Five and Thriving

June 17, 2019



FIVE and THRIVING


This has been a tough year...the fives have been rough.  Along with the struggles have been the blessings as well and I definitely don't want to brush over the positives...which there have been many.

At age 4 Clara was diagnosed with L2 autism.  I will write another post at another time about living with autism however, it confirmed and make life challenging all in the same moment.  Girls with autism are highly overlooked and starting at birth, I could feel something was different with Clara. To be clear, I said different, not wrong, not less, not horrible...just different.

To me, knowledge is POWER.  Education is the key to all possibilities and having her diagnosed wasn't a badge of shame but a word of understanding.  With that diagnosis, I was able to advocate for her the support she needs to be successful in life.  She was diagnosed in May 2018 and that took us into her 5s to where we are now.

Clara began her 2nd year at the Early Learning Center in Ms. Lisa Moore's room.  She is twice exceptional...meaning she is intelligent and has autism.  She struggles with attention and focus and her frustrations in addition to navigating social situations.  She loved Ms. Lisa and was continually a rock star every day in class.  She is learning compassion and how to help others who struggle more than she does.

Adelyn began her 2nd year at Zion Lutheran Preschool.  She reminds me that they are called "Pre-Kinders" so I'd better correct myself here.  She is also very intelligent and education, making friends, athletics all come very easily to her.  She loved her teachers Mrs. Hooper and Mrs. Knaub and just loved going to school.

With the massive support from my mom (Gramma) the girls were able to grow into such amazing young ladies this year.

Here is a typical schedule for the week:

Monday - Friday
6:00-6:30 pm bed
5:30 am up/dressed
6:00 am arrive at Gramma's for breakfast
6:30 am I leave for work

Mondays: (late nights)
7:00-9:00 am Gramma School
9:00 am OT (Ms. Casey) comes to Gramma' house and works with Clara for an hour
10:30 snack/lunch
12:10 Adelyn gets dropped off at Zion (2 minutes from Gramma's house)
12:30 Clara catches bus to ELC
3:00 I pick Adelyn up from Zion
3:30 We pick Clara up from ELC
4-5:45 ABA/Speech
6:15 home and get ready for bed

Tuesdays:
8:45-9:30 Clara vision therapy
10-12:00 Gramma school
10:30 snack/lunch
12:10 Adelyn school
12:30 Clara bus
2:30-3:30 volunteer at Clara's school
3:00 Adelyn done
4:05 Clara arrives home from bus

Wednesdays: (late nights)
7:00-9:00 am Gramma School

10:30 snack/lunch

12:10 Adelyn gets dropped off at Zion (2 minutes from Gramma's house)

12:30 Clara catches bus to ELC

3:00 I pick Adelyn up from Zion

3:30 We pick Clara up from ELC

4-5:45 ABA/Speech

6:15 home and get ready for bed

Thursdays:
7:00-9:00 Gramma School

10:30 snack/lunch

12:10 Adelyn school

12:30 Clara bus

2:30-3:30 volunteer at Clara's school

3:00 Adelyn done

4:05 Clara arrives home from bus

Fridays:
7:00-9:00 Gramma School
9:30-12:30  Clara ABA therapy
12:10 Adelyn Zion
12:30 pick up Clara
2:00 Pick up Adelyn

Thanks to my mom (Gramma) providing Gramma Daycare, the girls are able to get to the therapies they need and to school on time.  I definitely don't tell my mom how much I appreciate her enough.


This year the girls have also been doing Jazz/Ballet/Tap on Saturdays through Turning Point Dance Studio and soccer through I9 sports in Snohomish on Sundays.  There hasn't been much time to breath and yet we are still thriving.  Clara is as tall as I was when I was 7 years old...did I forget to mention she is FIVE??  She is wearing size 10-12; the doctors say that she will be over 6 feet tall if she continues on the path she is on.

Adelyn is wearing 7-8 and is in the 80+ percentile for height. She is also tall for her age yet I can still pick her up.  I can't pick up Clara anymore.  I am still grieving that reality.  She seriously went from my toddler to big girl overnight and no one warned me not to blink.  If I could go back in time and just soak in the last time she ran to me and I picked her up I would in a heartbeat.  Seriously.

