Pre-Kindergarten Fun

And just like that, the final two weeks of summer vacation; meaning the time before our first school year kicks off, means some family adventures and activities to round out the season. I started day one of fourteen with kids home off with a bit of a bang- while Craig went into the office at the crack of dawn, I worked a couple hours before everyone woke up, made requested zucchini muffins during breakfast, completed a couple loads of laundry, packed up lunches and the car, loaded everyone up and drove down to explore the wildlife conservation center about an hour away, AND made homemade, puffy chalk paint, that the girls proceeded to make a HUGE mess with on the driveway (and themselves).

This was our first conservation center visit in quite a while and it was probably the nicest, least windy weather we’ve ever had there. The girls played with stuffed animals and counted waterfalls on the drive down, and saw the train twice! The shrieking for a train sighting woke up Emerie, who had drifted off to sleep. She excitedly watched it out the window and went right back to sleep. Everyone was more excited to pick dandelions and other flowers than get up close and personal with the rescued animals. Emerie walked around the center announcing I’m a triplet! to anyone nearby, whether or not they wanted to know or were remotely paying attention to us. Silly girl. We ate packed lunches at the picnic table by the playground; at one point a hornet- or some kind of massive bee related bug- drove all three away screaming. Now every time anything even close to the same species flies by; everyone scatters. Even dragonflies and mosquitos. Needless to say, there is more reactive screaming now than previously.

By the end of the day I was TIRED from overdoing it a bit, and the girls were asking to go to bed by the end of the night. Reagan and Craig picked up Grandma Sue at the airport and everyone snuggled into their beds afterwards and drifted right off to sleep.

The following day Sue and I packed up the car and headed down to the Kenai Peninsula for a few days of adventure. We are getting quite good at long drives with the kids and made it down in one straight shot, only stopping once for a random traffic backup. No naps, no screens, a lot of snacking and music, and of course, coloring. Tiny notebooks and multi-color pens are great for drives. The tunes for this whole week were the new Little Mermaid soundtrack- the girls ask for the songs Prince Eric and Ursula sing, not Ariel- and a lot of My Little Pony, the movie and the show. I recently introduced them to some “old” techno with Cascada, and they now ask for her by name, and a couple songs from Imagine Dragons. It’s cute that they fight over the band name; Emerie is convinced it is Magic Dragons and Reagan argues it’s Imagine. Harper just asks me to play the magic in my bones song!

The girls were SO excited to see Becky and spend a few nights at her house on the lake. After asking for a solid year, you know since our last stay, they were more than excited to play in the yard and run up and down the stairs. Becky made her fancy pasta salad and brisket and all was well in the world! I may have eaten that salad for breakfast the next day…it was THAT good.

With no agenda for the trip other than to do whatever we felt like whenever we felt like it, we spent day two traveling down to Ninilchik for a quick visit with Cousin Brian and an afternoon in Homer. The farther south we went, the nicer the weather, so by the time we arrived on the spit, it was glorious. After a fantastic late lunch of burgers and fries (and soda sips courtesy of fun grandma!), we explored the docks and looked at boats, walked on the boardwalk and took pictures in about every cardboard cutout, checked out the catches of the day, tested out some sorbet, loaded coat pockets with shells, and reluctantly checked out the swing under the boardwalk, with a high tide underneath. All the random strangers entertained the girls questions and comments, especially those cutting or hauling fish caught that day, and we stopped to ogle at the 109 pound halibut hanging at one of the charters. The girls watched the experts fillet fish and toss the bones, with both interested and horrified expressions. Emerie announced a number of times to a crowd of fish professionals, that she hates fish and it’s DISGUSTING. Harper and Reagan watched with interested but also wouldn’t go anywhere near any of it. Maybe someday we will get them to like salmon…but for now they will eat halibut, especially when told it is chicken!

We left the beach with less shells than our last visit, mostly with instructions that only whole and unbroken shells couldn’t come with us. You can tell the beach is one of their happy places the moment they see one. Emerie is instantly throwing rocks in the water with loud giggles of pleasure, hefting big ones with joy and watching the splash; Reagan immediately hunts for a good stick and scrutinizes the sand for treasures; and Harper hollers after finding each big shell and random bird feathers, which made it all the way back to Anchorage with us. Oh yes.

