Fire Drill

Monday through Thursday the kids have homework. Since they are a wreck when they get home after school, we have been doing homework after breakfast.

We have been caught up for the entire week, except half of Thursday's home. PRACTICE A FIRE DRILL WITH YOUR FAMILY.

Oh my Lord.

This sentence made my stomach drop. It could have been because Wyatt tends to over analyze things and still has anxiety about some random things. We have to keep doors open when he is on the other side of them(not the bathroom door, thank goodness!) but the front door for sure. And he won't buckle in the car until he knows we are out there, too. So adding stress of a possible fire wasn't something I wanted to add to his list.

I think my stomach dropped mostly because our fire alarm has been going off about 7 times a week -sometimes 5 times in a single night. What a pleasent way to wake up. Not to mention that makes the emergency concept not such an emergency when it is happening so often.

I decided just to talk about the basics with them. We will save the little ladder thing (we have one that hangs out their bedroom window to the floor) for when Don gets home this afternoon.

So I talked to them about checking the door to see if it is hot. We talked about not hiding from the fire, so the fireman can easily find you. We talked about if their door is hot, we will come to them through their window. We also talked about calling 911.

Jaxon corrected me here, telling me he knows the number to the Justice League and it is 11511. He said they are very far, but they will come quick.

So I let him know that in case they are running behind, to be prepared for the fire department.

Anyhow, I can understand how this may be a good idea for many families to practice this. But for my family, it just throws too many ideas out in the open. Makes me feel like my boys are socially behind. Does anyone else worry about showing their kids an escape route from their house because they are worried about their kids attempting it on their own? Or about their kids dialling 11511 for the Justice League instead of 911 for the actual human help?

Our Everyday

For the past few months, our cookie cutter squished together neighborhood has become more neighborly.

People actually have begun to hang out outside and chat with each other. The kids all hang out and play past sunset. We sit outside of our neighbors house until bedtime, roasting marshmallows over a fire pit on their drive way.




It was a long time coming -we have been here about 6 years now. We are the only house with a front patio, and I think we have been out front more than anyone else in the past few years. We wave to everyone that passes our house -and usually get a smile and wave in return -but that is as far as 90% of the neighborhood relationships went.



But now, we are finally at a point where most of the houses on our street have kids there. If one kid is out, slowly the others come out to play. Bikes are ridden up and down the street and "CAR!" is yelled every time anyone spots a car with wheels turning.


It is so weird to see the kids doing things that I have specific memories of also doing. It is weird to think they are old enough to be hanging out with the neighborhood kids. It is weird to know I am old enough to have kids doing this when it seems like I was just doing this last year.

But it is cool that one day they will look back and have memories of days like this, too.

Something I love about you

I love that Jaxon LOVES to make friends. Every time he gets to be around other kids, he makes a few new friends. I know this because he yells out, "Mom, I making new friends!"

I also love that even though his 6th birthday isn't until May, he invites anyone and everyone he meets to their party. Even some 13 year old girls sitting near the boys at a festival recently.

He loves new friends. And I love him!

Halloween 2010

This year for Halloween Don and I wanted to try something different. In Nevada, we celebrate Nevada day (the day Nevada became a state-which happens to be Oct 31st) with a day off school. With our year pass to Lego Land, we thought that may be a great way to spend our Halloween weekend this year.



We got an amazing deal with a hotel right next to Lego Land because of a timeshare presentation, packed a bunch of food for the trip and headed to California! I didn't get many pictures, and most of the ones I did get are blurry (!) but we did have a great time.



On the way out to Carlsbad, we stopped in Irvine where a fellow triplet mom had invited us to stay with her for a night. Michelle has 5 boys! That made for one exciting visit! All eight boys got along lost in the world of matchbox cars and boy toys. Michelle's husband Matt set up a tent for our boys to sleep in, and they were just in fun heaven!


The next day was a breakfast at Rudy's Diner and off to Lego Land we went.



Dressed up their Halloween costumes, the boys loved hearing people comment on their Super Hero-ness. Some funny moments happened when the boys would see other people (especially a grown man) dressed as super heroes. Their reactions were priceless, as was one little girl dressed in a silver and pink Super Girl costume when she saw all the Super boys. They all felt a Super Hero connection -and it was priceless.



