Pizza at the Park

Recently we found a new park. It is in an area we frequently go by -and have even been to in the past- but the boys are at the perfect age to enjoy it now. We went last weekend and then called Cathy to see if she wanted to meet us for pizza later in the week. Today was finally our evening to meet at the park.

At first none of the kids wanted to sit long enough to eat. They all had the temptation of the playground on both sides of them, and we were in direct eye sight of the water feature area as well. Needless to say, only a few bites were chomped down before they declared they were all done and wanted to go play now.

Surprisingly, Wyatt wanted to get in the water after only about ten minutes of being at the playground. Soon he was joined by Jax, and then Luke followed as well. Robert came over and thought about joining his sister and the boys, but kept out of the water for now.

After an hour and half, it started getting dark and we all decided it was too difficult to do head counts with losing light, and called it a night. It was so fun to finally get together with our friends again. It is so interesting to see the leaps and bounds all the boys are making with their communicating and playground skills. We see them everyday, but to go a couple weeks without seeing our friends, it is more obvious how much the others have learned since last time. Our little guys are really growing up!

Little Ninja's part 2

Today I went with Don and the boys to their third Little Ninja class. The boys all sat/stood on their colored shapes and listened to what Ms. Miller told them. She said today's class was going to be working on coordination. The boys seemed to really love it. They listened pretty well, and the only time they weren't focused on the teacher is when they decided they needed to hug their brother right then. Once the hug fest was over, they are fine again until six minutes pass, and oh- another hug is needed.

The class is only a half hour, and all the parents sit in the same open room as they do (about 14 students), so there is a lot of distractions in one room. Some parents clap for their child after the child raises their arm and hits the target, so then every child expects the applause for the same menial task. Jaxon loves the applause though. He gets a huge smile on his face and he just soaks it up.

Lucas really seems to get into the class, yelling towards the teacher when she asks seemingly rhetorical questions. "I am READY!" when she asks if they are ready to begin. Wyatt has amazing reflexes for someone his age, and great stances. All three definitely seem to be learning in this class and enjoying it all the way.

Here is a video of them in class...

Baseball!

I spent most of last weekend sewing with my mom. We have a lot more to be done, but it is really hard with the boys being underfoot. This weekend we decided to take a break and sew all day Friday instead.

As soon as the boys laid down on Nana's bed to watch a movie (aka nap), we started sewing and ironing. About 2-3 hours later, they were up and Don was off work, so he took them to the mall.

Once he got back, they decided to go watch Ed's baseball team play at a park right by my mom's house. Don said the boys loved watching the game. Jaxon first asked Don if they were playing basketball. Jax thinks every sport is basketball. So Don explained that it was baseball. "They play with a ball and see all those squares they are running to and standing on? Those are bases. So this game is baseball." To which Jaxon nodded and responded, "Wow, I like watching basketball, Daddy!".

Later in the evening, my mom and I were able to join them at the game. When the game was over, Ed and Don gave the boys a quick lesson in baseball. Don would hold the bat behind whoever was batting and Ed was bravely helping the boys learn how to throw. The boys loved running the bases. Luke kept ending up sitting on the dirt and Don pointed out that he was actually trying to slide!

They were definitely all boy while they were out there. They really seemed to get a kick out of playing just like the big kids they saw only moments before. What a fun evening!

Luke Cooks!

After a week of patiently waiting, Luke finally had his turn at cooking class. He was so proud to wear the apron and chef hat this am, he was dressed and ready to go a good ten minutes before I was. I had even more time to spare, but felt guilty knowing he was so excited about leaving.

Today we made rice crispy treats. Luke loved the opportunity to wash his hands as often as he wanted and probably spent an equal amount of time in front of the sink as he did on his stool mixing ingredients together. He did not seem to care for all the butter needed to put on his hands so the marshmallows don't stick, but he loved being allowed to taste the ingredients as they went in the bowl.

