Feb 18

For the Joy of Christmas

Now that we are a month and a half past the Christmas season, I am finally getting around to writing a blog about it off all my random notes over the past three months. As usual Christmas season went by in a typical blur, filled with overly cold temperatures and the normal Alaskan darkness, Christmas lights and decorations, lots of events and activities and goodies to shove into a short amount of time, and the usual terrible family chest cough.

If you overlook the fact that our household had a detrimental cough for probably six weeks, rotating through family members who also enjoyed ear infections…it was a pretty good holiday season. I tried to find a few random events to attend this year, something new for the girls to enjoy. With that in mind, I found an afternoon tea with Mrs. Clause event out in Wasilla; and we trekked out there during a super windstorm and subzero temperatures for it. You can’t really tell from the photos, but all three are sporting sweater dresses with arctic animals on them, including an arctic seal! To Harper’s delight, a “seal dress” really does exist! The whole thing was very cute, in a decorated greenhouse, and our host’s adorable daughters served the tea and treats and helped the girls try on all types of jewelry, hats and accessories. Craig and I attempted to convince them to eat the cucumber sandwiches but they only wanted the tea cakes and cookies…and not the mint tea either (which was delicious!). We made it through the entire event without cracking any fancy teacups; a win in itself!

The girls all had time to chat with Mrs. Clause, opting to go up there without mom or dad and have a nice conversation. I managed to overhear the request they wanted delivered to Santa, for fancy fans in their colors. Luckily this was early enough to order before Christmas, and they definitely noticed their request was accepted on Christmas morning.

Other December highlights include their winter gymnastic show, evening dance show, and school Christmas concert. Craig and I misunderstood our participation in the gymnastic show and received some angry looks from our tiny humans when we showed up late, but luckily their teachers ran through their routines afterwards so we could see their new skills. All three continue to improve, but I am still pretty sure they do cartwheels just as well as I do (and that’s not really a compliment!). The winter dance show is just an evening in the studio, watching all the classes do their routines. All three (and me as well) dry coughed throughout the entire thing and both their routines, but we made it through (I ate half a bag of cough drops, but we made it!).

Their Christmas concert was fantastic, and I enjoyed another bag of cough drops to sit through it- well worth it! Everyone wore matching dresses again this year, dresses not purchased at Costco like in years past for half the school. All three participated great, and finished up the show with the usual silly faces and Emerie’s kissy lips and tongue sticking out. This is one of my favorite events of the year, and all three did great! By the end of the evening everyone was happy but maybe a little overstimulated, and our smiling family photo was more realistically a half smiling Emerie, ready to go home and put pajamas on in peace!

Speaking of that and not to be overlooked, this winter a refocus on kindness and being kind to each other is a daily conversation. Age seven crossed into a new development stage with three growing girls that can be the kindest, sweetest human beings on the planet when they want to be…and then flip a switch and be an angry, sassy, foot stomping and irrational rage machine. The three can be the best of friends, and then turn on one another in an instant. I’m sure that isn’t news to anyone who is raising children, but it certainly dominates the mood in the house upon occasion, and Craig and I are trying to re-enforce that being kind and speaking kindly is important, and any other way is not acceptable. It seems like a never ending rotation these days, but I hope there might be an end in sight before the pre-teen years are upon us. I guess we shall see, one way or the other.

We are also beginning to see when other kiddos want to play with a certain sister, and then start to exclude. This isn’t all the time, but definitely more noticeable now than a year ago, and it directly correlates to hurt feelings and those unkind words I just wrote about! Over Christmas break the girls spent a lot of time together, more than normal without school days, family visiting, and the cold outbreak, and some hours each kiddo is exiled to a completely separate floor of the house to reset and get a break from sisters. They are also starting to ask us to make iPad phone calls to a small group of friends, and it is so fun to quietly listen in the background to their conversations. Reagan is the most excited by this, and will do crafts “on the phone” with one of her friends, talking up until dinner time. Harper and Emerie are most inclined to call grandparents, but friends are likely right around the corner.

