Texas Triple

The little tea party in Texas

2011-11-28T16:59:00.001-06:00

While generally everything is bigger in Texas...today we had a very small sized tea party.

This is the cup and my thumb.

Because of the size of the pot and cups, the kids did all the pouring of the tea or in our case pink lemonade. They loved pouring and drinking. Marlee is a bit of a neat freak...so she was always wiping up the spills.

(Beau is extremely sensitive to sunlight and requested sunglasses for the setting sunlight. And it makes him look more manly for his sister's tea party.)

HGTV - Curb Appeal the Block

2011-11-27T21:30:00.001-06:00

I'm returning to blogging to share about our upcoming and exciting adventure with HGTV's Curb Appeal the Block. My neighbors and I submitted a video for a contest to win a Curb Appeal Make-over for our block. You can see the video my super creative neighbor put together...

We were told we were finalist and they were coming to tape on Saturday morning at 8:00am. We thought they'd be here for a few hours to do basic interviews and then get to back us. When they arrived, we went over the schedule for the day and they planned interviews until 1:00pm. After an hour and a half of interviews, they asked 'One factor we use to select our winners is how excited they get when we announce they have won. Show how you would act?' Knowing that I'm generally the over the top loud and crazy one...I did just that. (So I'm not looking forward to watching myself during that part of the show.) As we were fake jumping and screaming, John Gidding, the host of the show drives up and announces that we are winners. SHOCKED! Seriously in a nationwide contest...we were chosen.

About that time the other neighbors started to figure out what was going on...and came out to get pictures. (They knew we had entered and were being taped for finalist.)

This is the crew heading to my house to talk about our upcoming make-over...

John is making fun the size of my little tree that I planted...trees grow, right?

Amy (in green), Amanda (in black), me and John walking back to my neighbors end of the block.

Amy and Amanda live next door to each other.

The whole film crew...

This contest was in association with Rachael Ray...this was us taping for her show and waving to her.

John and Sam talking about the plans for our house...with Beau too.

HGTV says they picked us because of our outstanding sense of community. If you talk to me often...then you'll hear me talk about my neighbors. They are awesome! We play pokeno together, we have a playgroup, we do things in the community together, we cook for each other...and just generally care for each other. I'm so glad to have good friends to share in this experience. Moving to this neighborhood was an answer to prayer. We moved after the babies were born and they have been so accepting of my family...when I needed good mommy friends.

John has been out to Texas once since the first day (w/o camera)...he took pictures and drew some. We don't get to see any design until the cameras are back sometime in January. At this point...all the taping and work on the house is planned for January with the shows to air in late Spring or Summer of 2012. It's quite exciting...and a little overwhelming. I'll let you know when the shows will air and how the progress goes along the way.

And hopefully I'll get around to a kid related post soon.

Nicaragua - Mobile Library

2011-08-05T15:42:00.001-05:00

This week I am readjusting to life after a week mission trip to Nicaragua. It was a great trip and I was reminded just how blessed I am.
For the kids' last two birthday parties, we requested Spanish books for Nicaragua in place of gifts for them. I was able to see the effect of these books first hand this week.

Mission Para Cristo supports thirty-eight schools in Nicaragua. (The government provides public schools in some but not all areas. To attend public school you must be able to afford the uniform and textbooks. The schools supported by the mission do not require uniforms, provide a meal and other care for the children.) One of the programs is a mobile library. Basically they drive two boxes of Spanish books to the schools for the students to read. They are in the process of collecting more books to allow children to check-out books.

The current mobile library

kids reading books

A BIG thank-you to all of you that have given Spanish books at our kids birthday parties. I know they are going to good use!

Disney World

2011-06-16T13:09:00.000-05:00

Here is our first time meeting a few Disney favorites.
MICKEY
Check out Lilly below...

MINNIE

DONALD

They were SO excited to meet this bunch...more Disney World pictures to come.

A Perfect Three-Year Old Day

2011-06-02T21:38:00.001-05:00

BIRTHDAY!!!

We woke up this morning starting with donuts for breakfast. We went to a local shop that decorates donuts to look like Hello Kitty and Kung Fu Panda. A first time (now favorite) for the trio!

Then we surprised Pops with a balloon at work. (It's his birthday too!). Mimi let Beau, Marlee and Lilly pick one for themselves too.

We had lunch at Chuck E Cheese...our favorite place.

A little afternoon nap, then over to Mama-Hs to open presents. After we were home again...Aunt Jules and Uncle Heath dropped off presents and joined us for candles and cake. Then we opened gifts from mom and dad.

(We got them scooters, Marlee asked to go outside and ride it...first thing the next morning.)

Seriously...could there be a better day for a three-year old! Our actual party is on Saturday...which has been a little confusing because they confuse the word birthday with birthday party.

Aunt Jules gave Beau an Old Lady (as in the one who swallows a fly, spider, bird, cat, dog, cow and horse). We have one at school and he loves to play with it...he actually asked her for it multiple times. He was SO excited when he opened it and shouted "the old lady!"

I also have to mention that three is SO much older than two or almost two. It seems like they have aged a year over-night. My kids are little kids...not babies or toddlers.

BUSY May!!

2011-06-01T21:06:00.001-05:00

WOW! It has been a busy month.
Of the 30 days in this month, I spent 10 of them at theme parks.
(This cheapskate got the full value of the free till three policy).

First we went to DisneyWorld
(more pics from all places to come)

Then to Disneyland

Then to the San Diego Zoo

And last but not least...a visit to see Shamu!

I'm glad to be home...but I've got loads of laundry, a house to clean and a birthday to celebrate.

BEAU, MARLEE & LILLY TURN THREE TOMORROW!

Ladies Tea Party

2011-02-13T20:52:00.001-06:00

In January, our church hosted a Ladies Afternoon Tea. Lilly and Marlee were so excited to go to an actual tea party. (We play tea party at home often.) We learned SO MUCH about tea and all the rules associated with it. We had a “Tea Mother” who poured all the tea and hosted the conversation at our table. They had a little girls table, but Marlee and Lilly chose to sit with Mama-H and me. We still aren’t great drinking without a sippy cup (see ‘tea juice’ that spilled down the front of Marlee’s shirt). They loved trying with these little girl tea cups. It was a fun day to dress up and talk with other gals from our church.

The girls at the tea…Marlee and Lilly look so small compared to these big girls.

Can’t wait for the next one!

Fall Festival

2011-01-21T10:00:00.000-06:00

Our church hosts a big fall festival each year around Halloween. Its two hours of absolute greatness for the kids! They got to bounce in the bounce house, pet animals in the petting zoo, take a ride on the mini-train, win prizes in carnival games, and trick or treat for candy. Our little Sesame Street trio LOVED it! They loved trick-or-treating mostly for the candy. Our friend Hailey helped with them at the festival. Beau, Lilly and Marlee love Hailey…so it was extra fun for them. Its always so nice when other folks love you kids and want to help them have a great time too…plus then I’m not watching three kids. (Sam was at a Rangers baseball playoff game.)

Lilly & a goat

Marlee & the goats

Trio Train Ride (Our friend Annaleigh is in their too)

Lilly playing a game with Mrs. Jacki

Beau, Hailey, Lilly, Mama H, Marlee, & Aunt JuliAnne

Painting Pumpkins

2011-01-18T10:00:00.000-06:00

(I had planned to skip a few of these past events, but I realized that this blog is one of the few keepers of our family experiences...so we are going a few months back.)

In October, we invited our triplet friends, the Barrons, over to paint pumpkins. (I think we ate dinner, played, and then painted pumpkins…but pumpkins are what I remember.) I have a Cricut (machine that cuts paper), so we let each kid pick an Halloween design from the Cricut. We glued the design to the pumpkin and the kids got to paint around it. Once the paint was dry, we pulled off the design paper…leaving paint around a Halloween image. I thought it was an easy way to create kid decorated pumpkin. Somehow in all the craziness of seven kids painting in my garage, I missed a group picture.

Beau chose two bats…

Marlee chose a scary hand (and called it her Scary Hand pumpkin all fall)

Lilly chose a cat and painted it black.

We WON prizes at school!

Our living advent calendar…

2011-01-17T17:40:00.001-06:00

I had great intentions of documenting each our living advent calendar projects…but now it is January 17. So I’ll backtrack a little for the case of documentation for our family.

We did craft projects…we made a few ornaments and painted a few Christmas figurines.

We ate snowmen cake pops. Thanks to Mrs. Kimberly for sharing them with us…I know she put hard work into those.

We traveled to Alabama for my Papaw’s birthday and an early Christmas celebration with my mom’s family. One night we went to see my mom’s cousin house…she has an extreme number of lights on her house. (like one of those houses people pay to come and see the lights)

My grandparents live in the country and near their house is a Christmas tree farm. One night we were able to go and see where Christmas trees are grown.

One morning we had Christmas donuts at Krispy Kreme (I let them pick the donut of their choice. They usually end up preferring the taste of plain glaze over the taste of the cooler looking donut.)

We made Rudolph, Clarisse and Bumble at Build-a-Bear. These are still a few of our favorite stuffed animals. We developed a BIG love for all things Rudolph this year. We saw the production of Rudolph at the start of December…I think that started our love for the red-nosed guy and his friends.

Our pre-school Christmas party was a HIT. Santa at the party wasn’t. Marlee, Lilly and Beau are still a little scared of the big guy in red. We wouldn’t sit in his lap, but did give a high five in exchange for a candy cane.

One morning we played and played at McDonald’s with our neighborhood friends. We swapped books for Christmas after our breakfast. All three kids got books that they still love and read. (Beau wasn’t interested in the picture. I think he is climb in the playground on the step just above the one seen in this picture.)

On the Saturday before Christmas, we traveled to Duncan, Oklahoma for our Christmas celebration with Mimi-Lin’s family. They kids had a great time getting lots of attention from everyone and playing with cousin Drayton. Below is a picture of Grandmom and Jack and their great-grandchildren (minus Gibson and Graham).

We attempted gingerbread houses and FAILED! Next year I’ll assemble the houses BEFORE requesting the assistance of my three children. We had a great time and the kids enjoyed the candy.

This year, I was determined to get an actual picture with all three kids and Santa. (Our first year…Sam and I were afraid of the germs Santa could give us. Last year Beau, Marlee and Lilly were afraid of him and wouldn’t get near.) I didn’t plan on myself being in the picture, but when we arrived I knew the kids wouldn’t go for it without me. It isn’t a great photo, but I achieved my goal for a picture with Santa and all three kids.

Living Advent Christmas – Day 2 & 3

2010-12-03T15:40:00.001-06:00

Day 2 – Christmas Parade

On Thursday night, our town hosted a Christmas Parade. We thought we were arriving early enough to park and get a good seat for the parade. We were WRONG! We ran into road closures that we didn’t expect, so we had to go the LONG way around. We made it to the parade just minutes before it started. Thankfully our friends had saved us a front-row seat…so the parade was a success (when earlier in the night…I thought we’d have to turn around for home).

The kids enjoyed the first hour…after that we got tired and fussy. The floats and bands were great! Most of them from local schools and clubs, so it felt like a hometown parade.

(Our friends Camille and Olivia shared their Rudolph headbands with Lilly and Marlee…we were so cool!)

