Pics from this week

On Sunday we had a little get together with Mike's family to celebrate Lauren's 11th birthday. I still wasn't feeling my best but I pulled it off. Lauren wanted a different kind of cake this year....a chocolate chip cookie cake. I decided that I could bake it myself and I did. It turned out pretty dang good if I say so myself. I made my buttercream icing for the decoration.

































Uncle Gary and Aunt Melisa's gift came in the mail for the boys on Thursday. I made the mistake of unwrapping it for them and then I was on the hook to put it together.
It first started off with a temper tantrum (not from me)

















Then I finally got it together after about an hour...I had sooo much help!

















And to end this post with some hope for me...boys in underwear! I'm not potty training the boys very seriously at this point, but Ian had a diaper change before bed last night and had asked to wear underwear!! By all means....then all the boys wanted underwear. Phase 1 completed. Travis and Ian wore underwear this morning and both had accidents (totally expected) even after asking a million times if they had to go potty and sitting on the potty just as many times. So what I learned today is that I think I'm going to have to potty train one at a time or have two other people to help so that we can have 1:1 odds. There is no way that I can potty train all three by myself.

Ian getting a little crazy

My sweet Valentines

Here is another week where I'm down to the wire on my weekly post. It's been a rough week. Mike was on a business trip in San Antonio and while I wasn't feeling my best when he left, I got much worse. I encouraged him to stay and finish his trip, but he insisted on coming home a day early. I'm so glad he did. I was pretty much incapacitated by Wednesday evening. Today, I'm not 100% but am pretty dang close as I baked a cookie cake and wrapped up three racks of ribs for marinating.

On Friday, Ms. Lauren turned 11. She is an amazing young lady. Mike has been doing everything this week and got to spend a little more time with Lauren. It's been good for both of them.






















A couple weeks ago we had the kids pictures done by Jennifer Mazy. Of course, there is usually one boy that is not wanting his picture taken and this time it was Travis, he has only one individual picture and he isn't even looking at the camera. But we got some pretty cute group shots.






Logan, Travis and Ian

























Until next week...

Ice daze

This week has been one of the weirdest ones since I've lived in Texas. Early Tuesday morning it began to sleet and continued to sleet apparently for many hours. When the boys woke us up at about 6 a.m., everything was covered in a couple of inches of ice.

This is our alley. I couldn't get out of the door to take a picture of the road (ok I could have, but remember is was really cold).













As expected there was no school for Lauren on Tuesday. There was no playing outside as it was too cold; about low 20's. (Now remember my last post where we were wearing shorts...um yeah that was how the weekend was).
Wednesday wasn't any better and again no school. Thursday was a little different, again no school, but the forecast was snow. And they were right...ok they were right about snow. They predicted 1-3 inches....we got about 4-5 inches ON TOP OF THE 2 INCHES OF ICE! Dallas is not equipped for this type of weather and we are hosting the Superbowl this weekend but that is a whole different story. At this point we have not hit above 30 degrees since Monday evening and I'm thankful that I have two fully stocked fridges/freezers.

So what do we do to keep ourselves busy while stuck inside for 4 DAYS???!!
We have our first hot chocolate!

















We take pictures of the snow.

















We play Cowboys!

















We put laundry bags on our heads and run around the house!


















































We play with Sissy!

















We play with playdough!

















Lauren told me about this "big hill" they were going to slide down! Gotta love my little city girl!

















And lastly, we have a sleepover with our very bestest friend and play games!

















Today was in the high 40's. Most of the snow and ice are gone and we made out way out of the house and to the mall...with everyone else! I would love to say that this weather is coming to an end, but as Lauren's teacher has pointed out to me this afternoon, we are expected to get more snow tomorrow and again on Wednesday (100% coverage). Snow I can somewhat handle, ice I cannot!
And I'm sure you're noticing that there are no pictures of the boys outside. Yes, I kept my boys inside and out of the freezing temps this go around. They refuse to keep their mittens on and even if their hands are cold and wet, they continue to play and will kick and scream to stay outside! I have learned to just "not go there"! Now if it snows this week I may have to bundle them up.....maybe!

