With Thanksgiving right around the corner means it meant time for Craig’s annual birthday festivities. This year it wasn’t just any birthday, but the big 4-0! The girls and I had fun creating a plan for this milestone, and at this age they are game for anything, throwing out such big ideas. This was the first time I let them advise a separate gift from each kiddo, catered to theirs desires of what he might enjoy. After going through oh so many suggestions, we landed on a few well thought out and realistic innovations, and the crafts and shopping began.
Harper spent some time working on a beautiful heart box at Color Me Mine, painting it several layers of blue because that’s what dad likes. She also decorated her presents after they were wrapped, and added a secondary box full of treasures for him to open. The present stuffing took an entire evening to decide upon, with much thought and conversation!
Emerie shoved miscellaneous candy into her box, specific candy that she knew Craig eats. That in itself is sweetly thought out, literally. She also perfected a porcelain picture frame at Color Me Mine last month, with “princess” written across the front, and we printed a picture of her and Craig to slide inside it, much to her excitement! She insisted he would like the princess wording, and was adamant no other painting option was going to beat it.
Reagan declined a painting project, and after some Amazon browsing based on her search suggestions, an elephant mug that holds your tea bag was chosen, and an elephant yarn measuring thing. She also manufactured a custom cardboard elephant zoo enclosure (wow that’s a mouthful) and over the several days she created it, were yelling commands at Craig to don’t look at it!!!
In particular genius, I gifted Craig a quiet night at a hotel, a night to relax as he welcome the next decade of life. He also spent two nights in Juneau on a work trip, giving me more time to complete all the prep work. What that really meant was three full nights to prepare the surprise birthday party and presents, without the required sneakiness, and it worked like a charm. Everyone helped gift wrap and a lifetime amount of tape was used. They filled out questionnaires all about the birthday boy. It was particularly fun to ask them some random questions, and see their real opinions of Dad, which were all different! We hand drew posters for his party, filled with elephants, yarn balls, kid handwriting and colorful, sparkling glue. I’m pretty sure everything was sticky by the time they were done, and the elephants really cute! The party decorations were also underway, with a lot of paper strips littering my house, becoming long daisy chains. The balloon bouquet was designed at the party store, which was a HUGE deal for them to explore apparently, and we left with a few more goodies and whines that the balloons weren’t ready for a few more days.
The big day featured three wildly excited girls racing to finish decorations, tape up adorable childhood photos, and guard the surprise party secret like tiny double agents. Meanwhile I almost blew the whole thing at least five times; I don’t realize how many random thoughts I share with that boy, until I have to actively NOT share them (haha!). With a Charlie’s cake and all the party food stashed away, we whipped together the homemade elephant cake I’d started the night before, and the girls assembled a very serious breakfast-in-bed tray, complete with strict instructions that presents must be opened from a reclined position.
Eat your breakfast in bed NOW.Elephant cake!Cake prep
I think the cake turned out pretty well- what do you think?? Reagan perfected the sprinkle distribution on the face and helped with the eyes, while Emerie and Harper ran in and out and randomly sprinkled as I iced it. And it even survived the car ride there!
In the end, I got Craig all the way to the venue—and about ten feet from a room packed with people and treats—before he finally caught on, thanks to the giant “Halfway to 80” sign on the door. The “my car won’t turn over” excuse and a perfectly timed truck-shopping trip with Keegan kept the whole ruse intact. The night was a win all around: happy surprise, great food, and kids running wild for two straight hours while we enjoyed cake and company
We opted not to attend the Eugene Ballet Nutcracker over Thanksgiving this year. The girls were in grumpy, fighting moods for a good part of the holiday weekend, and we decided not to reward the arguing and will find another show in December to enjoy together. Instead we built my decade old Lego set together, the girls made a gazillion crafts out of all the cardboard and paper we own, we did how-to-draw YouTube videos (which are a new hit in this house and turn out really cute!), and watched a few new movies in between hours of playtime.
