Poopy Start

The first thing I experienced today was a strong smell of poop the moment I woke up. I changed Cason, who wasn't poopy, and started to think I was imagining the smell. But when I came out into the hallway Gia came running up, acting all excited to see me and for me to let her outside. She's usually all lazy in the morning and keeps sleeping on the couch for a while. Then she eventually stretches and hops off the couch, and lazily heads to the kitchen for breakfast. So I thought her excitement was weird, and the poo smell only got stronger as I headed toward the other end of the house. So I followed my nose and found that she'd had a LOT of diarrhea in the playroom. Wonderful.

We managed to have a really nice day despite THAT beginning.

I washed all the bedding today, and the kids LOVE cuddling up in a clean bed.
It was beautiful out, so we spent some time out back. I love the outfits Paige chooses for outdoor play.
Paige had a great hair day, haha...
Cason climbed around the windowsill in the buff, until I realized kids were getting out of school and walking by. Ha.
Neely was sweet as always.
Paige danced,
and danced,
and danced.
Jess came home.
AND on top of it all, it was bath night.

Elvis and the Interpretive Dancer

We had a nice little playdate today, and then Grannybob came over. Paige got her first SINGLE french braid.
Cason did Grannybob's hair too. Which means he held a brush, but never used it, and spent several minutes spraying her hair.
Other than that, we mostly loved on Neely.
Played "Resternaunt".
And had some dance parties. The dance parties have really been picking up around here lately. Partly because Paige and Cason both have new moves. Cason's look very much like I remember Elvis dancing in all my mom's documentaries we'd watch when I was little. Paige's are very fancy, kind of interpretive dancing I'd say, although she just calls it "beautiful dancing". I got some good video of it yesterday, but we accidentally threw away the cord we need to actually upload the video to the computer. But we'll get a new one and then I'll put a little video up.

For now, here are a hundred pictures of Neely from today:
More? Certainly.
Our kids have all gone bald in the same way. They lose their hair in front and in a strip across the back first.
And I would've thought if they lost hair in only a certain spot it was because they spent a lot of time lying down or something, but our kids have hardly left our arms. Ha.

Now then, I was looking at pictures of the other two at Neely's age, since people have been discussing who she looks like. I still think more like Paige, but with some of Caso's expressions.

Here are a few of Paige around this age:
And Cason:
And I'm putting this next one here, too. Because Jess and I think it's HILARIOUS. His body looks huge, but with a shrunken head. And we all know Jess and I don't produce shrunken heads.

Naughty Boys

Today we put Arthur on Netflix on the computer while we ate breakfast. For some reason I realized some day our kids will be grown and have their own homes, and probably won't want to watch Arthur and eat breakfast with us. :(
I also noticed how dainty Paige is when she eats.
She's always been like that, I didn't even really need a bib for her when she was a baby. Cason however, gets food everywhere.

I mentioned recently how the kids are always in Neely's face. Then I was getting pictures off the camera and laughed at this one of Neely looking grumpy around the time she got tired of Cason's affections.
Ever since she first rolled, she's been trying hard to do it again. I was really surprised she still wanted to, after it startled her the first time. But she has been trying ever since, and just couldn't quite get the leg over. But today she did it, and smiled at us proudly. I didn't have the camera at the time, but here are some tummy time pics anyway, from a couple days ago.
Trudi was saying tonight that Neely has a special soul. It made me laugh, but it's true. She really does. It can't be explained, but she's wonderful.

We went to the library after breakfast today, and let the big kids do a couple of puzzles, and we picked out some books for them AND us. Cason made friends with some older kids while Paige was busy with puzzles. They asked him how old he was a couple different times. He always said he was 40. They thought he was hilarious. I saw them ask again one time while he was building something with blocks. He didn't even look up, and just seriously told them "I'm forty." Weirdo.