Today I took the girls out for a celebratory dinner.  Like I mentioned early, education is very important to me.  It was instilled my generations of educated family members and I wanted to take the girls and celebrate a year of learning.  Next year they will be in kindergarten and even though I have won many a staring contests in my day, I don't know how long I can hold off from blinking... in fact, I think there is a tear starting to form in my eyes as I write.

There have been many positives as well.  Clara has lost 3 teeth so far and the Tooth Fairy pretty much just hovers over our house waiting for another of Clara's teeth to fall out.  Adelyn learned to go down the pole on the play yard by herself and can make a superb chocolate chip cookie, if my expanding tummy has a say in it.

Sensory Friendly Child

Here is an article I wrote for my local Moms of Multiples Club.  Thank you to Judy Davis for editing.


Please click on the link to read.

Sensory Friendly Child

2017 Presidental Election

                                                                                     1/20/2017

Dear Daughters,

I have been struggling how I am going to explain to you when you are older, my feelings about Donald Trump becoming president.  I am so conflicted as an American because I respect the office; I respect the government; and I respect my leaders; yet I do not respect Donald Trump, even though now he is my president.  

Our country is so divided right now and it was a brutal election campaign with both sides slinging mud at the other side.  Most Americans took a stance and the name calling between Americans, friends, and families became muddier than the politicians.  My own brother, your uncle, unfriended me on Facebook because he didn't like my political views.  He was/is a strong Trump supporter and took every opportunity he could to support Trump's narcissistic views.   It was hard to even participate in social media because people took every chance they could to broadcast their political views and some would harshly demoralize others that didn't share their exact views it only perpetuated the divide amongst friends/family.

I did not vote for Trump.  I don't even know how to express all the reason why I didn't.  Many will claim that I am complaining that Hilary Clinton didn't win; if I question Trump, I am told to "get over it."  I didn't vote for her either. 

I believe the leader of America should be in a class of their own. They should be above the fray and set a positive example for all Americans to follow; yet Trump continues to behave like a junior high student.  He is not a president to just the rich or white Christians, he is a president to ALL American despite their race or religious affiliations.  I am not naïve that previous presidents have let the power go to their heads and have behaved badly.  Lucky for them, they were a president before the age of the internet where someone's behavior can be shared instantaneously.  If I knew about them or if they acted like Trump did, I wouldn't have voted for them either. 

He has been caught on tape claiming that he can grab any woman's private areas because of who he is.  He can been caught on video mocking a disabled reporter because he didn't like what the reporter was saying.  This was ALL BEFORE he became president.  A famous actress used her podium moment to preach that we need to love one another and not let bullies win.  Trump took to Twitter the next morning and claimed that she was an overacted actress and is just bitter that Hilary didn't win.  Who does that??  There are teachers at my school who don't like our principal.  If my principal acted the way Trump did and treated the staff members that didn't like him, like Trump did, my principal would have ZERO respect from his staff.  Trump's behavior doesn't inspire togetherness, it inspires hate and disrespect. 

He wants to build a wall so that illegal immigrants “can't get in”.  He wants all Muslims to "register".  It scares me because what he says, and what he wants to do sounds very similar to what Hitler said during WW2… and look what happened when he became leader.  There was a time in the 1940s that Americans were so scared of the Japanese that they made every American Japanese register and move to an internment camp.  It took American 40 years to apologize for that.  We knew it was wrong, yet that is the direction our current president wants to take America. 

He is the textbook definition of a narcissist and despite that, I don't want him to fail.  I want him to "Make America Great Again," now that he is president. But just because I respect the office he holds, doesn't mean that I won't support the causes that I believe in.

The day after Trump was inaugurated there was a women's march.  Women and men from all around the world met in their cities to march and marched for many reasons.  Most marched as a protest to Trump becoming president in response to the hateful comments made during the election, , some were protesting for immigration rights, some for LGBT rights, and some just to support the women in their lives.  They predicted maybe 100,000 people would protest, and in the end about 2.5 million people worldwide peacefully marched.  Your grandma made the pink cat hats symbolizing this movement and you wore them on that day.  You were too young to go and actually protest but had you been old enough, we would have been there. 

Most claim that it was beyond moving to be there marching .  It is now the largest worldwide protest in US history and I wish we could have been a part of it.  I am honored to know many women and men who were there marching and were apart of making history! 

