of like Bob and Doug.  If that wasn't enough, she had the mitts stuffed into the pockets of her hoodie.  She didn't put the mitts on  for the walk home and about half way home, she looked down and just started to laugh.  Like really laugh.  She said to me, "Look at my mitts.  It looks like I have little tummy boobs."  Then she howled again.  I had nothing.  All I could do was laugh.  I guess they did kind of look that way.  Later.

The meatball says no

This afternoon we had one of Jorja's friends from school over for a play date.  It's the first one we've ever had, and it went pretty good.  The excitement leading up to it was palpable.  It's been a long time since I've heard Jorja talk that fast for that long.  It's a good thing she didn't know first thing in the morning - she definitely would have peaked too soon.  Ginny had a lot of fun too, so that was good.  We discovered though that 2 hours should be the maximum time - 2.5 is just a bit too much for all parties involved.  They were playing with the toy food and kitchen at one point.  A long time ago, the girls had got 'talking meatballs' as the toys in their McDonald's happy meals.  I forget the movie it was for (maybe Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) but it is a variation of the magic eight ball.  It has three sayings:  'The answer is yes', 'Ask again later', and 'The meatball says no.'  As with most McDonald's toys, the novelty had long worn off, but with a fresh pair of eyes in the house, it came out.  Julie and I were upstairs when we heard Jorja's friend say, "Meatball, am I pretty?"  I guess when you don't have a magic mirror, you take what you can get.  She got lucky,  and the she got 'The answer is yes.'  When Jorja tried and got 'The meatball says no' she decided that she would keep pressing the button until it said yes.  I guess even the meatball will break down if you hound it long enough.  Later.

Let's talk turkey

Yesterday when I picked Jorja up from Kindergarten, she was proudly holding a few popcorn kernels.  I asked what they were for and she replied that they were to feed to the ladybug.  What ladybug is that I asked.  She said that she and her friend found a ladybug at recess, and her friend put the ladybug in a bag to keep it safe until the next day.  That is when they would return with the popcorn and feed the ladybug.  I didn't have the heart to tell her how this was going to turn out.  So today, we set out, popcorn in pocket, ready to feed the ladybug at recess.  When I asked her if they fed the ladybug today, she said, "Nah, somebody stepped on it."  I guess at least that fate was quick.

The Kindergarten class has also been learning about Thanksgiving.  One of their projects was to tell the teacher how to cook a turkey.  Today, all the responses were transcribed and posted on the walls outside the classroom.  Let me tell you, there were some interesting ones.  One of the most popular places to get a turkey from is Walmart.  Quite a few started off that way.  One girl was just going to have the turkey as a guest and eat roast beef.  One said you didn't even have to cook it.  Here is what Jorja had to say:  "First you have to go down to the pond to see if you can find a turkey.  Then catch him with some sticky tape.  Tape his mouth shut so he doesn't gobble.  Then cook him on the BBQ for 69 hours.  Cut his wings off so that he doesn't fly away."  Kind of a sadistic little thing.  Later.

Catwalk

Saturday morning, Julie and the two older girls went to a princess party.  It was being put on by a local church.  They got all dressed up and had a blast.  They got their nails done, there was a fashion show where each girl got to do their little turn on the catwalk.  *I'm too sexy for for my cat, too sexy for my cat, what you think about that...on the catwalk, I shake my little tush on the catwalk*  Sorry about that, I was having a bad '90's flashback courtesy of the 'Right said Fred' song.  Anyway, they even asked the girls questions so they could read the answers out while they were walking.  'Here we have Jorja whose favourite food is grapes...and here is Ginny, whose favourite food in cheese buns.'  Yes, our girls have very high class tastes.

On Monday, after we dropped Jorja off at school, the rest of us went to Julie's office to drop something off.  Apparently Ginny took this opportunity to step out from her big sister's shadow and shine.  She talked and talked and talked.  She's still on her Kiersten kick too.  Someone asked her how she was doing and called her by her name.  She said, "Actually, sometimes I like to call myself Kiersten." 

CeCe is  growing and changing every day it seems.  She loves to roll around on the floor, and sometimes it looks like she wants to crawl.  Heaven help us.  Her little tooth is growing and is almost visible when she smiles now.  Last night, she slept through the whole night - from 7 to 7.  She usually has a  bottle  around midnight, but not last night.  It was awesome.  Now if only the other two would sleep past 6:30.  Later.

