Quiet times and a guest.

My college friend (Queen) Elizabeth came into DC for a weekend visit immediately following June's birthday festivities.  We got to spend most of the weekend hanging out, shopping and trying on wedding dresses.  

But between all of the running around, we did get to spend some time with the kids.  No surprise that they love her.  And really no surprise that June has declared that Queen's wedding will be so great because both she and June will be the only ones in veils and beautiful white dresses.

On Sunday, Queen and I went exploring downtown.  On the drive home, I stopped off for a walk on the trails of Theodore Roosevelt  Island and got to enjoy a chilly and windy late winter afternoon.

But even with the wind, cold, and generally winter dreariness, the GW Parkway still made everything look good.

June was very estatic to find a loose tooth on her 5th birthday,  Unlike Henry, who is firmly against change, June wiggled her tooth until it fell out 3 days later.  But in true Turner fashion, it fell off while she was eating and she swallowed it.  The tooth fairy came and brought 4 quarters, which disappointed June because she really would have preferred 4 jewels.

The girls have continued their recent run of working together.  This morning it involved serving up their own goldfish.  I really enjoy little kids with comically large boxes.

After lunch, they organized a "Huggie Wuggie" party, which is shorthand for dragging all of your bedtime stuff out and pretending to take a nap.  Or, in Georgie's terms, fair game to have her nuk out of bed.  Note all of June's doll accessories on the tv stand.  This arrangement is called "organizing," or the disassembling and lining up of pieces.

Not to be confused with a "set-up," which involves outfitting and arranging toys in a still life.  

Say what you will about June's extensive pony collection, but this girl gets the maximum value out of all her toys.  

I've never seen a kid who can play with toys as much as June.  Which really makes it fun to buy things for her, especially when ponies go for about a quarter at the thrift store.  

We never need to find something for June to do, unlike Henry who constantly needs direction.

Georgie doesn't always play alone well, but she will sit very quietly for a long time if she sneaks past us with nukie and blankie.

June's birthday party

We promised June she could have a party to celebrate her 5th birthday, but our apartment is certainly no place for a bunch of 5 year olds and we're way too cheap to have a fancy party off-site.

So we came up with the perfect solution!  We had her party immediately following school right at the school.  Best idea ever!  We booked the church hall, ordered some pizzas and started the partying!  The party even landed right over Henry's recess and lunch, so he was able to come over since his school is right next door.  From the left, Junie's friends are Hanna, Sohan (Kiyoma's little brother), Kiyoma, Henry, Charlene, Jasmine (Kiyoma's little sister), Dilkini, and Nethuja.

Over at the next table, JoJo was hanging out her a few of her friends; Yohansh and Anush.  She did not help out any of the party planning by screaming "I want pizza!" every time the word pizza got mentioned.

From Jo, there's Yohansh and Anush's backs, Kelvin, Nasaina, Rachel, Claire, and Lydia.

There's Georgie fussing about something in the back again.

When the kids finished their pizzas and cupcakes, we told them to get their coats on and we sent them back outside.

Henry helicopter-parented all the kids across the parking lot.

Then showed them all a thing or two on the swings.

This turned out to be a great party idea.  The kids played on the playground and everybody was gone by 1.

Happy birthday June!

June's 5th birthday.

June was very excited for her birthday this year.  And rightfully so.  5 years old is the official stepping stone between little kid and big kid int his house.  Because it means you're old enough to go to kindergarten, even if it's not for 6 more months.

June was lucky enough to receive 3 presents in the mail the day before her birthday.  And they came from 3 different delivery men.  Which means there was a lot of knocking on our door.  It didn't take very long before June associated knocks with presents.  She still thinks everyone at the door must be bringing her something.

On her birthday morning, Brandon wanted June to wait until after supper to open her presents.  That's just cruel.  So we wore him down and she was allowed to open them up before school.  Of course, a 25 cent thrift store pony was again deemed the favorite of all the presents.

She is pretty excited about her bike, but still remains too nervous to really give it a try.

This new nightgown is beautiful and classy.

As is her new day glo "I heart horsies" sweatshirt and rainbow legwarmers.  It really is so fun to buy for June. The louder and tackier, the better.  

June spent the morning playing with her new toys while I cooked cupcakes for her party and school.  It was very quiet and I realized Jo had hauled out her nuk and Blankie and fallen asleep right on the floor.

