Dec 31

A Very Merry Christmas

Another year down, another successful Christmas weekend with family and first half of Christmas break. Overall things were pretty quiet on activities- not quiet on sound mind you, obviously- and it’s now very evident the girls can entertainment themselves much more than in years past. Other than the massive amount of effort it takes to open toys from their insane packaging; the girls overall enjoyed playing with their new gifts and even let the parents enjoy some down time on the couch. The next sinus cold and cough hit the house a couple days before the big day; luckily it happened after their Christmas show, the Nutcracker event and after school break began.

Knowing the kids would be home this Christmas instead of in preschool child watch, and with Grandma Sue’s arrival after presents were opened and played with, I made a point to wrap a couple boxes every few days before school pickup and stashed them away. It is getting hard to creatively find places for things that won’t be discovered. These preparations made Christmas Eve much more efficient; it only took Craig and I maybe fifteen minutes to set everything out for morning. And it may not look like it, but I definitely have a method to my madness on gift giving procedure. Competition is in full throttle in this household on everything, even more so than in previous years as they mature, so we made a point to get similar gifts for each kiddo to open simultaneously, and one specifically chosen present for each kiddo.

We had a full house on Christmas Eve, with the boys and Keegan and Jenny, Uncle William, and Papa Cliff. Within five minutes of cousins arrival, the living room was a mess of wrapping paper, new toys and clothes, excited children, and general chaos. We all may need hearing aids by the time we are forty at this rate (and that isn’t very far from now for some of us!)! Aunt Jenny’s selections were spot on again this year, gifting everyone cute pink, purple, and blue flower bag clips to signify whose was whose, and lots of girl stuff. The horse set was a hit, as were the Barbies. Everyone paused long enough in the evening to sit and build the Lego Christmas globe ornaments (which are super cool and light up!). Building these is not for the weak, and she did it with all five. The boys were off and running with their Jurassic Park (Corbin) and Minecraft (Elliot) themed slippers and toys. I love that Jenny and I get to swap for Christmas and she can buy all the frilly, girly things while I get to peruse the boys aisle, which I don’t venture down often. Craig made a delicious lamb dish, which the kids even ate (when you call it steak!), and the frozen fruit dessert by Jenny was also a hit. We also forced the children into all matching Christmas pajamas with a less than successful group photo at the end of the night.

The Christmas morning plan involved each kiddo receiving one request from some point over the last month, one big present customized to each, and a few other odds and ends that we knew they would enjoy (or, to be honest, we couldn’t resist buying because they would love it). For the small custom gift, Harper asked for a replacement ballerina jewelry box to replace her broken one, and the new box came with a ballerina necklace she’s worn around the house. Emerie’s small gift was a stuffed turtle notebook I found a while back; and for Reagan, an Ergo-baby doll carrier so she can tote her baby pandas around and be hands free. It’s the cutest thing and a legitimate baby carrier; just in miniature size!

For the big gift, this took more creativity. This is the first year we opted for something specific to each girl’s desires: a doll spa/salon “room” and salon chair for Harper (the chair actually pushes up like at a real hair salon), a gift that remained in the middle of the living room for a week with constant attention. Emerie received a portable Frozen castle set that folds out, and a doll table and chair set, because she kept asking for a doll table and chairs on repeat. Very specific and that was on her mind at least a month, because her answer hasn’t changed. Craig and I found a drivable princess carriage for Reagan and a cute doll bathtub. All three took turns driving their stuffed animals and barbies around the living room and it was one of the more popular choices for the day. They also coordinated a covert op to trash the bathroom and give their dolls baths- you know, or just general drowning of those poor dolls- which resulted in a lovely water mess to clean up. Real life I tell you…at least they were having fun?

Like past years, presents were grouped in threes so similar things were opened at the same time, and then a couple group things to all open together, such as crafts and alphabet magnets. The other highlight was the princess Lego sets, which HAD to be built immediately before opening more. It took us about three days to open everything; we tried to space it out so everything was played with, and that worked pretty well. On day three the kid digital cameras were opened- one green panda, one purple unicorn, and one pink unicorn- and they’ve been running around with them ever since! One can only imagine the images that are saved when we load them on the computer, and Harper figured out how to add mustaches to the screen so we likely all have mustache photos now.

We may be in some hot water with Harper over the lack of her main Santa request, which was apparently a white teddy bear with a pink dress. Either we weren’t listening or I never remotely considered buying more stuffed animals as presents, but I swear I didn’t hear this request until Christmas morning, when she observed several times that Santa didn’t get what she was hoping for. No such luck in making effort on that and I’m hoping she will forget at some point and not be cross with Santa, who doesn’t listen to her. Poor kid.

