Summer Wrap-Up & Second Grade

I continue to think back to the wonderful summer we had, where it was (relatively) warm, easy to transition from inside to out, and full of adventure and possibility.

We wrapped up the summer season with a couple annual family activities. One of my favorite weekends of the year consisted of both my favorite Alaskan summer activities: wilderness berry picking and the Alaska State Fair. While not a hot, sunny day, the afternoon berry picking in cloudy skies and minor drizzle was perfect in temperature.

This year the girls were far more helpful and did pick some, but also enjoyed the stained fingers and faces that came with sour, Alaskan blueberries. In truth, they picked berries a little ways into the woods, discovered a perfect fairy tree, and proceeded to decorate said tree while Craig and I worked around them, filling our bags with berries. They stained the tree blueberry blue, and added flowers, sticks and leaves to make a beautiful house. I love the age where they take the time to create and innovate, hoping fairies will enjoy it, and really hope we will have at least one more summer like this.

We accidentally chose the perfect day to go to the fair- a beautifully sunny day with 10+ hours of walking around and just having fun doing whatever we wanted to. We arrived at opening to avoid parking traffic and bee lined it straight to the face painting booth, where the girls and I requested flowers and Craig did a planet theme above that beard. Pony rides, lots of random food to try, dip and dots and snow cones (it was hot out!), and of course we joined a few friends for the carnival rides.

Last year Reagan didn’t enjoy the kid roller coasters but bravely rode them, and this year other than one or two moments of pure disdain for a ride she opted to go on, she did great. The girls road the spinning teacups with Paris and a couple of the kid roller coasters, but I believe the favorite ride was the spinning swing, which for the record, I feel were faster than last year! We luckily did most of the rides before it got really busy with long lines, and I am happy to report we had no major meltdowns the entire day out in the sun. That in itself is impressive when lugging out three overstimulated and excited seven-year-olds. And it was a very long day and active day!

I also must mention the girls’ excitement to see if Craig won any ribbons, for his first time entering the arts portion of the fair. He knitted two shawls and rainbow socks, and I am personally offended he didn’t instantly win first place on all three entries! The girls were happy to see his 3rd place ribbon; it was quite sweet. I enjoy having an artsy husband, who really does have quite the talent and inability to sit still without creating something.

Craig took the girls to see all the animals before loading everyone to go home, while Janelle and I stayed for a kid free, Weird Al Yankovic concert. Not that you asked…but it was amaaaazing!!! I’d also like to point out that Emerie constantly begs me to play Amish Paradise -which is really a nostalgic song from my childhood that brings me back to cd players in the car- and all three kids singing the lyrics in the car…that’s right up there in my parenting accomplishments with their joyous singing of Papa Roach. I just love it!!

In between all the fun weekends are nightly bike rides. To burn energy of course, but it’s also just a nice outdoor activity that we can finally do in this age. And we are finally a training wheels free house. Harper and Reagan mastered their balance last fall, picking it up rather fast once they mentally accepted they could do it. Harper thrives on speed, just like she did as a toddler. Reagan is more timid but now very confident and zooms around, even standing up. Emerie was another story, adamantly insisting she would never go without, and refusing to try without major pushing. It took most of the summer to convince her to try, and one day we biked to the park and she practiced in the grassy area. After a few flops she put a little more muscle behind it, giving enough to stay balanced, and she was so excited! It was sweet to see both of her sisters cheering her on; encouraging her to keep going and not berating her when she threw a fit about it.

The wheels went back on for neighborhood bike rides as her fears returned, until eventually her confidence increased enough to do it. It might have also helped we collected three 20” bikes off the free page or marketplace, ones too big for training wheels, and that worked! I’d given the chance, she would have them reinstalled, but she’s doing great. Now we just have the uphill battle to convince her that biking is fun!! Harper and Reagan love our evening rides and want to go farther and faster; Emerie does not so it’s constantly a divide and conquer between the parents. But hopefully we will get there!

