Jun 24

Let’s Celebr-eight!

Better (reeaallly….) late than never, embarking on the next year of triplets, from age seven and into age eight!! I constantly seem to write that I can’t recall where the time went, and everyday the three of them grow up a little more, becoming a little more independent, and grow into little ladies. Just like the last seven birthdays…go big or go home. Here’s an overview of what my littles were up to over the past year of age seven…I should probably post it before they turn nine! 🙂

This year’s theme began with a Studio Gibly theme, but once that appeared a little more difficult to achieve than we expected, we transitioned into all things magical and fairy related. The love of the supernatural world, of magic, is something we work so hard to embrace and protect, since it won’t be long before the believe fades away. Even since I originally wrote this, they are asking more questions on the realness of things that “magic” controls now.

Birthday number eight landed on the same night as this year’s Daddy Daughter Dance, much to the girls’ delight. Because their school always has a fundraiser auction the same night, that also meant no school transitioned to a day of preparing for the fancy dance, but also do all the birthday things with family visiting in town. We opened some of the presents from Craig and myself, including new panda, turtle and seal dresses, new Lego sets, and some horse related toys. This way the girls played with their newfound treasures while we prepared for the birthday party the following day.

This year I went all out on dresses for the dance- with the girls in larger sizes this year, we can exaggerate a little more like a mini prom, and I found three unique dresses instead of matching in their colors like prior years. Harper’s flowy pink dress contained lots of layers and ruffles; Reagan had a darker blue with ruffles and mesh down to the floor; and Emerie’s first try of a purple galaxy dress was tight so we traded it in for a black and white one with a train. It turned out so beautiful with black heels! All three were personally tortured by their mother’s demand of tights…which were bejeweled and likely to never be worn again. But they survived.

After hair was curled (x3) and Daddy’s nail salon and face masks complete, Grandma Sue applied the makeup and everyone got dressed. Emerie was a huge fan of red lipstick this year…oh so much red lipstick. The real highlight of the night was the lovely pink suits that Craig and Cousin Tyler rocked at the event- surprisingly both look great in a light shade of pink! I can’t report that my trio fully behaved at the event, but they sure did have a lot of fun and instantly started talking about next year. Tyler humoring them was also really fun, as they have some pretty amazing cousins who will do the girly things with them, something they will always be able to treasure.

Age seven had some of the usual milestones, and I did a really terrible job writing things down and writing blogs to track all the things. Here are a few of the ones I do recall, that project us forward into age eight! A few other fun ones to mention as well, all three finally experienced the northern lights, getting to see not only the normal green, but also the less than common pink and purple, during one particularly amazing light show last fall. All three greatly advanced on reading and comprehension and are discovering a love of reading that we experienced at that age. They went to their first official school dance, learned to bike without training wheels, gained confidence driving their four wheelers and going up and down small hills, discovered new arts and crafts (soo much clay, gems and drawings!), and enjoyed another year exploring the Kenai Peninsula with their parents, Grandma Sue, and other visiting family.

The girls first Valentines Dance went off without any issues everyone enjoyed another reason to dress up and dance. Craig rocked his pink suit for the occasion and the girls wore lipstick! As a kid who didn’t get a chance to go to these events at my school growing up; I love seeing the opportunity to make memories and have some fun.

Learning to ride bikes this year and Harper and Reagan finding a true love for it, and doing almost nightly rides around the neighborhood. Emerie pushed back all last summer about removing training wheels, but eventually figured out her balance and gained more confidence. The girls also became much more comfortable on their four wheelers, which now need to trade to the next size. When they are running, we were out and about at the nearby park, driving around.

I hope the crafting age lasts forever, as they really fill the cold and dark winter months without sitting in front of the television or listening to everyone constantly fight. Favorites over the past year are paint by numbers for kids, using the iPad app to create clay animal models or step-by-step drawings (that continue to get more complicated and impressive for their age!), and painting fairy houses and other 3D contraptions. It is wonderful to be able to walk away for five minutes and my house isn’t covered in paint, and they really take the time to create unique things.

The girls learned SO much over the past six months in second grade. Their math skills with addition and subtraction and reading and writing dramatically improved, as well as their comprehension. Now we find hand written fashion show or tea party invites, customized recipes, intricate art to display on the wall, and even hand written and practiced songs. Their love notes are also wonderful to read, as are some of the “saucier” and less loving notes to each other sometimes (sshhh…). Third quarter was the first time separating them in after school activities and they all seemed to enjoy the reprieve and explore an hour with different friends.

Age seven boasted a year of big feelings, more fighting with each other, and more learning on how to express big emotions and frustrations without being mean. Constant and close proximity to each other drew out unkind words and arguing about meaningless things, and often pushes them to sensory overload that they are still grasping how to maneuver. While breaking this cycle is still an incomplete task, we did find mandating separate areas to play in or one doing a craft while the other two play helps. For the battle of who sits in the middle back seat in the car, we take turns and attempt to mitigate the throw downs every, single day…outside of all that, we certainly also see the other side, with nice playing, crafting together, and creativity on the daily.

The girls branched out a little on their friend groups, at least more than in years past. Reagan created a panda club with two other girls in her class, and I frequently saw handwritten notes in her backpack from it. Emerie appears to be more of the tomboy of the group and hangs with a number of the boys; that or she can just hold her own with them! Harper enjoys more girly girl things and has a couple girls from each class she spends her time with. All three also have a soft spot for some of the younger, pre-K girls at school.

I’ve heard the older kiddos get, the more activities seem to populate the calendar. We keep careful track of this, because free play and time at home are just as important to enhance and developing creative minds. Outside of that, the girls did four months of gymnastic and ballet, and one week session over Christmas of aerial gymnastics. This spring also included swimming lessons and ballet, in anticipation of the spring ballet show!

I wrote this one last year but it’s worth highlighting again. Going out and about solo for various errands, birthday parties, or even just fun activities is WAY easier now than even a year ago. Going overnight to Seward on a whim one day, without any preparation, is now doable and even enjoyable. We spent a lot of time in Kenai and Ninilchik last summer and plan to branch out to a few new places this year. The girls do great at the long car rides- always have- and find ways play and entertain each other, or listen to or read story books.

