Happy Birthday, America!

Did you get to see great things this 4th of July?

We had a great time! We started with a cookout at my Dad’s, complete with popsicles and dressing up.

Then we watched fireworks with some friends from church. This was the triplets’ first time to see fireworks.

Lauren kept pointing out every single one that was purple (my favorite color). Drew said things like “This is the best thing I ever saw!” and “It’s magical.” Alyssa, the veteran, even exclaimed “This is better than I thought it would be.” Later, she grabbed Drew and hugged him and said, “This is the best night ever!” Meanwhile, Jack calmly sat in his chair, watching his siblings jump around all excited. When I asked him if he liked the fireworks, he calmly nodded yes and took it all in.

The next day, we continued our tradition of going to a local parade with some more great friends from church. There were lots of loud noises….

lots of candy…

and lots of love  - for our family, friends and fantastic nation.

We also stood and applauded for all the veterans in the parade – as appreciation for them making it possible for us to enjoy all this.

(We also had lots of laughs together; Dave especially enjoyed heckling his former students that were in the parade.)

How did we end our holiday weekend? Back at our church, actually, where more friends from church showed up unexpectedly. We stretched out and watched the local show there, since the night before was such a big hit.

Unfortunately, that’s where the fairytale ends, as we got the kids to bed 2 hours late again. We are paying now for all the lost sleep, but it was worth it. After all, how often do you get to see sights like these?

Hope you had a great 4th of July. We sure did and the kids are already asking when they get to go to the parade again and see fireworks.

God bless the greatest country on earth!

God bless,

Amanda

Monkeys and Giraffes No More

Can you believe it? Another school year has come to an end. That means some end of the year celebrations!

First, came the last day of the Bible study that the trio and I attend. They get to be in the Monkeys Class and I get to hang out with an amazing group of ladies in my own class.  The kids did another performance like they did last December. They didn’t dress up this time, but the boys got some more use out of their Easter duds and Lauren got to wear the same outfit Alyssa did for her last performance as a Monkey. It all worked out so that Dave could see their live performance, too.

They started off being very thrilled to recite the Pledge of Allegiance – to the “United States of the ‘Merica” as they call it.  See if you can spot the 2nd set of triplets up front as I pan to the left. [Click here if you can’t see the video.]

They also sang “Daniel in the Lions Den” (my favorite one to practice – love the “Roar roar!” [Click here if you can’t see the video.]

And, well, there were other videos. But I can’t put them on the internet. Let’s just say they include behaviors that would embarrass them for life!

And you remember Donuts with Daddy, right? Well, around Mother’s Day, I got to have Muffins with Mom at preschool. I was presented with 3 lovely necklaces that each of my kids had made for me. They each chose the pattern on the front and put their fingerprints on the back. (Watching them try to keep the surprise from me was probably my favorite part!) Jack liked his so much that he wore it himself for a while.

And finally at preschool, the trio celebrated the end of being in the Giraffe class. They had a celebration a slide show of the year and some cake (or fruit snacks if you are Jack and happen to be allergic to eggs). Grammy was able to join us as well.  They had a great time and we were so blessed to have fantastic teachers in both of their classes that they miss already!

Whew! I can’t believe that I made it to the end of their first year of preschool. It was a lot of work for me, too! But they really learned a lot this year, and we were so glad that we did!

Coming soon are details about Alyssa’s last days of kindergarten and some of our summer plans.

God bless,

Amanda

Go West, Young Man (Part I)

When I originally pictured how I would blog about our trip to Colorado last summer, I envisioned capturing the play by play action and  every detail in a multi-part post (especially for the kids’ sake). Well, 7 months after we have arrived home, I have finally conceded that’s not going to happen! It's been an overwhelming task to do justice to such an eventful week, and I just don’t have the time to write about it the way I would like to. So I’ll just have to settle for the highlights.

A little background, first. We headed out west to visit Dave's brother, Mike, his wife Laurie, and their kids Will and Paige. (They are otherwise known as Uncle Mike, Aunt Laurie, Cousin Will and Cousin Paige.) Grandma and Papo drove out there as well, and we met them about 5 hours into our trip. They were great to caravan with and helped us out in so many ways. We also stayed together in a hotel one night each way to break up the drive (and the kids loved the pool).

