Best friends, bitter rivals

The sibling relationship is fascinating. Maggie and Audrey are closer to each other than anyone else in the world, they share everything (including a bedroom, their toys, and even some clothes), and most of the time they get along amazingly well.

Of course, they also fight sometimes. But what really cracks me up are the casual asides each of them will drop from time to time.

More than once, Maggie has said, "I wish you had stopped having kids after me." Or, "What is that thing you call a kid when they don't have brothers or sisters? An only child? I wish I was an only child."

Audrey has started on a similar theme, though she feels more generous toward Jane. Once, she waltzed past me singing prettily, "I love Mommy, I love Daddy, I love Janey, but I don't love Maggie...." And the other day in the car, out of the blue she told me, "I wish our family was just Mom, Dad, Jane, and Audrey!"

Audrey has also been telling me that she wishes she were a baby, that she were younger than Jane, etc. At such times I take my cue and snug her up like a little baby, sing her a lullaby, and even put her in Jane's crib. She loves it.

Maggie doesn't like to be treated like a baby, but she loves for me to make her feel special in other ways. One night recently I told her that when she was a tiny baby, I loved her so much that I couldn't bear to be away from her, so I quit my fancy grown-up job just so I could stay home every day and hold her and watch her get big. She got the biggest, happiest smile on her face, and she told me "That makes me feel really good!" Makes me feel pretty good, too.

Audrey, the little comedian

The other day at the movie theater, I took Audrey into a stall to go to the bathroom before the film started. As she so often does, she spoke up extremely loudly:

"I love to pee! It feels so warm and good!"

A minute later, as I was helping her pull up her shorts:

"Mommeeee...I need some help with my bottom!"

And finally, the punch line:

"Smell my hand!"

Photos by Audrey

Photos by Maggie

Afternoon of Americana

We took the girls to the Americana, an outdoor mall, for lunch/dinner (it was 3 pm, so it kind of served as both) at Katsuya, playtime by the fountains, a ride on the trolley, and to see the film Up (which all five of us really enjoyed). It was pretty much a perfect afternoon.

Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine

My brothers and I loved our Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine when we were kids. I fondly remember making sno-cones with them, or at least watching them make them. I pitifully remember it as one of the rare times they would let me sort of participate in something fun. (aww...poor little sister.)

When I worked at eToys circa 1999 (egads, has it really been 10 years??) I picked up this perfect, retro Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine at one of the fabulous employee sample sales. It's been sitting on a shelf ever since...until Maggie found it and asked to try it.

She and Audrey had a great time making the sno-cones (okay, and so did I). And Jane enjoyed helping to eat them (go littlest sister, go!).

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend with lots of activities. On Thursday the 2nd, we held our annual barbecue and fireworks party. I think we've been doing this pretty much every year since 2001, though some years it was just us, or maybe one other family.

This year we went nuts and invited more than 50 people...and they ALL CAME! It was our biggest party ever (not counting the wedding, I guess), and I'd have to say it was a big success. Robert barbecued hotdogs, we filled up the coolers with sodas and juice boxes and beer, and everyone brought food and drinks to share. The kids all ran around like wild animals of course. When it got dark I handed out 20 glow in the dark bracelets, and there were a few babies who didn't even get them...so my higher math skills tell me that we had at least 23 children present. Wow.

At 9:30pm, we all camped out on the front yard to watch the fireworks show put on by the country club down the street. Later, one of my friends told me she had the most wonderful feeling at that moment, being surrounded by friends and neighbors outdoors, watching the fireworks together. I knew exactly what she meant.

I didn't take many photos that night, but here are a couple shots of the girls (plus their good buddy Rocco):



Speaking of the country club, after thinking about it for years, we finally decided to join. It's literally one block away and has lots of attractions for us, including a restaurant, kids club (with babysitting at certain hours), playground and pool. We've visited the pool area several times already, and the girls especially love the one-foot-deep wading pool.


Rounding out our Independence Day festivities, last night we attended a party with friends and coworkers above the Rose Bowl, where we ate Mexican food, played in the grass, and watched the excellent fireworks show. All these years in this area, and this was our first time watching the Rose Bowl fireworks, which are supposed to be among the best in the country. They were pretty awesome, I must say.

