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.

Sports Stars

As the kids get older, I'm really enjoying watching them participate in some sports activities. Until now, sports + me would never be in the same sentence. I'm in awe that any child of mine could do something that requires a bit of athleticism.  I suppose they can thank their dad for these qualities. 

Whether they can catch a ball or not, score a goal/basket/touchdown or whatever else it may be called - my heart is so full of pride watching them try these things.  

The girls ready for their little ballet show. (This is such a dream for me to have two little girls in ballet!)

Griffin's first hockey tourney. That's him on the left. He played with a shaunavon team - and it was incredible their talent and sportsmanship. Such a positive experience!

They gave him an honorary shaunavon badgers hat - he was a very proud kid!

Baseball is starting in a few weeks- everyone has been practicing catching. Except mommy... They ask me to cheer them on while daddy does the throwing ;)

Lately...

We've been doing stuff (despite the lack of posts on our blog). So I thought I'd do a little catch up. I really should get out of the habit of always using my phone for photos... I need to pull out my big canon and get some good shots. Another thing to add to my to do list I suppose. 

We keep getting these beautiful spring days in between snowy winter ones. Just enough to remind the kids how much fun bike riding and warmer weather is. 

My parents saved this big foam packing block for the kids since it conveniently had 4 kid holders. They had fun decorating it. And I had fun sending them out to the front lawn and watching four small people fight over which direction to walk.

We took a much needed, late-winter-mini-vacation to see griffin's #1 destination pick- the Royal Tyrell Museum. It was pretty neat and griff inspired the little ones to be very enthusiastic about all the Dino's!

The kids all started swimming lessons... It's a first for the little ones since at age 3, they no longer require a one-to-one parent to child ratio. We get to sit and watch and it's soooo nice!

Until next time...  

Hitting the Slopes

Today (actually this happened last week- I just didn't publish this post until today!) we were feeling optimistic and decided to take all the kids skiing for the first time. This was actually griff's third time trying it out - so luckily he was able to get up and down the little hill without much assistance. The girls looked oh so cute in skis but were a bit intimidated - by the end they were getting the hang of it.

And my boys loved it. Griff says skiing is his new favourite sport and fletcher was so incredibly relaxed and determined to get down the hill all by himself. The day was better than expected - and it was so great to be able to get out and do something together... Relatively gong-show free!

Griff's Sixth!

My first born is six years old now. Crazy. Six sounds old. And that makes me feel kinda old. But also pretty lucky. I've got a very sweet six year old on my hands who still likes hugs and kisses from his mom. 

Here's the birthday boy and his dinosaur themed cake. (I caught the little ones all in the garage helping themselves to the icing that morning - so there was a lot of green missing and a few holes.Geesh!) 

He had a few friends over for the afternoon and I made the wise decision to send the little ones to my parents for their naps (thanks mom and dad)! I was beginning to think birthdays were the opposite of fun - and I was a big fan of birthdays previously.  This one reminded me why they're great. Griff and I decorated together and setup the Dino themed games... All without rushing, without chaos, just enjoying spending his special day together (Troy had to work). His party went smoothly... And we had family over for supper to finish the day off. That was also a cinch since griff built a new Lego set while I prepped dinner (and waited for the pizza to arrive hehe). It was just so great and I have such a huge appreciation for those little moments where all my focus can be on him... Just like those first few years of his oh so special life. 

Love you Griff. Xoxoxo

3 x 3

My babies turned 3 this month! And for some reason I thought it was a good idea to invite 18 adults and 15 children to help celebrate.  Don't get me wrong, it was fun and I feel very blessed they were surrounded with so much love on their special day. I'm pretty sure something smaller and simpler could be just as fun for age 4 though ;)

Here they are with their very thoughtful and practical gifts from Auntie Natalie and Uncle Mike. 

And wearing there hip little outfits from jade and Jason. (This pic was taken after their hip hop class... Which they absolutely love!)

Special thank yous to auntie and Tara for helping me do all the party/supper prep. And jade for taking griff to the movies that day... And marnie for getting griff to hockey that morning. I'm so lucky to have such helpful friends!! I had made each of the kids their own requested cake (a dinosaur, a mermaid, and a princess). However during the chaos of the party, we cut em up and ate them before I thought to get pictures. I'm sure I'll do better at griffs party in a couple weeks. 

Ballet

I feel like I've been waiting practically my whole life to take my little girls to ballet class... And today it happened!!

I went to turn off the lights in the house last night and their cute little shoes caught my eye

They were very proud in their little outfits and ballet buns :)

And they're lucky to be in a class with their cute little friends. 

Looking forward to many more years of this... And hoping they love it as much as I did!

Santa

We visited Santa yesterday and the kids loved it. It was a big relief that even fletcher was happy to sit on his knee this year. As we were walking up, Santa and Mrs Claus were exclaiming "oh look how big they are this year" which Griffin took note of... And later excitedly told me that "they remembered me from last year!" Sunny was a bit confused as to why she didn't get the toy she asked for right then and there... And Gibby and Fletcher both told Santa they just wanted "treats" for Christmas. 

Kindness Day

I didn't realize Medicine Hat had this annual event until now.  It's called "Random Acts of Kindness Day" (rakdaymh.com) and is supposed to encourage communities to be kind and complete random acts of kindness throughout the day to unsuspecting citizens. In return, you're asked to "pay it forward" and pass the kindness along to someone else.  It was such a fun day!

We planned on going to one of the firehalls and delivering coffee and cookies to the staff there.  After that, we boarded a city bus and rode it around for over an hour and handed out more cookies and some bus passes to the riders. The kids had a great time and learned all about how fun it is to be kind.  I had to explain to Griffin that it is important we be kind everyday... just extra kind on kindness day.  He promptly asked me "if tomorrow is rudeness day?" haha.

Here are some pics from the day.

Family Photo

Griffin needed to bring a recent family photo for a school project the other day.  I figured it was a good opportunity to take a new one of the fam.  The plants in our backyard were really pretty colours so I set up a blanket back there and started taking a few shots of the kids.  I was trying to get them warmed up for the family shot while Troy got home from work and showered.  I thought we could practice smiling and looking at the camera.  These are some of the shots I got... and I was really doubting we'd ever get a good family one!

 Ok, everyone look at the camera!

Ok, look at the camera and show me your happy smiles!!

I SAID, look at the camera and show me your happy smiles!!!  

(I have never seen those faces on the girls before!)

After several of the above examples, I got this one :)

And then, a miraculous shot! This was take #1 with the self-timer. 

My conclusion: my kids dislike when a camera has a person behind it.  Self timer is the way to go!

Halloween 2013

I don't work Thursday afternoons so I was lucky to be able to attend Griffin's kindergarten Halloween party.  It was pretty cute to see! 

He was some sort of Power Ranger robot mega-something-or-other... I'm not sure he even knew the correct name - but he thought it was pretty cool.  I can't seem to convince him to let me make his costumes anymore, but I'll try again next year.  All he wants to be is a store-bought superhero these days!

They had a little school dance for the K to grade 2's.  Griffin and his friend Mason were the most serious "chicken dancers" I've ever seen!

Class photo. 

And the little guys were clowns this year.  Inspired by their goofy personalities and the shoes I ordered online that were waaaaay too big and looked like "clown shoes".

No one suited his costume more than this guy!

Sunny once again decided she didn't need a nap that day.  As you can tell, her mood was slightly affected (she started crying the minute I finished her makeup)

 Gibby was my only clown with makeup still on after trick or treating.  She was very careful to stay in character :)

Clownin' around. Don't worry, Sunny cheered up the minute the first treat went into her bag ;)