Age seven certainly brought about the concept of “boys.” All three goof off and pick on each other (already!) about boyfriends and crushes. Emerie has moved on from boyfriend territory and now claims one of the adorable boys in the other class is her husband, NOT boyfriend any longer. It’s pretty funny since he is well aware of her crush (as is the entire elementary school). Reagan is adamant about no boyfriends and only friends that are boys, and Harper has her eye on one in her class, although I believe they are genuinely friends! It’ll be interesting to compare this on their birthday next year.

I will wrap up this section with one of my favorite things about age seven; the girls still believe in magic- in Santa, in fairies, tooth or otherwise! They still love to create beautiful things, such as a fairy house in the middle of the woods in Palmer, delicious cookies on a plate for Santa, having a birthday theme that creates a magical craft, or to set a trap to catch that pesky tooth fairy on an overnight visit. I see many other kids their age or even younger that lost this belief, and I hope we can hold on to it at least another year and see what joy it brings.

This year’s birthday party was intentionally and significantly smaller than last year’s extravaganza, since 30+ kids running around was A LOT. With that in mind, Craig reserved a craft space and we kept the guest list as short as possible. The fairy theme was selected after much discussion about doing something Studio Gibli related (like Ponyo), or K-Pop Demon Hunters, and we decided fairies had the most flexibility. Over the prior month much supplies was ordered, including a lot of fairies, sequins and glitter, and about anything to contribute to creative houses.

I have to say, the group of about 15 kids did FANTASTIC. It wasn’t chaos and they all spent time perfecting their visions; in fact all the different ideas were very creative. Needless to say, I was pretty impressed at the outcome. The girls floated around to their friends and worked on their houses, one parent manned the hot glue gun and helped each kiddo glue things down, and the creative juices flowed. Cupcakes this year consisted of both vanilla and chocolate depending on triplet preference, and all three helped me decorate them and then drown them in edible glitter. Can’t have fairy themes without edible glitter!!

All About the Girls – Age Seven

Funny enough, a lot of these are very similar to what I wrote when they were five and six.

Harper Anne

Loves ballet, dressing up, & sleeping in.

Obsessed with seals
Team Aurora
Most chill/laid back

Harper Larper

Emerie Faye

Loves reading, collecting tiny things & puzzles

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

Emmy

Reagan Jean

Loves to draw/color, write stories & sing.

Panda obsessed
Team Snow White
Most opinionated

Ray Ray

Harper Anne

This past year Harper maintains her girly girl status, and is consistently found dressed to the hills in elaborate dresses, shoes and accessories. She is our headband girl (just like I was) and wears them more frequently than either sister. This girl can rock oversized, four inch adult heels like she is walking barefoot and it’s impressive. Harper also enjoys drawing tutorials and her art continues to advance, and creates clay creatures all by herself!

Height/Weight: 78 pounds/ 53″ tall

Favorite Activities: How-to painting and drawing tutorials, dressing up and wearing high heels, dance class and playing with her doll (Babela), and riding her bike as much as possible.

Favorite Movie/Music/Show: Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella are still favorites, but any princess movies is enjoyed. For shows, the Croods, Sofia the First, and Bluey. Her favorite song is Golden from K-Pop Demon Hunters, the Wellerman song by Kids Bop that she refers to as the watermelon song, and of course the one played on repeat, Bad Boy by Cascada.

Favorite Books: Barbie books, Glitter and Glow (Genies), and anything Sleeping Beauty.

Favorite Princess/Character: By far her favorite remains Sleeping Beauty (Aurora). She likes all things Barbies, or seals of any kind and her collection continues to grow. Can’t forget her doll Babela and K-Pop Demon Hunters Mira, who just happens to have long, pink hair!

Favorite Color: pink

Favorite Food: French fries remain a main choice, including McDonalds and Sonic. She always wants to eat at Benihanna for their fried rice (with egg- she claims that’s important) and fancy ice cream. Harper continues to sneak candy and definitely has the biggest sweet tooth of the three. Other favorites include bowls of watermelon, juicy apples at night, and dip ‘n dots. A recent dinner favorite is carnitas and potatoes with BBQ sauce.

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 visiting them Seward each year. She also loves koala bears.

When Harper grows up, she wants to be: a Mom and a ballerina. If she had to pick between the two, Mom wins out because she doesn’t want to work all the time.” Ha!

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: Doing chores and 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 be trending toward more motion sickness than her sisters and gets overheated in the car, requesting fresh or cooler air on drives.

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 a little sister competition arises.

Something she says she is really good at: painting and Legos and cursive writing. Her princess drawings are really great and she spends a lot of time on them. She’s also great at bowling! Reagan says Harper is good at finding high heels and dressing up. She is also good at listening. Craig would say she is the best at foot rubs; much to her dismay.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? She answered where Grandma Anne lives and the water park, or going to build snow forts outside.

What is your favorite subject at school?: gym class and playing games. And least favorite?: writing because it tires out her hands.

Who are your best friends?: Sage, Harper M, Emerie, and Reagan. Also Miss Tawni.

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!! She also always answers ice cream anytime you ask her what she wants for dinner.

Emerie Faye

Age seven was a year of discovery for reading, something Emerie continues to enjoy and advance on. She is definitely the bookworm of the three, and often found curled up with a book in various locations around the house or yard. Emerie is great playing solo and enjoys her time by herself, and especially spending time at home. When on the four wheeler, she becomes quite the sassy speed demon, constantly sticking her tongue out at you as she whizzes by.

Height/Weight: 73 pounds/ 53″ tall – This is the first time she is solidly in the middle for weight and not the smallest of the three. She finally caught up!

Favorite Activities: Emerie enjoys spending time at home with family, sledding, making tea parties and fashion shows, and using all the scotch tape. She also likes helping parents cook or pack lunches, building Lego sets, reading books and sitting on the floor, figuring out a puzzle, or playing a board game. Her tiny things collection grows daily and you should see the things found in her coat pockets (or out of the dryer!). She enjoys 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: Favorite songs include Let It Go, Troublemaker, I Don’t Wanna Wait by David Goetta. While Emerie still loves her Frozen movies and music, requests are much fewer than in the past. She continues to read all the Elsa related books, and hum the music when she plays. Other current favorites were the Swan Princess and various old Barbie movies from the 90s, and lastly, she loves the song Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne, and Fat by Weird Al, which is absolutely hilarious and amazing, and a result from when I went to his concert up here last year.