Day 3 – Story time with Santa & Trains at Northpark

Today we went to see Santa’s story time. Santa told us a story about a dragon that lives at the North pole and another one about the elves. He also asked for chocolate chip cookies, a snack for his reindeer and to make sure that mom and dad put out the fire on Christmas Eve. We didn’t see Santa in person…we are still a little afraid of him (and still a little tired after last night’s parade.)

After story time, we went to see the miniature train display at the Northpark mall. Before kids, I would volunteer to help with this exhibit and think how fun it would be to one day bring my kids. It is the primary fundraiser for the local Ronald McDonald House, so I feel good supporting the cause. They have hundreds of miniature trains that travel through elaborate displays. This year my kids could see over the rail while standing…so it was much easier on me. Beau loved the State Fair of Texas section of the display.

Marlee looking at the trains with our neighborhood friends.

Marlee and Lilly watching the trains. (Getting pictures of them facing me was difficult…they just wanted to watch the trains.)
Beau and Lilly as the Train display…

I know I’ve been bad at blogging…but I’m starting to realize that I’ll forget all of these precious moments…if I don’t write them down. So…hopefully you’ll see a few more blogs from me more often (and maybe an updated blog header soon too).

P.S. For any Window users…I found a free tool for making blog posts called Windows Live Writer. It is really easy to write a post with multiple pictures. Just thought I’d share incase you are looking for an easy way to post blogs too.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-01T23:28:00.001-06:00

I am so excited for this Christmas season. Beau, Lilly and Marlee are more aware and knowledgeable, so that it just makes life so fun. It’s like experiencing Christmas for the first time. They L-O-V-E looking at Christmas lights, singing jingle bells or watching Rudolph (just don’t ask them to sit with Santa). We plan to pack a lot into this holiday season…since it is just so much fun.

Today started a new tradition in our family. I recently purchased a wooden advent calendar, it is made of wood and has little doors that open up for each day. My hope is that we use this to count down to Christmas for many years to come.

This morning we opened door one and found a Hershey's kiss.

Another blogger, Jordan Ferney (a personal fav), inspired me to also have a living advent calendar. She plans to do something Christmas everyday until Christmas. Some days it might be big like a parade and others small like singing a few songs or having hot chocolate. I’m going to try this for our family too.

Day One – Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Today we went with our neighbors to see Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer at a local theatre. It was AMAZING! My kids loved it and sat quietly for an hour of live performing arts. You might also notice the kid’s Rudolph shirts are their own hands and foot. They love these Christmas shirts and you’ll probably see them in upcoming Christmas pictures.

A big thanks to our dad for his work on Christmas lights. The kids love seeing them and he has spent lots of weekend time getting them set-up.

Merry Christmas!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-23T20:49:00.003-06:00

This summer we visit the Beaches Resort in Jamaica and it furthered our L-O-V-E of all things Sesame Street. Beau has a bit of an imagination and will wake up assigning Sesame Street characters to members of our family. Beau is Elmo, Sam the Count, I'm usually assigned Big Bird and the girls Abby and Zoe. Beau will then only refer to me as Big Bird and if I ask for Beau, I'm reminded that he is Elmo. So I must ask Elmo to finish breakfast, Elmo to change his clothes and Elmo to put on shoes and socks (This all started happening before Halloween.)

As it came time to decide on Halloween costumes, Sam and I were torn between Sesame Street and Yo Gabba Gabba. (Sam wanted to be DJ Lance Rock.) As Beau transformed to Elmo each morning, it became apparent that Sesame Street was the choice for us. In researching costumes, it looks like they make a boy and girl of each series. Abby was available for purchase, but not Zoe. After last year promising to never make a costume again, I attempted a simple Zoe costume based on Abby's look. I think it turned out okay and making one costume is better than three.

Lilly as Abby
This was the only time Lilly would wear Abby. The Abby costume had a little tulle around the collar which itched Lilly and she refused to wear it. (Even with a bride of candy.)

Marlee as Zoe
Thankfully Marlee isn't quite as dramatic as Lilly and agreed to switch with Lilly. Marlee was Abby and Lilly was Zoe ( characters swapped from these pictures).

Beau was Elmo
Never a complaint from Beau. He ALWAYS kept his hood on his head, if it fell off he instantly replaced it. We did buy the Texas Elmo (i.e. fur ended before the hands and feet). Thankfully I did as it was a warm Halloween in Texas.

We've been working on manners and what to say when...so the other day I asked Lilly "what do you say" hoping for a quick thank you after she received something she wanted. She replied with "Trick or Treat!"

Santa - Take One

2010-11-23T20:48:00.000-06:00

Last week, Sam's workplace offered free photos with Santa. We met Sam for lunch at work and a quick visit to Santa. We talk about Santa often, but clearly we aren't quite fond of him enough to sit with him alone. Here is our family of five visiting Santa. We continue to talk about him and hopefully we'll get an adult-free Santa picture this Christmas season.

Blue Beau

2010-11-17T07:48:00.001-06:00

This morning we had a little conversation like this....

Marlee: Beau is writing on his face.
Me: Beau are you writing on your face?
Beau: No
[Beau turns around]

Me: GASP!!

Today I'm thankful for washable markers and a little tattle-tell daughter.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Happy Fall Y'all

2010-10-23T15:17:00.002-05:00

During our neighborhood playgroup this week, I was saying I never have time for creative projects. So...while the kids napped this afternoon, I focused on a creative project. For about a year I've been looking for 'free' time to learn how to use digital scrapbooking templates (here is a tutorial). It was easy to learn and easy to use...so easy I'll do this again soon. (Maybe I'll get around to doing a scrapbook for my kids.)

Shabby Princess, my favorite digital scrapbooking site, has a free template with a little challenge. If you are interested in the free template and/or challenge...it's here.

It's Pumpkin Time

2010-10-01T14:06:00.001-05:00

To kick off October, we went with our neighbors to the pumpkin patch. Before leaving...I decided not to stress about getting a perfect picture. I'm glad I did because I would have been disappointed. I was flying solo as Mama H is out of town and all other family were working. I'm pooped! Trying to meet the desires of three two-years olds...is work designed for more than one person.

I found this attempt at a photo humorous.
Beau looking at the camera.

Now it's Marlee and Lilly's turn. These were taken seconds apart. The attention span of a two-year old is like milliseconds.

Playing at the big pumpkin.

Pumpkins with mom!

October is one of my favorite months!! Probably because orange is my favorite color. More pumpkin pics to come!

Starting School

2010-10-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

We started back to school a couple of weeks ago. Beau, Lilly and Marlee are in Mrs. Shara's class. Shara and I have been good friends since way before we had kids. They love her and I know she loves them. (Yesterday Mimi was asking them who they loved at school and the first answer was Mrs. Shara.)

Here are a few pics from the first day...

Starting the day with breakfast

A picture at the door before we leave for school
Marlee, Lilly & Beau

and another (since we can't ever get six eyes looking the same way)
Marlee, Lilly & Beau

In class with Mrs. Shara

Saying good-bye to mom
(just for a minute, I'm the music and movement teacher)

Baseball Trip - St. Louis

2010-09-29T10:16:00.009-05:00

Over the last few summers, we've taken an annual baseball trip with my parent's friends the Griffiths. We pick a baseball game or park and meet there. Another family friend Josh Willingham plays in the MLB, so we usually try to catch one of his games. This summer the we chose to visit St. Louis. We've been to Miami, New York (I missed as it was the summer the trio was born) and Washington DC.

As I look through my pictures...we did A LOT in just a couple of days.

We start Saturday morning at the Arch. Here is our little car on the way up (its little like something outta Willy Wonka). We had five adults and two kids. About half way up Marlee started saying "NO Arch! NO Arch!" I think she may share some of her father's fears including heights!

Uncle Heath & Beau taking a look at St. Louis.

Marlee wasn't too interested looking at the city side of the arch. She did enjoy watching the Mississippi River.

Our little family at the Arch (Sam and Lilly stayed home).

Beau and the Busch Stadium in the background.

The Griffiths have an adopted son, Samuel. My kids think he is one of the funniest people alive. This is the only picture I got of them together this whole weekend.

After the arch, we went to Grant's farm. The home of famous Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales. They also have other animals on the farm too...goats, camels, elephants and more. One of my kids' favorite events from the whole weekend (and we still talk about it weeks later)...was feeding the goats. The farm had bottles of milk that kids could buy to feed the goats. The goats were a little aggressive...but overall lots of fun.

Here is Marlee & G-Daddy brushing goats

Marlee feeding goats..

Beau feeding the goat below...while the goat above takes a nibble on his hair. (You can thank Aunt JuliAnne for the picture. I think they moved the goat, after snapping the picture).

After all that we headed back to the hotel for naps before the game. (My kids actually slept into the start of the game...we were a little worn-out. Thankfully my mom waited around and we went a little late.)

At the game Marlee made a Mr. Baseball Build-A-Bear.

Our little family at the game!

I don't have many pictures of the Griffiths. I promise they were there too!

After the game, G-Daddy hired a horse carriage to take us back to our hotel. (Our hotel was within walking distance from the stadium.)

The next day...we went to see the St. Louis zoo. IT IS HUGE! We only saw a little, mostly because we were a little tired of all the events the day before. We'll be going back soon hopefully with Daddy and Lilly too.

Marlee, G-Daddy and Beau watching a show.

Mama H and Beau on the train.

The zoo had the coolest carousel. Each animal was different and each an animal you could see at the zoo. We rode the carousel multiple times...picking a new animal each time. Beau L-O-V-E-S animals, so he loved this!!

Marlee on the panther

Uncle Heath & Marlee with the Sea Lions

While we were gone, Lilly and Daddy had a weekend of fun too. They went to the aquarium. Here are a few pictures from Sam's camera phone (sorry the quality isn't too great).

Daddy bought Lilly a river otter. She loves this little thing!

It was a great trip. We talked about locations for our baseball trip next year... and my vote is San Diego!

Potty Train Triplets- Take One

2010-08-26T23:01:00.006-05:00

After reading fellow multiple mom Suz's blog on potty training her quads, I gave the 3-day potty training method a try. The 3-day method suggestsstarting potty training around 22-months. Given the fact that we were 26-months and had a month off from preschool (between the summer program and the start of school)...I thought we'd give it a try. I cleared three days from our schedule to stay home and talk only potty.

A quick random thought - As a mom of multiples, I generally admit that I cannot do it alone. Thankfully...we've got lots of family nearby to help. Plus...I can't say thanks enough to my fellow mommy friends who help out by lifting an extra kid to see the lion at the zoo, watching my third kid at the kiddie pool while I chase after the other two or something similar. Even with triplets...there are still some things I feel I need to do alone as a mom. Prior to August 3...I thought Potty Training was sorta a right of passage as mom and I needed to accomplish it alone. (Thankfully my thoughtful and experienced mother-in-law knew that was bad news and offered to come to my rescue.)

Here are some pictures of our Operation PTT...

Marlee - Proud of her Hello Kitty panties

Lilly - Princess Panties

Marlee trying out froggy potty
So here is my washer just before lunch (just a couple hours into it)...
I wish I would have counted for the day...I'd guess we went through about 30 sets of panties/underwear.

What do you on a day when you stay home all day and only talk about potty?