Tea party breakfast

At peace

I agree to let Audrey and Jane paint with watercolors.

After making one swipe each on their papers, Audrey begins painting her fingernails and Jane begins sipping the paint water one drip at a time from the end of her paintbrush.

A quick checklist forms in my head. Will this kill them? No. Will it make a mess that takes longer than 5 minutes to clean up? No. Are they content and quiet? Yes.

The balance sheet is clear. I avert my eyes and continue reading the internets. (But first take a moment to snap photos.)

Happy 4th birthday to Audrey

Happy birthday Audrey! If I close my eyes, I can picture Audrey as an eight-pound newborn with fuzzy blonde hair, unfocused blue-gray eyes, and pouty lips. I remember holding her close and thinking that I was just getting to know this brand new little Audrey Elizabeth. I knew she was a girl and I knew she was beautiful, but all the rest stretched before us as a wonderful mystery to unfold.

Four years later, there's a lot I know about this person. She is funny, loves to make people laugh, and is always ready to join in anything silly with her big belly laugh. She has an uncanny ability to make up rhymes, many of which are quite clever and surprise us with their creativity. She is sweet and kind, thoughtful most of the time, and extremely affectionate and loving. She is also the clingiest of my three girls. She needs a lot of hugs and attention, a lot of reassurance, and if a couple days go by when she and I haven't had much time together, she starts to get sad and mopey and pitifully clingy. When I see this, I stop everything and focus on Audrey, and she lights up like sunshine.

Audrey loves to sing and dance, read stories, dress up like a princess, build puzzles, play with Barbies and other big kid toys, and do craft projects (she is all the time making tiny cards and pictures for the people she loves, and will often seal them up in an envelope and hand them to me to mail before I even see what's inside). She loves animals, says she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, and likes to pretend to be a kitty or puppy. She was enchanted by the birthday gift we got her: a Barbie veterinarian set. I have mixed feelings about Barbies, but at least this iteration shows Barbie with an admirable career!

A few days ago, Robert and I took Audrey out alone for her birthday outing. She chose Kidspace, lunch at CPK, and getting her nails painted with blue sparkle polish. It was fun hanging out only with Audrey, and so relaxing compared to our usual chaos. Audrey basked in the attention.

Though spending time as the only kid is a special treat for Audrey, she dearly loves her sisters. She and Jane play together sometimes, though often they seem to be in competition for my attention. If one of them has something, the other must have it too! Meanwhile, Audrey and Maggie are truly best friends, and each day holds many shared secrets, arguments, hugs, and adventures for the two of them.


Audrey loves to help me cook, and in fact helped make her own birthday cake today. She picked out the flavors: lemon cake with vanilla frosting and pink decorations. She helped me with every step, especially taste-testing the frosting and placing all the decorations on top. For her birthday dinner, she requested her Daddy to bring home pizza and buttered noodles. I didn't even try to pretend we were having a fruit or vegetable too; we all ate pizza and noodles and then huge slices of cake. It was good.

Audrey spent most of her birthday today at day camp. It was her third day there, and she is loving it. She reports that the best part is riding horses, especially the beautiful white horse that is her favorite. She also likes swimming. This morning I arranged to visit and bring blueberry muffins for her group. I got to stay while they ate their lunches under the trees, and for a minute I wished I could be a kid at camp too.

Is it really possible, that the 8-pound baby I held four years ago now goes to day camp, has completed a year of preschool, tells knock-knock jokes, has strong opinions about her hairstyles, and prefers to wear a dress or skirt every day? There's so much I know about Audrey, and I love every bit of her. Thinking of how much more I'll get to know in the coming years--the discoveries of who she is and what she likes, her dreams and ambitions and challenges--makes my heart open up with joy and anticipation. I feel so blessed to be a mommy to this girl, to have the great privilege of guiding her through life and witnessing her future unfold.

Happy birthday Audrey. I wish for you 100 more of them, each as perfect and joyful as this one.