Serves her right.  Our once late sleeper has been regularly getting up between 7 and 7:30 along with June.  No more snoozing for us grownups.

These are the cupcakes I made for June's class.  She requested pink, so I used a strawberry cake mix and made flowers with gummy candies. 

Brandon and Olivia both came over to help us celebrate June's birthday.  Brandon made june this robot out of a box.  That kid is so creative!

June got to pick her birthday dinner and picked out macaroni and cheese- no surprise there.  After supper, we all enjoyed some chocolate cheesecake cupcakes.

The kids could hardly stand the wait!  They liked them so much we later caught them eating the wrappers to try to get the last of the chocolate.

How could they get away with eating cupcake wrappers without our noticing?  Because Leah and I declared the kitchen a "no kid" zone and preceded to celebrate with a bottle of wine on the floor.  It was a great night for everyone!

All about JoJo.

I brought back the two most sparkly, spangly dresses I could find from India last year, so it's no surprise that the girls have both refused to wear them.

I realized that Georgie probably fits in her dress now, so I wrestled her into it one night.  I think she might have liked it except for the fact that we was very upset that I covered up her penguin pants.

But I had the big kids jump around behind me until she laughed and now I have at least one picture of her in the dress that I made our driver stop the bus to buy.

Since Christmas, there's been a lot less whining and a lot more fun on the JoJo front.  

She's much more likely to keep herself entertained and plays fairly well with June.

She's also progressed from calling herself "Jo-nana."  Someone called her "sweetheart" and she yelled "No, I'm Jo-jee-aaaaana."  

She continues to be scammed by her older sister, who can convince her to give her anything she's playing with, but can really hold her ground when June tries to take something without asking.  June is getting better about sharing, and when she does Georgie says "Thank you, June!  That's so nice!"

And like the rest of the family, she likes her alone time.  Try to bother her when she's working on something, and you might get "Go play!  Get out of here!"  She is also very unhappy when you wake her up from her nap.  That's a sure guarantee for 20 minutes of crying.  She also got that from her mother.  

Dance lessons.

We let the two big kids take lessons this winter.  Henry chose swimming and after seriously deliberation, June chose ballet over gymnastics. (Surprised?)

As usual, June spent the afternoon preparing for her lesson.  The baggy black t-shirt and the ankle bow really make the outfit for me.

I think she has fun with Rachel, but I also have it from a good source that these two have spread the giggles around their class and sometimes the whole class has to sit down by the wall to calm down before they can dance again.

It was a nice day, so while June was inside dancing, I took the other two outside to play.  Henry was happy to ride his scooter around the tennis courts.

But Georgie was very mad that she could see the playground from the tennis courts and that she was not in a swing RIGHT NOW.

Getting ready for bed.

Getting these kids into bed a task at best.  And it's not like getting them ready is that hard.  Henry and June take care of themselves, and Jo just needs a diaper change and jammies.  Then a swipe with the toothbrush and everybody is done, right?  Except that all three get a sudden burst of energy immediately the moment the words "Bedtime" are said.  And that's only after any drama that comes with cleaning up.  And you'd figure they'd be used to that by now.

The bedtime antics can go one of two ways.  If it's been a long day, I rush them through everything, then shut the door with the words, "So help me, there is no coming out of this room for anything." "But what if there's an emergency?"  "You may only leave your room in the event of blood, barf, or fire."  Blood, barf and fire is a fairly common phrase at our house now.  

But if the kids haven't driven us crazy, we indulge in the goofiness a little.

Standard bedtime issue these days in the Turner house:  flashlight, books (at least two tons), appropriate bedtime lovies (can include dolls or stuffed animals, but no toys), journal and pencil.  June's essential doll collection is getting a little crazy.  And Henry has come up with some great ideas in his journal after hours.  The other night he created a sled powered by a lego engine.

Georgie's essentials are her zebra stuffed animal, and her Lalaloopsy doll and her matching dog.  She called her doll "Hello Loopy," a strange hybrid of Hello Kitty and Lalaloopsy. 

Eventually, we finally do get them in bed, but it generally takes another hour or more for everyone to get settled down and to fall asleep.  June usually comes out to collect something she forgot when she brought every single item out of her bed for a pretend sleepover.  Henry comes out to tell us about a book he finished.  And Georgie wanders out whenever someone else comes out.  But she also likes to sit in her bed and yell at June to be quiet when June starts singing.  Maybe one bedroom is getting a little too small for these kids...