We tried Face-timing Craig on the return drive and they were so wild, it was just screaming and three kids yelling into the phone all at once. We stopped one time at the only solid fireweed patch we spotted the entire drive, and the girls entertained their mother’s request and smiled and wandered through it for a few photos.

The following day we wandered around the area and searched for treasures at random garage sales. Nothing crazy, but some great scores and a good way to explore Kenai and Soldotna. Grandma spotted an amazing old dollhouse with tiny furniture that was worth more than the fifteen bucks we spent on the house. Packing that into the back of my SUV, with all our trip gear and bikes, was quite the adventure in itself.

After a delicious lunch at a recently discovered restaurant in Soldotna with Craig’s cousin Jamie and Steve, with noodles and oodles of egg rolls, fried rice and broccoli for the girls, we meandered over to the park across the street and did the traditional stroll down the riverbank boardwalk. The riverfront beach area that we played on in June was completely submerged underwater, so instead the girls checked out each fishing group at the bottom of the access staircases. One group caught and released several red salmon and everyone sat quietly at the top of the stairs and surveilled. Another kind lady brought her catch over for the girls to see up close.

Jaren and Savaya stopped by after a bit and broke out their fishing poles, so we put life jackets on the girls and let them carefully walk along the riverbank while the experts reeled some fish. Harper had the one snafu of the afternoon, who lost her footing going down the grated, metal stairway and would have tumbled fifteen feet down and into the flowing river, except that I happened to be standing several steps below her. Some tears, a bloody knee and bruised leg and foot later, and they were back to exploring.

The rest of the day was spent playing on the dock and in the yard, soaking in the sun. With only a light breeze and intermittent clouds, the lake was smooth as glass. Over the three day visit they must have biked the driveway loop a hundred times, enjoying the hill and practicing how to balance on the way down while in traffic. It stayed warm enough for swimsuits and Jamie’s kiddos Amber, Hayden and Maddy swam in the water and played on the floats with the girls. Hayden attempted to catch a fish and bucketed minnows for them to play with. You could hear goofy giggles from afar on the float as the girls sat with Amber and devoured a snack, and also somewhat tortured her! The girls wouldn’t commit to swimming, even given the warm weather and great water temperature- well Reagan tried for thirty seconds and was not a fan- but they did enjoy splashing their feet, scooping buckets, and playing with the dock ropes. Watching Hayden jump off and into the water was also quite the hit; about as much them torturing him on the float out in the water or later on the grass. Lots of snacks, chit chat with family, and silly kiddos made for a nice and relaxing afternoon. It’s wonderful now that we are at an age they can play and mostly entertain themselves and the adults can actually converse with each other! For the most part they fully entertained themselves and played with family. Other than the minor whining and meltdowns throughout the day, everyone was mostly on good behavior and having fun and everyone patiently waited to go down to the dock until adults were ready to go. Kids don’t float!

In case you were wondering, Harper also learned how to whistle this week. She now walks around whistling about as much as Reagan breaks into random song, and it’s pretty cute. She is very proud and also announces to strangers at the store that she can whistle! Reagan and Emerie are less thrilled that they haven’t quite figured it out yet; Reagan’s missing front tooth certainly isn’t helping her learn it. Reagan managed to find all kinds of cool treasures this trip, that would all end up in my pockets somehow. She picked unripe cranberries and put them in her purse, green pine cones, and tons of clover and other flowers so she could use them later.

I also discovered that Emerie still chatters in her sleep; at one point I woke up enough to hear her snap I told you the color was purple! and then settle back down with a grunt. She said another phrase at some point that night, but I wasn’t awake enough to remember it the next morning. Emerie was also a good sport about patching a couple hours each day of the trip, since she does that for the mornings at school. Throughout she was still biking and running around doing her thing, her only request to sit behind me or in the middle in the car, so she can see out the window with her left eye.

