Buddies

So many fun things going on around here all the time!  And as usual, life goes by too fast to blog as often as I'd like.  In the world of 140 characters and soundbites, an actual blog post is harder to come by.  I have been trying to post photos and little snippets on the fb page more often, so hopefully that's at least something.

Maid Marian has graduated.  We got some cute pics of the big girls together on her last day.

Pearl and Bubbles are both almost/mostly walking!  There will be days where they both still crawl a lot, but they're up on their feet and trying and it's super cute.  Makes me happy.

Mowgli and Baymax are either home for summer or part time, just depending on the week.  (Mowgli is here today though and he's rocking the man bun which is SO FUNNY!!  He keeps moving and I can't get a good pic of it though.) It's odd to just have one full-time boy here.  I end up calling him Little Dude a lot.  Cinderella has started calling him that also.  She can't say his name very well and I think Dude is easier.  He needs a blog name.  Little Dude makes me think of Ratatouille, but I've already used Remy for somebody else and Linguini just doesn't seem awesome.  Still thinking on it.  He's a sweet kiddo- needs a good name!

Cinderella and Violet are best friends these days.  Whenever C gets up from her rest, the first thing she says is "Where Violet?  Up nap?"  Yesterday I had to tell her Violet had already left.  Oh, the big huff and the stink eye I got from that one!  "HMPH.  Violet bye bye?.... HMPH.  *big sigh* Where Pearl?"  At least she's willing to play with the other girls when Violet isn't around.  :)

Today I put them down for a nap in the same room for the first time.  They were both yawning and staggering around.  Somehow they found a second wind and had Dance Party Central instead of sleeping though.  After an hour of hoping they'd settle on their own, I went in with my stern face.  It's time to lay down and rest.  No more jumping.  They were less than thrilled.  But I think now they finally are sleeping.  At least I don't hear squealing and giggling like a slumber party anymore.

Cinderella is very quick to throw her buddies under the bus when it comes to who made the bad smell.  If she's clean and I ask who pooped, she'll back up to me and stick her bum out so I can check to be sure it's definitely not her.  If she's the culprit, she immediately tells me, "VIOLET POOP!"  Which is pretty much code for "it's totally me but I don't want to admit it."

She also thinks she should sit with Anna all the time, now that Maid Marian is not here to fight for the space.

Whatcha doing?  Email?  Looking at cute pictures you took of me?  Can I take another selfie?

Pearl is in the giggliest stage right now.  It's fabulous.  You just look at her and she busts out laughing.  She and Bubbles are both giving really good hugs these days too.  So much fun.

We have a new little girl who started this week- she's about the same age as Pearl and Bubbles.  Such a dolly girl.  She has Disney princess eyes- the kind I used to say nobody in real life actually has, because they're so big and wide and pretty with gorgeous lashes.  I take it back that no real girl has those.  I love them.  SO cute.

She's very smiley for us except when we try to take her picture.  :)  I haven't gotten very many happy shots yet, but she's a cheerful one- settling in and getting to know us.

Next week we have a teeny new bitty girl starting too- I can't wait!

Happy Mothers' Day!

We decided to try a new tactic with the girls and crafting this morning and it worked really well.  Usually I take them one at a time and let them create their own project, which is great except for the fact that all the others stand around and cry because it's not their turn, and the one who's working DOES cry when her turn is over.  So this morning we needed to make five Mother's Day gifts and we all worked together on all five of them.  They all got to craft for a long enough time that they felt okay with cleaning up when it was time, and I think it was helpful to discuss each mama as we went too.  "Okay, we're making this one for Maid Marian's mommy, isn't it pretty, do you think she will like it?  Bolt's mommy will love this one- look how fun it is to all help each other…" and so on.  

It involved ripping, which not a single one of them can do on command.  You don't usually think of tearing paper as a skill that needs to be learned, especially if your kids have ever gotten hold of an important paper that you DIDN'T want ripped up.  But it is a taught skill.  They were trying to Hulk Hogan the papers, you know, grab them by the ends and pull till they broke in the middle.  There's good motor skills involved in learning to hold it by the top and gently rip.  So I apologize if they got the hang of it too well…  :)  But it was fun to have them all circling around, and really I ended up doing most of the ripping anyway.  