Coming home was adorable. He greeted Jax with a hug for once (usually Jax is the hugger) and the boys were so excited to see what "special treat" Luke had made for them. Everyone couldn't sit at the table fast enough. Luke was like Jaxon, asking what everyone thought and even asked Nana, "Is that good, Nana?".

When Don got home from work today, Lucas was the only one awake from their naps. I put out two paper plates with the rice crispy treats on them and he and Luke sat down and ate their snack. It was so obvious how much Luke loved sharing his treat with his daddy. A precious moment to remember for sure.

3 against 1

I watch (more like hear) this video and can't decide whether I am horrified that the kids are trying to take Don out, or laughing because they are actually taking Don out.

Cooking Class with Jax

Today was Jax's turn to go to cooking class. His new cooking clothes were courtesy of Targets $1 bin and Nana's embroidery machine. Pretty good deal, don't you think?

Today's class had us learning to make crepes. He got to break an egg and add in all the ingredients. His face lit up at the idea of being able to wash his hands as often as he wanted to, and that excitement was only compounded by the fact that Ms LeAnn blows soap bubbles on you as you wash your hands.

It was so neat to focus and Jaxon and see how other people respond to his excitement and big smiles. I know he is pretty special, but it is cool to see other people realize it too.

When class was over, Ms LeAnn mentioned there were extras if anyone wanted more. We grabbed one and brought a crepe home for his brothers and Nana to try. He was so proud of his "special treat" and asked his brothers, "you like it, Wy Wy?" and, "That good special treat, yeah Luke?".

Speaking of Luke, he can't wait for his turn. He has asked about his turn to go three times today and loved wearing Jax's apron while helping me cook dinner tonight. When I made him take the apron off to go play outside, he hesitated for a few seconds before agreeing to take it off.

I love that they are excited about this as I am.

But it smells GOOD!

One day last week I noticed Jax's face was dry. It was a passing thought before something else distracted me. The next day my mom noticed it was so dry, it felt scaly. We wondered how this was possible. It has not been windy and they get baths almost every night, complete with a lotion rub down. Thankfully, after a few days of super moisture lotion, his cheeks were back to their normal smoothed state. It was fixed and forgotten. Until today.

When the boys wake up from their naps, they come in our room and veg out a bit. They like the novelty of using our bathroom to do their business followed by watching tv from our bed. Then we all cuddle a bit until they are ready to venture out and get a snack.

Today Don and I were playing with the boys on our bed and as Jax was giggling madly while rolling around, something good smelling waffed past my nose. Not being able to pin point the smell from where it was coming from, I held Jax down while sniffing out his little neck. Then I recognized the scent. It was Don's deodorant!

While trying to figure out the logistics of why Jax's face smelled like Don's deodorant, I came to the conclusion that Jax must have been playing around with it while in our bathroom. When Jax was asked about it, he became a little embarrassed. Quickly wanting to get the talk over with -and not wanting to act like it was a huge deal- I explained why he couldn't put deodorant on his face. Can you imagine how that would dry out his face?

AH-HA!

Yes, this wasn't the first time he smelled like this. Dimly a memory of this happening before a week or two ago -a couple days in a row- surfaced. The scent wasn't as strong then, so I guess I didn't think as much about it at the time.

But now Jaxon knows, no more putting on with Daddy's deodorant, no matter how much he wants to be like Daddy.

Paris

This past Friday night Don and I had our first night away from the boys since they had come home from the hospital. Nana had offered to stay at our house for the night to simplify everything and Don and I were excited to start planning our night out.

Thanks to Ed, we got to stay at the Paris hotel here in Las Vegas and it was wonderful! The room was gorgeous and there was nothing as luxurious as not being on a schedule. With no worries about what time to eat, we hung out in the hotel room until we decided to get ready and head out. Sleeping in until 9 and being able to wake up at our own pace was heavenly.