Marlee and Lilly performing a concert

Marlee painting with water

Marlee & Lilly on the balance beam

(this is usually an outdoor toy)

Lilly & Beau watching TV with Mimi

(I think this is Elmo's Potty Time)

Play Dress Up

(Sam will kill me for this...but Beau is dressed as Snow White)

After the first day...I couldn't admit defeat. Even though, we'd only had one actual success in the potty. I'd caught Beau in the act, ran him to the potty and he finished peeing in the froggy. When I would catch the girls and run them to the potty...they just hold it once on froggy. (The whole 3-day method is focused on catching them in the act and moving to the potty.) I am a rule follower, so since the 3-day method needs three days...I planned to try for three days. The morning of day two...we had four accidents before breakfast was complete...and I was DONE! I rarely cry from being overwhelmed with the trio. This morning...I cried! I called my mom and Sam...they talked me down and suggested we try a little later. My mother-in-law also agreed...but didn't have the heart to tell me after spending twelve hours with us and our constant river of pee. I really needed to get out of the house. At that moment when I looked at the clock...I had thirty minutes to get to my favorite aerobics class and that was enough to delay the Operation PTT (Potty Train Triplets).

After reading the 3-day method, I plan to try the same thing again in a few months. I was really hopeful to close our diaper budget...but after one L-O-N-G day, I found those diapers are worth every penny.

a t-shirt for me...

2010-08-18T22:48:00.006-05:00

I'm not sure when or where I would wear something like this...but man I could use this t-shirt. Yes, I have been asked everyone of the questions for the answers below.

Funny story...last year my neighborhood friend Sharla invited me to her girl's field day. The local elementary is within walking distance from our house, so we loaded up in the choo-choo wagon and walked over. I thought I'd help cheer on her girls and get the kids outside for a little while. I'd just started to meet our new neighbors, so Sharla had never been in public with me or the triplets before. As I walked to the school...I was almost attacked with other moms asking me questions. So much so that my friend Sharla had to step out of the way. After minutes of waiting, she had to move on to her girls next event. She pointed me the way from across the room...and I re-joined her again after more questions answered. I apologized as I felt I should have warned her. She didn't think it was a big deal...but suggested I make a pamphlet to give out to folks (in humor).

Thanks to my cousin Anna, I can answer #6 truthfully...triplets do run in the family. Careful Chad, Heath, Andy or Allyson...you could be next...

Now that the kids can walk on their own...I don't hear as many whispers, get funny looks or old ball questions. Actually most of the time folks think the girls are twins (I do dress them alike). Most of the folks that put together they are triplets...have younger kids and realize there isn't a nine month difference between Beau and the girls.

Or maybe I should get this one... He He!

Jamaican Me CRAZY!

2010-08-15T14:27:00.000-05:00

We recently returned from our big family vacation. All of my immediate family goes...which has doubled from when we were kids from 5 to 10. We went to Beaches which is in partnership with Sesame Street...so Beau, Lilly and Marlee had lots of time with Elmo and his friends.

This vacation was so relaxing (or as relaxing as it can be with two-year old triplets.) Beaches is all-inclusive, so we stayed on the hotel property the whole time. We ate breakfast at the buffet each morning, had lunch served to us on the beach and then picked a different place each night for dinner. The hotel had a couple of water slides, a lazy river (or according to Marlee crazy river) and a large sized beach (or a over-sized sand box for Beau, Lilly and Marlee). We pretty much just ate and played in the water all day.

I had all these pictures in perfect order...but they didn't post that way...so these are a little out of order.

One morning we went to the Sesame Street breakfast. After breakfast, we danced, played and limboed with all the characters. Here is Marlee, Uncle Heath, Mommy and Lilly limboing with Bert and Elmo.

Daddy & Marlee meeting Bert & Ernie

Beau getting a kiss from Zoe
Marlee getting a hug from Abby (Marlee's favorite)

This picture was taken the first day. (At first...we were a little fearful of the characters. Marlee & Lilly wouldn't get close enough for a picture.) We went to story time with Elmo.

Oscar & Marlee

Playing on the beach with G-Daddy.

Marlee feeding Uncle Heath Fruit Loops.

Marlee by the Palm Tree

Daddy and Lilly waiting on the Sesame Street parade.

Marlee giving Bert a high-five.

Beau waiting the Sesame show on the beach.

Lilly, Marlee, Abby & Beau

Elmo, Lilly & Aunt JuliAnne

Beau, Mama-H, Elmo, Daddy, Marlee, Lilly & Aunt JuliAnne

Lilly on the beach

Beau by the palm tree

Elmo, Lilly & Mommy

The whole family

Our family

Daddy & Marlee

Sam & Hollee

The whole family with Elmo & friends

Marlee & Lilly playing in the ocean...

Lilly playing...

Marlee and some sand creation

Ernie, Beau & Mama-H

Bert, Marlee & G-Daddy

Lilly, Beau, Marlee & Grover

Daddy & Marlee raising their hands in the air...
(Bye-Bye Jamaica!)

Marlee & Lilly Dance with Zoe

2010-08-11T14:44:00.005-05:00

We recently went on our Huston Family Vacation to Beaches in Jamaica. Beaches is in partnership with Sesame Street...so they offer multiple daily activities with the characters. One afternoon they offered dancing with Zoe. Marlee and Lilly LOVED it and danced right along with her. They them little hulu skirts to wear while dancing.

Zoe, Lilly, Marlee,

Hollee, Aunt JuliAnne & Mama-H

I'll admit that Marlee and Lilly were TERRIFIED of the Sesame Street characters during the first of the week. During first night's Sesame Street show, Marlee would only sit as close as the last row of the theatre. They did overcome their fears, by the end of the week Marlee would walk up to each of them and ask for a high-five. Marlee and Lilly's favorites were Zoe and Abby.

Hopefully I'll get more vacation photos up soon...until I do, check out Aunt JuliAnne's posts.

Happy Birthday America!

2010-08-08T22:24:00.004-05:00

Sam's favorite holiday is 4th of July and we had a great celebration at my parent's lake house. It is always great fun to play on the lake all day, grill out for dinner and then watch fireworks over the lake as it gets dark. Since we live outside the city limits, we get to put on our own fireworks show. The guys take this very seriously and always want to have a show bigger than the houses around us. This year...Beau, Lilly and Marlee LOVED the fireworks. Beau has been asking for a encore show ever since.

Fourth of July will always be a special holiday for me too...as I remember two years ago sitting in the parking lobby of the hospital watching fireworks from a distance while Sam was in the NICU with the babies. (I had a fever the morning of July 4th and wasn't allowed in the NICU for 24 hours.) While sitting in the car, I remember thinking that in future years we would be at the lake celebrating with our friends and their kids. This year it was such a joy to see my kids playing along with everyone else. Now...I think back to that moment in the parking lot and I just didn't imagine how quickly two years would fly by!

Pops & Beau

Mama-H and Beau
Mimi-Lin & Marlee

Beau, Lilly & BBF Carter jumping

Beau & Daddy with sparklers

(I was playing the part of "sparkler lighter," so I didn't get many pictures. Being a sparkler lighter is a very difficult task when working in very windy conditions, a yard full of kids and a lighter that is half-full.)

Our Family

Marlee, Hollee, Beau, Sam & Lilly

The kids waiting on the show...

Preparing for the show...

The show creators...Sam, Uncle Chad & Uncle Heath

The kids...

I'm working on updating the blog header and general look...so my blog might look a little funny in the coming days. Sorry! It is hard to believe I have less free time than when they were newborns...I really miss those three daily naps. Hopefully I'll have time to finish it soon!

Bedtime Blues

2010-07-07T19:55:00.000-05:00

About a month ago...I got the cRaZy idea to move our kids to toddler beds. I've been having lower back pain and thought that a little less lifting (twelve times a day) would help me out. So we moved Beau first about a week before the girls. (Simply because he had only one bed and the girls had two. It took us a week to find time to get the girls' beds together.) It has been a long road since then...we did a week of constant walking back to bed (the girls got up 60 times one night, we counted for humor sake). After that they did great, but we just spent a weekend at the lake house and we are back to old habits. It's been a long road and probably will continue to be.

Beau still does pretty well. He is in a room to himself, so it probably helps that he doesn't have distractions. Marlee does well if Sam or I can sit her, but we aren't as happy when we have to return to her room around 2am. Lilly is really pushing our buttons. Nothing we use seems to help. Her most prized possession on earth is her blankie. So we've started putting blankie in timeout when she gets out of bed. Tonight...she walked over to me and handed me her blankie (for it's timeout). She then picked out a book and started to read. What a little stinker! I guess I'll need a new punishment.

I know we'll get though this transition and they'll be great sleepers again. I just can't believe Lilly freely handed her blankie over in response to getting out of her bed.

Here are few pics of our new beds...

(if you look closely, you can see Lilly reading her book)

After a Hard Days Work

2010-07-01T15:11:00.001-05:00

Here we are enjoying popcorn and a KidSongs movie...after what must have been a hard day at school. After a few major meltdowns, I switched our afternoon plans opting for TV.

Two Year Old Birthday Barnyard Bash

2010-06-29T22:51:00.011-05:00

Beau, Lilly and Marlee L-O-V-E animals. At any fair or community event...our favorite stop is always the petting zoo. I figured what a better birthday party than to have a petting zoo come to us. So we hosted the Birthday Barnyard Bash...and they L-O-V-E-D it! The petting zoo people brought us goats, bunnies, pigs, chickens, ducks, a cow and a llama. We also had them bring a few ponies for pony rides too. (A couple of months before the party, the trio refused to ride the horses at a friends birthday party. I had already booked the ponies for their party and was a little worried how it might turn out.) They did GREAT and took multiple turns on the pony rides. All in all, it was a great birthday. A big thanks to all our friends and family who shared this special day with us.

Beau, Lilly & Marlee inside the petting zoo.

Lilly & a goat

Beau (and Pops) feeding a baby pig

Marlee and Beau feeding the cow (that cat looking animal under the cow is a bunny rabbit)

Beau holding a baby chicken.

Marlee and a chick.

Lilly holding one too.

The petting zoo people brought animal food in little dixie cups. Beau, Lilly & Marlee loved feeding each of the animals. Those were some well fed animals after the party.

Ridin' Em Cowgirl!

Marlee and her trusty steed...

Lilly

Beau with help from Dad.

I'll admit I'm one of those crazy mom's of multiples. We had three birthday cakes and sang the Happy Birthday song three times. Each child had their own special moment.

Here is Lilly,

Marlee,

And Beau!

Aunt JuliAnne and Uncle Heath opened a little Barnyard Ink. The kids had their choice (or Marlee's as I hear she was a little bossy) of barnyard animal temporary tattoo.

Mimi-Lin and G-Daddy lead everyone in a few barnyard sing-a-long.

Lilly, like her Mimi-Lin, loves to sing!

As we said our good-byes to the animals...Beau, Lilly and Marlee had major tears. Beau kept asking for 'more, more, more animals' and Marlee just wanted the llama back. (We had to take the trio swimming to calm them down.)

We forgot to take a family picture at the party...here is one just after.

My grandparents, the trio's great-grandparents, Nanny and Grandaddy flew from Tennessee for our party. We loved having them celebrate with us.

It was such a fun day for us and the kids! I LOVE birthday parties! Happy Birthday Marlee, Lilly and Beau!

Trio's Second Birthday

2010-06-08T13:13:00.007-05:00

On June 2...the trio turned TWO! I can't believe it (well based on the increasing number of fits and "mine" I hear all day...guess I do.) This is such a F-U-N age, Sam and I are just loving life! (Don't get me wrong we are pooped at the end of each day too.)