After we finished all the papers, I showed them what the small brooms and dustpans in the playroom are actually supposed to be used for.  It was super cute to see them trying to brush the floor.  They stink at it, of course, but they try so hard to be helpful.  Even if it takes a lot longer than doing it yourself, it's so fun for them to get to do big kid stuff and help with grownup chores.

Happy Mother's Day to everyone!  I hope you have a fabulous weekend.  I'm not showing you the finished product so you still have a little surprise this evening.  Make sure you take your paper from the folders by the door!

Friday Focus: Bolt

Bolt is a good name choice for this girlie.  She is so fierce and tough and independent, but she still rocks her pink bows.  She makes me laugh every day.

 

She's on a wicked nap boycott lately- just doesn't feel like she needs to sleep much.  Some days she refuses to nap at ALL and yells at us when we try to put her to bed.  No tears, not sad,  The chick is angry.  Just yells.  The minute you get her up she's all sunshine again and just goes and goes.  She's very much The Little Engine That Could.  Much more than meets the eye.  :)  She's one that I could easily see being an Olympic gymnast.  She's wiry and strong and so determined.  Nobody's gonna tell her she can't do something.

And she's so snuggly and koala bear when she feels like it.  She settles in and holds on tight around your neck and just grips harder if you act like you're putting her down.  It's especially fun to snuggle her in her pink bear suit.  It's full length and has ears and feet and the whole shebang.  Pretty awesome.

Being as independent as she is, feeding her has been interesting the past month or so.  She would rather die than let us spoon anything into her mouth like a baby.  Although she sees no problem with eating oatmeal with her fingers… we sometimes do.  :)  It gets pretty messy but she has such a good time and it makes for really fun photos.  I didn't realize how many I have of her eating!

Not a fan of kale the first time we tried!

Her name is one that's pretty easy for the other kids to say and so she's kind of like Norm from Cheers.  She comes in and everybody yells her name.  When she gets picked up in the afternoons, Maid Marian will yell "BOLT!" and then run to her and pat her on the back, just to make sure that her dad knows which kid he's supposed to take with him.  It's hilarious.  The other day MM was out and he joked that he wasn't sure who to pick up without her help.

She just adds so much fun to our days!  We love you Miss Bolt!

Lunch Lady Success

I say lunch lady because all the ladies loved this dish.  All the boys pushed it around their plates or threw it on the floor.  But at least it was a partial success!  I have a hard time getting Violet to eat lately and she loved it so that made me happy.  Cinderella and Maid Marian chowed it down too.  It's nice to find healthy things that at least some of them enjoy.

It's Tuscan Chicken Skillet and it's just a random one I found on pinterest awhile back.  I do take issue with the fact that it says it takes one dish, because it keeps telling you to take things out of the skillet and then put them back in, so I did get about four bowls dirty.  :)  But if that's the biggest problem with the food, I think we're good.

I left the sundried tomatoes out because I didn't have any, and I just put regular diced tomatoes instead of fire roasted.  Using up what's in the pantry!  I"m sure it's even more delicious if you make it like it says to.

Enjoy!!  Recipe is here.

Friday Focus: Maid Marian

Maid Marian has turned one recently and is ready to attack the world with both hands. She's such a sunny little kid a majority of the time.  Lots of fun to hang around! 

She's pretty much always willing to do the cheesy poses.  I can't remember if she put this hat on herself or if we staged it, but she loves having the camera in her face either way.

See!  I will come closer now and show you my cuteness!  Also can I have a bite of whatever you're eating please?

Again with the hats.  I didn't realize we have multiple pictures of her in headgear but apparently that's how we've amused ourselves this summer.

She's not been wildly enthusiastic about making the transition from hand-fed by us to doing it herself.  I could never get her to eat a banana, until I remembered a little guy I took care of years ago who refused to eat cut-up food.  Sure enough, she's the same way.  I mean really, who wants to eat broken food?  It needs to be large so she can drag it home to her den and gnaw it to death.  Clearly.

Uh, no thanks.  Little pieces are for babies.  I'm all grown up and I am far too cool for this stuff.  But check out my snazzy accessories!

She loves being able to pull up and just come stand next to us if we're on the couch.  She does that a lot while I feed one of the babies.  Sometimes she wants to try to sneak a sip of the bottle she's no longer getting, and gives the most pathetic and dramatic lower lip when we tell her no.  Anna says she's a graduate of a bad actress school for babies.  It's so true.  Or maybe soap operas in her future?  Such overblown gestures and melodrama.  I can't help but laugh at her every time.

