Beginning of a New School and other goings on

The twins started Bryn Mawr Pres preschool last thursday.  They each met with Mrs Campbell and got to pick out a symbol, which will be their symbol for the year.  Mad got a yellow fish and Conor a blue duck. Conor was excited for the first day, Mad, not so much.  When i dropped them off, the teacher came out to the car to unbuckle them and bring them inside.  Mad did not like this at all! She wanted me to bring her in.  She kicked and screamed and was carried off by the teacher.  She cried about going to school again the next day.  When I asked her why she didn't like it, she said she didn't think it was fun.  We were driving into our drive at the time she was crying and passed by her bikes in the driveway.  She saw the bikes and said, she didnt like school because they didnt....have any bikes! Yeah, that was it.  Conor chirped in, yes, they do have bikes!
She seemed to like it after the second day.  Hopefully tomorrow goes okay!

With the twins in school, its a perfect window to go to the gym.  I have tried several times to take Hayd to the gym daycare.  They have come and got me several of the times because she was inconsolable.  I decided to try again, with hopes if i played with her up there for 15 mins before leaving she would be ok.  Well, i played, then left...then 10 mins later they came and got me - hayd had thrown up everywhere! ugh!!

Hayd is talking more and more.  She loves the "bool" still (pool), her "dag" - emma and chloe.  When asked who she is, she replies "Aydie!!"  her favorite saying is still - "mama, was dat??"  Although, she has recently started calling Jon and I "mommy and daddy", not mama and dada.  She clocked in at 27 lbs 10 oz - 98% for height, weight and head at her 18 mos check up!

Conor is still very into making cards for people, daily hes making someone a card.  The other day we were making a card for someone and he walked away and said "mommy, you keep working on it, im gonna watch tv."  He is very bossy!

Playing with cousins

Well, camp ended with a final performance that Jon, Haydie and I went to.  Very cute. They sang and played the instruments they made in the church.
On the way home, Jon and I were curious how much they had learned through their week at bible camp. 

Me: Who is God?
Conor & Maddie: Dunno
Me: Who is Jesus?
C&M: Dunno
Maddie: We learned Almond! (she means Amen)
Maddie: Which of you grown ups likes Almonds??

We will have to do some more brushing up on the basics:)

Lor and Ellie came down for the weekend to play.  We had lots of fun making a mess playing at gammy's and swimming in the pool.  By about halfway through the day, all the grown ups were pooped and the kids were running circles around us. 

Day three...back together at camp!

Well, camp started...day three, they are both at Conor's Bible camp (arts & crafts camp).  Mad said she would go to ballet camp, but only if we stayed with her.  I told her i would stay for a while, but then leave with all the other mommies.  She did not like that idea and wanted to join conor.  At first, conor was not keen on the idea of Mad joining him. But, after a few minutes he warmed up to the idea and was soon showing mad what she will be doing at their camp - running laps around the kitchen saying they run fast. 
Yesterday he told me they don't talk in their camp, they have to be quiet. I asked him today if they were quiet in camp, and he said no...

Yesterday M was being cranky at bedtime.  Diana was coming upstairs with Hayd and Conor yelled out "Nana, dont come in here, Mad is being cranky."
A few minutes later, after explaining to them that Santa watches to see if they are being naughty or good (and M had been being quite cranky and disagreeable), she said "i love you mommy.....did santa write that down??"  Tricky girl!

Hayd has been doing this fake laugh, its too funny.  She laughs so hard about something, totally a false laugh (overexagerated). Very cute.

Camp starts

Here are a few cute things they say:

everything is last year or last morning (instead of yesterday or the other day).

asked what they wanted for dinner, conor said, remember we had dinner already last year?

maddie always uses the word her instead of she..."her went to the store"

conor tells whoppers all day. like he just came in and said "mommy, remember my baby tooth fell out last year? and i have big teeth now."  if i try and correct him, he says no and gets more and more frustrated until i agree with him.
another one was when i pointed out boat house row and said "pa used to row crew in that river" and conor chirped in "yeah, remember i used to row with him last year?"

conor is obsessed with all things technology - loves the ipad. we banished it once he started sleeping with it at night and taking it with him everywhere. daddy's ipod shuffle, my phone (he can write notes, take pictures etc)

On another note, they both start camps today. Its their first time doing something apart from eachother.  We will see how it goes! Maddie has enchanted princess ballet camp and conor has bible camp - that we are calling "arts and crafts/boy camp" at his old school.
We went out yesterday to target to get mad a ballet outfit and conor wanted to get a "game shirt" for some reason. he ended up with a batman shirt and a thomas the train hat.

