Siblings

 What would these three kids do without each other? And what would I do without them?

Abby on the left, Lydia on the right

As you can see, the girls are getting crazier and funnier by the day . . .

Lydia

Abby

The girls finally figured out this little bike--which Josiah rode before he walked. Now they fight over it, of course . . .

Josiah and Lydia

The kids like to pose for pictures now--but they always want to see the picture on the back of the camera right after I take it! I love the matching faces here (Abby and Josiah in the first one, Lydia and Josiah in the second). They all like to squint their eyes shut when smiling for a picture--like my younger sisters did when they were little. 

Sandbox and Smiles

October weather and good health (finally!) meant lots of time outside in the past couple weeks!

All three kids love to dig in the sandbox--and cart sand away from the sandbox to other parts of the yard. We try to curb the sand transportation to keep the patio mostly clean, but I've found piles dumped in the lawn, on top of new sprouts in the garden, in the sweet potato bed, on the bridge and deck, etc.

Lydia

Recently Josiah devised a game of "fixing" the little coupe car by tipping it over and pouring sand onto the wheels. The girls eagerly join him in this endeavor. Other times the car becomes his delivery truck, and he drives precariously balanced sand "pies" in it . . . until a container slips and the pie is another pile of sand for Mama to sweep up (and the baker to cry over).

While sometimes every minute seems to bring a fight over the most desirable shovel, cup, or spoon in the sandbox, other times the three actually play nicely together--long enough for Mama to slip inside to put in a load of laundry or wash some dishes! This revolutionary development gives me hope for saner days ahead.

Abby

3.5-year-old Pirate

Our church holds a neighborhood outreach in the form of a Halloween party in the church parking lot--with games, food, and lots of candy. Since the church is right in a residential neighborhood, lots and lots of kids and families come through! We participated this year, and Josiah was very excited to dress up like a pirate (or "pie-rat" as he still says the word--residual from Richard Scarry's story Uncle Willie and the Pie Rats). 

 

Josiah was divided between being a "pirate who doesn't do anything" and a "good pirate." But he definitely didn't want to be a "bad pirate"--defined as one who wore a mask or eye patch. (We initially thought we could outfit him in homemade materials to be the Dread Pirate Roberts a.k.a. Westly from The Princess Bride--but he would have none of the mask idea.)

Jeremy made him the sword, I sewed up the pants and vest, and we bought the hat. We used a bit of eyeliner on his upper lip for a mustache.

Sometimes he's just the cutest ever . . .

Josiah got a little confused about his role as we got ready this evening. He kept brandishing his sword and saying, "I'm TREASURE!" We clarified that, as a pirate, he was not treasure itself, but a treasure-hunter. I'm not sure he quite understands the "treasure" concept.

I asked him to smile for the camera--so he did, but he also kept talking

He loves that sword!

 

Unfortunately we didn't get a picture of Lydia and Abby in their "costumes," since theirs were last-minute clothing combinations before we headed out the door. They went as Josiah's pirate sidekicks. Lydia wore a pirate do-rag on her head for part of the night, and Abby wore an old baby hat that made her slightly resemble Smee. We scrounged up a striped shirt for Abby and a fringed belt, and Lydia had a black and red ensemble. Lydia wanted me to give her a mustache like Josiah's when we experimented with that initially . . .

. . . but Abby said "uh-uh" quite decidedly when I offered to give her one. She had already drawn on herself with chalk . . .

Everyone had fun at the church event, and all three kids ate too much junk food and sugar . . . probably more than they've ever had in one night alone! The girls enjoyed roaming around, pointing out all the "babies," saying hi to other little kids, crawling/lying on the pavement, spilling junk food and attempting to eat it off the ground, filling up and pouring out water cups, etc. Lydia persisted in returning to the ball game (an inflated set-up with balls intended to be thrown through hoops), though she was too short to reach a ball on her own.

Josiah collected plenty of candy and declared several times how much he liked going to church. He also told me he loved me a few times on the way there and back. It was fun to see his anticipation for the night and his excitement about his costume and character.