In the midst of Christmas morning Reagan’s beloved bestie, her “tiny” panda who she calls Pandarina, went missing. After a week of scouring the house, knowing it’s here somewhere, it has not been found. Craig and I -might- have purchased another much cleaner and softer one from the same toy store and replaced it, just to stop hearing the constant stress over its vanishing. I didn’t realize how gross her companion was until I felt the new one…

It’s been a busy week at home since Christmas Day. My house is covered in paper chains, something the girls learned at school this month and forced Papa Cliff to make dozens of. They are now decorating the tree, taped to the toy bins, and hanging from their bunk bed; it’s pretty cute.

The naughtiness remains about the same, with Craig catching all three eating a whole box of apple sauce pouches in the garage one day. We continue to find ground up chalk all over the place too. The cozy pajamas, messy hair buns, dirty aprons, and generally relaxed atmosphere is nice; sometimes I prefer staying home and embracing the kid chaos, knowing in the future I will look back and miss these days. While I may not miss the high volume (or the fighting), I will definitely miss the activities, the coloring together, listening to them sing a song to themselves or focus while decorating cookies, and the requests to help cook.

We also received quick visits from cousins Tyler, Jaren, and Chatum, with the girls displaying the usual level of crazy excitement to see them and then breaking out into fantastic coughing fits. Not having grown up with any family living in the same state, I really enjoy that the girls get the chance to see five of their cousins on the regular. During the visit Chatum decided the level of child giggles and harassment was enough, and much like Uncle Will has done this winter, opted to toss the kids straight out into the snow pile. Watching him pry three wildly giggling and screaming children down the stairs without help from the other laughing adults in the room, and making it to the back deck with a bit of help from Grandma Sue, was definitely the highlight of that day. Well it was, until the aftermath of screaming and crying and cold blooded rage re-entered the room, which I couldn’t help but chuckle at. Such memories in the making.

Baking donuts in their aprons & messy buns

Grandma Sue arrived a few days after Christmas to give Craig and I help to be able to work over the school break, and with that comes craft projects, cleaning activities, delicious homemade meals, baked goods and the girls excitedly assisting with everything as much as possible. Everyone spent an hour creating a hand sewing project with Grandma (how she did three different ones at the same time, I don’t know because I certainly couldn’t) and a 3d princess puzzle, the first big kid puzzle we’ve done. They already want to do it again!

Homemade donuts with sprinkles were also must and everyone was thrilled to participate and share them with a beloved Jessie (and Sara!). Of course we also had to have my favorite chicken fried steak for dinner, with all three asking for seconds! I bet other goodies over the next week will be the highlight of the girls’ time off.

The earrings I ordered for Christmas stockings were too hard to screw on, so we took the girls to the mall to find different ones. Amazingly, we found multiple turtle earrings for Emerie, panda faces for Reagan, AND pink eared koala bears for Harper, since seal earrings probably don’t exist. The little girl earrings look so big on them compared to studs and they are so proud to be big girls, now that they believe it’s not the same piercing experience to change them out.

Not much else to report this week, other than I sold our last triplet stroller to a younger set (and I might go cry in the corner when I think that entire phase is completely over for us!). Now we are ready to bring in 2024 and see what adventures this year will bring us!

❤

Nov 15

Snowstravaganza

Well…to no one’s surprised, winter is here! And not only is it here, but it decided to take over in epic force and beat us into immediate submission, breaking a couple records within the first two weeks. In fact, one more inch and it will be the snowiest November on record for Anchorage; this doesn’t even consider that the month is only halfway over. While I should be impressed and awed by the continual snow filled clouds that are sharing their joy (too much?), the lack of plowed roads in our neighborhood makes navigating very difficult, with many distressed vehicles and public school closures. While I don’t generally don’t mind the beginning of winter once it starts- I’m definitely over it by the end though- this year began with quite the bang and dropped two feet on us at a very expedited rate. Was it beautiful? Absolutely! Did it take FOREVER to stop falling? Yes. But we live in a winter state, so I guess we should try to embrace the chaos…as I’ve done in other parts of my life!

I had planned to give a brief update on our Halloween fun last month, and now it feels strange because the level of snow makes it feel like fall ended months ago, not two, short weeks ago. Halloween night weather was much more amenable this year but as usual, everyone wasn’t feeling their best, including me! Harper opted to be Ariel, Reagan continued as Jasmine, and Emerie as Alice in Wonderland. Harper, with her extreme cough and two-hour afternoon nap (which showed she really felt sick!), meant she was the first to want to go home; she made it a few blocks farther than expected before asking to go back. Reagan followed her sister and Craig and opted to go back home, while Emerie and I ended walked a few more houses along our street before heading home. The girls were happy Tyler drove in again this year and walked around with us, and overall the night was pretty uneventful.