It was a much needed, much deserved night out for us. Hopefully we think to do it again before another three years sneak on by.

Someone is in TROUBLE

Yesterday I was here, only 10 feet away from the boys room when I heard one of the boys talk about someone making a mess. Figuring they emptied their book cube, I wasn't too concerned. I finished posting my things on Craigslist and decided it was snack time. As I walked to the boys room, this is what greeted me.



The pictures do not do this mess justice. You are looking at 84 shirts and 24 pairs of shorts. With random amounts of underwear and undershirts thrown in for good measure.

To put it mildly I was "ooh ooh MAD" (any Barney watcher's recognize the phrase?). Wyatt and Jaxon blamed each other and Luke hid in the other room until things quieted down. Eventually the boys helped me put it away, watching me with big eyes hoping my head wouldn't explode right there in front of them. This is on the tails of writing with pen on my bathroom counter.

We honestly thought we were lucky and the stage of doing these things were long gone. We thought we cruised past it with no incidents. Ha ha ha.

No Fear

The past few weeks I have been taking the boys to a nearby park in the early morning to let them run off some energy. We only stay a little while because soon it starts to get too hot, it is still over 100 degrees here.

They have begun to really take to climbing on the rock formations the park has. The rocks are man made, but they are hard and steep all the same. The boys have no fear of them at all. They will climb up, resorting to crawling or scooting on their rear ends when it gets too steep for them, but they still keep going. When they get as high as I will let them, they find a semi smooth area and slide sown. The drop offs for the make shift slide is about three feet up in the air, and they insist the can do it "by myself!". So I will nonchalantly put my arm out and let them know it is there in case they need it. And thankfully, they use it.

When it gets too hot and their cheeks start getting red, we walk over to the water area and cool off. Until recently, they would just wander around the edges and occasionally put their foot over a water spray coming out of the ground. Finally I told them that if they didn't get their bodies wet (and cooled down), we would have to go home. That same day they began putting their heads in the jet of water and eventually they began running though the whole play area with the carefree abandonment kids should have.

Luke doesn't run through the water area yet, but he will put his head directly in the spray of water and drink the water as it drips down his face. Wyatt and Jax love running through the water sprays and then come running to me so they can dry their face on my shirt.

You can see it here

Little Ninjas

This fall Don was in charge of picking out a class for the boys to take. Having Don choose served a few purposes. First, he needed more time with the boys. With him working overtime this summer, the boys have really become Momma's boys. When they get hurt, it is straight to Momma. If they wanted anything, it was all about "Momma do!". It was bordering on ridiculous and for a Dad who had always been very involved with his children, I knew it had to hurt a bit for the boys to pass him over like that. They needed to be alone with Don and let him handle their needs.

Second, I didn't want to sign the boys up for totnastics again. With Preschool on Mon & Wed, and cooking on Thurs, I wasn't looking forward to a fourth day of driving out to the center. Which leads me to my third reason -I just flat out need some down time in my own house. Some quiet time to relax and take a bath or clean up around the house without the boys underfoot.


So today, the boys had their first Little Ninja class.

They learned how to punch out their arms and bow, as well as punch out one arm at a time and kick out their legs. Don said the instructor would have the kids punch at her open hands in front of them, and then she would squat low for them to hit her lowered hands to practice aiming while kicking. Wyatt had misunderstood and when she squatted, he also squatted and punched instead of kicking. :)

I am impressed with what they learned today, especially with the class only being a half hour. Don said the boys behaved well and he was really proud of them. Afterwards he took them to a nearby park to let them run. Then he took them to get smoothies.

Once they got home, we all laid down and watched Nemo in hopes of a quick nap. After that, Don basically had the boys for the rest of the evening while I was cutting material. Not once did they get hurt and demand to see me. They let Don handle all their spats and boo boos, and would only occasionally feel the need to come check on what I was doing.

