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Tonight when we were about to eat, Avery came into the kitchen and said, “I want to cook tonight.” I told her that daddy was grilling hamburgers and hotdogs and I was making fries and that was all we were having tonight. “But my sissy’s all got to cook one night,” she said. So, we made tonight Avery’s night. She really couldn’t put fries into a hot fry daddy, but she set the table all by herself and helped put ice into the glasses. She also took all the condiments to the table. I was planning on her helping tomorrow night when we have tacos, but Bailey has already asked if she could help tomorrow. I guess if this cooking thing takes off, I’ll have it made in a few years. I think maybe I’ll start getting them to take turns helping with the laundry next!
This is a video taken today–nothing exciting, just what we usually do every morning. We go to the pool around 10 am and stay until about 12:30. The girls play and have fun together and with a few other families that are usually there at the same time each day.
Today, our time was interrupted about noon when the lady that was there giving private swimming lessons made everyone get out. She had discovered that the “dirt” on the bottom of the pool was not dirt. Immediately, I made sure the culprit was not Avery, and Bailey proceeded to tell me that she had noticed it when we first got there. Another mom said her son had tried to tell her that there was poop in the pool but she had been busy talking and thought it looked like dirt, so she never investigated it further. Well, what a nice discovery after your four children have been swimming in the pool for almost two hours! I’m sure there will be chemicals galore tomorrow, so we might have a library/park day!
Last night, Julia picked out our menu and helped me cook. Her favorite meals are Italian, so she decided to make Baked Ziti with garlic bread. She also make a marble two layer cake with chocolate frosting. Of course, the cake was a cake mix and the frosting was Betty Crocker, but she “baked someone happy!” She did a great job, although I told her the job is harder when you bake from scratch and if you make your own sauce. Also, since we use garlic bread from the freezer, and jar spaghetti sauce, we really cheat a lot. It got me thinking–even as much as we like to complain about having to cook meals, it is so much easier than when there weren’t so many convenience products on the market. Cheese already shredded, instant potatos, canned biscuits, slice and bake cookies–I live by those time saving items!
After supper, I took my walk and I found an awesome friend–Steve Fee. I listened to his album on the iPod and it lasted me until the last 4 minutes. Quick side story: while we were at Wilmington, we watched this guy walking on the beach listening to his iPod. He obviously was a dancer because every 10-20 feet, he’d break into some sort of dance for a few seconds, then start walking again. We watched him and debated about what kind of music he must be listening to. Well, last night, I found myself laughing out loud a couple of times because Steve’s music is sooo great (we use a lot of it at GCC) I realized that I was walking down the road with both arms raised in the air and was singing very loudly to “Glorious One.” I was in a section where there weren’t many houses and I don’t think anyone passed me on the road, but I didn’t care-I was worshiping in the beautiful, but hot, outdoors. Then, after I’d been walking 45 mintues and was on the home stretch where you are usually slowing down, “Broadcast” came on, and I swear I think I could’ve run the last 15 mintues. I ddin’t, but I think I could have!
After my walk, we went to Pikeville for their annual fireworks display. It was great, except that I forgot the bug spray. Fortunately, I was the only one the bugs targeted. I wish I had videoed instead of taken pictures, so you could hear the girls talking about the fireworks. Julia had convinced herself she didn’t want to be there because the noise bothers her at first. She broke her arm two years ago on July 3 because she got scared and tried to run from the noise of the first fireworks she heard. She was in a very bad mood until they got going and then she didn’t want to admit she was enjoying them. Avery kept trying to cover her ears at first, but quickly forgot about the noise. She was amazed at “the ones that looked like Target” (most of them ended up in some sort of circle figure). Madi loved watching them but kept backing up on the blanket until she was just about sitting on top of me because she was afraid they would fall down on top of us. Bailey was just good ‘ole Bailey. She loved it all and commented on how each one the prettiest one yet! We got a new camera that has a setting for fireworks. The only thing is learning when to press the button early enough to get a good shot. Here’s a few of my favorite pictures:
Here are my little patriotic firecrackers–before the complaining started! I’m glad we got decked out in our red, white and blue since no one could see what we were wearing in the dark!