What fun would Lego Land be without riding their favorite rides? And of course, there was plenty of Trick or Treating at Lego Land. The whole weekend was a great time for us to get to spend some much needed fun time together.

Halloween is coming

We had our first school Trunk or Treat! Don and I tricked out the back of Nana's van, and the boys had their first school event. It was a fun night, being able to watch the boys interacting with their new friends and see the different relationships that have grown. They spent most of the time attached at the hip with their new friend Kalani. Every time the boys saw a new friend they would yell their name and run up to hug them.

I love that they are enjoying their school experiences!

Randomness

A quilt store here in town is closing. They had a $2 a yard sale last week. For fabric that is generally over $10 yard to go on sale for that low is huge. Needless to say, I packed the boys up with some snacks and video games and waited outside the door with all the other crazy quilters for the store to open.

Not only did we have to wait a half hour to get in the store, it took almost an hour to get checked out. The boys didn't seem to mind though, games in hand a new friend to boot!

So not what I thought my 30's would be like by the way!





Now that the boys are in school, they are meeting friends on their own.

The boys got invited to their first school friend birthday party. Their friend Kalani had his 6th birthday at Chuck E Cheese. The boys gave him a super hero cape and a little notebook. Kalani used the new notebook and crayons to write the boys thank you notes. How cute is this? He got their hair right and everything!

A New Busy Station

Recently, we pulled out some goodies for the boys that we had bought years ago. One was a packet of wipe off crayons. I like them because Jaxon still does not get reign of markers (he's really impulsive), and the crayons are a bit more child friendly anyhow.

Our other find was a couple of giant laminated sheets of notebook paper. We had bought them at the dollar store long ago, and put them away for a rainy day.

So putting our two giant sheets of paper together with wipe off crayons, and three little boys, equaled about an hour of quiet time for us! Yay!



This one has lots of random words and names including the ever popular Jessica and another one of their friends, Kalani.



The next day, Lucas was writing while I was sewing. I heard him sounding words out and then he thought of his birthday. May 22. See how he sounded it out? M TNT 2

It is so cool to see them learn these things, a little bit at a time. No paper waste, keeps them quiet, and they learn. What more can I ask for?

ROXY!!!!

This cute, cuddly, little ball of non shedding fur, is starting to drive us a bit batty. She thinks she is a person. More specifically, she thinks she is a five year old human person. A fourth triplet, if you will.


This day, Roxy was caged long enough for me to drive the boys to school, and come straight home. Maybe 30 minutes at the most. All that black stuff all over the floor? that is the bottom to the cage. It used to look like a big black plastic cookie sheet. She shredded it so bad, it fit in a plastic bag. And her cage used to be next to the door on the left. She flipped it over in her crazy fit.


And this? I used to have blinds on my living room window. Used to. A moment of silence please for my pretty wooden blinds.


This was another 20-30 minute stretch of time. Roxy flipped her cage on this day as well, but did so in a way that gravity agreed with her and made her cage door pop open. Luckily the doggie door was closed (because she can escape the yard, you know), but unluckily for the blinds, they were in Roxy's way when she was trying to spot her boys. WHO WERE AT SCHOOL, ROXY!



Lastly, this is Roxy in her cage, flipped again. She is beating the crap out of our wall behind her, all that cage bumping and flipping is starting to show against the brown paint.


Don and I have since realized that her cage needs to be put upside down and secured with zip ties on one of the doors. With the bigger holes at the top, she can not fit her legs out to flip or move the cage. (Yet) We also have D-rings around the other cage door as reinforcement in case she does manage to flip it.

She is cute -luckily. And other than these damages above, we have had not a single complaint about her behavior. She tolerates the boys better than we do sometimes, and is so adorably social with others -dogs and humans included.

The boys feed her regularly without complaint, and play with her all the time. They help wear her down, and she does the same for them while giving them a fourth playmate. It is a win win for me, especially since Don generally does poop patrol. All I need to do is change her water a couple times a day.



Except on the days I had to clean up all my broken blinds. And clean up her shredded cage bottom. And then scrub the carpet where she bled a bit on it from her crazy moment. AND pick up the trash from the garbage can on the floor. And wash the windows and doors where her dirty paws and/or tongue dirty it all up...

