Vignettes

The morning started with a fang (not a bang). David was holding all three girls with him on the couch so I could make a nice egg and sausage breakfast for everyone. David made a statement that Bekah was so "scrumdilyicious," that he could "just eat her up." Well, Haleah took that phrase literally and took a bite out of poor Bekah's arm. The screams of pain were terrifying coming from Bekah. It was an awful scenario.
During breakfast Haleah said, "Rock on, Dude," at the table. David told her not to say that because she didn't know what it meant. I told him that our niece, Cora, taught her that. Then, all of a sudden ,Kaelah (a 1 year old) said it too- "Rock on, Dude." It was so hilarious that I got our video camera out and asked them to say it again. We couldn't help but smile.




At snack time mid-morning, I gave each Kaelah and Haleah some Puffs in a bowl. Kaelah sat on her little chair to watch Barney, while Haleah put her bowl down on the coffee table to go get a diaper for her baby doll. When Haleah left the room, Kaelah quietly got up from her chair and went over to the coffee table and dumped Haleah's Puffs into her own bowl, and turned and went to sit in her chair again. It was so funny, because it was so innocent and so matter-of-fact at the same time...


My niece, Gracyn, arrived soon after. While outside for a bit, David found two more baby black widows "left over" from the killings of the other day under the Sand and Sea table. Ugh. We then left to run errands and go to Walgreens. Haleah calls it the green store. I let each of the girls pick out a color book (they all got Mickey Mouse). Then, we went to a McDonalds drive thru for a treat. They all got Happy Meals with the Polly Pocket toys inside. I never thought I'd see the day again where I'd care about the Happy Meal toy inside...


On the way home, Haleah told me she had to pee. This was the first time she has said this in the car since potty training, so I practically veered off the road when she said this and stumbled into a gas station. Haleah has peed in her undies a couple of times for unknown reasons in recent days, so I was happy that she told me of her need to go. I took her into the (thankfully) clean potty in the gas station. Haleah was afraid of the potty's large size at first, but she was brave and did her potty business. I was very proud of her.


During our short car ride home, Kaelah and Bekah fell asleep. Gracyn wanted to take pictures of them sleeping, so she did. Then she took a picture of Haleah pretending to be asleep in the car too. It was funny.

We made it home to eat our lunches. And I knew I shouldn't have left David alone so long to his own devices. He got that long tree extension cutter from our neighbor and was hacking up trees in our front yard. He was going at it! And now our yard looks naked. Ah, men!!!!

After I got the kids down for nap (and it was no small task to get Haleah down today for some reason), I made a peach pie for my friends, Laura and Justin, who just had a baby. It looked so yummy that I wanted to keep it for myself (even though I made one for myself yesterday---this one looked far more delicious than the first one). Seriously, though, I was happy to bring it to them. Is it not beautiful?

When we opened the mail after arriving home from delivering the pie, we received a pleasant surprise. Haleah's Uncle John and Aunt Mar sent two packages. Each of the girls got matching sundresses. And Haleah received a birthday outfit and three dollar bills (for being 3), and a box of glow sticks (which proved to come in handy later in the evening when the power went out).

After dinner, when Gracyn was gone for the day, massive thunderstorms ensued in our town. Kaelah was getting scared and she kept saying, "boom," "boom," "boom." She does this thing now where she repeats things over and over and over again for at least 15 minute durations. She is a funny little thing. But it's hard to convince toddlers that everything is going to be okay.

Within minutes, the power went out. Luckily I was right next to the girls when the lights went down and I scooped them up. I found a flashlight and let Haleah man it. I then went to find candles and lit them. Haleah and Kaelah helped me put a candle in every room. I tried to make a game out of it. The rains were pounding our house. It was scary, but I put on my brave face for everyone. And we said a prayer that the power would come back on so that my food wouldn't go bad in the fridge. And after one hour, just when it was about to get truly dark outside for the evening, the power came back on. I was so happy! I did not want to think about what the bedtime scenario would have been otherwise. So in my glee, I took pictures of the girls on the couch together, since they were in a happy mood too... at least for the moment.

I got the girls to bed and then went to put the baby down for the night. Bekah has started doing the cutest thing. She "talks" to me as I rock her. She has her lips, crooked, as she tries to form a sound, and drool just dribbles down her chin. Her eyes are half open and half shut. And she is babbling away. It is the THE MOST precious thing I can imagine. I imagine she is telling me she loves me as she drifts off to sleep. And I tell her how much I Iove her too.