So to wrap it up, the boys learned some cool ninja moves, Don is quickly getting his "can do" status back with the kids and I spent about 6 hours today cutting fabric. I do believe we had a very productive day.

San Gennaro Fest

The other night we went on our traditional trip to the San Gennaro Fest. We have been going at least once a year since the boys were about 5 months old and last night we invited Leigha and Ed to join us.

We all had so much fun! The boys went on a couple car rides and towards the end of the evening all 7 of us went through the fun house complete with moving steps and a circling hallway. There were lots of booths to look at and amazingly enough,even though we didn't bring a stroller, the boys did great!

We had "authentic" Italian food and Luke was having so much fun he kept telling me, "We no go home now". The real highlight of the evening though, was the first ride they went on for the night. We were unsure of how they would react since it has been almost a year since the last time they went on one, but they did great!

So Tired

The boys had such a busy day. Wyatt had his cooking class while Jax and Luke went for a walk in the desert with Nana. They didn't have a nap since we needed them to go to bed early tonight, but they were still pooped from a late night at the San Gennaro Fest.

For the first time ever, Wyatt and Jax both fell asleep at the dinner table. We were sitting for less than 5 minutes, and both of their heads went down. At first I though Jax was pretending to fall asleep because it happened that fast. He was leaning his head and he was out. You can tell we just sat down since the majority of our dinner is still on our plates.

We ended up waking them up right after the picture and sending them outside to play in the fresh air. Poor little guys are just pooped from their busy schedule!

Cooking Class

Today was the first day of cooking class. It is six weeks long and each week I will bring a different child, giving each of them two turns. Wyatt's turn was today.

We made stuffed shells, which was a big hit with my little pasta lover! He got to taste the different cheeses and look at the shells before and after it was cooked. When he first saw the uncooked shell, he immediately brought it to his ear and told me he could hear the ocean.

After he got to mix in little parts and the stuffed shells cooked, we were able to eat our creation. It was delicious and also something I wouldn't generally think of cooking with the boys.

It was a great way to get the one on one that is really needed with the boys. Wyatt and I had fun on the way home, chatting about what we did and he kept reenacting how he "ate it all" like a hungry beast. Jaxon was very upset when I got home -he felt very left out and it took him over a half hour to settle down. But he will have his chance next week. Yummy!

9 years ago

Today is our ninth anniversary. Don happened to call me this morning at 9:09, the ninth hour and ninth minute of our ninth year being married. Coincidental, but interesting.

Don had surprised me with a beautiful flower arrangement and balloons (that the boys went crazy over!) along with a very perfect card. That was the end of our celebration for the night though, being it was my first night of class. We will continue to celebrate with a night on the strip, and our first night away from our house -boys this weekend. I am very excited and only a bit nervous. We will only be 10 minutes away, but far enough that we get to wake up after 7 am if we want to!


So after 9 short years, I am so thankful that Don is even better than I had thought possible. He has really been supportive lately, helping me to branch out and go to the MOM's dinners and start taking the stained glass class, not to mention starting a business with my mom. He is understanding of the fact that I need to regain a bit of myself and totally encourages me to breathe outside of the house, and even has the house cleaner than I left it when I get back!

He is my better half and I am so blessed to have him.

Do it by MYself!

The boys dress themselves for the most part. Writing that, I think to myself that is not true at all. They all can (usually) put on their shirts. Their heads may come out of their arm holes, but if I try to help them before they have exhausted all efforts, I get a nasty, "I do it myself!". More and more often though, they hit jackpot and get their shirts on fully by themselves. Usually easier done in tee shirts than their tank tops.

Underwear is another item we sometimes have to work on. Luke has no issues, since he still prefers the bigger blue underwear without the "penis pocket" -as we call it- in the front. Jax usually gets his underwear on without a problem, but the other day he had the waistband between his little cheeks, painfully yelping as he walked up the stairs to show me what was wrong. Wyatt still has trouble making sure his are not backwards. He lays his underwear out in front of him on the floor while talking to himself. "Penis pocket", he says as he makes sure he is laying them out in a way he can just slide them on, penis pocket on top.

