alaskantriplets

Another Six(cess)ful Year Around the Sun

It’s that time again this year -well, it was a month ago when I actually started writing this- for the annual contrasting and comparison between our rapidly growing girls and what they were up to throughout age five, as we somehow transition to a house of six-year-olds! The past year was once again very busy, and included many more adventures and activities, as flexible schedules and unplanned events are easier to handle and jump into. As usual, narrowing down my favorite “triple photos” proved difficult from the massive amount taken over the past 365 days. I eventually settled on this collage after unsuccessfully narrowing the count; it highlights the girls’ adventures since their last birthday. Personalities continue to grow and change and while the girls still have matching faces, they continue to emerge as separate individuals with many different likes and dislikes, and reactions.

Favorite activities for all three include playing with anything water related, bringing umbrellas outside to protect them from falling snowflakes, being “swim girls” and wearing swimsuits when it’s zero degrees outside, coloring at the table in the living room and asking for a million prints from the printer to color, doing their reading practice on the iPad, cooking anything with Grandma Sue, FaceTiming with family, riding the four-wheelers, picking flowers and making “soup,” building blanket forts, girls nights with Mom, sledding with cousins, trick or treating with Tyler, riding their balance bikes (which are way too small for them now!), going to Becky’s house and playing on the dock, snuggling with Mom on the couch before bedtime and watching a show, doing “beautiful nail salon” with Dad in the evenings, Daddy daughter dances, and so much more!!

The girls grew SO quickly this year; check out how much their faces matured- it’s pretty crazy! Their platinum blonde hair continues to grow darker and I assume they will end up as darker, dirty blondes in the future. No more baby faces in this household; just little ladies! Here is my annual overview of the past year, noting milestones and major changes as we shifted from preschool to elementary school.

Kindergarten: We can’t leave out this major milestone, transitioning from preschool into kindergarten with their beloved Miss Tawni! The girls remain at the same school since age three and the comfort and knowing the day to day really supports their schedule and happiness there. Their writing and comprehension skills have also increased dramatically and reading comprehension is right around the corner!

School Besties: Having a small kindergarten class of 15 kids, three of those being the girls, meant development of close, new friendships. The girls are especially fond of Coco, who maintains the BFF status for all three outside of our household, and randomly claim to have boyfriends as well, although that’s a bit harder to determine who goes to who ❤

In-State Traveling: Leaving town and road tripping to other locations in Alaska became a normal occurrence over the past year. Even more so than during age four, we can now explore and execute travel plans a little more by ear, without the essential planning every detail ahead to ensure a smooth ride. This year we went to Kenai, Soldotna, and Homer multiple times and enjoyed all those locations have to offer! The girls can handle a long roadtrip without any screen time too, which is exciting!

Three Peas in a Pod Style: All three still accommodate my desires to dress them in matching or coordinated clothing and take cute photos, or out to family pictures sessions a few times a year. Luckily we are still in the stage of smiles and requests for pictures, something I hope continues for a few more years!

The Incident We Blocked Out: This is simply one example of the more recent childhood shenanigans that we seemingly skipped over in previous ages, likely because most of the house used to be blocked off from kid access. In addition to the mortar incident, Reagan gave herself unapproved bangs recently and spectacular messes now occur more than when they were younger and other parts of the house weren’t freely accessible yet.

Home Depot and Lowes Build Days: This started with Craig taking the girls and morphed into weekend requests to do the activity, even on weekends it isn’t offered. The girls sure can swing a hammer and love adding the stickers and paint to each creation, continuing to be less messy and better builders after each time.

Toothlessness: the loss of SO many teeth started toward the end of age five. In fact, over a two week period in March, another tooth for Harper and for Reagan bit (haha) the dust. The girls’ bottom adult teeth are promptly pushing through their gums and arrive as soon as the baby ones make an exit, and all are excited for the tooth fairy visits. We are still working on the tooth brushing.

A Whole New World (Aladdin pun intended): Our first downtown Nutcracker show this year was a success and the girls did great; I am very glad we waited until age five to attend! They also sang songs for the school Christmas play and attended several school field trips to see other plays at various places across the city. They seem to both love and hate sitting at them and have conflicting responses!

Dance Dance Baby: Last May was Harper’s first Dance Recital, and we are already almost to the next one. The 2.5 hour performance for all dance classes was a bit long, but luckily the other two had a fun night with Uncle Will. Last fall we combined everyone back to one class and all three are very exciting for their upcoming performance, and to wear their fancy costumes.

Actual Sleeping at Night!

Actual Sleeping at Night: This is mostly a parent win and definitely worth a little bragging. It took us almost six years to get here-that’s more than 2,000 evening bedtimes if anyone is counting- but now for the most part they are decent at staying overnight in their beds and using the bathroom without running into our bed! Main night time snuggles now are inspired by bad dreams or when they aren’t feeling well.

Going to the Movies & FINALLY New Music to Listen To: After approximately one million plays of Let It Go, Cover Me in Sunshine, and Towards the Sun, we finally have new material to listen to. This year was a lot of Trolls music, My Little Pony, Rapunzel’s television show, and other girly things, mixed with a little Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift. The Tonie box is also a fan favorite and our inventory of music continues to grow. Hallelujah!