All three also convinced Craig to buy and install their own kickstands like grownups have, as well as pink, purple and teal wire baskets on the front to house stuffies, snacks and coats.

In addition to physical labor activities, we are making a point to take the four wheelers out more often this year and get the girls better at steering and zooming around. And when those damn machines actually run, and stay running, it is quite fun! Reagan is the most timid on them but definitely more confident than in last years to zoom by us. Emerie would drive forty miles an hour if she could, sticking her tongue out as she speeds by, whooping in laughter and threats that no one can catch her. Harper is also quite a pedal to the metal kiddo and you can hear her giggle over the roar of the engine!

Before school started I took the girls to 5000 different appointments to prepare for the school year, which included physicals for all three, that I did back to back in super mom style, with our babysitter in the car to swap each kiddo out for their turn. The most hilarious part about that ninety minutes of my life? Watching the doctor ask all three girls the exact same questions, but without the others present, and watching them all answer almost exactly the same. I mean it was freaky how similar answers were, and even their questions and interactions with the doctor. For example, all three separately wanted to play with the stethoscope and asked her how it worked and if they could listen to their own heartbeat. Biggest difference was Emerie’s claim to be allergic to tomatoes…which isn’t true, she just thinks if you hate them enough, then you are allergic.

For the first time in seven years, Emerie has caught up in height and weight to her sister, specifically Reagan, who came in at the same weight as her, and Harper leading by a couple pounds. All three are now the same height; Emerie has officially caught up!

We also rocked our biannual dentist appointment and it’s getting easier to do them all at once. They love the attention and getting clean teeth, and I love that no cavities were reported this time. It is still a battle to convince Harper she needs to love her adult teeth, since she only likes it when they brush her teeth at the doctor. Don’t think the teeth will survive only two brushes a year, and the breath!

We also shoved in an ENT visit for Harper to check her ear tubes, and Emerie had eye checkup with a lighter bifocal, and will continue to do her eye patch.

We are now a month into second grade, with all three in the same classroom again this year. I must start documenting the cute things brought home at the end of the week. In their writing booklets they all answer slightly differently and it’s fun to compare them, some answers are more true than others when you really know them. For example, Emerie wrote her favorite weekend activity is going hiking, which couldn’t be more from the truth if she tried! Hiking might cause her physical and psychological pain…according to her when we do it. Another answer, all three’s favorite day of the week…is Thursday. Very random but likely relates to either the day they were asked that question…or the fact that gymnastics is that night after dinner! Here are few other answers for your enjoyment, to see how they are different and yet still so similar:

What is your favorite person?

Harper: my favorite person is Mom and Dad. I love them because they are nice. Together we hug.
Emerie: mom and dad. I love them because they are kind and sweet, I love Chris!
Reagan: my favorite person is my “perins.” I love them because they love me and I love them. Together we go swimming. (And her “i’s” are dotted hearts- sob!)

What is your favorite season?

Harper: my favorite season is winter. I like winter because it is fun in winter. The weather is cold.
Emerie: my favorite season is spring. I like it because it is warm in spring and it gets warmer. In spring the weather is getting warmer and the snow is melting.
Reagan: my favorite season is winter. I like winter because we have snow ice cream in winter and the weather is snowy.

Favorite subject in school

Harper: art. I like it because it is fun.
Emerie: PE. I like it because it is fun and my favorite game is tag.
Reagan: science. I like it because we do fun things.

Favorite weekend activity

Harper: my favorite thing to do over a long BFF weekend is look at the stars. Spend the weekend with my family.
Emerie: my favorite thing to do over a long weekend is hiking and spend time with Mom and Dad.
Reagan: spend time with my family. I like to spend time to be alone.

And my personal favorite, which is better shown for you to enjoy reading yourself. Because of course, my kids have a favorite vegetable!

