Another small life shift for our everyday household, that really only impacts me and Craig at this point, is the new and improved bedtime routine. Since the girls were getting out of cribs and into toddler beds, for more than three years, every single night either Craig or I have sat in the comfy sofa chair in their bedroom after lights out and until everyone fell asleep. We both had different music playlists and rotated through song requests until the snoozing began; sometimes when they were smaller it involved quiet singing as well. For at least two of those years, every time I sat we listened to Let It Go (Frozen) for Emerie, Cover Me in Sunshine (Pink) for Reagan, Toward the Sun (Rihanna) for Harper and other random movie soundtracks as we watched them (Aladdin, Little Mermaid, Spirit, Trolls, My Little Pony, Tangled Adventures, Frozen, Sing, etc.). As they grew this involved arguments on whose song should play first and whose played last resulting in it being the worst thing in the world in that moment. Another hit was Craig playing Katie Perry’s Daisies.
This bedtime routine started when Reagan discovered how to climb out of her crib, even with the mattress dropped to the floor, and lasted through the transition to toddler beds and into big girl bunk beds around a year ago. While I will say this definitely impacted our ability to decompress together in the evenings, it did provide quiet time once all three fell asleep and became a routine that I really enjoyed. It also gave Craig and I a little space to ourselves at the end of every busy day; something that rarely happens during the day with young kids. It created an hour or two of calm at night, but also closeness to the girls and that was my favorite part. We sat and watch a show on an iPad, listening to music through headphones or I would write a blog about the day, enjoying the stillness and peace, since it’s a pretty rare thing. I even came to enjoy this part of my day and feeling close to everyone without the anxiety and loudness and chaos that is the life of a triplet parent, while knowing they were safe and happy and not a care in the world while cuddled into their beds with their stuffies. It’s hard to explain but I actually miss it a bit!
Of course, we started sitting this habit to keep everyone in bed and from running about and refusing to settle (which occurred frequently similarly to all kids at night!) and making nighttime routine take forever,. The bigger issue after its establishment was we couldn’t figure out how to stop doing it. The girls freaked out without our presence and that turned into tired meltdowns, so we’d cave and come back in, continuing the habit well after age five and unsuccessful on how to remove ourselves from the equation. I will also note that most of my fellow parent friends do many household chores and things after the kids go to bed; this is not how we’ve handled it the past few years, from the time of sleepless nights and getting up more than a handful of times per night, for months on end. In fact, I can easily say Craig and I are a well oiled machine when it comes to cooking, cleaning, laundry, tidying up, and maintaining order in our house, and do the majority of these things while everyone is up and active. The biggest difference now compared to years past is it is easier now that the girls are bigger. Busy chore time during the day also equals quiet post bedtime hours in the evening to mentally and physically recoup from everything, and not needing to squeeze in more chores after going strong for 14+ hours. I continue to enjoy this routine now!
And now -drum roll please- we are no longer confined to the kid room at night! By about Christmas time we managed to convince everyone that Mom and Dad are just in the next bedroom, with some strong convincing and argumentative five-year-olds on the subject, and that sisters are close by so no one is really alone. Clearly having their own rooms would be too much of an issues, since their complaints are often that they don’t want to be alone…you know…with 2 sisters still in the room. The combination of the amazing Tonie music and stories player, a white noise machine for after the music stops, and a multi-colored star projector do the trick. I should also mention we are on our THIRD star projector…because it’s used every day, travels around the house, and does not like to be drowned in water (shocking really :)). Unless everyone ran really hard that day and burned the energy, then the new routine takes longer to hear three resting kiddos, but it’s drastically improved over the past two months and the longing faces and tired eyes don’t demand our presence as often now. Everyone does not immediately calm down and often fight or argue with each other (amidst stuffed animals throwing, stealing, and unplanned music changes) about something from that day, or someone has to use the bathroom or get out of bed a million times to try to play. But all things that all parents deal with now; I can’t imagine trying to manage that when they were two or three. So we are making good progress and we are almost there, thankfully!!