Favorite Books: anything Frozen related, and really just books in general. She loves to read, and you’ll find her curled up in a chair, reading through a book, pretty frequently and at bedtime.

Favorite Princess/Character: No change from the past three years- Elsa (Frozen) is still leading the charge in her heart. She also continues to have turtle stuffies everywhere, and lots of little fairies litter the floor, just waiting for more playtime. She also loves the K-Pop Demon Hunter Rumi…who of course is purple!

Favorite Color: No surprise here…it’s still PURPLE!!

Favorite Food: She claims chicken nuggets, taquitos, ice cream, and strawberries straight from the packaging. A recent dinner favorite is carnitas and potatoes with BBQ sauce.

Favorite Animal: She still loves turtles and has a bunch of them, and took an interest in platypuses from her recent school project.

When Emerie grows up, she wants to be: a gymnastics teacher because she likes doing it, but still needs more work on it to get the handstand right. Does she want to keep taking gymnastics so she gets better and can teach it? No….

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: anything that eats turtles, and tomatoes…barf! She continues to tell people she is allergic to them, but really it’s just hatred. She dislikes when her sisters talk over her or disruptions while she’s reading or doing homework. 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 (although this dramatically improved by the end of the winter!). It is also a constant battle on wearing her glasses and keeping track of them, and patching her eye.

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 no swaying her mind. She can also be very compassionate and considerate; always thinking of others and wanting to be helpful.

Something she says she is really good at: at gymnastics, painting, and cooking with parents. Harper says Emerie is good at burping and it makes them laugh. Reagan says Emerie is good at making tea parties and when you are upset she will bring you a stuffy.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Kenai to see the twins, the warm beach in Florida, or to see the water park in Cincinnati and wear swimsuits all day.

What is your favorite subject at school? singing in Music Class. And least favorite?: Going outside for recess and especially getting dressed for it, and “her husband” not being in her class.

Who are your best friends?: Luke, Brian and Abigail. Really everyone in her class.

Favorite Quotes: I did nothing! This is also one of my favorites, because any time it is uttered, I know with confidence it indeed means the opposite…

Favorite Thing About Turning Eight: having a birthday party that people can come to. Most importantly, that Luke is coming. (and he did!)

Reagan Jean

Reagan’s artistic skills continued to advance over the past year, as well as her creative play. She is constantly coming up with fun ideas for crafts or outfits, writing a story or composing a song and then practicing it before performing. She is the social butterfly of the three now, and enjoys talking to her friends on the phone. She is also a great helper at cleaning up or random requests from parents, and the first to learn how to put her hair in a ponytail and tie her shoes.

Height/Weight: 67 pounds/ 53″ tall

Favorite Activities: Reagan enjoys art, painting pictures and drawing videos, and sledding, climbing trees, riding her bike, and playing Moms and Dads or with the back neighbor kiddo. She discovered how to take pictures with my phone and requests to do that quite frequently. She also enjoys ice skating and continues to ask for lessons.

Favorite Movie/Music/Show: Lately it is Ponyo and Howell’s Moving Castle, and various Barbie movies. For favorite song is What It Sounds Like from K-Pop Demon Hunters, Never Let Me Go by Cascada and she’s recently discovered techno music.

Favorite Books: Pupunzel and other princess story books, anything talking about pandas, and her first small chapter books, the Dragon girl series.

Favorite Princess/Character: After seven years on Team Jasmine, her love is diminished and she now claims to love Snow White and that original movie, because she is kind and pretty. And the K-Pop Demon Hunters Zoey, who is teal.

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 always requests macaroni and cheese and loves blackberries, apples, cantaloupe, and cucumbers, and of course ice cream. The love for cotton candy, and sometimes lemon, 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 all shapes and sizes of panda.

When Reagan grows up, she wants to be: An artist and a mom; she wants to do both!

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.

Major Dislikes: Peanut butter, chicken nuggets and tomatoes. She’s a little quirky about her socks or shoes not fitting perfectly on her feet and the most aware of clothing that irritates her. She is not a fan of heights.

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 the fighting begins. 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; she takes the time and is definitely our perfectionist.

Something she says she is really good at: at doing art and making things. She is also great at making ponytails in her hair, doing braids, and tying her shoes! Harper says Reagan is good at painting and drawings.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? She wants to know what Hawaii is like and see the beach, and go to the “red house” down in Soldotna and see Becky!

What is your favorite subject at school? She says math, because it’s fun, and the chance to study animals and learn about them. And least favorite?: She doesn’t like doing PE inside, but it’s okay outside.

Who are your best friends?: her panda club, with Abigail and Addison and the neighbor kiddo.

Favorite Quotes: Mom, I love you more than you know. She says this so frequently to both Craig and me.

Favorite Thing About Turning Eight: Making the fairy houses for their birthday was the best, and doing that with her friends.

Seven 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, like princesses, fancy outfits and striking poses, playing outside, swinging and playing pretend. Everyone still loves magic and fairies and the beautiful side of life is still believable! All three also insist on evening snuggles with Mom. It is harder than you’d think to navigate those demands, and we have to rotate between who sits with and snuggles. Emerie continues to enjoy her solo time and is often found reading in her room or listening to a Tonie. Harper found a new joy in art projects and perfecting her drawings and outlining them in permanent marker. Reagan’s creativity on creating games and playtime for her sisters continues to grow. You’ll find her creating a salon for her sisters (and parents), writing a play to act out, or posting signs all over the walls.

What is the biggest personality difference? As I wrote last year, all three are growing into strong, independent little girls. If I have to choose a difference, Emerie is the homebody and would rather be doing something at home than every going anywhere. Reagan has a little more diva in her attitude now than in the past. Harper remains the “chillest” of the three and the constant negotiator during sister arguments. She often walks away and plays by herself to avoid it.

What do they all constantly fight about? A year later and all three constantly fight over the contentious who-gets-to-be-in-the-middle for a picture. This usually results in three photos, so everyone can rotate and have a turn…and a better selection to choose from! They really don’t fight over toys very much anymore, and the fights relate more to interrupting ongoing play with a different sister, or when one jumps in and takes over and they can’t agree on direction. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the other things they argue about, such as who has to sit in the third row of the car, who gets to choose the movie or the song playing, and nighttime routine antics when one kid wants silence, one wants an audio book, and one wants music. Tough choices indeed.