Tonight was Bailey’s night to help cook. She really didn’t want to stop watching “Wizards of Waverly Place” to help me, but I convinced her. She loves to eat Chicken and Dumplings, so we started cooking the chicken first. Then, she decided she wanted homemade macaroni and cheese, corn, crescent rolls and she had picked out a No-Bake Oreo dessert at the store earlier this week for dessert. As we were fixing drinks for everyone, she decided to give everyone milk with a different color of food coloring. She was pretty thoughtful and made sure to give her sisters their favorite colors. Everything was pretty good and she surprised me by insisting on cutting up all the chicken after it had cooked by herself. We haven’t had the dessert yet because we followed the optional directions to make smaller, individual sized desserts in baking cups. It had to freeze for 2 hours, so we’ll be eating it soon.
I think a side benefit from all of this is that the girls should have a deeper appreciation of what goes into a meal. They are always walking into the kitchen asking, “what are we having?” without really understanding all the thought that goes into a meal and all the different jobs you have to do simultaneously to get everything ready at the same time. Julia is still thinking about her turn tomorrow night, but she says it will be Baked Ziti, lasagna, or spaghetti. Avery said tonight that she wanted to make chicken, corn, mac-n-cheese, and rolls. Sounds like a combo of Madi and Bailey’s meals!
Yesterday, I did something I didn’t think I’d have to do for a while yet. I started email accounts for the three oldest girls. Julia, especially has been asking, but I’ve held her off until now. They love reading their cousin and aunt’s blogs and like to leave comments. Usually they have just left a comment under my account and signed their own name to it, but they’ve really wanted to have their own picture with their comments. To have a WordPress account to do that, you have to have an email account. I tried to just put my email with their names, but WordPress only allows one account per email. We had to have the talk about what you can and can’t do online and how to be careful with their passwords. They’ve already been using the internet for a while with their Webkinz and in doing research for school projects. I guess its just another reminder that they are getting older. And you know what that means…I am too.
Two nights ago, I was preparing our supper. We were having chicken fingers made from boneless chicken breasts, black-eyed peas, green beans with potatos, mac-n-cheese, and rolls. We also were going to have chocolate chip cookies. Madi walked in and asked if she could help. She has been asking a lot recently, and usually I have been guilty of telling her there wasn’t much she could do just because I know I can do it much faster by myself. But, I know they will only learn to cook if I show them. So, I said yes.
She did an awesome job. She got to see how to do it all. The chicken had been frozen and wasn’t completely thawed, so we had to soak it in warm water before cutting it up. Although I did the cutting, she dipped the strips in milk and flour and I put them in the fryer. I had already started the vegetables but I explained how to season them. We were using a box mac-n-cheese so she helped make that. She put the canned biscuits on the cooking stone and helped place the store bought cookie dough on the pan. I had already made tea but she set the table and helped fix everyone’s drink.
Madi has always been the most “domestic” one. She loves to help in the kitchen and I often find her watching “the designer’s channel” (that’s HGTV) by herself. A favorite treat for Madi is for me to let her watch HGTV with me in my bed when her sisters are watching something that she thinks is too scary. She’ll be a great mom someday!
