Two-and-a-Half-Year-Olds

What does one do to survive a summer with three two-and-a-half-year-olds? Keep 'em busy!

Here's what we've been up to the second half of July...

Upon arriving home, after a long weekend with Pops and Nunie, Madison found a picture of them and stared at it for a good five minutes. This was followed by five more minutes of smiling and giggling as she admired the photo and likely cycled through her fond memories from the weekend.

Payson entertained himself by buckling the baby doll stroller around his waist.

We enjoyed storytime at the library with Aunt Negeen and cousins Avery and Addison.

The kids still love babies, especially Madison, so they were smitten with Cathy's baby, Kaitlyn, and Stacy's baby, Beau, at playgroup. Here's a photo of the moms and their real babies and the triplets mimicking with their baby dolls.

At bedtime one evening, I lifted a decorative pillow off the bed only to find a stack of Hot Wheels and a golf ball waiting for me. I had been wondering where his cars went!

Daddy and Payson went shopping at Home Depot, and Payson was thrilled to take his very own shopping cart with him. This is a new weekend activity that we now do to incorporate more fun one-on-one with the kids!

The kids attended their first 3rd birthday party and loved their juice boxes - always a birthday party treat!

We brought out the tricycles for the first time so the kids can start working on their cycling skills. Madison loved it and will be working on strengthening her little legs so she can push by herself.

With a little momentum, Hayden could pedal all by herself a few times.

Payson has taken up golf... with a rake. The poor boy needs some golf clubs!

Picnic at Grandma's!

Payson got a haircut. Although not his first cut, this was his first time in a barber shop and he did great!

We also did a craft that really outlined the kids' current personalities and interests. Each child looked through various toy and child magazines picking out things they liked and wanted me to cut out.

Next they glued and arranged their pictures onto their paper.

Madison was patient and meticulous as she worked independently, gluing each picture one at a time.

The kids each ended up with a general theme by default. Payson's revolved around cars, trucks and airplanes.

Madison's paper was full of babies, both real and for play. She just can't get enough of babies and the color purple!

Hayden's theme turned out to be animals. She struggled a bit with her project due to the sour mood she was in. After we cut out her pictures she spent some alone time in the other room trying to calm down. When she returned she happily proceeded to glue her pictures onto the paper. But something got her upset again when we took a photo of her final piece. By the looks of it, you would have thought that I ripped off her favorite photo or something!

I Do... Twice

I am often asked if I ever get a break. The short answer is, "Not often," but I do have the opportunity to get away a few times a year for weddings. This year it just so happens that two of the weddings were on back-to-back weekends. In some ways, it would be nice to have my "breaks" more spread out, but there was something extra refreshing about having some time away six out of ten days.

This last weekend Pops and Nunie took the kids for three nights. Three nights is a lot with three 2 1/2-year-olds, however, they were not only excited to do it, but they had tons of fun! While the kids spent their days at the pool, pet store, feeding horses, and playing outside, Keith and I got to enjoy several beautiful days with friends in Santa Monica. The weather was perfect and we felt so pampered all weekend simply because we were in a gorgeous place and didn't have to take care of anyone but ourselves.

Upon arriving, I spent some time shopping with Carrie in Manhattan Beach before we went out in Santa Monica for dinner. Here I am with Heather and Carrie.

Celebrity sighting: Molly Ringwald.

The day of the wedding, we ate lunch with friends and checked into our hotel. We stayed with Carrie and Clint a few nights but one night we treated ourselves to an amazing hotel. Check out the view from our room of the beach and the Santa Monica Pier!

Here we are enjoying the view of the ocean and sipping on lemonade to stay cool.

The ceremony was beautiful and Christie and Heath were such a happy bride and groom.

Keith and I enjoying our time away from poopy diapers, spilt milk and early wake-up calls.

So many of my high school best friends were there that we couldn't help but have a blast. I LOVE these guys!

Celebrity sightings: Too many to count!

The next day, we took a jog along the beach, met friends for brunch near the beach, laid out on the beach, lounged and grubbed by the pool and then played football on the beach. Such fun!

Can we stay a few more days? Please?

Here I am admiring the toys in the hotel room. It made me smile to think that, here we are, staying in a 5-star hotel room without kids, and we are still in a room with toys!

That night, 14 of us went out to a great sushi restaurant overlooking the beach. (Can you tell that "beach" was the theme of the weekend?) Carrie and I laughed so hard all weekend and had so much fun together.

Keith and Clint doing some male bonding.

Celebrity sighting: Anna Paquin.

The prior weekend, Keith stayed home to watch the kids so I could go to my cousin Eric's wedding in Indianapolis. We all had a blast and enjoyed having the extended family together. Here is a group of us at the rehearsal dinner venue which overlooked downtown Indy. (Back: Doug, Lonnie, Allison, Craig, Pam, Jacque; Front: Dad, Nancy, Kristen, Negeen, me).

Me and my wonderful Dad.

It took traveling a few hundred miles for my sister-in-law, Negeen, and I to have girl time without kids!

Eric and Ann's wedding was super fun and I spent most of the evening on the dance floor. It's amazing how much energy I have in the evenings when I haven't been caring for triplet toddlers all day!

Not ironically, this week's DMN article is based on my time away:

Taking a break... from the guilt

Celebrating July 4th

We had a fabulous July 4th weekend with our family and I have lots of pictures to share!