People cried and were so depressed the day before when Trump was sworn in; I didn't cry, I wasn't depressed but I would never criticize those that were.  The next day at the march they all felt powerful and hopeful that they were surrounded by such likeminded people...2.5 million likeminded people. That says something.  Trump of course took to Twitter and responded with the following:

              "Peaceful protests are a hallmark of our democracy.  Even if I don't always agree, I recognize the rights of people to express their views" (Trump).

"Don't always agree"????  He doesn't agree that women's rights should be heard and protected?  He doesn't agree that our country should work to make sure women have rights worldwide because if he actually took the time to listen to the people, that is what he would have heard them protesting for. 

He then went on to Tweet:  "Watched protests yesterday but was under the impression that we just had an election! Why didn't these people vote?  Celebs hurt cause badly."

WHAT???? Those people DID VOTE!  For the record, Trump didn't win the popular vote.  He lost the popular vote by about 2 million people, but because of our Electoral College system, he won the Presidency.  Why would he assume that those people marching hadn't voted???  Why didn't he watch the march and think, hmmm....women want to be heard, as their president, I should listen??  Instead he basically dismissed all the people marching as insignificant. 

I am scared for the next four years (maybe up to 8 years); You are both too young to know what is going on right now, you will be growing up in a country that is shaped by things that happen in the next 4-8 years and I want you both to know that I will do everything in my power to make sure your rights are protected; I will write my congressmen; I will speak for truth and justice; I will participate in marches; I will not send hateful "tweets"; I will not make fun of my leaders; I will not waste my time engaging in behavior that our president thinks is now appropriate when you disagree with someone. 

I am going to continue to pray that God watches over us and that we are in his hands.  I do know that Love Trumps Hate so all I can do is live by example of the world I want you to grow up in.  I love you both!

December 2015

December 2015

Our adventures continues as always.  Instead of sending out individual "what's been going on this year" letters, I thought I would finally just update my blog!  What a difference a year can make!!!  This time last year, the girls were about 13 months old and still only crawling.  They weren't quite aware of what Christmas meant...heck...they hadn't even started walking yet.
     This year is completely different!  They still may not fully understand what Christmas is or who Santa is but every morning Adelyn says, "purrretty trweee" as I bring her down the stairs and she can tell you that Santa brings presents!  Clara seems to be a little indifferent to all the holiday decorations but I think her mind is just working too fast and she just can't slow down and truly appreciate her surroundings.  It is definitely one of the most treasured experiences to see life through your children's eyes.  It is like I get to experience Christmas, snow, rain, puddle jumping all over again, for the first time.
      This was a big year for both girls, but Clara especially.  She spent a majority of 2015 in physical

 therapy.  We had some amazing people working with us to get her up and walking.  She was such an amazing trooper!  She excelled at each appointment and by 19 months she was up and running after her sister.  Since then there is no stopping those long legs of hers.  In addition no cabinet is safe from her exploring eyes.  It is quite comical to watch the girls work as a team (whether they think they are or not).  Clara goes first and opens every drawer, takes the contents out and displays them all over the floor and Miss Adelyn then comes through and "cleans up" all the mess left by her sister.  Besides learning to walk, her vocabulary has exceeded and it is fun to watch her turn into a little person!  At her 2 year check up she weighed 34 lbs (98%), and 37.5 in (100%)....which was 2 inches taller than her sister..but she has to be at least 4 inches taller than her now.
 
      Painting is one of her favorite activities and she treasures her "puppy" and "kitty." In the last couple months she has discovered The Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show and has become obsessed (in a 2 year old sense of the word).  She can't count to 10 but she can name off every single character she sees on the TV (and there is at least 10 of those).  It is fun to hear her laugh at an actual funny part in the show and seem to actually get what is going on.
         Adelyn has also had a big year.  She started walking at 16 months and nothing has slowed her down.  Reading is her passion and can spend hours with a book in her lap.  She doesn't particularly love listening to me read a story as much as exploring the pictures herself.  She is definitely Miss