The girls also did a partner project at school, where they each chose a specific government service that contributes to society, to research and create a 3D masterpiece of. Reagan chose an airport, continuing her “team mom” status, Emerie did the police and/or state troopers like Dad, and Harper opted for firefighters. There was much discussion after schools on their creations, what to include and what it looked like, and they turned out pretty cute!

I look forward to continued growth in writing and spelling, and future articulations. For now we will continue to shove in evening bike rides, outdoor playtime as sunsets continue arriving earlier, twenty minutes of reading per kid per night, and lots of spelling word practice. The evenings go by so quickly and winter is right around the corner, so enjoying the joys of fall as much as we can.

❤

Mar 06

Triplet Trade

This household takes spirit week at school pretty seriously, you know, when the options are easy enough to accommodate. From crazy sock or hat day to favorite character, the girls are always excited to sport something different than their typical day attire.

I don’t always match the girls for school, but they typically complement one another; i.e. all three wear a dress, or all three wear jeans and similar shoes, or in the same style but in their varying colors. They don’t fight me too much on this YET, and I am already sad knowing that day won’t be too far away.

And some spirit days we have a little fun. In other words, on an outfit mismatch day, that is taken in a different way than lopsided clothing. In a triplet house, it means switching colors and trying to look like each other, which includes faces, outfits AND accessories. It seems to be lost on them that they already look the same.

Reagan begged to look like Emerie for a day, eye patch, glasses, and all. Emerie opted less enthusiastically to be Harper, after being told she still had to wear her glasses even though Harper doesn’t have them. Harper luckily was okay being Reagan to round out the trio, likely because the tooth loss earlier in the week meant their smiles are once again exactly matched, years after Reagan’s front tooth debacle and surgical pulling. Harper rocked Reagan’s panda attire, and definitely could be mistaken for her sister in a random glance. Emerie didn’t want to wear anything seal related and opted for all pink.

Everyone trekked into school assuming their teacher wouldn’t be able to tell them apart (which she proved them wrong on). Reagan sported a patch and blue light glasses, after several discussions why Emerie’s prescription spectacles wouldn’t be wearable for her. This caused confusion since they pushed back that they all have the same eyes. Not quite kid!

From the jumbled story told on the car ride home, it sounds like their teacher let them have a little fun with it, sitting on their sisters color spots during the day, and eating out of each other’s lunch boxes. I am unsure how long the patch lasted, but guessing not nearly as long as Emerie has wears it each day.

Don’t they look alike? The correct triplet with the mismatched triplet 🙂

Just another day in the life of the Douglets… ❤

Mar 30

Birthday Brilliance

The month of March always turns into quite the busy few weeks, with family visits, birthday preparations and activities, a number of friend birthdays, and then you know…work and the normal, every day things. We attempt to make each birthday special and somewhat extravagant, knowing the girls have to share it and this momma doesn’t have any other kid parties in our household to plan.

I hatched a plan this spring to replace the girls’ 18″, very ragged dolls with new ones with bright pink, purple/teal, and teal hair, especially since the current Babela (Haper), Moriah (Reagan), and “she doesn’t have a name” (Emerie) have seen better days. Of the three, Harper loves and plays with her doll the most and my attempt to replace it with a new one that “went to the salon” is working so far! I told the girls during the school day the dolls attended a salon day. This fabricated story expanded to include facials, spray tans, and a solid bath to remove existing band-aid and makeup residue, and create new hair. Surprisingly everyone bought the story, especially after seeing the photos when Mom and Grandma Sue took them there (which we actually did- go big or go home! Thanks April!!). Harper scrutinized her doll more, insisting differences but with beautiful hair, and I reinforced she had new contacts (eye color changed) and a solid facial to get all that makeup off, plus the hair dye and styling. Reagan noted the skin is darker on hers, which I responded was her new spray tan. And the white lie continues to grow….

