A Day to Remember

Yesterday was quite a day at our house. First, Alyssa started things off by being the special helper of the day at school. She was pretty pumped and couldn't wait to hop on the bus and go fulfill her duties.

Then, the other 4 of us were off to our last Bible study meeting of the year. Every year, they do a cute Christmas program with the kids on the last day. So, we practiced the songs on the drive there, and they seemed to be looking forward to the big show. The teachers dress all the kids up like angels, by giving them tinsel halos and putting on men's white dress shirts backwards. It looks so cute! They did pretty well and didn't seem to be nervous at all for their big stage debut.

They sang 4 songs. I hope you don't mind me sharing videos of all of them, but there is so much to watch in each one, I couldn't narrow it down!

First up is "Happy Christmas Time." I love watching Jack do his motions for the song in this one. The kids look confused halfway through, because the parents started clapping before the song was over. You can also hear all the cameras clicking around me.

Next up is: "Go Tell It On the Mountain". See if you can tell from this clip which of the triplets was the squirmiest in the womb. I love the look on Drew's face, too.

Then they sang "My God is So Great." I love to watch Lauren on this video. She is so emphatic with her pointing.

And they finished with the tradition of singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. My favorite part is watching them bow and clap at the end.

And as if that wasn't excitement enough for the day, Alyssa was finally ready to give her first tooth to the Tooth Fairy. So she wrote a note, got a note back, money changed hands, and everyone was happy. OK, I was pretty worn out by then, but all in a day's work, right?

God bless,

Amanda

Our 3 are 3

Yep, sign me up for blogger of the year. This happened 2 months ago. It has been insanely busy here and the blogging has just had to wait. But even two months later, it's hard to believe my babies are 3!

We didn't plan it this way, but Lauren, Drew and Jack got to celebrate their birthday 4 different times. We were in the 'Ville on their actual birthday, and a good friend of the family, Peggy, was sweet enough to get cupcakes (or a cup full of fruit snacks in Jack's case) to celebrate. We ended up having to move the date of the birthday party at our house (due to Alyssa having a classmate's birthday party on the same day). So, Grandma and Papo couldn't make it then, so they got to celebrate while I was in Hawaii. Grandpa also decided to hold back his presents, to spread out the fun. So Labor Day weekend, they got to open more presents. So in a way, I guess their birthday kind of did last a couple of months.

For the party at our house, we went with a "3" theme, since our 3 are 3 after all. I decorated in 3's, such as a sign that said "Happy Birthday" 3 times, and put balloons up in groups of 3.

The table centerpiece had 3 favorite things from Lauren, 3 from Drew and 3 from Jack.

 

For our menu, we had an appetizer of 3 cheese artichoke dip with 3 sided triscuits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

3 sided hamburgers (or 3 dimensional, if you prefer). with 3 sided cheese. (Yeah, I know, it didn't turn out so well.)

We had 3 sided watermelon

and salad with 3 cheese dressing. 

We were going to make 3 sided potato wedges, but we had ABC fries instead (get it? 3 letters. It's a stretch - I know). But the guests of honor do prefer fries much more, and that's what's important, right?

I also attempted to make a 3 sided cake (yea, put my cake maker award next to my blogger award). Because I have to make it without eggs, it's more crumbly and it almost didn't hold the three "3" candles. 

After dinner, we opened presents. Guess how many presents we got each of them? Yep, 3. Then we had cake, and finished up with 3 person races (they were supposed to be 3-legged, but you have to be flexible!). I just viewed the video footage as I was working on this blog entry. Judges, I have to ask, did the gentlemen win this race according to the rules?

Yes, things can get pretty competitive in this house. I may not be the best blogger, cake maker or 3 person racer, but I think my family is the best! Enjoy some more pictures from the day.

Happy Birthday, Lauren! Happy Birthday, Drew! Happy Birthday, Jack! We love you so much, and our lives would never be the same without you. Congrats on surviving 3 years in this crazy family.

God bless,

Amanda

Alyssa's 5th Birthday Party

This year, we decided in the fall that we were going to delay having Alyssa's birthday party. She really wanted to invite some of her preschool friends and neighbors, and we thought more people would come if we had it in January, instead of around her birthday which is December 15th.

So a couple of weeks ago, we headed over to a local gymnastics place and had a great time and made lots of fun memories. After being cooped up with the cold weather, it was so great for the kids to run and jump around. We were cracking up as their hair stood on end from the static electricity from the bounce house. We also had to laugh as the parachute lifted Lauren and Jack off the floor at one point while they were playing games with it. And last but not least, one of our dear friends was taking a picture and ended up taking an unexpected plunge into the foam pit. Needless to say, it was a very entertaining time.