We'd had lots of celebrating! I'll start with our little family celebrations on the actual birthday. June 2 is Pops' (Sam's dad) birthday too. Actually two years ago, we had planned to have birthday cake for Tim in the hospital...as I was supposed to be checking in that morning for monitoring for what I thought was four more weeks of pregnancy. We started with pizza and cake at Mimi-Lin and Pops house with Uncle Cole and Aunt Tiffany too. Sadly for Pops while the cake said Happy Birthday Pops most of the focus was on Beau, Lilly and Marlee. I guess he'll have to share the spot light forever now.

Beau's Favorite Book - Life Sized Zoo Pops likes it too!

Pops got Beau a tool benchMimi-Lin got Lilly and Marlee a piano

Uncle Cole & Aunt Tiffany got them a toy sprinkler...which we have LOVED as a toy, but haven't tried it as a spinkler yet.
Uncle Cole got Beau his first baseball glove (he is covering his face with the glove).

We the night of party at my parents house with G-Daddy, Mama H, Uncle Heath and Aunt JuliAnne. We opened gifts from each of them plus Mamaw and Papaw sent a few.

Uncle Heath & Aunt Jewels gave us dress-up clothes.
Here is Beau with his Woody hat.
Marlee as Little Mermaid
Lilly as Snow White (with a little bling!)

Buzz, Woody, Jessie and the Toy Story gang were big hits!

We ended the night with a second dose of cake!

I'll post pictures from the big birthday party soon! Happy Birthday Beau, Lilly and Marlee. I can't imagine how boring and slow life would be without you. Love you MUCH!!

Trio Playtime

2010-05-06T07:02:00.000-05:00

This video is mainly for our far away family. Here is a sneak peak at playtime in our playroom.

BeauLoLee

2010-05-05T22:56:00.006-05:00

A couple weekends ago, we flew down to San Antonio to visit Sam's BFF, Joe David and his family. Joe David and Stefany's son Jed is just a couple weeks older than Beau, Lilly and Marlee. They were four happy little toddlers all weekend. Jed called our trio Beaulolee (which might be the coolest nickname for the tri0). It was so fun to wake up on Saturday to Jed asking for Beaulolee. Lilly loved Jed...I'm so afraid of the teenage years! (I know Jed will be a good kid, just as the mom of girls...I know they'll be a little emotional.) I think he was a little upset on Monday after we left.

Here are Marlee, Lilly & Jed playing (the girls thought Jed was really funny!)

Beau joined in the fun!

Below is the damage to JD & Stefany's house with four almost two year olds...

On Saturday we took the gang to SeaWorld. The kids did surprising well. I talked about SeaWorld to Beau, Lilly and Marlee the week before we left. They were SO excited about the sharks, so that was our first stop. Here are dad and Beau...but Beau is still watching the sharks.

Beau, Mommy and Lilly at Shamu Show...

Daddy & Marlee watching the SeaLion Show...

The daddies and the babies...

We had such a great time on our trip. Our hosts were SUPER hospitable and even met us at the airport with TWO cars for the weekend. This party of eight just doesn't fit in one car. We started out with a girl car and boy car...but Marlee always wanted "the truck," so she moved to the boy car.

Trip To Alabama

2010-04-23T09:00:00.001-05:00

Mama H and I traveled up to Alabama to visit my Mamaw and Papaw. We were celebrating my Mamaw's 80th birthday. My mom (Mama H) and I flew with the three kids. She asked a couple of days before if we could handle it...and I didn't see what she was worried about. WOW...I was wrong! Traveling with two adults and three one-year olds...maybe not the best idea. The other mistake I made was traveling standby on the way to Alabama and forcing us to change planes in Houston. Beau, Lilly and Marlee just didn't understand the need to sit still on the flights. We survived, but my mom won't commit to any more plane trips with Beau, Lilly and Marlee...for a while.

On Saturday, we went to the park to feed the ducks...

Papaw & Beau

Marlee & Mamaw

Bailey, Anna, Abbie, Noah,

Lilly, Marlee, Beau & Hollee

The Six Great-Grandchildren

in two sets of triplets

Beau, Papaw, Lilly, Mama H, Mamaw & Marlee
Noah, Uncle Denton, Abbie, Papaw, Mamaw & Bailey
Playtime with Our Cousins

Before Church on Sunday
Marlee, Papaw, Mamaw, Beau, Mama H & Lilly

Spring Flowers...

2010-04-21T10:00:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, we went to see the Spring Flowers with our friends. The moms were all hopeful for pictures with perfectly smiling children alongside beautiful flowers. I've decided that getting three kids to look and smile is near impossible...so I take what I can get. It was a fun trip and the kids loved running around and playing in the green grassy fields.

Lilly, Mama H & Marlee

Beau wanted to pick all the flowers. I think he did get a petal...opps!

Lilly, Beau & Marlee

Maybe next year I'll be able to better bribe my kids for good smiles.

Our New Pets...

2010-04-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

For Easter our Pops got us three baby ducks. You can see he is holding one here...

Before Easter Sam was joking about getting the kids baby rabbits. I was SO against baby rabbits. Baby rabbit talk lead to baby chicks...which lead to baby ducks. Ducks, I can do. Ducks grow up and fly away (or go live at a local pond or farm). Pops promised that when we were done with the ducks, he had a farm home for them to move.

Lilly & Marlee with the ducks...

Duck Swim Time

(They are SO much bigger now. I don't even know if they could fit in this blue bucket now.)

Beau sharing his golf clubs with the ducks.

Lilly giving the ducks food.

Beau & Marlee watching the ducks swim.

Lilly offering the ducks a stick.

For every mom that thinks I'm crazy for accepting ducks...I'm an animal person and ducks are really easy. (When you have a thoughtful Pops.) Our Pops built us a cage with a chicken-wire bottom. I don't ever have to clean duck poop, rather just move the cage to another part of the yard. The kids enjoy them, so it makes it worth it. As the ducks are getting bigger and faster, it is harder to 'hold' them. Our dog, Apache, did pick one up during duck swim time a couple weeks ago. I was really worried at first, Pops came to check it out (after a tearful call from his daughter-in-law reporting the incident). It has been fun to watch our little guys (or gals) grow and develop...soon they'll fly away or move to the lake.

March...

2010-04-18T14:35:00.000-05:00

where did you go? Seriously...are there still 24 hours in a day? As the trio gets closer to age two...I'm losing hours in the day. I honestly thought nothing could be harder than newborn triplets (other than quads or higher) and the nighttime feedings...I'm starting to think that two-year old triplets are more difficult than newborns. I'm LOVING this age, they are talking to us, laughing, doing funny things...Sam and I both share so many stories of funny things they do each day. By the end of each day, I'm wiped OUT! We had great things happening in March...I'll start posting those soon. (I started this post on April 1...just didn't time to finish until today.)

I wanted to attempt to document a little about this age...

Marlee - Talks all the time. She is starting to say a few small sentences. The other day she asked "Mommy push me, please." She is doing well saying please and thank-you. She LOVES the swing. If I don't push her as high as possible (like touching the top of the swing canopy), she is saying and signing "more, more, more." However this same child HATES riding a rides...carousel, little rides outside Toys R Us, etc. (Her dad won't ride rides either, but loves water rides. He says it is because he isn't strapped into anything and thinks he is in control.) She LOVES to write and color. She holds her pencil/crayon like an adult and has since the first day she picked up a pencil. (Her occupational therapist was shocked at our 18 month visit.) She loves dress up shoes and really any shoes. She is a little drama queen and places her hand over her mouth when she cries...it is pretty funny. She is our strongest willed child. We recently had to revisit sleep training (i.e. not sleeping with mom and dad). The first night she cried FOUR hours (cry for an hour, sleep for an hour, cry for an hour, sleep for an hour...) I can happily report that it did work...she now cries for about ten seconds and sleeps ALL night in her bed. She is still the lightest by a few pounds. If we only have two people to carry the three of them...Marlee always has to share with either Lilly or Beau. When you are carrying two...three or four pounds makes a difference. She loves to run and jump. She can actually get both feet off the ground.

Great news for Marlee...her heart murmur (whole in the heart) closed on its own. At our first visit, they talked about different surgeries and procedures for the future. At our last visit...she laid completely still (shocking to momma) while they did the echo. The doc said it is closed with full confidence and we are released from her service. YIPPEE! Praise God!!

Lilly - Loves to sing! She will sing along with any song in which she can understand a few words. In most songs, she knows the last word to each phrase. In the Alphabet song, she sings G,P,S,V,X and Z. She also loves to dance. She only has a couple of moves, but will "go crazy" at any request. She has a great smile (with a little underbite and future orthodontist work) and loves to smile. At home, Marlee is usually the most outgoing, but in public Lilly is our real charmer. She is still our best little sleeper, however since she shares a room with Marlee...she gets woken up often. We've entered the 'mine' stage. As a triplet, nothing is ever really only yours. Lilly is the real bully, she usually the one stealing toys.

Beau - Our little man. Beau LOVES animals. He has a set of plastic animals and he can name most of them. He loves our newest pet ducks (more on the subject to come) and will find sticks, leaves and other items in the yard to place into the duck cage. He makes sure to "feed" his stuffed animals at meals and snack time. He is really a sweet and tenderhearted little guy. (It drives his dad crazy, but I love it!) He loves to laugh and is really easy to make laugh. He really enjoys playing outside and usually collects hands full of sticks. He loves bath time and will often "swim" in the bath. We are starting swimming lessons in the summer, so I hope he continues his love of water. He loves Mickey House Clubhouse...and tries to do the Hot Dog Dance (really his favorite part of the whole show). His version of the Hot Dog Dance is waving his hands in the air and stomping his left foot.

We are still going to school a couple days a week. They LOVE their teacher, Mrs. Denise, which is usually pronounced nise. They learned so much! Mrs. Shara has taught them about the flag, so we shout "flag" at the site of every flag. We are walking and running everywhere. We love to explore and learn new things. We love our family and can name all our grandparents, aunts and uncles. Each night we say a little prayer for all our friends and family. Just about a month...and we'll be two!

An Afternoon Snack

2010-04-14T16:54:00.001-05:00

Lilly, Beau and Marlee enjoying an afternoon nap of Apple Jacks...a
new favorite.

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T15:30:00.000-05:00

Beau & Dirk

2010-03-16T13:38:00.000-05:00

My dad got an invitation to meet and take a picture with Dirk. He got to invite one guest...he took my brother, Heath, and Beau (since toddlers don't usually need a ticket). The story I'm told is...they handed Beau to Dirk and everything was fine until Beau notices he didn't know this Dirk guy. He burst into tears and Dirk said "he must think I'm a monster." They were are to get a picture with G Daddy, Uncle Heath, Beau and Dirk. Our goal of a Beau and Dirk pic was unsuccessful due to the will of a one year old.

They wouldn't let them take a picture up close...we'll get a copy of the professional one soon. You can see Dirk in the back corner.

They also got a tour of the locker room. Here are Uncle Heath and Beau at Dirk's locker.

Go Mavs!

Our First Movie

2010-03-14T08:00:00.002-05:00

Uncle Chad was home from Boston over from Christmas break. We tried to keep him entertained while he was home for a few weeks. One morning we gave Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel a try. During the first hour, Beau, Lilly and Marlee were really excited to watch. After the first hour...we wanted to walk around, talk and pretty much do anything but watch Alvin and friends. So we packed up early for lunch at Chick-fil-A. We'll have to try another movie sometime soon...