This year the girls worked hard on their Santa requests and we encouraged them to write everything down multiple times. When we visited Santa at Cabelas, they handed them over nicely and then tried to explain them. Santa might have handed those back to me when we were done, inconspicuously of course. We are in a really fun age where they can articulate what they want, and typically written in their own creative spelling. I might like that part the very most! Many evening discussions centered around how to spell something, or what the word they want to write was. For example, Harper badly wanted a Sophia the First amulet, but struggled to figure out that word and it took a bit for us to figure out what she was trying to say. Variations of amulet were on all lists, and she was thrilled when that showed up Christmas morning, and in pink instead of purple! Other requests were harder to obtain, and of course Santa doesn’t buy everything on a list, only one or two things that he think are okay, and the girls accepted this theory. Almost nothing this year was in triplicate, other than buying something similar but in their separate colors, or for the stocking stuffers.

Christmas morning itself was the usual loud, exciting chaos. Preparations the night before were smoother than in past years, as I wrapped the majority of presents throughout the month of December and before Christmas break began. The girls notice more details now in years past, so to ensure the magic of Christmas fun lasted another year, I made sure to only wrap Santa’s presents in specific wrapping paper, and ones from mom and dad or grandparents in something else. The bigger parental conundrum was finding places to hide the wrappings; places tiny hands and eye wouldn’t find them, in a house that needs more closets!!! In years past the master closet behind clothes worked wonders, but more recently everyone likes to randomly destroy my organized closet and emerge from the bedroom fully decked out and looking just like mom!

Yes, we all wore matching pajamas this year, and no, I’m not remotely ashamed about it. In fact, I believe half of Anchorage wore the exact same set, after looking at Facebook that morning. It is also semi breaking my sanity that the 10/12 snug fit cuts aren’t even big on them anymore. WHY!?!

Christmas morning is mostly a blur, with excited kiddos destroying the perfectly clean and organized living room as soon as their eyes opened. I only wrote a few notes, but worth observing the girliness of the Christmas requests this year is not unnoticed by me. It’s wonderful they are still in the magical, girly phase of childhood and I hope it lasts a little longer; especially since we are starting to outgrow all the cute little girls dresses and magical dress up montages. Everyone did ask Santa for fancy fans, K-Pop Demon Hunter dresses, and Sofia the First pendants, and Santa delivered! A few toys and Lego sets, like a panda enclosure, were opened and built by the middle of the day, Craig flew the light up drone in the living room (to the chagrin of the poor cats and delight to the children) and we rounded out the evening opening gifts with cousin and enjoying a fancy….Chinese dinner. Aunt Jenny’s long, pink, purple, and teal dresses are still a favorite in the dead of winter, and are worn on repeat during playtime.

The last Santa related gift of the day was a rhyming note hidden in the Christmas tree, which I forgot about until closer to lunch time, when Reagan discovered it and ran upstairs (per its instructions) to discover the three princess dresses hanging in the hall closet. She excitedly brought her sisters into it and then all were dressed as Princess Aurora (one in pink and one in her blue butterfly dress from Maleficent), and another version of Elsa for Emerie.

I would say Merry Christmas…but since it’s February…we will just say the holiday spirit lasts all winter, and gets us through to spring!

❤

Dec 14

Triple-Threat Party Planning

With Thanksgiving right around the corner means it meant time for Craig’s annual birthday festivities. This year it wasn’t just any birthday, but the big 4-0! The girls and I had fun creating a plan for this milestone, and at this age they are game for anything, throwing out such big ideas. This was the first time I let them advise a separate gift from each kiddo, catered to theirs desires of what he might enjoy. After going through oh so many suggestions, we landed on a few well thought out and realistic innovations, and the crafts and shopping began.

Harper spent some time working on a beautiful heart box at Color Me Mine, painting it several layers of blue because that’s what dad likes. She also decorated her presents after they were wrapped, and added a secondary box full of treasures for him to open. The present stuffing took an entire evening to decide upon, with much thought and conversation!

Emerie shoved miscellaneous candy into her box, specific candy that she knew Craig eats. That in itself is sweetly thought out, literally. She also perfected a porcelain picture frame at Color Me Mine last month, with “princess” written across the front, and we printed a picture of her and Craig to slide inside it, much to her excitement! She insisted he would like the princess wording, and was adamant no other painting option was going to beat it.