She's also getting into the stage where suddenly things are scary that never were before.  Highly suspicious of park swings, this one.

She's just full of life and love.  So happy.  I read an article somewhere on facebook (and of course now I can't find it anywhere) that talked about the shifting of balance in the way we talk to baby girls.  There's been that whole thing where you're not supposed to start off by telling them they're pretty because then they think that defines them, and how we should focus on what they DO and who they ARE, not what they look like.  All true.  However, this particular article focused on a study that was done with dads and their daughters.  It found that girls who had dads who regularly told them that they're beautiful ended up more confident in themselves and tended to believe it more.  Even if they roll their eyes and say, "Oh come on dad, you're the only one who thinks so", there's a sub-conscious connection there that does super good things for their brains and the way their self-image is shaped.

Maid Marian's daddy, every single morning without fail when he drops off, tells her "daddy loves so you much baby girl, you're so beautiful.  So beautiful."  She smiles like the sun every time she hears it and it makes me all gushy inside.  You can tell she's hearing it in her brain, not just her ears.  Daddy thinks she's beautiful, and so she is.  I love it so much.

Swings

This week the AC is out in the playroom.  I'm really REALLY hoping that tomorrow when the service tech comes, he will say it is an easy fix and that it won't take six weeks like last year.  That unit had to be replaced, and this is now just a year old, so fingers crossed on that.  Luckily this summer has been a bit cooler than last, and it's actually more comfortable to take the kids out in the mornings instead of trying to herd them in the living room all day.

My kids have friends here this week, so even though we're officially full numbers-wise, it's two eleven year olds, a seven year old, and a six year old along with the regular roster of infants and toddlers.  That makes life infinitely easier for walks!  The big kids are super helpful.  Anna stayed home with the three youngest while they napped, and the rest of us headed out.

I'm sure we look like quite the spectacle marching down the street.  At least today nobody stopped to ask me if all nine of them are mine.

We have to cross a wooden bridge over a little creek to get there, and we saw a mama duck with four ducklings.  I think listening to all the kids quack at the ducks was my favorite moment of the day.

The swings were largely a success.  There's just one baby swing at our park, but it's pretty wide and has leg holes in both sides, so I set two of them in there back to back and it worked nicely.

Vanellope cackled like a hyena the whole time.  I love when the wind gets in her hair.

Mr. Flynn enjoyed himself immensely too.

 Miss Olivia, somehow managing to still look shy even while laughing.

Mufasa! King of all he surveys.

And then.  Then there was Maid Marian.  I know that child loves her some swings.  I've seen facebook posts that her mama puts up with all kinds of smiles and swing loving.  That was not the case today.  She freaked out and acted like it was the worst and scariest thing that ever happened.  I even tried to sit on the big swing and hold her and go very slowly and she still was having none of it.

So we decided at that point it was time to head out.  On the way home it was hot and my kids ran Olivia and Vanellope through our neighbor's sprinkler.  They laughed so hard!  It was really fun to see.

Then we came home and Anna said we smelled like sunshine, which is her way of saying we've been outside and smell like stinky puppy dogs, but still, it's the nicest way I've heard to describe that particular smell.  Lots of fun!

Be My Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day!  We spent yesterday and today getting little cards made for the parents.  I'm a sucker for footprints and I figure I can't be the only one.  Most of our people are too little to color, but it's fun to paint their feet so they can make a card.  Families love it.

 Merryweather went first and thought it was the funniest thing.  She laughed the whole time and then I had to do everybody else on the sly so she didn't help WAY more than I needed.

Mufasa was pretty chilled out the whole time- he let me do it without any protest but thought it was a little weird.  He stayed still though so his footprints came out really clear.

 Miss Merida's foot, making a cameo appearance.

 I had to practically hogtie Maid Marian to keep her hands off her feet.  She wanted to eat the paint SO BADLY.  I needed about six more hands for this job, especially since Merryweather snuck up behind me and grabbed the paintbrush off the table.  She dropped it in my lap and I still have red paint all over me.

Then she got all kinds of offended that I wouldn't let her grab the rest of the supplies so I had to console her before we could carry on.  I love the way Maid Marian has her foot stuck straight out and is still staring at it even after I washed it.  She can't quite figure out what I did to her.