We want to say a big thanks to the grandparents and adult helpers for giving us a hand to pull this off. We also want to show our appreciation to our neighbor, Dave, who did a fantastic job taking most of the pictures you'll see in a second. I hope this slideshow makes you feel like you were there!

(If you have trouble viewing this slideshow, click here.)

I still can't believe that my baby is 5! Kindergarten sign up is in a month!!! Unbelievable! That's even more of a reason to stop and savor moments like these.

God bless,

Amanda

PS Did I mention how much I loved not worrying about cleaning the house for this year's party?!

http://four-and-no-more.blogspot.com/

Happy Birthday, Alyssa!

To my precious little Sweet Pea-

I can't believe that you were born 5 years ago today. How did my sweet little baby grow up into a young lady so quickly? We've had so many good times - just the two of us. I remember thinking how fun it was to take you to work with me when I was pregnant with you. I would sit in meetings and play a little game with you where you would try to find my hand and hit it. You have enjoyed having fun and playing games ever since.

These last few years, we have thrown a lot of changes at you, but you have handled it all like a champ. I can't think of anyone who could be a better big sister to your babies. Even today, I was touched by how you gave Lauren a gift on your special day.

I love how God made you with such a tender, caring heart. When we told you that we were going to buy some Christmas gifts for people that couldn't afford them, you immediately volunteered the money from your piggy bank. And even today when we asked what dessert you would like to have to celebrate, you chose fruit snacks, so your siblings wouldn't feel left out with all of their food allergies.

But along with being sweet, you are lots of fun, too. You have a great sense of humor, and I laugh every time we play our "I love you more than...." game. I love to watch you make up your new dances and I never know when you are going to lay a new phrase on me, like "Oh no he di 'ent."

But most of all, I am so happy to see how much you love God. I love that you make presents for God and Jesus and how you can't wait to see them in heaven and give them a big hug. As hard as I try, I have to admit that I will fail you sometimes. But God will always be there for you, no matter what.

I thank God for the privilege of getting to be your mom. I wish I could fully explain to you how badly I wanted you in my life. You have been such a joy and blessing, and so worth the wait we went through to get to be your parents. You are more precious than I ever could have imagined. Thanks for being such a wonderful daughter. I'm so proud of you.

Love always,

Mama

 

The Grand Opening Day

The sandbox has been an ongoing effort at our house for many months and a long time coming. (Hey, it took me 6 weeks to take down our Easter decorations. You wouldn't expect anything different from us, would you?)

Last fall, I started shopping online for some sandboxes. I found some that I liked, but by the time I got around to selecting one and actually paying for it, they were gone.

At Christmas, Grandpa (my Dad) told the kids he would make them a sandbox for next summer. He finished it in May. It is a whopping 4' X 8' - exactly double the size of the sandbox he made for my sister and I when we were growing up. It has the same corner seats and everything!

Then Grammy stained it with Alyssa's help. (Ignore the junky garage in the background.)

Lucy donated the tarp (can you tell she's an Illini fan?).

Catherine (also known as Caferin) helped Dave put it on. They also propped the sandbox up on some pavers, so that, hopefully, it won't become worm-invested like our last one.

Barry and Trish (affectionately known as Miss Tush) did a Sunday morning drive-by and dropped off sand for us. Uncle Tom donated to the sand fund, too!

Finally, the day after the big birthday party (where they got some new sandbox toys), Dave poured in all the sand and let them at it. It went much better than Alyssa's first experience in the sandbox when she was 17 months old.

 

We finished the day off with letting the kids eat the rest of those yummy cupcakes. I didn't really get to watch them much in the craziness of the big birthday party, so it was fun to watch them devour them the second time around. I loved Lauren with the hill billy teeth from her cupcake. The kids had fun playing with their new toys, especially the giraffe tunnel. Then they were so cute at bedtime, I just had to snap some pictures. It is rare that they all sit next to each other like that. They are usually trying to cover as many square feet as they can before bedtime. They also played this little game where they pretend to sleep and then they "wake up!" Lauren also asked me the next day to take a picture of her for the first time, as she was carrying her new stylish purse. All the 2 year olds are wearing them, I hear.

Enjoy the pictures. Thanks to everyone who contributed to making all of this come together!