Independent.  From putting on her shoes herself to helping me with the laundry, I can always count on her.  Showing off how she can count to 10 is another favorite activity and she loves playing any "matching" game.  A new favorite is showing her cards from a deck of cards. She can name off the number and is starting to put them in piles by suit.  Quite the little over achiever. At the 2 year check up, she weighed 30 lbs (87%) and was 35.5 inches tall.  It seems like I blinked and my tiny babies were gone!!!!
          The girls have enjoyed getting together with their "friends" throughout the year and it is fun to hear them call them by name now.  We live in a WONDERFUL neighborhood with kids near their age (7 yr old girl, two 6  year old boys, 5 yr old twin girls, 4 year old boy, and a new baby on the way).  Their faces light up when they see their friends playing in the street and they strut their little bodies down the road to join in.    We are so lucky to be living where we are!  The girls are going to have an awesome place to establish their roots, with kids they can grow up with.
           As for me, it's been busy as usual.  I am teaching 8th grade English this year and I have wonderful kids for the most part!  I drop the girls off at my mom's house at 5:50 am.  We all have breakfast together and I take off for work about 6:20.  Luckily the girls still go to bed at 5:30 pm so I have some time each night for grading
papers and getting stuff done around the house.  After school I pick up the girls and enjoy a cup of coffee with Mom and laugh about all the adventures the girls had that day. I enjoy my coffee time with my mom and it is fun to hear her experiences with the girls.  Besides being a former teacher, Mom loves keeping the girls engaged and providing amazing learning opportunities for them on a daily basis.  Most days she even takes them outside with her to feed the chickens, ducks, and geese. Even though the girls aren't much "help" they love spending that quality time with their gramma.  I appreciate all that she does for us and I don't know where I would be without her!
           I turned 40 this year!  What a milestone!  I was able to celebrate with some amazing friends.

 My mom and Lloyd were able to babysit while I met a couple friends out at a local sports bar.  Pathetically I was ready to come home by 10.. I don't know if that had to do with the fact that I am "older" now or just because I am an exhausted mom of 2 year old twins...both probably.
         The following weekend I did have the amazing opportunity to celebrate my birthday by spending the night BY MYSELF at the Salish Lodge at Snoqualmie Falls.  For anyone that hasn't stayed there, I highly recommend it.  The spa facilities were spectacular and the room itself was so relaxing.  It was such a birthday treat to be able to have no responsibilities for one night.  I was able to leave my "house" after 5:30 pm (girls' bedtime) without getting a babysitter and I slept in!  Heaven!
        I look forward to what 2016 will bring!  Reflecting back on 2015, I have to say that being a single mom is hard, but not as hard as it would be if I didn't have my girls!  Being their mom just gets better and better!  I remember when I was in Rome in 2010. I visited the most famous wishing well in the world, Trevi Fountain.  I threw my change in the well and wished for true love.  I didn't realize until two years ago that my wish had come true.  I found it!  The truest of loves anyone can have, times two!  Adelyn and Clara are my true loves and I am beyond blessed to be their mother!  What an honor!
     

18 Month Check Up

18 Month Check Up 4-17-15

As I have always stated, life is an adventure, especially with twins.  At the girls' 15 month check up we went to a new doctor.  There was nothing particularly wrong with the old doctor; we just changed insurances and this new doctor was closer to home...a major plus when you are trying to cart two youngsters around.
      This new doctor is VERY knowledgeable and I trust her medical opinions, I just didn't feel a personal connection with her.  Our first appointment I explained that I was a single parent and that my mom is my support, blah blah blah.  Towards the end of the appointment, she expressed concern and asked me if they ever saw their father...um...well...there is no father...I explained that already...strike one.  Then she made a comment about how other twin moms that see her bring their twins in separately...really??  Who has the time...well I do apparently.  I decided to schedule the girls their own 18 month check up appointment.  I figured I would use it as one on one time and it would be a bonding time...not so much.
         Clara was first on Tuesday.  They scheduled us two days early for her immunizations so in the
end I had to bring her back on Friday when I took Adelyn...so much for individual bonding time.  Strike two.  Strike three came when I asked her about Clara's lack of cuddling interest.  She said that it was just her temperament and hopefully her husband won't mind...um...what??  How about, hopefully her MOM won't mind....what if Clara doesn't want to get married? or turns out gay?  I just got a major feeling that this doctor had very traditional views (and there is NOTHING wrong with that) but we aren't a traditional family.  Our next appointment is at 2 years old so hopefully I will have found another doctor and we can start this process over again.  Needless to say, I will NOT be scheduling separate appointments...one and done.
           Both girls are doing AMAZING.  So far 18 months is MY FAVORITE!!  The girls' brains are developing at warp speed and they are noticing everything around them.  My life is filled with, "WOWs" and "ooohhhh" and "where did it go??"
 