Ease of Shopping Trips: This may sound small, but as a parent of multiples, it really is a biggie- less need for shopping carts! We now have the ability to step foot in a store without complete and utter parental failure and chaos. Do the kids still run amuck and get scolding in the store? Absolutely! Do they run straight into oncoming traffic? Not all the time. Do they find random things and throw them in the cart and we accidentally buy them? Yes… This improvement makes shopping more doable than in past years and it’s cause for celebration.

Birthday Parties Galor: School age brings a newfound plan several weekends a month…birthday parties. These are important life events that the kids demand to attend and who knew that we knew so many kids that have birthdays?? This photo is, of course, Craig supporting the craft time at a Taylor Swift themed party, with the girls bejeweling their custom microphones. Girl dad for the win.

Games: I am pretty excited for this one! Craig introduced board games to the girls, especially the favorite Squirrel Game, which his family played when he was young. On occasion they now play it without Craig and for the most part get along. It’s sweet to watch. They also love Alphabet Bingo, and we are starting to introduce card games. I often find one sitting on the floor playing a matching card game.

Family Dinners: We continue to love having cousins close by and especially when they drop in to say hello or celebrate a holiday. The volume increases ten fold when any boy cousin walks through the front door, which is a delight to the kids and more of a hindrance to the parents’ hearing, but we love it. It is wonderful to have family nearby and accessible!

All About the Girls

Harper Anne

Loves dancing, dressing up, and sleeping in.

  • Obsessed with seals
  • Team Sleeping Beauty
  • Most sassy
Harper Larper

Emerie Faye

Loves collecting tiny things, books, and puzzles

  • Turtles are life, just not live ones 😀
  • Team Elsa (still)
  • Creative name calling
Emmy

Reagan Jean

Loves to draw/color, write in notebooks and sing.

  • Needs panda everything
  • Team Jasmine
  • Most artistic
Ray Ray

All About the Girls – Harper Anne

Harper had quite a year. She continues her fashionista attitude from age four, and still has a love of black and pink, although the black is waning a bit. She is all about makeup and her doll Babela, and I’ll often find the makeup destruction in her room after a fashion event at the salon, her favorite toy set from Christmas. She is not a morning person, much to her dismay in a family of morning people, and is often the hardest to get up for school. That, or she just really likes being cozy in her bed, something she showed as a toddler as well. She has the eye roll and grumpy face down, something we are still trying to break (and not laugh at!), and the goofy faces at any event or show she participates in.

Height/Weight: 54 pounds/ 48.5″ tall – she gained 9 pounds and grew 3.5″ in a year!

Favorite Activities: dance class and playing with her doll (Babela); swimming

Favorite Movie/Music/Show: music this year transitioned to several new movies, one of which is Trolls Band Together. She now loves all the songs by Velvet and Veneer (the nemesis of the movie!), and occasionally still asks for her “shadow song” by Rihanna, but not nearly as frequently as she used to. And, of course, Bluey and My Little Pony the series.

Favorite Princess/Character: By far her favorite is now Sleeping Beauty (Aurora). Given it’s age, finding outfits and toys for this princess is harder, so when we do, she is very excited. She often sleeps in her Aurora nightgown from the Disney store or changes her doll into a matching costume.

Favorite Color: pink and black

Favorite Food: Sneaking candy! She is definitely our sweet tooth kid and would eat candy all day if she could. Also if Ketchup is a food, then that would be the winner. She also loves cucumbers and chicken nuggets and my homemade zucchini bread.

Favorite Animal: Stuffed seals are still the winner for her, although many other animals make the cut for bedtime snuggles. She has seals of every color and loves to see the live ones when we visit Seward each year. She also loves koala bears.

When Harper grows up, she wants to be: She reiterated last week that she still wants to be a ballerina AND a queen; both, not either/or 🙂

Unique Personality Trait: Harper likes to watch and observe and then jump into the action, but also displays daring moments and climbs a forty foot tree by herself because she wanted to. She is definitely an instigator, but not always with the follow through. She also prefers to let others figure something out or get something for her, so there might be some leadership qualities in there to watch out for as she grows older.

Major Dislikes: Cleaning up is always a challenge and a fight, as well as convincing her to brush her teeth so no cavities appear. It is an everyday battle! She also seems to get hot in the car, random I know, and always requests fresh or cooler air on drives, just like her Mom 🙂

Of the Three, She is the Most: Girly! Dressing up in fancy clothes and shoes, makeup, and accessorizing occurs daily. She isn’t afraid to get down and dirty outside, but she doesn’t mind doing that in a stylish outfit either. On the flip side, of the three she goes to the doctor the least, and now notices this. She often asks when she can go and you see a little sister competition come out of it.

Favorite Quotes: Mom, guess what?! I love you the mostest. This is one of my very favorite quotes that I hear from her every few days, always with a big smile on her face. The other day she also noted that Grandma Sue is so bossy; she’s always bossing me around. I asked her if she liked all the things Sue does with her and she agreed to that, but still maintained the bossiness is there!!