More fun activities continue during our staycation before kindergarten starts next week, including a visit to the you-pick farm in the valley and meeting up with more cousins, this time Tyler and Chatum, for a quick lunch and minor torturing. We also snapped a couple photos sitting in Uncle Chris’ vintage teal truck (Reagan has told me it’s hers but I don’t think the boys will agree with that!) and everyone is looking so grown up. Grandma taught them how to climb up the side of a less vintage truck in the driveway (since you know…Tyler has multiple options!), and now all three proudly pull up on the tire and hike a leg over the side of the truck bed and taunt us to come get them.

One more week until kindergarten!

❤

Jul 08

A Little Summer Fun

While weather this summer is still cold and overall dreary, our activities and adventures are anything but! The girls are much more self sufficient this summer season and find ways to entertain themselves, sometimes together and sometimes separately, and while the fighting and whining is still pretty constant, the parents also have more opportunities to do activities themselves that were impossible a year or two ago with three littles. It’s so nice, but also a little sad that my babies are now so grown up and independent!

We finally broke out the princess Lego sets, a first for all three. In years past many hours were spent with Duplo blocks and Craig even built a customized duplo table so building was off the floor. We held off on the smaller Legos for quite a while, knowing they will probably play and create with them for a number of years in the future and we didn’t need to rush into it. We also wanted to avoid stepping on those tiny pieces for as long as humanly possible; and here we are!

I started the first age-four set with Emerie, letting her choose which one she wanted to build. Not shockingly, she chose the tiny Elsa castle set. I was quite impressed at her ability to understand the directions without too much prompting; her hardest part was finding the pieces in the parts box, not the actual construction of it. This is likely due to seeing things close up with her weaker eye; and she powered through and had fun putting it together. She will likely be a Lego builder in the future!

By that point Reagan and Harper were hovering and up close and personal, trying to see exactly what Emerie was building. Craig started the next princess set with Reagan and I opened one for Harper. Reagan was much happier to let Craig build the parts together than do it herself. Harper did pretty well finding pieces but also wanted more help snapping them into place. We will get there.

The girls also asked for pretty colors in their hair again, and since I’m not about to actually dye their beautiful blonde locks that I assume will be either dirty blonde or light brown by the time they’re teenagers; Craig pulled out the temporary pink, purple and teal hair dye. He added stripes to one side of each kiddo head and they all sat still as it set. With all three colors, that meant he also had the joy of climbing in the shower and washing colors out one at a time, kid by kid. I definitely caught Reagan and Harper posing, singing and brushing the fancy locks in front of the mirror in the master closet later that night. Emerie’s colors ended up the most faded. We may have to add some more this weekend. This week the girls kept taking out their braids, claiming that they needed to show classmates and aides the fancy colors.

We had another first this week, channeling back to our three-year-old days of mischievousness. Craig refilled the tiki torches on the back deck and I set down lighter fluid container with about half left. Little did we know later that night the girls spent a good amount of time making flower and grass soup outside in their playhouse…with an added element of the REST of the lighter fluid. A little more flavor?! How the toxic smell didn’t stop them from playing with it is beyond me. We didn’t notice the occurrence of this activity until right at bedtime that night, when Reagan ran outside to get her beloved “tiny panda” and it came in wreaking like strong paint thinner. She was NOT pleased that into the washer it went; and even less pleased that the smell was irreversible and Mr. Panda’s new home was the outside trash can. Thank goodness for eBay; a new one is on order and in the mail!

Fourth of July weekend was uneventful overall and we mostly stayed close to home. The girls rode bikes and played outside, did some crafts and we watched them disassemble their new Lego sets. For some reason they refuse to let any of the Lego figurines keep their hair and we continue to find those pieces all over the place. Pretty sure I will glue those in place before we permanently lose them. We spent the afternoon of July 4th out in Chugiak, about 20 minutes out of town, at the holiday parade, with great seats right along the roadway. The girls did not appreciate the police and fire sirens ten feet from them, but otherwise enjoyed waving flags and demanding candy from the brigade passing by. Reagan was especially excited over the vintage teal colored cars that went by while Emerie was much more enthusiastic about picking ALL the flowers in the right-of-way and “making” fireworks with them, and Harper just wanted to snuggle and eat snacks on my lap. At one point one of the homeowners shot off a couple fireworks and all three jumped out of their skin and ran to us. Clearly we’ve never been that close to loud fireworks, since last new years we didn’t successfully keep them outside to see them.

I’m happy to report no one ran out into the street during the entire thing and the rest of the day was spent with the cousins, building forts in the driveway out of kitchen remodel boxes and grilling out. Everyone was so tired by the end of the evening that we loaded all three into the car in total meltdown status, and everyone silently watched a My Little Pony episode the whole way home.

❤

Jun 29

Real Life

Social media photo that would display a cute three minutes of our girls night evening:

The real life, less social media worthy evening with my girls?

The girls went into the house like a heat sinking missile, or rather three of them with a trajectory toward chaos and commitment to prevent me from accomplishing anything. I unloaded the bikes and backpacks from the school day and pulled in the trash cans. By the time I made it inside, they were already fighting over who would get the chicken eggs.

Reagan meets me at the back door with three chicken eggs, one she drops on the floor into a goopy mess. At the same time I step on a dead mouse that one of the kittens left at the back door for us, and as Reagan is freaking out over the cracked egg, and Harper over the mouse in the doorway, Emerie is also channeling her inner three-year-old and having a total meltdown because she can’t get over the chicken fence out in the yard, while holding more eggs.

This is all the first two minutes home from preschool.

I finally get Emerie out and she stops wailing, clean up the cracked egg and dead mouse, and finally get the water boiling for the fancy, post busy work day dinner of Kraft Mac and cheese, chicken fries and green beans.

I turn around to them water fighting on the deck and dunking the new My Little Pony matching card game, still in the box, into a bucket of water. Sigh.

I then snapped the cute photo referenced above after opening their cute MLP hats from the mail, that we ordered after walking around the farmers market in Soldotna two weeks ago. Hence the cute, Facebook worthy photo of the evening.

But in reality I went back inside to stir the pasta and turned around to a screaming Reagan, who was hit in the face by a bin of who knows what by Emerie- who is also hiding from me afterwards- and Harper goes by in a blur with a new dress on and an umbrella.

That sparks Reagan to stop crying and ask for me to get down an umbrella for her and go through my shoes to finish her outfit, and I see that Harper managed to knock everything off the top shelf of the closet to get hers as I pull them down for the other two.

Emerie finally succumbs to my demands and gives Reagan a hug and a half felt apology, and then wants an umbrella too.

Miracles happen and I finally get food finished, pour myself a glass of wine, and sit down to nibble on my extravagant Mac and cheese meal, because what’s the point of trying to make anything else. All three eventually join me and start eating, asking for more chicken and ketchup. Bonus mom points for everyone clearing their plate.

We are still 90 minutes from bedtime…and now everyone is sitting at the table and coloring pony pictures while arguing over what the “real” color brown is. And for some reason my foot is dyed blue from something…At least they are cute!

#reallifeislessglamorous #momlife

❤

Jun 15

First Trip of Summer

Summer in Anchorage is slowly rolling in, or at least I will continue to whisper that to myself until actual sunny days and seventy degree temperatures appear. With this season continuing the cold snap and dreary, rainy weather, the girls are still asking when summer will get here. And it’s a fair question.

The weather confirms my decision to not pursue kid soccer this summer and opting to wait until they are older with better participation. It also means we don’t have to sit outside and be cold and wet while watching! Instead we opted to do parkour gymnastics once a week for summer session with all three in class together. Two weeks in and so far so good on behavior. The teachers have everything handled by splitting them out into separate subgroups for each activity and while they push limits a bit, overall they are doing much better than a year ago. One difference between the weeknight and Saturday morning class is the level of kid whining from the group in general. You can easily tell everyone is far more tired into their day than when it’s the first thing on the weekend. So far we seem fine and are home by about seven for a quick dinner. Harper will also say she’s sad that Miss Jess, her dance teacher, doesn’t work on Tuesday nights, and is already asking for dance to start again.