By the time everything was ready, she couldn’t wait to tell her sisters that “there’s water, milk, and flour in the chicken.” She was so excited that she had been able to help. It got me thinking…why don’t I take time at least once a week to let one of the girls help me cook? So, Bailey is helping make her favorite meal tonight: chicken and dumplings. (I think most people call it chicken pastry here.) We cheat a little by using Anne’s frozen dumplings–my mom makes her own, but I’m not quite that talented, and the frozen ones taste almost as good. Julia says she wants to make something Italian–that’s good too because I cheat there with store bought sauce. Avery will probably want to make tacos–again, very easy! We did buy chocolate chips today and I promised them we’d make homemade cookies–not the slice and bake kind we usually make. After doing all this cooking for them, I think it will be time to make one of those famous cheesecakes…
Tonight, Avery wanted to jump on the trampoline. She doesn’t like to go by herself (she’s very social–like her mama!) and I couldn’t convince any of her sisters to go with her until Bailey realized I had the camera. They’ve come to realize that the camera means they are going to be on mom, dad, or Aunt Vanessa’s blog. So, Bailey braved the heat to play with her little sister. I couldn’t resist videoing a few minutes, not because them jumping is out of the ordinary. However, Avery’s attire was. They had been playing dress up right after supper and Avery never changed back out of one of Julia’s old ballet costumes. To top it off, she had on white, dress shoes that are still too big. She has a style all her own! You’ll see at the end of the video that our 9 year old lab, Maizey, always wants attention too when there’s a camera around!
Avery’s own style!
Against my better judgement, I took another daughter on my walk with me tonight. Earlier, I wrote about how Julia walked with me last week and that we had a nice time just walking and talking. Well, tonight, Avery wanted to go with me. Thayer was about to go finish trimming the yard, and I knew she would get into no telling what in the other girls’ rooms with both of us out of the house. So, I pulled out the stroller, grabbed her sunglasses and a juice box, and set out with Avery on my one hour walk. I walk in two neighborhoods around ours so that I don’t have to spend the whole hour walking back and forth in front of the same 35 houses. About halfway through the walk, both of us were regretting that she had come. First of all, the stroller was heavy, but I guess that gave me an arm workout too. Second, she was bored and hot and had finished her juice box before we ever got into the first neighborhood. Fortunately, we saw about 3 airplanes, many people riding lawn mowers and several dogs. All of those things gave her something to focus on. We also saw two different sets of sidewalk chalk drawings, one with Sponge Bob! She only dropped her shoes (I should’ve known better than to let her wear flip flops) three times.
By the second half hour, she had settled in and was not asking to go home every few seconds. She asked at least three hundred questions. Not that I mind usually, but its hard to answer “why” questions when you’re pushing a three year old up a hill. I found out that if you just tried to ignore her, she’d keep asking. We did have an interesting conversation about God and Jesus. “Does God like Jesus?” I tried to explain that God is the Father and Jesus is the Son. “Oh, like you’re the father?” “No, I’m the mother and your daddy is the father.” She argued about that one for a minute or two until she started thinking about something else.
Once she looked up in the sky and said, “Next time, can I climb a ladder up there and sit on the clouds?” I started telling her that she would fall through the clouds because they aren’t solid. I told her how we were able to fly through the clouds in an airplane. “Kinda like cotton candy, right?” Yeah, kinda. That got her talking about the fair (way back in October) and all the rides she wanted to ride the next time.
You get the point! All in all, it was not that bad. But, next time, she’ll probably have a better time helping Thayer use the weedeater and I’ll get to use the iPod!
Yesterday was our first official day of summer at the Stamper house. We slept in, had a lazy morning and then went to the Dollar Store to get some summer supplies, like pool toys, bubbles, sidewalk chalk, etc. (Two of them are already broken!) Then, we went to the library to get some summer reading. If it goes as it did last year, we’ll return those books without reading too much of them. We’ll try harder this year! We also played in Herman Park for a few minutes. We would’ve stayed longer, but we needed a restroom!
