Two and a Half!!!

Today my babies are two and a half years old!  Wow!  What a crazy ride.  This is also a day that marks twenty years ago that my family lost my nephew, Scott.  He was almost three years old at the time and it brings me to stop and pray for my sister's family and also for my children because I just can't imagine...well I can't even contemplate it here. 

Anyway, we did have a little celebratory meal with the kids at Puelo's Grille tonight (thanks to a gift card from Marsha).  Kendall seemed much better today and didn't have any stomach issues.  After spending the day on a restricted diet, we felt like she could stand to live a little, though she still ate cautiously this evening.  Once we finished dinner, we decided to take the kids to get frozen yogurt, which they loved!  It was M.E.S.S.Y.  But totally worth it.

Tonight I wanted to share a few funnies with you that have happened over the last few days.  I apologize if they aren't super-funny to everyone who reads this, but keep in mind that this is "our scrapbook" so I'm trying to write down a few things that I'd like to remember ten years from now. 

Funny #1 - The other night, Uncle Stevie set up the baby dolls in the chairs in the play room.  While I was doing the bath routine, apparently the remaining two children would discipline the dolls by saying "Stop it." And "No Ma'm."  He was cracking up and I just worry that they get scolded too much. : (

Funny #2 - When Emma was up screaming the other night (oops, I just spilled the who-dunnit-beans), we could hear her on the monitor saying "Whas wrong?" And "No ma'm."I felt sorry for her, but sort of giggled that she knew it was sort of unnecessary to be so upset over nothing in particular.

Funny #3 - I can't remember if I've mentioned it, but the kids have started breaking into song during mealtimes.  They are sort of done eating but haven't asked to get down and one of them (usually Kendall) starts singing.  She tends to start out with "Twinkle, Twinkle" and then moves right into "The Alphabet Song" which is often followed by "Issy Bibsy Spider" (you know the one, right?).  This morning, as usual, there was singing and Daddy joined in so Kendall turned to me (I was innocently folding laundry) and said "Sing Mommy!"  No slackers allowed in this house!  You must participate or get called-out.  :)

Funny #4 - Clark is now saying goodbye to everything.  "Goodbye water.  Goodbye ice cream.  Goodbye dinner.  Goodbye car.  Goodbye bike."  It's pretty comical to hear him in the back of the van sort of mumbling his goodbyes to whatever we are no longer seeing at the time.  It seems that he is being so polite, don't you think.  He's also the one who usually says "Bless you" whenever I sneeze.  Sweet.

And, speaking of Clark talking, I wanted to mention that the improvements in his speech are nothing short of amazing these days!  He is talking a lot, initiating conversation, naming objects and items everywhere he goes and singing along with us.  He often will remember lines in DVDs they watch and repeat them later or start speaking along with the character on TV (especially with "The Letter Factory" and "Baby Dance").  We are so proud of him and the progress he has made during the last year!  

Lounging with the Louis Family

We officially have one sick kid in the house.  One of our sitters "called in sick" Thursday and I'm thinking Kendall is having what she was having.  We'll just leave it at "stomach bug" and hope it's a quick 24-hour thing that no one else runs into (no pun intended).
Since she is sick, I didn't want to risk exposing any other caregivers to her, so it was me and the kiddos for the day.  Our day went relatively smoothly and I got a lot done in hopes that I can spend some quality time with them this weekend.  They did remarkably well though I did sort of use "new" toys (new to them) as my saving grace for the day.  I found a small table-top puppet theater and tried to teach them how to "perform" a puppet show.  I also picked up a play kitchen that had been stored at Poo Pa's house and got it cleaned up while they napped.  It was like Christmas morning when they came down to the play room!  Oh and I also keep a stash of toys for "later" and brought our the Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head and a Barrel of Monkeys game. 
This evening Poo Pa and Uncle Stevie came over during baths which was fortunate since Kendall had another "episode" while they were here.  Good times.  Uncle Stevie set out some books on their kiddie table and before bedtime they all settled down to read.  It was pretty cute, so I'm going to bore you with a number of pictures from that particular point in the evening.  Not only did I find something special about that time, but it's also the only time I remembered (all day) to pull out the camera, so my window of opportunity was quickly closing.
I'm really hoping that Kendall is all better tomorrow and that the other two (and Mommy and Daddy) don't have the same problems any time soon.  It's no fun being sick, but Kendall has been a trooper.
It's late and I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow, so I'll have to wait to share the stories of kiddie-discipline until another day.

