Stars and Stripes and "Fireworks"

We kicked off the Fourth with "stars and stripes day' at the Girls' school, and given that Otis is starting so soon, I figured I should start getting him used to theme days and joined him in on the action.

Tickle Monster is a new favorite game. By all parties, until Bea starts doing the 'pinching monster' or 'punching monster'.

We headed to LaFarge for a very traditional small (ie micro mini) town parade filled with vehicles carrying 'princesses', vets carrying flags, fire trucks, and some vehicles that just seemed to want to join in on the action. And SO SO SO much candy. Which we managed to keep a pretty tight lid on for the girls. Bea picked up on how to run out in the street pretty quick, and every time she ran into the street and came back she would say: "no hurt" and Tillie would cheer for her for not getting hurt. 

Oh my children....

Otis, being woken up from his nap to attend, spent the bulk of the parade trying to amputate my arm with his weight and continued nap in my arms.

And then spent more time watching this zebra than the parade.....

We are still not fans of very loud noises....

Or horses that are in the street.....

And this event brought one of my more public nursing moments for this babe....

We had a good ACTUALLY liking a dog in theory and practice moment (versus the typical just in theory).....

And a rare Mama and Otis picture. I love this little boy.

Afternoon Strawberry Shortcake Social. No shortcake for this one but he was still all smiles.

But as you can see the smiles get bigger when the shortcake can be consumed....

Call me crazy, call me mean, you can call me whatever you want, but my kids don't get to stay up for fireworks. 10PM is just NOT happening for a few years. So I bought a couple of 'popits' at Target and some sparklers and at about 6:30PM we had our own firework celebration.

All was great until the very last sparkler when a little ember flew off and nipped Bea on the inner thigh. Sooooo...maybe no 'fireworks' at all. Ever. Again. #badmom

It was a great day--filled with lots of festivities that helped us celebrate. Tillie was certain we would have a big cake for America, and was just slightly disappointed when that didn't happen. There is always next year, right?

Role Call!

It's been another month filled with firsts. Maybe it is because I am going back to work soon, but I am becoming increasingly more sentimental with every passing milestone. Matilda is seeming so OLD to me. I can honestly just picture her teenage eye-rolling and disgust with Nate and I, and it feels like it is going to happen tomorrow. Beatrice is in her amazing-two's and makes us laugh and cry and filled with frustration and love all in a two-minute span. And Otis---well he is just being the third baby---amazing, sweet, and go with the flow.

It feels like each day is a whose who of "i'm doing something for the first time so you better pay attention to me..." each of the kidlets vying for attention by doing, saying or just generally being cute. Or often times doing something naughty that forces us to pay attention. But I digress, this post is about the former.

So Matilda---first dance lessons at a local dance school. I am NOT super keen on the dance scene but she had been asking do to dance and her little best friend also was doing it so off she went. With tap shoes and ballet shoes and a little bigger piece of my heart.

We had our first visit to our 'new' house by Rebecca and Cash. The girls were excited although Matilda really was wondering where Finn and Leo were....

And Otis has hit a few of my favorite milestones:

Finding his toes...there is just something about a baby grabbing onto his toes, rolling around, putting them in their mouth that slays me.

AND, Otis started to eat food. I use that very loosely as he hasn't really decided to EAT anything. He is super interested in watching us eat. Him, not so much. But as Nate keeps reminding me, this is just 'practice'...and in the meantime it makes for some fun pictures.

With the warmer weather, we also have had a number of first visits to the pool as a family of five. Jury is out if this is where Matilda got ringworm (yes, that actually happened), but it doesn't matter because these two have so much fun there. And Otis, well he is pretty content to just sit and watch it all happen.

The final HUGE first that happened in the last week is that Bea is now officially potty trained!!! Her little booty in underwear is pretty darn cute, and she is oh so proud of herself (as she should be!). This also means I had my first at the park port-a-potty incident with both girls and answered a lot of questions about why the water is blue, why does it smell, etc etc. :)