Even without sunshine yet, we kicked off our first weekend of June with a birthday party in the valley, random face painting and shaved ice treats, and a multiples barbecue with a ton of twin sets and us! By the time we made it to the final event of the day the girls were in rarer form, grumpy and disobedient, but we survived! A year ago that much activity in a single day would have ended in disaster, and we have to remember how much easier it continues to be each day. It’s not only a relief, but also a little sad, knowing the girls are growing up into bigger, more independent kiddos.

It was a nice change to attend an event and the girls found ways to entertain themselves, something that never used to happen without adult containment and constant attention. When they were smaller I always felt like I missed socializing at every event, because they needed constant attention to stay out of the disaster stage while we were out and about. So for a solid hour my tiny humans climbed and played in the mayday tree next to the birthday party, and it was amazing. By the time we loaded up to the next event, probably more than half of the tree’s flowers were either discarded on the ground or in massive bouquets intended for soup and other child creations once at home.

I believe that instigated the next stage of our non-summer weather, with a straight kick of pollen to the face. The handfuls of mayday flowers, which smell amazing to those of us that don’t have allergies, likely spurred the coughing that we are still seeing a week later. Surprisingly enough, Emerie is the least affected so far, and not the one with a runny nose or coughing fits. This year seems worse than prior ones- even with all three on daily kid-Clariton medicine- and Reagan and Harper are stuck in the midst of it, with continuous coughing fits for the last several days but no fevers.

So much coloring with Mom’s fancy markers and new coloring books!

Grandma Sue arrived middle of last week and together we trekked with the girls down to the Kenai Peninsula for my work trip. We left midday on Friday while Craig was still at work and spent two nights enjoying life outside of our hometown after a long winter without much travel. At one point on the drive down all three girls and Grandma were snoozing and I enjoyed the quiet drive listening to music and seeing the beautiful Alaskan landscape. Everyone snuggled in the new blankets Grandma brought up from Juneau and Emerie slept a solid hour with the blanket completely encompassing her head. At one point I tried to smoothly pull it off so she wouldn’t suffocate and she fought back in her sleep with an angry groan and wouldn’t release it.

The rental outside of town had two bedrooms and a main living area. Upon arrival the girls immediately chose their own twin bed and proceeded to spread out their blankets and stuffed animals until they were set up for bed. It was the cutest thing and completely inspired by them. Grandma and I brought in the gear and then we headed back to the car to more adventure.

Looking out at the river for a brief moment

The first night we walked around the Kenai River festival in Soldotna and the girls played at the amazing playground. The sun vanished and turned to rain and wind as soon as we went to the first booth- sidetracked by mermaid themed goodies and a mermaid treasure chest full of treasures the girls HAD to have- and it turned very cold for the next hour. We managed to hide under merchandise tents and order some food truck food for dinner, the girls sharing a big hotdog and the adults enjoying gyros on white rice (super delicious by the way!) under the overhang. We met up with Cousin Jamie, Steve and Maddie and walked around and caught up a bit. The girls did great and settled pretty easily for the night at the rental. At one point they danced to the live music and caused some chuckles from folks sitting nearby.

The next morning I headed off to the Kenai Municipal Airport for the annual air fair. It was my first time attending the event or having a booth at it, and the girls adventured around town with Grandma Sue and Cousin Jamie. Everyone stopped by about halfway through the afternoon and I took a break to walk through the planes out on the apron, something the girls really wanted to do last year at the aviation festival in Palmer. The sun returned and momentarily eased up the rain long enough for us to enjoy the helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, especially the old Everts cargo plane. We had to pry the girls out of that plane; they quite enjoyed sitting in the cockpit and asking Hayden twenty questions he couldn’t answer because he’s not a pilot and doesn’t fly the skies of bush Alaska.

We might have a pilot in the making, in addition to my painter/artsy girl, because Reagan asked a million questions at both helicopters, one LifeMed and one Guardian. The poor flight medic tried to answer all her inquiries on the buttons and how to make the plane go forward and fly, and it took some convincing to move on so others in line could have a turn. Everyone took a turn getting strapped into the critical patient spot and laying down on the stretcher. Everyone also asked a ton of questions on the gear, pointing to the ventilator, the oxygen mask, the blood pressure cuff, and excitedly wanting an answer so they could point at something else.