While the littles were napping today I took Merryweather and Merida to eat lunch with O'Malley at school.  The weather hasn't been nice enough for a walk in forever and they talked and laughed the whole way there. 

 I got wise in the afternoon and put Bernard in the jumper to do his painting.  He decorated the floor while I went to get the wipes.

He had a good time too.

Last but not least was Vanellope.  (I watched Wreck-it Ralph with my kids again tonight and she's so great.  Big smile, sassy little attitude, makes you happy.  It works.)

She put up with the first foot, although she let me know she thought the whole thing was weird and possibly a little scary.  We didn't take pictures of the second foot.  Girl got angry.  :)  But they all turned out really cute.  Happy Valentine's Day and I'm sorry if there is a little paint left between your kid's toes tonight!

Aw Shucks Guys

Y'all should have told me you were actually waiting for me to blog!  Because I pretty much thought nobody ever read it- not like you comment frequently.  :)  I really do like the feedback- it makes it easier to write regularly when I think somebody cares about reading.  Mufasa's dad texted me today and referred to him as Mufasa, which made me laugh.  I couldn't come up with a good quote back to him on the fly.  But clearly he read!  YAY!  And Maid Marian's mom (HI THERE!) mentioned that she stalks the blog.  Maybe it's hugely narcissistic of me, but I'm super flattered.  Just for that, extra pics of your babies.

She holds her own!  At least for a few seconds anyway.

When it is really cold outside they bring Mufasa in this bear suit.  I squeal every time- I just can't help it.  He's so darn cute and extra snuggly when he wears it.

Okay.  *clapping hands briskly* moving on, I need blog names for several of the munchkins, and also for The Assistant.  It is getting difficult to write about the day with unnamed people.  OH!  I could call the twins Phineas and Ferb.  I've used so many names up that I'm going to have to branch out into TV soon anyway and I like that for them.  Done. 

Then we have this sweet new little guy.  I think I'm going to call him Bernard, like in the Rescuers.  I like the way Eva Gabor says it.  (I did have a Bianca a couple years ago, but since I'm fairly certain nobody but me is paying attention to the horror of having two different families using names from the same movie, we'll just brush that aside.....)

Meet Bernard!

Here we have the serious look...

And also the smile.  Cutie pie.

Two more girls to name, but I'm still mulling over options... good night.  :)

New Post! Dance and Sing!

I'm pretty sure I've already used every single post title I can think of.  Clearly I've not been in a blogging mood much lately either!  We are still here!

There are five full-time kiddos here these days, with two more either three or four days of the week.  Also, once a week my neighbor's twins visit.  So we have five, six, seven, or nine just depending on the day.  I'm really enjoying it.  It's definitely busier than it has been for the past few months with just three or four, but the kids seem to be getting a kick out of the interaction and it's fun to stay moving.  Merryweather and Merida are running all over the place and everyone else is scurrying to catch up.

Maid Marian and Mufasa, just hanging out and shooting the breeze.  Notice he has her sock in his hand- he took it off her foot and then was trying to figure out how to get it back on.

On an unrelated Mufasa note, the girls are all obsessed with his hair.  They love it because it feels so different from theirs and they come by to pet his head while he's playing.  He lets them.  It's super cute.

Look!  Food with a bowl and a spoon!  This makes breakfast look more successful than it was- the bowl frisbeed off a few minutes later and then she stuck the spoon too far down her throat.  But hey.  We make the little progress, one day at a time.

Maid Marian is really exploding on her gross motor skills these days- she's getting pretty good at sitting up by herself for a few minutes at a time and loves to play the piano.  I really hope this piano never breaks.  Duchess got it for her first Christmas, so it's 10 and I'm sure they don't make it anymore.  Every kid I've ever taken care of has LOVED it.

 My Tuesday twins.  I can't think of a good set of Disney names.  Tweedledum and Tweedledee is the only thing that comes to mind but I don't think that's very complimentary and they're really sweet boys.  :)
What's a good name set I could use?

Pictures are kind of biased toward the Maid this post, but I couldn't leave this one out.  So flippin' cute.

We also have a new three month old little girl who is amazing and delicious.  No pictures allowed of her, but I'll come up with a name for her soon so at least there will be stories!