The kids were so excited and couldn’t wait to see all their family. In fact, when we dropped the van off for a tune up before our trip, Jack cried on the way home, because he thought that we were leaving then and there.

Round trip, we drove over 2500 miles in one week. To be honest, the kids did much better than we expected. Sure, they had their squirmy moments and near fights with kids at  a McDonald’s Playland, but really they did well considering all that we threw at them.

When we arrived, it was so great for all of us to be together and the drive out was immediately worth it. We hate that we live so far away and don’t get to spend more time together. I think the best part for me was getting to do those little every day things together. The kids were so cute eating together (the youngest 4 at a picnic table and Alyssa and Will in the big kid stools at the bar). It was fun to watch the girls play dress up and the boys wrestle. Alyssa and Will danced and held hands. Paige gave Papo a Curious George band aid for his boo boo. We got to see where Will goes to school and his favorite restaurant. And I got to hold my adorable niece, which she may be too big for the next time I see her!

Of course, we went to Rocky Mountain National Park, and it was so fun to see the wide eyes on our kids as they saw mountains for the first time (too bad they fell asleep for the most beautiful part). We saw elk, prairie dogs and played in the snow in June. We enjoyed Pearl Street and the toy store in Boulder. The guys golfed and the wives & kids went to Bounce Town. We got to see Laurie’s parents and introduce our 3 little guys to them. We played outside a lot and rode bikes, met the neighbors and even went to a cookout with them. To top it all off, we had perfect, gorgeous weather.

When it was time to go, the kids gave each other the most adorable hugs. We missed them so much, we seriously talked about driving out again at Christmas Break (didn’t work out, though). We really had a great time, and I made a slideshow a while back that I would like to share with you. Enjoy.

(Click here if you can’t see the video.)

Stay tuned for Part II, including our favorite quotes, what we learned, and some movie clips!

God bless,

Amanda

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

Breakfast with Santa

Today was our church's annual Breakfast with Santa, and we had a great time! They made an awesome breakfast (donated by Steak & Shake, too!) and had lost of festive decorations everywhere. The kids did pretty well getting a picture taken with Santa (although the boys weren't too sure about him, so we jumped in, too). They loved the stocking full of goodies that they received afterwards and looking at all the gingerbread houses. I think their favorite thing was the balloon animals, though. Not only did they get dogs, but leashes to walk them on, too. When Lauren's balloon broke, she got a flower. And, it's surprising more didn't break after the leashes were transformed into swords. We were also blessed to catch up with some old friends, too.

As you have come to expect from me, here are some pictures of the action. (I hope to get more up on Facebook, soon.)

It gets us in the mood for Christmas every time.

Hope you are enjoying the festivities of the season, too!

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

The Graduation

Well, time sure has flown, and it's hard to believe, but we have attended the first graduation ceremony for our kids. That's right. Alyssa graduated from preschool yesterday! They made cute little felt hats for the kids and everything. Dave was able to sneak away from work for a bit, and I packed up the trio and off we went to celebrate.

They had a nice little party planned. First, all the classes gathered for a slideshow from the year. Ah yes, The Haircut came back to haunt me in those pictures. Someone even made a comment about how short Alyssa's hair was back then!

Next it was off to get cake and juice. The trio was very excited about this and couldn't believe they were actually eating cake during the day (well, except for Jack who had to  have fruit snacks, poor allergy-ridden guy). They were actually well behaved enough to deserve their treat, too!

Then the celebration finished with a certificate and Bible presentation. I'm not sure Alyssa completely understands what it means to graduate, but she liked getting her Bible and playing with her friends afterwards. She had a great year this year and really seemed to enjoy herself. She absolutely loved  her teachers to death, and she will miss her friends, too.

 

It's hard to believe in a few short months she will be going off to kindergarten! I'm sure I'll need the blog to vent some emotion about that day!