Who is now the best sleeper? Who is the worst? I believe we have finally made it. It’s been more than a month since a kid slept in my bed, and it truly is bittersweet. As far as falling asleep at night, Harper remains the winner; she loves the comfort of her bed and always has. Emerie seems to enjoy reading books or listening to stories to fall asleep, or the exact opposite and total silence. Reagan struggles the most with falling asleep, and is up and coming to me three to five times every bedtime, for one reason or another or for a philosophical debate on random ideas. Once asleep, they all do pretty well staying in bed other than the occasional ear infection or bad dream; it only took us EIGHT years to get here.

Who is Team Mom and who is Team Dad? This remains consistent since the toddler years, Emerie remains fully committed to Team Dad, although I do get occasional love and requests for evening snuggles. On the other hand, Reagan still commits to Team Mom and is essentially my shadow. Harper continues to noncommittally decide each day, and enjoys spending time with both of us doing different things, and snuggling with Mom at night.

What was my favorite memory of age seven? This past year was harder on me mentally than some of the more exhausting younger years, but I managed to work through it myself and have hopefully made it to the other end. With that in mind, I think watching them grow up so quickly is taking an internal toll on me, and something most moms face through the years. I really enjoy the extensive craft time and just sitting in the living room through the winter, painting by numbers together, beaded crafts and perler beads, and relaxing together. The girls also enjoy board and card games now, and while every gets riled up, it’s fun to be able to do it.

Here’s to age eight! I’m just proud I finished writing this before they turned nine 🙂

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!

❤

Jul 03

Stilettos & Sidewalk CEOs

Summer is in full swing and that means finally a few days of sunlight! With the warmer temperatures appears our three fashion icons, who -unlike their mother- instantly boasted a tan and brightened blonde locks with their new fashionista attitudes. With Grandma Sue in town for the month as our built in daycare, that means days spent at home and fifty thousand outfit changes. Her visits always equal a lot of fun activities and goodies; new artwork decorates my walls, colorful bathwater now has to be saved for future use (don’t ask…) and crystals and gems are growing on the counter. At this point it’s hard to picture summer without her after several years of visits.

As shown in the photos, we’ve apparently entered the girls’ high fashion era—think stilettos, strappy sandals, and a rotating wardrobe of too-big junior and women’s dresses, now making daily appearances in our living room runway and around town. Each of the girls handpicked their own thrift store heel, scoring treasures like sparkly pink wrap-around stilettos, black chunky heels with sparkly butterflies fluttering up the leg straps, and silver flats that shimmer with every stomp.

Harper, in true firstborn form, struts around the house in 3” heels like she’s been doing it since birth; unlike me, who barely survives standing in heels, let alone walking in them. I tried on the size seven ones at their request; and nearly didn’t survive that five minutes. Harper’s skill is frankly rude it’s so natural. And Emerie and Reagan, well their confidence and thrill of style far outweighs their coordination, but don’t tell them that! They still charge into the backyard in their new shoes, attempting to climb playhouse, swing, and help with gardening with all the grace of baby giraffes on stilts (great visual right?!). But hey- as Grandma always says, beauty is pain….right?

Along with the heels came an influx of XS dresses from the women’s section and enough sweaters to dress all the Bluey grannies. The girls have a sixth sense at spotting their desires; it might just be in their DNA from my skill finding a good deal in clearance sales. One day it’s a pink off-the-shoulder sequin dress, the next it’s a glittery black gown that looks like it was made from recycled sandpaper. They also swap colors and parade around, announcing they look like their sister. And comfort is clearly not a requirement. The discovery of oversized cardigans too, that naturally go with evening wear or even pajamas pants, support this fashion-forward household. After several weeks of searching, Harper and Reagan excitedly found thrifted hooded bathrobes, one pink and one teal. Emerie initially claimed an adult-sized purple robe, rocking it like a tiny boss until I caved and ordered her a kid-sized version—at which point she graciously “allowed” Sue to wear her discarded one. Even on a few warm nights, these three goofballs still curl up in bed wrapped in them like cozy, baby burritos. I mean honestly, it looks kind of cozy…if it wasn’t the warmest time of year for us!

Papa Cliff stopped in a couple weeks ago and delivered roller blades, which caused quite the discussion on who received what color, and very interesting times watching them try to run across the front yard and not lose all their teeth or break any bones. They excitedly rocked their half pajamas, half winter wear with elbow and knee pads, another fashion forward style apparently. And no, they cannot skate like Craig- who is exceptionally good at it- but they sure wish they could!

Grandma Sue visits always equal your body weight in goodies; and no, we are not complaining! As the girls have grown, they are a little more manageable on the cooking output, not eating handfuls of flour, licking their fingers every five seconds, or sneaking chunks of butter (hey they are their grandma’s granddaughters haha). Fashion forward outfits contribute to this activity as well, with messy buns in the morning for scones and much more handwashing than in years past. The past few weeks they’ve tried their hand in peach pie and crust (Emerie), key lime cheesecake, multiple flavors of delicious scones, and you can’t forget the non-desserts, like homemade fried rice and favorite and local flour explosion, chicken fried steak.

The girls, Sue and I spent the first real sun of the summer out of town, and what better Father’s Day gift to a busy girl dad then giving him two days of kid-free silence while we harassed the Kenai Peninsula. The weekend was smooth overall, the girls bonded with their new identical twin cousins, barbecued with family and made smores, and discovered a few treasures at local garage sales. It is fun (for me!) to try to figure out which twin is which, something that is always fun when trying to distinguish who is who on identicals, and Reagan is getting really good at it. We rounded out the trip stopping for the waffles at the train restaurant, and were back home in no time.

It’s not all fun and games when the parents are off at work- there’s still a busy household to run. Thankfully, Grandma Sue runs a tight ship and keeps the girls busy with chores. And by chores, we mean supervised chaos with good intentions and efficiency. For example, the reseeding of spots in the yard. In order to avoid stomping the spots, the girls “helped” throw grass seed, with a level of distribution far exceeding the adults and their enthusiasm. So far all are abiding by the rule well, and excitedly notice as grass starts to fill in since they helped with the process. Around the house, they’re also tackling the essentials: loading the dishwasher, making beds, putting away clean laundry, and attempting to clean up the daily toy explosion. It’s a group effort -with some fighting and arguing in between- and the job jar is never empty!

In addition to having little fashionistas, we once again have tiny entrepreneurs with a homemade lemonade stand, all inclusive with colorful Rice Krispy treats (extra marshmallows) and M&M cookie bars. Picture three sets of energetic hands helping Grandma Sue stir the cereal; it was a chaotic and hilarious scene to watch. Yes, hands were washed, and yes, we limited the direct cereal-to-mouth ratio…at least until the end. The giggling lasted about as long as the stirring. Sign making didn’t receive the same level of enthusiasm as last year’s marathon art session, but the results were still pretty customized and cute. Everyone rocked lemon-themed outfits and, for the most part, stuck to the front yard, where they joyfully harassed any passerby and our good sported neighbors. All agreed to spend their revenue on fancy nail polish at the nail salon, and hopefully we are working toward a good understanding that hard work equals reward, even at this age.

Each morning, just like during the school year, Emerie continues to patch her eye and still questions why she has to do it when the other two don’t. In the past month she’s become more aware that her weaker eye doesn’t always appear straight, especially at night, and was really stuck on the thought for a few days. We’re not sure if a friend pointed it out but it’s the first time she’s ever noticed, and it doesn’t seem like it came from her sisters since patching is a normal occurrence throughout the years.

Needless to say, we’re working hard to reassure her that patching strengthens her eye, and that it won’t be forever. We also remind her that her sisters will likely end up in glasses eventually, given the genetic odds stacked against them with both parents and grandparents in the bad eyesight club. Our hope is to ease her worries now, before they snowball into something bigger… especially in a house that’s destined to have three teenage girls under one roof. We know she will appreciate all these efforts as an adult, because glasses or not, she will have sight in both eyes!

Other summertime adventures include a stop at the local reconnaissance fair, a first for the girls and during an excessive downpour afternoon. Excluding the cold hands, wet raincoats and attire covered in clay from learning pottery, it was quite a fun afternoon. And not so cold as to avoid an ice cream treat (according to the girls…because I was cold!). Our annual visit to the Scottish Highland Games was also a success again this year. The Douglas kilts aren’t nearly as oversized with growing kids, and we managed to snap a family photo with the Douglas scarves from Grandma Anne in Scotland last month. With only a few rain sprinkles here and there and mostly sun, the girls rocked their kilts, drank a gallon of fresh lemonade, gleefully found the dip and dots booth, sported cute face paint and begged to do the harnessed trampoline jumps. They nibbled on lunch during the Harp Twins concert and handed their coloring to the twins before getting our annual, three-sets-of-identicals photo. Everyone enjoyed watching the dance clubs highlight their dances. Another highlight was all three volunteering to go on stage with other kids and learn one of the dances, and they did pretty well. Stage fright is not a concern in this house (other than Reagan occasionally) and they listened, followed along, and gave it their best. All three get their rhythm from their dad 🙂

I can’t believe July is already here. We continue to get out and about and enjoy this great state, visit parks and ride bikes through the neighborhood, and get out of town when possible. For now, we will continue crafting, baking, picking all the wildflowers, and enjoying our time together.

❤

Mar 30

3x the Cake, Chaos & Celebration

What a week! The beginning of March, for the past six years, has been all about birthday festivities: planning our biggest party of the year, coming up with spring break activities, creating customized cakes in triplicate plus school cupcakes, and squeezing in the much-anticipated daddy-daughter dance. And just to keep things interesting, this year we also added a surgery, a few dental fillings and tooth extraction, a weekend trip, and you know, that four letter word called work- right in the thick of legislative session. I think it’s safe to say the parents (and probably Grandma Sue too!) have officially earned their own spring break; when exactly does that happen and who wants to watch the kids?!

Much discussion occurred in January and February about this year’s birthday theme—because obviously, picking the right one is serious business. I figured My Little Pony would be the winner this year but the girls had other plans. In a unanimous vote (rare!), they landed on a zoo theme featuring three completely unrelated animals: Harper chose a arctic seal, Emerie a turtle, and Reagan her beloved panda. Naturally, the party colors remained the standard pink, purple, and teal theme of our lives, because I didn’t actually give them an option otherwise (Reagan asked for red pandas and that was vetoed- I don’t have red stuff!).

After tossing around ideas with Sue (aka my creative partner-in-cake…so funny!), we came up with a plan for each kiddo’s cake. Then came the chocolate molds—50+ of them over the course of a few evenings. They are time intensive but actually pretty fun to change up each year, and the girls love seeing the results. The arctic seals nearly did me in- I kept accidentally decapitating them with the one 3D mold ordered from Etsy. But after a few trial runs; I think they turned out passable. The turtles were a breeze and popped right out with cute shell patterns, and the mini pandas were fun to crank out in teal. I even brought my “a” game and managed to make a few in black and white, making Reagan so excited and adding more flare.

Our toothless Harper smiling with her “harper seals” in pink and white, sun bathing on a bed of sparkling water (because edible glitter is awesome), surrounded by rocks, green brush, and snow covered ground. In food terms, it’s like melted blue Jolly Ranchers turned into a sticky candy, water body, topped with a mix of white and rock-looking sprinkles, and some plastic bushes to boost up the three dimensional look. I think it came out pretty well!

Emerie’s face in that picture says it all. She wanted her cake a bit busier, more like an undersea party than a quiet reef. So, along with the handmade chocolate turtles were sprinkles of mermaid treasure to share the glory. In addition to colorful shells, more turtle friends, and an abundance of foliage, her cake included a mermaid backdrop to set the scene, complete with light green icing for the ocean floor and dreamy lakes in blended shades of blue and green.

Reagan’s panda habitat ended up looking the most like a real zoo out of the three cakes. It featured a chocolate bamboo enclosure, framed with plastic bamboo leaves, and a whole bunch of rambunctious pandas- some edible, some just along for the ride- all relaxing on a mountain of light green icing, with little leaves popping up from the “ground.” And don’t forget, lots of edible glitter to make the whole thing sparkle.

Aside from the cakes was a lot of other cooking and crafting creativity for the actual party that weekend. The good ‘ole internet allowed me to find really cute seal balloons, and the pandas/turtles were easier to find after that. Same for the party bags, which were fun to figure out distributing equal goodies for each kiddo, and having a harder time finding seal themed anything. ChatGPT and I also got in some quality bonding time, helping me design custom stickers in each girl’s favorite color and animal, and photoshopping seven candles because the program would NOT do it. That turned into a surprisingly fun exercise in trial-and-error (loooooots of it!) until I finally landed on just the right look. It was totally worth the effort. I think they turned out super cute and the girls were so excited for extras, and to help decorate the party plates with them.

As far as the party goes, we invited a lot of people to celebrate, but weren’t sure who would show up, and ended up with WAY more than expected. The party was in a big, indoor space, which was filled with about 40 kids in total. If you didn’t know, that is a lot of kids…

Each animal was well represented at the party, and Sue and I spent plenty of time crafting customized creations—like kiwi and grape turtles (complete with tiny eyeballs!) and Rice Krispy shaped of all three, each with little noses and smiles. As usual, Sue’s veggie pizza was a hit, as were Craig’s fancy cupcakes, all frosted with a triple swirl of pink, purple and teal and topped with matching chocolate animals. It really is a team effort to put these events on, and breaks my heart to think we only have a few more until the girls will be grown and probably less excited for all the extravagance.

The party itself was packed with animal-themed activities. We had props for silly iPad photos (and yes, there were many to go through after), temporary tattoos (seal tattoos are surprisingly hard to find, by the way, but do exist!), scratch art animal face masks, and even a zoo-themed game inspired by Craig. But the real hit? The open space and soft mats for climbing, where the kids ran wild and just had a blast being kids.

But you know what I found most impressive about the afternoon? The pro level of effort put into the gifts. Not only did almost everything have custom, hand drawn cards for each kid individually (handwritten kid cards are simply the greatest at this age, giving and receiving!), they were also incredibly thoughtful and catered to the likes of each kiddo. Wrapping paper and gift bags were a total explosion of pink, purple, and teal, so on-brand for our continued life trend. It was such a joy to watch the girls’ excitement. This was also the first year everything didn’t come in threes, which feels like a big milestone to me and a sign they’re growing up and moving out of the little kid phase (sob!!). We also have a very generous group of friends!

Favorite gifts for this year? I always like to write this down because I instantly can’t remember for all three. The girls unanimously loved the glittery gold H, E, and R letters, the star dresses in their colors from Aunt Jenny, and surprise dolls. One friend grabbed everyone another stuffy in their animal of choice; i.e. a stuffed grey seal that was open with squeals by Harper, another small panda who now has Reagan insisting she is a mother of a set of quadruplets (I love that she even knows what that means), and tiny turtles that now snuggle in bed with Emerie. This is also the last year for some of the dress up dresses, which they will size out of after size 8 (sob!!) so we splurged and bought them one last fancy outfit from the local toy store. We also upgraded their bedroom comforters and replaced the matching princess ones originally purchased when we installed the triplet bunk bed, which feels like ages ago. The theme for those? Well you guessed it, pink and white seals for Harper, I couldn’t find any purple turtle comforters so a purple Elsa set for Emerie, and a teal panda family for Reagan. I love the new look in their room!

Amidst all the excitement of the week was also the very anticipated Daddy-Daughter Dance, now a staple tradition in our household. The girls ask about it all year long. We went all out: nails done, hair curled with the curling iron for the first time, and eye shadow and liner picked by each of them. Then came the strappy, white heels, tights, and lacy dresses in their colors. The event anticipation was full of excitement, and while Craig reported they were a bit chaotic and wild at the actual event (less magical for him, maybe), they absolutely loved their special night with Dad. It’s one of those sweet memories they can look back on as they get older—and the photos are just plain adorable and no snow and sunshine was a nice, unusual touch for this time of year. Sue and I also snuck away from all the party planning for a kid-free sushi date, which was pretty fantastic, too.

Surviving a week(s) as a party planner for the triplets feels like juggling three dozen cupcakes while riding on a roller coaster coated in a thick layer of glitter, with miscellaneous events in between the stops for preparations, real work hours, and everyday chores. By the end, one needs a serious break from the never ending glitter and abundant child inspired noise, and need some very strong caffeine or a long nap… but hey, the stress is worth the effort to deliver a fun month that the girls will remember happily as they get older. But thank heavens it’s done for another year and my tiny babies are now seven!

❤

Jan 05

A Little Christmas Joy

The past six weeks have been full of holiday activities, play dates with friends, and school activities. Staying busy pushes us through the dark, winter season, and helps burn the never ending amount of energy three six-year-olds brings to our household. As the sun sets before four in the afternoon, it seems like that darkness turns into kid energy and wildness, all while cooped up indoors in the evenings.

We kicked off the Christmas season with a Samaritans Purse evening, organizing and filling boxes that would arrive all over the world, to share a little Christmas joy with other kids less fortunate. The girls were great helpers, customizing their boxes for girls aged four to six, and begging to do more than one box. They colored pages and wrote notes to include in their boxes and stacked them up in the big pile. Bonus was the cookie decorating table, which included some eating and some donating plates to others- all in all, it was a productive and fun night with their classmates.

Thanksgiving was late in November this year and nicely didn’t coincide with Craig’s birthday. Aunt Jenny purchased blue plaid, kid onesies that were quite the hit at dinner, with the girls wearing them consistently at night and while playing at home the past month, as we continue through our cold season. After a nice dinner at cousins’ house in Eagle River, we headed to the “real” Nutcracker show in Anchorage later that weekend, hosted by the Eugene Ballet group. Last year the show we attended was performed by a local ballet school and a little more kid friendly for noise; this year we watched the fancier one, meeting up with their friend Ava and practically sitting in the auditorium rafters. I had fancy hairstyles planned to match the Christmas dresses, but canned the idea after realizing we had the day wrong and only an hour notice to get everyone ready and downtown.

There were fewer when is it over complaints from Emerie this year; she seemed happy to sit with Ava and watch the show. Reagan also had a nice conversation with Ava’s dad during the show and Harper insisted on sitting with Craig for the whole thing. After a quick cookie snack at intermission -because everyone was apparently starving after an hour- they enjoyed watching the dances and beautiful sets and costumes, but were ready to run by the ending.

