Success???

Well, as most of you know, I was working on potty training Reagan in early March, and then I had to leave the girls here to go back to Portland to be with my grandma. Well, while I was gone, she decided to go through major Mommy withdrawals. She absolutely refused to go on the potty, and when Reagan makes up her mind, well, let's just say her mind is made up.

Then an interesting thing happened. Her skin is so sensitive that the sand at the beach sort of irritated her skin, and the only way to get it to heal up was to take her diaper off and let her run around the house with out one. So, is this an automatic potty training system? So far, she has made it to the potty 4 times in the last two days. I'd say that was pretty good for her. She is thrilled to be wearing panties just like her big sister, so maybe it will stay that way. I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that very soon I will be done with diapers for Reagan.

Yesterday was my fed up day. I was fed up with a messy play room. I was fed up with bananas smeared on the carpet. And all of that fed upness led me to deep thankfulness.

Yes, I am deeply thankful for high chairs today. I went to Walmart and purchased their cheapest high chair: just a basic, plastic affair with a plastic seat cushion all done in blue elephants and ivory. I am amazed at how much joy a piece of plastic can bring to me. The wonder of being able to put Georgie in the high chair and give her a banana. I didn't have to watch her waving hand to make sure that she didn't smear it on the couch or on my pants or hair. She sat in the chair and smeared her banana all over the tray AND it was so easy to clean. Just a little water and it all slid off. No scrubbing. No cleaning solution. Isn't it great to live in the USA, to have a Walmart close by, to be able to buy a high chair?

Of course, today was a very hot day. But our trip to the pool today confirmed that we are indeed acclimatizing. I went with a friend and her kids. We've done this before, but the first time we went, the girls only lasted about an hour, and then it was just too hot for them. Well this time they splashed and played, and when I began to feel like Georgie was done, I felt a little guilty. After all, we hadn't been there that long. Imagine my delight when I discovered that we'd been at the pool for almost 4 hours.

Reagan is getting very daring in the pool. Today she learned how to jump off the side of the pool and into the water. She was so excited when she first figured it out. Just imagine her high pitched voice, very loud and resonant, saying, "Mommy! I'm a big girl! I did it. Watch me again!" She also swam the entire length of the pool, courtesy of her life jacket, but she did kick the whole way.

Kate is learning to embroider. I found one of those plastic grids that come with a plastic needle. Hers has a butterfly on it, and she is working very diligently to fill in all the correct holes so that her "square" turns out just right.

Georgie is going from walking to running. She really wants to keep up with her big sisters, so instead of tottering about and pausing to figure out how to do the thing correctly, she is moving headlong into running. The ladies at the church nursery were laughing at her full tilt run. They just couldn't believe it. But, run, run, run, seems to be Georgianna's motto.

Tanner worked on the shed early this morning. He came inside at about 10:30 because it was just too hot to do much more. When he took off his clothes, we were able to wring them out in the bathtub. I was going to go outside to help him, but I only made it as far as the threshold. I only made it that far because the door swung open, a blast of hot air swept past me, so I closed the door and made lemonade and caramel popcorn.

I'm on this caramel popcorn kick. You see, the other day, when I was at Albertsons, I passed by the aisle with the Poppycock. Oh, it sounded so delicious to me, but it was almost $5 a bag. Well! I knew I could make it for a fraction of the cost, but I wasn't sure if I could make the sauce, since my Windsor pan is broken. The greatest part of the whole thing is that a found a microwave version of the recipe. Micro-popcorn, mico-caramel sauce. It makes it easier and a lot cooler to cook.

The End of an Eventful Day

Aaahh! Today was the last day of school for Tanner. It was also the day that I cleaned the girls room, and Tanner worked on the shed. Then we went on a walk in the mall and took the kids to the play place for lunch. When it's 105 outside, I do mall walking rather than outside walking. It just doesn't get cool enough at night. We got home at about 3:00 and everyone went down for a nap except for Mommy. I went shopping. I got a high chair for Georgie, furikake for Jonathan, Li Hing Moi for me and Panda candy for Kate and Reagan. Then I came home, hustled everyone out of bed, got the girls and early dinner and loaded them in the car.

Tonight was our first choir rehearsal of the season, and we kicked it off with a catered dinner and the awarding of the music scholarships. We dropped the kids off at the nursery and walked over to the annex. Soft, Hawaiian music wafted across the air waves. I laughed because it sure didn't smell like Hawaiian food cooking. When we finally got to the buffet line, I discovered that they were serving mildly flavored char-sui pork, sweet potatoes with coconut milk and pineapple and a spinach salad with oranges. It was tasty, but not Hawaiian. We spent a comfortable evening chatting with friends and eating huge slices of chocolate cake, that part was Hawaiian. Light and fluffy like a dobash cake, but with Devil Food's icing. Made me think of Auntie Joanie's birthday parties. Must be the humidity that makes the cakes so light and fluffy.