But I still love her.

Mostly
How could I deny that cute face?

Something I love about you

I love that Wyatt takes every opportunity around a tree to see if he can swing from any of the branches. Tarzan style, y'all.

It doesn't matter if it is a palm tree limb near the jacuzzi at Nan's and Pops house. Or a baby tree at the dog park. If he can reach a branch, he will try to see if he can swing from it.



Cracks me up every time. I love that little monkey :)

A New Beginning

Today I went with my sister to her Dr appointment.

She was really nervous. I maybe was a little, but I was so loving her in this new stage of her life, my head couldn't fit anymore in it.

We got to hear her baby's heart beat. I heard the "whoosh, bu-bump, ba-bump" and saw the surprise on her face when she found out that was the baby's heart, not hers.

I am so stinking excited about this new little person joining our family. I love seeing my sister this happy. She has always been such a beautiful person inside and out, but it seems like she is finally seeing it too.

Good things are coming. I can't wait.

3 Boys = Real Life

This is picture of my three sweet boys. They were running carefree in the water, it was so hot out that day and we were at a car show. Over 100 degrees was just too hot for the boys to enjoy the car show, so Don and I gave up the show and let the boys have some down time.

I swear in the moments before taking this picture, I was looking at them in a perfectly ideal moment. I was thinking how big they have gotten, how stinking handsome they are getting, and how perfect the light was around them. I had to take this picture to capture the moment.



This picture on the other hand...





This picture was taken just the next day at Walmart. I was looking at the clearance table in the back (all red tag items was an additional 50% off, I couldn't NOT look!) to see if we "needed" anything and I hear Jaxon yell, "this is SO AWESOME!". I turn and look for the voice and see Jax's head sticking out the side of the ball cage. His brothers were quick to join him, moving balls out of their way so they could fit their ever growing bodies in there, too.

I admit, at first I was embarrassed. I mean, come on! They put themselves in a ball cage. I have never seen a kid do that before -and we go to Walmart every week!

And then I was a bit amazed that they hadn't thought of doing that before.

But then I was surprised that I actually felt bad for having to call them out when it was so obvious they were having such a good time. I think had I not been surrounded by about 30 other people at the clearance tables (damn clearance!) they would have had a few more minutes to play.

So two perfectly opposite pictures taken in just two days. Such different circumstances and feelings around each, but each perfectly demonstrate how every day brings something interesting to the table.

These boys keep us on our toes.

Virtually Friends

About 4 years ago, I found a blog kept by a mom of triplet boys. Her name is Wendi, and her blog cracked me up -seeing and reading all the escapades her little boys got into. We commented a bit on each others blogs for a while, and then slowly as technology changed, our friendship changed from the blogs, to myspace, and finally to facebook. Wendi seems very much like myself -finding humor in her day to day life with her boys- and I was excited when she told me her family was coming out to Vegas for the week.

Wendi invited us to her hotel for a swim. Meeting someone face to face for the first time is hard enough, let alone in your bathing suit, but I wasn't going to let modesty ruin the day. Floating around in the lazy river (where some kind people who were leaving gave the kiddos their rafts) and watching the boys have a blast in the wave pool was a perfect way to get to know Wendi and her family. The six boys got along even when they were concerned about getting their own turn on the rafts, and Wendi's family was just as fabulous as I thought they would be. It was a perfect afternoon with such fun people.

Thanks Wendi, for inviting us to join in on your day!

S'more fun for Everyone

About a month ago, a new street opened near our house. Maybe I should correct that- the street had always been there, but there was a train preventing us from getting to the other side. Right on the other side was a park. A great beautiful, fun park. It was about one mile from our house, but to get to it, we had to drive around the very very very long way -about 15 minutes total. Dang big ole train track about 3 feet up -impossible even for us with four wheelers (with three car seats inside) to get over.


Luckily, the city made a way for the residents to get through and now the park is about 3 minutes from our house. This park is part of the motivation program I have the boys on. Start riding your bike with only 2 wheels (not four) and we can ride our bikes to the park. I'll let you know if it works :)


So last weekend, we invited a few of our friends to the park for s'mores in the evening. It was super hot out -especially with a fantastic fire right in front of us -but we all managed to have a lot of fun. The kids all ran around like banshees, climbed the trees like monkeys, and ate marshmallows and hot apples treats like little piggies.


