Enjoying the Snow!

Wow, I never thought that I would type that!!! I'm a summer girl, but even I have to admit that we did enjoy the winter season for a little while today.

When we bought our house, there were a lot of things about it that we really liked. One thing that we did not notice is the cool sledding hill on the side of our house. The boys got saucer sleds from Santa and we all had a great time using them tonight. They really go fast!! Charlie even enjoyed sledding a bit. He jibber-jabbered the entire time that we were pulling him in the sled. The faster he would go, the more he would talk. Too funny!!

Drew & Jack

Ben

Charlie

Drew, Ben, Jack & Elaina (from next door)

Go Penn State!!!

Penn State is playing in the Alamo Bowl today against Texas A&M. Grandmom Adelaide got all of the boys PSU shirts for Christmas. They are all ready for the big game. Go Penn State!!!

"Charlie Red"

Get it?!?! LOL!! In line with Charlie Brown from Peanuts, we have fun with our Charlie's name. If he is wearing a blue shirt, sometimes we call him "Charlie Blue", or if he is wearing green, he can be "Charlie Green" for the day. Silly, I know, but I hang out with little kids all day, silly works. Well lately, Charlie has been "Charlie Red" quite a bit. If you are wondering why, just look at his really awesome shoes.






My friend Mishelle gave them to Charlie a couple of months ago and he wears them ALL of the time! When she first gave them to him, I started purposely dressing him in outfits that had some red in them as an excuse to put the cool red shoes on him. Now, I don't even care if he has red anywhere else, he almost always has these shoes on his little feet.


If I have any readers, this may seem like a strange thing to post about, but years from now when I look back and see pictures of Charlie wearing these red shoes, I think it will really bring my mind back to these few months and I will be able to picture the way Charlie toddles around anywhere and everywhere in these cute, little, red shoes. Thanks Mishelle!! ;)

Roomba vs. Moonsand

I got a Roomba a few weeks ago and it is turning into my new best friend. I love my Roomba. It is a robotic vacuum cleaner. It is so cool. I turn it on and leave the room and it goes to work and when it is finished, it finds it's little home-base and recharges itself. I know that I got my money's worth out of it just in the boys' room. Their room is so taken up by beds that I can't even fit my regular vacuum between the beds. Not my little Roomba, it zigzagged back and forth under their beds for hours getting 2+ years of dust bunnies out from under their beds. An added bonus is that I am so productive with other household chores when the Roomba is working on a room. I guess I must feel a bit of guilt having the Roomba up there working so hard and me downstairs blogging or something. Pretty soon my house is going to be so nice and clean and organized. ;) So cool!!!

Now about the Moonsand, Ben wanted Moonsand for Christmas. From the moment I heard it, I knew it was a bad idea. Sand just does not belong in the house. Unfortunately, it was Ben that asked Santa for the Moonsand. I begged Ben to be naughty the last few weeks before Christmas so that Santa wouldn't bring the Moonsand. Unfortunately, Ben just doesn't have enough naughtiness in him and Santa brought the Moonsand. The boys used the Moonsand for the first time yesterday. I don't get how this can be advertised as "not messy". Of course it was messy. How do you play with sand, in the house and not make a mess? In fact, I had the boys play with the Moonsand in the basement because I was worried that sand would not be good for my newly refinished hardwood floors. After they were finished playing and finished at their attempt at cleaning up the Moonsand, they played on my computer for a while. This stupid stuff is so messy that the next time I went to use my computer, the mouse wasn't working well at all. I turned it over and the bottom of it was covered with Moonsand! I don't think that I am particularly anal about messes, but, on the other hand, I am not particularly fond of toys that require longer adult cleanup time than child play time.

Here are a couple pictures of the boys enjoying their new Moonsand...don't they look like they are having fun! Be sure not to miss the sand on the floor. Don't let the pretty color distract you, it is still SAND.

So, tonight there is going to be a battle of Roomba vs. Moonsand. May the best "toy" win!!!

Go Roomba!!!