On our way home from church we saw that the horses close to our neighborhood were out grazing so we stopped to say hi and feed them some grass from the other side of the fence. Yep, it's always greener over there.

The kids had no fear (well, very little anyway), and they all wanted to feed Thunder. Though they were much too far away at the moment, the kids seemed to be saying, "Pick me, pick me!" as they anxiously reached out their hands toward the patient horse.

Closer, closer... success!

Mommy gives Payson a lift, and some security, so he could feed the horse too.

We've made it a tradition to take a family photo in our red, white and blue outside by our tree that was newly planted when the kids celebrated their first Independence Day. Ironically, the tree hasn't grown a bit. But the kids certainly have!

That evening we went to the 4th of July Celebration in our neighborhood. Cousins Avery and Addison and my brother, Grant, joined us, and I was amazed at how well all of the kids sat and ate their picnic dinner. Keith and I usually split meals for our kids, but we let them each place their own order. Payson ordered a hamburger, Hayden got a hot dog and Madison wanted nachos. There was a lot of food wasted because the portions were so big but they were so proud to have their own order.

After dinner we played near the lake with Pops and Nunie. Hayden insisted on getting dangerously close to the water. The natural Mother in me wanted to keep her from falling into the foot-deep water but the Love & Logic-trained Mother in me wanted to let her fall so she would learn to stop leaning over the edge!

Hayden and Daddy (wish you could see her face full of joy and delight as she played with him)

Checking out the firetruck with their friend, Logan.

Madison giving Logan a hug and kiss (and whispering sweet nothings into his ear) as they parted ways.

The fireman put the kids on the front of his truck so they could play with the bell.

Avery, Addison, Madison, Payson and Hayden

Next up we headed over to the game area. Hayden was intrigued by the super tall man.

Madison loving the bounce house.

And last but not least, FIREWORKS! Payson was a bit spooked at first but the girls loved it from start to finish!

The day before the kids participated in a local craft time and the kids did such a great time decoupaging magnetic American flags.

To our delight, Hayden was both independent and accepting of help.

Payson accepted verbal instruction well and was thrilled to create a masterpiece nearly all on his own. "I do it, I do it" he repeatedly requested in a firm, yet mild tone when I offered my help.

Madison was a bit too interested in the glue but Daddy helped her stay on track. As you can see by her enormous smile, she was extremely proud of her work!

Growing and Learning

Hayden, Payson and Madison turned 2 1/2 last month and I can see three little preschoolers in the making. Although we are still working on obedience (and probably will be for as long as I'm a Mom), they are not only following directions better, but they are interested in following them.

The kids have been taking private swim lessons this summer and have done quite well. Their behavior and attitude towards the lessons are a little bit hit or miss, sometimes loving it and sometimes resisting instruction. But hey, at least they are consistent little human beings and treat swim lessons as they do everything else: loving it one moment, disliking it the next. Life wouldn't be the same without getting to experience toddler mood swings (times three)!

Hayden has done quite well and, once she commits to the lesson, she stays focused and works hard.

Payson usually doesn't want to leave Mommy at first but I simply tell him, "Afterwards we are going to [fill in the blank]" (such as eat a snack, play at the park, etc.) and then he is happy to swim. He does great during lessons when he is not distracted by the other swimmers, planes, birds, etc. He's such a curious little boy!

Madison showed us physically and verbally that she was not happy to participate in the first few lessons. But their sweet instructor was patient and loving which allowed Madison to finally open up and not only take her lessons, but enjoy them! The instructor is great with the kids and even came up with a game of swimming from pool skimmer to pool skimmer so the kids could see the junebugs, and therefore stay focused on swimming, which the kids love.

It has been amazing to see how comfortable they became in the big pool after just a few lessons. At the beginning of the summer they would cling to us in the deep end but now they can, and prefer to, float on their own!

The kids love crafts and the other day, after lunch, Payson desperately proclaimed, "I want to do a craft." Here the kids are putting dried beans on letters I wrote in glue.

Payson is very observant and detail-oriented so despite it being his first time doing this craft, everything was lined up perfectly! Hayden had more fun playing with the glue and Madison did a little of both.

All of the kids love to help but Payson will drop everything he is doing to help Mommy and Daddy. The other day I asked him to go to my bathroom, get the trashcan and bring it to me so I could empty it. I don't know who was more proud, me or him!

It never ceases to amaze me how the kids interpret everday things, and how they often interpret them differently. I told the kids that we would wrap up their food so they could finish it later and Madison literally wrapped up her plate, folding it into thirds. Too cute!

Last week we took the kids to a Fire Safety Town where they got to explore a miniature-sized neighborhood and check out all of the fireman's gear.

Here they are taking an upclose look of the miniature railway crossing.

Payson asked me the name of nearly every tool displayed on the wall. Uh, I defer to Uncle Barry... ask him!

They had a non-operational firetruck for the kids to explore and they loved the freedom of climbing all around inside.

Back to the growing up thing, things that used to be scary aren't so scary anymore...

Well, at least for a few of the kids. Payson was too fearful to join his sisters on the carousel so he watched from the bench.

I'll leave you with my last two DMN Moms Blog posts:

When parenting moves from imagination to reality

Activities with young children: safety first