Goldfish fix everything....

 The kids were having a rough time right about the time that reinforcements (AKA Auntie Karen and Auntie Deb) arrived.  We had tried dinner but no one wanted to eat ANYTHING.  Then they all wanted to meltdown ON Mommy while in the play room.  I had climbed in there thinking we would play with puppets or do jumping jacks and they were all having a fit and just hung all over me crying.  Shortly after that, I realized that Kendall was running a very low-grade fever, so I gave her a little Tylenol.  When Auntie Karen arrived with a container of Goldfish crackers the mood improved dramatically.  Who knew that little fishie crackers would make the world a happier place?  But it was definitely a good thing!
Tomorrow I will have to share a story about their discipline practices towards the dolls.  It's scary and funny at the same time!

Screaming in the Background

 You can't hear the screaming that is going on as I post these pictures and type, but I can.  In light of the fit being pitched by a certain someone, I'm just posting pictures and going on my merry way.  Good night (I hope). : )

More Pics from the 'nooga

Just a quick post of a few more pics of the trip to Chattanooga. Night night!

Real World: Day 1 - Reliving the Dream

I really did take A LOT of pictures during our trip and decided to look back through some of them to see if I skipped anything of interest. I found some that made me giggle. And others that reminded me that this trip really was all about the kids and that it didn't have to be perfect.

Emma striking a pose. Clark thinking about whether to run back into the spray or sit this one out and have a snack.





Check out the (not-so-great) one with Kendall screaming. See the girl in the far left-hand side of the picture? She got Kendall screaming at the top of her lungs and I caught a picture that will remind me of that scream many years from now. And Marshall was posing on the statue things and then working to spray the kids sometimes too.
No, it was not the perfect trip. But the kids did have a lot of fun and we made some family memories.


Recovering from a venture like this one was challenging. Unpacking the kids, the van, the suitcases. Getting back on track. On Saturday, I made mac-n-cheese for the kids and used the Coffeemate creamer instead of milk (he has a 1/2 gallon container that is similar to the one with the kid's milk). It wasn't bad though. And then on Sunday, I had the brilliant idea to make a lemonade pie. Troy had to actually do the "cooking" because I was shoulder-deep in laundry (clean sheet Sunday was NOT going to take a vacation!). He accidentally added sweetened condensed milk instead of evaporated milk. Again a silly mistake that actually turned out just fine. I know that I did other things that were just plain stupid and lame-brained (and meant to blog about them) on Saturday and Sunday because I was just so out-of-sorts and trying to get back in our "at-home-groove" but I've already forgotten it all.
That's just it. When it comes to the crazy, screwed-up stuff, we will probably forget all about it. There are no pictures of Emma having a meltdown or us trying to round them all up at bedtime. But we will always have these pictures to remind us of the fun times and the new experiences that we shared as a family. Traveling with two-and-a-half year old triplets is not for the faint of heart. It was hard. I will not lie. Will we do it again? Eventually (when they are five???). Maybe even sooner if we keep looking at these pictures though. :)

Stay-cation: Day 7 - Recapping Our Visit to the Creative Discovery Museum

Clark trying to take the vacuum cleaner on a ride down the slide.

You have to put any toys that go in their mouths into a bucket to be cleaned.  Can you imagine how many toys went in that bucket????

Ummmm.  Steak.  Is it organic?

Kendall getting dinner from the fridge to the table in under 30 minutes.  Watch out Rachael Ray!

Does this count as a Fourth Meal?

The first part of our trip to Chattanooga included a visit to the Creative Discovery Museum (where we would return again on Friday as well).  We decided to buy an annual pass that also allows for free entrance to many other children's museums in the country.  This particular area (in pics above) was one for children ages four and under and offered a kitchen, tree house, workshop, slide, car, picnic table, flowers (to be watered, of course) and more.  The kids had a great time.  We had a difficult time getting them to move onto the next area, but once they were there.....

They LOVED the percussion room!  Funny since Troy was a drummer in a couple of bands before the kids came into his world.  The kids were less interested in the rooms with string and horn instruments (nothing against either one), but we were in the percussion room for a while.  Woo hoo!  I see a drum set in our future.  I have to say that I am definitely a fan of steel drums (especially when accompanied by a fruity beverage!) because they just sound so relaxing and tropical.  Maybe the kids can ask for one for Christmas???
More of our trip tomorrow.....