Christmas

Christmas was a success. I can't believe it is over already! It occurred to me how special these next few Chrismases will be for our family. I can't believe that with the boys already being 5 years old that there really won't be that many years left that they will really believe that a special man in a red suit drops all of their presents down the chimney. How could there really only be a few years left?!?!? It seems like we were waiting for them to "get it" forever and now, they are not too far away from really "getting it". That is really a bummer.

But, as for this year... They had a BLAST! They fully believe in all of the magic of Christmas. Each of them must have asked me 5 times if I turned off the fire in the fireplace before they went to bed on Christmas Eve. Jack said that he did not want Santa to "get fired". LOL!

A few weeks ago, they all sat on Santa's lap and put in their requests, or as they say it they gave Santa their "orders". Ben requested Webkinz and Moonsand, Jack requested Webkinz and Aquadots and Drew requested Webkinz and "a surprise". Those requests seem pretty modest and mild on the surface. Ha! Webkinz were no problem, well, no major problem. Moonsand will get a post of its own and Aquadots were taken off the market a few weeks ago, because if a child ate them, it had the same effect as the date rape drug!?!? I had probably asked Jack 20 times before he went to see Santa, what he was going to ask for and he had never mentioned Aquadots. So, I was a bit surprised when he got off of Santa's lap and told me that he told Santa that he wanted Aquadots. I told him that Santa's elves don't make them anymore because kids were getting sick. He said "now why didn't you tell me that before I told Santa that I wanted them for Christmas?!?!". I guess that Jack thinks I am a mind reader!

Here is what the boys ended up getting from Santa:

3 scooters

The Webkinz that they had requested and one bonus Webkinz each, for a total of 8 from Santa

3 saucer sleds

3 books

1 puzzle

3 Power Rangers

Cars Movie

an inflatable solar system

Transformer game

They were so excited on Christmas morning!! Those crazy Webkinz sure got them excited and they have really been enjoying the scooters...mostly on my new floors. They are still making their way through the rest of their loot as well as all of the treasures that they got from their grandparents, cousin and aunt and uncle. It is a fun week.

Here are a few pictures.

Ghosts of Christmas Pasts

Christmas 2002

Christmas 2003


Christmas 2005

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007

So, my sister and her husband are having triplets...

As of today, my sister is 24w3d pregnant with triplet boys! I guess my claim to fame is gone, or at least shared with my sister, which is really as good as GONE! Additionally, since most of the friends that I see often are from my triplet mom's group, my "family world" is on a collision course with my "friends world". It is quite strange if you actually think about it. My sister informed me that she went back and "looked up" all of my old posts in the Yahoo triplet mom's group that we now BOTH belong to. I haven't had a chance to check, but I hope there is nothing posted there that I would not have posted if I knew one of my closest family members would be reading them!

Aren't they cute!!!
June 2007 - They have no idea what they are in for. :)

Really though, we couldn't be more excited to have 3 more boys in our family. It is a really unique situation and we are so excited and blessed to be part of it. I told her from the beginning that nobody was going to enjoy this show more than Spencer and I. ;) At her shower a few weeks ago, we figured out that she, oops THEY, should go through about 24 diapers/day at the beginning. LOL!!



Because a lot of my friends also have triplets or twins (us moms of multiples have to stick together), my boys do not yet understand the uniqueness of their tripletness. Whenever they talk about a new friend, they will inevitably ask me "is he a triplet? how about a twin? wow, he's a SINGLETON, just like Charlie!"...like Charlie is the odd one in the group. The boys just don't get that people do not usually have more than one baby at a time.



So anyway, because of the riskiness of the pregnancy, I did not mention to the boys early on that Aunt Jen and Uncle Craig were going to have a baby, or babies as the case may be. Back in October, Jen and Craig bought a new house. When we went to see it the first time, I had forgotten that my dad had gone over shortly after they moved in and set up the cribs for the new babies. The boys were excited to see the new house and quickly started their own self-directed tour. A few minutes later, we could hear a lot of laughter coming from upstairs. Drew came running down the stairs and said "Mom, you've got to come see the crazy room that they have up here". That is when I remembered about the cribs. Jen was right there so I told her that I had not told the boys about the babies yet and that she should go up and tell them about their soon-to-be cousins. So, she was very excited to share her unique and exciting news. Imagine her surprise when they weren't surprised at all! She said "well boys, the reason that there are three cribs in here is because............Uncle Craig and Aunt Jen are going to have THREE babies!!!" The boys were like, ok, and then they went back to what they were doing.