Slow week

It seems to have been a slow week on the writing front here - not really sure why. I guess not a whole lot has happened this week.

Yesterday Ginny was eating a gummy worm and bit the head off. She proudly said, "Daddy, I bit his head off." Oh yeah, that's nice. Then she asked what would happen if someones head got bit off. "Like a person's head?" I responded. Yes, she said. Now I'm all for an inquisitive mind, but I was starting to wonder if I should be worried. I replied that the person would be dead. "Oh," she said quite nonchalantly. Yes, I guess I should be worried.

The girls have been playing school a lot lately, and Jorja is always the teacher. She calls herself her Kindergarten teacher's name, Mrs. B., we'll say. And Ginny follows her around, "Mrs. B., should we do this...Mrs. B., should we do that?" They were walking up the stairs, Ginny hot on Jorja's heels, when Jorja stumbled and bumped her shin on the stairs. Without missing a beat, Ginny piped up, "Are you all right Mrs. B.?" When she gets into character, she really sticks with it.

Today at school, Jorja's class went on a 'Fall walk.' From what I can tell, this constituted walking around with a sandwich bag and filling it up with leaves. It seemed like she really had a good time though. So much so, that she and Ginny had to have their own fall walk in the backyard when she got home. Then she thought she should bring all her treasures into the house. That's exactly what we need. I ended up finding her a box to house her new leaf collection, which she was thrilled with. She then proceeded to tell me that she was recycling the box. I thought that was pretty impressive.

The weather this week has been great here. I was able to get quite a bit of stuff done in the yard. I dug up three shrubs that we didn't really like (two spades and one yellow-jacket hive later), and got the whole area along with the garden rototilled. I also had to shovel a bunch of rock and rip up some landscape fabric that wasn't really doing a whole lot. It looks pretty good now - it sure makes the yard look bigger anyway. I guess that's it for now. Later.

Kiersten

The girls like to play little role-playing games where they change their names and act out various scenarios. Most of the time up until lately, Jorja has picked names for both of them, but Ginny is starting to exert some Independence. For the past two days, she has been Kiersten. (She has an older cousin named Kiersten that she is pretty fond of). She has taken this game to a whole new level though - she never stops being Kiersten.

"Ginny, it's time for supper."

"Actually, I'm Kiersten."

"Ginny, time for bed."

"You can call me Kiersten."

"Ginny, clean up the toys."
"Actually, I'm still Kiersten."

Last night, she woke up at 4:00 am and wanted a drink of water. So I got her one, tucked her back in, and said, "Good night Ginny." "Actually I'm Kiersten." At 4:00 am?! Really? She's persistent anyway.

Julie went to a conference for work today in Regina, so I was flying solo. The day went pretty good, but it's nice to have this quiet time now. The girls wanted to go somewhere, so after lurch we went to the pet store. They wanted to see the sharks. Never mind the cute kittens and such, they are more interested in the lizards, tarantulas, snakes and fish. They had fun looking at everything, and then we came home so CeCe could have a nap. I got them all out of the car, locked the car, locked the garage, and then went to look for my house keys. I felt my pants pocket. Nothing. Jacket pockets. Nothing. Pants. Nothing. Jacket. Nothing. Okay, this is not good. I've got three little girls in the backyard and I'm locked out of the house and the garage. We always meant to hide a key somewhere outside, but never did. So I had to break in. I got in through a window, and then had to call upon my Backyardigan ninja training to get to the alarm without setting off the motion detector. I made it, opened the door, disarmed the alarm, and got the girls all in safe and sound. I put CeCe down for her snooze, the girls played some computer games, and then I had to break into the garage. After I did, I saw my keys sitting right there on the front seat of the car. At least they were there and not at Petland.

After all that, the girls wanted to make a craft. Puppets actually. I asked what this entailed, and it was just a piece of paper cut out glued to a popsicle stick. I guess I could handle that. So I asked them what kind of puppets they wanted to make. Jorja wanted to make a heart. Ginny wanted a triangle. I'm not sure what kind of puppets those are, so I made an octopus. Anyway, they had fun, but soon were wondering where to put on the puppet shows. Then I remembered the dishwasher box was still downstairs, so I cut out a hole on one side for a stage, made a door on the other side and voila, a puppet theatre. I even made a sign which the girls decorated. All in all a pretty good day. Later.