 

   Adelyn started walking at 17 months.  I was wondering when she would give it a go.  Our PT said that one day her mind would just click and off she would go...and that she did.  She started off slow but nothing is stopping her now.  I rarely see her crawl.  She prefers to walk EVERYWHERE.  She particularly loves playing "can I get by you" with my mom.  Adelyn will have a location she is determined to get to and my mom will block her path.  Trying to outsmart my mom, Adelyn will play a virtual soccer game and end up losing.  
           Hammering has become a passion of hers.  She loves grabbing the toy hammer and pounding the balls into their holes.  She gets such a serious look on her face too. It is VERY hard not to crack up while watching her.
         Clara has just started walking this week!!! THANK GOD!!!  She has

been diagnosed as developmentally delayed in her gross motor skills.  We have qualified for Birth to Three program so an OT comes to my mom's house every other week and works with Clara on her walking skills.  Most children are what's called, "bow legged".  Their legs bow out like a cowboy riding a horse.  As they get older the legs start to straighten and viola...straight legs.  Clara is "knocked kneed".  Her thighs go in at the knee and then bow out.  It looks like an upside down V.  She has very limited muscle tone in her legs and hips so walking has been a major struggle for her.  The great news is that all the therapies that we are doing is working!  She sees Sarah, our amazing OT every other week and she goes to a pediatric chiropractor 1-2 times a week.  My mom and I work extensively on her walking exercises and she is making huge progress.  Her confidence is building and she isn't letting it slow her down!

           The twins are such polar opposites at this point in their lives as well.  Adelyn is my affectionate, cuddler.  She loves giving me kisses and hugs and one of her favorite things is to snuggle with me in the morning before we all get up.  Clara is more independent.   She doesn't like to be held and she is very selective with her kisses.   When the girls eat, Clara becomes her food.  She loves to become ONE with the food whereas Adelyn is a delicate eater and freaks out if there is "something on her finger."  Usually Adelyn's pinky finger is sticking out while she is eating...such the lady.  Clara is going to be my trouble maker.  She loves to explore anything she can open or get her hands on.  My mom made a comment the other day, which is just so true.  You could trust Adelyn to explore the whole house and

she wouldn't do anything she isn't suppose to do.  Clara, on the other hand, would have every content of every cabinet out on the floor.  Adelyn loves jewelry and being girly girly whereas Clara is my tom boy and is hiking up her pants and getting her hands dirty.  Adelyn loves walking around with her hat on and Clara yanks it off as soon as you put it on.  They are only 18 months old and already two completely different individuals.  Both are such characters and I couldn't love them more.  I am the luckiest mom in the world.  I have the best two girls who spend their days smiling and laughing.

Adelyn:  weight:  28 lbs 6.4 oz (96%)
               height  33.27 (89%)
               head:  47.6 cm (83%)

Clara:   weight:  31 lbs 6.4 oz (99%)
             height:  35.5 inches (100%)
             head:  48.3 cm (93%)

Adelyn and Gramma

Clara and Mama

Clara and her OT Sarah

Gramma Day Care March 2015

March 2015,


As always, I am super blessed to have my mom watch the girls while I work.  This was an email that I got from her the other day.   It is always an adventure and this just made me laugh :)

Hello Lloyd & Emily,

 

Girls took a 2 hour morning nap...Yeah!! Now that they are up and playing in the living room, Clara is being Miss Drama today and fake crying over everything (which I enjoyed sitting in with their play time and being there for her when she faked cry and needed a hug).

Finally time to make them some lunch and of course her fake crying stopped and she and Adelyn played well together. Darn Gramma. I bought into her game so poo poo on me. 

Speaking of poo poo, Daisy had urinated and pooped right in the middle of the puppy pad and since I was going to cook, I was thankful it was a quick fix and put down a clean new pad. As I'm walking around getting things cooked up, I step on something and look down and there is ANOTHER large pile of poo (Lucy?) NOT ON THE PAD (of course none of the dogs would fess up) and I had stepped smack dab in the middle of it with my ONE and only perforated bottom boots and it was now being tracked all over the kitchen...OH YUCK! 

Ran it under hot water and got it OUT of my boot and picked up the mess on the kitchen floor however YUCK YUCK YUCK. Oh sure, now back to my cooking....Oh, the chicken in the refrigerator Lloyd was ripe...bad bad bad! Oh the smell was NASTY....