I should also add the parents are getting MUCH more sleep than in the past five years, with more nights sans kiddo between us than nights with someone there. Everyone rotates through different reasons for standing at my bedside until my subconscious jolts awake, whether it’s a bad dream, not feeling well, or went to the bathroom and won’t go back to their bed. Reagan most consistently comes to our bed from a bad dream -or she just wants to snuggle- while Emerie will get up and go back to her bed nine times out of ten, and anytime Harper wanders over to my bedside, I almost think it’s Reagan until the next morning. Emerie insists that Craig’s snore mask (CPAP) is loud and I think that is part of her reasoning to always climb back to her bed; she also likes to be cuddled in her blanks with all her things. And even with kiddos coming and going, it is still huge-huge-huge progress on the sleep front for us. And ridiculously, after years of wanting to get a solid night of uninterrupted sleep or not wanting to sit while they were not ready to go to sleep yet, my mom brain actually misses the need for snuggles and butt patting to go back to sleep. It nearly misses the need to lay on the floor and pat one kid’s butt while rubbing the back of the one next to them, which is not the easiest. Mom brain is ridiculous, I tell you.
And now we are right around the corner to age six!!
Life over the past month continues to stay very busy! I started writing small notes to myself of the latest with the girls, knowing I will forget what lovely life tidbits to include as I muse about our daily life. Since I last wrote a blog, 10 new Bluey episodes were released in the United States. This is clearly a worthy milestone to mention, since we marathoned them like an adult would for a new season of their own show, and within a few days the girls were already asking for episodes by name. No, we don’t watch television allll the time and yes, we love that the episodes are only a few minutes long and share good, family values.
It took me a couple rewatches to realize one game in our house emerged from a new episode. One night the girls were running wild -literally, as kids do in January in the winter- and circling the living room over and over again, full on running and screaming. Occasionally one would plop down on the ground randomly and pause a moment, until another caught up and yelled flush! and imitated the flushing of a toilet, and said still child would jump up and return to a sprint. I watched this occur for a few minutes and finally asked what they were playing. All three responded with we are playing toilet tag! and explained when someone stopped, you had to flush them to bring them back in the game. Like what? I’m not sure if I’m impressed at the creativity, or mortified, but now it is a standard kid game in our household. Toilet tag. Yep.
We are now in the age of toy cleanup that all three now understand cleaning up does not mean shoving everything under the bed, or in one toy bin, but to try to put things away correctly. I should probably credit Grandma Sue for this transition, and it’s noticeable when we ask them to put things away where they go. I will often randomly fine one cleaning up a room (never all three at once), looking for a reward treat of course, and putting doll accessories or barbies or stuffed animals in the correct bins. Score!! Now, if we can only convince these kids to change their clothes and put anything removed in a laundry bin or by the washer, instead of everywhere. Baby steps!
School continues to go smoothly and all three claim to enjoy it, likely due to the love for their teacher and seeing her each day. I now respond to being called Miss Tawni in the afternoons, especially from Harper, and wonder how many times a day the three actually call her name. It must be about in the millions. Take a look at the picture above. Being mom makes me biased, but I am seriously impressed at how well and creatively all three copied those pictures. Is it just me and this is normal five year old drawing? I am pretty sure all three are already better than I am at drawing. Look at the enhanced detail on Reagan’s cup, or the fingers on Emerie’s hand, or Harper’s color coordinated bear. I can’t help but be impressed!
In January Craig and I took all three to a mid-year reading assessment at our home-school (it’s in addition to their normal daytime curriculum). Each kiddo went back with the teacher for the same assessment, and all three were evaluated right where they should be. She noted everyone understands the difference between the letter name and the sound of a letter, which is the first step toward reading comprehension. All three are still stumped on combined letter sounds creating words, but she assured us they seem close to getting it. We’ve tried a few different ways to explain the concept and so far the light bulb for all three hasn’t clicked on quite yet. I believe Reagan will be the first to catch on; not sure who will be second! By the end of the kindergarten year, I’m betting all three will have it down and we will be working through level one reading books.
Kindergarten classSome of the girlsFrozen Yogurt!
In January we continued to practice counting by fives and counting to 100. You can see their brains trying to figure out what comes next in the sequence after a 9 (like 39 to 40), and improvement continues. The end of January also prompted the 100 Days in school party, occurring on January 31st, and I swear the girls were more excited the night before than for Christmas. It took forever to calm them down at bedtime, and everyone happily put on their matching t-shirts (with friends) and let me do fancy hair for the occasion. We counted down the last few days until this milestone- or should I say we counted UP- and everyone excitedly yelled it was day 100 the moment eyes opened that morning. When asked their favorite part of the day, because I know several activities were planned, they all answered the same: the fruit loop necklaces! We might have to make some of those at home one of these days. We finished their fun filled day with a trip to frozen yogurt to commemorate, and I can’t believe everyone is so grown up!