God bless,

Amanda

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

Aunt Jill & Uncle Mo Visit

Those of you who have been following me on Twitter, know that Aunt Jill and Uncle Mo came for a visit a few weeks ago. We haven't seen them since Christmas of 2007! We had a great visit, and I have been trying to figure out how I want to capture it on the blog. I thought to myself, would it be mean to post pictures of people who had just been flying for over half a day or had just run 13 miles? I hope not. I think they look great, anyway. Hopefully, everyone will be ok with the slideshow I put together, as this is pretty much the pictures I have. Most of the visit, I took some time to relax and enjoy myself instead of being the photographer.

We had a busy long weekend together, which started off with the kids making signs for greeting our guests at the airport. They really enjoyed it, and it was great to kill an hour or so, while we anxiously awaited their arrival. After our happy reunion, we had a great dinner at a family favorite Italian restaurant (thanks, Dad!). We had the sunroom on the side all to ourselves, which worked out perfectly. The kids seem to really enjoy their spaghetti (messy but kept them busy), and the adults got to catch up.

The next day was pretty relaxed. Lots of errands were run, and we stayed inside a lot as it was a drizzly day. Alyssa was excited to skip her nap and get to run errands with Aunt Jill, though. She loved her neon orange nail polish that she got as a treat for being so good during the outing, too.

That brought us to Saturday, when we all got up bright and early for the big races. Dave did the 5K and Jill and Mo completed the half marathon. Since I missed Dave finishing his last 5K by about 2 minutes, I was bound and determined not to miss this one. The kids and I were out the door by 7:30am - a new family record! The choo choo was invaluable to get the kids there and occupied while we waited to see Dave finish his race first. It was also a very odd feeling as several total strangers took pictures of the kids in the choo choo. We actually did get to see Dave as he finished, although the picture isn't so great (look for the guy in the red shirt on the right side of the street). Then met up with Dave and our friend Scott, who also finished the race. It was so nice to have help, too! We had a little bit of lag time to kill, but ended up seeing Aunt Jill finish, too. (We feel badly that we missed Uncle Mo in the crowd.) Here are my spectacular pictures of her finishing. (She is the one with the black shorts and the green shirt.)

Yep, that's what happens when you have a new camera and don't know how to take pictures with it. I think you can see about 1/5 of her body behind the guy in the brown shirt.

After some rest and relaxation, we went out to dinner that night for my Mom's birthday. I don't know how long it's been since she has gotten to celebrate with both of her kids. We had a nice time, especially with the added entertainment of the high school kids there for Prom. Alyssa picked out her favorite dress, and the boys thought one girl with most of her back exposed was "naked baby." (That's what we say when we strip the kids down for bath time.)

Sunday night, my mom hosted an awesome Open House for Jill and Mo. She went all out on the Hawaiian theme, and everyone had a great time. I thought I would take tons of pictures there, but instead I enjoyed getting caught up with old friends. After the party was over, though, we took some good family shots and some goofy ones as well. I think those pictures turned out to be the last ones of Huxley, too.

So here's the slideshow that I put together to commemorate the event. Even though the pictures are of more than just my sister, I just had to use this song. Jill sent it to me out of the blue one day, and it made me cry my eyes out. It's ironic that it is sung by Reba McEntire, too. One summer during college, my sister and I both worked at Bob Evans. Every Thursday, a group of guys would come in and say, "Hey Reba, how are you doing?" because they swore I looked just like her. I don't see it, though. One other thing before I stop babbling about the slideshow - keep your eyes open for the modern day American Gothic snapshots and enjoy the vintage ones of my and my sister at the end. Enjoy!

God bless,

Amanda

Florida Wedding

Hi everyone, Dave here...

Alyssa and I had the pleasure to travel down to Orlando for my cousin's wedding in March. We had a great time there, and it was fun to watch Alyssa travel on an airplane for the first time since she was a baby. If it were up to Alyssa, she probably would've packed for the trip a week or two before we actually left, unlike her dad, who waits til the last minute and packs everything under 5 minutes flat. We were fortunate to fly down to Orlando with Grandma and Papo (my parents), and we all enjoyed watching Alyssa get so excited. Even though we parked in what seemed to be about 50 miles from the airport in the economy lot, the shuttle got us to the airport in one piece.