It was an awesome night, just like we thought it would be. We have a feeling these guys are going to be friends for a long, long time. I can't wait to see what the future brings us.

Something I love about you

Lucas knows what he wants. He generally can not be distracted or dissuaded from what he has in mind -which sometimes cracks me up at the same time it exasperates me.

On this particular day, I was helping Luke style his hair. Wanting to try something new, he said he wanted a curl in the front "like Superman's hair". And for once, I didn't even try to change his mind. Between it being what Lucas wanted, and having something to do with Superman, I knew there was no budging on this idea.



So Lucas got what he asked for. And I totally love that he even requested it.

Something I love about you

Don always drives when we are together. It is mostly a man thing, I guess, but it works well for us.

I love that if we pass by something I think is interesting on the way to where we are going- no matter where we are headed, what traffic is like or how much we are in a rush - he will turn the car around to see what I'm talking about.

It is not a huge deal in itself, I know. But the fact that a little detail that is interesting to me is important enough for him to stop what he is doing to look at it, speaks volumes about him and what he does for me. Without even thinking about it. He just does it. And I love it.


And I love him :)

Where's my free time?

So with school starting, I had plans of what I would do with my free time. The name of the game was basically productivity. A clean closet, a master bath that I would not be ashamed of for the first time in years, laundry caught up, cute stuff sewn, a clean house, daily blogging -I would finally have T-I-M-E TIME.

Then I realized school is only 2 and half hours a day. What?

Less than two hours after you count in the driving time.

So two hours. Hmm, well that is still more time than I had when I had ZERO and stuck in the car because preschool was too far to drive home from.

But you know what I find myself doing most days that the kids are in kindergarten? Catching up. Catching up on all the "stuff" that I fall behind on because of SCHOOL.

I have extra laundry now. The morning jobs I used to do don't get done in the morning because of homework time. And homework time is not my favorite time because it takes most of my strength to not bite their head off because seriously, haven't we already had this talk about writing the lowercase letter "a"? Remember, a circle? With a line next to it. Almost, yes. But let's make the circle start at the dotted line and go to the bottom line. and then make the line next to it. Great, now let's make your t's.

And that was just Wyatt, and only the letter a.

I figured they are just learning and will make mistakes and I was really cool with that. Then their teacher (who I love by the way) went and said to help correct their mistakes because "practice makes permanent". And damn, my practice makes perfect flew out the door and put the job of teaching at home right back into my lap.

So where was I? Oh, talking about my extra time now that the boys are in school. So mornings are shot because of homework time. When they go to school I get home and start to lean up the kitchen. Then get a bit hungry and make a lunch, which I can't sew with food around, so I end up "unwinding" for an hour in front of the computer which sucks the time out of my day. Maybe I will make our bed and then herd the dog up so I can trick her into her cage and pick up the boys on time.

Speaking of, I must go. My free time is over.

While I sew...

Last week I was trying to finish an order of capes, and the boys were determined not to let me. Emptying out the bank (loudly and slowly) was an all day event for Wyatt. He would empty some out, go find something else to do, and then come back and empty some more. Lucas would come in and check out my work and play with whatever scraps and pins he could find. Jaxon comes in and plays with his superheros, usually putting pins through their capes or finding another adventure for his heroes to endure.

Last weekend Don found a couple new things for the boys to do while Mommy sews so Mommy doesn't turn into a crazy woman.



Enter PBS.org
(btw, picture taken by Jaxon. I would have at least had the decency to move the box of Milk Duds, hah!)

Aside from the kids asking every other minute "Is it my turn yet?" or turning off the computer all together, it is a great plan. The kids learn on a kid safe website and they love learning the games.


State Quarters
Wyatt has a strange fascination with money. I am sure it is because everything he wants (toys, ice cream, and trips to Target) costs money. And since we don't have an endless supply of money, he gets told no a lot.

Generally Wyatt takes this giant water jug and empties out the spare change little by little. All over the floor. For hours on end. He examines each quarter, nickle, dime and occasional Chuckie Cheese coin. While I was sewing, he would bring me a newly discovered state quarter. All one hundred million of them. Don had heard Wyatt and decided to show him the correlation between the state quarters and where the states are on the map. GENIOUS!


