Go Fish (or Gold Fish as it is called in our house)...

Today I picked Harrison and Gracie up from daycare early as a "special treat"... what was I thinking?????  I figured that they would play quietly while I did my last conference call of the day.  WRONG!!!!  They starting arguing as soon as we got in the car and preceded to fight all the way home.  With 15 minutes until my impending call, I decided to find something for them to do that would be engaging enough to keep their attention for more than 2 seconds.  I suggested various puzzles, art projects (all the art that I suggested was not messy enough for them), Tag Readers (books that they can read themselves with a special reading wand), and any Disney shows On-Demand.  All of my suggestions were rejected but they decided that they wanted to play "Gold Fish."  I got a deck of cards out, handed it to them and jumped on the phone, late to my call as usual.  I watched them playing a very loose interpretation of Go Fish for about 10 minutes and I was glad that they were getting along well and happily playing together.

Once my call was over, I started to observe the game more closely.  I heard Gracie say, "Harrison, ask me for a 4!'  Harrison replied "Gracie, I don't have any 4's so I can't ask you for one, why do you want to get rid of your 4's anyway?"  Gracie said, with a very stern look on her face "I just hated being four, my life was so hard back then.  Mommy took all of my hidden pacifiers away for good and I had to go to full-day pre-k.  My life was better once I turned five.  I could sneak around better and do stuff without anyone noticing, like using the twins cheerleading make-up and throwing my trash behind the cushions of the couch when I don't feel like going to the trashcan (I was wondering who kept doing that).  You are lucky that you are the baby, you are four, but you could still have anything you wanted if you just cried hard enough- you should try that!" Harrison listened intently as she spoke, took a few minutes to digest what she had said, and then retorted, "Grace, do you have any 4's?"  God help me!  Go fish...

Meet Grace Ameila, Our Little Piglet

This is Gracie!  She was the most beautiful baby, with huge deep brown eyes and a great set of lungs.  With her bald head and her pink skin she reminded me as a soft little newborn pig, so she has been dubbed Piglet!   Gracie was never an easy child, but once she could stand up, she was quite a handful!!!!!  In this picture, she is 6 months old and she somehow figured out how to climb to the counter and get a loaf of bread- I guess she was hungry and she wanted her lunch early!!!  She is a very determined child- she was so determined that she learned how to walk at 9 months!!!!

Gracie was always a very enthusiastic eater!!!!  I had to strip her clothing off of her before she ate because she was such a mess.  The child took at least 3 baths a day until she was 2 years old!

Gracie's love for the bathtub could have gone a little overboard!!!!  She was ALWAYS trying to get in the tub, and as you can see from the picture above, she was sometimes successful in getting into that tub!!!!!

This is one of my favorite pictures of our little piglet- you can just see the trouble glistening in those eyes!!!

The only way that we could keep Gracie from screaming was to let her have a pacifier.  We tried to take it away from her when she was two, but as you can see,  she found ways to get around her missing pacifier!!!  She is very resourceful!

Ummmmm... I have no words!!!  I cannot count how many times I  caught her  painting her face with different things- pudding, sour cream, ranch dip, icing, butter, toothpaste...  I think she even painted her entire body with Desitin once at my mom's house- sorry Giggie!!!

This is Gracie in her Easter dress... where else would she be but climbing a tree???  

Oh my!!!!!  She has always wanted to be a chef!!!  She was always trying to help me in the kitchen, as you can imagine- she is a huge help!!!!

Future bank robber????  Some kind of human scarecrow???  I'm not quite sure what she is, but she sure had fun with those stockings!!!!!

As you can see from the pictures above, Gracie is an energetic and fun little girl!!!!  She gets into so much trouble but she keeps us laughing!!!  Gracie is a binder in our family!!!  When the older girls are fighting over clothes, or the phone, Gracie is there to lighten things up with her humor and whit!  I'm sure that there will be a lot of Gracie Moments highlighted in this blog and I hope that you enjoy her as much as we do!!!! 

Hashbrown's Quote of the Day

Harrison: "Hey Mom, do you need to buy gas?"

Me: "Not right now, Harry, why?"

Harrison: "Because there is a castration on the corner and we could stop there and buy gas."

Me: "A What?????"

Harrison: "A castration, you know the place where you get gas."

Me: "OOOH, a GAS STATION!"

Harrison: "That's what I said, a castration!  OMG Mom, you always correct my words!"

Question of the week...

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Caileigh- "I want to be a cheerleading coach and work at Tri-State" (surprise, surprise)

Annie- "I want to be a pediatrician."

Emily- "I want to be a fashion designer/artist/photographer/veterinarian.
I have no doubt that Emmy will be all of these things!!!

Harrison- "I want to be a Jedi."
(A very lucrative profession... I sure hope he isn't hanging out at Star Wars or comic book conventions dressed as Obi Wan)

And my favorite response...
Gracie- "I want to be Jane Doe*.  Her husband goes to work and makes all the money and she gets to stay home and do whatever she wants all day: cartwheels, shopping, eating cake.  She has a life like a princess.  Mom, you are more like a maid and a dad... you have to take care of too many people and you also have to work at Philadelphia in your office and type stuff and tell people what to do.  I am not working like a dad when I am older and I am going to have a maid to do all of the house stuff." 
I'm so glad that I am raising such a liberated daughter!

*name changed to protect the identity of this princess who, according to Gracie, has the perfect life.

Caileigh's Poem- a must read!!!!

