Another Easter for the books, in a year without any snow. I’m guessing this year or next is probably my last hurrah in the magical era where all three girls still believe a giant bunny trespasses into our yard, throws random (but common in our household) candy around like confetti, and casually hides eggs like it’s his part-time job. So I’m milking it for all it’s worth—full commitment to the eggs and customized easter bunny notes, the whole production. If the girls have discovered my secret stash this year, they are either humoring me or they haven’t noticed. Either way, they continue to prove they CAN clean up quickly and without complaint…but only for covertly placed plastic eggs. Shocker.
All dressed up to see the creepy Easter bunny
Our in-and-out mission to see the bunny at Cabela’s took a grand total of five minutes- tops! No line, all three kids hopped onto the bench like seasoned professionals, and they even smiled for the first photo. Honestly, it was suspiciously easy compared to the chaos of previous years. Of course, the magic didn’t last long. They immediately tried to peek under the bunny’s head and declared that’s not a real bunny. So, I guess that particular secret is officially out of the basket (basket- get it?? I crack myself up….eggs crack… I’ll stop now…). We also discussed how the real Easter bunny is in high demand with a busy schedule, meaning no time to sit and pose in a store, so we meet the hired help, kind of like Santa Claus. That excuse seems to be reasonably accepted for now; unsure if it will be by next year!
Harper drew a custom letter for the bunny visit and hung it on her bed, as visible as possible for easy spotting. I enjoy seeing what ideas they write on the love notes, and the cute freehand pictures along with it. Emerie also spent some time on a note, but declared the bunny would find it where ever she left it. That sneaky bunny left one egg by each kiddo’s bedside… but Reagan intercepted Harper’s and stashed it under her own pillow, much to Harper’s dramatic dismay she was left out. Meanwhile, Emerie was the first one up and displeased she didn’t get an egg and Reagan had TWO. The irony? Emerie could have easily slipped on her own egg down her stairs and still didn’t even notice it. Yep.
Once I finally found the empty, plastic eggs in our house (freaked a bit when I couldn’t find them the day before!), I stuffed them with a variety of small candy and then figured some minor torture was in order, and stuffed a few with carrots and a few with raw broccoli. The look on their faces from the lack of candy? Absolutely priceless. Craig egged the backyard after bedtime and Grandma Anne and I finished up the baskets, which included new sunglasses, a couple cute outfits in their colors, a mini Lego set of their favorite princess, a “peep” egg to grow in water, and of course the beloved chocolate bunny. The goal of less sugar and more fun went a little easier this year than some in the past, and everyone built their Lego sets first thing.
The egg hunt itself went pretty quickly and with great excitement like past years. They started out sharing the pink, purple, and blues with the kid specific to that color until realizing they don’t have to share. Very kind on their part, and some of the fancier ones were still traded even after my protests- no complaints here. The few eggs on the bird feeder were met with laughs and once knocked over, landed in Reagan’s hood. Seeing opportunity, Emerie snagged one and ran. Sisters…
We survived the wild, sugar filled children by visiting the zoo for a little exercise. Warmer temps and the occasional sunshine peeking out meant no complaints of being cold, and everyone enjoyed the playground and running from exhibit to exhibit. The howling of the wolves brought other zoo visitors over to observe, with four kiddos howling at the two wolves, who were only a few feet away on the other side of the fence. Pretty funny.
Easter dinner was laid back, everyone munched on their chocolate bunnies, ran around chaotically, read books with Grandma Anne, and stayed up late since Monday was another day off from school. We also (mostly) jokingly tormented Emerie all weekend about her outrageously loose front tooth-not the one she wanted to lose to join her sisters’ gap-toothed club, but the one just to the left of her recently departed front tooth. It hung on defiantly, with no root, no purpose, no business still being there—but it stayed a few days until gravity finally finished the job. The tool fairy also dropped the ball on swapping the tooth out for some moolah (oops!). Emerie pointed this out first thing in the morning, and then retracted her irritation after seeing rain outside, commenting that it’s okay, fairies can’t fly in the rain so she’s running late. What a problem solver…and that late fairy added a dividend to that tooth swap that made for one happy, little girl!
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 been a while since a blog update so lots of things happening at the Douglets household. We eased back into the school schedule after a fun two weeks off for Christmas break, with an enjoyable Grandma Sue and Auntie Amanda visit, and dove straight into the new year with a family plague. It easily took three weeks before everyone was feeling back to normal, with the croup cough lingering and drifting through each kid, and then returned to Harper for a second round of fun. For how terrible they sounded and all the glaring looks from random strangers, no one had any fevers throughout the entire bout of it. We visited the doctor a couple of times for steroids and instructions to hydrate, continue inhalers, and take it easy, and finally those little bodies were able to fight it off, but not before Craig and I caught a mild version of it.
Harper’s ear tubes presented no issues and she bounced back to normal in no time, and since then we’ve attended various doctor check ups for everyone. So many doctor visits, so little time. We continue the triple dentist appointments and I am still impressed how well they do; ENT visits for all three as well. Our beloved eye surgeon, Doctor Winkle, just retired- much to Emerie’s dismay- and her prognosis is so good we no longer need a surgeon to monitor and can start again with the original doctor who initialized the cataract diagnosis. All the patching is really paying off and no eye surgeries are planned in the near future. Such a big win there! In fact, the doctor told Craig she would love to host a class for parents to hear how we prioritized her patching, something many parents apparently aren’t doing. If triplet parents can make it work; everyone can do it. No excuses! And I genuinely believe all the tears, crying and trying to rip it off during the toddler years equals her ability to see out of her left eye, and it was all worth it! Emerie still questions why she has to continue putting the patch on before school, but ultimately doesn’t fight us too badly on it and has started trying to put it on herself, unassisted. She also carries her “patch book” to school every day and it has grown exponentially with each passing day.
After school and recreational activities are keeping us busy through the winter months. Two build days a month, which typical start a day of fun with “cousins” Oaki and Kaden, start the weekend off to a good start. My lack of building skills are finally improving while Craig is able to master building two sets at different stages at the same time with two of the three kids. And as the second semester of first grade began, after school stays busy with Pokemon club, gymnastics (which they LOVE!), and intramural sports each week, ballet and tap on the weekends, as well as a weekly ice skating class.
The last time we did ice skating the girls were about three, and with COVID in full effect, masks were required along with helmets, which equaled sensory overloaded tiny humans on ice. This time around, especially after some family skating outings with pushers to assist, all three adore their skating time and look forward to it. They excitedly rock leg warmers and skate out to their class spot unassisted while the parents relax from the side lines, and everyone then free skates after each class. It is extremely cute to watch all three learning the skill and how quickly they pick each thing up. The backwards skating is a little tricky; forwards they are confident and faster and believe every skill is a speed race. In mid-February all three graduated from level one and are now in basic 2 and picking up different skills than the first round. Their confidence continues to improve and they ask to skate whenever possible.
One evening excursion to town center to skate was met with great enthusiasm by all, except maybe our toes and fingers. Hockey gear was borrowed and when focusing on a puck their balance improves; they actually skate better. It was cute to watch them hit and chase the pucks and try to score. And, of course, the pushers were blue seals and Harper loved that. It was a cold, but fun night.
Reagan’s weekly speech therapy came to an end after about a year and a half. She adored seeing her teacher each week, and even more so enjoyed no sister participation. Going straight from school to the place, Emerie and Harper read books or watched a show in the car to pass the time. She just graduated and now needs only occasional reminders to correct her “s” sounds; probably just in time for her other front tooth to fall out (haha!). She now casually states I retired from speech. And would really like to go back and keep doing it!
Closer to home and outside of all the hustle and bustle of activities, the girls continue to find new arts and crafts. In addition to the standard coloring, paper creations with scissors (snowflakes are everywhere but outside this year!), and creative freehand drawings, is the new skill of rubber band bracelets. Reagan picked it up effortlessly and became a great demonstrator for both her sisters, who frustrate easily and then shut down on trying. It’s very sweet to watch, once the fighting settles, and cute when Harper finally figures the loops out and gets excited at the progress. Emerie on the other hand, rubber band jewelry may just not be her thing.
Harper finding seal books at the library
Lots of other things to report over here in this active householder, but let’s keep it short and sweet or I will never complete this post! Harper and Emerie are all about fancy, collaborated outfits lately. They appear on the stairs with many accessories, fancy dresses and shoes, ready to do a show. Harper is all about wearing her high heels, which are just ballet flats with a tiny heel bump; asking to wear them to school every morning. She gets away with that request some days, with the lack of snow for this time of year. She often wears her Target dollar section earmuffs and Jordan’s scarf, to ensure those cold days aren’t an issue. Reagan always opts for her calf high black boots, and wears those to school most days, and often with a panda related accessory to compliment. All three continue the fuzzy coat obsession and are vastly disappointed any time we force them to wear real winter jackets. Harper’s pink coat is worn nearly every day, Emerie rocks her purple one when she can find it, and Reagan traded her light blue one for a beige and green one I found at the store a couple weeks back. Fuzzy coats for the win!