Reagan declined a painting project, and after some Amazon browsing based on her search suggestions, an elephant mug that holds your tea bag was chosen, and an elephant yarn measuring thing. She also manufactured a custom cardboard elephant zoo enclosure (wow that’s a mouthful) and over the several days she created it, were yelling commands at Craig to don’t look at it!!!

In particular genius, I gifted Craig a quiet night at a hotel, a night to relax as he welcome the next decade of life. He also spent two nights in Juneau on a work trip, giving me more time to complete all the prep work. What that really meant was three full nights to prepare the surprise birthday party and presents, without the required sneakiness, and it worked like a charm. Everyone helped gift wrap and a lifetime amount of tape was used. They filled out questionnaires all about the birthday boy. It was particularly fun to ask them some random questions, and see their real opinions of Dad, which were all different! We hand drew posters for his party, filled with elephants, yarn balls, kid handwriting and colorful, sparkling glue. I’m pretty sure everything was sticky by the time they were done, and the elephants really cute! The party decorations were also underway, with a lot of paper strips littering my house, becoming long daisy chains. The balloon bouquet was designed at the party store, which was a HUGE deal for them to explore apparently, and we left with a few more goodies and whines that the balloons weren’t ready for a few more days.

The big day featured three wildly excited girls racing to finish decorations, tape up adorable childhood photos, and guard the surprise party secret like tiny double agents. Meanwhile I almost blew the whole thing at least five times; I don’t realize how many random thoughts I share with that boy, until I have to actively NOT share them (haha!). With a Charlie’s cake and all the party food stashed away, we whipped together the homemade elephant cake I’d started the night before, and the girls assembled a very serious breakfast-in-bed tray, complete with strict instructions that presents must be opened from a reclined position.

I think the cake turned out pretty well- what do you think?? Reagan perfected the sprinkle distribution on the face and helped with the eyes, while Emerie and Harper ran in and out and randomly sprinkled as I iced it. And it even survived the car ride there!

In the end, I got Craig all the way to the venue—and about ten feet from a room packed with people and treats—before he finally caught on, thanks to the giant “Halfway to 80” sign on the door. The “my car won’t turn over” excuse and a perfectly timed truck-shopping trip with Keegan kept the whole ruse intact. The night was a win all around: happy surprise, great food, and kids running wild for two straight hours while we enjoyed cake and company

We opted not to attend the Eugene Ballet Nutcracker over Thanksgiving this year. The girls were in grumpy, fighting moods for a good part of the holiday weekend, and we decided not to reward the arguing and will find another show in December to enjoy together. Instead we built my decade old Lego set together, the girls made a gazillion crafts out of all the cardboard and paper we own, we did how-to-draw YouTube videos (which are a new hit in this house and turn out really cute!), and watched a few new movies in between hours of playtime.

For some reason everyone just discovered the recycle bin, that lives in the hall closet and is emptied consistently the past seven years. Now all the contents are utter treasures; treasures that litter my house and can NOT be thrown away, no matter how creative. For example, Emerie created a phone between her bunk and Reagan’s, citing it’s too hard to talk to each other (as if!), and it made it a week taped up there. Many fairy play houses, mini forts, and other paper creations are now bonded together with miles of tape and everywhere; and when returned to the recycle bin? Out they appear again, with three disgruntled girls who demand to create more projects.

Not too much more to update. Harper and Reagan tested out their gymnastics teacher one night with a full switch, and got away with it! They dressed as each other and claimed to be each other, and when tried for a second time during dance later that week, those more seasoned teachers didn’t fall for it. Pretty funny to see this, and at some point we have to get more glasses so everyone can be Emerie, who didn’t want to participate on this round.

I wrap up this lovely life post with a funny story, and the second time, the school notified me that one of my tiny humans licked a frozen pole at recess. If you guess Emerie (both times), then you would be correct. When asked how it happened, she legitimately told me she tripped and caught her tongue on the frozen pole, and she stuck to that story. So funny. A few days later Harper took a cousin toy to the face and was sporting a nice goose egg….needless to say it’s been exciting!

As we ease into the 100+ Christmas activities planned for the next two weeks, I will leave you with these amazing Christmas card photos, soon to be mailed out to everyone to enjoy.

❤

Nov 20

Forever Fall(ing)

It’s no secret that fall is my favorite time of year. It’s also no secret that fall can either be really nice or really crummy in Alaska, and goes by really fast. In fact, now that snow is on the ground, I feel a little bad I haven’t finished writing our fall update, and that it’s been so long since I posted something…I will try to highlight in order of events.

It’s always a weird time when fall evenings turn dark and cold, but the barren ground isn’t yet reflecting that cold, white stuff to lighten things up. We managed to get in one evening fire pit, with smores and sparklers, before winter joined us. Bonus points for the neighbors and their dry kindling for the fire! The girls ran around the yard with sparklers, devoured marshmallows, and then insisted it was too cold outside to continue to participate.

I take a million outdoor adventure photos every year. It is getting easy to be out and about and not concerned with wildlife taking on a kid whose run off- the girls take great direction out in nature and are getting better at being aware. This is the first year we explored the lower side of Flat Top by myself, and we return unscathed! It probably also helps that we aren’t the quietest bunch…so those pesky moose and bears don’t want a triplet sandwich 🙂

As per the usual, we made multiple trips to the you-pick farm this year, and even made it to the fall festival. Did we eat our body weight in picked zucchini in October? You bet we did! The snow peas were less plentiful this year, but that didn’t stop Reagan from digging through piles of plants to find some, and then eating them for a few days. All three also “adopted” the large zucchini and gave them faces, named them, and they participated in family events and playtime for the next week.

The girls attended their first football game, to watch Juneau Douglas play West Anchorage. It was pouring down rain, and while that didn’t impress the girls (or the parents); they did make it through the whole thing and held up their custom made signs and screamed Go Chatum! They spent the entire night prior carefully making those signs and coming up with custom cheers. Go Chatum, he’s our man, if he can’t do it, no one can! It was also fun to listen to them ask Jaren football questions at the game, and insist they wanted to see Chatum score a goal, even after discussion about touchdowns.

Our annual photoshoot in the woods for mom went incredibly easy this year compared to years past. The girls humored me, climbed on trees and did ring around the rosie full of giggles, and then played in the stream for a while before we returned home. Boy, they are getting big!

Pumpkin carving was quite a process this year, mostly due to the number of purchased pumpkins sitting in our house. We had small ones, medium ones, and massive, very-hard-to-cut-threw extra large ones. One small set was decorated at the NICU reunion earlier in the month, and all the others were carved with the girls, who chose their own facial expressions and helped a little with the knives this year. Oh and that remind me… Grandma Sue also taught the girls to pronounce all works that start with “kn” like k-now, so the girls are continuing to point that out consistently!

Fall break from school prompted a short visit from Grandma Sue, and with that lots of baking and crafts. Doesn’t that potato dough look delicious? The girls excel at helping cook these days, and it isn’t all with licked fingers and utter flour explosions anymore! Not going to lie, I do somewhat miss those days now, but not the post activity clean up.

Trunk or Treat at the girls’ school was a must! It was cold and windy but not frosted as some years prior. A quick hello and trek around to some of their teachers and friends was done in record time. For this event, we had an Elsa and Ana from Frozen, and a “wedding girl” and oh, two cold parents!! Did I mention this was after TWO birthday parties earlier in the day? Yep.

Halloween was a hit this year. With numerous outfit changes, I can’t even recall what everyone was for each event but for the actual day Harper was a pink mermaid, Emerie Elsa in blue (no coat!), and Reagan was Chloe Charming from Rise of Red. While Reagan stayed the same for school that day, Harper was a bride with pink heels and Emerie was Glinda from Wicked, in purple! We finally had a year with temperatures in the 40s and no snow, which prompted strong rebukes to wearing coats, but acceptance of gloves. We made it farther than ever before in the neighborhood, and Emerie’s headache prompted Craig to get the four wheeler for a fun ride the rest of the way. Tyler and Papa Cliff joined us again this year -the girls even let Tyler be Tyler this year and not a full fledged princess- and we also did a few houses after meeting up with their teacher. Tons of candy and a fun night!

I’ll wrap this overdue life story with our official fall photos, which hit on a gorgeous fall day, and half the valley was in the same spot with the same idea. The girls did more than humor the photographer, they giggle, held hands and hugged without much instruction, and look so very grown up this year. I am certain they will have to do fall photos for me every year well into adulthood, because they turn out so great.

And now onto winter things…and Thanksgiving, and Christmas. So many things to do!

❤

Sep 30

Summer Wrap-Up & Second Grade

I continue to think back to the wonderful summer we had, where it was (relatively) warm, easy to transition from inside to out, and full of adventure and possibility.

We wrapped up the summer season with a couple annual family activities. One of my favorite weekends of the year consisted of both my favorite Alaskan summer activities: wilderness berry picking and the Alaska State Fair. While not a hot, sunny day, the afternoon berry picking in cloudy skies and minor drizzle was perfect in temperature.

This year the girls were far more helpful and did pick some, but also enjoyed the stained fingers and faces that came with sour, Alaskan blueberries. In truth, they picked berries a little ways into the woods, discovered a perfect fairy tree, and proceeded to decorate said tree while Craig and I worked around them, filling our bags with berries. They stained the tree blueberry blue, and added flowers, sticks and leaves to make a beautiful house. I love the age where they take the time to create and innovate, hoping fairies will enjoy it, and really hope we will have at least one more summer like this.

We accidentally chose the perfect day to go to the fair- a beautifully sunny day with 10+ hours of walking around and just having fun doing whatever we wanted to. We arrived at opening to avoid parking traffic and bee lined it straight to the face painting booth, where the girls and I requested flowers and Craig did a planet theme above that beard. Pony rides, lots of random food to try, dip and dots and snow cones (it was hot out!), and of course we joined a few friends for the carnival rides.

Last year Reagan didn’t enjoy the kid roller coasters but bravely rode them, and this year other than one or two moments of pure disdain for a ride she opted to go on, she did great. The girls road the spinning teacups with Paris and a couple of the kid roller coasters, but I believe the favorite ride was the spinning swing, which for the record, I feel were faster than last year! We luckily did most of the rides before it got really busy with long lines, and I am happy to report we had no major meltdowns the entire day out in the sun. That in itself is impressive when lugging out three overstimulated and excited seven-year-olds. And it was a very long day and active day!

I also must mention the girls’ excitement to see if Craig won any ribbons, for his first time entering the arts portion of the fair. He knitted two shawls and rainbow socks, and I am personally offended he didn’t instantly win first place on all three entries! The girls were happy to see his 3rd place ribbon; it was quite sweet. I enjoy having an artsy husband, who really does have quite the talent and inability to sit still without creating something.

Craig took the girls to see all the animals before loading everyone to go home, while Janelle and I stayed for a kid free, Weird Al Yankovic concert. Not that you asked…but it was amaaaazing!!! I’d also like to point out that Emerie constantly begs me to play Amish Paradise -which is really a nostalgic song from my childhood that brings me back to cd players in the car- and all three kids singing the lyrics in the car…that’s right up there in my parenting accomplishments with their joyous singing of Papa Roach. I just love it!!

In between all the fun weekends are nightly bike rides. To burn energy of course, but it’s also just a nice outdoor activity that we can finally do in this age. And we are finally a training wheels free house. Harper and Reagan mastered their balance last fall, picking it up rather fast once they mentally accepted they could do it. Harper thrives on speed, just like she did as a toddler. Reagan is more timid but now very confident and zooms around, even standing up. Emerie was another story, adamantly insisting she would never go without, and refusing to try without major pushing. It took most of the summer to convince her to try, and one day we biked to the park and she practiced in the grassy area. After a few flops she put a little more muscle behind it, giving enough to stay balanced, and she was so excited! It was sweet to see both of her sisters cheering her on; encouraging her to keep going and not berating her when she threw a fit about it.