Too funny! Hopefully, they did not hurt her feelings, but I swear Jen, the rest of us think it is really cool! ;)



I wonder how old the boys will be before they realize that being triplets is pretty unusual. I was watching the boys a few months ago and was thinking about how over the past few years, I considered this whole triplet thing as such a cool experience for Spencer and I. I'm the mom of triplets, not too many people have an experience like that. But that day that I was watching them, I started to think of it a little different, I realized that it is actually so cool for them that they are a each a triplet! It is a part of who they are and will always be. Nobody will care that I am a mom of triplets when my triplets are 40 years old, but it will always be a very special part of who they are.



Jen and Craig, you are in for a wild ride, Enjoy it!!!

Christmas Presents...YAY!!

We received a box in the mail yesterday from my Aunt Mary Ann. The boys get excited any time a box arrives in the mail, but they were especially excited when I opened the box and there were individual presents for each of them, with their names on them. The boys opened their presents and they were excited to get cars from the Cars movie. Charlie received a cute little piggy book. It was the "this little piggie went to market, this little piggie...and on and on". It came with a cute little glove puppet showing a piggie on each of the fingers and matching to the little piggies in the book. Charlie thought it was pretty cool...that was until we got the boys' Cars cars out of the packages. They are the sort of cars that they push down and pull back and then they take off on their own. These are really cute because they each do something a little different. So, the boys were playing with the cars in the hallway and as soon as Charlie saw them, his eyes about popped out of his head. He was so excited. He would run up as soon as one of the boys would let their car zoom and he would grab their car. The boys are great with Charlie and understand that he is a baby, but these were their new cars! They would let him hold it for a second, but then lose patience. It was not a pretty scene. Funny, but not pretty! Thankfully, it was just about nap time so, the boys were able to play with their cars in peace for a long time.

Below, is a picture that we took tonight of the boys with their cool presents from Aunt Mary Ann. Much to the disappointment of Charlie, the boys were all holding their cars and no spares were laying around. Charlie's cute book is on the floor in front of Drew.

Lucky for Charlie, the boys went up to put their pj's on a few minutes later and 2 of them left their cars for him to play with. Now he is a happy boy!!! A happy boy with macaroni and cheese on his face, but a happy boy none-the-less.

Thanks for the great presents Aunt Mary Ann and Ed!! ;)

I love Thursdays!!!

Thursday night is "Date Night" in our house. Ever since the boys were infants, my mom and dad have come out every Thursday to watch the boys. I guess that I should clarify that they come out every Thursday that they are not on vacation. Now for most people, that would not even need to be mentioned, but my mom and dad do like to vacation a little more than most people. Anyway, Thursday night is Date Night and it has got to be just about the coolest thing ever!





They usually get here about 3:30 so that I can run some errands and they want to leave by about 8:30. This also allows Spencer and I get a chance to go out to eat, in peace, once a week. Besides the obvious benefits of being able to schedule hair cuts, do a little shopping, get a pedicure, etc. and not to mention how awesome it is to be able to have a quiet dinner with my husband that we don't have to worry about one or more of the boys being DONE before we are actually finished with the meal, there is one more really cool benefit that I had not considered when this whole thing started.