Emerie Faye

As we round out another year, Emerie still maintains her love of being at home and hanging out in her room, listening to stories on the Tonie box or sorting through picture books. She seems to run a bit colder than her sisters and often wears a hoodie or coat, similarly to her Grandma Anne! She continues to eye patch on weekday mornings and the school year is a bit more of a struggle, mostly because she sees other kids (and sisters) don’t do it and is more observant on that. Collecting tiny things continues to be one of her favorite hobbies and we find all kinds of random things around the house.

Height/Weight: 48 pounds/ 47.5″ tall – she gained 10 pounds and grew 4″ in a year!

Favorite Activities: Legos and puzzles are two new favorites this year, both things she can do without adult assistance! She also enjoys collecting tiny things, doing everything in a fancy, dress up outfit, going swimming with Craig, and funny enough, she loves to brush her teeth and will randomly do it throughout the day.

Favorite Movie/Music/Show: While Emerie still loves her Frozen movies and music, requests are much fewer than in the past. She loves all the music by the boy band Brozone in the new Trolls movie, and asks for multiple plays anytime they come on. And, of course, Bluey and My Little Pony the series.

Favorite Princess/Character: No change from the past three years- Elsa (Frozen) is still leading the charge in her heart. After watching Trolls Band Together last fall, she also loves the boy band Brozone, specifically “the heart throb” (her words!).

Favorite Color: You guessed it….PURPLE!!

Favorite Food: She claims chicken nuggets, broccoli, and ice cream. One of my favorite memories of her last summer was sitting in the dirt at the you-pick farm in Palmer, eating broccoli straight from the plant and extensively enjoying herself. She continues to scarf down everything on her plate instantly, or just pick at her food, but not a lot in between.

Favorite Animal: She still loves turtles and has a bunch of them. Her experience with a live one at the fair, which she adamantly wouldn’t touch, has not diminished her requests to own a real one. She also recently adopted and named some ants in the driveway 🙂

When Emerie grows up, she wants to be: Another similar answer to last year, Emerie wants to be “Queen Elsa of Arandale” and continues to stick to this answer.

Unique Personality Trait: She is stubborn to the core, and this can serve her well when she is on a mission for something, and sometimes be an obstacle. She is our snuggler and loves to sleep in her own bed with her stuffies. Emerie is also a homebody and completely self sufficient entertaining herself.

Major Dislikes: She hates being talked over by her sisters when trying to explain or ask something, or count! She doesn’t appear to like group instruction classes (or maybe she just doesn’t like obeying in them…) or being outside if she doesn’t have to! It is also a constant battle on wearing her glasses and keeping track of where she puts them, when not on her face.

Of the Three, She is the Most: Outspoken and direct. She is always announcing we are triplets to random people in public places and making friends everywhere. She will also dig her heels in and stick to an opinion, and there’s not swaying her mind.

Favorite Quotes: In the last month or two, she jumped on the ruuuuuude train and now says this multiple times a day when responding to things. It’s close to the duuuuude we also hear, but with different context!

Reagan Jean

Reagan continues to love all forms of art, especially coloring and drawing, and creates new artwork daily. Her drawing and writing skills dramatically improved over the second half of age five; she now draws family photos and so many beautiful pandas are taped up around the house. She enjoys crafts and anything artsy, and really excels at trying different related activities. She will sit much longer than her sisters to finish and perfect something, and I can’t wait to break out all my 90’s stamps soon and see how she loves them. Her storytelling is now more intricate and sometimes it’s hard for her sisters to get a word in edge wise, just like her Grandma Sue! Over the winter she began speech therapy for her lisp and loves going each week and is improving on her pronunciations.

Height/Weight: 52 pounds/ 48.5″ tall – she gained 10 pounds and grew 4.5″ in a year!

Favorite Activities: She recently discovered how to take pictures with my phone and requests to do that. As mentioned above, anything arts and craft related, and putting together big puzzles- she’s getting really good at them- and going swimming with Craig. She also enjoys ice skating and continues to ask for lessons.

Favorite Movie/Music/Show: Reagan likes a lot of different things, including the Lilo & Stitch and Rapunzel television shows, Bluey, My Little Pony the series, most princess movies, and of course Abominable. She likes similar music to her sisters, and also some of my music like Imagine Dragons or Lady Gaga. Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus is also becoming a favorite.

Favorite Princess/Character: Team Jasmine is going strong and she was excited to see the real Jasmine Broadway show this spring. She loves all the Aladdin costumes and swimsuits and often wears them around the house.

Favorite Color: You guess it…TEAL. This should not be confused with blue or green; it is teal and she will remind you they are different!

Favorite Food: She is definitely one to always request macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets and French toast bites; she also loves blackberries, cantaloupe, and cucumbers, and of course ice cream. The love for cotton candy ice cream is real…

Favorite Animal: Pandas are still the front runner, but she also claims to like hedgehogs now. She doesn’t snuggle or cart her pandas around as much as past years and that shows how much she’s growing up (cry!), but her bed tells a different story; it is covered in a shapes and sizes of panda. She now has 2 small pandas that spent half the year going to school with her; it used to be one, until that one was lost and we caved and purchased another, and then found said lost panda inside the couch after a week! Now one wears a tutu and is the girl, and one is a boy, both with equal love in her heart.

When Reagan grows up, she wants to be: An artist! She loves coloring and making creations. Her second consistent answer is a teacher like Miss Tawni.

Unique Personality Trait: She is our storyteller, just like her Grandma Sue; listening to her explain the synopsis of a movie is simply amazing and detailed. She is also our helper and often requests to help make dinner, or put something away for us; it’s very sweet. She is very much the mom of the group and probably the most bossy. Not sure if it’s a personality trait, but she is the only one of the three to pull out her own teeth and remove a sliver from her own hand without help!

Major Dislikes: She’s a little quirky about her socks not fitting perfectly on her feet and hates when someone draws on her picture creations. Overall she is mostly chill on things and doesn’t complain about a lot of things.

Of the Three, She is the Most: bossy like her grandma Sue, especially during games and pretend play. She has great ideas, but her sisters don’t always agree with the direction and that causes fighting. She is also the most detail oriented of the three on anything she is doing, whether that is cleaning the living room, coloring a picture, or telling a story. Reagan also displays a gentle spirit for animals and both new kitties can tell and want to snuggle with her.

Favorite Quotes: No quotes popped into my brain for her this year, but her detailed storytelling really speaks for itself. Ask her sometime to tell you about a movie she’s seen and what the story is about, and you will see for yourself!

Five Year Old FAQs

What are the biggest differences between the three? What are their similarities this year? All three continue to enjoy much of the same things, as in years past, like princess everything, dressing up, riding bikes and swinging and playing pretend. Emerie continues to self entertain and I often find her in the bedroom playing with dolls, or sitting and listening to a Tonie story on the chair, or in the bathroom making a huge water mess but having the best time! Reagan will sit and color for long periods of time while Harper wanders off with Babela for “nap time.” Reagan learns new skills the quickest and with the least effort, this is especially true with her school work and letters and reading, while Harper becomes flustered before putting in too much effort. Emerie takes a bit longer to gain a new skill and you can see her kind methodically thinking out how it all works, just like she did when younger.

What is the biggest personality difference? All three are growing into strong, independent little girls. The main difference hasn’t changed from last year, Emerie continues to love time at home and playing herself, while the other two are much bigger fans of adventure. When it comes to discipline all three are also still different; timeout might actually kill Reagan (in her opinion) while Emerie could care less about that, but if you threaten a spanking, she’s off to the races. Harper is willing to throw down if she believes she is right, and we often have to track her down if she stomps off with an eye roll and “whoa is me” attitude. All three clearly get irritated at times about being with sisters constantly, but when you split them up, they always note they miss sisters and it’s very sweet.

What do they all constantly fight about? This one is a little silly and a new advancement this year- all three constantly bicker about who gets to stand or sit in the middle for a picture. We see this for our family photo events, and for everyday in-the-moment photos; apparently it’s life or death to be standing on a side…They also fight over toys and the usual things but are getting better at sharing is caring. We no longer buy three of everything (thank goodness!).

Who is now the best sleeper? Who is the worst? Emerie and Harper are both excelling over the past year on this, and Reagan made GREAT progress sleeping in her own bed.

Who is Team Mom and who is Team Dad? This remains consistent, Emerie is 100% Team Dad, although I do get a solid snuggle in every now and then. On the other hand, Reagan is 100% team mom and Harper trends toward me, but has her dad moments.

What was my favorite memory of age five? What about Craig’s and Sue’s? This is easy for me- it was the ability to travel around and have adventures with the girls. For example, right before they turned six, going to Seward and sitting at a dinner spot, with everyone coloring at the table and enjoying being together, or taking them to the beach last summer and exploring. Craig’s fitting answer is them sleeping in their beds…finally! Sue enjoyed watching them become little girls with their different personalities and desires to tell their own stories.

I am looking forward to what age six will bring us, and definitely have new adventures planned! Happy birthday Harper, Emerie and Reagan, Mom & Dad love you very much! ❤

Spring Break Sprint

As amateurs to the concept of spring break, we jumped in full force this year to keep our first one with kids interesting. Thinking back to this time last year, I remember telling myself to enjoy my last spring break with childcare for the foreseeable future, and it’s crazy to think that was already a year ago. Grandma Sue was happy to come up early to help me with birthday preparations and child watch while Craig and I got a few (or more!) hours of work in over the two week span, and of course that comes with all the Grandma Sue benefits of toy sorting, house re-organization, and fun birthday antics!

The weeks before spring break continued the theme of weekend birthday parties, and trying to get the kids outside a little more than when it was extremely cold temperatures. Craig broke out the kid and adult four wheeler for an afternoon and their BFF from school and her brother experienced the fun too. Maybe it’s just my kids, but other kids sure seem to be able to steer better than my three. This was the first afternoon that Emerie saw the need for speed and instead of her usual slow down scolding, she was smiling ear to ear on the back of the wheeler with Noah driving, something not often seen from her.

Reagan pulled a first in the household and gave herself unplanned bangs. Craig and I didn’t even notice; in fact, Sue noticed on Facetime before we even realized it happened. Reagan eventually caved and claimed they were annoying her, so she chopped them. A few days later I found the small pile of her beautiful hair under the bunk bed. During that same cleaning excursion I also found a good amount of doll hair trimmings, something we hadn’t noticed either until now…and doesn’t grow back!

Speaking of hair cutting, one to-do for spring break week was a triple hair trimming to cut off those ends. Because I absolutely refuse to go to the places that charge crazy amounts for a kid haircut, we wandered over to Craig’s barber again and asked for a trim. Middle of the day in the middle of the work week is apparently a good time, and all three went at the same time; that and no one wanted to go first! They all sat very still, with Harper and Emerie making their normal goofy faces at us, and Reagan’s bangs were trimmed to be a bit more acceptable. A set of identical twins actually cut two of them, which was very random and spurred some conversation. I also realized their super blonde, baby hair is already down to the bottom trimmed area, and the majority of their hair is now a darker blonde, which makes me a little sad but I’ll survive 🙂

Somehow we are already entering into the next clothing size, even though we transitioned into size six in early winter. Considering all three were wearing size 4/5 shorts all last summer is a bit crazy considering the 6/7 pairs I tried on them this week are super tight. They are growing so fast!! As I began to sort through clothing to sell and donate, which is quite the process in this household (what can I say, I only have kids once so I will enjoy fun clothes!), I could hear all three playing doctor in their room. As I paused to listen to the conversation, I realized it was even more specific; they were playing triplet pregnancy. Emerie was the doctor and Harper apparently having the babies. Doctor Emerie burst in the bedroom door to consult Nurse Reagan and her patient, as Harper announced oh the babies are coming! Oh wait, actually only one! Is it just my kids, or do other kids pretend they have more than one cooking in there? Pretty funny.

The tiny humans are greatly improving their cooking skills. One day while Mom and Dad went to the office, everyone practiced their baking skills and produced chocolate and powdered sugar covered donuts. How many of these were eaten that afternoon? That’s a great question that I probably don’t want to know the answer to; much flour was likely consumed as well. I’m happy to see my three little bakers love to cook and try goodies, since this is definitely in their DNA on both sides! From the moment Sue gets off the airplane, everyone starts requesting homemade donuts, that will certainly be a good childhood memory for them as they age into adulthood.

Cooking with Grandma
Reagan Jean
Harper & Em hard at work

If I had to pick a few favorite moments from this week, watching the girls clean under the grandma regime is definitely near the top of the list. Grandma Sue organized all the toys in the house, helping me decide what to donate to prepare for incoming birthday presents, and now that the girls are elementary age, this means they participate. If we are being honest, I believe Reagan enjoys the organization and de-cluttering; Harper and Emerie are often more excited at finding lost toys and vanishing to play with them. The kids cleaned the playroom and helped put everything go in its correct home, organized their bedroom doll kingdom and stuffed animal repository, climbed under the bed to vacuum and got down on all fours to scrub the floor. At one point I heard Harper exclaim I am NOT going under that disgusting bed, with her normal level of indignation, and Emerie and Reagan did the dirty work (literally!). If this wasn’t enough, an (intentional) chocolate milk explosion from a couple days prior meant all four were exiled to scrub the doll spa set in the bathtub. The sour smelling, chocolate milk residue was pretty gross, and I found it by putting my hand in the mushiness of their floor rug, which hasn’t recovered yet. The girls definitely find creative stories to play, but were warned that any more chocolate milk events will equal those toys going into the trashcan. And for the record, no triplets were harmed in the making of a clean house (that might be disputable from Harper)!

Scrub a dub-dub, three triplets in the tub!

It’s not just that all three participate and help clean up our household and will begrudgingly give up toys to donate; it’s more listening to them from another room as the activity occurs. The banter between the four is completely hilarious, even better when you add Craig into the mix. The girls’ reaction to the discovery of something gross, or being reminded cleaning isn’t supposed to be fun, or when one pops out to ask for scrubbing rags with an eye roll; it’s all pretty funny. Watching everyone on hands and knees, scrubbing their dirty floor….that’s pretty priceless.

Spring break wasn’t only cooking and chores- some fun was also shoved into the latter half of the week. Craig booked a pre-birthday trip down to Seward and luckily the weather cooperated and the road through the pass was pretty clear for winter time. My little ladies made the drive down and back with no screen time, fully entertained with coloring, snacking, listening to music and playing with a few toys. It helped that Emerie napped most of the way back and Reagan part of it. Harper was happy to keep those eyelids open and catch Craig snacking on any candy, so she could participate 🙂

Checking out a jellyfish
Dinner coloring
A parent picture!

The quietness of a town like Seward in the winter is a welcomed break from Anchorage. The weather was perfect, still winds and about 35 degrees, just warm enough to leave the snow gear in the house and explore the beach in coats and boots. We arrived when the tide was coming in, but early enough to spend an hour beach coming and looking for shells. The girls liked seeing all the (dead) jellyfish on the beach; Reagan was picking them up and throwing them back into the water after the first few spottings. Harper and Emerie were NOT enthused.

A couple harbor seals played out in the water as we walked down the opposite direction as the tide recessed. With Harper’s love of seals, and the fact that wildlife always pops out and says hello during our Seward visits, makes it one of the girls’ favorite spots. The open restaurant wasn’t our normal summer stop at the harbor, where we could keep an eye out for the wild animals, but clearly the girls were hungry, because all three scarfed down a whole cheeseburger and french fries. It was a relaxing afternoon and evening and other than the never-going-to-sleep shenanigans, everything went down without a hitch.

Craig & I with almost six year olds!

And with that, spring break is over and the birthday preparations are a go for next week!

❤

A Little Summer Fun

While weather this summer is still cold and overall dreary, our activities and adventures are anything but! The girls are much more self sufficient this summer season and find ways to entertain themselves, sometimes together and sometimes separately, and while the fighting and whining is still pretty constant, the parents also have more opportunities to do activities themselves that were impossible a year or two ago with three littles. It’s so nice, but also a little sad that my babies are now so grown up and independent!

We finally broke out the princess Lego sets, a first for all three. In years past many hours were spent with Duplo blocks and Craig even built a customized duplo table so building was off the floor. We held off on the smaller Legos for quite a while, knowing they will probably play and create with them for a number of years in the future and we didn’t need to rush into it. We also wanted to avoid stepping on those tiny pieces for as long as humanly possible; and here we are!

I started the first age-four set with Emerie, letting her choose which one she wanted to build. Not shockingly, she chose the tiny Elsa castle set. I was quite impressed at her ability to understand the directions without too much prompting; her hardest part was finding the pieces in the parts box, not the actual construction of it. This is likely due to seeing things close up with her weaker eye; and she powered through and had fun putting it together. She will likely be a Lego builder in the future!

By that point Reagan and Harper were hovering and up close and personal, trying to see exactly what Emerie was building. Craig started the next princess set with Reagan and I opened one for Harper. Reagan was much happier to let Craig build the parts together than do it herself. Harper did pretty well finding pieces but also wanted more help snapping them into place. We will get there.

The girls also asked for pretty colors in their hair again, and since I’m not about to actually dye their beautiful blonde locks that I assume will be either dirty blonde or light brown by the time they’re teenagers; Craig pulled out the temporary pink, purple and teal hair dye. He added stripes to one side of each kiddo head and they all sat still as it set. With all three colors, that meant he also had the joy of climbing in the shower and washing colors out one at a time, kid by kid. I definitely caught Reagan and Harper posing, singing and brushing the fancy locks in front of the mirror in the master closet later that night. Emerie’s colors ended up the most faded. We may have to add some more this weekend. This week the girls kept taking out their braids, claiming that they needed to show classmates and aides the fancy colors.

We had another first this week, channeling back to our three-year-old days of mischievousness. Craig refilled the tiki torches on the back deck and I set down lighter fluid container with about half left. Little did we know later that night the girls spent a good amount of time making flower and grass soup outside in their playhouse…with an added element of the REST of the lighter fluid. A little more flavor?! How the toxic smell didn’t stop them from playing with it is beyond me. We didn’t notice the occurrence of this activity until right at bedtime that night, when Reagan ran outside to get her beloved “tiny panda” and it came in wreaking like strong paint thinner. She was NOT pleased that into the washer it went; and even less pleased that the smell was irreversible and Mr. Panda’s new home was the outside trash can. Thank goodness for eBay; a new one is on order and in the mail!

Fourth of July weekend was uneventful overall and we mostly stayed close to home. The girls rode bikes and played outside, did some crafts and we watched them disassemble their new Lego sets. For some reason they refuse to let any of the Lego figurines keep their hair and we continue to find those pieces all over the place. Pretty sure I will glue those in place before we permanently lose them. We spent the afternoon of July 4th out in Chugiak, about 20 minutes out of town, at the holiday parade, with great seats right along the roadway. The girls did not appreciate the police and fire sirens ten feet from them, but otherwise enjoyed waving flags and demanding candy from the brigade passing by. Reagan was especially excited over the vintage teal colored cars that went by while Emerie was much more enthusiastic about picking ALL the flowers in the right-of-way and “making” fireworks with them, and Harper just wanted to snuggle and eat snacks on my lap. At one point one of the homeowners shot off a couple fireworks and all three jumped out of their skin and ran to us. Clearly we’ve never been that close to loud fireworks, since last new years we didn’t successfully keep them outside to see them.

I’m happy to report no one ran out into the street during the entire thing and the rest of the day was spent with the cousins, building forts in the driveway out of kitchen remodel boxes and grilling out. Everyone was so tired by the end of the evening that we loaded all three into the car in total meltdown status, and everyone silently watched a My Little Pony episode the whole way home.

❤

Weekend at the Beach

Well, we finally made it out of town for a short weekend, to the Alaska version of the beach. You know, the version that is beautiful, but cold, and only has rocks, not sand, and is in no way the epitome of warmth, relaxation, and quiet!