 

 

God bless,

Amanda

PS Thanks to everyone for all your encouraging notes about me being "Back to Work". I really meant to come off as sarcastic instead of poor me. It's good to know that I have friends like you who care and know what it's like not to like your job every day.

Our Three Are Two

Well, since I have 3 baby books that have not had a drop of ink touch them yet (you would think I could at least find the time to write their names in them!), I thought I better record some of the events of Lauren, Drew and Jack's 2nd birthday party. Otherwise, I don't think anything will be recorded anytime, anywhere, any place.

The party kept getting moved back due to illness, so throughout the week, we kept saying "Happy Birthday" to the little kids. I don't think they understood what it meant. Lauren would respond with "Happy tutu, Mommy." Drew's reply was "Hap Bird Day, Momma" And Jack would say "Hop Birt Day, Mama." It was so cute to hear in their little 2-year old voices. I wonder if they thought it was everyone else's birthday, too, since the 3 of them were all born on that day. We let Alyssa blow out a candle, too, so she wouldn't feel left out. That probably confused things even more.

We have just now (in the last few days) gotten the kids to the point where they say "Two!" instead of "One!" when we ask them how old they are. But now they hold up one finger while they say "Two." (I guess that's faster progress than the almost year it took to teach them that a dog says "woof woof" not "quack quack.")

One other thing I meant to tell you about when we went to the 'Ville, was Lauren's birthday party dress. Our friends Mark and Julie had gotten it for her a while ago, and I thought it was such a neat idea. On the bow there is a snap where you can change out the number (1 or 2) to show how old they are. It also came with a heart that you can put on if it's not your birthday. So Lauren got to show off to everyone that she was two (see the sideways yellow 2 on the red bow below).

Before we ate, we let the kids color on the kitchen table. My mom first taped down a big piece of paper and got these awesome crayons that are triangular instead of round, so they don't roll off the table. It worked out really well, especially since the kids didn't have to hold their paper down to keep it from getting away from them. I think the adults had fun coloring, too! It was like we were in a restaurant waiting for our food. (We will definitely be trying this again during the long days of winter.)

All the food allergies that the kids have definitely kept things interesting. See this? It looks like an ordinary cupcake, right?

Well, it turns out that it is a gluten-free, nut-free, dairy-free, strawberry-free, egg-free, fish-free, everything-but-the-kitchen-sink-free cupcake made with egg substitute. The front of the box for the mix was more about what wasn't in it than what was in it! Actually, it wasn't too bad, except for a slight aftertaste. When I was making them, they were originally vanilla, but everything is always better with chocolate in it, right? (As luck would have it, I had some leftover dairy-free cocoa from my low iodine diet days.) I learned a valuable lesson while making these. Don't ever, ever taste the batter from such a creation. Something happens during the baking process (thank goodness), and it tastes much better once it has been cooked. I also found some chocolate chip cookie dough soy ice cream (nut, egg and dairy-free also) to go with it. I know you are drooling at the thought of it! Sorry I couldn't invite all of you over, but we have some ice cream left if you want to try it. Dave also made the kids pizza from a special gluten-free dough mix and just left the cheese off. It turned out to be quite a production, but the birthday kids seemed to like it. They even said, "pizza" when they saw it. I didn't even know they knew what pizza was!

I'm sure as the kids get older, it will be tough to find a "theme" that works for both boys and girls. My mom was in charge of decorations, and went with the Dora and Diego fiesta theme, which worked out great (especially since big sister is such a fan of them, too). She also got a piñata in the shape of a number 2. But what do you stuff it with when your kids can't eat most candy? Well, my mom did find some gummy worms (which you can see them eating in the slideshow below. Be sure to look for the one with Jack where he has chocolate cupcake smeared behind his ear while eating a gummy worm). That was their first time trying them, and they loved them! She also found some little balls (that's all that Drew needs to be happy). We topped it off with a few other things like dried cranberries and blueberries and some bubbles. You should have seen the look on Drew's face when we actually told him he could hit something. He couldn't believe it. As it turned out, the little kids couldn't hit the piñata hard enough to break it open with the plastic bat we gave them. But it's not like we were going to give them something harder to hit it with! They also tried just hitting it with their hands, but that didn't work either. So we called in the big kids and they got the show on the road (or the piñata on the ground, as it was). Here's a glimpse of some of the action for you.

 

We had fun opening the presents in the backyard and making a mess all over the place. It was kind of crazy, and made me realize that Christmas is going to be insane this year if we don't come up with a plan of attack (I don't think opening presents outside will work then). Even though this year's party was nothing like last year's volunteer appreciation gathering (we had about 100 people there), I still was exhausted after it was all over. But I think everyone had a great time, and it was fun to celebrate our 3 special kids: Lauren, Drew and Jack. We deserve to celebrate making it two years, too, right?