At one point a plane did some tricks in the air above us- the funny thing being I couldn’t get the girls to look up for the life of me, as they were all focused on the beautiful color of the hanging pilot’s helmet in the helicopter, and the fact it was an hombre teal color. Priorities folks.

The first trip of the summer was definitely a success and simpler than last year. I am proud to say that no one asked for any screen time on the drive down or back, everyone went to bed pretty easily at night and in their own designated bed, no specific schedule needed following, and no massive destruction occurred at the rental (well no kid destruction- sometimes you can’t take Grandma Sue anywhere without a little destruction and she will kill me for writing this!). We are dancing on the edge of a major growth spurt, with everyone hungry and filling a big appetite. For example, Emerie ate three half sandwiches, two servings of fresh peaches, a cucumber, and half of Grandma’s potato chip bag on the drive down. The remainder of snacks were devoured on the way back by all three! We also collected massive kid allergies for Harper and Reagan, who both still have a dry, unproductive cough, and could see the layer of pollen on the car each morning. They were both good sports about it for the most part and it was nice to see Emerie escape the crud and go about her day, business as usual.

One brief stop to the beach equaled a massive amount of “pretty” rocks in the back of the car, fancy rocks that are now a part of the family and sitting on the back deck. Hopefully our next beach adventure will be slightly warmer temperatures and seashells, at the girls’ request. We also enjoyed a pancake breakfast with cousins and the girls lasted a solid two hours at the cafe, coloring at least five pictures each and staying chill longer than they do at most our food outings.

The mosquitoes weren’t too bad for all our time spent outside, likely because of the level of wind; but at the end of the weekend, Reagan woke up with one eye swollen shut, from a bite right underneath her eyebrow. Funny enough she told me a story, claiming a mosquito followed her into the house that night, waited until she fell asleep, and then BIT her on the eyeball. It was very descriptive and told ever-so seriously.

I also noticed the girls are now referring to themselves in third person. So when one answers an adult question or comment and we respond asking who said that, because we aren’t looking that direction in the moment, they’ve taken that to heart and now simply answer with Reagan said that or Harper wants milk or no, I’m Emerie. Apparently us adults need to pay better attention now so that we don’t spend our lives hearing third person responses!

I look forward to next weekend’s adventure, which should be fishing but with counts so low and gil netting canceled, we are still determined to simply get out of town and enjoy this summer, however that will look and however cold it may be!

❤

May 26

Dance, Dance, Baby

This spring part of Harper’s dance class included an official recital, with a big stage, a custom leotard, and about 120 other kids ages three and up. Since Craig ordered the costume, each week she runs up to her teacher, Miss Jess, and asks if the order was in yet. She was so excited to not only see it but wear it.

The last day of spring session everyone had a mini performance during the standard class time, with parents invited in to watch each kiddo perform skill routines. Because the girls are split out into two separate classes across the hall from each other, with Harper dancing and Reagan and Emerie tumbling in gymnastics, Craig and I knew we had to split to accommodate everyone, with performances offset by about fifteen minutes. Luckily Aurora Kids has a great setup and suggested Emerie and Reagan go first so I could sneak out to Harper’s class, after their floor and beam routines.

Both girls were somewhat shy to go first in their group, but overall committed to showing off newfound skills. Reagan did her first tumble and mini cartwheel without teacher assistance and her last backwards roll with a little help. She then immediately darted back to her spot and away from the crowd. Emerie also did her first tumble on her own but with a dramatic landing, her arms and legs flailed out on the mat with a silly laugh. She was also all smiles at the end. It wouldn’t be a floor performance without both of them picking a wedgie from their leotards, in case you were curious! Both did their beam routines with the help of one of the teachers and Emerie added a touch of personality with the goofy faces and tongue out.

Craig stayed to watch the bar performances while I watched Harper’s class perform a ballet and tap routine. Both Emerie and Reagan followed their teacher’s instructions well on different bar skills, and if I had to pick a favorite routine for Emerie, it is definitely this one. She again showed off some of her skills completely unassisted after class when we were all back together. Harper made sure to be front and center for both dances and right next to her teacher; pretty consistently to how she’s acted throughout the whole session.