The school Christmas show went off marvelously and all three were strategically placed near each other, but with a non sibling in between each. All three sang their hearts out and did the motions to their songs, all smiles. I always enjoy these events, as it makes me feel more like a parent than other days of the year, and gives me a surreal sense of happiness.

A few other noteworthy, funny moments over the past month:

Harper begged for Mrs. Claus dresses this year, which are harder to find than you might think! Grandma Sue ended up sending Santa and Elf themed sweater dresses from Fred Meyer and the girls continue to wear them at least a couple times a week. They are great for photo ops and warm for winter, not to mention cute!
Emerie continues her goofball comments, with so many silly commentaries about Grandma’s baby boy– meaning Craig- and it’s hilarious. She latches on to an idea and then rolls with it for quite a while, accentuating the baby booooooy when talking about him.
Reagan now creates word and spelling games for sisters. You’ll find two of them with heads together and thick as thieves, doing some kind of spelling categorization or asking how to spell a word. It’s very sweet to watch her guide and explain to her sisters; she is definitely our school kid of the three. Maybe there’s a future teacher in there!
On a sweet note, Harper still starts her conversations with can I tell you something?! I love you. and I hope that lasts forever. Normal conversations often start with that question, and then she waits until you agree before starting her tangent. On the other hand, Emerie goes the opposite direction in the morning and often hollers I told you to stop waking me up! I want to wake up myself; go away! when starting off the morning for school. If you walk away she will get herself up like it was her idea in the first place; funny kid.
Harper now requests music in a new way- the girls recently noticed the car screen shows album covers and it is often completely irrelevant to the playing music. I now receive requests such as can you play the song with the girl in the pink dress? and I’m supposed to know what that is. At least with the customized song names from the toddler days I could interpret it; I definitely don’t know album covers! All three also ask what song names are, as written on the screen, and are getting better at sounding them out.
Emerie now tallies our life scores, whether we agree to participate or not. If I can’t answer a question, then my lack of correct response means she gets a point. I am unsure what these points tally toward, but I sure don’t seem to get any on my side. She asked Grandma Sue the other day how was God born? And the lack of “correct” answer earned Emerie a self proclaimed point, because she didn’t know. This is starting to happen more frequently off all her random questions.

Our girls continue to grow like weeds and no longer boast those baby faces and toddler mannerisms. In addition to sailing through an entire clothing size this summer- our quickest yet- we also rearranged their bedroom this month and removed the sofa chair purchased during my pregnancy. This felt like a mental blow to my mom brain, reminding us how rapidly they grow up, and prepared for the oversized beanbag chair arriving from Santa. That chair holds so many memories; used multiple times a day, every single day, for years: triple bottle feedings every three hours around the clock, quick diaper changes, comforting a crying baby in the middle of the night, calming wild toddlers at bedtime, snuggling for naps after Emerie’s many eye surgeries, or reading a gazillion books. I often found Emerie sitting on it with a stuffy, listening to a Tonie story, or Reagan singing along to one under a blanket. I couldn’t bring myself to rehome it, so its new home is downstairs in the family room, ready for more memories and cuddles to come. To this day, I truly believe it was the best purchase we made in preparation for the girls, and the most used piece of furniture those first few years. In other big kid news, the girls slept in the living room by the Christmas tree a couple different nights, which is another age milestone and something I greatly enjoyed and remember doing as a 90s kid.

In addition to moving furniture to make way for new activities, so begins the arguments and deep discussions related to boy crushes. I thought we’d have more time since they are only six, but exactly that occurred at the end of a school day earlier this month. I arrived with Harper in tears and Emerie mad, and Reagan running up to explain they were fighting because Harper told Emerie her secret crush and Emerie didn’t keep the secret. Emerie told her teacher, who responded they are too young for crushes (which is true!) and Harper lost her mind. Ooof, that was such a fun ride home, believe you me! This is a terrifying preview of the teenage years…SO not ready yet. The girls now intermittently discuss their “crushes” and which boys in their class they will marry someday. Reagan still wants to have twin girls and has their names chosen already, Harper wants triplets (ha!) and Emerie is a no go to having any babies in her belly, at least right now.

Christmas break this year was significantly easier than years past, and not only because of the surprise arrival of Grandma Sue (surprise to me) and Auntie Amanda (to the girls). In addition to all the Christmas arts and crafts and goodie cooking, the girls will now wander off to read a book or write something out with a drawing, which they didn’t independently do last year. Lego building, dolls sets, and a variety of slime related activities help keep the sanity too, in addition to the afternoon parkour gymnastics down the street to burn energy and give me a small break. We watched several movies at the theater, including Moana 2 twice, and had several successful ice skating excursions at the mall. Everyone is excited for skating lessons starting in January, and three impatient girls wanting it to start already.

We visited Santa at Cabela’s, and he asked everyone how old they were. When all three answered six in a row, Santa still didn’t catch on. Instead, he asked them what it was like to be twins; they were not impressed and quickly corrected him. Santa should know better!! Christmas morning did bring one Santa present request; a panda, turtle, and seal onesie, specific to each kid’s favorite animal. Good thing Santa was listening…. 🙂

I took two weeks off work for school break, not knowing that Grandma Sue was coming up for some of the fun. I nearly spilled the beans about Amanda’s visit multiple times but managed to keep that one a surprise. Picking them both up at the airport resulted in three very happy girls, who had no idea why we were driving past Mom’s work to Mom’s airport! So many delicious, Christmas goodies were consumed the past few weeks, and the girls helped Grandma with so much baking. All three liked her fruit dip, or should I say vanilla pudding, and were unimpressed with added spices. They sure did eat all the apples and grapes intended for that dip, but without the dip! Everyone helped me make gingerbread cookies and did great this year cutting out the cookies, including three new custom shapes for our set: a turtle, panda and seal (see the theme here?!). In addition to decorating a couple dozen cookies, everyone was thrilled to display the customized gingerbread house on the table and admire it for a couple weeks over the holiday.

We painted and baked Christmas plates this year and watched a new holiday movie for the first time, Home Alone. The girls didn’t want to watch it at first, but once the story line picked up, they were hooked and giggling at all the torturous activities to keep out the house thieves. A few other new Disney movies prompted some distress and bad dreams, on random things they latched onto; an issue that resolved itself after a few nights and much discussion about life, death, and heaven.