Unsurprisingly, the girls don’t see an issue with all this snow. Well, maybe a little if we boot them outside in their winter gear when it’s not their idea…but they will survive and it’s good for them! When Emerie peeked out the bedroom window after a couple inches of snow finally stuck overnight, she instantly hollered at me it’s snowy! That means it’s almost our birthday! Once I calmed down that reality, which is still five months away, she was contented to know the change in weather meant Christmas would be here soon, and all we had to list off all the family’s upcoming winter birthdays. Harper continues to ask when we can put the Christmas tree up; if we get another foot of snow this week, I might just cave in to her request!

With winter comes daylight savings time, with fall falling back and prompting a dramatic shift to darkness in the evenings. The girls are much more attentive to the change this year, and have asked multiple times why we are going to bed before dinnertime, because it’s so dark out they assume it’s time for bed. Luckily the time shift didn’t mess with sleep routines much, but this is more attributed to the lingering cough, fevers and need for more sleep to combat it. As we slowly creep out of the current illnesses and winter plagues, Emerie and Harper are back to being content to sleep in their bunk beds, surrounding by a thousand stuffed animals, blankets and nightlights, and Reagan still makes it about half the night and then ends up in bed with the parents.

Everyone is thrilled to ride with Craig on the four wheeler and “help” plow the driveway. This snowfall is extremely heavy and very difficult to push with a shovel (especially as I still recover from my lung infection!) and so Craig broke out the four wheeler to clear as much as possible using the plow. He immediately broke out the new-to-us inter-tube and pulled the girls around the neighborhood. For the moment all three can snugly fit on it together and we will definitely have to invest in a larger one as they get older. Buddies Kaden and Oaki came over after the first snowfall and were excited to drive the kid wheelers, with the girls riding on the back of Kaden’s for runs down the street and back. In a moment of bravery, Emerie hopped onto one and proceeded to do an unplanned donut as the adults chased her, shouting to let go of the accelerator. She thought that was just hilarious.

On the school front, the girls are greatly advancing on their letter recognition. They are starting to read television show titles and can rapidly rattle them off; and frequently ask what words the letter spell out. We now have a new game to spell the letters on signs and buildings and they all want to do it at the same time. Kids learn so quick! They are also improving on sounding out what words start with and answering their own questions when encouraged. With the turn to cold weather, more time is spent coloring than in the summer time and that includes tons of inquiries on how to spell different words on their creations. I’m starting to think that we may spend a great deal more time than other families using markers, paint, sparkly or gel pens and combing through thousands of coloring book pages, while sitting at the table, all coloring and making creations together. This is a main activity in our house year round, but even more-so when we are inside during the cold darkness. Reagan is still my top coloring kid and takes the time to think out how she wants to design something, spending a lot of time perfecting it. Harper is still on her rainbow kick and brings many papers home with a rainbow theme. Her people sketches are also greatly improving and I love to see who she draws and the interpretation of who they are and why. The girls also enjoy using their school scissors to destroy my house with tiny bits of paper- ahem I mean make art- and cut out grass on their flower drawings. Emerie enjoys making Santa bracelets, no clue why she calls them that, and will sit on the floor and cut out strips of paper and tape them together into a colorful chain. They are popping up all over my house and she is very proud to do it all herself. We will certainly make some to hang on the Christmas tree this year!

All three have already started drawings for Santa and were overly concerned at our lack of fireplace. If anyone asks, Santa can and will deliver presents through a dog door…just go with it! Reagan interpreted my response a bit more graphically than I intended and told me the other day that Santa turns into a dog, goes through the dog door, and brings our presents through the door! Not sure that is accurate…but who am I to argue!?

In the midst of all the fun weather, the girls successfully made it on the ice skating field trip this week. While the majority of students in Anchorage are still doing remote learning because the buses (and normal vehicles) can barely get around the neighborhoods, we’ve been lucky to have no school closures and only one day we decided to keep everyone home instead of venturing out. Craig took the afternoon off to help shuffle kids out on the ice rink. I mean, who wouldn’t want to spent an hour out on the ice with fourteen five-year-olds?! That concept aside, it sounds like the event went well and everyone had fun.

I’m looking forward to starting the holiday festivities and getting all the decorations up around the house. We shall see if I can hold out through Thanksgiving to put up the tree and I’m doing my best to hold on out the Christmas pajamas and fancy dresses. Two more weeks!

❤

Oct 08

Into the Swing of Things

The past month and a half since school start means long, busy days and lots of outdoor activities as we wrap up the summer and ease toward the cooler, winter months. End of August equals many late nights for Craig to finish budget deadlines, and early September wraps up the federal grant season for me and starts the next program budget round; all this on top of school and life activities and house projects. Let’s see how much of the past six weeks I can remember, since I didn’t write down nearly as much as I should have!