Cold school lunches continue to be a struggle, especially after three years at the school where I feel as though I had fantastic eaters, from keeping the variety interesting day to day. All three vary in preference for their sandwiches, with Reagan moderately obsessed with blueberry jelly -NOT raspberry, grape or any other flavor- and no peanut butter on her PB&J-minus the J. I believe Harper is the only one that will eat both peanut butter AND jelly, and that leaves Emerie, who only wants peanut butter. So very complicated to remember. Luckily the fruit and veggie portion of lunch times are easily satisfied and the continue to enjoy that variety.
We have also entered into a more emotional stage of kid development. While it isn’t full tantrums and freakouts (well occasionally), it involves more life questions. After meeting the twins at Christmas time, Reagan is now on a kick of wishing to be a baby again, and get baby snuggles like a baby. January hosted a multitude of bedtime discussions centered around this, and alluding to wanting to go back to that age. Emerie’s emotions are a different direction. The past six months or so, she has really latched on to her Uncle Chris, who passed away when she was about 15 months old. She seems to have a kindred spirit connection with him that I can’t really explain, but I love to watch play out. This includes so many questions about him, his likes and dislikes, and she is extremely sensitive about it. But it’s also very sweet to see her carry around a photo of them together or to see a letter in her backpack that is written to or about him. Sometimes Craig and I might make the cut on a family picture, but he always does and it’s very sweet.
In addition, Emerie now says the “k word”, “d word”, and “h word” and gets upset when she hears anyone else say it. You would think that is damn, hell, or who knows what “k” is supposed to mean, but it’s not from the swear jar. Her concern relates to anything “kill” related, “die or dead” related, and “heaven,” and scolds sisters when they speak. Yes, we are working through these big picture ideas and expressions, how heaven is a happy place and not scary, and talking it out. Man, kids surely keep you on your toes.
Valentines Day was a hit again this year; everyone addressed their own cards. The funniest part of that was the organization. After the mass table mess of cards, stickers, envelopes and class lists, I turned around to Reagan’s neatly stacked in a Ziploc, Harper’s shoved into a bigger bag but still semi in order, and Emerie’s shoved into the bag and all over the place. The distinction matches them each so perfectly. Everyone wore pink and red; Harper was especially excited to rock a stretchy pink skirt and red tights with her pink headband. The massive paper envelopes with all their goodies from the day returned home with great excitement, and some of that candy is still sitting on the kitchen table. We celebrated the evening with dinner at Texas Roadhouse, and a quick family picture.
7th birthday planning always begins in February as we prepare for our annual shindig and I am looking forward to the next blog update all about how my little ladies have grown the past year, and all the amazing milestones we’ve achieved on this triplet journey.
Today was a Harper day! After battling croup, ear infections and colds over the past few months, we finally scheduled her ear tube procedure, to stop the constant ear infections causing hearing issues. Harper was very excited for it all, unusually so since it’s a medical procedure, and likely because she finally gets her “day in the sun” and one in one time with the parents. After Emerie experiencing this a handful of times throughout the past five years; it is not lost on the other two kiddos that she received special treatment on those days. They seem to be unaware of all the other aspects that go with surgery, such as pain, coming out of anesthesia, naps to sleep a procedure off, and all the dreaded eye and ear drops. But you know, other than that it’s all fun and donuts right?
So excited!
Harper and I arrived at the ENT’s office at 7 AM, bright and early on a single digit temperature day, leaving Emerie and Reagan cozy in their beds until Craig took them to school for the day. Leaving the house in pajamas is a rarity for the girls and not something we do often -especially on one of the coldest days we’ve had- and Harper was quite the hit with the nurses in her matching pink, cozy pjs, pink boots, and furry pink coat, and baby seal and Princess Aurora in tow.
During all the pre-op questions she was pumped and noticeably excited, singing, hollering and making goofy faces, which cracks me up. She hollered the numbers on the pulse monitor at the nurses in the hallway, thinking she was so darn funny. The anesthesiologist checked in and noted they had the same birthday, which did NOT impress my six year old who already shares hers twice over. So funny. She was giggly and jolly even, having way too much fun with the pulse ox machine and the name bracelet tied around her ankle.