Did it end up being rainy? Yes. Close to freezing temperatures? Why not. High crosswinds that made it feel twice as cold!? Well of course! But also loads of fun for the girls and nice to get out of town for a night to refresh from a busy winter of work? Yes, that too!

Family road-trip time with snacks and smiles.

We rescheduled the girls’ birthday weekend trip to Seward for this the past weekend, opting to wait until driving conditions through the pass were less wintery and icy than back in March. Packing up and loading into the car was easier this time around, even with the girls home from preschool, than it was for any long distance adventure last year. During the drive down the girls snacked on goodies, played with new My Little Pony sets and eventually watched a movie, as we slowly made our way down to the peninsula on Sunday morning. Road-trips continue to get easier, as I alluded to many times last year, and this year will be no exception. The girls asked more times when we will be there, but are also much easier to placate with toys, snacks and coloring books to pass the time.

Reagan was thrilled to see the waterfalls along the mountains melted and running and counted them throughout the drive. Harper was happy to sit on the inlet side of the car, constantly pointing out the sights to the rest of the passengers, who didn’t care nearly as much as she thought they should. Emerie, who fought for the coveted middle seat as we loaded up, didn’t say more than two sentences the whole drive, but wouldn’t tell us anything but she was tired. Everyone enjoyed viewing any construction activity taking place, seeing some of the larger vehicles, and three cranes at one spot down by Portage.

Luckily the clouds parted upon arrival in Seward and let brief sunlight in, long enough for a good park visit after sitting for the long drive. After running around for a bit, and Craig and I “playing Bowser” and chasing the girls (it was too cold to sit there and watch them play!), we ventured down and over the large rocks to find shells on the beach. All three excitedly looked around and climbed down much better than last year and with less complaints. Once the wind picked back up, we headed inside to grab a late lunch along the pier and everyone colored and looked out at the water and boats. The highlight of the meal- other than the demands for more ketchup for their fries- was the two wild seals swimming around the harbor. In true Harper style, she named them BOTH Harper. That seemed to be a naming theme over the weekend, every time an animal sighting occurred. The girls insisted on walking along the pier for a few minutes to see them up close, but it didn’t last long with the whipping wind and complaints of I’m cold!

Cute bed cutouts in the bedroom upstairs.

Eventually we found the rented bungalow; it took us just long enough to find it for Reagan and Emerie to fall asleep and catch some zzzz’s. Harper managed to stay awake and ask us one-thousand times if we were there yet. Apparently renting a property creates some major preschooler questions, the main one producing excitement that we got a new house. This prompted questions of, what happened to our old house (old by a whole three hours, you know)? Are we going to live here now? Where is my bunk bed; it’s not in my room? Why didn’t you bring it with us? Why can we only stay one night?! It took a bit of time to convince these crazy kids that we did not actually purchase a new house for them to live in, but rented it for ONE night to visit. Mind. Blown.

I do not have any epic triplet stories of the rest of our visit, other than it was nice and cozy in the bungalow and blowing and freezing cold out on the beach. We could not convince them to go play outside and collect shells, lasting maybe fifteen minutes before the mind-numbing cold hands pushed us all back inside to play. The girls did pretty well just hanging out for the evening, playing with toys we brought and running up and down the stairway a hundred times. We watching a movie on the couch and ate a light dinner and everyone washed and dried their shell collection at the table. I look forward to the day we can rent this place and enjoy the view and more time on the deck, when it’s not so cold and rainy.

The next morning Reagan was the only one convinced by Craig to collect more shells on the beach, while the other two insisted they were NOT going outside to succumb to the elements. Next time I should probably pack rain gear! We spent the rest of the morning at the Seward Sealife Center, our longest visit yet, checking out the animals and going in and out of the exhibit areas. Highlights include playing on the pretend boat (and blowing the horn continuously), shrieking in a combination of fear and delight at the touch pool (and asking the employee to touch the starfish for them because the water was cold haha), and watching the sea lion and seals swim in the water. And no, I was informed several times that all were seals and not sea lions, regardless of my attempts to explain they are different animals.

Harper was clearly thrilled the entire visit to see her favorite animal in action (seals and the sea lion because she thinks they are all seals), even more so than last year. She asked for pictures with them swimming behind her, with a huge smile on her face, named them all Harper, and commented and complimented at how super cute and super amazing they were. Her other main phrase as they swam by- I can’t believe it! Reagan and Emerie did NOT like the large crab crawling around and immediately avoided going near it, but did enjoy watching the birds dive into the water while we looked through the glass.

Reagan and Emerie were much more content running around and shrieking uncontrollably than their sister, but by the end of the visit they simmered down enough to warrant a stuffed animal for good behavior. Emerie and Harper chose mermaids (Harper already has two stuffed seals that are her besties) while Reagan opted for a white seal to “be like Harper.”