Just a warning- this totally made me cry, get out your tissues!!!

Where I'm From...

I am medals, both silver and gold.
From sparkly bows and trophies big and small.
I am from the kitchen that smells like homemade baked macaroni and cheese,
Roasted Chicken and yellow yummy corn.
I am from my clean and colorful bedroom,
both pink and blue and butterflies too!
Cozy bed welcoming me in.

I am from the flowers of the rainbow and trees big and tall.
From bees buzzing in my ear and ants scurrying about gathering food.
I'm from the frisky cats that greet me in the morning, loving and purring against my leg,
And the butterflies that sit gently on my shoulder and kiss me.
I'm from the green glistening grass that winks at me
And the beautiful garden that has all the plants you could ever think of.

I am from mountains of mashed potatoes,
From fresh grilled steak and Mom-Mom's scrumptious  stuffing.
I am from slippery spaghetti that falls from my fork,
Talluto's meatballs and saucy sausage.
I am from Giggie's bunny biscuits that hop into my mouth
And velvety butter that melts on my tongue.

I am from "Refuse To Fall" and "Go Caileigh!"
From "PULL!!!" "PULL!!!" and "Be Clean"
I'm from the "Smile and have fun" and the "Yes! You did it!"
I'm from the "Don't give up!" and "It's the most exciting 2 minutes and 30 seconds of your life!"
And "Go out there and be the best base you can be!"

I am from the mirror of myself, my twin, my soul
From Dashing Dad and Magnificent Mom.
I am from caring coaches that always make me do my best...
Supportive, Knowledgeable, Grateful Me!
Georgia peaches always in my heart
I am from the best friends laughing,
Hugging and smiling, having fun, love to be together.

I am from National Championships and striving to be #1
From got my tuck and nailed my layout!
I'm from the distinguished honor roll, working hard to make the grade
And the Oh, Oh, Oh Evolution, forever
I'm from the Senior Squad of SYC
And Yes! I'm a big sister... again!

I am from precious memories locked forever in my heart.
From lazy days spent digging in the sand and crazy fun road trips for seven.
I am from the one and only T-R-I-S-T-A-T-E and proud of it!
TSC, friends for life, my home away from home, favorite place to just be me!
I am from the never-ending love of my family,
wrapping me in their arms, never asking for anything in return.
All of these things, pieces of me, wound up tight like a present waiting to be opened.

Caileigh Maull (age 11)

Harrison's Thought Of The Day

Today in the car, Harrison and I heard a commercial for Sleepy's Mattress Center on the radio.  Harry said, "Hey, Sleepy is one of those dwarfs from Snow White... you know Sleepy, Doc, Happy, Snorkey."  I asked him which dwarf Snorkey was and he said, "Oh wait, I forgot, Snorkey isn't a dwarf, Snorkey is you when you fall asleep on the couch and do this (insert snoring sound here)..."  Nice!!! Harry: 1, Mom: 0

Oh Hashbrown...

I am going to introduce you to all of our children individually, but after the morning that I have had, I think that I am going to begin my introductions with our youngest.  Our first four children were all girls and our last baby was a little boy who we named Harrison (aka Hashbrown, a named bestowed upon him by our third daughter Emily because it was her favorite thing in the world besides her new baby brother).  When Doug and I found out that we were going to have a son, I was so excited, not because I didn't want another girl, just because I was so happy that Doug would have someone to play ball with and to share everything that only a father and son can.  I had no idea what a huge impact a boy would have on all of us!  From the moment he was born, the girls and I have all been enraptured by him.  I think that we all were drawn to his funny little smile and his endearing ways- and he is quite the charmer.
I think that Hashbrown is the only child in our house that gets along naturally with all of his siblings.  The twins mother him and love to take care of him. They love to fall asleep with him curled up next to them- it is a very sweet thing to behold!  Emily loves to paint and draw with Harrison- the two of them have vivid imaginations that lead to lots of fun and messy "projects" that are left in all of their glue-filled, gloppy glory on my dining room table as a special treat for me.  And then there is Gracie... she was only 22 months old when Harrison was born and they have been best friends since the moment of his birth.  Even as a young toddler, she never showed the slightest bit of jealousy toward him.  She really connected with him from the start and they share a special bond- they are both trouble makers!!!!  I have never seen two kids get into more mischief- I think that they honestly wake up each morning trying to conceive a plan to top the high jinx of the day before. Not, that either one of them would not be a handful on their own, but the partners-in-crime truly find a way to accomplish feats that I have never dared to imagine!!!! 
Despite his impishness, Harrison is a pleasure to be around.  He always finds a way to make the people around him smile, and he has a natural humor that I find very captivating.  Just this morning I was reflecting on how much he has grown in the past few months.  I feel like he was just a tiny little bundle in my arms and, although he still likes for me to hold and snuggle him, he is a mighty four-year-old who is truly independent.  I always tease him and tell him to stop growing. He then smiles and bounces into my arms to remind me that he is still small and my little love. 
So, this morning I said to him "Hashbrown, you are getting so big!  What does Mommy always tell you? No..." 
Now, his normal response is "No growing up!", but today he said:
"No... drama?"  (Poor boy, you can tell that he is surrounded by girls all the time.)
"No!"
"No curse words?"
"No!"
"No playing in the toilet?"
"Harrison, no!"
Then, with a twinkle in his deep brown eyes, he jumped on my lap and said, "Oh, you mean no growing up!"
That's my boy!!!