We ended August with a fun trip to the fair- the girls were pumped to go and wander around, get customized face paint, eat all the food (especially the dip ‘n dots!) and ride a bunch of rides. This year we managed to not immediately drop them on the ground! Somehow we timed the trip perfectly with the weather; the whole day was cloudy but no rain or wind like the prior week. Since early morning lines were short, the girls convinced the kind ladies to do customized creations. Emerie asked for a combination of her two favorite things, an “Elsa themed turtle,” which translates into a blue, “frosted” turtle and sparkles. Harper wanted a “rainbow seal,” which is quite specific and her own creative idea, and the lady laughed and looked up a seal to mimic. It turned out really cute! Reagan went all out and wanted a full panda face, but in rainbow colors. She walked around with black lips and eye shadow the rest of the visit; by the end of the day it morphed into more of an angry, tired panda.

The visit also re-established that I have two thrill seekers, but certainly not three. To be clear, Reagan might not love the thrill of going fast, but she sure is brave. After the first (kid-sized) roller coaster ride, Emerie was laughing and smiling and Harper had her hands in the air excitedly, while Reagan had a death grip on the handle and a look of desperate survival- definitely not enjoying the moment- but she did go a second time with her sisters even though she was scared. We clearly gave her the choice, stating she did not have to if she didn’t want to, and she simply asked to sit in between her sisters to make it less scary and went up and did it. She didn’t appear to enjoy it the second time either, but she did it and that says a lot!

Several trips to Pyrah’s you-pick farm this summer meant lots of veggies to eat and fun to be had. The small zip line, used by climbing up the side of an old pick up truck, was quite the hit. The girls and cousins probably went down it 20 times each, and did a good job taking turns with other kids. More notably (and hilarious) was the girls’ response to some of the fresh veggies growing out of the ground. At one point Craig and Emerie were cutting fresh broccoli and Emerie was sitting in the dirt, eating the plant like you would an apple. Maybe the added flavor a dirt made it taste more authentic? Not my cup of tea…. Reagan helped me and Aunt Jenny pick two rounds of bulging snap peas and was more than happy to not only carry the bucket, but continue to “taste test” as many of them as possible. All three also insisted on running around with their fans- i.e. a rhubarb stalk with the biggest leaf possible on the end- and running around the farm yelling hello your majesty! and I am the queen!

This year’s trick-or-treat in the heat was a fun event with cousins and we managed to avoid any rain. The epitome of laziness, we didn’t go searching for any new costumes, but allowed everyone to choose a dress-up dress to sport for the night. Harper opted for her pink sequin “Aurora” dress, the hit birthday present from Grandma Sue this year, requested her hair be down and to have a dash of pink eye shadow. Emerie also wanted her hair down and insisted on the Ariel dress and corresponding Ursula necklace and purple eye shadow. Reagan asked to be Jasmine with her outfit coordination to the tee; matching headband and bubble braid, gold ballet flats, and sparkly teal eye shadow. This year’s walk was far less whiny than last years, probably because they are better at walking longer distances now, and they were more than happy waiting in line and going up to the front doors without parental participation.

The routine change into school hours started off a little rough for me personally, with tired monsters at pickup and throughout the evenings, but I believe we made it through and now it’s going better. If I plan some kind of activity or craft to do right when we get home, that seems to help with the earlier transition from school to home each night. My attempts to keep them off screen time in the afternoons is definitely raising my blood pressure, but also resulting in great sister play time (in between the fighting). Taking them to the park, which we’ve done on several sunny days this month, is not necessarily an enjoyable activity after a full school day; in fact, they get all worked up and act crazy and rude to others; and corralling them back to the car by myself usually results in some yelling, timeout threats and a lot of frustration.

One major steps in the “big kid” transition is drop off and pick up each day. Everyone is much more comfortable hopping out of the car in the drop off line, grabbing their coats and backpacks, and after fifty hugs and kisses, marching inside to their classroom. They have a password each week, a specific word of the week if you will, that they must repeat to come in. They are also so proud to switch their names on the board to show they have arrived for the day and if it’s a hot lunch day. We are also seeing great improvement on letters and what words start with what. Craig and I receive constant questions on what things start with, or the brain teasers when you have to come up with 700+ words that start with the letter “h” off the top of your head. After only several weeks, I can already see writing improvement from all three on worksheets and requests how to spell words has increased by 1000%.

