Happy Cousins

Cora, Ruby and Kayla

Here's one with Alicia, too.

Advice Requested

It may be hard to believe, but these darling little people are causing me difficulties. So I am requesting advice from of all of you who may have gone through this before, and anyone else who may have an amazing idea to share.

Problem: the girls are too big to share a crib much longer.

Option A: two cribs. I don't know how this might go, the girls have always shared a crib and I'm not sure what would happen if they couldn't be next to each other.

Option B: a regular bed. In trying out this option, I threw the two crib mattresses on the floor and put the girls down for a nap. (About half an hour ago.) Thus far, complete failure. How do I keep them in a bed that doesn't have sides? This is where I can really use some help. What advice do you have on making the crib to bed transition?

Update: two hours after laying the girls in bed, still no napping. Very ornery girls, but no napping. Too many things they can play with, even with the door closed so they are stuck in their room.

Update 2: about three hours after laying them down they finally went to sleep. The amazing part was they were actually on their mattresses. I opened the door so they could get out when they woke up. Ruby was very happy after her nap, she liked being able to get up and go on her own. Cora was really, really ornery when she woke up. She doesn't take change so well. Now, is there any way to keep them in their beds so I don't have to wait three hours for them to fall asleep? Anyone?


On a completely unrelated, but somewhat humorous note, the other day Ruby managed to get her diaper off, with her clothes still on. I found the diaper around one ankle. Her pants, socks, and shoes were soaked. Nasty? Yes. I'm just grateful she was outside when she did this so it was not all over my floor. Since I'm asking for advice, is there any way to get pee smell out of non-washable shoes? The socks and pants I just threw in the washer, but I don't know what to do about the shoes. I'm tempted to throw them out, they were hand-me-downs and are rather worn, but they're about the only ones I have that are the right size for Ruby right now. I'd appreciate any suggestions on this topic, too.

Thanks for all your help!

Is baking soda good for your complexion?

Cora thought she'd find out.

Ruby in a blanket

Travels, Part VII

On our way home we made one more stop, in Bozeman, MT, to see Ray's Uncle Sam. We had a nice visit with him. The girls enjoyed having an hour out of the car. They also really like Sam's dog.

That pretty much sums up the whole trip. It was a lot of fun. The girls traveled amazingly well. We were all very grateful to get home.

Travels, Part VI

Baby Animal Day

If you've never been to a baby animal day, it is a fairly simple concept: lots of baby animals that you can pet and look at. I was surprised how many people were there. It appears to be very popular. Cora loved it, she petted most of the different animals and pointed at all of them.

This picture of Ruby pretty much sums up how she felt about Baby Animal Day. Note that her hands are not available to pet any baby animals and she has a look of complete disinterest on her face. The one thing that did spark some interest in Ruby was this:
Those of you who know how Ray feels about snakes will appreciate with me the humor of that moment. When I told Ray that Ruby loved looking at the snakes he said, "She was just trying to figure out how to kill them." Then added in a very worried tone of voice, "She didn't pet a snake, did she?"

(No, she didn't pet one. The snakes were mostly not being petted, just looked at, although they did have one that they would set around people's shoulders if they wanted to have a picture with a snake. I didn't think I should push it that far, I knew Ray would have enough trouble with the girls looking at snakes.)

Wagon Rides

As part of Baby Animal Day there were wagon rides.

Before looking at the next picture you should know that it was preceded by Ray, who was taking the photo, saying, "Say 'pickled pig snouts'." And followed, when someone (I think Roy) commented on that being a funny thing to say, with Ray saying, "Well, it got some good smiles."

Good smiles. Right.

Uncle Craig and Uncle Roy both got to drive wagons. Cora helped Uncle Roy.









Beth and Patrick didn't make it onto the same wagon as the rest of us. Here is their wagon, they are in the very back:

Travels, Part V

Our family with Grandma and Grandpa. Please pay no attention to our "we've been in the car for hours" look.

Patrick, Beth, and James with Grandma and Grandpa

Lil with Grandma and Grandpa. (James was sneaking onto Lil's lap, you can see his head appearing over Grandma's shoulder.)

Cynthia, Kyrene, and Craig with Grandma and Grandpa. I love how cute this picture turned out with Craig making a face at Kyrene. I think he was trying to get her to smile.


Dinner at Aunt Luanna and Uncle Gerry's house:
Great Aunt Julie happened across these bugs and thought the kids might like them. She was right. Once they sorted out which one belonged to whom, they played with them all night. They spent quite a long time rolling the bugs across the coffee table to Uncle Roy and whoever else was sitting over there. The bugs also gave me a chance to get a picture of the four cousins together.

More pictures of playing with bugs. On the left, if you look closely through the table, you can see James giving Kyrene a hug. On the right, I loved Cora's expression as she's waiting to catch her bug.











Uncle Craig playing with James: