Christmas Eve

The night before Christmas... and all through the house, not a creature was stirring... not even a... wait... yep, Abby is still awake. She has had a harder day today with several significant meltdowns. I hope that she isn't coming down with something. It sure made the Christmas Eve service interesting... Tom sang in a quartet during the service and it was wonderful... I loved the bell choir too.

And one strange thing I discovered today, Kara is incredibly good at the matching game on our phones. In a last ditch effort to preserve our family-ness at the service we pulled out our phones to let Kiley and Kara play. Kiley doesn't really get it yet and just taps the phone. Kara however actually plays! She went through round after round after round of matching. She was quite upset when my phone died and she lost her game. She didn't want Tom's phone because it wasn't her game.

I managed to get the house back in a little order again, well a few rooms. It's a work in progress. I think it will take awhile. But it's a start. We also opened a few presents and made Christmas cookies for "Santa".

All I want for Christmas ... is for my husband to have a job he loves... and for me to cut back the time I'm working.

I miss being M.O.M.        it just isn't the same when you work full time. Sleep well everyone!

Through the Years...

Merry Christmas everyone! Hard to believe how much they have grown... 

Ponds & Puddles? "Ribbet!"

Tonight after work I picked up a little something at Target.... it went over so well that I am almost regretting the purchase and at the same time wondering if I should have another. Can you guess what that is?

I bet your first guess wasn't a froggy potty chair.... who knew?

 No work for me tomorrow. I can't wait to have a few days home with the girls. My house is so due for a massive cleaning!

Dancing Lights

My girls love the beautiful Christmas lights. They get a kick out of the racing colors and combine that with a little music and you get three very excited girls. Kara I have to say was the most thrilled with the display of lights we went to tonight. I think hormones got the best of me... I was nearly tearing up with Kiley snuggling on my lap, Abby snuggling up close at my side and Kara dancing around to the music. It was pretty special.

Abby had her therapy appointment, we went out for a little pizza and then Christmas lights... Tom had a church choir practice so I took the three home and bribed them to pick up the living room. (fruit snacks are wonderful things)... actually, I think they were more excited about playing play dough (which I let them do if they picked up)

Needless to say it isn't perfect and there is still plenty of crayon all over my walls, boxes and dvd cases strewn all over my living room. But it was nice to have a few small hands put away their toys. (goodness I need to sort through their toys before Christmas!)

I just realized tonight that I have taken 0...Zero... photos of myself pregnant with baby boy. I think things have just been too stressful and wild and crazy that I haven't had a chance. Perhaps over Christmas weekend I can get a few in if it is semi-nice. I was hoping to have some snow to do a few pictures in! So far no luck. It will probably be a brown Christmas this year.

I cannot wait to have 4 days home with the girls! I think they are as ready as I am. My sister is coming to stay with us awhile this weekend to help me out a little (yay sister!!). I just didn't know where to start on my home... so many projects and I'm just so tired
after working all day!

Abby is still up... hopefully she decides to go to bed soon... for my sake!

We must eat! (But do we have to go to the grocery store?)

I think I need to bring my camera with me everywhere.. seriously. I mean... how can it get better than driving three kids through HyVee in a giant.bright.pink (and yellow) shopping cart shaped like a race car. Did I forget to mention that my children are in no means shy.

Kara's favorite thing to do is say hello, and get people to say hello back. So if you are a secret spy trying to blend in, stay far far away. This girl loves to get people's attention. Cranky old man? Busy business man? Fancy pants woman on her cell phone? You can't resist the power of "Hi!" from Kara.

Kiley also enjoys shopping. Her list consists of whatever she can grab faster than I can move away from. Powdered sugar, glass jars of pickles, taco seasoning mix.... watch your things when you are checking out. You never know what you might make it home with! It doesn't help that Kara opens the doors of all the freezers as you walk by thereby distracting me enough for Kiley to grab things.

Abby has become my little shopping buddy, I love going with her most of the time. She likes to look at things, really look at things now and finds the time alone with Mommy wonderful. It's fun to have a 'buddy' to shop with once in awhile. She is learning how things aren't free, that we need to pay for things, and that money takes work to get. I really want her to appreciate what she has and what it takes to get things. I would love to try and avoid my girls thinking they will get everything they see. So far so good!

And if you think of a way to get Kiley to stop throwing trash and other things down my stairs... I would appreciate it. Eventually no one will be able to get in the front door!

Back to Planet Earth...

Ok... I admit it. I miss blogging.

So... first things first. Why the updated name change. Well... as fantastic as Irish Triplets are... we are on to baby number 4 and I doubt he will be as thrilled to be left out of the equation. Yes that's right, baby boy coming this way (really). ((Just in case you didn't already know)

And let's face it... 4 kids under well... 4... can make for a lot, of sleepless nights. Speaking of which, I've been up since 4am this morning, worked all day, had 2 doctor's appointments and then cleaned our basement. I'm tired. This is just an intro post anyways... who actually reads those?

So if you have been missing the blog updates, silly stories, craziness around our increasingly smaller home (and larger family) I will be back. After all, who doesn't get a little enjoyment out of people's faces when they ask if this is your first baby... and you reply, "Nope, Fourth!"

Buzzz

I am the most dedicated blogger in the entire world, I spend countless hours thinking up grand stories and colorful details that will both tickle the senses and shock your weary fingers to life.