At the end of the day and on the way home, I asked everyone to pick their favorite thing during the quick trip. Harper instantly responded it was seeing the seals out in the water, while Reagan liked playing in the boat at the sea life center and Emerie liked the bungalow and playing with her pony toys. Pretty standard answers from all three, and you could tell everyone was happy to return home and play that evening. Before we left, everyone signed the guestbook- and received several threats NOT to write on any other pages on it- and collected just enough shells to make a mess at home.

It was a nice remind to Craig and I that we can better enjoy trips around Alaska and don’t require help to do them, even though we all enjoy when other family join in too. I look forward to having more trips soon and with more cooperative weather, and am very ready for summer to arrive! At some point Reagan will stop asking how many years until summer gets here!? So true kid, it certainly feels that way this year.

❤

Rehoming Kittens and F- Words

Last week we released two of the three kittens (Wallace and Winnie) to go spend their lives at the cousins’ house. At the last minute we switched up which kitten would stay with us, much to the dismay of Harper, opting to keep one of the orange boys and letting the black haired beauty go. Winston is the kid cuddler of the group and sleeps next to Rory, our poor adult cat whose life was ruined by the arrival of new family mates (his words, not mine?!). Some nights I also find him cuddled with a kiddo in their bed, or on the pillow next to Reagan, who is almost always in our bed at some point through the night. All the kittens tolerated the preschool torture pretty well for the most part; it wasn’t uncommon for me to find one wrapped in a blanket, sitting in a doll stroller or bed, or snuggled in a blanket and “going shopping” with a kiddo, until they found a way to escape.

The first night without Wallace and Winnie involved tears and anxious kiddos that “their” kittens were gone forever!! I’ll just NEVER see the baby kitties again. So very dramatic yes, even after constant reminders that we can visit whenever we see cousins. Harper is still upset, after about a week, that we gave Winnie away. The following day we brought dinner out and both kittens immediately came out to greet not only Craig and I, but also the girls! It’s good to know we raised them right….and they can handle kid chaos and loud noise…right?!

On the actual kid front, instead of just #kittenlife, the girls are finally over the two week cough and back into routine after our Juneau trip. They continue to share new personality traits, some more wonderful than others. For example, the latest insult to one another is no longer I’m not inviting you to my birthday, as it was last year. Now it is I’m not going to marry you, with a tongue sticking out and extreme attitude seeping toward one another. After a kiss the other night, Reagan told me that meant I married her, because kisses mean marriage, Mom, and you just married me! And to top that off, several times I’ve caught Emerie yelling the f-word, correctly mind you, but also muttering it under her breath, like stop f-ing doing that. I wonder where she learned that from hahaha…. Emerie also had an epiphany the other day on the word burger, explaining that her pronunciation sounds the same as her saying booger. Mom, like the boogers in your nose; they sound like a burger! Everyone is picking up so much more about the English language in their already excellent vocal skills.

All three are really getting into their drawings, numbers and letters. Reagan has almost all her letters memorized and helps her sisters learn theirs; she likes to draw them when instructed how to spell words. She has her name down and enjoys signing all her artwork. Her customized letter “R” still has the adorable circle with two lines dangling from it and is about the cutest letter I’ve ever seen. Harper is picking the alphabet up really quickly as well, but is much better at writing it if she sees it visually, which is my learning style too. She stresses over spelling her name out correctly and often replaces the “a” with the “e”, but is getting better by the day. She colored and made a fan at school last week and was thrilled to bring it home and model it. The next day all three had fans in their backpacks- coincidence? I think not. So far Emerie is the least interested in her letters and lacks the focus on writing and learning them, but every once in a while gets on a tangent and you HAVE to answer all letter requests immediately so she can write out words. She is still a bit unsure writing her own name, but is also improving, telling us she has lots of “e’s.” She has greatly improved on her numbers over the last month too, and can piece the whole train numbering puzzle together without any help, a big improvement from earlier this winter.

As you will see in the photo below, we are working on learning important words in the English vocabulary, such as french fries, tea, and how to write out the whole family’s name. “S” was the letter of the week at school two weeks ago and the girls all fought over bringing Grandma Sue’s picture for Friday show and tell. This past week was letter “T”, and a photo of Tyler was shared. They asked to bring him in person, but settled with bringing a photo. Good thing we have lots of family that has lots of different letter starts, so they pick them up easily and associate the letter with their names.

Our living room is now more of an art studio- i.e. Reagan discovered how to use scotch tape. She constantly brings home five to ten pictures from every school day and runs around the room, taping them up in different places so we can see them. Harper mostly adds her designs to the side of the fridge, and Emerie forcefully demands Craig puts them in his office.

Last week was a busy, out of the office week for me with a convention, so for girls’ night in (and Dad’s night out) I slacked and bought everyone happy meals from McDonalds. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve created the more fun (and healthy) charcuterie boards for the night, and when I commented that at school pickup, Harper and Reagan informed me I should make the goody boards and then you should leave and go to Shiloh’s for dinner, so we can have girls night with dad. Emerie disagreed with that suggestion, commenting I should leave and go to Jessie’s house instead, but definitely leave so Dad could join. What the f children?! No love.

And now, can you believe in only two more weeks my tiny humans will be five years old?! I surely can’t believe it ❤