All-Star Fan Jam

2010-03-07T08:00:00.000-06:00

A couple of weekends ago, the NBA All-Star Game was held in Dallas. Sam and I are both big NBA fans, so we were excited for all the activities. My kids are too young to really understand, so I figured they might enjoy the All-Star Fan Jam. We received tickets to the 'private' Wednesday night event. It wasn't quite as private as we expected and almost wall to wall people...so the kids didn't get to do much. Maybe the All-Star Game will come back to Dallas when the kids are a little older. (And so Sam can go since he had to miss as we were in the hospital.)

Lilly, Marlee and Beau cheering on Uncle Heath shooting baskets...

Marlee, Lilly & Beau with Dirk sign...

Commotion in the Ocean

2010-03-05T09:00:00.001-06:00

Last night was Beau, Lilly and Marlee's first ever musical program. Their pre-school hosted "Commotion in the Ocean." The toddler class were fish. They 'sang' a couple of songs about being a fish. (Sang is loosely used as they mostly just stood on stage while songs were played.)

Beau FREAKED out as the class walked into the auditorium. As the other kids were stepping up onto the stage, Beau fell to the floor crying. I'm picking him up to place him on the stage.

Do you see Beau laying down while all the othe kids are singing? (The one in the purple sweatshirt on the left.)

Lilly singing (in the pink)...standing above Beau

Lilly in light pink and Marlee in dark pink. Marlee is playing with her fish eyes. (Beau still laying down and crying.)

(At this point, I pick up Beau from the stage. The humor had worn off and he was miserable.)

Daddy & Beau Fish

Mommy & Lilly Fish

Marlee Fish & Mommy

The Whole Fam
Lilly, Mommy, Beau, Daddy & Marlee

Daddy & Marlee Fish

Beau & Cason
(Sam & Cason's dad were friends when they were little)

The program was a HUGE HIT! Lilly was our star performer! She loved clapping and clapped along with every class. Marlee also enjoyed her time on stage. Beau cried the whole time, face-down on stage...until I picked him off the stage. Hopefully we'll lose the stage fright by next program.

Pray for Baby Cox

2010-02-17T20:41:00.002-06:00

Please pray for my sweet friend Kamara, her new baby girl and her family. Kamara went into labor last night at 24.5 weeks. These first few hours and days are so critical, join me is asking our Great Physician to strengthen Baby Cox. The Cox Family blog is http://thecoxcorner.blogspot.com/.

Snow Day!

2010-02-15T16:48:00.001-06:00

Last week we received a record-high snow fall...somewhere around 8-12 inches. Beau, Lilly and Marlee don't quite get the whole snow thing. We really enjoyed looking outside as it snowed...we didn't enjoy the actual snow as much. We layered them in warm clothes and allowed the kids to experience their first snow. (On previous snow days...we stayed inside.)

At first...everyone stood frozen and watched.

Marlee was the first to take a step and Beau right behind her. (You can see Marlee's pink hood just over the right swing).

Marlee made it about half-way into the backyard and Beau a few steps behind her.

Within the first few steps, Lilly took a tumble face-first into the snow. Since we had so much snow, when they stepped the snow came up to their knees. After about five minutes, all three had taken a face-first tumble. We went back inside, enjoyed the heat and prayed for Spring to come soon!

Our Valentine's Day Gift

2010-02-15T16:45:00.002-06:00

This year our Valentine's Gift was this Teddy Bear from Children's Hospital ER.

Our family has shared a round of the stomach flu. I kicked-off last weekend during the SuperBowl, Marlee on Thursday, Beau on Friday and Lilly on Saturday. Marlee was up most of the Saturday night, so I wasn't too surprised when she slept until noon. When she woke up...we were a little worried as she just wasn't herself. She didn't want to talk, play or her normal daily activities...plus her lips were a little blue. After talking to the nurse line for our doc, we headed to the Children's hospital.

We were checked in pretty quickly. Sam and I were much more relaxed after they checked her O2 numbers and they were perfect. Marlee was a super star the whole time! She only cried when they put in the IV. They determined she was dehydrated, so after a couple of tests and and IV of fluids we were on our way home. (...six hours later)

We did get home an hour too late for dad to use his 20th row NBA All-Star game ticket. He was a honorable dad and stayed with us at the hospital. A big thanks to Uncle Cole and Aunt Tiffany for watching Beau and Lilly while we were at the hospital.

Let's Go Mavs

2010-02-02T22:29:00.001-06:00

We are big Mavs fans in this house. Check out our new pajamas...LETS GO MAVS!

Marlee - Beau - Lilly

(Marlee giving the Mavs a #1 sign)

Stockyards

2010-02-01T21:30:00.005-06:00

Today, we took the kids to the Stockyards. Beau, Lilly & Marlee L-O-V-E animals and kids under 5 get in free...so I thought it would be a great outside of the house activity. Unfortunately the weather has turned cold here in Texas (and most everywhere else)...so it was a little chilly. The kids still had a great time.

Marlee & Beau checking out the chickens...Marlee didn't really like when the rooster would crow.
Here is Marlee...yes it was that cold! It was 32 outside and the stockyards is mostly animal stalls with open doors/windows and no heat.

Beau waving to the chicken
Mama H, Lilly, Beau & Marlee

We went with our friends the Barrons...a total of seven kids, all age three and under.

In the background, you can see them feeding a goat with a bottle...that was pretty funny to the kids.

Lilly LOVING it! Lilly was looking around and laughing at everything.

Beau & Lilly in pig hats

The WHOLE crew (minus Mama H)

Our fav...the petting zoo! I love Marlee & Lilly's facial expressions in this one.

This bunny just sat and let all the kids poke at him/her. I think it was so cold...he/she was just trying to stay warm.

Mommy, Lilly, Beau & Marlee

Even thought it was very cold, I am so glad we went. My Papaw raised cattle, so as a child we would always see Papaw's cows when we went to visit. He and my Mamaw still have a farm and grow the BEST fruits and vegetables on this earth. (Chad, my little brother, would only eat Papaw's green beans as a child. When green beans were served, he would ask "Are these Papaw's?") I grew up feeding the cows apples and watermelon rines over the fence at Mamaw and Papaw's house. Sam and I are officially city folk, but I do want my kids to know a little more about the country side of life...for now the Stockyards will have to do and a few trips to Mamaw and Papaw's house in Alabama.

Our First Cousin

2010-01-31T21:10:00.003-06:00

Beau, Lilly & Marlee's first first cousin, Drayton Scott, was born today. YIPPEE! You can see all the pictures on his blog - http://tyandjanelle.blogspot.com/2010/01/drayton-scott-ford.html.

Sam made the drive to see him right after birth. As mentioned in my past post...the trio have had runny noses for a few weeks, so we kept them at home FAR AWAY from the new baby. We'll introduce the cousins in March or April...after the end of flu season.

Happy Birthday Drayton!

Lilly's Masterpiece

2010-01-30T10:14:00.002-06:00

A couple of days ago I looked up to find this...

update: somehow the whole post didn't make it on blogger originally...

I guess Lilly didn't think that Sesame Street had enough color...what you see above is pink crayon all over our big screen tv. Funny thing...when the TV is on it looks like blue crayon. I know it was Lilly because I caught her in the act...I looked up from cleaning the kitchen to see her coloring the tv. Our kids LOVE coloring on anything and everything. Sam and I usually control any use of crayons, keep them out of reach and only use with adult supervision. However...I guess we missed an extra crayon at pick-up time and Lilly found it days later.

I plan to use Mr. Clean Magic Eraser...but I haven't tried it yet. Any suggestions for getting crayon off a tv?

Our snot faucet

2010-01-19T21:53:00.000-06:00

I've taken a few cute pictures recently...which aren't as cute thanks to our never-ending snot faucets.

In mid-December, Marlee and I took a little visit to our pediatrician. Marlee was diagnosed with a sinus infection...a three week antibiotic and we were on our way. I'll admit, as I have to our pediatrician, a twice daily three week antibiotic is a challenge for an already busy mom of three. During our flexible holiday schedule, I somewhat forgot to "finish" the bottle. (We did finish two and a half of the three weeks.) So...a couple days later we were back in the doctor's office. However this time, all three were in to visit. Diagnosis...two sinus infections and four ear infections (Lilly - 2, Marlee - 1 & Beau -1). Antibiotic for all, allergy medicine for Beau and Lilly and a nose spray for Marlee.

Today was our two week check-up. Beau and Lilly are all clear. YIPPEE! Marlee however still has the sinus infection. UGG! Another two weeks of twice daily antibiotic and another follow-up appointment in two weeks. Hopefully we can get the infection cleared up soon. Anyone ever try a netti pot on a child? My doctor said I could try...but highly unlikely she will let me.

Spreading Christmas Cheer

2010-01-12T12:00:00.000-06:00

I attempted to keep the kids involved in all things Christmas during December. This was a little bit of a challenge since the kids are only 18 months (and many Christmas traditions are too old for them). In school they love using the dot markers, so I bought a few with hopes of beautifully dotted packages under the tree. We switched from wrapped gifts to gift bags after the they almost broke a gift while dotting the wrapping. Then the kids got tired of the dots after just a few, so each family member had one package decorated with dots via the trio. Below are a few pictures from the dotting project...

Lilly

Lilly & Marlee

Lilly & Marlee

Uncle Co-wal

2010-01-09T12:00:00.000-06:00

Uncle Cole, usually said as either CoCo or Co-wal, is a coach of a local High School basketball team. One afternoon, we went to be cheerleaders for the Cardinals. We sat on the opposite side of the gym from Uncle Cole and his team. Marlee spent 45% of the game waving to Uncle Cole and trying to get him to wave back. (The other 55% was spent eating snack and playing with stickers.)

Aunt Tiffany & Marlee

Mimi Lin & Beau
Pops, sometimes pronounced Pi-pop-ee, and Lilly

Uncle Cole's team won...our cheerleading worked!

I LOVE Texas Weather

2010-01-07T22:37:00.000-06:00

As the freezing weather moves in, I'm thinking back to warmer days. Just a few days before our white Christmas...we had 'let's play outside weather.' My kids LOVE being outside and LOVE not having a huge mess indoors. Here a few pictures from our outside playtime in late December.

Beau loves this little garden turtle.
Lilly

Marlee

Marlee & the Rocky Horse (Big thanks to our neighbors for this rocky horse!)

Lilly

Beau & Marlee over a glass of milk

Marlee

Lilly

Marlee & Lilly

Beau

Marlee

One Scary Santa...

2010-01-06T12:00:00.000-06:00

Our School Christmas Party

On our last day of school for 2009, we celebrated Christmas in the style of an 18-month old. What is a pre-school party without a cupcake cake in the shape of a Christmas tree in the color of alien green?

Beau, Marlee & Lilly

Marlee

After snacks and juice boxes, we had a visit with Santa. We did NOT want to sit in his lap!

Santa & Beau

Santa & Marlee
Santa & Lilly

To the People Who Do It All...

2010-01-05T20:53:00.010-06:00

To the People Who Do It All...I NEED HELP!