I just neglect to sit down and write them most of the time.

Mid July... can you believe it. We have suffered through the torrential rains, smothering heat and already it is mid-summer. I am enjoying a lot of time home with the girls, though I am not the best 'stay at home' mom. I like to GO places and DO things. The girls and I tend to visit the zoo at least once a week and parks almost every day. We go to the mall, to various other events around town. The days we are stuck home, all day... are hard.

Thus we are on the go.

Tom has started getting off earlier which has helped a great deal. Amazing how that hour can make my day so much easier. Our newest family activity is biking. So in addition to walks we now take all of the girls and go for bike rides almost every night. I love it.

Potty training? Abby is pretty much... done with it. We have the occasional accident but it's usually when we are too excited to think about going. Kiley & Kara have also been showing a little interest in it too (Which would be awesome!!!)

We have a new puppy that isn't doing so well being potty trained... I keep reminding myself that it takes time but it can be frustrating. Feebee wasn't so difficult!

Well the flies are driving me crazy, and since I have been up since 530 I am ready to lay down for a bit. Then it's getting ready for camping this weekend!

Rain or Shine?

It took a little while before I found this funny. I guess next time I won't just 'believe' her when she tells me that she got her shoes on. Though technically... she did get her shoes on. I have no idea where the mates of either of these pairs are either.

Crazy day around here. We had a bunch of errands to run and wow the girls were, shall we say a tad crazy? I wonder if Kiley and Kara are teething and that is part of the issue. I need to get a few other pictures up here. We have been busy visiting the zoo, playing in parks, going out for ice cream. A LOT of walks. (We can take up to 3 walks a day that are up to an hour long) The girls have taken to taking turns walking with me. It's cute but it wears me out a little faster because it is just hard to gain momentum when this sweet little thing reaches down to pick the rocks out of the asphalt every few feet.

I am thinking we will visit my brother and sister tomorrow since they are calling for rain once again! UGH! The girls just don't like being cooped up for long. And who can blame them? We let them free and then luck them up again.

Oh and Abby's EKG came back normal (as I figured it would) but had to satisfy the doctors. She was a trooper through it even if she cried during the whole thing on my lap. I love how much more connected we are these days. Two years ago she wouldn't have bothered even coming to me.

Winky the pony, evil baby (thank you Toy Story 3) Rainbow, Starburst, the Tooth Fairy... all a few of her most recent characters. Barbies are required to talk, ponies must have pretties in their hair and the larger light pink convertible is for grandmas (???) Things are much more interesting around here.

She likes to insert the word "imagination" into as many conversations as she can... showing off or learning the meaning? Sometimes I wonder. :o)


Kiley loves to inhale .... and Kara loves to exhale or 'poof' things. It makes dandilion puffs an interesting game. They are slowing down a little on the amount of sand that they eat. (seriously) So at least the diapers have gotten less grainy as of late. Kara loves to hold my hand and walk around with me now (love!) The other night she walked all the way from the school to our home (like ten blocks!) Poor little thing was panting by the time she got home but she wouldnt let me pick her up!

They are also obsessed... with their giant blankets.

The other day we visited my parent's place. I had to pack up the three kids, two blankets and one dog. (discovered I was a diaper short after we got there) So I'm unpacking the girls, trying to untangle the blankets, when the dog Smores (big dog) takes off with my purse! It was unbelievable!

Ok... enough for one night. :o) Sleep sleep sleep! (abby was up at 6:30am... i think she knows which mornings I can sleep in)

Birthday's and Things!

Yay for Mickey Mouse Clubhouse... ok at least it's not as obnoxious as some of the shows can be!

Kiley and Kara are babbling more and more now. Little personalities now and we are starting to see the terrible twos on the horizon (more temper tantrums) Dada, baba, Mama, Bumpa (grandpa), shoes, kitty... those are a few of the words off the top of my head that they can now chitter chatter with.

We just had a wild, crazy, fun, whirlwind, weekend. Tom's family came over to visit and I have come to one conclusion... we need a bigger house! Perhaps that will be in the future, I can't wait to start looking again though the thought scares me just a little. We celebrated Abby's third birthday and she is loving her birthday presents.

It was wonderful going to the Science Center and eating out at a pizza buffet. But mostly we just really enjoyed spending time with family.

What did she get? I'm glad you asked...

Barbie house, Barbie computer, Barbie furniture, Barbie Bike... Barbies... Princess towel, Princess Dresses, a baseball set, ponies, Barbie cars... and a tunnel (did I forget anything? I lose track!) Do you see a theme here?

So she did very well and is a very happy Barbie Princess... girl...

But what I think she enjoyed the most were the people that came to celebrate with her, and blowing out her three candles (the first attempt ended up with a nice layer of shiny spit) Her birthday cakes were strawberry (her favorite this year) and she had balloons too. It was a good time and now we have a whole year to look forward to the next bit.

We bought a zoo pass for families, I believe it will prove VERY useful this summer. We have already been there twice. It is just nice to run around and look at the animals when we aren't sure what to do with the day. We are hoping to go down to a bigger zoo this Summer but we'll see how it goes! We have a lot of plans to get in this summer.

Yum...

Kiley and Kara ate Desitin out of the tub... TUB... and guess who opened it.

I also had to dig chalk out of Kiley's mouth...

Apparently my food isn't good enough?