The wheels went back on for neighborhood bike rides as her fears returned, until eventually her confidence increased enough to do it. It might have also helped we collected three 20” bikes off the free page or marketplace, ones too big for training wheels, and that worked! I’d given the chance, she would have them reinstalled, but she’s doing great. Now we just have the uphill battle to convince her that biking is fun!! Harper and Reagan love our evening rides and want to go farther and faster; Emerie does not so it’s constantly a divide and conquer between the parents. But hopefully we will get there!

All three also convinced Craig to buy and install their own kickstands like grownups have, as well as pink, purple and teal wire baskets on the front to house stuffies, snacks and coats.

In addition to physical labor activities, we are making a point to take the four wheelers out more often this year and get the girls better at steering and zooming around. And when those damn machines actually run, and stay running, it is quite fun! Reagan is the most timid on them but definitely more confident than in last years to zoom by us. Emerie would drive forty miles an hour if she could, sticking her tongue out as she speeds by, whooping in laughter and threats that no one can catch her. Harper is also quite a pedal to the metal kiddo and you can hear her giggle over the roar of the engine!

Before school started I took the girls to 5000 different appointments to prepare for the school year, which included physicals for all three, that I did back to back in super mom style, with our babysitter in the car to swap each kiddo out for their turn. The most hilarious part about that ninety minutes of my life? Watching the doctor ask all three girls the exact same questions, but without the others present, and watching them all answer almost exactly the same. I mean it was freaky how similar answers were, and even their questions and interactions with the doctor. For example, all three separately wanted to play with the stethoscope and asked her how it worked and if they could listen to their own heartbeat. Biggest difference was Emerie’s claim to be allergic to tomatoes…which isn’t true, she just thinks if you hate them enough, then you are allergic.

For the first time in seven years, Emerie has caught up in height and weight to her sister, specifically Reagan, who came in at the same weight as her, and Harper leading by a couple pounds. All three are now the same height; Emerie has officially caught up!

We also rocked our biannual dentist appointment and it’s getting easier to do them all at once. They love the attention and getting clean teeth, and I love that no cavities were reported this time. It is still a battle to convince Harper she needs to love her adult teeth, since she only likes it when they brush her teeth at the doctor. Don’t think the teeth will survive only two brushes a year, and the breath!

We also shoved in an ENT visit for Harper to check her ear tubes, and Emerie had eye checkup with a lighter bifocal, and will continue to do her eye patch.

We are now a month into second grade, with all three in the same classroom again this year. I must start documenting the cute things brought home at the end of the week. In their writing booklets they all answer slightly differently and it’s fun to compare them, some answers are more true than others when you really know them. For example, Emerie wrote her favorite weekend activity is going hiking, which couldn’t be more from the truth if she tried! Hiking might cause her physical and psychological pain…according to her when we do it. Another answer, all three’s favorite day of the week…is Thursday. Very random but likely relates to either the day they were asked that question…or the fact that gymnastics is that night after dinner! Here are few other answers for your enjoyment, to see how they are different and yet still so similar:

What is your favorite person?

Harper: my favorite person is Mom and Dad. I love them because they are nice. Together we hug.
Emerie: mom and dad. I love them because they are kind and sweet, I love Chris!
Reagan: my favorite person is my “perins.” I love them because they love me and I love them. Together we go swimming. (And her “i’s” are dotted hearts- sob!)

What is your favorite season?

Harper: my favorite season is winter. I like winter because it is fun in winter. The weather is cold.
Emerie: my favorite season is spring. I like it because it is warm in spring and it gets warmer. In spring the weather is getting warmer and the snow is melting.
Reagan: my favorite season is winter. I like winter because we have snow ice cream in winter and the weather is snowy.

Favorite subject in school

Harper: art. I like it because it is fun.
Emerie: PE. I like it because it is fun and my favorite game is tag.
Reagan: science. I like it because we do fun things.

Favorite weekend activity

Harper: my favorite thing to do over a long BFF weekend is look at the stars. Spend the weekend with my family.
Emerie: my favorite thing to do over a long weekend is hiking and spend time with Mom and Dad.
Reagan: spend time with my family. I like to spend time to be alone.

And my personal favorite, which is better shown for you to enjoy reading yourself. Because of course, my kids have a favorite vegetable!

The girls also did a partner project at school, where they each chose a specific government service that contributes to society, to research and create a 3D masterpiece of. Reagan chose an airport, continuing her “team mom” status, Emerie did the police and/or state troopers like Dad, and Harper opted for firefighters. There was much discussion after schools on their creations, what to include and what it looked like, and they turned out pretty cute!

I look forward to continued growth in writing and spelling, and future articulations. For now we will continue to shove in evening bike rides, outdoor playtime as sunsets continue arriving earlier, twenty minutes of reading per kid per night, and lots of spelling word practice. The evenings go by so quickly and winter is right around the corner, so enjoying the joys of fall as much as we can.

❤

Aug 08

Stars, Stripes and Shells

And just like that, the entire month of July is in the books! It went by so quickly and involved a lot of family fun, even meeting extended family on Craig’s side that I’ve never met before. Two weekend trips out of town, more lost teeth than I can count at this point, more outfit changes than ever before, and lot’s of hustle and bustle as we transition toward back to school.

Before the parade and on the way down to Sterling we stopped at our favorite ice cream spot and wandered next door to a random carousel, which the girls rode at least ten times in a row. The owner was a good sport and let them switch up to their hearts’ content and ride all the different Alaskan animals while the adults perused the beautiful wood carvings.

Another magical fourth of July weekend is in the books. Last year we explored the wonders of the holiday in Juneau, a first for me and the girls, and a double parade followed by hanging out on the beach on Douglas Island. This year we left town again and headed south in the car, to experience the City of Kenai parade. It was a beautifully sunny day and the girls rocked their stars and stripe dresses, star face glitter, and light up hats throughout the event. Oh and the adults also rocked the star glitter, and the kid-sized cow girl hat accidentally kept me from a decent sunburn on my face.

I should also mention my judgy children called me out for smashing a dragonfly (to death) when it landed on my leg and I smashed it with my foot, thinking it was a mosquito. For the following few days I was dubbed a “dragonfly killer”, and that was before I nailed a mongoose on the highway on the way home… The children determined my mild swerve at 70mph was to intentionally hit him instead of avoid, and did just that. Ah to be a parent.

We spent a few nights staying with Cousin Brian a little farther south, and even made a quick pit stop in Homer to hang out on the beach, say hi to friends and eat some bbq, and collect shells that would become painted jewelry in the following days. The girls favorite part of the first weekend in Ninilchik? Brian’s movie projector that played cartoons on the ceiling, and probably picking wildflowers. The projector was quite the hit with all three and something different than normal television.

Our second Ninilchik weekend and mini family reunion was another nice time away, this time the girls and I sleeping in Tyler’s RV while other family stayed in cabins. Craig opted to catch food poisoning (opted hehe) and stayed home at the last minute; but Sue and I weren’t going to miss out on the fun with Papa Lon up here!

One hilarious moment of the weekend was watching Cousin Brian show the girls where he collects fresh water from a spring across the highway and lugs it back home for use. The girls were rather enthralled with the concept water comes out of the ground (rather a pipe in the ground) and it was pretty funny to watch their reaction to something so Alaskan.

We had a lot of fun meeting more extended family and enjoying an evening barbecue in the hot summer sun, with a tote of new Barbie’s to entertain the girls while the adults caught up. The girls ran around the yard with their new toys, played Barbie dress up with just about every adult in the place, cooked smores on the grill with Lon, and overall enjoyed a fun visit and some fantastic weather.

We couldn’t end such a fun weekend without a quick stop at our favorite lake on the way back; all three girls finally walking out into the water and not complaining it was too cold. They made a few new friends, tried to capture (note I didn’t say catch!) tiny fish and happily enjoyed a quick jaunt around the lake in the boat. Unlike past years, this year had screams of faster! instead of carefully holding on.

