Children are on a need-to-know basis. Seriously, if your child asks you about the birds and the bees, you’re going to give her a far simpler answer when she’s three than when she’s eight or twelve. They just don’t need to know everything when they’re that little. And if you’re a parent who feels full disclosure at any age is the way to go, well…embarrassment in public *will* ensue. A three-year-old does not have the discretion that a young adult has. Where am I going with this?

Well, apparently John employed the need-to-know rule a bit sparingly last week. It happened while they were driving somewhere together. When we travel, my three-year-old loves to ask about what she sees, and exclaims loudly and with excitement when something gets her attention. This time, they were passing Fantasy Warehouse. You know what I’m talking about–those places that crop up in semi-industrial areas of town until the local conservatives pray them down? Well, Fantasy Warehouse has lots of pretty lights, and a bright purple awning surrounding it’s peremeter. “What’s that, Daddy? What’s that?” John said the first thing that came to mind, “That’s where naughty people go.” She appeared to accept that and moved on to the next exciting view out her window. As you can imagine, a three-year-old only retains the parts that make sense to them.

Later, we were all on our way home from church Wednesday night and everybody was sleepy. AK was watching LeapFrog’s Numbers DVD, and the twins were asleep when suddenly she sat up in her chair and pointed, “Mommy, look! That’s where naughty people go! We don’t do that, icky!”

We had just passed a local ice cream shop with a lovely bright purple awning.

Perhaps she was just a bit young for that “lesson”. On the other hand, it *was* an ice cream shop. Perhaps naughty people do go there, after all.

My half-Yankee daughter is embracing her Southern heritage. When she talks, she sounds like a pre-civil war Southern gentlewoman. Today, she was on a mission.

“Where’s my paper news?!” I assume that’s to distinguish from her television news? I knew it. I have a child prodigy. Every other parent can think it, but I know it. My child wants her paper news.

“What do you need the newspaper for, honey?” I asked, hoping for a dissertation on the state of local politics.

“I see a flaw!” A flaw, I’m thinking. Once we get those Fords out of office, the flaw’s all gone, right?

Moments later, she was running around the house swinging one of Daddy’s newspapers in the air like a demon possessed. “I can’t get it, Mommy! I can’t get that flaw! Where’d it go?!”

Ahem. I did NOT give her that accent. Don’t look at me.

Anna Kathryn turned three at the end of March, and we had a birthday party for her a couple weeks later. I decided on a princess party, because she loves necklaces and pretty hats, and because we decided to invite more than just family this year. A princess party would be fun. She has been talking about her birthday for months. At Mother’s Day Out, moms often bring treats for the kids when their child has a birthday, so aside from her cousins’ parties, all AK knew about birthdays was the one thing she asked for: “Mommy, for my birthday I’m going to have cupcakes!” I think I could handle that.

I went online and pulled out some ideas. I decided to decorate the living room and dining room like a princess castle–sort of.

We had lots of pink, blue, and purple, and I drew a frog on poster board for “Pin the Kiss on the Frog”. I stayed up until about four in the morning the night before making the house a castle and cutting out crowns for the kids to decorate. (They had fun decorating them, but most of the crowns didn’t make it home with the kids. The decorating itself was the fun part!) And when I was doing last minute shopping the day before, I found an adorable “cupcake cake” at Kroger. That spared me a few hours baking and frosting them myself, and the children thought it was pretty. I added candles Grandma sent, and Cinderella figurines to help our theme along. Those puzzle placemats were party favors–each child brought his or her placemat home. The little girls also went home with purses from the dollar store filled with jewelry, sunglasses, and other fun things I found. The little boys had backpacks filled with fire and police men, balls, and other toys. It was fun finding things to fill them up.

The best part about it all was how excited AK was. She could hardly go to bed the night before. When she woke up to pink hearts on the walls, and pink covering the tables, she exclaimed to John, “Daddy! Mommy cleaned up really pretty!” She was so grateful–I must have gotten 100 hugs from her before anybody even arrived.

When her friends came, we made crowns first, and then took a group photo. It was like herding cats, so we just sent them all to climb on AK’s bed, and snapped a few. John helped keep things moving–every child did pin the kiss on the frog, because they got a noisemaker if they did it. Even the boys considered the prize worth the humiliation.

AK could hardly contain herself seeing all her favorite friends there. For lunch, they had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut in shapes of flowers and hearts, and “princess” yogurt layered blue (raspberry) and pink (strawberry), with strawberries, grapes, and cut veggies. The adults had a meat and cheese sandwich bar, chips and dip, and cheesecake dip for the strawberries. We were eating the leftovers all week, and enjoyed them immensely! (Big party hint: always prepare foods you won’t mind eating for days afterwards!)

All Anna Kathryn needed was her friends–she could hardly sit still long enough to open presents. She was given some great toys, though. Things I wouldn’t have thought of, like magnetic wooden “paper” dolls, and a Strawberry Shortcake doll  with a pony–both with long red hair to brush. She now has more purses and hats than I can count (she can–she knows exactly what she has), and necklaces too. I guess I have a little princess, after all. Even though I couldn’t get her to wear her princess dress for anything. It was her party–I wasn’t going to push it!

After all her friends left, AK’s cousins stayed around for a few more hours. Brayden showed AK how to use the bubble blower she got for her birthday. It ran out of bubbles before she got the knack of it–we’re now on the hunt for the right bubbles to refill it. My child loves her bubbles.

Now that they’re all grown up and three, AK and her cousin Lauren hopped in Uncle Matt’s car and decided to take a drive. They weren’t in the least concerned that they weren’t actually going anywhere.

Happy Birthday, my darling girl. I didn’t know what I was getting into when God gave me you, but I wouldn’t trade my curly-headed, impish, loving little three-year-old for anything. You make Daddy and me feel like the luckiest two people in the world, and our lives have forever been changed for the better. Love, Mommy.

Helping Mommy feed Brothers works best for everybody.

I got the impression they prefered being naked to clothed. Works for me–less laundry!

From left to right: William being adorable in the nude; William in his MN Twins costume on a PINK crib mat. Poor dear boy; Stephen fascinated by the hanging bear.

When William falls asleep, it’s like a flame extinguished. He wails loudly for a couple minutes, then is out cold. He tries to roll over in his swing to sleep while buckled, and actually somehow makes it work. I just wish he wouldn’t smash his nose like that. I’m always checking for air passages. Oh, and hint for mothers whose babies like to roll over in their swings–make sure all buckles are SECURELY fastened. Not so fun to find an infant dangling from his swing by a leg. He was not nearly as horrified as I was. We now attach his tray when I leave the room, for extra security.

Mirror, mirror, on the wall…who is the cutest twin of all? I have a crush on both of them. I’m a shameless two-timer, I know.

The other night, AK decided to read to her brothers. William was mildly interested. Stephen flirted with the camera lady. It was pretty cute, though. She almost has that book down. “Many more fingers; many more thumbs! Dum ditty dum ditty dum dum dum…”

The boys recently discovered AK’s train set. They have been trying to figure out how to scoot ever since to get back in her room and play with it. So far, the best they can pull off is running madly in place.

The Mother’s of Multiples Club (MOMC) had a gathering around Easter-time. I joined the club last August when I was pregnant, so I could go to the MOMC Consignment pre-sale at the Agri-Center. I stocked up on some twin clothes at the time. I have gone to a few of the monthly meetings, but haven’t had a chance to meet many of the moms or see their children, so we thought we’d go. We met at a park with a playground, so AK played while we claimed a piece of ground near the picnic tables.

It was a lot of fun seeing all the other little ones–twins and triplets.

We set the boys out on a blanket. They enjoyed watching the world go by, two by two.

Oh, and <blush> we got a picture of all the kids with the Easter Bunny. AK had a picture with the Easter Bunny as a newborn, so I just had to…I’ll help them work through the doctrinal confusion in a few years. Surprisingly, nobody was frightened of him. He looked likeHarvey to me. Jimmy Stewart’s Harvey, to be exact. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042546/

After hunting Easter Eggs, we headed out.

All-in-all it was a really fun event. I was filling out nametags for John and me and my THREE kids, and mentioned to another lady how weird it was to me that I had so many children after merely two pregnancies. She laughed and agreed–it’s like a sudden big family. It was nice talking to couples who totally *got* it, and some who were already past where we are, and didn’t look too much worse for the wear.

Just before Easter, John and I spent a week and a half working on our church’s Passion Play. There are a few hundred cast members, and a large crew, so it’s a churchwide event. I used to be involved in community plays back home, and love what John calls “artsy-fartsy” things, so I jumped right in when I first arrived here. John was a disciple this year for the first time. He’s hidden in the back row wearing orange.

I have worked in makeup for four or five years. It’s a great little group of ladies. The first year I did this, I painted charcoal on the demonaic character. I’ve moved on to beards, but he’s now an up-and-coming filmmaker http://www.myspace.com/perception_films . He still plays the part, and suffers through his injuries every year from jumping and writhing about the stage. This photo is before the blood and scars are applied. And before his crazy mop of hair that takes about thirty bobby pins to apply. Fun stuff.

My makeup guys were Bartholomew (John-boy), King David (context?), and Simon of Cyrene. King David merely needed a tray of hamburgers to look like Burger King, poor dear.

The man who played Peter the disciple has a personality much like the real Peter apparently had. Brash, loud, and loveable. He and his daughter entertained the twins while I makeup-ed. For some reason, the childcare ladies were sheduled to arrive 30 mintutes after first call, so we were always scrambling when we first got there as to who would watch the kids. We had no shortage of volunteers, though. I got that girl’s number–I need a mother’s helper, don’t you agree?