Here are a few other activities that occurred the past two weeks:

My annual goal continues to create an exciting, custom themed birthday cake the girls will enjoy, since we only go big once per year. Grandma Sue made the cake and icing and like last year, I created the accessories and decorated. Edible grass, Oreo dirt, and a LOT of custom colored chocolate mushrooms, grass, and multi colored flowers, and topped with a million Trolls Band Together characters, from opening 20+ mystery packs to find the right ones!

On the big day we joined the family and had a “fire dinner” at Benihanna. The girls especially love this place and eat their body weight in fried rice. This time around Emerie did so with shrimp and the cook thought it was funny and kept giving her extra! Watching cousin Elliot and Corbin’s faces during the fire tricks was also a highlight of the night. For the first time maybe ever, Craig and I actually sat by one another while Reagan wanted to sit by Tyler and Sue and the other two with Papa Cliff at the other side of the table- so weird. By dinner’s end we had full and tired, giggly girls who were excited to go home and have cake, you know, after they had ice cream with dinner.

Professional birthday photos are another one of my favorite things each year. We trekked out to our favorite newborn photographer in Palmer and the girls were on their best behavior yet! As always, I can’t wait to see how they turn out and everyone fully participated. This time around was less of the I have to be in the middle or else attitude, which is predominant in almost every group photo I take these days! Who know order was so important?!

One handmade gift that deserves mention was from Papa Lon, who created custom colored deer callers in the girls’ colors. While kazoos and whistles and other generally loud toys mysteriously go missing in this house…Craig and I will let these slide. They are beautiful and the girls looooove wearing them as necklaces and ensuring the house never stays quiet. Emerie is modeling her purple one in this photo.

Another annual favorite timed with birthday events, the Daddy/Daughter dance. Craig typically receives questions about two days after this occurs, wondering when the next one will be. The girls wore fancy dresses from Costco (which half the kids did apparently!), silver flats and custom makeup by Grandma Sue, and Emerie rocked her new turtle necklace from Seward. Their late arrival home may be record setting at 9:30, but all were very happy and excited to attend. Craig noted no one wanted to take the cute group photos, and the girls were overjoyed to see Nichole and Sierra attend with their dads. Sue and I enjoyed leisure time, which is very rare, and finished up birthday preparation.

We spanned gift opening throughout the past week, after a good amount of toy cleanup and donations to make space. If I had to choose some favorites, it would be Disney princess play dresses from Mom and Dad, new doll sets (a cabin and furniture), the stylish “new” dolls, and instantly opened Polly Pockets (how fun is it they are still as fun as the 90s!). Custom colored scarves from Jordan were oo’d over; our kitten Winston adopted Reagan’s and sleeps on it now, and Uncle Will helped open surprise barbies and new clothing sets. We are very blessed for such wonderful friends and the girls are still playing with all the new goodies.

Sue and I attended the field trip to the Seward Sealife Center, picking up an extra six year old for the drive. A fourth kid meant best behaviors from mine, and all shared toys and snacks with Nichole. It was a nice visit; everyone tested the touch pool, oo’ed over the seals/sea lions swimming around, and laughed at the one who flirted with the group. At the gift shop before heading home, Harper informed the cashier she renamed the seal to Harper, and indignantly said it is now a girl. She loves seeing her favorite animal in action- thank goodness we live in Alaska!

The actual birthday party occurred the weekend after their big day, which allowed Sue and I time to get everything prepped, ordered and finalized well in time for the trek over to the party place. In the midst of all this, Harper came down with a cough and confirmed ear infection, but she managed to muster up enough strength to enjoy her party.

We were unsure how many kids would show up to the party, and it turned out to be almost thirty! It was great to see cousin Jamie, Steve and Hayden drive up from Kenai to join us, Cousin Tyler and Uncle Will, Keegan and Jenny and the boys, Papa Cliff and of course Grandma Sue. The sound volume (and heat) level increased dramatically and the girls’ flushed faces showed it. We recycled the Halloween candy in a rainbow pinata (sorry, not sorry parents!) and played a Bluey favorite, Pass the Parcel, which everyone participated in with minimal crying. We ended up giving out all 48 Trolls themed cupcakes, which I call a success in itself.