Either we didn’t wait long enough to find out, or she doesn’t react to versed quite as strongly as Emerie, who can barely hold her body straight or her head up after a dose. After reclining in the chair and sporting her hairnet and heated blanket, eventually she was a little more “jello-y” and chill, just in time to ride the wheel chair with her very own nurse! She asked ten questions about all the parts and pieces on that wheel chair, and then was whisked down the hall to the operating room, waiving goodbye to me with a slightly confused look, but no concern.
Sitting and writing a blog always distracts me from that concerned and stressed feeling you get when a kiddo is in surgery, and there’s nothing you can do to determine outcome. It’s not a fun place, but definitely one we’ve been to many times before with Emerie, and fewer times than many of our friends with littles.
After about thirty minutes the doctor emerged, saying everything went great. The main reason for tubes was fluid buildup by her ear drums, and he noted after getting in there, it was less like fluid and more like a glue buildup; not infected but definitely contributing to hearing issues and restricting vibration. He cleaned it out and put in the tubes, and she should have noticeable better hearing right away.
Ready to go!Waking upThat glove!!
They put her under a bit deeper than planned because of the lingering croup cough; she slowly emerged from anesthesia without any negative reaction or indication of pain. She pepped up after a few minutes and finally peeked at us after a promise of juice. The highlight of her visit was getting a sticker, a mini pink slinky, and getting wheeled all the way to the car in a wheel chair (because she was still a little wobbly!). Sisters were also informed the nurses had PINK gives and let her take them home. In fact, in true Harper style, she was wearing a glove on each hand before surgery and one of them made it through the ride home!
After picking up Craig and the promised donut stop, she chilled for the day and all is well in the world, other than achy ears. When asked if today was scary or fun, she instantly responded fun, and that the highlight was watching seal videos with Craig at the crack of dawn before we left for the day, and getting a little iPad time. Glad to know her first surgical experience was met with no stress and a good experience! The next kid on deck will not be quite this easy…
This past week, only a week before Christmas, Craig trekked across the country for a three night stay at a conference in Texas and we had a four day “girls day.” For the record, this is a terrible time to host a conference for anyone with kids, getting all the things ready before not only the Christmas holiday, but also for two weeks home over Christmas break, but what can you do! My anxiety was running high leading up to his trip, which started at a balmy 4 AM, which the girls took quite personally that he didn’t wake them up and say bye with a hug. Once we overcame that morning drama, I stepped up my mom game and had a few things planned to keep everyone busy and tired out until his return.
After a busy workday wrapping up tasks before two weeks off, I told the girls if they played nicely while I made dinner they could watch one of the beloved DVDs from the 90s from Grandma Anne, specifically The Swan Princess (which I do not actually remember watching!). In some ultimate universe everyone built cities with Lincoln logs and Emerie did a frozen puzzle, and no one fought for over a full hour!! In that time I successfully made zucchini cookies, grilled veggies, and made Mac and cheese and chicken for the girls. In addition to the movie, everyone enjoyed apple-cranberry sparkle juice in fancy glasses and a gingerbread cookie. Day one of survival, achieved, and everyone went to bed for the last day of school in 2024, which is somehow already here!
I should also mention the girls all excitedly agreed I should do a three night stay at Shiloh’s house so they can have dad time and I can have a break. There was much discussion on this topic after bedtime; I could hear them continue to discuss it once I left the room. Shiloh’s house specifically because he and Craig do guys nights together and so he is associated with kid free time (which is funny since he has 6 kids!). By the end of Craig’s trip their advice morphed into staying at Auntie Janelle’s house instead, a little more realistic 🙂
Sending daddy photos
At bedtime that night everyone wanted to fill in the vacancy on Craig’s side of the bed, which I didn’t cave into. Emerie definitely won that argument, wandering in at some ungodly hour of night, climbing across my sleeping figure, and stretching across more than half the king sized bed. Later that morning she rolled out of MY bed while I’m brushing my teeth, looks at me with a deep brow and says, Mom, before you and dad die you need to teach us how to make breakfast. I’m sorry to say this- I mean I’m really sorry- but we need to know before you dieor we will be really hungry. Wow kid. What kind of dream was she having??
