May

We spent May keeping busy. There was definitely more painting. Adia has started painting some gorgeous pieces of artwork. She even has a new sketch book because I've been so impressed with her artistic ability. She's rarely scribbling anymore. We made leaf prints with the magnolia leaves we collected while going for a walk. They turned out really well.



We've been spending a ton of time out in the backyard too. The girls play while I garden. I've been doing an insane amount of weeding, mulching and planting. Gramma's definitely helped too. She pulled grass from a huge section so we could plant Adia's vegetable garden. We now have corn and zucchini and radishes, carrots and pumpkins that have recently sprouted. Our tomatoes, strawberries and herbs are doing well too. The girls get so excited to see the plants grow and we've taken to trying to identify any insects we come across. I need a field guide desperately. Of course there's lots of running through the sprinklers, bike riding and pool splashing. Papa brought up the blow up pool and they've been loving it.



We went back to Florence for Rhody Days. The girls loved the carnival. Daddy and I discovered we're not carnival ride people anymore. Just watching the Merry go Round made me feel sick. Mira was cautious, but Leia loved every single minute, except for the loud noises. She just wanted to keep going.



They did drag me on the Ferris Wheel with DiDi. Yep, I'm still terrified of heights.



The girls begged for sno cones so they each got one. We ended up playing pass the sno cone though because they were way too big for them to eat and they complained that they were too cold. Papa then brought over an order of curly fries. I've never seen something disappear faster. They devoured them! My girls typically don't like potatoes of any kind, maybe tater tots, but that's it. It was a feeding frenzy and they were gone!



The next day was the parade and after the beautiful weather the day before, it was overcast and drizzly.



The icky weather continued all week. We attempted a puddle jumping walk, but we didn't find any puddles. We found lots and lots of slugs and snails though. Adia was touching the snail shells to make them hide back in their shell so Mira and Leia attempted it too. Mira was fine, but Leia doesn't know her own strength. She crunched it and felt horrible.


Since they couldn't play outside (it was cold!), we made spoon people and pizzas.


Over Memorial Day weekend, my friend drove up from California. I wasn't sure how the girls would react to her, but they absolutely loved her. Adia and Leia immediately loved her, but Mira took some coaxing. She finally opened up to her the night before she had to drive home. Ever since she left, the girls keep asking where she went and when she'll be back. We did take her to the beach on Sunday and froze her to death. She's used to 90 degree weather, not 50 degrees with a terrible ice cold wind. She still had fun, but wished she had her winter coat with her.


We went back to Gramma and Papa's house to warm up and eat lunch.


Then it was off to Old Town for ice cream, candy and to visit some shops.


It was great having her here and we hope to make a road trip down there to visit again.

Easter and April

We spent Easter in Portland at Daddy's Grandma's house. The girls call her GiGi and they love seeing her. They actually spend a great deal of time asking to go see her. A few days before we left, we dyed eggs. The girls did a great job and barely broke any of them. I was impressed. They also didn't dye themselves too much.



The girls had a blast at GiGi's house. They played with their cousins, ate their body weight in veggies and happily celebrated Papa's birthday.




Daddy took 2 weeks off before he left for the academy so were able to spend the night in Portland and then go to the zoo the next day. The girls haven't been in a hotel since we went to California almost two years ago so they were a little confused. Adia was insanely excited. Leia kept begging to go home, but Mira soon snuggled down and fell asleep.




The next day, on Papa's birthday, we went to the zoo. We haven't been to the zoo since the twins were still drinking bottles. I couldn't wait to see how they would react to the animals and riding the train. They were all terrific and the weather was perfect. Leia absolutely loved the bobcat. She wanted to take him home. She talked about him for days after. Adia loved the zebras and I think Mira liked everything. They walked almost the entire time and were exhausted when it was time to leave.




The train ride was fun and so much better without a huge stroller involved. The girls thought it was awesome. I was worried Leia would get scared, but she did really really well.




We we're able to spend time at Gramma and Papa's house. The weather wasn't great so we couldn't go to the beach, but they have so many toys there that they didn't mind much. We did take Cheeto for a few walks though.




Once Daddy left, we had to come up with ways to keep busy. We've painted (and made huge messes. Oxyclean does NOT remove acrylic paint), played with hairstyles (Mira looks great with pigtails), made pizzas and went to the movies. Yes, I survived a movie in the theater with 3 children, by myself. They were actually wonderful.




Leia somehow learned to dunk cookies (specifically gluten free oreos) in milk. I had to take a picture to document it for Papa.




And then there were the kittens... On the way back from the coast one night, we discovered something in our garage. The mama cat who once had kittens under our house had now left us kittens in our garage. For the next 6 weeks, I fed mama and babies. Mama eventually became tame enough for me to pet her. She stopped hissing, batting and trying to hurt me. The girls had fun loving on some kittens and thanks to good friends, Mama and babies found a new, good home. Mama's already been fixed and lives nowhere nearby so we won't have to worry about doing it all over again.




On the weekend before Daddy left again, we went for a walk with Gramma DiDi near her old apartment (she moved last weekend!) and managed to get some awesome pictures. We now have a great family picture.




DiDi also took us out to dinner at Adia's favorite place, Chapala. Mira had her first accident in ages, but luckily we were sitting outside and it all puddled under her chair. She was soaked and very upset, but a trip back to the car fixed her right up. She said she never ever wants to pee her pants again. Works for me.



And now it's almost the end of May. We've survived 5 weeks of Daddy being gone all week and only home on weekends. It's rough, but we can do it. Luckily we have Gramma and Papa on Wednesdays and once school is out, we can visit DiDi in her new place too.