 

A few days before we left, Alyssa had to go to the BMV to get an ID card to travel, and she thought she was hot stuff with it. She had her backpack with wheels carry on with some books and other things to preoccupy her (thanks Grammy!), and I had a few Sports illustrated magazines to read (March Madness time!), so all was going well, until...

"Do as I say, not as I do" should be a motto for me in terms of giving out parenting advice. I did two "no-no's" on the airplane with Alyssa. The first thing I did was tell her that when we take off in the airplane to go up in the sky, her ears may pop and it could hurt. Alyssa already has big, green eyes, but when I said the words "pop", "hurt", and "ears", her eyes bulged out with panic, and she began to whimper. I taught her how to hold your nose and blow to make her ears feel better, so she proceeded to practice this for about 15 minutes straight while we were on the runway. You're probably thinking, "just give her some gum" right? Well, Alyssa seems to swallow gum after about 20 seconds, so I got her some fruit snacks. But, I forgot to tell her to wait and eat it while we were ascending in the airplane. So, I'm sitting in my seat reading an article in SI, and I look over and see Alyssa devouring a huge bag of fruit snacks while we're parked. Thankfully, her ears didn't "pop", and according to Alyssa, she said they just felt a little weird.

The second no-no was a bathroom incident with Alyssa. First off, the bathroom is a perfect size for only one 5 year old. But, she was a little nervous going by herself, so I went with her. So, what did wise daddy tell his little princess? "Alyssa, make sure you flush the toilet (you need earplugs for those toilet flushings!), or else you'll get sucked out of the airplane, and you'll have to flap your arms really fast to meet us in Orlando." Yes, I did say that, and yes, Alyssa's eyes bulged out again, and yes, I have a tendency to joke around way too much with my family. After she realized she wasn't going to get sucked out of the plane, she felt more comfortable going potty on the plane.

We finally made it to Orlando, and we had a wonderful time. My brother, Mike, and his family also flew down, so it was great seeing all of them, too. We all wish Amanda and the triplets could have come, but there was just no way it could have worked. Had the triplets come, I'm fairly certain they would've knocked over the wedding cake, screamed during the vows, picked a fight with some other 2 year olds, ran on the dance floor screaming during the first dance between the bride and groom, and Florida would've categorized them as a Category 4 hurricane. Before you start feeling sorry for Amanda, please know that she's going out to Hawaii this summer for about a week ALL BY HERSELF!!!! Pray for my kids during that week! :-) My brother Mike's two kids, Will (4) and Paige (almost 2), along with Alyssa, danced the night away on the dance floor. All three of them danced and danced and danced, and it was awesome to see them get along so well.

 

The day after the wedding, we all went to SeaWorld, where we saw sharks, manatees, alligators, and of course, Shamu. That was an exhausting day, but we loved it. Before we left, my Uncle Bob and I got in line for the big roller coaster. We waited in line a few extra minutes just to get to the front, and man, was it awesome! I hadn't been on a rollercoaster for years, and I loved it! Alyssa, Papo, and Grandma also went on a kiddy rollercoaster ride and loved it.

One of the best parts of the trips was after we returned home. We got off the plane and walked towards the baggage claim, and we got to see Amanda, the triplets, and Grandpa waiting for us. Seeing their smiling faces just made my day! That's it for now. Until next time...

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/

Daddy Daughter Dance

 

Right now, Dave, Lauren and Alyssa are at a Daddy/Daughter Dance together, in honor of Valentine's Day. They looked so cute leaving together, and I'm not even jealous that my husband is on a date with two beautiful girls. Alyssa and Lauren were so excited and talking about it all day. They couldn't wait to put on their dresses that were "pretty and beautiful." They had so much fun getting ready and were twirling around in their dresses that made them feel like princesses. We even survived a major tragedy, when the purple ponytail holder that Alyssa had carefully selected broke.

At the dance, they are supposed to have a snack, craft, and, of course, dance. Alyssa told me that she felt like they were going to have cake there. I didn't even tell her about the snack, so I'm not sure where that came from. But I can't wait to hear about how it went. I can just see the girls spinning around with their ballet moves, while Dave does his Axl Rose dance with them. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall! At least I got some pictures before they left.

 

God bless,

Amanda

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