For some reason everyone just discovered the recycle bin, that lives in the hall closet and is emptied consistently the past seven years. Now all the contents are utter treasures; treasures that litter my house and can NOT be thrown away, no matter how creative. For example, Emerie created a phone between her bunk and Reagan’s, citing it’s too hard to talk to each other (as if!), and it made it a week taped up there. Many fairy play houses, mini forts, and other paper creations are now bonded together with miles of tape and everywhere; and when returned to the recycle bin? Out they appear again, with three disgruntled girls who demand to create more projects.
Not too much more to update. Harper and Reagan tested out their gymnastics teacher one night with a full switch, and got away with it! They dressed as each other and claimed to be each other, and when tried for a second time during dance later that week, those more seasoned teachers didn’t fall for it. Pretty funny to see this, and at some point we have to get more glasses so everyone can be Emerie, who didn’t want to participate on this round.
I wrap up this lovely life post with a funny story, and the second time, the school notified me that one of my tiny humans licked a frozen pole at recess. If you guess Emerie (both times), then you would be correct. When asked how it happened, she legitimately told me she tripped and caught her tongue on the frozen pole, and she stuck to that story. So funny. A few days later Harper took a cousin toy to the face and was sporting a nice goose egg….needless to say it’s been exciting!
As we ease into the 100+ Christmas activities planned for the next two weeks, I will leave you with these amazing Christmas card photos, soon to be mailed out to everyone to enjoy.
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.
Taking a break with TylerBig smiles with Grandma SueTime consuming creations!Enjoying their cupcake treat after singing happy birthdayThe big 7.0 at home!
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!
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!
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! ❤
The month of March always turns into quite the busy few weeks, with family visits, birthday preparations and activities, a number of friend birthdays, and then you know…work and the normal, every day things. We attempt to make each birthday special and somewhat extravagant, knowing the girls have to share it and this momma doesn’t have any other kid parties in our household to plan.
Newly styled dolls for the win!
I hatched a plan this spring to replace the girls’ 18″, very ragged dolls with new ones with bright pink, purple/teal, and teal hair, especially since the current Babela (Haper), Moriah (Reagan), and “she doesn’t have a name” (Emerie) have seen better days. Of the three, Harper loves and plays with her doll the most and my attempt to replace it with a new one that “went to the salon” is working so far! I told the girls during the school day the dolls attended a salon day. This fabricated story expanded to include facials, spray tans, and a solid bath to remove existing band-aid and makeup residue, and create new hair. Surprisingly everyone bought the story, especially after seeing the photos when Mom and Grandma Sue took them there (which we actually did- go big or go home! Thanks April!!). Harper scrutinized her doll more, insisting differences but with beautiful hair, and I reinforced she had new contacts (eye color changed) and a solid facial to get all that makeup off, plus the hair dye and styling. Reagan noted the skin is darker on hers, which I responded was her new spray tan. And the white lie continues to grow….
Here are a few other activities that occurred the past two weeks:
My annual goal continues to create an exciting, custom themed birthday cake the girls will enjoy, since we only go big once per year. Grandma Sue made the cake and icing and like last year, I created the accessories and decorated. Edible grass, Oreo dirt, and a LOT of custom colored chocolate mushrooms, grass, and multi colored flowers, and topped with a million Trolls Band Together characters, from opening 20+ mystery packs to find the right ones!
On the big day we joined the family and had a “fire dinner” at Benihanna. The girls especially love this place and eat their body weight in fried rice. This time around Emerie did so with shrimp and the cook thought it was funny and kept giving her extra! Watching cousin Elliot and Corbin’s faces during the fire tricks was also a highlight of the night. For the first time maybe ever, Craig and I actually sat by one another while Reagan wanted to sit by Tyler and Sue and the other two with Papa Cliff at the other side of the table- so weird. By dinner’s end we had full and tired, giggly girls who were excited to go home and have cake, you know, after they had ice cream with dinner.
Professional birthday photos are another one of my favorite things each year. We trekked out to our favorite newborn photographer in Palmer and the girls were on their best behavior yet! As always, I can’t wait to see how they turn out and everyone fully participated. This time around was less of the I have to be in the middle or else attitude, which is predominant in almost every group photo I take these days! Who know order was so important?!
One handmade gift that deserves mention was from Papa Lon, who created custom colored deer callers in the girls’ colors. While kazoos and whistles and other generally loud toys mysteriously go missing in this house…Craig and I will let these slide. They are beautiful and the girls looooove wearing them as necklaces and ensuring the house never stays quiet. Emerie is modeling her purple one in this photo.
Another annual favorite timed with birthday events, the Daddy/Daughter dance. Craig typically receives questions about two days after this occurs, wondering when the next one will be. The girls wore fancy dresses from Costco (which half the kids did apparently!), silver flats and custom makeup by Grandma Sue, and Emerie rocked her new turtle necklace from Seward. Their late arrival home may be record setting at 9:30, but all were very happy and excited to attend. Craig noted no one wanted to take the cute group photos, and the girls were overjoyed to see Nichole and Sierra attend with their dads. Sue and I enjoyed leisure time, which is very rare, and finished up birthday preparation.
We spanned gift opening throughout the past week, after a good amount of toy cleanup and donations to make space. If I had to choose some favorites, it would be Disney princess play dresses from Mom and Dad, new doll sets (a cabin and furniture), the stylish “new” dolls, and instantly opened Polly Pockets (how fun is it they are still as fun as the 90s!). Custom colored scarves from Jordan were oo’d over; our kitten Winston adopted Reagan’s and sleeps on it now, and Uncle Will helped open surprise barbies and new clothing sets. We are very blessed for such wonderful friends and the girls are still playing with all the new goodies.
Sue and I attended the field trip to the Seward Sealife Center, picking up an extra six year old for the drive. A fourth kid meant best behaviors from mine, and all shared toys and snacks with Nichole. It was a nice visit; everyone tested the touch pool, oo’ed over the seals/sea lions swimming around, and laughed at the one who flirted with the group. At the gift shop before heading home, Harper informed the cashier she renamed the seal to Harper, and indignantly said it is now a girl. She loves seeing her favorite animal in action- thank goodness we live in Alaska!
The actual birthday party occurred the weekend after their big day, which allowed Sue and I time to get everything prepped, ordered and finalized well in time for the trek over to the party place. In the midst of all this, Harper came down with a cough and confirmed ear infection, but she managed to muster up enough strength to enjoy her party.
Singing happy birthdayBefore the partyPass the Parcel
We were unsure how many kids would show up to the party, and it turned out to be almost thirty! It was great to see cousin Jamie, Steve and Hayden drive up from Kenai to join us, Cousin Tyler and Uncle Will, Keegan and Jenny and the boys, Papa Cliff and of course Grandma Sue. The sound volume (and heat) level increased dramatically and the girls’ flushed faces showed it. We recycled the Halloween candy in a rainbow pinata (sorry, not sorry parents!) and played a Bluey favorite, Pass the Parcel, which everyone participated in with minimal crying. We ended up giving out all 48 Trolls themed cupcakes, which I call a success in itself.
The whole day was a great success; Reagan told me it was the best day EVER. Somehow this year felt a bit easier than the fifth birthday, not sure if that was because we prepped less food (much to the dismay of all those vegetable pizza lovers out there….Grandma Sue…) or because we did the full Trolls themed cake at home on their actual birthday this year; or simply because they are a bit older this year and getting things done while they entertain themselves is more of a common occurrence. Whatever reason, it was a busy month and we made it to the other side unscathed! Our house looked like Christmas morning by the end of the day and the girls happily sucked down their pho for dinner so they could return to the floor to play with new toys. My brain still can’t comprehend I have three kiddos a third of the way through their childhood- if you think about it- and who knows what wonderful adventures we will experience this year.
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 GrandmaReagan JeanHarper & 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 jellyfishDinner coloringA 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!
The Douglets 