Playdate with Sophie and Abby

We met up with Sophie and Abby this afternoon at a playground out by their house.  It was hot, but not too horrible out.  The kids have become quite good friends, its really cute to watch them all play together.  Although, today, Conor kept complaining the girls were chasing him and he didn't like it.  At one point, he came up and told me they were calling him "prince" and he didn't want to be called that. 
An older boy tried to befriend Conor and get him to play tag.  Conor explained to the boy that tag was only for babies and he didnt want to play.

After the playground, we went to a really cute ice cream place at a farm - goats, cows, bunnies, chickens.  The kids ate one lick of their ice cream and spent the rest of the time harrasing the animals.

Hayden has been obsessed with Barney "bah-ey."  We found a barney stuffed animal and she now carries him everywhere.  She attempts singing the barney is a dinosaur song...so sweet.

Liam and Nana visit and daddy's home

Liam and Nana came up for a brief visit.  The kids are so excited.  Running around, wanting to do just what Liam does.  Liam has cereal, they want cereal.  Liam wants a tv show, they want a tv show.  I'm not complaining, the house might be a disaster, but they are happily occupied!
At one point, Liam, Conor and Mad were all jumping in Conor's crib and Mad exclaimed "Boys, Daddy paid a lot of money for this crib, don't break it!" Such a little hall monitor.

Here's a puzzle that Liam and Nana brought up.  The kids spent 5 minutes on the puzzle and Nana spent 8 hrs completing:)

Daddy arrived back from Oregon yesterday after 6 days away.  We all went in the car to pick him up.  Very excited to have him back!

We have spent a bunch of time in the pool.  Haydie especially loves it.  She now goes over to the door and says "Bool" "bool" when she wants to go swimming, which is several times a day!

Summer Sundays

Everyone finally slept well last night. I think C&M woke up once each briefly, Haydie slept til after 9 today!!

The men's olympic marathon was on this morning.  We watched it on and off through the finish.  I explained that two of the leading runners were from Kenya in Africa, where all the lions, tigers and giraffes live. Mad said "do the men take care of the animals?" Puds firmly explained "NO! the zoo keepers take care of them!"

We spent the rest of the day outside, finally cleaning out some of the garage. Its amazing how many boxes we accumulate!!

Hayd has gotten increasingly bottle dependent.  Especially since being sick last week.  ALL she wants is her "baba," and she wants it like 10x a day (not joking). She wakes up saying "baba, baba." If you don't get it for her immediately, she will go over to the drawer, get out the bottle liner, give it to you and possibly open up the fridge and attempt to get the milk.  If you do not give her the bottle, she will most certainly have a screaming breakdown - kicking her feed, throwing her head back.  Its gonna be a horrible struggle to get her off of it!

Arts and Crafts

The kids are very into arts and crafts projects.  Especially Conor.  He loves making cards for people, almost every morning he is making a card for either Daddy, Gammy or someone else.  They both love to paint, make collages, use markers etc. 

Yesterday we took a trip to AC Moore and loaded up on some new supplies.  Conor got his second bird house to paint and has been busy both days painting it.  He let Mad join in, provided she paint by his "rules."  She was not allowed to paint too fast, because the birds don't like when you paint fast, only slowly.  Mad didn't pay too much attention, which ended in fights the first day.  The second day, she was a little more obliging and tried a few strokes of painting slowly.

On a side note, we were reading "Adventures of Biscuit" before bed tonight and the dog Biscuit meets another dog named Puddles.  I told Conor that was his nickname, and he firmly corrected me that "NO, I was born with that name.  When I was in your tummy, I was called Puddles."  Very strong opinions, there is no correcting him!

Starting off with a bang!

Jon is gone back to Oregon for the week for his annual guys rafting trip.  Of course, the kids decide to gang up on me. First Maddie came down with Hand, foot and mouth disease - fever for 5 days and throat sores. 

Then Hayden got it, much worse. Shes going on day 6 of a fever and spent last night in the ER with me.  Her fever was 102.5 last night and she wouldnt take her bottle (which she loves), that had her medicine in it.  I called the doc and she said take her over and check for UTI and other things.  It was an awful night. Pinning her down to draw blood and four unsuccessful attempts to get the catheter in her.  She was fine, just dehydtrated.

Conor has thrown up once for past three days and has 101 fever this morning.  Hoping he gets it mildly!!

Its been our first summer illness, and hopefully our last.

We had a nice trip to the zoo yesterday with the Fleming twins.  Maddie and Conor especially liked the mommy and baby orangutan.  Conor held the map tightly (as usual) and directed us around.  He was disappointed not to see any "hoparoos" (kangaroos).