Rehearsal after dinner was a little grueling. We went over 7 songs. All sight reading. My brain still hurts, especially since I'm singing 2nd soprano and we're doing a bunch of spirituals with 7ths and 2nds sprinkled liberally across the pages. There is a song that we are singing that I am especially partial to since it requires close 3rds for the sopranos. It reminds me of the Flower Song from the opera Lakme. My favorite duets are always those sung by a coloratura and a mezzo-soprano. If angels could sing, they would sound like that.

It's been a long, fulfilling day. Did I post that Tanner passed his exams? I think so, but just in case...

I woke up fed up. Usually not an auspicious sign for the day. The girls room was so disorganized that there was no room to walk, and I tripped and fell when I went to get Georgie from her crib. Now, the mess was the girls' fault, but the disorganized was ours. Their beds and dressers were in the middle of the room, and their toy chests were wedged in between because we were trying to keep the walls free and clear so that it would be easy to mud. I reached the conclusion during the deep hours of the night that if I waited around for the mudding to get done, well...you know the rest.

Since I was prone on the floor at this point, I decided to take a good look around and under the beds, and discovered toys and books and papers and hair clips and all sorts of things. I shooed the girls out of their room. This was no time to take a "teaching moment". I began the demolition. I sorted things into piles. I threw trash away. I vacuumed corners. I moved beds. I moved dressers. I moved toy boxes and desks. At the end of two hours, the room had shaped itself into a nice little play room with neatly stacked crates filled with all sorts of good things for the all the little girls on the other side of the wall. I also decided to have Kate and Reagan pick out 5 toys, 5 books and 5 stuffed animals that they would give to the Salvation Army. I figured if they couldn't keep their toys picked up, it meant that they had too many toys. They did a lot of soul searching and came up with the required loot. We'll see how long the clean room lasts, but at least it's organized.

Just like sis...

As Jonathan and I were discussing the ramifications of changing jobs, Kate came up to me and confessed that she and Reagan were having a hard time. So, like a good mommy, I asked her what she thought might be causing the problem. She stood on the bottom rung of one of our chairs, leaned with one hand on the table and swung her left foot in the air. It must have helped her thought process because she soon came up with the solution that she was bossing Reagan around which made Reagan hit her which made Kate want to hit Reagan back. Pretty good, I thought. So, I told her to hope down and try not to do those things anymore. Well, Reagan saw this and she came running up to me and said, "Mommy, we're having a hard time." Then she, too, climbed up the chair, leaned with one hand on the table and swung her left foot in the air. I asked her why she thought they were having a problem, and she said, "Because, because, because..." then she gave me a huge smile, and waited for me to say, "then maybe you shouldn't do those things anymore." Then she hopped down and said, "Okay, Mommy."

Tonight was spaghetti night for the kids, and I smiled as I grabbed a pair of scissors to cut up the noodles. Before you think, "How brilliant!" I have to confess that I learned it from my big sister.

I made guacamole yesterday and seeded the tomatoes. It makes a big difference in the taste. Once again, I learned it from my big sister.

Add a little bleach to your whites and make sure you wash them in HOT water...believe it or not, it was my big sister that taught me that one. When I was little, we were just too poor to afford something like bleach let alone hot water.

Thai peanut sauce, teriyaki, macaroni salad, chopped onions, toy buckets, spot-shot those are the things my sister taught me. I guess Reagan is a lot like me. Just watching her big sister, trying her best to learn the tricks of the trade.

Our day of rest

Indeed, today we needed to have a Sunday. The girls woke early as is their current REM cycle. I could hear them giggling and laughing in their room, and I laid in bed trying to figure out whether I should risk trying for a cup of coffee before or after I said good morning to them. I opted for the before and tiptoed into the kitchen. To my horror, I was out of coffee. Reeling from the shock, I staggered back into our room and found bobby pins, mu'u and Crocs. I shook Tanner awake. Hurry! We have to leave for church early. I ran out of the room after I saw him prop his eyes open with a couple of toothpicks.

I told Kate to get dressed, and got Reagan's teeth brushed, made breakfast, changed diapers, served breakfast. got Reagan dressed. Tanner fed Georgie a bottle and as I was in the midst of these gyrations, Tanner said, "why don't we go to Sunday School first, then we won't be late for the service." I heaved a huge sigh of relief and slowed down my pace. We managed a Starbucks run and a three kid drop off and were only 3 minutes late to Sunday School. The only down side to church today was the freezing temperature. Both Tanner and I were shivering by the time the service was over. It must have been lower than 76 in the sanctuary.