In December, I started as an aide at our church preschool. The positives...I get to work at the same school as Beau, Lilly and Marlee, we have a little more schedule to our week and we get a little social time with friends our own age (both the for the trio and myself). The negatives...I can't seem to get caught up! I invision myself as an organized and thoughtful person...these days I'm lucky if I remember to apologize for being forgetful. My Christmas Cards were VERY late, the gifts to my grandparents just got in the mail yesterday, I'm still working a few Christmas gifts for my mom and mother-in-law...and I forgot to pay a few bills. (Thankfully the companies were forgiving and overlooked the usual late-fees after a couple of phone calls.) The funny part of the story...I'm only working two days and a grand total of eleven hours a week.

All that to say...hopefully you'll find a little compassion and forgive my lack of blogging. Maybe starting a new job in the already busy holiday season was too much for this mom of three. (Related to the job...I'm loving it!) I enjoy designing my own Christmas cards, so I chose to take the time to focus on the holidays (instead of the blog).

So...here are a few views into our Christmas Season...

CHRISTMAS CARD

Our 2009 Christmas Card

CHRISTMAS COOKIES

To prepare for the Christmas Season, we attempted decorating Christmas Cookies. Lilly and Beau enjoyed eating the icing rather than decorating with it.

Mama H, Lilly, Uncle Chad, Marlee, Me and Beau

Marlee really enjoyed decorating! She was much more focused than Beau and Lilly.
Marlee's Cookie Masterpiece

CHRISTMAS CHEER

We traveled up to Oklahoma for Christmas with Sam's family. Marlee and Lilly's older cousin Sydney 'reading' to them.

Most of the cousins...

(Our sweet cousin Rachel made us all cinnamon ornaments for the tree. They smelled so good that Beau took one of the tree and took a bite. After a few phone calls to Oklahoma, we found out they were made with cinnamon and Elmer's glue saving us one less call to poison control.)

CHRISTMAS CAROL

We went with our neighborhood playgroup to the Children's Theatre to see Santa Clause is Coming to Town. The story was a little to advanced for Beau, Lilly and Marlee...they did love the carols and seeing Santa (from far away).

Just a few from the group (Lilly & Beau are standing in the center)

Our Row

Mimi-Lin, Beau, Aunt Janelle, Marlee, Me, Lindsay, Charlie, Hudson, Ella, Carter, Lilly & Mama H (my friend Lindsay also has triplets)

CHRISTMAS COOKING

We attended breakfast with Santa at the local firestation. We've attempted Santa several times this season and this was the most successful attempt.

No tears with Frosty!
No tears with Santa and Mrs. Clause!

CHRISTMAS COLORS

Marlee enjoying the ornaments on the tree.

Our Christmas Tree
(Notice most of the ornaments are out of Beau, Lilly & Marlee's reach. This year we used about half our decorations and ornaments.)

The stockings were hung by the chimney...

Seriously...I know I can't do it all. We've spent the first few days in January trying to get our family organized, a new budget, cleaning out the closets and making room for our new toys. I have a few more posts to come...hopefully sooner rather than later.

Happy Turkey Day!

2009-12-11T23:05:00.007-06:00

WOW...it has been almost a month since I've posted! I believe that is the longest lapse EVER. Usually I'm one to skip what is missed and start with the present. I have written a few posts in my mind over the last couple of weeks. So...I'll start where I left off.

We were blessed to be a part of the Beau, Lilly and Marlee's school Thanksgiving Feast. They "dressed" all the kids up for the feast. Our kids were turkeys. Here is the whole family...words can't express my thankfulness for these four people.

Marlee

Beau
Lilly

I wanted to take a quick minute to thank Sam for all he does for our family. Triplets aren't easy! Each morning he wakes up when the kids do around 6:30-7:00 and gives me 10 to 15 fifteen minutes to sleep, relax and prepare for the day. Usually I won't have alone time again until they go to sleep around 8:00pm...I enjoy having a few minutes alone. This is just one example of the little things Sam does to make my day easier. Thanks for being a great dad and husband. We love YOU!

This Thanksgiving we started a few traditions that we hope to continue. We join in the crowds and ran/walked the Turkey Trot. Lilly wasn't too sure about the whole thing...thankfully Pops carried her the first mile. After about the second mile...both the girls slept while we walked. Sam and Beau...ran/walked the race so we didn't see them most of the time. I'm pretty sure Aunt JuliAnne and Mimi-Lin took pictures...I'll try to get them and add them in here soon.

I was sad to miss the Macy's Parade....my usual Thanksgiving Tradition. (I forgot to TiVo it.) So..I talked Sam into going to the local Christmas Parade. When we arrived, just a few minutes before the parade, the whole route was stacked three rows deep. I found a little spot in the front and asked if we could sit on the ground in front of their chairs (of course I happened to mention I had three babies). She agreed! Beau, Lilly and Marlee LOVED the parade. They enjoyed the horses, bands, floats...it was at night and all the floats were decorated with lights. As we were packing up the car, Sam mentioned we should make it an annual tradition. (I LOVE parades!!)

Notice all the people behind us, big thanks to the woman who let us sit in front. Marlee & Me

Beau & Daddy

During Thanksgiving week...I dove into the Holiday Season. I've already made and delivered our Holiday treats to the neighbors. I fought the crowds on Black Friday to get a few good deals. (We're getting a new HDTV!) I'm still behind where I'd be before the trio...but life is just different now.

On December 2...we turned 18 months. SO when asked the question "How old are they?"...I respond in years (1.5) instead of months. I think anything over 18 months is too hard to translate in months. Anyway...more on that to come!

Friday Night Lights @ Cowboys Stadium

2009-11-16T14:30:00.006-06:00

Last weekend, we took the kids to see the first weekend of Texas High School football playoffs at the new Cowboys Stadium. WOW...the stadium is VERY nice, however somewhat difficult to appreciate with three 1.5 year olds in tow. All three really enjoyed cheering (for both teams), the band and the nacho chips. Marlee REALLY wanted to practice walking up and down the steps...I wouldn't let her and I think that lead to us leaving at half-time.

Here are a few pictures...

Uncle Heath & Beau

Our failed attempt at the trio & the stadium
Uncle Heath, Beau, Lilly & G-Daddy

We got a little lost and ended up on the field.

(Actually we didn't get lost, it took us quite a while to get on the field.)

Marlee, G-Daddy, Lilly & Mama H

Lilly, Aunt JuliAnne, Beau, Uncle Heath, Marlee & HolleeBeau & the Cowboy's Star in on the wall in the endzone.

Pops & Beau

Marlee LOVES Cheetos

2009-11-11T11:46:00.001-06:00

Tough Days

2009-11-03T16:24:00.001-06:00

As a mom of triplets...I'll admit some days are tough. Today is one
of those days. The kids haven't napped well (time change isn't very
easy to a 1.5 year old). All the fits and tears create a challenge for
me. How do I create a little more fun? This afternoon we had our
first fort...they LOVED (for like 15 minutes). Without a tough day, I
would have never been able to experience the smiles and giggles from
this fort!

Our Three Amigos

2009-11-02T14:34:00.005-06:00

I know I have a limited time until the kids will pick their own costume, so this year I did something with a theme of three. I've seen the three little pigs, three bears, and even three blind mice. We decided on the less seen...Three Amigos. Sam's family has a LOVE of this movie...like they could probably perform the whole thing from memory. I'm not sure other people share the same the love, as we were asked if we were pirates, mariachi band...three amigos wasn't usually the first guess.

We've been planning this costume since last year. Sam and I bought the sombreros on our little vaca to Cancun last January. I made the vests and pants. Aunt JuliAnne, expert at the hot glue gun (trained via ACU SingSong), helped with the finishing touches.

We had BIG plans to wear our costumes often last week. Beau came down with the croop...so most of those plans were missed. We did debut our costumes at our church fall festival.

Marlee

Uncle Heath & Lilly
Beau

Uncle Heath took Beau, Lilly & Marlee (individually) on this big kid slide. They LOVED it! You can see him climbing up the stairs with Marlee.

Aunt JuliAnne, Lilly, Uncle Heath and Marlee on the kiddie train.

Marlee's favorite booth was decorate your cookie...

She figured out it tasted better to just eat the icing...

The Three Amigos...

Beau in the petting zoo (of course, we LOVED the petting zoo)

Pops & Lilly enjoying a few M&Ms

Uncle Cole & Marlee

Marlee

Our attempt at a family photo (this was the best one)

Uncle Cole & Beau

(This was the end of the night and Beau wanted to run around. He attempted to jump out of Uncle Cole's arms. I LOVE Cole's face!)

Wherever there is injustice, you will find us.
Wherever there is suffering, we'll be there.
Wherever liberty is threatened, you will find...
The Three Amigos!

Our Little Cowboy

2009-10-29T13:46:00.001-05:00

Our Uncle Heath and Aunt JuliAnne are moving to a house less than a
mile from ours. We are really excited to visit Aunt J on walks or
meet her for breakfast at her favorite donut shop! We found this
comical hat in Uncle Heath's old college stuff. I'd love to say that
Beau loved it...but if you look close you'll see I'm holding his hands
to keep him from knocking it off.

The Pumpkin Patch x3

2009-10-27T10:30:00.006-05:00

Last week, we went to visit a couple of Pumpkin Patches. I LOVE FALL! (It might be my favorite holiday. I love Christmas too...but fall has costumes, apple cider, candy, pumpkin pie AND lots of orange which is my favorite color.) I was really excited to take to the kids to see a yard full of pumpkins. I had BIG visions of super cute pictures of them as they took a real interest in pumpkins. They weren't as excited about the pumpkins as the bounce house...which I guess I should have expected. You'd think I'd remember that I have three sixteen month old kids...sometimes I don't.

Here are LOTS of pictures from our visits...

Marlee as a Halloween Ghost

Beau & Lilly on the play tractor

Beau with Mickey Mouse

Lilly, Beau & Marlee in the pumpkins

Lilly...the only one to take interest in a pumpkin

trying to move it

still trying

and giving up.

Marlee pulling Beau and Lilly in the wagon.

Marlee recruited Cohen's help to pull while she pushed

Mama H with trio

Mommy and trio

We rode around in our choo-choo wagon.

Our pumpkin patch friends...

Hopefully I'll have Halloween pics up soon.

Our School Trike-A-Thon

2009-10-22T22:24:00.006-05:00

At the start of this school year, we enrolled Beau, Lilly and Marlee in preschool one day a week. Our church preschool doesn't start until 18 months...so for now they are going to the preschool at Sam's parents church. Basically...this momma needs a few hours to do things alone! (Thanks everyone for your encouraging comments after our not so friendly trip to the store!)

Last weekend, the school hosted a trike-a-thon fundraiser. Unfortunately, Lilly started running a fever just before the start of the race, so only Beau and Marlee participated. We took our Fisher Price lions and walked around the track. My goal for them was one lap...Beau completed 7/8 a lap (Pops carried him a little way) and Marlee completed a lap and a half. Thanks to Pops and Mimi-Lin for helping us walk our lap.

Marlee INSISTED on holding the lion... Marlee during her lap
Marlee was 23 and Beau 24
Pops & Beau

We enjoyed hot dogs and cheetos...after our hard work!

Then a cookie on the way home...

A not so friendly visit to the store

2009-10-19T14:06:00.001-05:00

Recently I spotted this great shopping cart at my local Tom Thumb store. It has a cozy coupe car for two in the front and seating for two in the usual spot...seating for FOUR! A solution to grocery shopping with triplets! In the past I have put two in a stroller and pushed the other one in the cart with my groceries or left them ALL at home with dad or grandma.