It is so cool to watch someone else play with my kids. When my boys were really little and Spencer still worked in the city, most of the days were spent with just me and the boys. I hate to say that I got a bit tired of them, but I am sure that they got more than a little sick and tired of me. During this time, I think that I lived for Thursday afternoons!!! You would think that I would be waiting by the door with my coat and purse for my mom and dad to show up and then run out the door. But, because I am not that organized, I usually had to hang around for a bit getting my stuff together. In the process, I would end up watching my mom and dad take care of and play with the boys. It was really fun to see my mom and dad enjoy them so much and to see them appreciate all of the great things that the boys were doing and learning. If you are ever sick of your kids, watch someone else enjoy them for a bit. My mom and dad would get so excited about the littlest things that the boys could do that I probably hadn't even really noticed. I would get myself so wrapped up in day-to-day stuff and just work on getting through the day that I would sometimes forget to take a step back and really appreciate what cool little men that we have. So, in addition to some shopping/pampering and dinner with a cute guy, by coming to play with my boys every week, my mom and dad were giving me a fresh outlook and renewed energy to make it through another week. See why I love Thursdays?!?!?!

Some of my triplet mom friends say that I am spoiled because my mom and dad come 'every' Thursday night. And, they are right! It is an awesome gift that for which I will always be
thankful. Thanks Mom and Dad!!!

A Divided Family

Obviously, Spencer is a devoted fan to the sports teams of Philadelphia. In fact, for a wedding present, I got him Directv, with a subscription to the NFL Ticket so that he could catch all of the games of his precious Eagles. Eight seasons later, he still loves his birds and doesn't miss too many of their games. He, of course, feels the same way about his Phillies. Although I wouldn't be considered as serious of a fan as Spencer because I usually find other things during Bear's games. The mall is usually nice during Bear's games. ;) I also always have high hopes for the Cubs as each season starts...this might be the year, lucky 100!!!

Superbowl Sunday 2005

Anyway, each of our "big boys" have already chosen their favorite teams. Charlie is apparently leaving his options open for the time being. Ben has declared himself a Phillies and Eagles fan and Drew and Jack have decided to be Cubs and Bears fans. When the boys were younger, Spencer and I used to wonder how this would pan out. I am around the boys the most...and buy them stuff,...and feed them, so, I really could have put pressure on them to be Cubs/Bears fans, but I didn't, and that probably wouldn't have worked anyway. Spencer's friends from the East Coast LOVE to buy the boys Phillies and Eagles stuff, but that didn't phase them either. The Eagles went to the Super Bowl when the boys were almost 3 and the Bears went to the Super Bowl when the boys were almost 4, but that didn't matter to them. The thing that made the decision for them was.....



PIZZA!!



Pizza is a topic that has worked its way into many conversations in the our household. Being from Chicago, I obviously only get Italian sausage on my pizza. Spencer being from, well, someplace else, prefers pepperoni on his pizza. The boys asked one day why 1/2 of our pizza is always sausage and the other 1/2 is always pepperoni. I explained the obvious answer to them. People from Chicago like sausage on their pizza and people from Philadelphia like pepperoni on their pizza. From there, the little wheels started to spin in their busy brains. People from Philadelphia like pepperoni on their pizza....people from Philadelphia like the Phillies....people from Philadelphia like the Eagles....pepperoni is MY favorite pizza so, the Eagles and Phillies must be MY favorite teams. And, visa-versa for my sausage lovers.



You think that would be the end of it. But, Drew started out as a Pepperoni/Eagles/Phillies fan, but, as he tells it, when someone asks him if he is a Bears fan "Well, I used to like the Eagles, but one day I had a bit of sausage on my pepperoni pizza, so, I tried it, and guess what??? I LIKED IT! So, now I like sausage pizza and I'm a Bears and Cubs fan". People are usually pretty confused, but he explains it perfectly as far as I'm concerned.



You may think that we are lucky that none of the boys picked a different team as their "favorite". Well, we could see that coming last year when Jack got very interested in watching basketball and football. He would pick who he wanted to win by the score of the game. He would always pick whichever team was winning and "change his mind" as needed. In fact, he was watching Illinois lose an important basketball game and insisted that he was rooting for the other team. Spencer told him that we should want Illinois to win the game because Uncle Craig went to school at University of Illinois. Jack's response was that "Uncle Craig should root for Illinois then, but my favorite team is the one that wins!" Anyway, one day, we explained to the boys that the choices for favorite teams are the Cubs, the Bears, the Phillies, the Eagles, the Bulls and the Sixers. When they are 7 years old, they can pick a different team if they would like, but until then, those are their choices. We were afraid after listening to Jack that we were going to end up with a lifetime Patriots/Yankees fan because of a bad decision a 4 years old.