 

I labeled it CRAB BAIT and took it out of the house. It is now wrapped and in the garage for you to deal with as you see fit tonight...Oh, don't forget to bury the dead rat in the chicken yard WAITING for YOU.

 

Guess it's a TV dinner lunch  :(

 

Love and hugs. Now, have a good day XOXOXO

 

Sharon*

Thanksgiving and December 2014

November - December 10, 2014:


I realize that I haven't posted for awhile but when life is an adventure, sometimes it is hard to stop and reflect when you are always on the go.  The girls are almost 14 months old and have grown so much since their 1st birthday.

Just a quick update:

Clara: 

• "talking" allllllll the time.  She says so many words and strings so many sounds together that is sounds like she is having a conversation with herself.  She says, mama, wow, hi, bye, pretty, okee dokee, Daisy, woof.  Her favorite word is, "no."  
• She scoots on her butt to "crawl."  She gets some power into it too. She digs her heels into the ground and scoots towards her direction.  She even gets her head into the action and uses her whole body to propel forward.
• She is standing a lot and loves to pull herself upright.  Her legs still are VERY shakey and I don't think she will be walking any time soon but she will finger walk (holding your hands) very well.
• LOVES LOVES LOVES food.  She will eat almost anything you put in front of her.  I can pretty much rely on the fact that she will at least try something at least once.
• wears size 2t clothes and size 5 shoe.  
• wears size 5 diaper 
• weighs around 28 lbs
• sleeps 12 hours a night.  She goes to bed at 5:30 pm and gets up at 5:30 am.
• takes a 1-2 hour morning nap (around 8 am)
• takes a 1-2 hour nap (sometimes) around 12 pm.

Adelyn:

• talks a lot but doesn't say too many words.  She strings many sounds together but few words.
  
   She does say:  no, hi, die die (bye bye), sista, woof woof, mama, no go (???), Daisy, wow
• She crawls super fast.  She sits and stands all the time.  She can pull herself up and lately she will stop holding onto something and stand free :).  She will be walking soon. Crap.  
• She is such a picky eater.  Her first response to food it to close her lips, tilt her head back, shake it back and forth and then scream, "no no no."   Half the time she loved the exact same food the day before, if not, the hour before.  She is sooooo stubborn.  I wonder where she gets that from (me...grrr).  Usually, I offer the food to her, she turns it down, then I turn and offer it to Clara and after the 3rd or 4th time, Adelyn may or may not take a bite.
• I have read the research and I know that she will eat when she is hungry and knows what she likes/doesn't.  It just is a little frustrating...which I know will be one of MANY frustrations that my daughters will put me through in their lives.
• wears size 2t clothes and size 5 shoe
• wears size 5 diaper
• weighs around 28lbs
• sleeps 11-12 hours a night.  She goes to be around 5:30 pm and gets up around 5 am.
• takes a 1 hour mourning nap (around 8 am)
• takes a 1-2 hour nap (not often) around 12 pm

 

     We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We started the morning with a wonderful breakfast hosted by my brother and sister in law.  The girls loved the homemade waffles, scrambled eggs, hashbrowns and sausage.  We had a lovely visit and then headed home for our afternoon nap.  

        This year my step sister Alli hosted dinner at her house.  It is about an hour drive so she graciously had it early enough so that the girls and I could enjoy our visit.  We got there around 3 pm.  Unfortunately Clara started crying about 15 minutes into the ride and shortly after that, I had to pee.  Needless to say, the car ride was not enjoyable.  

          Nothing comes easy in my life nowadays either.  I can't just "arrive" somewhere and immediately start relaxing.  As any mother of multiples knows you can NEVER pack lightly.  The girls aren't old enough to sit in chairs so if we go anywhere, besides a restaurant, I have to bring high chairs, and diaper bag.  I also had to bring my supplies for dinner so that was in another bag...oh yeah, and my two kids.   Before I was able to sit and relax, I think I made 5 trips back and forth from the car.

         Once all the initial unloading was done, it was time to unload physically and relax with the family.  It was sooo fun to see my girls playing with their cousins.  The house was packed with family and my niece McKenna was such a great entertainer for the girls.  She made them laugh and played with them on the floor.  Alli did such a nice job cooking and everything was beautiful.

I ended up sitting at the "kids' table" since I had to feed my girls but it was fun to converse with all the kiddos.