The whole day was a great success; Reagan told me it was the best day EVER. Somehow this year felt a bit easier than the fifth birthday, not sure if that was because we prepped less food (much to the dismay of all those vegetable pizza lovers out there….Grandma Sue…) or because we did the full Trolls themed cake at home on their actual birthday this year; or simply because they are a bit older this year and getting things done while they entertain themselves is more of a common occurrence. Whatever reason, it was a busy month and we made it to the other side unscathed! Our house looked like Christmas morning by the end of the day and the girls happily sucked down their pho for dinner so they could return to the floor to play with new toys. My brain still can’t comprehend I have three kiddos a third of the way through their childhood- if you think about it- and who knows what wonderful adventures we will experience this year.

❤

Mar 04

Doggie Demo

Last week Craig inspired me to do a fun visit to the girls’ school for an educational work demonstration, to show off my office’s new Boston Dynamic robot dog. The dog’s name is Aurora, named after her custom northern lights inspired skin, and will be testing out airfield wildlife mitigation in Fairbanks under a research and development project. For folks my age, the creep factor is real when you are up close and personal with such a “creature;” and at the same time it is really cool what technology can do these days.

At least ten parents have asked me questions the past few days about the visit so I thought I’d share more details on a quick blog. My colleague Ryan and I did the presentation, although most of the credit (and fun!) goes to him as our office innovator, and as someone who is great at presenting and explaining things to the younger generation. It was fun to leave the immobile visitor laying down on the floor of the gymnasium while we explained its intended use and other details about airport wildlife mitigation. The dog will have several programmed routes as well as the ability to operate by an operator, very much like a video game (according to the kids). We explained how airport sponsors try to keep birds and other wildlife off the runway and away from aircraft, especially the engines, using both lethal and nonlethal measures where approved. We purposefully started the conversation without walking it around, and answered a lot of questions. Everyone jumped when it stood up and began to walk around the room. We demonstrated how it knew to stop and walk around an obstacle or not run into the wall, using its front sensors. The kids thought that was really cool.

Ryan had one genius moment where he told a classroom of 5/6 years olds they could pet the dog, but not to click the red button. Would you like the guess what all their questions revolved around after that?! You got it. The red (reset) button.

My favorite part of this demonstration is very much the reaction of the audience. Adults and older age kids flinched far more than the younger grades, who weren’t apprehensive of the metal, headless dog walking toward them or down the hall. It goes to show that in this day and age, the girls’ age group are close to comfortable with the concept of artificial intelligence (AI), while older kids and adults are still experiencing this change in societal autonomy and not quite ready to live in that world yet. Or at least I feel that way a lot of days!

After the gym demonstration and showing a few teachers how well it goes up and down stairs (it operates like we do with bendable knees that make it more mobile), we walked it into different classrooms that might not have seen the first part. All the kids had great, inquisitive questions, and then we went to the kindergarten classroom, aka where the girls were doing stations right after the lunch hour.

I purposefully stood in the hall while Ryan walked Aurora in; no shrieks or anything! What was the first thing I did hear? One of the girls (I think Reagan but not sure) comment, hey, that is my mom’s robot dog! Mind you, I did not share I was visiting that day, assuming they would be wild if Mom was trying to present to the older kiddos. In the five minutes we spent in their classroom, Emerie barely cared enough to acknowledge it (I did get a hug) and went back to her schoolwork, while Harper and Reagan at least were semi interested. It was pretty funny.

All in all, a fun visit and I hope all the kids learned something about artificial intelligence, or wildlife mitigation at airports. Birds are bad and don’t mix with airplanes! We only caused one adult to shriek at Aurora walking around a corner, which was pretty funny. The future is pretty cool…I tell you! And I keep telling these kids mom has a fun job…some days like today!

And Craig still wants a real puppy…and now the girls want a robot puppy too. Good times.

❤

Oct 28

One Quarter Down!

Somehow in the blink of an eye, a quarter of the way through the kindergarten school year i complete! How it passed so quickly I am unsure, and definitely not mentally prepared to be on the way to halfway through the school year. The past month was an unpleasant health roller coaster for me, meaning while I was down, driving to and from school, cooking and really doing anything was on Craig to handle. He took the girls to dance, other activities and birthday parties, and let me rest and try to feel better. While that isn’t nearly as hard to do as a couple years back (thank heavens I didn’t catch this when they were toddlers!), it is still quite exhausting, expending energy and mental stamina to solo parent for a time. I’m happy to report I am mostly on the mend and the cracked ribs aren’t as painful and healing up. I will be glad to have this month over!

This week Craig and I attended our first parent teacher conference with three kids in tow, and somehow managed to convince them to sit and color while we chatted with their wonderful teacher. It’s always fun to watch Craig sit in a 5-year-old’s chair and fit his legs against the tiny table!

Miss Tawni showed us each kiddo’s portfolio, including their self portraits, custom colored hand prints (Reagan’s even had nail polish drawn on it!), and paper collages that spelled out their names. All three self portraits boasted blonde hair and each kiddo’s color integrated into the drawing somewhere, which is pretty cute.

Overall nothing crazy to report on the first eight weeks of school; all three are progressing normally for their age and learning and developing on target for their age. As expected, penmanship in the last two months has improved dramatically for all three. While this is a great sign, I very much enjoyed seeing the custom lettering interpretation from each and will miss that short phase. I admit I saved an unreasonable amount of papers boasting their primitive penmanship as it morphed over time, and I’m okay with that. With a name full of letter “e’s”, Emerie made curly cues instead of an actual letter, but it was so cute and understandable to read! Reagan easily wrote her name by the time school started and truly enjoys writing, so her name continues to become clearer and neater each week and her capital “R’s” improving. At home she often carries a notebook and constantly writes notes and pictures. Harper often adds extra vowels in her name and is now spelling it correctly more often. All in all, I’m pretty please with their progress.

Emerie continues to patch most mornings- so half her school day- and Miss Tawni noted she doesn’t see any added frustration or limits from doing it each day. This is GREAT news, as we were unsure if patching would effect the school day and preferred to not patch after a long school day to get the time in. I assume the daily habit helps and she doesn’t question it anymore; Harper and Reagan still occasionally ask why they don’t have to do it. The kindergartners don’t have assigned seating in the classroom- at least not yet- and it sounds like the girls don’t always sit together and spread out, which is good. I can also tell they often sit by a fellow classmate, Nichole, because we see coloring almost every day with everyone’s names side by side and they tell me their favorite part of the day and it often involves her.

School pictures turned out really cute on the first try, and kudos to Craig for the cute outfit selection and pigtails since I was still sick in bed that morning. They all promised to smile big and did just that! And look, no eye patch stuck to a shirt this year- hahaha!

The basic report cards for this age contain a scale from one to ten, with the majority of numbers under 7 since it’s their year one of grade school. This first quarter marks show music the highest for Reagan, followed by PE; Harper the highest for music and PE class; and Emerie highest in music as well. All three reports note continued improvement on writing and understanding their letters and an average rating for all other curriculum. We still need improvement on letter sounds, recognition, and word spelling, and need to actively practice more at home than we have recently. Now that my month long plague is easing up and energy is slowly returning, we will focus on the sounds of each letter and continuing to recognize them. When questioned, Harper claims her favorite subject is writing, Emerie likes gym class with Mr. Ivan the most, and unsurprisingly, Reagan’s choice is coloring, i.e. art class. They all sing the praises of their teacher too, as do us parents.

A few more days until Halloween and the girls are excitedly waiting for a real snowfall. I think they’ve forgotten with snow brings the cold and darkness, but either way they are excited for it.

From our fall photo shoot earlier in the month!

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska

school