Tyra also texted me to remind me of something funny Cason said that I forgot to blog about. First of all, he likes to list things lately, just random things he's thinking about. And he'll always kind of emphasize and elongate the last word in each line. It sounds so cute in his awesome voice, I need to try and record it. Like a while ago he was listing the moods of babies for me, after he heard Neely cry. "Babies are haaaaappy. Babies are maaaaad. Babies are saaaaaaad. Babies are gruuuuuumpy..."

So a couple weeks ago we were driving to pick Jess up from his basketball game. Paige was spending the night at Grannybob's, so Cason had the rare chance to actually talk to me while we drove. (Paige usually monopolizes the conversation) He goes "Daddy's playing basketball, wif his friends?" He says friends correctly now, instead of pronouncing it "schriends". Sad. Anyway, I said "Yeah" and he goes "Oh. Daddy and his friends play baaasketball. They put the ball in the neeeeet. They have fuuuuuun. They be naaaaaaughty. They say 'stuuuuupid'...." Ha. He automatically has it in his head that boys get in trouble when they get together with their friends. I guess I'd better be ready for that when he gets older.

Things They've Been Saying:

Cason asks me to tell Gia to do things lately, or Paige. He'll say "Mama, you tell Gia go away?" if she's begging while he eats. Or "Mama, you tell Paige give me my Buzz?"

He also heard "stupid" from Frosty The Snowman, and has been trying it out. He knows he shouldn't call people stupid, but does it to see what I'll do. Today we were driving, and the sun was in his eyes, so he said "Mama, you say Sun is stupid? PLEASE?!"

Paige noticed that when she and Cason were running in circles that you could say either one of them was in front, depending on how you look at it. She goes "Mama watch. Sometimes you're in front, even when Cason is in front, see?! It's kinda funny! It's tricky, like magic. How do you BOTH be in front?!"

She has also been wanting us to dance with her a lot, spinning and dipping her. She's all into romance, too. She came up one time and kissed my hand, and said in her best handsome prince voice, but all quiet, almost a whisper:

"Renember(that's how she pronounces it, which I also love). I will always be in love with you."

Haha.

I Can't Get No Respect

We've had times when Paige went through phases of being especially quick to lose her temper and throw a fit, but they usually last a few weeks and fade away again.

We recently were talking about how Cason's been so much easier in that way, because his tantrums always lasted literally 5 seconds or so. Pretty much the day we said that he started throwing some serious fits. Then Paige thought it would be a good time to start another phase.

So lately they're BOTH going through it, and sometimes will throw huge fits at exactly the same time, which is always fun and impossible to do anything about. Especially when Jess is at work and I'm busy feeding Neely or something. Not that it would matter if I wasn't busy, because I'm the worst mom ever when it comes to discipline. They pretty much laugh in my face when I'm mad at them.

They think it's hilarious to keep talking to me and each other (their chudders) at bedtime, when I tell them to be quiet. Then they laugh at each other, which of course makes it worse. Punks. Usually I end up laughing, and then it's a lost cause.

Whatever. Have a looksee at Neely being a little weirded out by her hyper siblings.
And some lip and chubby cheek closeups.

Give 'Er Some Space

Neely usually has at least one of her siblings about an inch away from her face, yelling happily and lovingly at her. She's a lucky girl to be so loved, but she gets tired of it sometimes. So we'll tell them to give her a little space. This morning I had her with me on the couch, and I was talking to her. Cason came up and kissed her cheek and told her he loved her. Then he started to walk away, and looked at me and said "Okay, let's give 'er some space, mom." Word for word, just like that. First of all, how am I already "MOM". Not mama anymore? And "let's give 'er some space." Haha.

Speaking of space, he's been living in his Buzz costume for the last day or two. He even ignored me some of the time until I remembered to call him "Buzz", not Cason. He said stuff about his lasers, his missions, infinity and beyond, and being a ranger. Haha.
Look how cute Neely is:
And in her babylegs:
Paige sometimes finishes a drawing or painting, and then asks us for tape, and hangs her art wherever she wants. Usually it's on a wall of our bedroom. A couple weeks ago she did this one, and we recently noticed and laughed at how much tape she used. She was really playing it safe.