Seven

This kid turned seven!

Troy was working the day of Griff's birthday and my mom kindly took the three little ones to her house for the afternoon. I finished decorating this pikachu cake right before his party started. Then I realized neither of us had had any lunch... As I put the final touches on the cake I tested my newly seven year old's maturity and asked him to make us something quick for lunch. He fixed us up some KD and I felt like it was my first glimpse of his man-self. Makes me a bit emotional, but also so grateful for this stage... His conversation, humour, confidence... Just being able to equally enjoy one another's company.  

I love you Griffin xoxo

Four

Griff's birthday is coming up this weekend. I probably should get a post up about the four year old birthday we celebrated in January!

My newborn babes....

And in the same order... Four short years later... G - F - S

What a crazy cute bunch they are!

Baby A - miss Gibby (and very VERY proud of that one extra minute of life she has on the other two)... She is so nurturing and the sweetest most outgoing/outspoken child you will ever meet. She is also the most fiery little hot tempered emotional mess you could ever meet... Depends which minute you meet her.  

Baby B - Sunny... who was baby C through the entire pregnancy but managed to squeak out ahead of her brother. She seems to be my most reasonable of the three - maybe it's the blonde vs red hair? She always has lots of cuddles for me and is a sweet little helper.  She's got life figured out and knows how to leverage her supreme cuteness!  (She also enjoys a good diva pose)

My baby baby... Baby C. Fletch fits the bill as baby of the family in many ways. He loves being taken care of and usually prefers to be led (bossed) around by the other kids. He tells me he loves me several times a day and melts my heart everytime. He is still a sensitive guy - as he's been since he was born. Loud noises or getting into trouble really get him upset - although that doesn't seem to stop him from being a very noisy, stinky, goofy little boy!!

(This pic totally reminds me of faces he made as a baby!)

And that's that. Four years. In the blink of an eye!

Optimism

This kid of mine has the profound ability to overwhelm me with admiration and pride at times (when he's not too busy making weird/rude noises, cracking jokes, and being hyper). 

Yesterday at his swimming lesson he got his "half-way" report card. It tells us what swimming techniques he still needs to master in order to pass the current level. Griff still has 5 (of the 13) to complete. While I was reading it to him, two kids from his class kinda crept over and checked out his paper. The one little girl proudly announced that she only has one thing left to do on her sheet. And my reaction was to say "ok guys I don't think griff wants everyone looking at his paper".... And then my confident kid pipes up, "but mom! Look at all the big ones I've already finished!" Not a word or a care about what the other kids might think or what they've done in comparison. Just pride for what he's accomplished so far. Pure, honest, optimism. I was so proud (and humbled). Man oh man I sure hope he never loses this confidence. This awesome positivity! I could learn a thing or two from this goofball. 

UPDATE JAN 15th: that positive attitude paid off. Griffin passed!!!

Nutcracker

I got to do something last weekend that I feel like I've waited my whole life for! Take my own little girls to the Nutcracker ballet! It was as magical and christmasy (if that's a word) as always. So fun to share with the girls (And my mom, her friend Deb, and my auntie Linda). The show wasn't till 7:30 and went till 10pm... But these two sat through it all happily! Great way to kick off the Christmas season.  I hope this becomes an annual thing!

 

Back to School

A little tardy... But here are the kids' back to school pics!

Pretty cute bunch, hey?!

Ssssssnakes

Someone should probably tell my pretty little red haired girl that snakes are scarey.

 

Gibsyn is our most fearless child at the moment - happy to talk to anyone who will listen... And boldly touching this snake's tongue before anyone could suggest otherwise. 

These pics were taken at Reptile World in Drumheller this morning. Now we are on to Camrose!

An Honest Post

I'd start off by apologizing, but the truth is, I'm not all that sorry. I know I haven't been posting much. And it's because of the internal dilemma I have been facing.  Do I spend my time blogging about doing great things with my kids? Or do I spend my time actually DOING great things with my kids? (And do I blog or catch a favorite tv show in the evening?) So I've decided to compromise. My memory is typically not great, and I want my blog to capture what life was like raising triplets plus one.  But I want it to capture what it is REALLY like. In case anyone has been fooled, it is not all jelly beans and rainbows around here.  And yes, we have done a lot of fun things since my last post. But I refuse to sift thru my memory and photos and provide an update. So I'll start with today......

Today the kids woke up at 7 even though they didn't go to sleep until 9. So I let them watch cartoons in my bed until I was ready to face the day. Gasp... Perhaps not star parenting right there. But we had just finished a very active camping trip and I was exhausted (the camping trip was definitely a positive one though - our annual Audette/Cave camp out).

I did manage to get them outside for a bit this morning. And taught fletcher to ride griffin's two-wheeler (no biggie!).... Which was so incredible and I'm so proud of him for being so brave (not to mention coordinated). I'd share a photo but all I've got is a 7 second blurry video cause I figured it was more important to be ready to catch him if he fell than it was to capture that perfect-Facebook-worthy photo.  

Then we had lunch and then gibby freaked out and insisted she skip lunch and go for a nap. Then she puked. Twice. Awesome. 

So I made all the kids have a nap cause griffin had a fever and I figured they could all use a little catch up. Then I checked out my "garden". And found 5 raspberries, a third of the carrots I originally planted, and some almost dried up peas (the Swiss chard I planted didn't even make an appearance). With the help of a good camera and filter, my bounty looks pretty impressive for a first timer though! I chose to forego the life lesson of having my sweet children harvest the veggies (ie fight over how many carrots/peas they each get and subsequently destroy said "garden", scream, cry, fight, and get a timeout)

I love my kids with all my heart and they are all so cute and so funny and unique. They make me laugh and smile and feel full of love every day.  However, I won't deny that I struggle with them daily. With the almost constant fighting, and screaming and crying and non-listening. And with the guilt I feel when I lose my cool, or wish nap time was much earlier than 1pm........ 

Aaaaand Gibby just woke up and puked again so I think that's about all I've got for today. Oh, I should share one nice photo though. Here's one of my kiddos and a couple of my besties kiddos too. 

So if it's a while until my next post, just assume we are busy doing awesome things and dealing with temper tantrums.