This morning...we tested out the cart of my dreams. Have I mentioned that my sixteen month old triplets have developed opinions and share opinions by throwing fits? I thought this wasn't supposed to start until the terrible twos. Anyway...we were WAILING! I made the mistake of giving in to keep them quiet AND minimize the looks from others. This is a mommy no-no...a BIG mistake because the fits got worse. Once one kid saw an another getting my attention...they would join in. I thought the free balloons would buy me a few minutes...but since we lost two of them within two minutes...it didn't. The check-out lady had to re-focus my attention from Beau and Marlee because Lilly had managed out of her strap and was about to leap OUT OF THE CART!

Here is the cart, my groceries, three kids, one balloon...

State Fair of Texas

2009-10-15T22:17:00.005-05:00

We were beyond joyful when our friends, Adam, Kristen and Caden, accepted our invitation to come back for the State Fair of Texas. Caden was born just three days after the triplets, they share Uncle Ty and Aunt Janelle (Kristen's sister married Sam's brother)...so they WILL be best friends.

Lilly, Beau, Caden & Marlee

We attempted the little farm at the fair...we didn't quite understand it all.

Beau's apron was a big for him, they had to tied it up so he wouldn't trip on it.

Marlee excited about her peach.
Uncle Heath helping Lilly get her peach.

Caden & Kristen picking peaches.

Beau & Marlee with their farmer buckets.

Beau picking vegetables.
Marlee picking vegetables.

(Usually when I click the camera they are looking my way and turn around before the camera takes the picture.)

The little farm was a super cute idea. The kids participate in activities like a farmer (plant and pick fruit and vegetables, milk a fake cow, drive a tractor). In the end they receive a fake dollar to spend at the general store. The general store offered a few little snacks. The trio enjoyed peanut butter crackers on the way home from the fair...for our hard work as farmers.

Next we visited the petting zoo. Marlee kept wanting to go in the pen with the animals. After our last visit to a petting zoo, she just didn't understand why she had to stay outside the fence.

Aunt JuliAnne and Lilly

Thankfully Uncle Heath and Aunt JuliAnne were visiting the fair the same day we did. The petting zoo was more of a zoo with the humans than the animals. I can't imagine trying to follow three kids with only two adults. So...THANKS!

We had lunch too...chicken fingers and fries. Sam did try the chicken friend bacon (bacon battered then fried)...but complained about it for three days. Oprah said the fried butter was great...but we didn't want to wait in the uberlong line.

We did see Big Tex and talked about a picture, but got distracted and didn't. The fair ends this weekend...so we'll probably just wait until next year. Until then...HOWDY FOLKS!

Marlee & the Cardiologist

2009-10-12T12:00:00.001-05:00

First...I'm going to raise my right hand, place it on my back, and pat, pat, pat. This is three blog posts in three days. I don't think I've done this in months!

Last week, Marlee visited her cardiologist. I haven't mentioned much about it on here. Not sure why...I think I didn't like to talk about the not so good stuff. Thankfully, I have good news! Before I share...I'll back up and explain.

Marlee has a Atrial Septal Defect which is the fancy name for a heart murmur. In non-doctor terms, she has a hole in heart. The hole allows good blood (going out of the heart) to mix in with the bad blood (coming in the heart), so her heart is pumping some blood twice. I'm including a picture (mostly for the family)...the black marker line represents the hole.

This isn't a problem for her now...at least it hasn't presented her any problems. It could explain why she is smaller than the other two. As her heart continues to work more than it should, pumping the extra blood, it would get tired when she is older (like 40-50). So...the hole needs to be gone around her five year old birthday.

We visit the cardiologist every few months for checks, EKG, echo cardiograms...all those words you hear on Grey's Anatomy. In the past, she hasn't been as aware of her environment and it wasn't a big deal. This visit wasn't as easy! She wasn't too pleased as these 17 stickers were placed on her chest.

We love our cardiologist...but we usually have to wait FOREVER to see her. (FOREVER in kid time is like an hour.) This past visit we moved rooms four times and waited an hour to see the doc. Thankfully I expected it and packed not one, but two bags of toys. She LOVED the marker set that Mimi-Lin's friend gave us.

It was worth the wait because the doc thinks Marlee's ASD IS CLOSING ON THIS OWN. YIPPEE! In past visits, we've talked a lot about surgical procedures to close it. This time, she said "let's keep our fingers crossed that it closes on its own." I like that so much better than heart surgery on a four year old. We'll visit again in six months for an echo...which will give us an actual picture of her heart and more accurate view of the ASD. Please pray for closing without surgery.

UPDATE: I just reread this post and I think I had like 20 typos. I wrote it late last night. I can't promise I found them all. Sorry!

It's a beautiful day in my neighborhood

2009-10-11T21:19:00.003-05:00

As the kiddos get older, I'm finding the need to get out and play with other kids. Thankfully our neighborhood has other kids that are somewhat close in age to Beau, Lilly and Marlee's age.

Last week, we went to see Jungle Book at the local Children's Theatre. I wasn't sure how the kids would do...but SHOCKINGLY they sat completely still for the first 45 minutes. The show was only an hour...so the last 15 minutes were a little interesting as the kids climbed around our little group. Thankfully they are pretty cute, so no one got really upset.

Here are the kids before the show.

The role of mommy deserves a little breaktime...so we have pokeno night. I hosted October's game, so we had a little Halloween fun with a costume contest. (If you don't know pokeno, it's like bingo with cards. Notice the pokeno cheat sheet taped to my picture in the background.)

You might remember the great blankie loss from last month. My SUPER SWEET neighbor Sharla replaced our blankies. She even downloaded my handwriting font to her sewing machine and added the kids names in my handwritting. Seriously, could she be any cooler?

When I think of my neighbors, I start singing Mr. Roger's theme song...

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood
A beautiful day for a neighbor

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood
A neighborly day for a beauty

I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you

A BIG Family Weekend

2009-10-10T08:41:00.003-05:00

This past weekend, we flew to Alabama to visit my mom's side of the family. My cousin, Anna, has triplets too. Abbie, Bailey and Noah (also two girls and a boy) are two years older than Beau, Lilly and Marlee. This was the first time the two sets of triplets met.

My grandmother was so excited to have ALL the family together (except Sam, he got sick on Saturday morning at the airport). We've outgrown her house, so we all stayed at a nice hotel in town. While eating my free hotel breakfast, she was telling all the other hotel guest about her TWO sets of triplets. She reserved two pews at church, with ribbons and bows, to ensure we had enough space to sit together. We've grown into a big group of 23 folks!

Here are a few pictures from the event...(most of these are from my cousin Anna's blog)

Marlee is preparing herself for an afternoon of pictures... Lilly LOVES ducks. If you ask her what a duck says (or any other animal with a beak), she will respond "kack, kack, kack." She was trying to 'pet' this one at the park. This thing never moved, so I refocused Lilly's attention in fear of a wild animal bite.

Here are Uncle Denton, Mamaw, Mom and Papaw

with the six great grandkids. Does Beau look like he is enjoying picture time?

(My grandparents only have six great grandkids, in two sets of triplets).

The whole fam (w/o Sam)

Bailey, Abbie, Noah, Anna, Lilly, Marlee, Me & Beau

Updates via iPhone

2009-10-01T22:02:00.005-05:00

As I've mentioned before, I have intentions of taking more pictures with an actual camera, but sometimes the best I can do I quickly take one on my camera phone. I wish I was more like some of my friends with pictures documenting (what I feel like is) each hour of their child's life. Any suggestions from anyone related to how I can remember to take more?

So here are a few snaps into our life via my iPhone camera...

We LOVE being outside. They have become stable enough walkers to allow them to cruise around. Lilly in the sandbox...
Marlee...

Lilly & Marlee swinging. Marlee has a big smile not to be confused with tears.

Applause from Marlee to Pops for our swing set.We've recently started to work with crayons. Marlee has the best grip...Beau still prefers to eat crayons over color with them.

Marlee & the snot (Do you think this picture will keep the boys away in future years?)

We've started having snack at the kids table in our playroom. We are learning to keep our snack in our bowls and our bowls at the table.

Beau 'helping' momma fix the computer so we could video conference with Uncle Chad (in Boston).

Lilly's favorite game these days is open her drawers and pull all the clean clothes onto the floor. So...after a couple of times, I decided I needed a laugh for myself and started using shorts as hats. Marlee loved her new hat. She kept these shorts on for hours and asked me to put them back on whenever they fell off.

Our First Bounce House

2009-09-23T13:25:00.001-05:00

Last weekend was the trio's first bounce house since they've become stable walkers. They loved it! As expected, Lilly wanted out earlier than the other two. I had to crawl in the bounce house myself to get Beau out. (No fun for a momma in a skirt!) They had a great time.

You can see the smiles yourself in the pictures below...
BEAU

MARLEE & LILLY (and another random kid)

MARLEE & LILLY

MARLEE

Goats, Bunnies and Pigs...OH MY!

2009-09-22T13:08:00.002-05:00

Last weekend, we attended a local fair. They had a petting zoo and the trio just loved it! We've seen these animals at zoo, but never this close before. Marlee wasn't afraid AT ALL. Lilly took a second to warm up to the idea. Beau was his usual judgmental self, he walked around and then decided he liked it.

Here is Marlee petting the goat.

All three just taking it all in...

Beau tried to get the courage to pet the llama. He never did, I'm glad...llamas are mean animals.

A rare picture with me and the trio. (I'm usually behind the camera or too busy to ask.)

Lilly tried to pet the ducks and bunnies. They were just too fast for her. She does love the duck and can answer "quack" when asked what ducks say.

I was a super impressed momma. There were other older kids TOTALLY frightened. I'm not sure if we aren't old enough to have fear OR our 100+ lb. lab has taught them not to be afraid.

We are continuing to work on the transition from two nap to one. For us, I'm learning if we stay busy and out of the house...the morning is a little easier. Today we attended the library storytime. Tomorrow, we are checking out a little Gymboree class. Any other suggestions for morning fillers?

Washington D.C., Capital USA - 2009

2009-09-10T10:19:00.005-05:00

Washington DC is one of my favorite US cities. For a few reasons...there are SO MANY free things to see and do, lots of great history and just the impact this small area has on such a big area. Our hotel had the Department of Education, Department of Transportion and FEMA each just across the street (three different streets). I don't want to get into politics...just saying that DC is neat to me.

One of my mom's college friend's son plays for the Nationals. We went to a game to cheer him on. We also went to see the our own Texas Rangers playing the Orioles. I was able to add two baseball stadiums to my list: Nationals Park and Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Now the girls have been to three stadiums.

The girls loved this little ledge in the lobby our hotel.

My first attempt at a Capital picture. Lilly was sleeping, so I just got Marlee. I figured since we were just a couple of blocks from the Capital...another picture later would be an easy task.

Lilly and Marlee unimpressed by the Smithsonian. (We borrowed strollers that reclined, so the girls could nap during the day.)

Samuel and Lilly. Our friends recently adopted Samuel from Haiti. He was SO good with the girls and they loved him.

Marlee watching baseball...

We had a major casualty in the Ford household on Friday night. On the way home from the game, we lost a blankie. We usually keep all pacis and blankies in our beds. However...since the game started at 7:00pm, I had hopes that the girls might nap for a little at the game. I brought the blankies...to aid any possible nap.

The great thing about multiples is...you always have multiples of everything. We cut the remaining blankie in two with scissors borrowed from the hotel front desk. Thankfully my neighbor already agreed to make a couple more for us.