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes, cards, emails and gifts to the kids. I save all the cards and print out the emails, and I will definitely show them to them someday. (Maybe I'll even get wild and crazy and put them in their baby book.) We appreciate your thoughtfulness to include Alyssa, too, and she walked away with quite a stash. Thanks, also, to our neighbors Dave, Linda, Anna, Joe, and Schylar for coming over to celebrate with Grandpa, Grammy, Huxley and us!

 

 

God bless,

Amanda

ADVENTURES IN THE 'VILLE

Hi everyone, Dave here.

We're on the road again, heading back home after a busy and fun weekend with Grandma and Papo (my parents). We're about 20 minutes from their house, and Amanda (who's driving) tells me (who's writing this blog entry) "Look at Jack's eye!" I turn around and his eye looks like Rocky Balboa's eye after fighting Apollo Creed 15 rounds in the first Rocky. Who on Earth knows why his eye got all puffy like that, but seeing that he's allergic to about everything under the sun, he probably scratched his eye with something on his hand. (He already had the cut on his lip, but it fits the look, doesn't it?)

Let's back up a couple of days to Friday shall we? We got on the road fairly early, and we were making great time. Because "the trips" were doing so well (especially after their little cell phone surprises were unveiled - Jack even got his out of the wrapper himself), we kept on driving instead of stopping earlier. The drive normally takes about 3 1/2 to 4 hours, and we were about 30 minutes away when the kids finally let us know that a stop was needed. We pulled over to a Burger King because it has an indoor play area, and Amanda took Alyssa in to the bathroom. Meanwhile, I stayed in the van with the little kids, while they were still strapped in, and low and behold, a siren (an emergency weather alert one?) starts blaring so loudly that the kids were scared and crying by the time Amanda and Alyssa got back to the van. Then we found out that Drew was wet all over from pee and Lauren had diarrhea. So I got them cleaned up, then it was off to eat and play. After a good break, we left BK and finished our drive to the 'Ville.

Papo was waiting out in the front yard for us as we pulled into their driveway. We visited with Papo and Grandma for awhile, and then we all headed out to some friends of Grandma's (Peggy and John's) for a swim and supper. We had a great time there, and Amanda and I even played a "Wie" for the first time. Lauren gave us a scare when she climbed up the slide all by herself without a life jacket on. Yep, she was fearless going down it, too. Lauren and Alyssa were also treated to their first rose, courtesy of Peg's garden. The only downside of the night was that Jack had a serious bout of diarrhea, but thankfully, he was wearing a swim diaper which kept it all in. Unfortunately, it was like a ticking time bomb, because by the time I changed him, his "mess" went all over his legs, feet, ankles, my hands, etc...

Needless to say, the poopy incidents must have been on everyone's minds, because yesterday, Alyssa began talking to "strangers" (at the party my parents threw for the triplets' birthday) about poop. After telling them about objects that looked like poop 3-4 times (we did watch a bit of Caddyshack that day), I told her to talk about something else.

For the party Amanda dressed the kids up nicely for all the guests to see, and as parents, we wanted to "show off" our kids to everyone. So, it came as quite a surprise when little Jack walked out from the kitchen holding a cold Budweiser can in his hand! He had gotten a sip from an empty can first, and reached for this unopened can to go for more. I had to trade it for a sippy cup of soy milk, but it was pretty funny to see.

Drew had his moment at the party... (Breaking news- Drew just barfed all over himself in the minivan, so we just stopped to mop him up and change him. There's nothing like looking back at a strapped in toddler and seeing him turn into a barf faucet. That would be his 3rd time today for throwing up.)

Drew looking pale in the van.

Back to Drew's moment at the party... My parents bought a couple of fruit trays, and in the middle of the trays are little cups of fruit dip. Apparently, he decided that a spoon wasn't necessary to stir the fruit dip. Instead, he just used his finger to give it a good stir as people watched.

After everyone had left, my mom bought some birthday cookies for the kids. These weren't just any cookies, they were gluten, dairy and egg free and she went to a lot of trouble to get them! We placed a candle in the middle of them. (Yes, we lit a candle for each of our triplets. Crazy, huh?) We lit them and sang Happy Birthday to each of our kids, but Jack was trying to figure out what the candle was all about. After telling him "no touch!" he obviously stuck his finger on the flame and found out the meaning of extreme heat. After all of that, it seemed like the kids were more interested in playing with the wrapper than eating the cookies.