So, that is where we stand...for now. ;)

Gentle Ben

Ben is our 'Baby A'. Other than for a day a couple days after he was born, he has always been the biggest of the boys. Somehow, Drew beat him by a couple of ounces at birth (3lb9oz for Ben, 3lb11oz for Drew and 3lb4oz for Jack), but Ben gained those ounces quickly and never looked back. Most people, that don't really know the boys, remember "which one" Ben is because he is quite a bit bigger than the "other two".





For me, the thing that distinguishes Ben is his gentleness. You will never meet a person that has a more gentle soul than our Ben. It has always amazed me, and everyone else, how kind and gentle Ben is. Since Ben has always been quite a bit bigger than his brothers and he has also been the most physically advanced, he had a real opportunity to show those brothers who was boss. When the boys were still very young and Ben could walk and Drew and Jack were still scooting and rolling on the floor, he would go out of his way to not step on them or steal their stuff or hurt them. It was amazing. Everyone says that babies that are only a year old have no comprehension of other people and their feelings, well, Ben did! As Drew and Ben got a little steadier on their feet, Ben understood and was careful around them. Jack, on the other hand, with not a lot of coordination and 2/3 the size of Ben, would not think twice about tackling anyone that got in his way. Jack and Drew would have been so screwed if that was Ben's approach. When Ben wanted a toy that someone else had, he figured out that if he tossed a toy in their direction, maybe they would get interested in that toy and he could have the one that they were finished with. He was not even 2 yet when he was doing this. I couldn't believe it the first time that I saw him do it, I thought it was an accident, but he did it many times and was very deliberate. The affection and care that Ben shows to Charlie is also remarkable. He always stops to give Charlie some lovin' or to help him out. Ben really is a "Gentle Ben".





So anyway, I got a call from the school nurse a couple of weeks ago. She told me that she had Ben in her office and he was very upset and complaining about a stomach ache. It was actually Ben's first day back at school after being home for 2 days with a stomach bug. I thought it was really strange that he was not feeling well again considering he had been fine that morning and had not thrown up in over 36 hours. On the way to school, I began to wonder if there was something else that was bothering Ben. As I was walking into school, his kindergarten teacher (who is awesome and we love!) was rushing by the front door. She saw me and told me to wait a minute because she was going to talk to Ben. It seems that after Ben went to the nurse's office, it came to her attention that Ben might have had his feelings hurt by another little boy and she wanted to talk to him and figure out if Ben was really feeling ok, but just sad. It turns out that she was right and his tummy was ok. She helped him feel better and he went back to class. A while later, I was telling my Dad the story and his response was "not BEN, how could anyone be mean to Ben?!?!", my sister had the same reaction. She was about in tears that someone would be mean to BEN. She said that if it was Jack or Drew, she would not have liked it, but those things happen. She just couldn't figure out how someone could be mean to Ben when he doesn't have a mean bone in his body.





I hope Ben stays this gentle and sweet forever (minus the part about having to go to the nurses office when a boy says something mean to him). My guess is that his sweetness and gentless will not change because it is a part of who he is. What he has cannot be taught, it is a gift. Aren't we lucky to have him!!!

Christmas Traditions

The boys came home from kindergarten with a home-school connection assignment, aka homework. Their assignment was to draw a picture and write a few sentences about their family holiday traditions. I was pretty impressed with the results. They did it all on their own, with the exception of me spelling a few words and writing out what Ben wanted his to say. Here is a copy of each of theirs, with a translation.

"It is fun when its Christmas! I love when I visit Santa Claus and when I go out in snow and when I get Christmas presents and we are good boys. "

Jack

"This is my family and we are celebrating Christmas. We are decorating our Christmas Tree, those are stockings. This is how we celebrate Christmas"

Ben

"When it's winter I docurate (decorate) my Christmas Tree and all about Christmas. Christmas is a holiday that we all get toys and we thank God for all toys and the best about Christmas is Santa The Lory about Christmas is we thank God fory toys and the song Joy to the World. Have a merry Christmas for a happy new year."

