The Great Outdoors

We had a blast in Tulsa last weekend! It was a very short trip, but we packed in a lot of fun. First off, after an overnight drive and some sleep, the triplets helped GP plant some winter flowers.

Before long, they took a break for a little reading in the new toddler lawn chairs GP bought them.

Payson and Hayden were soon back to work on their gardening efforts with small spades in hand.

Hayden took a break to snuggle with Grammy.

The weather was beautiful so we headed to a nearby park where the babies got a kick out of the large teeter-totter.

Pure joy!

The following day, Keith's sister, Chelsey, arrived with her three precious daughters. We all went to a pumpkin patch for a morning of fun. We can't get enough of the pumpkins this year!

Hayden on her first pony ride. She loved it, of course!

Madison was hesitant, but Daddy helped her ease into the ride by staying close until she was ready to allow him to back away. Before it was over she proclaimed, "All done!" Cousin Emma and Aunt Chelsey are riding the horse behind Madison.

Payson wanted to save his first pony ride for a later date, so he rooted on his sisters with a handful of cherished pumpkins, three to be exact.

Hayden and GP happily watched the chickens and geese. It cracks me up how she's grabbing GP's face and he doesn't mind one bit!

Madison bending down to get a better view of the goats and pigs.

Hayden was thrilled to see more of her furry friends.

Hayden continues to be so dynamic and expressive. Here she is using a squash as a phone.

Cousin Emma turned two and all of the cousins had a great time playing together at her birthday party. Big cousins Chloe and Mikayla and toddlers Madison (holding baby Cash), Payson, Emma, Max, Hayden and Graham all together for the first time!

Hayden rocking Cash with Daddy's help as they sang Rockabye Baby.

Thanks to Grammy and GP (and Chelsey for watching the kids!) we got to enjoy the Dave Matthews Band concert during our visit. Willie Nelson opened the show.

Dave working his magic.

The concert was really great. No bells and whistles, just great music and talent. Play the video below for a few clips of the show.

Fall Fun!

Fall is such a fun time to get outside. It's especially nice when it's still warm enough to wear short sleeves and feel the sun's warm rays on your face. This week we joined some friends from my neighborhood playgroup at the arboretum to enjoy "Mommy & Me" day and the Great Pumpkin Festival.

Here is Payson giving his best effort to pick up a large pumpkin.


Hayden successfully handles a pumpkin of just the right size.

After getting very sick after our last petting zoo experience (visit Swine Flu? to jog your memory), I swore I would never do a petting zoo with the kids again. Okay, so I knew it would be unavoidable. But when the day came, I was very careful to drench the babies in an antibacterial cleanser. This time, the kids never came in contact with chickens and are at an age where their hands aren't constantly in their mouths. When Madison wasn't brushing her own hair (no, I wasn't letting her - but I did have three kids to keep track of!), she was brushing the sheep's or the goat's hair.

Hayden continues to be absolutely fascinated with animals. She warmed up quickly and was soon petting, hugging, and trying to pick up the animals.

I love this picture of my three little ducklings in a row following Momma. It is really a lot of work for me to do these kinds of activities during the week without Keith's help. Keeping up with three toddlers by myself is borderline impossible. But thanks to the help of my friends, no run-away attempt was successful.


I did have my triplet stroller with us (a necessity, of course), and having the kids in it was my only sure way to get a picture of all three kids facing forward.

We found the perfect spot and set up a little picnic with our friends. No, they didn't sit this nicely the whole meal!


Later that day while I was cooking dinner, it got really quiet upstairs. I sneaked a peak only to find my three darling children quietly reading books to themselves. But when the quiet continued, I went back for another look and this time found that they had rummaged through a drawer that led them to stickers and Band-Aids, a recent obsession. If you look closely you can see Madison trying to put a Band-Aid on her knee.

They knew they were doing something wrong, hence the silence. Payson immediately started cleaning up and trying to put the Band-Aids back in the box when I walked through the door.

When it hit over 90 degrees last Sunday, I knew it would be our last opportunity to take the kids for a swim. It was a little chilly thanks to the recently cooler days and an active wind, but we had a great time saying goodbye to summer. It's amazing how much stability the kids have gained in the kiddie pool since last May. Swimming with them at the end of the summer was much less stressful than at the beginning!

Seriously, can someone get any cooler than this? Backwards hat, shades, chewin' on a straw, no shirt, cargo shorts and camo Crocs?

Payson threatened his cool factor with this jazz move. (Actually this was his graceful save from a potential face plant off the step. What an effort of balance!)

And later when he and Hayden spilled their food on the ground, Payson joined it on the floor to finish what he started. Actually it looks to me like Madison is the mean guard standing watch over Payson as he is forced to eat off the ground like a dog.

It's amazing how much of a boy my little boy is and how much of a girl each of my little girls are. Payson was thoroughly entertained one afternoon with a single piece of bark. He would drop it in the umbrella hole in their picnic table and then crawl under the table to retrieve it only to do it all over again, and again, and again.