Everyone received mid-year report cards in January, with great marks and then need to practice reading and comprehension more, which Craig and I both agree we need to commit more time to at home in the evenings. I hope all three grow up to love books and reading; so far Emerie seems most inclined to grab a book and hang out by herself while looking through pages. Harper prefers stories relating to princesses or ballerinas and asks someone to read to her on those; Reagan loves to carry books around and add notes and drawings in them, rotating through her favorite book each week or so.
As we all wait for spring to arrive, we maintain indoor entertainment through tons of birthday parties (not an exaggeration!); swimming at the nearby YMCA or Alaska Club, build days, hitting up the indoor climbing playground at a local rec center or running at the jump park, and other at-home activities like kid yoga, makeup and hair styling, playing with dolls or legos, making paper crafts and coloring, and can’t forget toilet tag (haha). The girls discovered yoga at school and asked to watch kid videos everyday one week. I came downstairs to find all three actively participating in the activity, yelling Mom we are exercising! They are surprisingly limber and thrilled to check out different yoga themes (Frozen was a particular favorite, not surprisingly!).
Build days continue to be a fun activity, some kits harder than others. We really like that Lowe’s provides stickers instead of paint, although I’m guessing the girls prefer the Home Depot mess because it’s more fun. They are all getting better at hitting nails and I am getting better at building some of the sets…otherwise I just copy however Craig builds it! I often find the girls at home during quiet times, playing salon with their dolls or each other, making a huge makeuppy mess but haven’t fun while doing it. Harper’s doll Babela continue to look like she’s had a rough night and quite the hangover, and then about 20 hair clips to seal the deal. Reagan finally named her doll Moriah, and constantly reminds me she has a name and is beautiful. During much of these events I will find Emerie in the bathroom, giving her doll or stuffed animal a bath, rather than adding to their makeup. Such girlie girls!
After a handful of swimming birthday parties in the past few weeks, one party highlight is certainly the Taylor Swift themed one, which was about as girly as possible and all three were thrilled. Is that Craig in a pink cowgirl hat? Why yes it is, and he definitely bedazzled those hats for the girls while at the party. I found him hanging out upstairs, bedazzling them with TS music in the background and the kids running around, having fun. He’s definitely a girl dad!
In addition to the usual birthday shenanigans, the crafts were on point. Everyone bedazzled a microphone (yes, they were working and charged…it wasn’t loud in there at all…), Emerie opting for all black while Reagan snagged a teal and Harper a light pink. The girls also added gems to their sunglasses and humored me for a couple cute shots. It was quite the afternoon!
And lastly, since this blog is getting a bit long, I have to mention all the Valentine’s day fun. This time last year we were down in Juneau working and harassing family, and I’m really glad this year we stayed for the girls to participate in their school activities. One day after school everyone wrote out their own Valentine’s Day cards; something I did quickly the night before last year! Some grumbling occurred until we got in the groove; overall they did great writing all classmates names and their own. I overbought options, since last year valentines sold out well before the holiday and couldn’t be found, with Reagan selecting Trolls (Band Together), Emerie choosing Frozen over the Bluey option, and Harper claiming Peppa Pig. I always enjoy watching them to a school type activity at home, such as writing classmates names down, and seeing how they react. Emerie struggled a bit fitting the letters into the small cards, writing bottom to top to finish names, but was able to get over that frustration and actually finished first! Harper and Reagan continued fighting over the pen used to cross completely names off the list; Harper also demanded to only use a yellow marker for all the writing, and Reagan took her time writing out the names. Somehow we made it through and were done by the time Craig came home from work!
Before school on V-DayMaking valentinesCuties after dance class
Excluding the winter season we are currently in, it feels though time is passing really quickly and my babies are growing up quickly before my eyes. The girls are growing like weeds and I’m internally struggling a bit at how big and independent they are becoming- it really goes by quick! Life has gotten a lot easier for sure, and we can fit so many more activities and outings into a single day, but I certainly have my moments of missing my little tiny humans. I am learning to enjoy them spreading their wings and learning new things.
The past month everyone discovered the fun of loose and wiggly teeth. Since classmates began to see new holes in their smiles, specifically one of their besties, everyone continues to ask when theirs will start falling out. The enthusiasm for this life event is strong! We are also receiving questions why teeth brushing remains important, because the threat “your teeth will fall out if you don’t brush them” is exactly the opposite of this situation. Similarly to when their teeth came in as babies, I’m really interested to see the order of loss, with the girls’ identical attributes showing in so many ways in their first five years.
So proud and ready for a tooth fairy visitAfter Craig pulled Reagan’s front tooth
Right before Christmas, Reagan was the first of the group to lose one. She spent a while constantly wiggling it with her finger and biting into the evening snack (apples) every night. After a bit she embraced the idea and insisted Craig pull it and get it over with; probably secretly wanting to be the first of the household and before her sisters. She was excited it was so ready that it didn’t hurt in the least and that shocked the other two. It was her front/bottom tooth on the left side, which perfectly lines up with the missing top one from toddler age. To this day she still remembers when that top one was pulled, but not when she initially cracked it in half about six months before that. Harper and Emerie were quite interested to see the gaping hole (and blood) and if there was pain or not. Harper refused to believe Reagan’s claims as her front ones began to loosen.
Why is a tooth fairy so smart?! She has a lot of wisdom teeth!
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Harper’s first tooth!
After about a week and a half of torturing Harper about her extremely loose front tooth, the opposite bottom one from Reagan, it finally came out! This was after the entire household volunteered to do it, including both her sisters, and she would either run away or bury her face with her jaw firmly shut. We thought she might agree to Tyler’s volunteering, since he receives special permission to do things the parents can’t, and even that was a no-go. After it finally came out came the proclamation it was painless, like she couldn’t believe that was the case, and she acted like it was no big deal, after allll the back and forth about pulling it.
The following week Harper then lost her bottom left tooth, presumably so she and Reagan could continue their identical look (kidding?). This occurred after a lot of endless wiggling at nighttime, in place of the mild, absent minded nail biting she sometimes does while watching a show. The last straw was biting into a piece of Costco pizza at lunchtime at school, and Miss Tawni did a great job noticing the event and securing the tooth for fairy retrieval that night. After only a few days, one adult tooth is already popping through her gums. That sure happens fast!
Harper on tooth #2
Emerie’s first tooth!
Watching both sisters lose one (or more) teeth, poor Emerie was quite displeased at her lack of toothlessness. Luckily this resolved itself only one day after Harper’s pizza excitement, while watching Raya at bedtime. She reluctantly allowed Craig to easily pop it out, her front bottom tooth on the left side, and resulting in one happy girl to join the club.
A stroke of wisdom on my part was ordering customized pink, purple and teal tooth pillows to ensure a visit from the tooth fairy occurred, a few short weeks before the first “event.” Inflation has not occurred yet for the Douglas tooth fairy, and the one dollar bill found each morning was very well received. I’m pretty sure they are just as thrilled to receive a $1 bill versus a $10 bill, so for now we will hold out to the lower amount while the girls don’t have an issue with it. Thank goodness between Craig and I, a few dollars were around the house that we could use and we didn’t forget!
When switching Reagan’s tooth for the gift, I tried to pull the pillow out of her hands and woke her up, so obviously I covered by tucking her in with a hug and handing the dollar off to Craig to try after a few more minutes. Both Harper’s swaps went fine after she followed instructions to leave it propped against her pillow. I can only imagine trying to climb into that top bunk to find the pillow, without waking her up! Her first dollar was folded into a tiny square (not fancy at all) and she carried it around for two days without losing it. Craig did a fancy folding for the second tooth, which she instantly unfolded and added to her wallet, very excitedly!
Next week I’m sure another tooth will make it’s exist, and so far the elusiveness of the tooth fairy is working out. Timing wise everyone appears very close for the front bottoms, which I believe was the case when they first came in; it will be interesting to see if that continues going forward. And for now we will enjoy all the toothless smiles and see if folks can still tell who is who without the easy tell for Reagan! Big girls indeed!
While on Christmas break the girls eased into the usual winter cold and corresponding cough, meaning we spent a lot of time at home. With the sub-zero temperatures outside, not being out and about was welcomed (at least in my opinion!), but also meant a lot of energy was present in the household, and not from the adults.