Some nights, the non crazy attitude evenings, we will do letter or math flashcards at bed time. All three enjoy competing to see who can answer first, which often gets everyone riled up and yelling, but also shows they are retaining the information. The basic math- you know, 2+2 and 5+9 type numbers- result in a moment of silence while they count it out on fingers, and then extreme yelling when solved. Eventually everyone gets mad and overly competitive and we rotate who answers. Whew!

Grandma Anne came up for a fall visit for two weeks and all three enjoyed sitting upstairs on the guest bed and reading books, making chocolate chip cookies, and her trip’s sewing project- curtains for their bunk bed, with snowflake fabric and pink, purple and teal ribbons tied to the frame so they can easily make a fort or open it up when not playing. Not only is this just something fun for the cool bedroom setup, but Craig and I are hoping this will reduce the destruction we see almost everyday and have to clean up every night to go to sleep. We also probably need to purge some stuffed animals!

In mid-September after school activities started and we signed up for two clubs. While the school is definitely still working out the school day to after school activity transition and we’ve had several days all three never made it to the club, the girls are absolutely enjoying both Book Club and Puzzle Club when they go. Each week a different book theme is shared during Book Club, and from what I can tell, they all greatly enjoy trying out new puzzles. We opted to wait and do intramural sports club next session and I’m hoping that will peak their interest at some point for good physical activity in the winter. Speaking of winter activities, all three are in the same dance class this time around and while we questioned how well that would go (as opposed to splitting them up), so far so good. It helps we know a couple others in the class so the moms get to hang out while the tiny humans learn ballet and tap. At the beginning Harper was not on board sharing her favorite teacher or “her” hobby, but she’s come around with friends in the classroom and so far the fighting isn’t too bad.

Amazingly, we didn’t catch the first back to school bug until several weeks into the year. Lucky for us, everyone was back to normal after a few days and somehow Emerie managed to miss the first one altogether. The girls now all have a terrible sounding, throat cough, but with no other symptoms; all appearing fine otherwise. Let’s hope that cough doesn’t stick around the whole winter because the judgmental “covid glares” definitely still exist when out in the public, even when we know they aren’t contagious. And I managed to contract bronchitis (from them or my September conferences, who knows) that as of today, still can’t manage to kick. Craig incredibly picks up the slack when I’m down for the count and it’s a lot to do on top of full time work. Fingers cross this is my worst one of the winter and we make it through the colds months without going down again!

Much to her joy and delight, Reagan now has a couple weeks of speech practice under her belt. The pediatrician suggested she be evaluated after her five year checkup; she lost her tooth before she learned to form most words and the expansive vocabulary she shares now, so we can’t confirm if the slight lisp relates to the tooth or how her tongue forms the words. The evaluation session was a bit of a shit-show on my part, the school messed up and didn’t take Harper and Emerie to puzzle club after class and wouldn’t go for me, so I arrived late like a hot mess of mom, with all three in tow. It might surprise you to know, but I really don’t like to be THAT mom out in public and in general Craig and I have greatly improved over the years to not be a total hot mess in public. Not an easy task with three, I tell you! Thankfully the staff there were kind and provided coloring and toys for the other two while Reagan was assessed. It went so much better than imaginable with all three there at once! Now Reagan, of course, is thrilled to go to something solo, and after three sessions bright and early before the school day, she is excited to see Miss Mari and do an activity, which was painting last week while they talked. They are practicing word completion and enunciating the end of some words (I can’t remember what sounds exactly). She leaves the session happy, not realizing it’s actually physical therapy!

While pronunciation might be a little more of a battle than the expansive vocabulary we hear day to day, it is fun to hear other random phrases they randomly pick up at school or off shows. A main one right now is sister, can I have a moment of your time? which is often said to one another during playtime. Marriage proposals back and forth, or the more negative I’m not going to marry you might be the top phrase each day and still cracks me up. Multiple pet names are also chosen at random toward each other and include baby, honey, my love, darling, husband – not wife though, they can’t get behind this word- sister, and the usual nick names. Thank goodness they haven’t picked up the silly names Craig and I use on each other… 🙂

I will end this long and random update on the fact it’s finally fall time and the beautiful leaves are out, according to the girls. In fact they’ve mostly fallen since I started writing this blog last month, and temperatures continue to dip as snow creeps down the mountains. The girls still fight wearing coats during the day (at home), but are starting to get the picture it’s not warm outside anymore. My favorite pumpkin dresses that were big last year still fit, so we did a second annual and impromptu photo session in the woods after school one day. I revel in the fact their baby faces are nearly gone and smiles are much more grown up than I’m ready to process; otherwise we had some cute ones and a lot of candy bribery. My little girls are really becoming little ladies, and we are almost through the first quarter of our kindergarten journey….already!

❤

Sep 09

Mortar Combat!