So slowly, they are learning and getting into the groove of dressing themselves. They are much better at undressing themselves (Wyatt loves to be naked, ask anyone who has come to visit my mom while we are there and a mostly naked Wyatt has gone running through the room) but we are making progress.

The other day Luke walked up the stairs yelling, "Look, I did it myself". When I asked him what he did, he told me, "my socks. I did it myself".

No, you Rock!

I am not sure how the phrase, "You Rock" has become a daily saying we have at our house, but it is one that has come to mean good things. When the boys use the potty, we tell them they did a great job and the ROCK. When Wyatt goes poop, he will excitedly tell us he ROCKS! (included with his little fist shooting up into the air). When they clean up the living room, or are super helpful, I thank them and tell them that they really rock.

Really. Maybe it started with our Guitar Hero phase. Ahhh, yes I think that must have been it. At the time, we were even trying to get them to do the "rock and roll" hand gesture with the phrase. It is all coming back to me now.

Anyhow, tonight I was gone to my triplet mom dinner and Don stayed home with the boys. While they were eating dinner, Jaxon noticed his chair was rocking a bit.

Jaxon: "Daddy, my chair rocking. Look Daddy, it rocking".
Don: "Let me take a look at it buddy"

Don takes the coloring book out of underneath the chair, evening the seat back out.

Jaxon: "It not rocking anymore.
Daddy fixed my chair!
You rock, Daddy.
Daddy ROCKS!"

First day of Preschool

Today was the day. All three boys proudly sported their little animal back packs they had received for their first birthday from Gram Robinson, waiting for Nana and I to walk them into the school....

Don and I have been talking up school for the past two weeks. They were going to go back to school and see Mrs Theresa. Wyatt would ask me, "M-Mommy coming, too?" while nodding his little head up and down. I would answer that I had to go to the store while they were in school, but they would be together and Mrs Theresa would be with them. She was their teacher from the Mommy and Me Discovery class we took last spring, so it helped knowing they had a familiar face to look for.

Nana usually makes a visit over here on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but made a special stop over here this morning to see the boys off on their first day of school. While I was driving, the boys sang along to their new favorite car music, The Laurie Berkner Band while making their matchbox cars dance.


Finally, we were at school and the boys were all ready to go inside. Jax ran up the side walk and raced to be the first one to hit the automatic door button. Knowing it could have made or broken the morning for him, I was glad he had reached it before the other two. After filling out a bit of paperwork and getting the general system of signing the kids in and out of class, the teacher invited us all inside.

Nana and I helped the boys find the seats with their names on them and then showed the boys where the bathrooms are. Back at their seats we got them started on a worksheet where they could trace circles with crayons. Thankfully all three were seating by each other, so between Nana and I, we were able to give each child the help they needed without anyone feeling left out. After a minute or two, the boys were seated and tracing, so we gave them a kiss, told them we were going to the store and would be back in a little bit.

And the boys were totally fine with it. I was totally fine with it. Nana, on the other hand, was a bit nostalgic. I think it was eased into for me since the boys were familiar with their school. They have take classes there before, had the same teacher before, and this past spring, taken the gym class that I would sit outside of and wait for them. They had a great transition into this and I am so thankful that they felt comfortable enough to be able to enjoy the experience.

They all have their projects from the day along with some worksheets we can work on with them in their back packs. When the boys saw Don, they rushed to show him their backpacks and the work they did inside of them. They have not talked much about it -which cracks me up since it obviously means more to me then them- but they said they want to go back and that is all that matters.

Interview Wyatt

Wyatt is a wild man. I have noticed a wild streak showing more often, but really became apparent while I was taping this. I considered doing it over, but eh, this IS who he is today. Let's celebrate it and pray he "relaxes" a bit more when he has things to fill his days with. :)