Day two involved heavy complaints from all three for staying in school Child Watch for too long- you know after begging to participate- and we had a quiet evening doing crafts and playing with…wait for it, scented slime. Yes, it is no surprise I dislike slime, and neither does my couch or carpet!! My rational here was purchasing something abnormal and beneffitting from that entertainment for a bit, which worked like a charm. While it’s mostly confined to the kitchen table (Harper’s definitely wanders even after constant reminders), it led to a couple hours of creativity and excitement. Harper made soup with sprinkles and a cherry, Reagan made cute little slime people, and Emerie made every contraption imaginable in a lot of happy squeals and Mom, look at me! comments.
We spent the morning of day three sans Dad just hanging at home and starting the day- and Christmas break- slow and chill. Harper climbed into my bed early that morning, but I managed to soothe her back to sleep until around 8:30; I was definitely not ready to start another solo parent day at 5:00 AM.
Christmas activities were on my mind; first cookie decorating at the mall with other home school kids and later a hot cocoa and gingerbread village stop at Captain Cook Hotel with Aunt Janelle and Paris, and a good photo op! Cookie decorating ended up being a kidless hour for the moms, with adults not required to participate, so we had a nice little mom date in the middle of our Friday. After stopping downtown to check out the tiny gingerbread village and sip a yummy drink, we played at home the rest of the afternoon and exchanged gifts with Aunt Janelle and Paris. The girls are beyond thrilled at their new stuffed animals; a pink seal for Harper, a purple, big eyed turtle for Emerie, and a panda dressed as a green dinosaur for Reagan. All three have carted their new babies around the past few days.
The day ended with a fun trip to the girls’ dance school for an evening of fall session routines. Twenty performances in ninety minutes—whew! The girls did fantastic, performing two routines: one jazz and one ballet. With only one other kid from their class there, all three got adorably distracted at different moments, watching their teachers closely whenever nerves made them forget the steps. But they all finished with proud smiles and bows, which was the best part! I wasn’t sure how they’d handle the evening crowd, but they sat mesmerized, cheering everyone on and loving every second, especially when their teachers took the stage for a few dances. I love how relaxed and supportive this dance school is—it’s all about fostering a love for dance, fun, and staying active. The girls are already impatient with excitement for the spring recital in May on the big stage!
Before one more dance display the following morning with more classmates, we ended the late night with a living room sleepover by the Christmas tree. This is one of my favorite memories as a 90s kid, sleeping out by the twinkling Christmas tree and basking in the excitement of the holiday season. Since Alaska is so dark by solstice, with Anchorage only a little over five hours of daylight a day (and some of that is dusky), holiday lights really make the house feel cozier and less cold and wintry. I pulled out the couch and everyone climbed into their sleeping bags, with a LOT of stuffed animals friends brought down to keep them company- you know- in the midst of the siblings sharing the same pull out couch. It won’t be many more Christmases before all three won’t fit across, but for now it worked perfectly. I settled into the nearby armchair with my iPad, enjoying a quiet movie while the hustle and bustle of the day faded. The girls eventually drifted off to sleep after minimal arguing on their close proximity. And honestly, is there anything better than that moment of calm at the end of a busy day? It was always my favorite part of the day when the girls’ were busy toddlers, and even better with some holiday spirit in the mix. Sitting in a peaceful living room, the glow of the Christmas tree, listening to the gentle rhythm of sleepy breaths. It’s the kind of moment that makes your heart feel full, knowing everyone is safe, content, and dreaming. Not much in life can top that kind of magic. And while Emerie ended up in my bed again at some point, stating she wasn’t comfortable (and therefore wanted to make me less comfortable in my bed from her marathon sleeping!), it remained a quiet night for all.
After dance round two the next morning, with a lot of more classmates participating and only two dances, the girls received their ribbons and the dance session concluded. We cleaned up the house a bit and played, and just like that, Craig returned and we made it! It was few months since I’d had a few solo days with the kids, and realistically, it turned out much easier than the irrational worries my mind led me to dwell on. Sure, all three have their own ways of showing they miss the parent who is away—some pouty moments here, a bit of extra clinginess there—but it didn’t derail the days. They’ve grown and learned to roll with it, and I’m working on accepting the idea everything doesn’t have to go completely smoothly. A couple of FaceTime calls and a steady stream of random photos goes a long way in keeping everyone connected and comforted. Staying busy was the real lifesaver, with fun distractions, little crafts or projects, and keeping our routine. It was a good reminder that sometimes, the worry is worse than the reality, and I need to remember that!
As we start Christmas break and finish the rest of the holiday related activities, I look forward to making more memories and pushing through this dark season and toward 2025.
The Douglets 