All three were thrilled to go up front and receive their participation medals and played with them at home ever since now that they are jewelry and decoration. All in all, the entire session went much smoother than a year ago, and everyone is asking when they get to go back, which is only another week away. On the behavioral side, Harper going to solo made a huge difference on her listening, while we still have to intervene with Emerie from time to time, who can easily distract Reagan from listening.

The girls were excited at early school pickup on the big day; it was the first time I’ve picked them up during regular school pickup and right after nap time. Harper was thrilled to get dressed up and wear her outfit, have fancy eye shadow and her hair slicked back into a “ballerina bun” with a matching ribbon. After claiming to want orange eye shadow all week, she opted for a pink and teal that meshed together to look like colorful sparkles. Who knew finding kid makeup would be so difficult to find and we ended up with a big set that included every color imaginable.

Craig and I took only Harper to the fancy recital at the local college and left Emerie and Reagan home for an evening with Uncle Will. Emerie could care less that Harper dressed up and went solo with her parents, while Reagan stood at the front window and cried as we loaded up in the car; she wanted to go. Little did we know it would be a three hour performance, so thank goodness we didn’t bring everyone or we never would have made it through the whole thing.

After checking in and finding seats at the show, Harper was content looking around the full auditorium and finding her classmates, who all sat on the left side with us. The room was filled with so many sparkles and colorful dance leotards. I would guess about six dances occurred before Harper went back with her fellow Tiny Tappers to queue up for their ballet performance. After every single dance she asked is it my turn yet? When is it my turn?! She was also offended any time her favorite teacher, Miss Jess, wasn’t on stage dancing, which cracks me up. She did enjoy watching the routines once she got over that part, and was thrilled each time a princess related song came on.

Unsurprisingly for her routine, Harper confidentially walked out on stage and showed absolutely no fear in front of a crowd, pointedly going to the front both times. The amount of people in the room and the cheering didn’t phase her at all; I’m guessing she will be a crowd pleaser in the future and I can’t wait to see! For ballet she was placed right behind the teacher, and of course at the perfect angle to be difficult for filming, but moved around enough we could see her smiling face. At one point she lost focus and appeared to try to find us out in the dark crowd. Afterward she went backstage and came back to her seat for a few more performances, changing into tap shoes for the last routine. About halfway through the whole show she went backstage once more and stayed until her dance and the show finale.

Her tap performance to Aladdin’s Friend Like Me was super cute, and hilariously and in true Harper style, she turned at one point and shook her butt at the whole crowd and laughed. Being the oldest one in class, she also refused to let any one else stand on her front row tape spot, scolding the littles that tried to. So funny! Overall she followed this routine a bit better- I think the whole group did following Miss Mary- and everyone was all smiles at the end.

At the end all classes went on stage for the finale bow, showing how many kids and how well coordinated it was. It’s impressive to coordinate one-hundred plus kids and twenty-nine dance routines back to back and it was well done. You could also tell it was getting late and kids around the auditorium feeling it. We quickly headed to the car ahead of the crowd, but Harper made us turn around for a picture with Miss Jess on stage. She also cried the ENTIRE way home that her teacher couldn’t come home with her, not that it has ever happened, showing how overtired she really was after three hours of solid stimulation.

It was a good evening overall and enjoyable with only one kiddo! Emerie and Reagan would never sit that long and instead enjoyed a fun evening with pizza and a movie. Both were awake when we arrived home at almost nine. While they immediately fell asleep in their beds, Harper whined for a while longer about her teacher and fought sleep hard.

It was a new feeling for me, enjoying watching my little have fun in a new environment and getting to enjoy it without pestering the other two to be quiet. I never considered the thought I could be a dance mom- clearly if you’ve seen me dance- but who knows! Miss Jess noted at the end of the performance that Harper really enjoys class time and has improved greatly from a year ago. She continues to claim she’d rather dance than go to gymnastics so it will be interesting to see if she sticks to that decision for fall session. And she’s already asking when the next performance is and when we can order another fancy outfit. Bring on next year!

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska

mom life