One morning at home we patched all three kids, covering everyone’s right eyes in an attempt to show Reagan and Harper what Emerie goes through every day at school, and five days a week since she was fourteen months old. Unsurprisingly, Harper was instantly asking to take it off while Reagan didn’t seem too bothered by it.
Bonus points if you can tell who is who!
Throughout less than one hour, multiple requests occurred to take it off, mostly from Harper, who complained her eye hurt, it was itchy, or she didn’t like it. It truly goes to show the patience Emerie displays everyday when you look at how often she goes about her daily business with half the eyesight of other kids, and does exceptionally! I hope this experience shows the other two how resilient their sister really is, who can do anything patched that she does unpatched, and that is not an easy feat.
We assume we have another year or two before she will be grown enough for the patching to no longer make an impact on her brain senses. No surgery in 2023 was a great thing, less stress for kiddo as well as parents and no droopy eyelids, something she will start being more aware of at this age. And other kids are now more curious about it; although her class is used the normality of her wearing one each morning. From what we can tell, her eye is staying straight from the last procedure and we are so very thankful for that! All the complaints and questions why she has to do it and her sisters don’t is really worth it!
And now we can remind the other two how they felt when they patched for less than an hour…although Reagan seemed much less impacted by it than Harper. Everyone likes to “help” pick out which patch is worn in the morning, and so far the turtle and panda themed ones are the favorite. Harper also takes it personally that no seal option exists- it would be super cool for Ortopad to let kids make custom orders!
More to come on Emerie’s vision journey soon, after our next check in with Dr. Winkle.
Somehow we are already creeping toward the end of December and fully into Christmas season. After a nice Thanksgiving dinner at cousins house in November- where the kids mildly grazed and pretty much ate cucumbers and carrots for dinner- the girls were thrilled to put the Christmas tree up on Black Friday and even more excited to hang ornaments on the tree. Quite a few ornament accidents occurred over the first weekend; mostly random bulbs that somehow walked themselves into their bedroom, became dollhouse ornaments, or managed to become decorations in a variety of less than amenable locations; didn’t cause too much bodily damage. In case you were wondering, stepping on a broken ornament hurts like a Lego, except it slices your foot open. And yes, we had to explain that sleeping in bed with your breakable ornaments is not allowed. That was not the popular opinion in our household, believe me!
We dove right into Christmas season with family photos. The first try was canceled as we were parking downtown, with the girls’ hair fixed and outfits ready. They were less than pleased on the lack of follow through, but it all worked out a couple days later. It is SO much easier to get ready and the need for less game planning is welcomed. In fact, everyone was on board with the idea and it didn’t take much forcing or demands (let’s be realistic- bribes!). After a 20 minute session with lots of smiles and insistence to have a turn in the middle (we had to do extra shots so each kiddo had a turn as the center of the sister sandwich), we walked a block over and explored the Christmas bazaar at the Captain Cook Hotel and everyone had a chocolately treat for cooperative behavior. And can I just say, aren’t these holiday sweater dresses are pretty much the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? I can’t even handle the cuteness and they are seasonally appropriate, all warm and cozy for the cold temperatures.
As the midway point to the school year nears, we continue to practice all the sounds the letters make, recognizing numbers in order forward and backwards, and a lot of different shapes. The girls are about to have their school assessments to see progression from the start of the year and it’s quite easy to see the change when you are around it each day. Even since my last blog, they already write words verbally spelled out to them better than a month ago and ask which letter is that less often. I still see some frustration when one sister answers questions faster than the other two and still working out a solution that solves that and ensures all three are learning individually and not relying on a sibling to answer a question when they don’t know it.
Night times with solid darkness seem to create very hyper five year olds. In fact, without sugar or even finishing their dinner plates, we’ve seen a number of wild nights the past few weeks, with screaming, fighting, running up and down all the stairs easily a dozen or more times, and all around chaos to burn off that energy. The garage has seen better days and while the mess isn’t mortar (thank heavens!), we’ve discovered a lot of ground up chalk water, a box of depleted apple cause pouches, and my car getting “washed” by makeup brushes.
At some point the wildness ends with crying and whining, and parents very ready for bedtime. I can’t imagine we are the only household in town dealing with that fun and guess it stems from the extensive darkness, cold temperatures, and excited for Christmas! The other night Emerie came up to me after some form of five-year-old bodily injury by a sister, and noted you told me not to do that and I should of listened. Yep. But when each kiddo finds an activity to do solo, things are far more calm. This happens every few days without any parent push. One decent night Reagan was in her room “playing Christmas” in her dollhouse, Emerie was in the garage building a train track around my car, and Harper was making a baby bed out of a black Friday shipping box in the living room. All things were quiet until one wandered away from their activity to check out what someone else was up to.
In addition to the chaotic and energetic nights- for the kids, not the adults mind you- we are seeing a few more emotional fits than in prior months. Harper is really taking it full throttle, and will stomp off to her room in a huff when she disagrees with a solution, and really milk it, peeking out to see if anyone is paying attention to her woes and then continuing at higher volumes. Craig and I are both ready to see Grandma Sue’s reaction to this new attitude. Emerie has her moments too, as does Reagan occasionally, but Harper really takes the cake on this one. Her strong willed insistence will be great for other things as she gets older; but yes, we need to break this before it gets too out of hand and hoping it’s just the latest phase. The constant bickering really inspires the fits too.
In addition to Christmas focused activities, we have hit up three build days over the past 3 weeks, one making wooden gingerbread houses at Home Depot and two at Lowes, for wooden turkey picture frames and Christmas delivery trucks. Harper really impressed me at Home Depot, free hand painting green garland across her roof and adding sticker ornaments on it. Reagan, being the practical girl she is on art projects, insisted to paint her already wooden house brown, because it’s a gingerbread. Emerie also jumped on that bandwagon. Everyone insisted on writing first, middle and last names on their delivery trucks; and of course using permanent marker…
We entered into the movie season, something rarely done during warmer months. I don’t know if it’s just me or something I learned growing up here, but I feel terrible seeing a movie when it’s warm outside, and definitely won’t step foot in one if it’s warm AND sunny (especially after our last two overly miserable summers!). After seeing Trolls Band Together the first time and downloading the soundtrack, everyone wanted to see it again after constant singing in the car. The girls enjoy almost all the songs and have picked them up pretty well, each having a specific favorite and request for it every time we get in the car. Not going to lie- I quite enjoy most of them too and that’s a bonus! Now that the band *Nsync is now back in “style,” we are jamming out to their new single. About a year or two ago I tried pushing some of the late nineties or early 2000’s pop music at the tiny humans and they insisted imminent death if it continued to play (tad dramatic maybe) and that was that. Now the game has changed and at our second showing of the movie, everyone was singing the song in their seats!
A Peppa Pig obsession also emerged this fall. I’m not sure how we avoided that one for so long, since I’m sure the girls learned what it was from friends at school. One sick day Harper conned me into watching it so I could conduct interviews without interruption (Peppa Pig and an oreo = quietness for about an hour!), and now it’s a constant request. There are about 1000 other shows that I’d prefer to hear in the background, so we try to limit our time; although not incredibly successfully.
Winter brings out more daily crafting and coloring than the summer months, something I enjoyed growing up and am happy to share with the girls. All three recently discovered the magic of our home printer and daily requests to color princess photos now occur. Emerie wakes up each morning and instead of her adorable good morning Momma she starts the day off with I told you I wanted a -insert princess here- photo to color. We are working on getting back to the good mornings and delaying future requests until formalities are said. Everyone will hover in front of the printer waiting for random requests to print; it’s pretty funny and results in a lot of fun pictures to display. Craig purchased a very nice pen set that they are putting to good use, like in the photo below of Reagan. We also receive instructions and requests for tape so specific drawings can be hung up on the correct walls in the house. Very specific!
Custom drawings continue to emerge. I’m really enjoying this phase of creativity, which involves more self and family portraits and freehand drawings. Reagan is into panda families, although that only extends to her, parents and grandparents, even after requests to include her sisters. Eventually I was able to convince her to include Emerie and Harper and she begrudgingly made one and taped it to the door. Harper’s stick figures are adorable and always involve crazy hair. She insists she can’t draw shirts so everyone is wearing a tutu of sorts in most creations, but insistence they are shirts! Emerie free hands the least of the three and really focuses on princess coloring. She is getting more creative on her color choices instead of everything purple and will make multiple colors for a dress or hair. She will yell at you if your eyes happen to go across her in-progress creation, and harshly remind you no looking until she is done and ready to showcase it.