Confusion

We got the girls' hair cut this morning and they were thrilled of course. "Don't you like my hair Dad? Isn't it beautiful?" Julie got a few inches cut off Jorja's and it looks really good - it was getting really long and kind of scraggly at the ends. Not to mention the drama every time you try to brush it and it is tangled up. On days when they don't have any pony tails in, we usually say they are having a ragga-muffin (sp?) day. Jorja now says that she wants to have a raggin' muffin day, and Ginny says that she wants to have a dragon muffin day. Lost in translation I guess.

This afternoon Jorja and I had doctor's appointments. Jorja is doing great, no concerns. I was just there to get a referral for the post-vasectomy check - you know, I don't want to spell it out, but to make sure that the procedure was a success. There was a resident there today, which I didn't mind, but I don't think she had any forewarning about what I was there for. (Julie and CeCe saw the same resident yesterday). She asked why I was there so I told her. She seemed a bit taken aback and then typed some stuff into the computer. Then she asked what was wrong that I had this done. Now I was taken aback. I said the she met the reason yesterday. Eventually we got everything sorted out and my family doc gave me the necessary requisition and a cup. Later.

Busy

It's been a slow week for the blog it seems. Maybe that's because we've had quite a busy time the past few days. Last Tuesday we had some friends over, Wednesday and Thursday we were invited out to friends' places. On Wednesday we also got to reconnect with a friend I hadn't seen in quite a while. They have a little girl a month younger than CeCe, so the two of them really hit it off. It started out with a bit of a stare-down, followed by laying down on the floor together where one would start to cry and then the other would wail. It was kind of funny. Thursday we were at some friends who have an in ground swimming pool in their backyard (heated and no algae). The girls had a blast in there - Jorja is such fish.

Today we had CeCe dedicated at church. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, but both sets of Grandparents said they could make it, so it was good. CeCe didn't even cry, and the girls managed to stand relatively still at the front of the church.

So yeah, it's been busy. Now we have one more week before school starts. I still can't believe it.

The other day I was changing Ginny's bum (don't ask about the toilet training) and when I was done I asked her to go put the diaper in the garbage. She replied, "I'm kind of busy now." Excuse me? You're two. You're not that busy, now put the diaper in the garbage. "My hands are full." I couldn't believe it. What is she going to be like when she is a teenager?

We were in Sobey's a couple of days ago, and as we were walking to the car, Jorja noticed an employee outside. "Hey Dad, there's a Sobey's girl there. You see, in the cape." I might have called it an apron, but it's probably more fun to be a super hero. Later.

Dark socks

Here I sit once again, up too early. It started with CeCe again, and was followed by the other two girls. So they were all up by 6:30. This should make for a fun day - they are such pleasant little creatures when they're overtired. So am I for that matter.

The girls seem to be fascinated with marriage these days. They play this game where Jorja does Ginny's hair and makeup for her wedding. Ginny sits so still while Jorja applies the imaginary blush and eye shadow. It's quite cute to watch. Anyway, usually when they talk about getting married, they want to get married to me. Julie had a little chat with them the other day and explained that someday they would meet a special boy and fall in love and get married. Somehow the supper conversation turned to spouses a couple of nights ago. Ginny said he would marry a special boy, but that "I don't like dark socks!" You don't like dark socks, I say, that's one of your requirements for a husband, no dark socks. "Yes, only light." It's good to have priorities I guess.

Lately the girls have been into telling jokes - variations of 'why did the chicken cross the road?' and 'knock knock' jokes. They make up their own animals and people in the jokes which aren't usually even remotely funny.

"Knock knock"
Who's there?
"Monkey"
Monkey who?
"Monkey in the tub." *hysterical laughter*

Yes, they are pretty good. So on Sunday we are coming home from church and Ginny pipes up, "Why did Jesus cwoss the woad?" I reply that I don't know. "Jesus cwossed the woad to get to ...(pause while she thinks)...the Jesus!" Yes, they're not exactly comedy writers yet. Later.