Hayden has decided that she wants to be just like Mommy by being a triplet mommy herself. I've tried to tell her that having triplets is not normal but given that a large number of her friends are triplets, she needs more proof.

Then there is Madison who has turned her baby doll stroller (yes, she has designated the hot pink one as hers) into a miscellaneous toy stroller. At press time, the stroller held two baby dolls, a sippy cup and an old honey bear container (which is fought over daily). Minutes later she added two Hot Wheels to the babies' laps. The key to happiness with building her mountain of toys is doing so without getting frustrated as they fall or bounce around out of position.

Each kids' sense of humor continues to get even more charming. The other day Madison turned her stroller into a human bulldozer, attacking Keith at the ankles every chance she got. Play the video below to see her in action (or visit the blog for the video at http://keithandjessica.blogspot.com/2009/10/fall-fun.html):

Barbeculicious

As a throwback to our ol' pre-baby hosting days, we decided to have a barbecue now that the weather is out of the 100's, and we have a wonderful extended patio. Keith laughed when I was taking pictures and said that I just wanted proof that we do things other than just work and take care of kids all day (which is partially true).

We had an awesome turnout and the backyard filled up quickly with friends and their toddlers. We went all out with burgers, hot dogs, chicken, sausage, potato salad, grilled corn on the cob, guacamole, pigs in a blanket, quiche, brownies, cookies, you name it! And that doesn't include all of the yummy food that our friends contributed.

I caught such a sweet moment with Monica feeding Madison, her son Matthew, and friend Sloan. Madison and Matthew were immediately buddies and spent time together playing and talking (aka sharing toys and looking at each other). At the end of the night I got to witness Matthew walk up to Madison and put his arm around her and pat her back. It was too cute!

I honestly don't know what I was thinking! Hosting a barbecue and taking care of the kids is really just too much. But thanks to our great friends, our kids were supervised, fed, cleaned and entertained as needed. I kept finding them in random places doing random things like sitting at this adult table eating off other people's plates while Payson kept putting his sippy inside the dump truck and then tilting it so he could drink out of it at the same time. Given his obsession with juice boxes I am surprised that he wasn't sitting in the middle of the table with the three juice boxes.

I just adore this picture of the Hickey triplets with parents Steve and Candace eating dinner out in the yard.

Here is Hayden sitting across from Payson and talking on the phone. Did I just hear her say "Oh my gah!"

Madison is totally enamored with babies and can easily spend over half an hour staring at a baby and gently holding their hand or foot. Bobbi brought one of her beautiful triplets (starting to see a pattern?), Sophia, and she and Madison were actually talking out loud to each other at one point. IF (did you see that capitalization) Madison weren't a triplet, she would make a great big sister. Once she has all of the words, I am sure she will ask to be one.

This totally makes me smile... the late nighters were all friends we met when Keith went to Harvard Business School, which led me down memory lane of the time when we lived the easy life of going wherever, whenever, however and with whomever. What fun we all had in Bah-ston!

Check out these amazing photos from my friend Betsy. Such talent! I am kind of embarrassed to have them posted so close to my lousy photos. :)

You can see more of her work at Betsy Marie Photography.

Madison... love this girl!

All three playing together with a dump truck, and nicely too! It does happen from time to time.

Payson's hair used to not grow on the sides so we had to give cut it or else he would sport a natural mullet (which is not quite his style). But now that it is growing evenly we're letting it grow messy, I mean, grow out so we can see what his curly hair will do with a little length.

Earlier in the day we attended a friends' 2nd birthday party and Payson, Madison and Hayden were such big kids eating in the grown-up chairs. We had lots of food rolling around and off the plates but, all in all, mealtime was a success despite the lack of a belt, buckles, and such.

Last Sunday Nunie and the girls played dress up with their cousins' princess dresses. They loved it!

Seriously? How can unfixed hair look this marvelous?

Last weekend Keith and I received a very special treat! My Aunt Nancy was having a crazed moment, and she offered to watch the babies so Keith and I could get away for some much-needed alone time. We left on Thursday night for San Antonio and returned home late Saturday afternoon. We had a wonderful few days of wasting time and, often, not even keeping track of the time we wasted! In under two days, we managed to see a movie, workout twice, eat along the Riverwalk thrice, stroll the mall, relax by the pool and chill around the hotel.

The report was that the kids did well at home and slept fine despite a little bug they all seemed to have. It cracked me up because the report on the first day was, "They are perfection! We are having a wonderful time" which changed the next day to, "Everything is going great" which changed again the next day to, "Things are fine, the kids are down, and I am resting." Clearly the novelty wore off and the level of energy went down with each day (if not each hour!). I could very much relate!

The kids are now even closer to and more comfortable with Aunt Nancy, who they exuberantly greet with "hi's", hugs and kisses when they see her. Thanks a million Aunt Nancy for a very memorable time away!