We also went to the pool after Avery’s nap. (Actually, I don’t think she ever really had a nap. I checked on her after about an hour and she wasn’t in her bed. I looked around her room and realized she been looking at books and playing with her doll house. Then, I noticed the closet light was on even though the door was shut. She was in the closet playing with her toys!) The girls had a great time, as they usually do at the pool. Madi learned to swim last summer and she likes to swim around the outside edge of the pool a couple of times. Julia and Bailey like to “baptize” each other and Avery likes to pour water from one bucket to another. The water was a good bit cooler than it was the week we had 100 + degrees, so I didn’t get in. Maybe by July, the water will be warmer…
I meant to share a few of these comments earlier in the week after my uncle’s funeral. Avery had an interesting perception of what happened. My mom received the call that Uncle Dan had passed away early on Monday morning. My dad had already gone to work and my girls were staying at their house. She was very upset and when she went to tell the girls, she must have said something about losing her brother. Avery, from then on thought Uncle Dan was lost. Then, someone else told her later that he had gone to be with Jesus. That really interested her because she’s heard a lot about Jesus, but had never known how to get to be with him. When we got to the funeral home, I asked her if she wanted to go see Uncle Dan. She looked at me and said, “Did they find him? He’s lost.” I explained to her that he had gone to be with Jesus, but that his body was in the coffin. She looked in but didn’t say anything. Later, she asked my sister-in-law why she couldn’t go out a particular door in the funeral home. It was blocked by some chairs. She said, “Is Jesus in there?” Finally, she asked me about the “big box” and wanted to know if Jesus was in there with Uncle Dan.
Our other girls experienced death much more often than Avery at age three. When we were in Rocky Mount, we had many older people in our church and probably had about 10 funerals in our first couple of years. Also, a family in our church owned a funeral home, so we were in there a lot. One night we had to attend a visitation and Bailey told us, “I want to go look in that box and get some mints and water.”
I wish it was that simple…
We made it home safely and I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed for the first time in 10 nights. Its amazing how much quicker I was able to travel to SC by myself than to travel home with 4 girls. I made it to SC in 4 hours, 45 minutes. I left at 2pm and arrived at 6:45. My parents were not impressed–it usually takes them about 6 hours, but they travel on 95 and I always go on 85. Plus, I didn’t stop at all. I really could’ve used a potty break by Spartanburg, but when you’re that close and you haven’t seen your girls in over a week, you press on. Coming home, it took 5 hours, 50 minutes. I guess that’s not so bad considering we had to stop for lunch. We left at 10:15 and by 11:20, we were stopping to pee. Then, at 12:05 we had to stop to eat. I knew we would need gas before getting home, but I also knew there would have to be at least one more potty break, so I waited until the gas light came on to stop at 2:45. I told the girls that we would not be stopping again so there was no more drinking at that point. We pulled in just after 4pm and they were all arguing over who would get to use the downstairs potty first. I guess I should admit that I was the one who had to make the first stop. I wanted to make sure I wasn’t sleepy, so I drank a diet Dr. Pepper in the car right as we were leaving. Poor Thayer, having to put up with five women each time we travel. And, of course, we did have to wait in line for the bathrooms!
I had carried the DVD player for the girls–it helps, especially with Avery, to make the time go faster. After two solid hours of listening to episode after episode of Full House, I banished the DVD player. I can’t listen to music while they are watching because the sound isn’t loud enough on the DVD player and we have to run it through the stereo. And, naturally, there isn’t a DVD player with 4 earphone jacks! i wish I had taken Thayer’s iPod–at least we are usually together and we can have adult conversation while the kiddie movie is on.
The girls have the most interesting conversations while in the car. And if they’re not conversing, they’re arguing. Avery only slept about 20 mintues of the entire trip. Did I mention I had to take Tylenol at lunch??
Our inside cat, Prissy, was extremely glad to see us get home. Thayer blogged about how she was the only one not missing the girls before we left for Wilmington. But, she’s been totally alone for the last 9 out of 10 nights, so she even let Avery hug her when we got home. Our yard looks horrible, but will have to wait until Monday. The good news is that our next door neighbors’ yard looks bad too–but, the bad news is that it looks bad because Thayer is in charge of cutting it while Paul is deployed!
We can’t wait to be back with our GCC family tomorrow. And, I’m not taking another trip by myself with the four girls any time soon!