Green

We went to church this morning, then for lunch, and were going to come home and have a dip in the pool. It was smokin' hot here today. We got CeCe laid down for a nap, had the girls changed into their swimsuits, sunscreened up, Julie and I changed and ready, bald spot sunscreened, baby monitor plugged in outside - we were ready. Then I pulled back the cover to the pool. It had been over a week since we were in it, and I hadn't really looked at it. Bad pool boy. Our nice little pool was now a green, algae filled swamp. Gross. No pool today. That sucked. So I threw a whole pile of chlorine into it, and started filtering the green stuff out. It is going to take a few days I think. So we did the next best thing, probably just as much fun for the girls - turned on the sprinkler. They had a blast. Julie was relaxing reading a book and they were filling a Frisbee with water, carrying it to her, and keeping her feet cool. "It's like you're getting a pedicure," I heard at one time. Then they decided to wash their soccer balls, beach balls, etc...all the plastic balls they have in the back yard (5 or 6 I think). Jorja said to me, "We're just washing our balls Dad. It's important to wash your balls every once in a while." Yes it is Jorja, yes it is.

CeCe was six months old yesterday - hard to believe. She goes for her shots tomorrow morning, so that should be fun. She is such a good baby - happy, laughs lots, doesn't make strange yet, puts up with a lot of 'attention' from her sisters. The last week or so, she has really started to eat solids well. Some days she barely has a spoonful in and her mouth is open wanting more. She's getting close to being able to sit by herself, but not quite there yet. A couple more months and I'll be back to work. Scary. Later.

Aliens

Well, ever since the other night, Jorja has been fine. She went to swimming lessons the past two days and did great, so issues. I'm not sure, do kids get migraines? Why is it that not everyone can sleep good at the same time. The past two nights, CeCe has been up lots and fitful when she is in her crib. On the other hand, Jorja and Ginny have slept great, even a bit past 7:00 in the morning. I'm ready for a nap though.

Yesterday I was taking Jorja to swimming lessons and we drove by the pool on the way to the parking lot. Jorja said "There's the pool." I said no it's not. She said, "What do you think it is? A planet full of aliens or what?" I have no idea where that came from. I can't believe how much fun she is having taking swimming lessons. She's usually fairly shy and reserved in groups like that, but she is jumping around and talking lots and volunteering to go first all the time. I actually had to tell her to tone down her excitement when it wasn't her turn because she seemed to be getting a little over zealous. The teacher even had to tell her to stop doing something once. After our chat, she did great yesterday, still excited, but contained. I'm pretty proud of her. Later.

Ginny and salmon

Where has the week gone? I'm not sure, it just seems to be flying by. I mentioned on Sunday that we had spent some time in the pool. I got a few good pictures of Ginny after she got out, just relaxing in the sun and looking cool. I know I'm biased, but she is just way too cute. And funny. There's just something about her personality that makes her so special. I can be furious with her and she'll give me a look, and I'll have to turn away so that I don't burst into laughter.

As I'm writing this, Ginny just fell out of bed. As I was putting her back, CeCe started to squeak. Ginny said to me that CeCe was awake. I know I said, I'm just going to go give her her soother. Which one, Ginny asks. I say that I think it's the green one. Oh, she says, rolls over and closes her eyes. I guess she just needed to know.

We were having lunch today and Ginny asked what was for dessert. We asked her what she would like. We usually have some sort of fruit after every meal for dessert. She looked at us and said, "Cake." I don't know where that came from, but we couldn't help laughing.

The other day we were in the car, and the girls were talking about spider webs. Ginny says that they could be pink. Jorja says yes. Ginny says they could be blue. Jorja says yes. Ginny says they could be brown. Jorja says yes. Finally Jorja thinks she is going to add to the conversation. She says that spider webs can be purple. Ginny pauses and says, "Actually, no." Maybe you had to be there, but if you could hear her say actually, you would understand.

The other day Julie and I were talking and the topic of salmon came up. I said that I liked salmon, and she was surprised. But we never buy it she said. I said that it was because she didn't like it. It's not like it is something that I crave or have to have that she despises, such as Miracle whip. Anyway, she asks if she made salmon salad would I eat it. I reply that I would, so she bought a can. Yesterday, we were having 'red' soup for lunch (tomato). Julie told me to stay downstairs while she was getting it ready. I came up to find this picture. Soup, two salmon buns, sliced pickles and three tastefully places crackers. It was awesome, and the presentation was great. I was reminded of my stint working in a restaurant. My boss would look at me and say, "Dave, we not only make good food, we make good looking food." Mark would be proud. Later.