The Suit

It's never a bad time to wear your birthday suit

especially on your birthday...

because you can 

mark your spot on your bedroom floor
with diminished repercussions.

Lucky Gal

5:45 am. After a bike ride with the dog,  I sat down to breakfast and my scriptures in a quiet house. From Elijah's room I heard a new song come on from his Spotify library. "Sweet Caroline." That boy melts my heart. And he was so on-task this morning, even having enough time to pick up a few piles of dung from our lawn.
When Iris woke up, I asked her if her little sister was asleep. She said, "kinda, because I was in bed with her, whispering in her ear."
Claire is the only one who takes the luxury of sleeping in, but last night I loved seeing her in her new room, drawing in her journal with a sense of independence. She had the epiphany that she should be in acting class which I think would suit her perfectly.
And last night, David was packing in the other room and when a romantic song came on (can't remember which one), he waltzed into the room where I was grumpily editing on the couch and tried to dance with me (I was too grumpy).
Sybil loves stripping which can be complicated, but at least a naughty naked baby provides comic relief.
And the dog just ate a full bar of soap which I'm sure will sweeten the smell of his gas.

I'm one lucky gal--
or maybe 2, depending on which angle I catch myself in a full-length mirror.

St. Patricks Day

The bathroom vanity is installed! On Sunday, David told our dinner guests that if they needed to use the bathroom, it would be more sanitary if they used the bush out back. Truth.

Kids' bathroom = Guest bathroom = No bueno

The bathroom was completed just in time for a special visitor.

The leprechaun left a few friends...

treats...

and a mess

with more mess.

Reactions to the celebration were typical. Elijah scarfed the Lucky Charms and asked me how tall the leprechaun was. I pointed at my head and said, "right around that height." Claire took the shaving cream and smeared it on my face... and got a little on herself. Then she planned an elaborate St Patty's Day outfit. I painted a shamrock on her face and styled her hair with leprechaun ears that were accompanied by a leprechaun mask and a leprechaun top hat on a headband.

Iris shook with excitement (she still has that cute twitch), tasted the footprints immediately (sorry, it was shaving cream, not whipped cream), and ate the gummy bears. Sybil swiped the footprints and rubbed them all over her head and ran outside naked while I was trying to catch our runaway dog in my PJs (the carpool family got quite a show). Sybil was later found in my closet smearing neosporin on her lips and removing all of the wipes from the package. And just now, when I thought she was taking nap, I heard whimpering outside. I went out to found she had crawled through the doggie door after Porfirio but her skirt was ripped and caught in the door.  I put her back in the bed, but now hear a rhythmic beat on the other side of the wall. I peeked. She's dancing next to the keyboard with a huge smile on her face. At least she's getting her piano practicing in.
Porfirio drank leprechaun urine out of the toilet.
And I will clean up. Some day.

Oh my goodness. I literally put her back in bed 2 seconds ago and the beat is pumping again.

Spring Break Camping

I wasn't away as long as I thought. The tiling is halfway done and the vanity is coming tomorrow. Having someone else do it is the way to go.
So here are pictures from camping in Tonto National Forest

This one is fuzzy, but I include it because you may notice an upside-down baby being pulled out of the river.

Claire crossed this river several times.

There was a sleeping bag monster show that night.

Sybil's favorite babydoll suffered third degree burns.
That thing has already been decapitated a few times by the dog.
But Sybil's love is blind.

We happened to be camping at the same time as some friends. 

8 camping girls (1 un-pictured)

Spring Break

Is Spring Break really over? It was a whirlwind even though I purposely didn't make any plans. No playdates. Nothing on the agenda.
Here 's a picture from the park with Claire and Sybil. We had just come from the library and were waiting for Iris to get back from a birthday party at the American Girl Doll store.

Here's a picture of the only graduate I have heard of passing with a failing grade. That's ok. He's kinda growing on me. Sometimes. Mainly when he's asleep.

Claire: the morning after her grandparent sleepover. Sleepovers with the grandparents usually include a trip to Starbucks for a cake-pop and then to the dollar store where she got this spectacular slime beard, which she was mainly interested in for the fart-niose-making capabilities. Iris got a wallet covered in poop-emojis. It must be because a gastroenterologist took them.

Game of dominoes when grandma dropped them off.

While the 2 girls were with the grandparents, Elijah was down with the flu. So I cleaned and organized his room. The girls' room was the next 2 days, but I got so frustrated with the lack of space and the amount of stuff they owned that instead of throwing everything away, like I usually do, I decided to do a little room switcher-oo. Now these 2 girls share a room and Claire has her own.

They share a room, a bunk bed, and a kazoo.

Sybil is adjusting to sleeping in a big bed. But not really. She escapes more than she sleeps. Today she skipped the nap entirely and was a wild child all afternoon (which wasn't much different from the morning). It's hard to convince that one that there is anything more entertaining than screaming, even at dinner. She now uses the word "mom" with full force. But it's more like "mom mom mom mom mom mom" and it doesn't mean what you might think. It translates to "person who has something I want." She called the elders "mom" at dinner tonight. I feel like that is a pretty accurate translation for "mom" for most people most of the time anyway, right?

And Elijah has been out of town for a few days now. He, my mom, and Tyler took a trip to San Diego. I heard he's been doing well, impressing people with his knowledge, and manners.
This is a note of his I found before he left.

We went camping this past weekend and I got some good pictures, but the pillow is calling and tomorrow begins a bathroom remodel. So I'm checking out for a little while....

Spring Break: Day 1

You know those weekends that are so busy that you don't have time to breathe?
Asphyxiation has been the name of the game lately.
That's why I wasn't terribly upset when Elijah's soccer camp was canceled. It cleared the slate. So today after chores, piano, reading,  and exercise, we headed to the visit the grandparents, watch a movie, then play with the cousins. Pizza in the park for dinner. Nothing more chill than that.

Please notice Sybil is wearing her skirt inside-out. 

It's almost as if the sign, "Grandpa Was Here" is pinned to her. 

Wear it with pride, Sybil! 

The 2 girls are spending the night with the Grandparents. David and Elijah are in the other room watching Dark Knight. That movie is too dark for me.

The Runaway

Today Claire "ran away." 

But not really.

She told me she was going. 

I just didn't believe her. 

She said she needed to be alone and she also needed to treat herself since she finished her chores the previous day and I hadn't had the chance to take her to the library.

So she rode her bike to the park that's about a half mile away. After I finished correcting Elijah's math, I took Sybil to rescue Claire. We found her digging in the sand. And we chilled with her for a little while.

She said we needed to do something special before we went home. So...

We fit 3 girls on a swing. 

er... 2 girls and a woman. The swingset complained and Claire was convinced the groaning structure would drop us. 

But she said that was special enough.

As I left home, I told Elijah that Claire had run away and I was going to get her.

When I got home, he had arranged an arsenal of machetes, knifes, and rope. 

Ready to fight the kidnappers.
And you may notice that Sybil was green around the mouth. Her neck and arms too, with a lipstick-red foot.
That child is always getting into something.