        We had to leave a little 5 since the girls go to bed at 5:30.  I had changed them into their pjs before we left and they slept the whole way home.  I was able to scoop them up from the car and put them directly into bed for a long night sleep.

      

Black Friday:

      Since I was a little girl...maybe 4 years old or so....every Friday after Thanksgiving I went shopping with my grandma and aunt.  I don't think they called it "Black Friday" back then but we would get up around 6 am and leave the house around 7 am.  Our day consisted of driving to downtown Seattle and admiring all the Christmas window decorations.  After a couple hours of window shopping, we would go to Fredrick's and Nelson's for lunch.   As the years passed, our distances shortened to Northgate area and then finally in the later years of my grandma's life, Alderwood.  It didn't matter where we went or how much shopping we actually did, it was the tradition that I valued. 34 years of tradition and I was so excited to continue that tradition with my daughters.  My grandma is now passed and my aunt snowbirds in Arizona during this time so I wanted to revitalize the tradition with my mom and the girls. 

     Last year we took the girls to Alderwood and they did great...granted they were only 6 weeks old and slept most of the time. This year the girls were almost 14 months old and let's just say they didn't sleep.  We decided to head out after their morning nap so that they would be rested and left about 10 am.  I made the horrible decision that we should go back to the Alderwood Mall since it had the most stores that we could access on our shopping excursion.  Wrong decision.  

      First of all the mall parking lot was packed.  It was pouring down rain, and we drove around the covered parking area but my claustrophobia was kicking in strong and there was clearly no open spots.  We found an empty section in the pouring rain near JCPenny's.  JCPenny's was ground zero for the shopping mecca.  It was a NIGHTMARE.  There was barely any room to push the stroller down the aisle and if there was, it was packed with people.  The store did have amazing deals but the lines to pay were at least 20+ deep.  We would have had to wait at least 30/40 minutes to just pay.  Not going to happen especially not with two 14 month olds crying.

      We made the smart decision to get out of there as quickly as possible.  Our next stop was Justice to get my niece and nephew their gifts.  The girls and I paced in the stroller in the front of the store while my mom did her shopping inside.  After that we were on the verge of leaving when we came upon the ONE place that didn't have a line...Santa.  Really???  I was not prepared for Santa but I couldn't pass up the no line factor.  We made our way to the front.  Unfortunately Adelyn wasn't too into the man in the white beard this year.  Santa told me to give him the "nice boy" first.   UMMMM...they're girls Santa...Grrrr....

         I placed Clara on his lap and we backed Adelyn into him so that she didn't see him.  Miss Independent was too observant and was on to our trickery.  She immediately started screaming and they took the picture.  Merry Christmas.  The only thing I wish is that they had been in cuter outfits.  Bummer...oh well...next year.  

         You would have thought that was enough of an adventure...but oh no.  We made our way back to JCPenny's and I left my mom, Clara, and the stroller inside the waiting area by a back door.  It was a different entrance/exit than which we had come in so I was a little turned around about where I had parked.  It was raining soooo hard outside that the plan was for me to take Adelyn (she had been crying and didn't want to be put down) with me.  We would grab the car and then come pick up Mom and Clara.  I wish it had been that easy.  As soon as I left the door, Adelyn and I made a mad dash for the under cover parking area.  I thought I recognized it from our original parking attempt.  I was wrong.  We ran through it and out the other side and the car was no where in site.  While clinging to my daughter, we made a mad dash through about half of the mall's entire parking lot. At least Adelyn had a jacket on but the rain was coming down so hard. 

 It was not a Mother of the Year moment.  

By the time I actually found and got Adelyn in the car, I had to find a towel to wipe her down.  She and I decided to count that as her bath for the day.  Ironically as I left to pick up Mom and Clara, my car was parked literally in front of the door I had left.   I ran in rain for nothing.  I probably could have seen my car from JCPenny's but instead I took the left when I should have just gone straight.  All in all, I think we lasted about 1 hour out in Black Friday.  

We took our emotional wounds to lunch at Red Robin and the girls did such a great job.  I ordered some fish and chips (which they both absolutely love) and we all split a chocolate milk shake.  It was a nice way to end our chaotic Black Friday adventure. This marked our last Black Friday shopping day tradition.  In the future we are going to start a new tradition....Saturday or Sunday After Thanksgiving Shopping.  It is just brutal out there and times have changed.  It is the not the same experience that I had most of my life and I don't want that type of chaos to be what my girls remember.