On the train on our way to Baltimore

On the light rail on the way home from Baltimore (The girls were on planes, trains, automobiles, buses, taxis, subways and lightrails...all in one weekend.)

Uncle Heath & Aunt JuliAnne with Marlee at the Jefferson Monument. We took a double decker bus tour of Washington at night. The clouds opened up and rained on us the whole time...wasn't quite what we expected.

The fam...

Lilly with the Washington Monument in the background.

Marlee & Lilly at the White House (Lilly again unimpressed)

Marlee at White House

Lilly giving her Presidential Inauguration speech

Marlee LOVED these Presidential stuffed dogs...we however didn't buy one at $25 a dog.

My last attempt at a Capital picture. We were SO busy all weekend, I didn't have time to get a good picture. (If you look behind the stoplight...you can sorta see the Captial building.) I guess we'll just have go back!

Washington D.C., Capital USA

2009-09-04T23:19:00.004-05:00

Early tomorrow morning, the girls and I are heading up to Washington DC. When I was two, my parents took me to DC. (Mom's favorite story...when I almost peed on Nancy Reagan's new carpet. I was newly potty trained.) During our trip, they took one of my favorite pictures of myself. I can't really say why it is my favorite. (Check out the station wagons in the background.)

For the last five or so years, my family goes an a trip each year to watch baseball. We meet up with some of my parents college friends and their families. When they chose Washington DC, I was in...in hopes that I could get a similar picture at the Capitol with Lilly and Marlee.

Sam is staying home with Beau. He claims that caring for one one-year old will be a piece of cake. I know he'll do great. I'm pretty excited for some one-on-two time with the girls.

Our Red Wagon

2009-09-02T13:32:00.004-05:00

Our Pops, Sam's dad, was SO excited to get these kids a wagon. We received this as a gift when the trio were approximately 2 millimeters in size. Yep...the Christmas I was just eight weeks pregnant, we received a red wagon for the babies. It was a fun gift, but we knew it would be a while before they could use it. Pops dreams came true as he pulled Beau, Lilly and Marlee round and round the yard last night.

Thanks Pops!

Three Tired Babies

2009-08-27T22:57:00.001-05:00

We've been slowly adjusting from two naps to one. My neighbor hosted
playgroup last week...so since the trio would be entertained by
friends...we skipped the morning nap. After playgroup, I planned for
lunch and a long nap. The trio started the nap a little earlier than
planned by me. Yep...all three feel asleep during lunch! We've had
one fall asleep while eating before, but this was a first. Before you
think I'm a bad mom for letting them sit there long enough...this
happened in a matter of seconds. I gave them their lunch, started
making my own lunch...then it got real quiet and I looked up to see
this...

Beau the Hunter

2009-08-25T09:56:00.001-05:00

When the trio turned one, we started to limit the pacifers for bed
only. They also have a taggie blanket for naps and bedtime. When
they wake up, we leave both of these in the bed. Beau leaves them in
the bed with no problem. Then a few minutes later sneeks back into
their room to hunt for pacis and blankies. This morning he had his
and Lilly's blankie with Marlee's paci. You can tell from his smile,
almost hidden by the paci, this was a good hunt!

Please ignore the clothes on the floor. The girls new favorite game
us to open drawers and pull out all the clothes.

Spoons

2009-08-18T10:47:00.005-05:00

On vacation Marlee developed a love for straws and other utensils. (I believe it might have to been encouraged by us when we gave her a straw to play with during dinner.) I figure we need to learn how to use utensils sometime...why not try now. They actually surprised me. Marlee and Lilly get the idea. They mainly dip the spoon into the bowl and eat the little amount that is on the spoon. Beau however preferred to eat applesauce with one hand and hold the spoon in the other.

Here are a few pictures of our spoon trials (yogurt and applesauce)...

This is the video of Beau attempting to eat applesauce with his hand. (I think this is only funny to a mom, so please ignore my laughter.)

UPDATE: The video should we working now...

Family Fotos

2009-08-17T09:51:00.002-05:00

While we were in Aruba, we hired a local photographer to take a few family fotos on the beach. The kids were all distracted with everything going on at the beach, so we didn't one with them all looking the right way. They still turned out pretty well.

What do you think?

Aruba, Jamaica, oooh I wanna take ya...

2009-08-10T13:50:00.006-05:00

Last week, we took Beau, Lilly and Marlee on their first trip to the beach to Aruba. Each year my family takes a vacation...our family of six grew to ten since the last family vaca. (Adding the trio and my sis-in-law JuliAnne.) Thankfully we had seven adults to the three babies. Sam made himself sick a couple of days before leaving...worried about the plane flight. It took two flights to get to Aruba...first a 45 minute trip to Houston and then the four hour flight to Aruba. On the way down the kids did great (I packed a whole carry-on suitcase full of distractions.) We watched DVDs, Sesame Street Podcasts on my iPod and thankfully napped.

Once we arrived in Aruba and checked-in, we were ready for dinner. We looked for the first place available and it was dinner on the beach. Perfect...a built-in playground for the kids!

Sippy cups and sand don't play well together...

Our first steps on the beach

We did lots of walking...Lilly is getting a little help from Aunt JuliAnne.

We took an underwater tour of Aruba...this boat had a lower hull that allowed you to see under the water.

Marlee has developed a love for the fishhook move.

We had a great time! Beau, Lilly and Marlee loved the sand. We spent almost all non-nap time on the beach or in the pool. Our hotel had a lounge (group) of iguanas. Beau would chase them and they would eat his left over lunch
.
On our way home, the babies were a little more cranky. We were all ready to be home. Sunday we all took a five hour nap...which is a record in our home.

July

2009-07-28T10:27:00.002-05:00

WOW...what a difference walking makes. They aren't officially walking, but we do lots of practice at home. Beau and Marlee are probably the best walkers and Lilly just a few steps behind.

These days I'm doing a lot of consoling babies after falls and cleaning up the mess that three one-year olds make. It is really amazing the damage they can do in a matter of minutes.

We've had a lot of milestones that I'm not sure I've documented here. We are officially off of bottles (for about a month now). Giving up wasn't as hard as I had imagined...we phased them out over a month. We eat three meals and one snack each day. We eat pretty much anything...veggies are our least favorite, but we still eat them. We start the meal with veggies when they are really hungry and then add other foods later in the meal.

We LOVE to play. Beau still loves pic-a-boo. Marlee has started to play pic-a-boo with me as I attempt to fold laundry. We love shovels and rakes although we haven't used them for their original purpose yet, maybe we'll try that next week on vacation. We've started sliding down our slide sitting up...in the past we layed down as we slide (the baby slide in our living room). We love books and attempt to read them often. Our favorite game is toss everything out of a basket or tub and then sit in that tub.

We talk all the time. Most of it I don't understand. Marlee says tank yoo (Thank You) and Lilly wak, wak, wak (quack, quack, quack). We can all say mama, dada and uh-oh (our favorite after we push our cups down).

We each have six teeth. The girls four on top and two on bottom while Beau has two on top and four on bottom. Beau and Lilly have both started to cut their molars. I noticed yesterday that Beau has chipped his front tooth a little...not sure when that happened.

July 20...we celebrated Marlee's homecoming from NICU. I still laugh as Sam had said he didn't think the transition from two to three would be as hard as the one from one to two. BOY...was he wrong! However...it isn't has hard as I had imagined. Thankfully we have really sweet babies ands lots of family to help.

July 17...Sam turned 30! He was a little afraid of turning 30, so thankfully a few of our camp friends we able to join us at the lake.

I do have pictures of all of these things, but they are housed on our computer that is still broken. My friend Christian scanned it for 24 hours with no answer, so I've got to re-install everything and that will take a little while. Hope to have new pics soon...

Beau's Bloody Nose

2009-07-21T14:56:00.000-05:00

Last week Beau had his first bloody nose. He was playing in a basket
and as he crawled out...he hit his nose. At first I did see the blood
and started to console him like usual. Then I felt a drip and another
one...YUCK! For a non-nurse momma...I'm not much into blood. I
didn't freak out too much. I turned through my limited number of
medical type pages in my mind to determine how to fix it. I'd never
read about this in a book or discussed with a doctor. I did think
about calling the doc...but I figured I could handle this one and I am
so afraid of being a first time mom type (even though I am). So I
just sat there and wiped the drips until it stopped. I'll be asking
our doc about how to handle this next visit.

We kept our dirty onesie on until dad came home. I wanted him to have
compassion on me after a rough afternoon.

One Year Ago Today...

2009-07-12T08:32:00.004-05:00

Lilly came home from the hospital! (On the morning of Beau's departure...the doctor offered for us to take her home the same day as Beau. I kindly asked for one more day.)

One Year Ago Today...

2009-07-11T08:27:00.004-05:00

Beau came home from the hospital!!

Walkin' Lion

2009-07-10T17:06:00.005-05:00

We LOVE, LOVE, LOVE our Fisher-Price Lions (we have two). Marlee however hasn't learned the art of turning, so when she hits a roadblock...a complete meltdown occurs.

This might give you a little picture into life with three one year olds. Beau is having a little fit in the background, but I can't remember why...

These were taking on June 16 (almost a month ago). We are much better at walking now...actually Beau took his first step on Monday.

Our First Ranger's Game

2009-07-06T20:44:00.004-05:00

Tuesday Night Sam and I took the kids to their first Texas Rangers baseball game. Uncle Heath and Aunt JuliAnne agreed to go along and help us. Sam didn't think the trio could last three innings...BUT even with two really LONG first innings we made it through the fourth. They will have to save the first Cotton-Eyed Joe for another game (the seventh inning stretch song). They really had a great time and thankfully the people sitting around us didn't mind our three babies. Sam and I are both big sports fans...so this is the first of many more sporting events.

On our way in the ballpark...

The girls lost interest in the game...and just wanted to play.
The boys cheering on the Rangers...
The baby version of popcorn...cheerios
Mom & Lilly

Uncle Heath & Marlee
Dad & Beau
The whole group

Lilly's Look Alike

2009-07-02T09:35:00.005-05:00

Almost every day, we are provided with opinions of what family member Beau, Lilly and Marlee favor most. Most people agree that Marlee looks more like me and my side of the family. Beau is usually a toss up between G-Daddy or Uncle Cole, Sam's brother, but my mom thinks he looks like me. The fam all agree that Lilly favors Sam's family...and a lot like Uncle Ty.

Anyway...here are a few pictures of Lilly & Uncle Ty. What do you think?

Uncle Ty

Lilly

Her favorite story

2009-06-30T16:35:00.000-05:00

This afternoon Marlee started looking for her favorite storybook which
must have been at the bottom of the basket. She emptied the basket in
the process. I now I better understand why I feel like I am always
picking up.

Serious Hat Hair

2009-06-29T17:42:00.002-05:00

It has been so HOT here that we rarely go outside. When we do...a hat is a MUST! We don't really like hats, but tolerate them in order to go outside. Beau won the fight after wearing this hat...if he had seen his hair he might have left it on.

A is for Alligator

2009-06-24T14:35:00.005-05:00

During our trips to the zoo, I've started working on the beginnings of an ABC book for Beau, Lilly and Marlee. (I LOVE the idea and only wish I had time to finish it today, along with my blog book.) My friend Laura Beth gave me the idea on her momtessori blog.

Here are few of the recent pictures...

A is for Alligator

F is for Fish

L is for Lion