It was an exhausting couple weeks, but very fun and full of memories. The babies handled it well. AK enjoyed going out every night for a while, then bored of it–so she spent a couple evenings near the end with Omie and Papa Bill. John will never admit it, but secretly loved eating trail mix with the rest of the disciples at the last supper. And now you know a little more about us than before.

We spent Easter Sunday with John’s family.

It was nice having Matt in town for Easter. He’s home for a month before shipping out with the Army. All the kids and grandkids were there, so “Omie” wanted lots of pictures!

Family gatherings are fun at John’s parents’. Steve’s sisters live in Memphis, so they come–Evonne is holding Stephen. And my brother Leif lives in town, so he comes–this time he brought his girlfriend Rebecca, who is holding William. She was a good sport with all our loud children! And Jen’s parents come–I guess they didn’t get in a picture. We had over twenty people altogether, and everybody had a place at a table. John’s mom set things up beautifully

The kids loved their egg hunt. The little girls had one side of the yard, and the bigger boys had the other side. Papa Bill filled a LOT of eggs, because those baskets were full. I still have AK’s in the fridge, since all her chocolate one’s were melting. We ration.

Happy belated Easter to those of you who observe it–and happy Spring to the rest of you. (Love ya, Michelle!)

I’m getting ready to post Easter pictures, but I thought you might enjoy a couple of the twins in the meantime. William and Stephen got new(used) cribs at the Mother’s of Multiples consignment sale a couple weeks ago, and they are loving their new space. I sit in the rocker with my laptop while they play, and they love to peek out at me and gurgle.

Stephen

William

William just learned how to get up on his hands and knees. We got video of his first day trying it out. Incidentally, Stephen tried it on his elbows and knees a few days later. He doesn’t always come in last, though–Stephen got his two front teeth first. Please don’t mock my silly mommy voice. I don’t know why I do it.

There is a lot you can learn about my daughter from that one sentence alone.

• She is polite. “Please, may I..?” happens several times a day. She says, “Thank you, Momma,” in such a sweet voice that I melt.
• She is a picker. Picks hers, picks her brothers, and apparently would like to start in on mine. And she’s not ashamed to talk about it. And she eats it. (Yes, I just threw up a little bit in my mouth.)
• She loves her mommy. Today, we tickled each other’s feet just for the fun of it. She likes to take my hands and kiss them before she falls asleep for her nap. “Good night, Mommy. I love you. Could you pat my back?”
• She’s not a girly-girl. That’s okay. I’m not so much either. It’s funny to me that with her hair such a mass of curls, she looks like a girly-girl. Her friend Darby at church says she’s a Princess. She’d rather have a Woody hat for her birthday than a Jesse hat. So we’re having a princess party for her birthday, and she’s getting a Woody hat.

A month ago, we had a visit from Steph and Roger to see the twins. Immediately after that, my computer decided that it had been overworked, and it took several weeks of cajoling and stroking on my part to get it to give us another shot. 

So here are the belated pictures. This one I stole off Steph’s camera. I thought it was a nice shot of the two of them.

Friday night when they arrived, John and I took them downtown to see Beale Street and eat at Rendesvous–Memphis’ famous barbecued ribs restaurant.  It’s a great place, with a lot of history.

Saturday, we had a birthday party and a wedding, but they worked with us. Steph and Roger watched the kids while we went to the wedding. We figured we’d dump their baby fix on them in buckets, so as to keep them from missing us so much when they went home.  I have to say, the two of them seemed less frazzled than I am on any given evening, so our grand plan may not have worked. You’ll have to ask them.

Sunday they came to church with us. It was daylight savings Sunday, so we gave ourselves a break and didn’t wake the kids up in time to make it to Sunday school. We did make it early enough to drop AK and the twins in their rooms and get a cup of coffee before the service, so we didn’t do too badly.

Anders and Leif drove in from Minnesota Sunday afternoon, and stopped by to see us before Anders had to head back to Texas. They’d spent a week up there with friends, and had plenty of snow to play in while they were there. I miss snow.

The twins were ready to show off their cuteness skillz.

See the red hat Anna Kathryn is wearing in that car picture? She borrowed it from her cousin Austin for Saturday’s cowboy birthday party, and wouldn’t take it off for anything. When we finally gave it back to Austin, she talked about it for days. She asked for a “Woody hat” for her birthday, so we ordered a hat off ebay. In the mean time, she has accumulated three Easter-style hats that she wears everywhere. Funny, my child finally gets interested in what she’s wearing, but it’s still not her clothing. Hats and the bling, baby. That’s all she cares about!

Funny thing. Eric and Jack showed up the following weekend and stayed for a night. I didn’t get any pictures that I can find. It was a short visit. I loved it, though. All these visits help motivate me to keep up with my house, and even more important, I’m seeing my family a lot more. There are so many side benefits to having twins. Well, babies in general, but especially twins. Maybe in a few years, I’ll have time to sit back and bask in those benefits. Hehe, just kidding. I love my babies. Every last poopy one.