This year’s school Christmas show was with the elementary and upper class grades, meaning we are no longer part of the pre-K adorableness. The two kindergarten classes sang four songs total, three at the beginning and the finale of Jingle Bell Rock with the entire school. All three were split up, which helped with behavior (I think!), and Harper and Emerie couldn’t help but share their goofiness in front of the crowd. Harper made multiple antler hands and kept sticking out her tongue and making direct eye contact with me. Clearly she does not know what stage fright is, as her silly side excels off being in front of a crowd and she never appears nervous when people are looking her direction. Reagan, on the other hand, focused on singing her songs and doing the hand motions, and is all around more shy on stage than her siblings. Emerie….oh Emerie, kept pulling her fancy dress up and purposefully flashing us her red tights, and thinking it was absolutely hilarious as we told her to stop. Two out of three threw their headbands on the ground for the final song, because apparently taking them off and holding them was an unacceptable option while singing. So funny.
Overall this is one of my favorite nights of the year; not sure why but it makes me really feel like a grown up and “real” parent, seeing my offspring singing on a big stage, all dressed up and excited to be there, and getting to enjoy the moment. Being able to sit and enjoy without fussing over misbehaving kids (because they are onstage) is a nice perk for the parents. The girls were all snazzy in their Christmas dresses, black boots and headbands and did great.
With Miss Mary and Miss Jess
The following day was the end of the fall dance session, where the girls did a tap and ballet routine and a quick bar routine to show the parents their new skills. Harper was not having it and stared straight at the floor the entire tap routine, finally cooperating a bit for the ballet part. She had a grumpy day and her love for dance class and her teacher was not emanating today, but overall her teacher noted she has learned a lot in the last year! Emerie quietly watched her teacher and followed the moves from the back, and Reagan was all smiles at the front and happy to smooch the camera videoing. So far this session went well overall with all three together, and far better than previous years according to the teacher. We have decided to keep them together in dance for the winter session and everyone is extremely excited about the spring extravaganza show at the end. We shall see how they do with three hours of performances, since we carried an overly tired, screaming Harper all the way to the car after it last year.
Later in the day after dance we went ice skating at the mall with a bunch of friends from school. The activity reinforced the thought of doing ice skating lessons again, something we did during COVID when they were much younger. Emerie likes it the least of the three, but claimed to have fun, even after multiple demands to go side on the side. Harper and Reagan both ventured out toward the middle without holding any hands after a bit, and have already asked to go again. Craig, being a more articulate skater than me (I need more practice to remember my skills!), took our kids, random Anchor kids, and some of their friends into twirls and speed skating, much to everyone’s delight (to everyone but Craig’s knees haha). We also had the pleasure to watch him chase the Brinkman twins across the ice as they tried to escape him. The girls only took me down once and I relearned that I can maintain balance holding one kid’s hand, but definitely not two. Each jerked a different direction and that was that, and they were less than thrilled that I pulled them down after me. Other than that snafu and a few falls from each, everyone did fantastic.
To sum up our weekend Christmas activities, we did a quick visit to Santa after breakfast at our favorite family spot. The girls have no fear of the jolly red man now and all went right up to ask him questions and explain what they’d like for Christmas. Reagan is still asking for a talking panda- and I reminded Santa that we can’t have a live panda live with us in Alaska. Ha! We also did our annual gingerbread cookies with Auntie Megan, Kaden and Oaki; this was the cleanest year so far and I can finely share the beautiful goodies with other people, without feeling so bad about impending kid germs. I also have to mention that Emerie decorated so much more this year than in the past, and everyone took a turn helping me roll out the dough into their chosen shapes. Reagan excelled at that part and by next year she probably won’t need adult supervision to fill the cookie sheet up. Pretty cool.
I can’t end this festive blog without mentioning the fantastic girls night Craig hosted solo last week. While I attended a Christmas dinner with the bestie, he did school pickup and took them on a fun filled evening, first stopping at Benihana for a fire filled dinner, then hitting up the library and returning books and getting new, AND ended the adventure with an ice cream treat. I clearly need to step up my charcuterie girls nights after all that activity! And I returned home that night and everyone was in pajamas and happily watching Bluey on the couch together. Impressive I tell you, it’s still not easy taking all three out solo and not looking like a crazy person handling a bunch of wild animals, let along three places in a row!
The Douglets 