(Oh, and he turned three-and-a-half on the 27th!)

Lydia's Hairstyle

This time Lydia let me do her hair! She discovered the hairbands and was eager to try them out. She only put up with the fountain ponytail for about ten minutes, though. And Abby refused to join in the fun.

Drooly cheesy girl . . . she's had a rough bout of teething lately

Never Boring

Just a quick peek into the past week . . . life is never boring around here, whatever else it may be!

 Poor bud with hives, but still intent on riding his bike!

Last week Josiah had what we believe was an allergic reaction to the antibiotics (amoxicillin) he and the girls took for their second round of strep. It started with itchy hives in localized areas, but escalated into painful, swollen knees and feet. Because he had amoxicillin in September for our first round of strep, I thought he must be reacting to something else--but the pediatrician said a classic drug reaction happens at the tail end of the second round of the drug. Thankfully benadryl controlled the symptoms, and his hives and swelling were gone by Sunday.

Since the weekend, though, he's had redness and puffiness around his eyes. I wondered if we were headed toward another round of pink eye, though they haven't been bloodshot (the whites are still pretty white) or very gunky. He did get red eyes for several days before being diagnosed with strep this past time (2nd round), so that combined with some other complaints--tummy ache, headache, "just not feelin' good," tiredness (all occasional and not real impediments to his activity)--convinced me to take him into the doctor's today. Thankfully the quick strep test was negative! The PA sent out a second one for a culture, since the quick test has a 10-20% rate of error. We'll hear the definitive results on Monday. We're praying it's negative too. We would dearly love to avoid a third round of strep.

Anyway, the PA guesses Josiah has seasonal allergies. She suggested purchasing some eye drops--oh joy! I'm definitely looking forward to the tussle and wailing that will entail (or not).

On a lighter note, yesterday Josiah said encouragingly to Jeremy, "You're not so rude anymore, Dad!" He repeated the praise to me later on. Backhanded compliment?

 Proud Abby

The girls love wearing their bike helmets around--and trying out Josiah's bike when they get the chance. Today Josiah catapulted off his bike and tore into the house to go potty (the urge hits him fast). He yelled desperately behind him, "I hafta go potty! Don't let Abby get on my bike!"

Blurry Lydia

This cooler October weather (highs mostly in the low 90s, lows in the 60s) means lots more time outdoors, and I love it. Most mornings we take a walk or bike ride--Josiah atop his little bike, me pushing the double stroller with the girls or riding slowly alongside Josiah with the girls in the bike seat and trailer. Jeremy rides to work these days, and I round up the troops for a quick ride to meet him some evenings. The last few days Jeremy has gotten off early enough for us to ride to a nearby park before dinner.

Little broccoli plants!

Jeremy started our winter garden and planted winter grass in the front yard. Our onions and garlic have shot their greens high above the soil already, and our broccoli seedlings are adding leaves. The marigolds are sprouting and the squash is flowering. We'll see if the latter survives once the "cold" weather hits.

Almost daily we collect a few fallen lemons from the ground around our heavy-laden tree. The girls love this task--and would also love to pick green lemons from the limbs! When he gets a chance, Josiah likes to play what he calls "lemon-ball"--batting or punting lemons with pieces of PVC pipe, and then commissioning the girls to fetch the fruit from the corners of the yard. 

Well, more happened to keep life interesting, but I'm running out of steam on this meandering post, and you may not be reading it anymore, anyway! So there's a smattering of our week.

Daddy's Helpers

A couple weekends ago, Jeremy spread our compost on the garden beds and planted our winter garden. All three kids loved being involved.

Daddy assigned Josiah the job of killing all the fat grubs with a pair of clippers. Josiah enthusiastically rose to the occasion--much to the admiration of his sisters! He kept telling me, "I'm a big helper! I kill the bad bugs!"

 He's so cute . . . but those bugs were so gross

 Oh, he relished squishing those bugs

The girls clearly loved being included in the garden work. Unfortunately, they now try to dig their hands into the garden beds every chance they get, which doesn't bode well for the little vegetable shoots trying to establish themselves there!