Our new "toy"

We are having some gorgeous weather here this week and on Wednesday I thought it would be a good idea to take the boys for a short walk, perhaps down 2-3 houses and turn back. Well, Mr. Ian had another idea and he took off running down the sidewalk, while Logan and Travis were walking at a snails pace. They were about 30 yards away from Ian and I had to chose where I was going to go. As Ian was approaching the alleyway I ran for him and caught him and took him back with the other two. What the hell was I thinking when I said to myself "self, let's try this again?" Logan and Travis were a bit faster this time, but so was Ian. I'm sure the neighbors really enjoyed seeing me run my ass off and listen to Ian screaming all the way home!

I knew there had to be a better way. So I started researching shock collars walking ropes. They are about $20. I was sure I could make something similar. I had a great idea of taking a jump rope and putting knots in them for little hands to hold onto. Mike tells me that he has rope in the garage and will make me a walking rope that night after the boys go to bed. My hero!!

We walked around the house with the rope on Thursday and because they did so well with it they all got M&M's.

Now...the test run on Friday afternoon!!! It was 74 degrees yesterday so when Ms. L got home from school I recruited her into helping me take the boys for a walk.


Success!!!! They had to take turns who was going to be the last one and then all had to take turns to lead!! Whatever! It was such a nice walk, a complete 180 from Wednesdays walk.

Keep up the good work boys, we might be taking this to the mall now since you won't ride in your strollers.

Kind of boring week

It's been cold here this week and we've pretty much stayed inside. The forecast is low to mid 50's for the next 5-7 days so I'm excited about being able to get outside and play a little bit.

I think the boys have a little bit of cabin fever going on. There is a lot of fighting between these boys. Whatever Ian is playing with is his and whatever his brothers are playing with is his too. I don't know how I'm going to break that boy of stealing his brothers toys. Logan is continuing to come out of his shell. He's using his words a lot more and being more interactive with people other than us. He is also showing his temper; throwing toys or whatever he can find when Ian takes his toys or if I say "no". Travis has kind of switched with Logan. Travis used to be a little more outgoing but he has become quite the loner. He too is showing his temper/frustration with his brothers taking toys and not being able to use his words to get what he needs/wants. My days are breaking up fights, putting boys in timeouts and trying to have some type of structure so we can "all just get along".

Lauren is doing well in school. Report cards came home yesterday and again we have A's and B's. Her 11th birthday is coming up and I need to get on the ball on scheduling some type of party for her.

Mike and I have been discussing that the boys are probably ready to go see a movie in a movie theater (but am I???) Not exactly sure when that will happen but I'm sure there will be a story/post about that one!

I can't really write a post without a picture and this is all I have this week. We were watching a movie in the living room (Toy Story 3 I think) and eating popcorn and lounging!

First snow of 2011

First off...can I say that I'm keeping with my goal of at least one blog post a week!!! Hooray for me.

Before we get to the snow pics, thought I would share my trio wearing their (ok my) favorite shirts. This is the second set of t-shirts as they grew quickly out of their 2T's. I got these shirts from another triplet mamma and she has her online shop at CafePress.com and you can get them here.

















Dallas doesn't get snow very often and when we do there are always snowball fights and snowmen to be built. Here's Lauren thinking she can hit me with a snowball. Unfortunately there isn't a picture of me pelting her with one or perhaps two.

















Here's Lauren and Ian. Travis and Logan were asleep while everyone was outside playing!

















And I'm sharing this one...cuz it's so darn cute even if 2 out of the 3 have their eyes shut!

















Whew...I made my deadline. There you have it friends and neighbors!

First post of 2011 (1 of 52)

The holidays have come and gone. It was nice to have some of my family here for the holidays. The tree and decorations are put away and we are getting back to our every day lives.

2011 is here! Lauren will be turning 11 next month and the boys will be turning 3 in June....and I'm feeling old.

Before Mike went back to work we took the kids to the Heard Museum. It has several hiking trails that you can use and a small trail to see dinosaurs as well as a small inside area to view bugs, rats, snakes...all those cute little buggers.













































































The kids really enjoyed the time at the museum, although the T-Rex scared Ian just a bit and he had to be carried away.

Not a bad group picture!
















As a side note, I'm going to try to post at least once a week for the entire year.