Silly Girls

I can't help it, my girls crack me up. Listening to them talk to each other - watching them interact - it's all just fun - mostly because I really love this age. Four is a great age - they can do some things for themselves, they can play together well while still taking naps (quiet time really) most days - what could be more perfect?

I've been capturing some of their funniest moments in recent weeks and thought I would share.

Before I share why I took this picture - do notice that it is bright day outside and they are wearing their PJ's or "pajammies" (pronounced pu-jammies) as they are called in our house - they are in love with all their pajammies and would much rather wear them ALL the time if allowed.

But for this photo they had found some "snapping dolls" that they have and the dolls had braided hair so they brought me the plastic dolls hair and asked if I could do their hair this way - this is the result:



(Disclaimer - I have 4 girls but I am NOT the worlds best braider...)

Piled on top of Daddy - also in their pajammies.



Apparantly these buckets are perfect umbrellas. I love how they all like to copy each other and when one decides something it's law for everyone and they all have to do it. So, someone decided that this was a great idea and they all joined in marching in cirlces around our house.



What makes me laugh even more is while I was the one that asked to take a picture of them like this they then gave me a list of what pictures they wanted:

Front angle:



Back side:



Turn to the left:



And then turn to the right:



Because you know those were important pictures :)

And no post about how silly they are would be complete without a photo of Rachel and her beloved books:



You have to notice the title of the book she's "reading": "Heaven Sent Husband" - while Julianna does ask me often when she'll be old enough to get married Rachel tends to keep these questions to herself. Apparantly she's found the answers in her books. Also notice how worn and turned the pages are - if you know me then you know that I have NOT read this book - this is not even close to the genre I enjoy so all the page turning is solely Rachel's :)

Gotta love it.

Bowl-A-Thon A Success: Thank You!

Thank you so much to all of you who sponosored our kids at their school's Bowl-A-Thon this past Friday. The kids really enjoyed bowling though the girls (and all the preschoolers) got really bored in between their turns. Since they had NO idea what the heck bowling was about or what the score means they didn't really understand why they got to go twice in a row but no more - and obviously no less :) However, they did seem thrilled whenever the board showed they got a spare - or maybe that was just me.

My bowlers:











The kids had a great time and raised money for the school at the same time. Thank you again to those who contributed! We really do appreciate it.

Way Back When-esday: 4 Years, 4 Months: A Look Back

These days my girls are playing together and bickering like sisters - sometimes this is cute and sometimes this is difficult. At lunch last week when the big kids were in school and it was just me and the girls having lunch together Alyssa was having a little trouble eating her lunch and Julianna had a few words to say about that:

Julianna: Come on, eat your lunch kid.
Alyssa: (beginning to cry) She called me kid.
Julianna: Well, yesterday when we were sleeping Alyssa called me potty talk.

How can I not laugh at the silly banter between them? I wish I could capture the way Alyssa talks - it's hard to explain. When we took Lollipop to the vet for his injury Alyssa had no hesitations about telling the vet, "Lollipop has a problem." And certainly he did :)

But 4 years ago now these girls who are currently best friends at one moment and mortal enemies the next looked a little more like well, burritos :)





And of all the little gestures newborns do, the one I miss the most is how they put their arms up in the air while they're sleeping :) How cute are they?





Where did these tiny stinkers go?! Four years ago they had their first professional picture done - they were so tiny but somehow we managed to time these photos at the perfect moment between sleep and food that they actually cooperated :)



Four years ago they weighed 11.7; 12.8 and 13.12 lbs and we had nicknamed them Little, Leaky and Loud. Four years later Rachel is still the smallest of the bunch and Alyssa is still the loudest but Julianna leaks a LOT less :) Since the girls are obsessed with them being babies and often tell me how much they miss being babies (not that they really remember of course) they love to hear what we called them and Julianna could probably tell you that we called her our Leaky Princess while Rachel was our Little Peanut and Alyssa was our Loud Pumpkin.

Sorry to take a trip backwards but I'm always thinking about them when they were babies on the 16th - it's so hard not to!

I didn't really set out to participate in Way Back When-esday but since the 16th fell on a Wednesday it just seemed appropriate!

You can play along at Twinfatuation

Owner And Cat: Matching Leg Wounds

Guest Blogger: Kaitlyn

You all know that I got a leg wound. Well, now it's Lollypop's turn. We don't even know what happened! Check it out:



When I first saw it (which you will see later) I told Mom and we took him to the vet.
She siad that he had to where a cone and stay in a easy-to-clean place until it stops oozing (yah,yah it's gross, save those "ews" for later). We chose the
master bathroom. That's where he is here.
Here he is with his cone:





This is his wound- (okay now you can "eww") what do you think it is?



(By Mom: we have no idea what happened to him - could have been a spider - could have been a sting - could have been shot by someone - we aren't sure. In every other way he seems to be healthy and is healing well.)

Caleb Had Some Fierce Competition

Today was Caleb's first Pinewood Derby race. Despite having never done this before and having no real idea what he was doing he came in 5th! I'm very proud of him even though he was quite disappointed that his best friend came in first and he didn't.

Caleb's car is the green striped one:



At least he looks like he's having fun:



The big track:



The boys got to race their cars on each of the tracks so there were no unfair advantages - then their times were calculated and the fastest overall was the winner. Caleb actually won one of his races but overall he came in 5th.