Andrew

The story that made me realize that I really should be writing this stuff down...

The boys have never really been into "lovies". They each have had stuffed animals that they really like, but they have always had several "favorites" at a time. Each of them pick 2 stuffed friends to sleep with each night, but those 2 friends change every night. They have never really been that attached to any one stuffed friend...that was until Drew fell in love with this little dog.

I don't even know where it came from or when it showed up in our "zoo" of stuffed friends. But, one day, Drew declared it his favorite and named it "Winnie". Big deal....right?...wrong! Our boy genius, that has been reading and sounding words out since he was 2, pronounces Winnie's name as "Wienie". Still not a big deal; unless you consider the fact that he loves to talk about his favorite stuffed friend with other people...lots of other people. And still not a big deal unless you actually listen to him.

It really hit me one day when I sort of overheard a conversation that Drew had with one of the employees from where I used to work. This happened when Drew was 4. First of all, Drew does not usually just call him Winnie, it is always "MY Wienie". So anyway, a lady that I used to work with was showing Drew a picture of her pets. Drew was quite conversational. His end of the conversation went something like this "My Wienie is my pet", "My Wienie is a girl", "I really love my Wienie", "I sleep with my Wienie". My ex-co-worker must think that we are nuts! It is just crazy how Winnie works his way, oops, her way into so many conversations. My sister and I were getting together for an afternoon last winter. Spencer told the boys that it was "boy day" at home because Mommy and Aunt Jen were going to do "girl things". When I was getting ready to leave, Drew came to find me with Winnie. "Mom, you have to bring My Wienie with you to go out with Auntie Jen because she's a girl, Mom. Did you remember that My Wienie is a girl." How could I forget!

The truth of the matter is that Drew loves "His Wienie" very much and we are happy for him. I wish that he would have chosen a different name, but maybe it will all be worth it on the day that he reads this entry with a full understanding of what a wienie is usually referring too. Love ya Drew!!!

You have to start somewhere...

Living in a house with 3 - 5 year olds and a one year old, there are always a lot of things to laugh about. Unfortunately, by living in a house with 3 - 5 year olds and a one year old, I am usually too busy or tired to remember the funny incidents or to write them down. My purpose for starting this blog is to have a place to quickly note the funny and/or interesting things that happen in our family, on a daily basis.

Today when we were leaving church. Jack said that he saw the "car line teacher" in church today. We had a little conversation about this and I asked Jack what the "car line teacher"'s name is. He told me that he didn't know, but he knew for sure that the lady in church was her because "everytime I looked at her, we smiled at eachother". The story is especially cute if you look at the of Jack to the left and can imagine him turning around in church several times with this look pasted on his face for the "car line teacher". So sweet!!

Chicago Triplet Moms Blog Roll...

Outnumbered Mommy
Ben, Jack & Drew, Born 2002
Charlie, Born 2006
Parents are Kelly & Spencer C.

TRIPLE BLESSED
Liam, Aidan & Connor, Born 2008
Parents are Jennifer and Craig S.

The Triplet Mom
Hannah, Emma, Sarah, Born 2000
Parents are Laura and Stan M.

Three Little Monkeys
Logan, Emmerson & Broday, Born 2007
Parents are Shelli & John K.

The Cley's Clan
Abby, Josh, Jack, Born 8/26/08
Parents Samantha and Chris C.

PB&J Time
Peyton, Brett, Jackson, Born May 2008
Parents Jody and Tate

The Burke Triplets

Sean, Luke & Charlotte, Born August 2006
Parents Deanna and Jeff

Payne Management

Georgia, Benjamin and Dashiell, Born July 2009
Jack born 09/21/05
Violet born 02/17/07
Parents Erin and Ron

Where Chicago Triplet Mom's go for FUN!!!

If you are a triplet mom from Chicago...that BLOGS!, and you would like to be included on the blogroll, leave a comment with your info. I will be happy to add you to the list. Also, feel free to grab the fun blue button for your blog. Just copy and paste the code (below) into your blog.

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