Earlier this summer I complained about a lighter fluid incident with the tiny humans that happened outside…and let’s just say…you know what is worse to clean up AND off said children?! TILE (thin set) MORTAR.

God forbid Kid A (Harper) was chilling in a blanket on the couch, watching a movie as her Tylenol kicked in to reduce the crummy fever; me sitting with my laptop out working on emails, and Craig finishing up the tile in the bathtub and then pausing to eat some actual dinner.

In the span of 20 minutes, Kid B and C managed to explode, I mean explode, a full bag of mortar powder, to give the entire garage, and all tools, strollers, food, bikes, and so on in it a lovely layer of “snow.” It wouldn’t be nearly as bad if it were a bag of flour or sugar and covered in white; but the key point with thin-set is, adding water makes it do just that, SET. Craig’s reaction in this picture says more than any words I could say. Sigh.

Reagan managed to come back into the living room without us noticing the new layer of white on her right away; Emerie? Not so much.

Have you ever tried to get mortar out of hair, ears and eyes? Well I haven’t either….and it’s not fun. Hell, I didn’t even approach the mess in the garage and my eyes are on fire from it in the air! The garage explosion quickly spread to the downstairs bathroom and then to the one working shower we have, creating another lovely layer of white to scrub up before even trying to clean off those pesky monsters.

After multiple hair scrubs, shampoo, conditioner, soap, and a LOT of scolding, Kid B and C are confined to their beds with only one stuffed animal and didn’t put up much of a fight about it. But holy moley, I know we will chuckle on this in the future, but for now? How does one clean mortar off saws and tools without ruining them?

Only bonus I see is that only two kids needed scrubbing, not three; and the fact they didn’t bring water to the party before we realized their activity and caused cemented mortar all over downstairs. I used to dread the toddlers getting into flour or sugar and man, that would have been a nice result instead of this!

Harper sure enjoyed her popsicle while the other two were scrubbed and sent to bed. I’m not sure about any other positives to this…and with that. Good night? Want to come over and scrub some walls with us?

#suchaglamorouslife ❤

Aug 19

Preschool Journey & Grade School!

I can hardly believe it, but we are at the end of our preschool journey. No more toddlers or preschoolers reside in this house! I’m not sure it’s hitting me so hard simply because they are growing up so quickly, or because my brain recognizes the fact that I only get to do this transition once, because they are all the same age and we have no other children. After two different classes in two years at their current school, we are beginning the grade school journey with three little ladies starting kindergarten this week. It feels both surreal and like it took forever to get here; but mostly pulls a bit at the mom heartstrings knowing they are growing up and becoming more independent in this next phase of childhood.

We began the preschool journey at home when the girls were a few month shy of age three. With the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing and our decision to exit out of an unsupportive daycare environment, the girls stayed at home while Craig and I both worked full time; a scenario that lasted about six full months. We rotated work meetings, working bright and early and many late nights, to get our hours in and tasks done all while entertaining three small tornadoes at the same time. Reading over the blog I posted on that transition over two years ago, I remember feeling mighty overwhelmed physically and mentally, and very tired from getting up multiple times every night, all without the “break” of a kid-less work day. Not everyone would call that a break, but it certainly was for both Craig and I, allowing us to focus on work while sitting still, in quiet, and enjoying warm meals and hot coffee, something we didn’t get to do for a long time when the girls were very small.

Several months past age three, three spots opened up in the three-year-old class at Anchor, called the Ladybugs, and the rest is history. The transition into a new class environment went better than expected, something I was super stressed over initially, and I’m certain Miss Tawni and her kindness and support played a huge part in that. Emerie had several surgeries over the course of the first year and with each event, the school supported and helped us when we needed it and it was much appreciated. Her continual morning patching is still an ongoing challenge and their support- I’m not exaggerating here- has greatly contributed to the eyesight she has and is retaining in her left eye. Without all the patching and effort to keep her on track; it would be a much different story.

It’s ironic that changing life situations for your kids is so very stressful on the parents, and yet most of the time the kids ease into it like it’s no big deal; looking back and making you wonder why you were so stressed in the first place. I strongly felt this way as we moved into the four-year-old class last August, the Butterflies, and once again feel this same stressful anxiety as we transition out of preschool and into grade school. Luckily I know it will pass eventually and I just need to get out of my own anxious headspace. Deep breaths!