His car on the track - it's a little blurry but you can see his in there and you can see big sister Kaitlyn cheering on her brother :) So sweet.



There's his name on the big board:



Apparantly when he won the board displayed just his name - he was pretty excited but Kirk didn't get a picture of that. Oh well, we're proud of him :)

February's Over

And I'm so behind.

The thing about 4-year-old triplets is that they're not that different from day-to-day. We are crazy busy but it's all kind of the same. Last year it was potty training - this year they are in school 3 full days a week which you think would translate into more time for me but ultimately it doesn't. It does mean that I have more time to have my devotions and spend some quiet time with God which I have been very much enjoying and I've had more time to coupon so I'm either saving more money or just buying more stuff - still trying to figure that out!

Plus there are all the days I spend at school to read to the preschool class or help with classroom parties. So we all stay pretty busy and sometimes (okay often) the blog gets neglected.

We are still alive.

And they are still so very cute :)









Favorite recent sayings:

All the girls: "It takes for a while. Why does it take for a while?" - obviously when they feel like anything is taking a long time - which for them is just about everything!

Julianna when we went out to dinner - the girls know not to play with knives and they always give us their knives from the silverware at the restaurant - this past week Julianna said, "Here daddy, you can have my knife so I don't cut off my fingers because that would be hurting"

I know they say cute stuff all the time and I want to record it but it goes in one ear and out the other no matter how much I try to commit it to memory. There's something to work on in March...remember more :)

Hope your February was great and your March is better! I know we're thawing out here in crazy warm (but rainy) temperatures.

Happy Valentine's Day

I can't say I'm the most romantic person in the world but I can say that I love my husband and am grateful to God for the man that he is both to me and to our children. I know I have been blessed to have him in my life and I pray that each of you may be so blessed.

I also want to wish my parents a Happy 41st Anniversary! Forty-one years and still in love - a sure testament to the goodness and grace of God.

I love you, Kirk and look forward to reaching 41 Anniversarys with you!

Visit Recap with Aunt Kim and Uncle Daniel

Yes, I'm behind. They've been gone for 4 days and I have yet to post pictures. Sad, I know. But we did have a good visit and I think, just maybe that even Uncle Daniel enjoyed having the kids around.

But I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...











Of course, Aunt Kim was there too.







The girls fought over Aunt Kim and Uncle Daniel constantly. Mom and Dad were old news in favor of holding Aunt Kim or Uncle Daniel's hand. I don't mind - I love that they are getting to know our family better.





Besides tubing we hung out, played a lot of Pictionary on the Wii Draw (highly recommend it - love that game!) and took them to the Air and Space Museum to check out the planes.

In other news, I'm also a triplet!



I'd say we look alike :)

From left to right: Liz Nelson (Kirk's brother's wife who now lives down the street from us - yea!); Kim Hildebrandt (my brother's wife - yes, that's my maiden name) and Dorinda Nelson - yep, triplets. I guess they do run in the family!

This Is Really Playing In The Snow

My brother Daniel and his wife Kim arrived at our home last night and well, they're from Florida so first off they want to know what the white stuff on the ground is :) But it wasn't enough to tell them what the white stuff was we had to show them - really show them.

Kirk's idea?

Take the whole family tubing! Originally we had planned to actually go to a ski resort but since God saw fit to send us some free snow we decided it was better to go "tubing" on a local hill.

We certainly weren't the only ones so we had to do some sled dodging but we did manage to find a "bunny hill" that worked really well for the triplets to slide down on their tubes:





This was actually the first time the girls had ever gone tubing. Kirk has taken Kaitlyn and Caleb to this same hill in years past (even last year after our blizzards I believe) but the girls have never gone. I mean, come on, that's a LOT of kids to try and corral on some very slippery slopes. But with extra hands today seemed like the perfect day to go for it.

I'd say they liked it. In fact, Julianna asked me, "The next time it snows can we build a snowman and go tubing both at the same time?"




.
She was the only one of the three who pretty much ran up the hill to slide down again and carried her tube every time and kept suggesting we start higher and higher



As for the big kids - Kaitlyn rivals Julianna in her love of sledding. Up and down, up and down - when I said we would be leaving soon she said, "But I've only gone down 14 times!" I think in 2 hours she had to have gone down close to 30 times and she wasn't doing the "bunny hill" either!





There she goes!



Caleb enjoyed sledding as well but he had a bumpier ride falling off his sled a few times - but bumps and bruises didn't stop him from going again and again. (Thank God there were no broken bones!)







Brother and sisterly love...



Speaking of brothers this was my brother's first real time in snow. He only wiped out once - his first time - but he survived and was willing to give it another try.



It looks like he enjoyed himself!





And yes, Kim got in on the act too and she loved it as much as the kids!





And the cute couple :) Aaaawww...



And the other girls?

Alyssa seemed to enjoy it though she HATED going up and down the slope with her tube, had trouble staying out of the way and preferred for everyone else to just do it for her even if that meant people she didn't know carrying her tube for her!





Little stinker but she sure is cute!



Rachel, as always, spent a lot of her time eating snow but she did actually enjoy going down the slope for a short time (though not nearly as much as the other two)





...and she enjoyed making snow angels!



Yes, Kirk and I got in the act a little bit too though I think Kirk enjoyed the bumps a little more than I did!





All in all it was a great day and we were thrilled to be able to share our snow with Uncle Daniel and Aunt Kim :)