So, we had lunch. The girls opened the mail. Kate wrote thank you notes. Reagan pranced around with her letter from her Very Godmother and, so far, we've spent the rest of the afternoon just lolling about doing pretty much nothing. Except that Jonathan and Tanner went to the B.C.S. Oriental Market and brought back a small selection of Japanese delicacies. Jonny was disappointed in the market, but he'll adjust to small town inadequacies. After all, we don't have anything like a WinCo or a Food4Less, yet, so he can't expect Uwajimaya's. At least the market sells 6 different types of soy sauce, 8 types of rice and 1 type of mochi ice cream.

The town is beginning to wake up from its summer nap. I went to the store the other day and saw that all of the steam cleaners had been rented. The food aisles are beginning to get jammed again, and traffic is getting snarled. Of course, traffic here is if you have to sit through a light. I'm hoping that once school time hits, Jonathan will be able to make friends and find some buddies to hang out with. As always, we appreciate your prayers as Tanner's finals come due this week, and then he has to hit the ground running to finish up this house before he starts the fall semester.

Spontaneity

Last night was not a very restful night. Reagan and Georgie went to sleep very early because they had both refused to take naps during the day. They were asleep by 7:30, so all parents know what that means: an ultra early morning. It was so early that I couldn't imagine getting out of bed, so instead, I gave them each a flashlight, put them on the floor of my room, closed the door and told them to play quietly. I didn't fall asleep, but my eyes stayed closed. It felt so good. About an hour into this, Kate got lonesome, so she joined the group in Mommy's bedroom. Luckily I had another flashlight.

I finally dragged my body out of bed at 7:30, and stumbled into the kitchen because I forgot that I had put a fan on the floor the night before. I turned on my espresso machine, and tried to make up my mind about breakfast. That was when Tanner got home. He said that he and Jonny hadn't wanted to wake us up, so instead of coming home at 6:00, they had just gone to Starbucks and eaten breakfast there. I thanked him. Then I told him that we were up at 6:00. He kissed me on the cheek and said how sorry he was, and then he took a deep breath and asked me if I wanted to go to the beach today.

Why not? I didn't have anything ready, but I knew it would be fun to go. So, the girls ran around finding bathing suits, towels and beach toys while I packed the cooler with bottle of water, chips, fruit snacks and peanut butter. Tanner got dressed and loaded the car. We were out of the house in 45 minutes. I never did drink my cup of coffee. No worries, I know every Starbucks on the way to Galveston.

I love the drive there. We go by three lakes and over at least 6 low, swung bridges. Sailboats, speed boats, seadoos and fishermen seem to line up and salute us as we pass by, and then we hit Houston. And today, Houston actually looked pretty. The sun was at the perfect angle, glinting on the tall, glass structures, splattering extra sunbows across the sky. We slugged our way past NASA. Traffic always snarls up at that point, and then we were home free and managed to do 70 the rest of the way to Galveston. We stopped at the Target in Galveston for juices and trail mix. And then we went to Stewart Beach.

Stewart Beach Park commandeers the best sandy beaches of Galveston. There must be at least 100 yards of beach before it reaches the sea, and at least a mile of sand stretching the length of Galveston Island. Here, the waves break gently and undertows are nonexistent. Kids can safely splash around in the shallows and babies crawl on the fringe of the ocean while eating sand. Well, at least that's what Georgie did. I caught her with handfuls of sand stuffed in her mouth three times. It made me wonder how many times I didn't catch her. She had the greatest time. She crawled straight into the water and was surprised when it splashed into her eyes. She got a little mad at it because bathtubs just aren't suppose to do that sort of thing. She got unbelievably dirty, wet and tired. I knew it was time to go when she stopped crawling and just laid down on the sand, too tired to move. Kate is learning how to boogie board, and Reagan is learning how to use a life jacket.

Reagan spent hours building a mountain of sand underneath our umbrella. It never got very tall because she kept patting it down, but she worked and worked and worked on it. She drank the most gatorade and the most water and the most milk and the most juice. She was so excited when she saw the ocean that when I finally told her that it was safe to go in, she ran as fast as her little, chunky legs could carry her, and plunged headlong into the waves. She came up spluttering and gagging. It was SALTY!

Kate is my mature child. She gingerly tested the water, and since it met her approval, she walked into the waves until the swirled up around her calves. She paused like a supermodel and then proceeded to go waste deep, and then a big wave came and dunked her. Perfect. Her christening over, she was indefatigable. And when it was finally time to go, she had a hard time saying goodbye and not crying. But she maintained her composure all the way through showering and dressing and only wept a little bit when we loaded her into the car.

The girls slept most of the way home, and so did Tanner. He only took over the last part of the driving because the sun went down, and I don't like driving country roads at night. So, I am brown. Yes, brown with red-caped shoulders. I did put sunscreen on. I put it on 4 times. You see, I was so busy putting sunscreen on everyone else, that I forgot to put it on myself.