Not only did Wyatt actually CARE (I had my doubts in the beginning, he also got the other kids involved for a bit -and gave me about 30 minutes of uninterrupted sewing time.

Fleece Fun /Puppy Love

While I sew, the boys suddenly find my personal space more exciting. They have a million questions, things they want to show me and arguments I need to settle. To get them to stay out of my head and out of trouble, I took a bunch of fleece and cut it into shapes. Circles, rectangle, squares, hearts, etc. As Wyatt played with the shapes I made some more obvious shapes like grass, a tree top, fish, sun, and such.


The picture above is both Jaxon and Luke's creation. Luke did the one at the top and he said it was him and his friend Jessica. But then Jaxon did the picture at the bottom (also him and Jessica). Jessica is a girl at school and she was all they talked about for the first two weeks. They still gasp when we drive by her and her babysitter on their way to school, but she has almost dropped out of most of home conversations.


So obviously they felt Jessica couldn't be in two pictures at once and Wyatt came and put all four of them in one picture.

I just asked them who was who in the picture and they are arguing over who is standing next to Jessica. I have to italicize her name, because that is exactly how they say it. Like her name is equal to their most prized possession. Not Jessica. It is Jessica.

And, just in case you are wondering, Jessica is the red one. According to Jaxon and Wyatt (who are standing next to me talking about who is who), Jaxon has the blue spiky hair (he just said, "I am next to Jessica because there is my spiky hair!") and Wyatt determined he is in green so he can be next to her, too..

And Wyatt just realized green person looks sad. And the heart is upside down. Wyatt is now sad because his dude is sad.

Aww, puppy love all drawn out in fleece shapes.

To the Dentist

For YEARS Don and I have been thinking it is time to take the boys to the dentist, but a few things have been holding us back. Mostly, all the horror stories we have heard. Teeth being pulled, cavities, scam centers where they diagnose more problems than necessary are just the tip of the ice burg. Even our last dentist (who we haven't seen since before the boys were born!) always seemed to come up with more charges for us each time we went in for a visit. Luckily a person on Don's route works at a dental office and told us to come try them out, and the timing was perfect since our dental insurance is about to dramatically change and cover less.


All three boys did a pretty great job. None were fans of the x-ray in the mouth stuff, but really gave it a try. I was with Lucas while Jaxon was getting his teeth cleaned, but I could hear Jax giggling while the hygienist was cleaning his mouth -he thought the cleaning tickled.


When the Dentist came in to exam, he gave all three boys thumbs up. No cavities or any other issues -which was a huge ($$$$) relief for us. Hopefully the next visit goes so well too, since I am sure by then the boys will be a bit more responsible for their own oral health.

Little boy-isms

The boys with their buddy Austin


There are so many times that the boys say things that make Don and I chuckle. Here are a few from just this weekend.

On our way to the dog swim Saturday, Lucas asked "Is there going to be people lifeguards or doggie lifeguards?

Yesterday we drove by aunt Leigha's house and saw her outside. As she ran in to get Alan out of the house, Jaxon watched her run and said, "Aunt Leigha runs just like Wonder Woman!"

Leigha is pretty newly expecting. Very exciting news for us all, and makes topic of conversation daily. One day after Lucas got the news, he walked up to Leigha, tapped her belly, and said, "Hey, I didn't know you were growing a baby in there!"

Wyatt and Don were cuddled up on the couch Sunday morning. Don was trying to keep the noise level down since everyone was not awake. Wyatt cuddled into Don and let out a duck sized fart -and without missing a beat- turned to Don and said, "You did that!"

Wyatt has a tendency for falling asleep in the car, and one evening it was too late for him to catch a cat nap. About 2 weeks ago on our way to grab dinner, we could tell he was nodding off. Trying to think of anything to say to keep him awake, we asked him about ordering monkey poo for dinner. Obviously, it worked and turned into a crazy car ride with all three saying such colorful ideas about what to order.

A few nights ago we went back to the same place to order dinner. As we pulled into the parking lot, the monkey poo conversation started again.

Of course of all the things they forget, monkey poo is not one of them.


And last, I have a picture that needs no words.