After a quick hour of Christmas Eve prepping after bedtime, which included placing out the already wrapped presents from sneaky wrapping sessions over a few weeks, Craig and Amanda built the new vanity and mirror set and I stuffed stockings. I spaced out all the tasks to prep for the big day, making the night before go much quicker. All three left a cookie out for Santa, Emerie leaving hers on a tiny doll plate after adamantly demanding it had to be that way. Everyone slept well and went to bed discussing Santa’s impending visit.

Emerie and Reagan were up by 6:30, but I managed to contain them until about 7:00, when the excitement was just too much to bear. They dragged a sleepy Harper out of bed to demands of presents, and wandered downstairs to see the big, pink beanbag chair on the floor and presents scattered around the room. After a cup of coffee for the adults, presents were opened in sets of three, just like prior years. It is relatively organized and fast paced, with all three opening similar gifts simultaneously and sharing their excitement. They have different answers to their favorite gifts than I do. For example, I made a princess photo album for our Disney World trip that includes pictures of all the princesses with the girls, and of course the “magic” shots courtesy of the park cameras. I wanted the girls to be able to flip through an album and remember the trip whenever they want, like adults do on their phones. Finding three Precious Moments picture frames was a great find too, and filling them with a picture of each kiddo with their favorite princess; now I just need to find them a home to keep them from getting broken.

While Christmas isn’t all about presents, we still endeavor to make sure to have a fun and magical day. It was fun to share it with Sue and Amanda, and allow Craig to make his fancy beef wellington in peace while everyone checked out their new toys. Each kiddo received something to play with customized to their specific desires, since they aren’t all the same, a few clothing items to wear, and doll sets from both Grandma Sue and Grandma Anne. The girls ran around with their new doll pets and carriers from Grandma Anne and danced with light up animal ballerinas that play music from the Nutcracker from Grandma Sue and Papa Lon. Adults helped opened the toy contraptions and enjoyed laying on the floor playing together, mostly nicely!

Craig found dresses for all three in their favorite animals -not an easy feat- and a princess dress for each was also unwrapped. By mid-morning all three had changed outfits at least three times with no end in sight. Another outfit change was prompted later that evening after opening presents from cousins…wait for it…white wedding dresses and vails! This was met with great excitement, immediately running upstairs to change into “wedding girls.” Not going to lie…they look SUPER cute in those outfits, and had so much fun running around in them.

When asked what their favorite gift was, Emerie responded the turtle costume and really I just like everything. I like my Elsa photo. Harper responded she liked all her presents and opening them and can’t choose a favorite. Reagan’s response was her stuffed panda from Amanda and the pink mirror (vanity) where we can do our hair.

Only one real hiccup on the big day occurred and kept us on our toes for holiday events with family. I left carpet cleaner spray on the stairs, intending to better clean the carpet where the cat left us his own Christmas gift; Emerie picked it up at some point in the evening and chased everyone with it, ultimately spraying those chemicals into cousin Elliot’s hair and eyes and prompting an unplanned shower and face scrubbing and some red eyes. Can’t say we’ve had that happen before…nothing says holiday cheer like spraying dangerous chemicals at your cousins, right?

The week between Christmas and New Years is a type of no-mans land, where you don’t know what day it is and time is spent doing whatever you want to make it through Christmas break with the kids. The gymnastics afternoons greatly assisted giving Amanda and I short kid breaks, and we filled the mornings with other fun activities like cleaning and organizing the house, painting creations at Color Me Mine, playing outside and with the neighbor kid, building Lego sets and watching Star Wars with Amanda, creating slime and play dough creations, and hitting up jump parks and playgrounds. I was hoping for a few sledding adventures while Amanda was here, but the cold temperatures and lack of snow conditions were less than desirable. Build days at Lowe’s and Home Depot were also a hit, as was Zoo Lights one night.

Having family visit during the break was such a much needed treat. I love being in a central location (by Alaska standards) and getting unplanned (and planned!) drop-ins, something I did t have as a kid with no nearby family. Grandma Sue and Auntie Amanda staying with us not only gave Craig and me a chance to recharge (I even got to sit down and read a book one afternoon!) but also created so many fun memories for the girls. Cousin Jaren flew in for a couple hours one afternoon before returning home; Uncle Will stopped over a few times to enjoy dinner and make glittered slime with the girls. Papa Cliff stopped by with a few presents. Cousin Tyler brought Chatum, Dorian, and Beckham over, and the kids had a blast riding the four wheelers in the freezing dark. It’s amazing how much longer they can endure the cold when they’re having fun! The boys were such good sports about it. At one point, Chatum and Harper came speeding down the street, with Harper at the wheel, laughing and shouting, we won! as they zoomed toward the house. Emerie and Dorian’s four wheeler died at one point in the neighborhood and they required rescue, but no upset kiddos from being out that long in the cold.

The cherry on top of all the visits was getting to meet the newest additions to the family- (second) cousin Amber’s identical twin girls, who made the trek all the way from Kenai just to see us. I believe this was the first time the girls have held babies this small and everyone was eager to participate, Reagan really taking her momming skills up to the next level. In fact, baby Kylan took a nap on her and it was so very sweet to watch her tuck her into her blanket and whisper. Elsie took a nice nap on the new beanbag chair and looked so cozy and happy, and they slept through the noise of our house! Spending a few hours with three month olds is a good reminder at how far we’ve come, and how much easier the day to day is now that the girls are more self sufficient and are out of naps and diapers. I am SO excited for next summer when they are mobile and we can get out and about.

It was a wonderful holiday season, and I tried to treasure every moment, knowing how fleeting they are. We only have a few more years to enjoy the magic of childhood at Christmas and I can’t even believe how fast it’s gone. A meme I saw earlier this month summed it up accurately: remember this is the youngest they’ll ever be at Christmas again. Pretty solid thought! Merry Christmas and happy new year…here we go 2025!

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska

arts and crafts

Let’s Celebr-eight!

All About the Girls – Age Seven

Harper Anne

Emerie Faye

Reagan Jean

Harper Anne

Emerie Faye

Reagan Jean

Seven Year Old FAQs

Stars, Stripes and Shells

Stilettos & Sidewalk CEOs

3x the Cake, Chaos & Celebration

A Little Christmas Joy