Looking over the past two years, SO much has changed in our day to day as well as in personality and life skills:

Potty training: We went from amateurs to pro status on all levels. Accidents are far more infrequent now. So glad to pass that stage!
Walking to the car: This was an epic (and potentially scary) task at pickup everyday, especially on solo trips. I am thankful to report within a month or so of going to preschool, they started going to the car and not running off and trying to take on the parking lot in three directions. Now all three know they are supposed to go to the car and are usually pretty obedient about it. At least they don’t run straight at oncoming traffic!
Adventuring and getting out and about: It is SO much easier to be out and about now and doesn’t take three hours to get out the door. Less structure means more opportunity to do things on a whim, something Craig and I really missed doing for a couple of years. This is likely the largest change we’ve had so far.
Napping: We lost our beautiful home naps when the girls transitions to toddler beds during the summer of age three. We had a bad track record for naps at the first daycare, whether that was my kids or some of their unreasonable rules, we will never know. All three eased into it fine and continued to nap almost every day for two years! I still don’t know how the teachers could convince them to doze off in the middle of the school day.
The talking….oh the TALKING. It’s constant. And endless. And some days I wonder why we taught them verbiage and nouns (and expletives!). Over the past few weeks I’ve really noticed how excellently they use sentence structure, adjectives, and even adverbs. Goes to show talking to kiddos without the baby talk goes a long way to helping them pick up more words and use them correctly.
Less structure– it took years, and I mean years, to get to the point we could go do things on a whim and do them safely.
Writing and coloring: The girls have all loved to color since they could hold a crayon, and this love continues to grow into pictures, shapes and letters, and now real words. We are mostly skilled at name writing but progressing on recognizing the alphabet and sounding out what different words start with.
While more fighting occurs everyday than prior to preschool, so much of that relates to the thoughts and opinions they more easily convey to each other now, and the disagreements that branch from it. Growing pains that happen for every sibling, I suppose. That, and being in permanently close proximity with family members.
The vivid imaginations also expand on the daily basis. They free play independently so much more every day, and come up with fun and random games with one another. We worked hard to limit the screen time, not allow iPads or video games (yet), and encourage creativity. Playing “kitties” and “mom and dads” are still the favorites, and soooo many weddings occur in our house.

The girls went to their 5 year old check ups in July- yes several months after their birthdays- and all have majorly grown since last year. Emerie and Reagan both had several vaccines, meaning lots of band-aids but overall good attitudes during it, and Harper wanted to know why she didn’t get to have them too, forgetting she did hers the week prior during an ear infection visit. Here are the latest stats for your viewing pleasure:

Harper: weighs 46.2 pounds (77%) and is 46.5″ tall (94%)
Emerie: weighs 42.4 pounds (56%) and is 45.25″ tall (83%)
Reagan: weighs 44.6 pounds (70%) and is 46.5″ tall (94%)

To put this into perspective, that means Harper gained 8.6 pounds and 4.25 inches in a little over a year; Emerie gained 8.2 pounds and grew about 3.5″; and Reagan gained 7.2 pounds and grew 4.25″. Considering the fact that they all trend on the slender side, that’s quite a lot! This is the first time with a significant (if two pounds counts as significant) difference in any statistics between Harper and Reagan, who have remained consistently the same for most of their lives on everything. And Emerie is working her hardest to catch up and eating everything. Her height gain puts her the closest she’s been to her sisters in quite a while.

Grandma Sue and I took the girls back-to-school supply shopping last week. The girls were excited to fill their grocery bags with all the goodies, including folders and glue and markers. Apparently I am old enough now that my recollection of school supplies is no longer reality. For example, as a kid peechee folders, themed like Hello Kitty or Transformers or really anything currently “in” were sought over and collected for school…how is that no longer a thing? I could only find plain, primary colored folders and certainly no My Little Pony styles. Instead the girls decorated those boring folders with a million stickers, because why not! Everyone was also given the opportunity to pick their own backpack; Reagan chose a teal star style, Emerie of course opted for light purple unicorns, and Harper looked right over the pink princesses and selected a teal and purple Little Mermaid one. Last year everyone had a matching princess backpacks and I’ve found it is easier to have each kiddo carry a different one so I don’t have to find the name tag to know whose is who for gear each day.

Emerie & Harper looking at books quietly!

We also visited Barnes and Noble, a first for the girls, and each picked out a book and all agreed on a princess (Sleeping Beauty, Tiana, and Merida) Lego set that we built later that day. All three did fantastic in the bookstore until we had to wait in line; as I perused books, I found Emerie and Harper sitting quietly on the floor, thumbing through new material and Reagan a few steps away playing with the assembled train set. I believe we finally found Emerie’s happy place: a bookstore!

Sue and I then organized all the crafting and artwork, puzzles and miscellaneous finds from the front hall closet and craft bins while the girls put the stickers and other cool finds to good use. The living room ended up completely destroyed that afternoon, but now I have a much better functioning front area, all ready and organized for school.