 

Backing up to before the party, we took the kids to a nearby mall. They had a nice play area where we let the kids play. Jack, being the daredevil he is, for some reason decided to climb on a slide in the shape of an ambulance. It was kind of appropriate that it was an ambulance, since Jack decided to do a backflip off of it. Thankfully, he landed "safely" with much tears and screaming, and there's nothing like having other parents look at you like you stink at parenting, but oh well. We had lunch there, too, and one person asked about the triplets and called Lauren "the runt of the litter." We also got to ride the carousel, and the kids loved that and getting a tiger stamp on their hands afterwards.

We also had many teddy bear moments at Grandma and Papo's. Lauren's teddy bear (that she sleeps with every night) got left at John and Peggy's house, so Grandma and Papo had to make a trip back to get it. Then this morning, Papo put all the teddy bears on the fan, and turned it on and watched them fly off. The kids thought that was hilarious. And before we left, we are pretty sure that Jack put his teddy bear in the toilet. I guess he thought it needed a bath.

Needless to say, our weekend was jam packed, and as we travel back home, I'm sure some more "moments" will take place (like right before we left when Jack threw a glass bowl on the tile floor). I'm going to shut down this computer before more Drew projectiles get thrown my way. More pictures are below.

Take care,

Dave

 

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Today we continued our quality time with family extravaganza, and headed to my cousin Kristin's beautiful house, to celebrate my Grandma's birthday.

The first order of business was to get a picture of Grandma with all 9 of her great-grandchildren, ages (almost) 5 years to 3 weeks old.

And, of course, it wouldn't be a birthday without cake or cupcakes. The cupcakes were perfect for all the kiddos!

  Grandma blowing out her candle. She is wise beyond her 1 year!

 

 

Grandma, Alyssa & I

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brooke, Carolyn and Jackson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Luke, Fran, and Grant

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blake, Kristin, and Grant (sorry I didn't take a better picture)

 

 

 

 

The kids had a great time with a house full of new toys. One big hit with our kids was the Incredible Hulk gloves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed watching the cousins play and have a great time together. It was nice for the adults to get to talk a little bit, too!

 

 

Blake, Olivia and Alyssa (all born within 5 months)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dave (the token male) trying to put one of Grandma's gifts back together.

 

 

 

So as you can see, we had a fun celebration of Grandma's birthday. We would also like to thank all of Alyssa's cousins for wearing her out.

 

 

 

 

Alyssa on the drive home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

God bless,

Amanda

2 Stories

Here are two stories we shared with our partygoers at the triplets' first birthday party. Enjoy.

PERSPECTIVE
A new mom, awake every three hours at night with her first baby, thought she had her hands full - and she did. Then she met...

A new mom of twins, exhausted from being awake doing double duty while trying to master the art of feeding two at the same time, thought she had her hands full - and she did. Then she met...

A new mom of triplets, learning to juggle three babies with only two arms, while dealing with intense sleep-deprivation, thought she had her hands full - and she did. Then she met...

A mom of a new set of triplets who had a toddler still in diapers and several school aged children, spreading herself in many different directions at once, while dealing with intense sleep deprivation, thought she had her hands full - and she did. Then she learned of...

A mom of who just gave birth to her second set of triplets within two years, still changing diapers of a trio of toddlers, while dealing with sleep-deprivation, with a bigger life change than she could ever have imagined, thought she had her hands full - and she did. Then she saw the program about...

A mom who just gave birth to her 16th child, adding to her 15 children all under the age of 18, juggling so many different tasks to keep her busy family cared for, thought she had her hands full - and she did....

Each of the moms thought they had their hands full, and then they met... a woman who would never know the joy of carrying, giving birth to and nurturing her very own baby, and each of those moms were glad they had their hands full.

Perspective is everything.

FUNNY STORY

In a maternity waiting room, three expectant fathers waited nervously. Finally, a nurse came out and called for Mr. Smith. "Congratulations," she said, "you've just had twins!" Mr. Smith was surprised, and remarked how unusual, as he'd just taken a job working for the Minnesota Twins.

After an hour or so of pacing, the nurse came out for Mr. Jones. "Congratulations," she said, "you've just had triplets!" "What a coincidence," he said, "I've just taken a job at Triple A, how odd."

At this point, the third man jumps up and runs screaming out of the waiting area, "I work at 7-11!"

This was copied and edited from our original website on Babysites.