Monday, April 25, 2011

Multiples Field Trip

Besides friendships with moms who understand what it's like to have multiples the moms of multiples club I belong to provides lots of family activities. One of them is field trips - a few weeks ago the girls and I took a tour of Harris Teeter but this past Friday I got to take the whole family since it was Spring Break.

We met everyong at Frying Pan park and did a self-tour of all the animals on the farm. Believe it or not it was COLD - think 45 degrees! And just as we were leaving it was starting to rain. Can't say it was the best day for a field trip - and when you notice Caleb wearing my jacket you'll realize how unprepared we were for the low temps - but we still had a pretty good time :)



We're already looking forward to the moms of multiples Spring party on Saturday.

And keep checking back this week for a special treat - can't wait to share! (NO, I'm NOT pregnant...)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Way Back When-esday: Swings and Cherry Blossoms


It's time for the swings again - at least in between the rains that just don't seem to let up.

Looks like my girls are continuing to grow and April is time for my annual tradition of taking photos of the girls on their swings. And the only fun way to see new pictures of the girls on the swings is to take a look at the past years first.

Julianna Mabel: still my princess - she is by far my most talkative 4-year-old - she is always curious and always has questions - she can't wait to have her ears pierced, she wants to wear all my jewelry and asks me often when she'll be able to get married. She loves to be praised and enjoys being my helper and the 2nd mommy to the girls mostly by giving them instructions on what they should wear, what they should play and how they should eat. She's still the boss!

April 2007



April 2008



April 2009



April 2010



April 2011



Rachel Gabrielle: she's still the quietest of the three yet when I take her out alone she's very talkative and has lots to say. She constantly repeats my name in conversation "mom, can I have this? mom, can I do this? mom, did you see mom?" Really if you sat and listened to her you can't help but laugh at the sheer number of times she repeats my name. She's also very clingy and is VERY much a mommy's girl. None of the girls can sit next to me at dinner without clinging to me but Rachel is by far the worst. At least I always feel loved :)

April 2007



April 2008



April 2009



April 2010



April 2011



Alyssa Elaine: Alyssa is my character. On the one hand she's in her own world but on the other hand she is the most helpful - when I take her grocery shopping she loves to help get the groceries, she loves to help when there are babies around and if I ask her to do something I almost always hear, "Oh yes ma'am" and it's done. But she's also my fraidy-cat - she's afraid of the dark, she's afraid of scary points in movies (even ones she's seen and not always in the spots you'd think but I often find her watching TV from our dining room which is 2 rooms away from the family room but she can still see the TV - she's just getting further away from the action) and she woke up during nap yesterday to cry about pillows - she was afraid of them. She's just so silly.

April 2007



April 2008



April 2009



April 2010



April 2011



And what would spring be without Cherry Blossoms? This is another one of those things I wanted to do with the girls every year but in years past the rains come and we don't get pictures before our tree drops all it's beautiful flowers but this year I was able to snap some shots - check it out - I love these!

Julianna Mabel - she's a ham for the camera - just LOVES it - if you couldn't tell

April 2008



April 2011





Rachel Gabrielle - she's enduring the tree this year

April 2008



April 2011





Alyssa Elaine - she is SOOO tough to photograph - she just does NOT want to look at the camera so I'm always getting either a weird smile or a decent smile but not looking at the camera and while I do love photos where people aren't looking (see hers below) it would be nice if I could actually capture a decent photo of her looking at me and smiling!

April 2008



April 2011





Wow! That was a huge post but April is my favorite time of year for photos - despite all the rain I love the weather and the blooming flowers and taking pictures of the kids outside for the first time really in months.

See other Way Back When-esday posts at Twinfatuation and thanks for letting me take this trip down memory lane - I swear it feels like yesterday that I did this post for 2010 - how is it possible that another year has gone by already??

Saturday, April 16, 2011

School Egg Hunt

Yesterday the triplet's preschool class had their Easter party/egg hunt. It was certainly a learning experience for the teacher and I! Wow! I think there is an art to making egg hunting not too hard and not too easy. Meaning I have a bad feeling there are a few plastic eggs still in the grass...

It started out so well - they were all lined up, ready to find the right numbered eggs for their baskets.



But a few of the eggs were just a little bit harder to find than others and by a little bit I mean impossible.

Still, it seems like the girls had a lot of fun! Probably because they were some of the most eagle-eyed of the group and had little trouble finding their eggs. Or maybe they're just used to fending for themselves against their older brother and sister. No, I'm sure that's not it - has to be that they're eagle-eyed.

I've got one!







Classic Julianna pose:



Rachel found some eggs.



Alyssa's having fun!



Searching, searching... This is serious stuff.





In between they waited patiently for the rest of their classmates to find the remainder of their own eggs.



Yep, patiently...



(And I've got to wonder what Alyssa is thinking! Any ideas?!)

Today is the beginning of spring break - 10 days of home with the kids! How many egg hunts can I do exactly before they get tired of it?

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

The Three Words I Hate The Most...



"She's NOT Sharing!"

Oh, I hate them.

If you have more than one child you understand.

The definition of "sharing" for any 3 or 4-year-old is really "she's not giving me exactly what I want at the very moment I want it"

My girls do fight but honestly for the most part they get along, however, when it comes to a toy or a game or a pillow or a blanket or a small crumb they've found on the floor - if one of them has it and the other one wants it then all I hear is crying and tears and the utter angst of a 4-year-old little girl.

With my older two I had the "advantage" of saying to my oldest, "he's younger be nice to him" but now...

Now they're all the same age so they are on equal footing so to speak - no one is younger or older - I can't say that so I'm left with the dilemma of how to intervene. Most of the time the fighting occurs out of my view - they're in another room and I have NO idea who had the item first and they're looking to me to resolve the situation.

Ultimately I let them know that they need to work it out among themselves but oh how I hate those words...

(Photo taken on St. Patrick's Day on a field trip to Harris Teeter - as if I'm not there enough already!!)