Are the girls excited for kindergarten, you ask? That is a resounding YES followed by shrieks of enthusiasm. There were countdowns. There were requests to know how many sleeps until the start! There were many questions about it. These requests started occurring the day they turned five; so you know…questions for months! All three were so proud to be in the big kids’ class for two days before we left for adventuring for two weeks prior to the year starting. Everyone enthusiastically shared they didn’t have to nap and went outside THREE times in one day. Another highlight- big kids are allowed to go to the bathroom unsupervised, and that one was quite exciting. Another epic piece of this life change is their 3-year-old classroom teacher is teaching kindergarten this year and we are beyond thrilled. I’m not sure who is more excited, the parents or the kids! This solidified our choice to keep them at the same school and not go to our zoned public school down the road, knowing they adore her and will hopefully start off their grade school experience growing a love for school and learning. We are also thrilled that only seventeen kids are in their class; and we make up three of them!

The first day went surprisingly smooth. It probably helped that we attended “meet your desk” the day before and they saw the new room set up and greeted their beloved Miss Tawni. With all the late nights the past few weeks, we accidentally managed to reset those internal clocks to sleeping in a little later in the morning too, from the typical 7 AM (or earlier!) wake up call for the past two years. If you are wondering, sleeping in generally means to 8 AM, and with school drop off about 8:45, it is a nice reprieve to have a quiet house for longer in the morning. I expected a little resistance at drop off, but after all the pictures and enthusiasm from the morning and seeing so many classmates from the preschool class, as well as new back-to-school dresses and hair ribbons, they were more than content checking out the new classroom and letting us head off to work. No parental or kid tears occurred, and that’s probably a milestone in itself! All three simultaneously answered the first day was FUN and that is about the only description I received. When asked if they sat at the same tables, I received three different answers and have no idea what actually happened.

I asked each kiddo their favorite part of their first two days of kindergarten: without a beat Reagan responded playing with Miss Tawni (although I’m guessing the 10+ drawings are probably part of that list too); Emerie thought about it and responded playing with Miss Tawni while she worked. We didn’t cross the line by her desk; she said we couldn’t cross the line. Nothing else was her favorite thing today; and Harper said only playing with Nicole! I managed to ask this question to all three so they couldn’t hear each others responses, but overall they all end up being quite similar.

On a random and funny side note, on the drive home from pickup yesterday the girls were asking for the millionth time when it will be their birthday now that they started kindergarten. We listed off the family members ahead of them…Papa Lon, Uncle Will, cousin Jaren, Papa Cliff and then Craig, cousin Chatum and me, and cousin Corbin, and then it will be time for their party. After grumbling sighs that it’s too far from now and will take forever, Reagan went off on a tangent about knowing other families at school who have 3 kids in their family and they have three kids but don’t have to share their party. They all have their own birthdays. It doesn’t make sense! (her exact words). It doesn’t make sense that I have to share my birthday party with Emerie, she’s littler than me. When I retorted with everyone is the same age, she disagreed. Funny to see her brain churning and trying to figure out how their age sharing affects their birthday. Everyone was then arguing over who is oldest, youngest, or “middlest.” I’m not sure I fully convinced her to agree with me. More discussion is ahead of us I’m certain.

The third day of school I attempted drop off at the front door and not taking them inside to the classroom. Everyone gave me a hundred hugs and kisses and stood on the curb as I drove away. My prompting to go inside was not helping and eventually one of the school staff shuffled them in the door. Now we just have to learn what gear and shoes need to come home each night and to remember to bring lunch boxes each day. We will be there in no time!

After several requests to know what new activities happened each day and no success on a real answer; all the practice drawings and writing came home on Friday. Reagan had the most, as usual throughout preschool, and a compilation of coloring pages in addition to practice pages. Harper was excited to show off her rainbow drawings. Emerie brought one drawing straight into the car and demanded instant attention to look at it and hang it up at home.

Even after the first week, their letters are already changing slightly with the adorable curly cue for Reagan’s “g” and Emerie’s “e.” I looked through the workbook pages and all three did pretty well, marking out bad behavior on the one pictured here and hopefully following directions during class. I’m excited to see what else they work on; after all, I’ve never had a kid in grade school before, let alone three of them at once!

As I finish writing this blog, we are officially out of all things preschool and diving into the next stage of childhood. I’m excited to see vocabularies continue to expand, improvement on reading and writing skills, and the ability to do more things without as much pre-planning and total chaos. It is already a game changer from three months ago and finally feels almost fun to adventure to new places and try new things, without as much stress involved.

And how much they’ve grown in only a year. At least we haven’t yet lost the requests for hugs and kisses and willingness to see parents in public. If anything, they are asking for more snuggles after being gone all day in a new experience. Here’s to Kindergarten!

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska

mom life