The rest of Papa Lon and Grandma Sue’s visit was full of yummy dinners, fun crafts (like Lon drilling holes in ton of seashells so jewelry could be made!), celebrating Grandma Sue’s birthday with a homemade cake, customized birthday cards and a pie shaped, smelly candle- and helping her blow out all those candles- and of course I can’t forget to mention the girls watching hunting shows with Lon, filled with commentary and questions.

In other unrelated news, we have officially lost all the front baby teeth for all three, with Emerie finishing the milestone and convincing that last, lazy front tooth to depart for a future adventure with the tooth fairy. Her sisters accelerated this by knocking it before it was really ready, and then her absent minded wiggling, just like the other side. The prior day Harper evicted her top right (canine?), which frees up some of the space for those front two teeth to continue filling out. And Reagan, who was the first to lose a front tooth as a toddler and her other top front a little more naturally, excitedly pointed out that the hole she’s boasted in her mouth for years finally has a tooth poking through, after much speculation this year that it didn’t want to arrive. I also continue to find it amusing how all three closely mimic the same tooth order, with only a few outside that.

A great deal of discussion centered around the tooth fairy these few weeks, and all were in agreement she should be trapped and captured (like the movie), so many schemes were devised. Prior discussions last year centered around hiding lost teeth from her completely, which 180’d into using them as a trapping method to catch her. A decorative birdcage was purchased, recolored, and strategically placed in the bedroom. But that elusive tooth fairy managed to evade capture, and even leave little notes behind, scolding their attempts to get her. She always had a bit of a panic, spreading fairy dust all around the cage, but managing to escape, to the girls’ delight. I know we will miss these entertaining, magic related stories and creativity in the future; meaning Craig and I continue to embellish the fun while they still believe in it.

I’ve greatly slacked on writing things down this summer, due to the usual busy-ness and just not in the mood to do it. We wrapped up July with other miscellaneous stops like our favorite farm out in the valley and their summer festival, horse shows, birthday parties, and watching jets land at the airport. Reagan getting lost in the corn maze at the festival; Craig eventually tracked her down with some effort. While Sue picked her body weight in rhubarb, we ventured over to the strawberry fields where I supervised (and didn’t touch!) and the girls picked a container each. Emerie left that field with a face bull of strawberries, in addition to the box she carted around. The horse show captured everyone’s attention for a fun afternoon and good excuse to rock their cowgirl boots, and we enjoyed a day trip to Seward with Auntie Janelle and Paris, even in the constant rain. After the standard stop at a very tourist filled Sealife Center, we embraced the rain and let the girls run while along the beach. It might have taken as long to dry them off as they played, and was a great day.

As we wrap up summer and get back to a more normalized school schedule, my goofy girls continue to switch with each other during the day, and who is who depends on the day! Harper and Reagan keep wearing each other’s colors, demanding adults refer to them by the other sister’s name, and in addition to how funny that is, it’s also hard to purposefully call them the wrong name! Harper also attempted to pull one over on Grandma Sue by rocking Emerie’s glasses and smiling without showing teeth. It always amazes me how swapping glasses between them really makes them look like Emerie!

Nightly neighborhood bike rides have also become the new normal. Emerie is incredibly close to removing training wheels and did great practicing and overcoming her fear of it at the park last weekend. Harper and Reagan did a great job cheering her on, with lots of words of encouragement. On pavement she is still sporting the training wheels, but that doesn’t hold her up on speeding around. She especially hates going uphill (or putting in the muscle to move uphill), and with that Craig has a newly discovered superpower, which is pushing a kid up a hill on a bike, while riding is own bike. All three think it’s hilarious when he chases them around the neighborhood on his in-line skates instead of the bike, and he’s convinced them to pull him. It’s pretty funny to watch.

I’ll save our four wheeler adventures for another day, since fall time is my favorite season to get out and about in them. The track by our house has one loop that isn’t too scary for the girls to navigate solo, and it’s been quite the excitement to get over there and speed around. Only minimal blood and crashes, and a lot of mini-speed demons emerging, not to mention the big smiles and giggles you can hear from so far away.

Anyway, getting this blog is getting posted since it’s way out of date, and we are jumping back into the back-to-school to-do list before next week. Happy August!

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska