Jan 05

A Little Christmas Joy

The past six weeks have been full of holiday activities, play dates with friends, and school activities. Staying busy pushes us through the dark, winter season, and helps burn the never ending amount of energy three six-year-olds brings to our household. As the sun sets before four in the afternoon, it seems like that darkness turns into kid energy and wildness, all while cooped up indoors in the evenings.

We kicked off the Christmas season with a Samaritans Purse evening, organizing and filling boxes that would arrive all over the world, to share a little Christmas joy with other kids less fortunate. The girls were great helpers, customizing their boxes for girls aged four to six, and begging to do more than one box. They colored pages and wrote notes to include in their boxes and stacked them up in the big pile. Bonus was the cookie decorating table, which included some eating and some donating plates to others- all in all, it was a productive and fun night with their classmates.

Thanksgiving was late in November this year and nicely didn’t coincide with Craig’s birthday. Aunt Jenny purchased blue plaid, kid onesies that were quite the hit at dinner, with the girls wearing them consistently at night and while playing at home the past month, as we continue through our cold season. After a nice dinner at cousins’ house in Eagle River, we headed to the “real” Nutcracker show in Anchorage later that weekend, hosted by the Eugene Ballet group. Last year the show we attended was performed by a local ballet school and a little more kid friendly for noise; this year we watched the fancier one, meeting up with their friend Ava and practically sitting in the auditorium rafters. I had fancy hairstyles planned to match the Christmas dresses, but canned the idea after realizing we had the day wrong and only an hour notice to get everyone ready and downtown.

There were fewer when is it over complaints from Emerie this year; she seemed happy to sit with Ava and watch the show. Reagan also had a nice conversation with Ava’s dad during the show and Harper insisted on sitting with Craig for the whole thing. After a quick cookie snack at intermission -because everyone was apparently starving after an hour- they enjoyed watching the dances and beautiful sets and costumes, but were ready to run by the ending.

The school Christmas show went off marvelously and all three were strategically placed near each other, but with a non sibling in between each. All three sang their hearts out and did the motions to their songs, all smiles. I always enjoy these events, as it makes me feel more like a parent than other days of the year, and gives me a surreal sense of happiness.

A few other noteworthy, funny moments over the past month:

Harper begged for Mrs. Claus dresses this year, which are harder to find than you might think! Grandma Sue ended up sending Santa and Elf themed sweater dresses from Fred Meyer and the girls continue to wear them at least a couple times a week. They are great for photo ops and warm for winter, not to mention cute!
Emerie continues her goofball comments, with so many silly commentaries about Grandma’s baby boy– meaning Craig- and it’s hilarious. She latches on to an idea and then rolls with it for quite a while, accentuating the baby booooooy when talking about him.
Reagan now creates word and spelling games for sisters. You’ll find two of them with heads together and thick as thieves, doing some kind of spelling categorization or asking how to spell a word. It’s very sweet to watch her guide and explain to her sisters; she is definitely our school kid of the three. Maybe there’s a future teacher in there!
On a sweet note, Harper still starts her conversations with can I tell you something?! I love you. and I hope that lasts forever. Normal conversations often start with that question, and then she waits until you agree before starting her tangent. On the other hand, Emerie goes the opposite direction in the morning and often hollers I told you to stop waking me up! I want to wake up myself; go away! when starting off the morning for school. If you walk away she will get herself up like it was her idea in the first place; funny kid.
Harper now requests music in a new way- the girls recently noticed the car screen shows album covers and it is often completely irrelevant to the playing music. I now receive requests such as can you play the song with the girl in the pink dress? and I’m supposed to know what that is. At least with the customized song names from the toddler days I could interpret it; I definitely don’t know album covers! All three also ask what song names are, as written on the screen, and are getting better at sounding them out.
Emerie now tallies our life scores, whether we agree to participate or not. If I can’t answer a question, then my lack of correct response means she gets a point. I am unsure what these points tally toward, but I sure don’t seem to get any on my side. She asked Grandma Sue the other day how was God born? And the lack of “correct” answer earned Emerie a self proclaimed point, because she didn’t know. This is starting to happen more frequently off all her random questions.

Our girls continue to grow like weeds and no longer boast those baby faces and toddler mannerisms. In addition to sailing through an entire clothing size this summer- our quickest yet- we also rearranged their bedroom this month and removed the sofa chair purchased during my pregnancy. This felt like a mental blow to my mom brain, reminding us how rapidly they grow up, and prepared for the oversized beanbag chair arriving from Santa. That chair holds so many memories; used multiple times a day, every single day, for years: triple bottle feedings every three hours around the clock, quick diaper changes, comforting a crying baby in the middle of the night, calming wild toddlers at bedtime, snuggling for naps after Emerie’s many eye surgeries, or reading a gazillion books. I often found Emerie sitting on it with a stuffy, listening to a Tonie story, or Reagan singing along to one under a blanket. I couldn’t bring myself to rehome it, so its new home is downstairs in the family room, ready for more memories and cuddles to come. To this day, I truly believe it was the best purchase we made in preparation for the girls, and the most used piece of furniture those first few years. In other big kid news, the girls slept in the living room by the Christmas tree a couple different nights, which is another age milestone and something I greatly enjoyed and remember doing as a 90s kid.

In addition to moving furniture to make way for new activities, so begins the arguments and deep discussions related to boy crushes. I thought we’d have more time since they are only six, but exactly that occurred at the end of a school day earlier this month. I arrived with Harper in tears and Emerie mad, and Reagan running up to explain they were fighting because Harper told Emerie her secret crush and Emerie didn’t keep the secret. Emerie told her teacher, who responded they are too young for crushes (which is true!) and Harper lost her mind. Ooof, that was such a fun ride home, believe you me! This is a terrifying preview of the teenage years…SO not ready yet. The girls now intermittently discuss their “crushes” and which boys in their class they will marry someday. Reagan still wants to have twin girls and has their names chosen already, Harper wants triplets (ha!) and Emerie is a no go to having any babies in her belly, at least right now.

Christmas break this year was significantly easier than years past, and not only because of the surprise arrival of Grandma Sue (surprise to me) and Auntie Amanda (to the girls). In addition to all the Christmas arts and crafts and goodie cooking, the girls will now wander off to read a book or write something out with a drawing, which they didn’t independently do last year. Lego building, dolls sets, and a variety of slime related activities help keep the sanity too, in addition to the afternoon parkour gymnastics down the street to burn energy and give me a small break. We watched several movies at the theater, including Moana 2 twice, and had several successful ice skating excursions at the mall. Everyone is excited for skating lessons starting in January, and three impatient girls wanting it to start already.

We visited Santa at Cabela’s, and he asked everyone how old they were. When all three answered six in a row, Santa still didn’t catch on. Instead, he asked them what it was like to be twins; they were not impressed and quickly corrected him. Santa should know better!! Christmas morning did bring one Santa present request; a panda, turtle, and seal onesie, specific to each kid’s favorite animal. Good thing Santa was listening…. 🙂

I took two weeks off work for school break, not knowing that Grandma Sue was coming up for some of the fun. I nearly spilled the beans about Amanda’s visit multiple times but managed to keep that one a surprise. Picking them both up at the airport resulted in three very happy girls, who had no idea why we were driving past Mom’s work to Mom’s airport! So many delicious, Christmas goodies were consumed the past few weeks, and the girls helped Grandma with so much baking. All three liked her fruit dip, or should I say vanilla pudding, and were unimpressed with added spices. They sure did eat all the apples and grapes intended for that dip, but without the dip! Everyone helped me make gingerbread cookies and did great this year cutting out the cookies, including three new custom shapes for our set: a turtle, panda and seal (see the theme here?!). In addition to decorating a couple dozen cookies, everyone was thrilled to display the customized gingerbread house on the table and admire it for a couple weeks over the holiday.

We painted and baked Christmas plates this year and watched a new holiday movie for the first time, Home Alone. The girls didn’t want to watch it at first, but once the story line picked up, they were hooked and giggling at all the torturous activities to keep out the house thieves. A few other new Disney movies prompted some distress and bad dreams, on random things they latched onto; an issue that resolved itself after a few nights and much discussion about life, death, and heaven.

After a quick hour of Christmas Eve prepping after bedtime, which included placing out the already wrapped presents from sneaky wrapping sessions over a few weeks, Craig and Amanda built the new vanity and mirror set and I stuffed stockings. I spaced out all the tasks to prep for the big day, making the night before go much quicker. All three left a cookie out for Santa, Emerie leaving hers on a tiny doll plate after adamantly demanding it had to be that way. Everyone slept well and went to bed discussing Santa’s impending visit.

Emerie and Reagan were up by 6:30, but I managed to contain them until about 7:00, when the excitement was just too much to bear. They dragged a sleepy Harper out of bed to demands of presents, and wandered downstairs to see the big, pink beanbag chair on the floor and presents scattered around the room. After a cup of coffee for the adults, presents were opened in sets of three, just like prior years. It is relatively organized and fast paced, with all three opening similar gifts simultaneously and sharing their excitement. They have different answers to their favorite gifts than I do. For example, I made a princess photo album for our Disney World trip that includes pictures of all the princesses with the girls, and of course the “magic” shots courtesy of the park cameras. I wanted the girls to be able to flip through an album and remember the trip whenever they want, like adults do on their phones. Finding three Precious Moments picture frames was a great find too, and filling them with a picture of each kiddo with their favorite princess; now I just need to find them a home to keep them from getting broken.

While Christmas isn’t all about presents, we still endeavor to make sure to have a fun and magical day. It was fun to share it with Sue and Amanda, and allow Craig to make his fancy beef wellington in peace while everyone checked out their new toys. Each kiddo received something to play with customized to their specific desires, since they aren’t all the same, a few clothing items to wear, and doll sets from both Grandma Sue and Grandma Anne. The girls ran around with their new doll pets and carriers from Grandma Anne and danced with light up animal ballerinas that play music from the Nutcracker from Grandma Sue and Papa Lon. Adults helped opened the toy contraptions and enjoyed laying on the floor playing together, mostly nicely!

Craig found dresses for all three in their favorite animals -not an easy feat- and a princess dress for each was also unwrapped. By mid-morning all three had changed outfits at least three times with no end in sight. Another outfit change was prompted later that evening after opening presents from cousins…wait for it…white wedding dresses and vails! This was met with great excitement, immediately running upstairs to change into “wedding girls.” Not going to lie…they look SUPER cute in those outfits, and had so much fun running around in them.

When asked what their favorite gift was, Emerie responded the turtle costume and really I just like everything. I like my Elsa photo. Harper responded she liked all her presents and opening them and can’t choose a favorite. Reagan’s response was her stuffed panda from Amanda and the pink mirror (vanity) where we can do our hair.

Only one real hiccup on the big day occurred and kept us on our toes for holiday events with family. I left carpet cleaner spray on the stairs, intending to better clean the carpet where the cat left us his own Christmas gift; Emerie picked it up at some point in the evening and chased everyone with it, ultimately spraying those chemicals into cousin Elliot’s hair and eyes and prompting an unplanned shower and face scrubbing and some red eyes. Can’t say we’ve had that happen before…nothing says holiday cheer like spraying dangerous chemicals at your cousins, right?

The week between Christmas and New Years is a type of no-mans land, where you don’t know what day it is and time is spent doing whatever you want to make it through Christmas break with the kids. The gymnastics afternoons greatly assisted giving Amanda and I short kid breaks, and we filled the mornings with other fun activities like cleaning and organizing the house, painting creations at Color Me Mine, playing outside and with the neighbor kid, building Lego sets and watching Star Wars with Amanda, creating slime and play dough creations, and hitting up jump parks and playgrounds. I was hoping for a few sledding adventures while Amanda was here, but the cold temperatures and lack of snow conditions were less than desirable. Build days at Lowe’s and Home Depot were also a hit, as was Zoo Lights one night.

Having family visit during the break was such a much needed treat. I love being in a central location (by Alaska standards) and getting unplanned (and planned!) drop-ins, something I did t have as a kid with no nearby family. Grandma Sue and Auntie Amanda staying with us not only gave Craig and me a chance to recharge (I even got to sit down and read a book one afternoon!) but also created so many fun memories for the girls. Cousin Jaren flew in for a couple hours one afternoon before returning home; Uncle Will stopped over a few times to enjoy dinner and make glittered slime with the girls. Papa Cliff stopped by with a few presents. Cousin Tyler brought Chatum, Dorian, and Beckham over, and the kids had a blast riding the four wheelers in the freezing dark. It’s amazing how much longer they can endure the cold when they’re having fun! The boys were such good sports about it. At one point, Chatum and Harper came speeding down the street, with Harper at the wheel, laughing and shouting, we won! as they zoomed toward the house. Emerie and Dorian’s four wheeler died at one point in the neighborhood and they required rescue, but no upset kiddos from being out that long in the cold.

The cherry on top of all the visits was getting to meet the newest additions to the family- (second) cousin Amber’s identical twin girls, who made the trek all the way from Kenai just to see us. I believe this was the first time the girls have held babies this small and everyone was eager to participate, Reagan really taking her momming skills up to the next level. In fact, baby Kylan took a nap on her and it was so very sweet to watch her tuck her into her blanket and whisper. Elsie took a nice nap on the new beanbag chair and looked so cozy and happy, and they slept through the noise of our house! Spending a few hours with three month olds is a good reminder at how far we’ve come, and how much easier the day to day is now that the girls are more self sufficient and are out of naps and diapers. I am SO excited for next summer when they are mobile and we can get out and about.

It was a wonderful holiday season, and I tried to treasure every moment, knowing how fleeting they are. We only have a few more years to enjoy the magic of childhood at Christmas and I can’t even believe how fast it’s gone. A meme I saw earlier this month summed it up accurately: remember this is the youngest they’ll ever be at Christmas again. Pretty solid thought! Merry Christmas and happy new year…here we go 2025!

❤

Dec 20

Transition to Christmas

Somehow we are already creeping toward the end of December and fully into Christmas season. After a nice Thanksgiving dinner at cousins house in November- where the kids mildly grazed and pretty much ate cucumbers and carrots for dinner- the girls were thrilled to put the Christmas tree up on Black Friday and even more excited to hang ornaments on the tree. Quite a few ornament accidents occurred over the first weekend; mostly random bulbs that somehow walked themselves into their bedroom, became dollhouse ornaments, or managed to become decorations in a variety of less than amenable locations; didn’t cause too much bodily damage. In case you were wondering, stepping on a broken ornament hurts like a Lego, except it slices your foot open. And yes, we had to explain that sleeping in bed with your breakable ornaments is not allowed. That was not the popular opinion in our household, believe me!

We dove right into Christmas season with family photos. The first try was canceled as we were parking downtown, with the girls’ hair fixed and outfits ready. They were less than pleased on the lack of follow through, but it all worked out a couple days later. It is SO much easier to get ready and the need for less game planning is welcomed. In fact, everyone was on board with the idea and it didn’t take much forcing or demands (let’s be realistic- bribes!). After a 20 minute session with lots of smiles and insistence to have a turn in the middle (we had to do extra shots so each kiddo had a turn as the center of the sister sandwich), we walked a block over and explored the Christmas bazaar at the Captain Cook Hotel and everyone had a chocolately treat for cooperative behavior. And can I just say, aren’t these holiday sweater dresses are pretty much the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? I can’t even handle the cuteness and they are seasonally appropriate, all warm and cozy for the cold temperatures.

As the midway point to the school year nears, we continue to practice all the sounds the letters make, recognizing numbers in order forward and backwards, and a lot of different shapes. The girls are about to have their school assessments to see progression from the start of the year and it’s quite easy to see the change when you are around it each day. Even since my last blog, they already write words verbally spelled out to them better than a month ago and ask which letter is that less often. I still see some frustration when one sister answers questions faster than the other two and still working out a solution that solves that and ensures all three are learning individually and not relying on a sibling to answer a question when they don’t know it.

Night times with solid darkness seem to create very hyper five year olds. In fact, without sugar or even finishing their dinner plates, we’ve seen a number of wild nights the past few weeks, with screaming, fighting, running up and down all the stairs easily a dozen or more times, and all around chaos to burn off that energy. The garage has seen better days and while the mess isn’t mortar (thank heavens!), we’ve discovered a lot of ground up chalk water, a box of depleted apple cause pouches, and my car getting “washed” by makeup brushes.

At some point the wildness ends with crying and whining, and parents very ready for bedtime. I can’t imagine we are the only household in town dealing with that fun and guess it stems from the extensive darkness, cold temperatures, and excited for Christmas! The other night Emerie came up to me after some form of five-year-old bodily injury by a sister, and noted you told me not to do that and I should of listened. Yep. But when each kiddo finds an activity to do solo, things are far more calm. This happens every few days without any parent push. One decent night Reagan was in her room “playing Christmas” in her dollhouse, Emerie was in the garage building a train track around my car, and Harper was making a baby bed out of a black Friday shipping box in the living room. All things were quiet until one wandered away from their activity to check out what someone else was up to.

In addition to the chaotic and energetic nights- for the kids, not the adults mind you- we are seeing a few more emotional fits than in prior months. Harper is really taking it full throttle, and will stomp off to her room in a huff when she disagrees with a solution, and really milk it, peeking out to see if anyone is paying attention to her woes and then continuing at higher volumes. Craig and I are both ready to see Grandma Sue’s reaction to this new attitude. Emerie has her moments too, as does Reagan occasionally, but Harper really takes the cake on this one. Her strong willed insistence will be great for other things as she gets older; but yes, we need to break this before it gets too out of hand and hoping it’s just the latest phase. The constant bickering really inspires the fits too.

In addition to Christmas focused activities, we have hit up three build days over the past 3 weeks, one making wooden gingerbread houses at Home Depot and two at Lowes, for wooden turkey picture frames and Christmas delivery trucks. Harper really impressed me at Home Depot, free hand painting green garland across her roof and adding sticker ornaments on it. Reagan, being the practical girl she is on art projects, insisted to paint her already wooden house brown, because it’s a gingerbread. Emerie also jumped on that bandwagon. Everyone insisted on writing first, middle and last names on their delivery trucks; and of course using permanent marker…

We entered into the movie season, something rarely done during warmer months. I don’t know if it’s just me or something I learned growing up here, but I feel terrible seeing a movie when it’s warm outside, and definitely won’t step foot in one if it’s warm AND sunny (especially after our last two overly miserable summers!). After seeing Trolls Band Together the first time and downloading the soundtrack, everyone wanted to see it again after constant singing in the car. The girls enjoy almost all the songs and have picked them up pretty well, each having a specific favorite and request for it every time we get in the car. Not going to lie- I quite enjoy most of them too and that’s a bonus! Now that the band *Nsync is now back in “style,” we are jamming out to their new single. About a year or two ago I tried pushing some of the late nineties or early 2000’s pop music at the tiny humans and they insisted imminent death if it continued to play (tad dramatic maybe) and that was that. Now the game has changed and at our second showing of the movie, everyone was singing the song in their seats!

A Peppa Pig obsession also emerged this fall. I’m not sure how we avoided that one for so long, since I’m sure the girls learned what it was from friends at school. One sick day Harper conned me into watching it so I could conduct interviews without interruption (Peppa Pig and an oreo = quietness for about an hour!), and now it’s a constant request. There are about 1000 other shows that I’d prefer to hear in the background, so we try to limit our time; although not incredibly successfully.

Winter brings out more daily crafting and coloring than the summer months, something I enjoyed growing up and am happy to share with the girls. All three recently discovered the magic of our home printer and daily requests to color princess photos now occur. Emerie wakes up each morning and instead of her adorable good morning Momma she starts the day off with I told you I wanted a -insert princess here- photo to color. We are working on getting back to the good mornings and delaying future requests until formalities are said. Everyone will hover in front of the printer waiting for random requests to print; it’s pretty funny and results in a lot of fun pictures to display. Craig purchased a very nice pen set that they are putting to good use, like in the photo below of Reagan. We also receive instructions and requests for tape so specific drawings can be hung up on the correct walls in the house. Very specific!

Custom drawings continue to emerge. I’m really enjoying this phase of creativity, which involves more self and family portraits and freehand drawings. Reagan is into panda families, although that only extends to her, parents and grandparents, even after requests to include her sisters. Eventually I was able to convince her to include Emerie and Harper and she begrudgingly made one and taped it to the door. Harper’s stick figures are adorable and always involve crazy hair. She insists she can’t draw shirts so everyone is wearing a tutu of sorts in most creations, but insistence they are shirts! Emerie free hands the least of the three and really focuses on princess coloring. She is getting more creative on her color choices instead of everything purple and will make multiple colors for a dress or hair. She will yell at you if your eyes happen to go across her in-progress creation, and harshly remind you no looking until she is done and ready to showcase it.

This year’s school Christmas show was with the elementary and upper class grades, meaning we are no longer part of the pre-K adorableness. The two kindergarten classes sang four songs total, three at the beginning and the finale of Jingle Bell Rock with the entire school. All three were split up, which helped with behavior (I think!), and Harper and Emerie couldn’t help but share their goofiness in front of the crowd. Harper made multiple antler hands and kept sticking out her tongue and making direct eye contact with me. Clearly she does not know what stage fright is, as her silly side excels off being in front of a crowd and she never appears nervous when people are looking her direction. Reagan, on the other hand, focused on singing her songs and doing the hand motions, and is all around more shy on stage than her siblings. Emerie….oh Emerie, kept pulling her fancy dress up and purposefully flashing us her red tights, and thinking it was absolutely hilarious as we told her to stop. Two out of three threw their headbands on the ground for the final song, because apparently taking them off and holding them was an unacceptable option while singing. So funny.

Overall this is one of my favorite nights of the year; not sure why but it makes me really feel like a grown up and “real” parent, seeing my offspring singing on a big stage, all dressed up and excited to be there, and getting to enjoy the moment. Being able to sit and enjoy without fussing over misbehaving kids (because they are onstage) is a nice perk for the parents. The girls were all snazzy in their Christmas dresses, black boots and headbands and did great.

The following day was the end of the fall dance session, where the girls did a tap and ballet routine and a quick bar routine to show the parents their new skills. Harper was not having it and stared straight at the floor the entire tap routine, finally cooperating a bit for the ballet part. She had a grumpy day and her love for dance class and her teacher was not emanating today, but overall her teacher noted she has learned a lot in the last year! Emerie quietly watched her teacher and followed the moves from the back, and Reagan was all smiles at the front and happy to smooch the camera videoing. So far this session went well overall with all three together, and far better than previous years according to the teacher. We have decided to keep them together in dance for the winter session and everyone is extremely excited about the spring extravaganza show at the end. We shall see how they do with three hours of performances, since we carried an overly tired, screaming Harper all the way to the car after it last year.

Later in the day after dance we went ice skating at the mall with a bunch of friends from school. The activity reinforced the thought of doing ice skating lessons again, something we did during COVID when they were much younger. Emerie likes it the least of the three, but claimed to have fun, even after multiple demands to go side on the side. Harper and Reagan both ventured out toward the middle without holding any hands after a bit, and have already asked to go again. Craig, being a more articulate skater than me (I need more practice to remember my skills!), took our kids, random Anchor kids, and some of their friends into twirls and speed skating, much to everyone’s delight (to everyone but Craig’s knees haha). We also had the pleasure to watch him chase the Brinkman twins across the ice as they tried to escape him. The girls only took me down once and I relearned that I can maintain balance holding one kid’s hand, but definitely not two. Each jerked a different direction and that was that, and they were less than thrilled that I pulled them down after me. Other than that snafu and a few falls from each, everyone did fantastic.

To sum up our weekend Christmas activities, we did a quick visit to Santa after breakfast at our favorite family spot. The girls have no fear of the jolly red man now and all went right up to ask him questions and explain what they’d like for Christmas. Reagan is still asking for a talking panda- and I reminded Santa that we can’t have a live panda live with us in Alaska. Ha! We also did our annual gingerbread cookies with Auntie Megan, Kaden and Oaki; this was the cleanest year so far and I can finely share the beautiful goodies with other people, without feeling so bad about impending kid germs. I also have to mention that Emerie decorated so much more this year than in the past, and everyone took a turn helping me roll out the dough into their chosen shapes. Reagan excelled at that part and by next year she probably won’t need adult supervision to fill the cookie sheet up. Pretty cool.

I can’t end this festive blog without mentioning the fantastic girls night Craig hosted solo last week. While I attended a Christmas dinner with the bestie, he did school pickup and took them on a fun filled evening, first stopping at Benihana for a fire filled dinner, then hitting up the library and returning books and getting new, AND ended the adventure with an ice cream treat. I clearly need to step up my charcuterie girls nights after all that activity! And I returned home that night and everyone was in pajamas and happily watching Bluey on the couch together. Impressive I tell you, it’s still not easy taking all three out solo and not looking like a crazy person handling a bunch of wild animals, let along three places in a row!

Merry Christmas!

❤

Nov 29

The Triple Echo

While our family has so many things to be thankful for in our lives, having the kids feeling well for Thanksgiving this year wasn’t one of them. Having the kids feeling well for Halloween wasn’t one of them either, so fingers crossed for Christmas!

By mid-morning on Thanksgiving, and after Grandma Sue flew up here and created a smorgasbord of treats for the day, we made the call to cancel our meet up with the cousins, as to not share the second crud to enter our house in a month. This one is a bit different than a few weeks ago, with Reagan again instigating with the deep, dry cough, but the other two claiming stomachaches (which later turned to coughs). While Harper had no fever, she clearly felt miserable and put herself down for a nap about 11:30. Emerie, on the other hand, seemed entirely fine, but presented a 101 fever that morning.

So while this probably isn’t holiday for the books, we still have so many things to be thankful for. For example, it’s easy to forget how much easier our daily lives are now that the girls are older, and even easier to forget the barely survivable age three. Don’t lie, we’ve all been there!

We are also extraordinarily lucky to have generally healthy kids, enough food on the table, a warm roof over our heads, plenty of toys and crafts, and a wonderful life in this beautiful state. The girls have built-in playmates, even when they fight, and are now playing games with one another and letting that creativity emerge. They all love their preschool and teachers and have grown to have many friends. Craig and I are very lucky to have good, supporting jobs (and bosses) and stability and flexibility from them. I am constantly reminded that having a supportive boss, who values family and reality that life happens, really improves and relieves some of my daily stress! Sometimes I get in my own head about how hard life can be, and I have to remember how truly lucky we really are.

Now that we are full blown into sickness #2, the “triple echo” is back in effect. I don’t know if this is a random thing, a multiples or sibling thing, or just a full on coincidence, but the girls have once again started echoing each other. For instance, when one gets up and wanders into our bed in the middle of the night from a coughing fit, the other two may be fully asleep but will join that sister in a quick coughing fit and then just roll over back to sleep. When the escapee (to my bed) has other fits throughout the night, it’s almost like the ones sleeping across the hall copy and cough in sync. It’s actually a bit weird!

It works on longer distances too, but this could once again just be coincidental or the sharing of germs in a similar time frame. This week Harper coughed so hard she threw up; luckily she was already home for the day with a fever and not at school. Within about fifteen minutes Craig received a call that Emerie was puking at school, after running around in the gym. Coincidence or triplet thing?

When the girls were newly home from the NICU, for the first three days they co-slept in the master bedroom and would echo one another in baby speak while completely snuggled in their swaddling and cribs. You might think, awww how cute! But in reality, it literally kept my dramatically overtired mom brain from catching a few zzzz’s, listening for any sound that might be off; and exactly why we moved them into the nursery so quickly. The constant echo would be crazy for two, let alone throwing a third in there and it stayed on repeat all night long.

Pedialite popsicles and a pullout couch (and Bluey) for the win.

Now that they are older, the echo seems to stick to the coughing nights, that and the synchronized puke fests, which do happen upon occasion, even at age four. I could do with less of those! Often I witness the coughing ones in the dead of night, when I’ve fallen asleep in the nursery chair after convincing someone to remain in their own bed. One kiddo will start the cough, fully asleep, and after a few seconds the second will respond, and then the third. It’s weird and it doesn’t always wake them up, and just like that, it’s done.

My last guess is since they’ve grown up together, eat and nap and go to bed together, everyone is just in-sync and don’t know anything else. They dislike doing things alone (like sending only one to school for the day) and enjoy the comfort of their siblings, even during the constant fighting. When one is gone, the others will point out they miss them. They truly can be sweet when they want to be!

So for now, we are probably more than halfway through sickness number two of the winter, and hope to be feeling better by the preschool Christmas concert on Friday that I REALLY want to go to. The Christmas tree went up last weekend and everyone was excited to look at all the different ornaments and hang them on the tree. We only had one mishap with Reagan sidestepping off a chair as she leaned to hang one up. She has a pretty nasty bruise on her thigh now. They were all thrilled to see the ones colored last year throughout the winter, and enthusiastically decorated the lower half of the tree. And now we get to enjoy the holiday ambiance over the next month, since it seems like we will be home for a lot of it, avoiding the sub-zero cold weather and resting up.

❤

Nov 30

Thanksgiving Week Wildness

It’s been a busy November, with lots of play dates, family visits, activities and all on top of pretty cold temperatures for these south-central Alaskans. I always appreciate family visits and love that I married into a much bigger family network than I have. Craig has a big family for the girls to enjoy and grown up around during visits and through thousands of FaceTime calls. We especially love holiday visits, since it is much easier for us adults to enjoy everything with a few extra sets of hands; it’s also great knowing they are making memories and getting to know many members in the family, especially since mine is so small and much farther away! With so many things to write about, in lieu of writing a ton on our mundane, day-to-day festivities; here are the main highlights as we push from early winter to turkey time, to Christmas!

Donut Time

From the moment Grandma Sue and Papa Lon stepped off the airplane from Juneau, many demands occurred from the three tiny blondes to cook homemade donuts with Grandma. Keep in mind when we tried this activity in February (for Valentine’s Day) the girls refused to eat the final product but really enjoyed the uncooked dough, spreading flour and making the biggest mess possible. This time they continued to make a big, floury mess but finally ate the donuts (holes) and came back for seconds!

Reagan picked out a sprinkle covered donut Christmas ornament for Grandma to take home with her and put up on the tree. Clearly the homemade donuts are making quite the impact as they grow older; you’d agree if you tried them!!

School Luncheon

Grandma and I volunteered at the preschool Thanksgiving luncheon on Wednesday. The three-year-old class was first up in the nicely decorated gym. Once assembled at their designated tables, everyone paired with an older kid buddy, who held their plate and assisted on food selection. The girls refused to buddy up since we were there and insisted on waiting in line with us. When questioned on food choices, all three wanted corn, a roll, carrots and pickles. No one wanted mashed potatoes (not surprising), turkey or stuffing. With a bit of parent coaxing everyone downed a turkey chunk and Harper and Reagan devoured a handful of olives. After the main course was pumpkin pie, with Harper eating only the whip cream, Emerie inhaling all the filling and not touching the crust, and Reagan eating it all!

Crazy Kids

Our goofballs continue to randomly make surrounding adults chuckle. For example, Reagan turned around one night to a lip like this and convinced us it was blood, with a story about falling and hurting her lip. Care to guess what it really was? Nail polish!

Early riser Emerie was hanging out with Grandma at the crack of dawn the other morning, repeating three times she wanted to watch Merida. Finally told Grandma to go away, since she wasn’t “listening.” Everyone now uses the word “never” and will respond I’m never doing that! or I’m never talking to you AGAIN! We don’t use that terminology very often; I’m guessing another preschool kid taught them the fun new word.

Olaf Bread for the Win

Another fun, edible craft idea from the family cook meant customized, breaded Olaf’s for Thanksgiving lunch, with each kiddo donning a cooking hat and apron and decorating their own version of the snowman. This activity was quite the hit in the morning, with specific colored sprinkles, dyed orange noses, craisins for buttons and don’t forget the eyeballs! Even more surprising, the girls consumed these beauties with lunch, eating every sweet treat off before biting into the fresh dough and bread stick arms.

Cookie Decorating

Cookie decorating skills were put to the test several times over the holiday break. The girls decorated turkey cookies with mini paintbrushes and fall themed edible paint. As usually, Reagan took her time to cover ever white edge on the whole thing while Harper and Emerie more so enjoyed spreading the paint with their brushes and begging to eat them. Later in the weekend the first batch of gingerbread for the season was decorated- or more realistically I should say the girls ate sprinkles and continually asked to eat more cookies.

Putting Up the Tree

With the darkness and frigid cold weather, the Christmas tree up early is a must. This year the girls were a bit more helpful, but overall they did the same fight-over-the-tree-bag crying as last year. Everyone helped hand a few branches to Craig or I, but otherwise weren’t thrilled until the ornaments came out. Emerie decided stretching out all the wrapping ribbon looked really fun until we stopped her! Everyone enjoyed hanging their ornaments on the lower half of the tree. This year’s ornament is Frozen themed; last year was Tangled. Maybe next year it’ll be something other than a princess! And don’t let that adorable hugging photo convince you, that occurred after full cookie related bribery, a failed nap and a lot of fighting. And after putting a couple wrapped presents under the tree, they are now asking if it’s Christmas yet…a month out!

Thankfulness

Thanksgiving dinner was quite the feast of deliciousness: turkey, stuffing, sweet and mashed potatoes, pecan and pumpkin pie. Mmm, mmm, mmmmm… If my sense of smell was back, I’m sure it smelled amazing! We discovered through the afternoon snacking that one can of olives was insufficient for Harper and Reagan, that Harper now likes celery, and everyone really likes mini cucumbers and cranberry sauce.

Outdoor Photo Shoot

Megan scheduled a 20 minute photo session outside and the kiddos rocked it! Is it hard to get 5 toddlers to look and smile at once!? Yes. Is it impossible to get?! No! Does it help when they are super cold? Yes actually. And even in the cold they did fantastic and enjoyed a cookie and candy cane on the drive back home. I can’t wait to see the results.

Surprise Visit!

Auntie ‘Manda came up for the weekend to surprise everyone and the girls were so excited. Amanda is now Reagan’s new best friend and was glued to her side the entire weekend, which was really cute. The jump park became much more fun play at her with in tow and they greatly enjoyed snuggling with her on the couch and warming up with some movies. We are already receiving requests for her to visit and play again!!

At bedtime after a busy Thanksgiving, I asked each kiddo what they were thankful for and as anticipated, received varied answers. Harper was thankful for dip (all kinds apparently) and the color black. Reagan was thankful for presents, which are sitting under the Christmas tree, and Emerie was thankful for dinner.

Harper’s favorite holiday thing was eating, specifically the cookie she decorated and celery. Emerie’s favorite things was eating chicken (turkey) and watching a movie. Reagan says nothing is my favorite today. After a bit of pushing, she claimed watching Merida (Brave) in the living room earlier in the day was her favorite. Oh well!

Overall, what a fun week it was! Each holiday season will be a bit more fun and I’m really looking forward to Christmas.

❤

Nov 30

Thanksgiving Week

Week two, or should I say round two, of our unplanned family time has been the usual parenting adventure. The girls are starting to get in the groove of being at home again, probably enough that going back to daycare will reset the calm(ish) and create even more evening grumpiness. We were determined to keep the girls busy and occupied all week while downing a lot of coffee, getting a massive amount of fresh air, and attempting to enjoy each other’s company.

Monday

We kicked off Thanksgiving week really early- with Harper up and ready to take on the day before seven AM and Emerie and Reagan right behind her.

Craig worked while I got everyone up and running for the day, got dressed, did hair and vitamins, and ate a big bowl of cereal with some bananas and sausage. Every decided to go number two relatively early in the morning, and it quite cracked me up they would run downstairs to yell at Craig in the garage, daddy I pooped! Daaaadddyy I poooooooped! I’m sure his coworkers on the other end of the line were enjoying that entertainment.

After adventuring to the park with Nanny, Pricey and Miss Janet, it took about an hour for everyone to calm down enough to snooze in their cribs, after some back talking and promising of a birthday cupcake as snack if they went to sleep! I didn’t think it was going to happen and then they were out like a light.

They were all babbling in their beds before sleep took over and I heard Reagan say “Mommy, go take a shit- no jelly bean for you!” I kid you not…that phrase CLEARLY comes from their dad! Pretty funny that the other two joined in and noted I don’t get a treat. The teamwork has already begun.

After work Craig took them over to the neighborhood school to run around while I had an hour kid (wine!) break and cooked dinner. Everyone devoured their pasta salad, corn and chicken and received a peach yogurt for dessert. I turned my back for one moment to finish the dishes while Craig was upstairs starting the bathtub, and turned around to a full kitchen table of yogurt mosaics. Silly babies!

Tuesday

Emerie was the early riser today so we plopped down on the couch and watched a little Moana before the other two were up. I try to make early morning one-on-one time count, with lots of snuggles, knowing that the girls are always sharing our attention by one-third and don’t often get to relax without their siblings present or the normal excitement around young children. After breakfast everyone went to the playground to burn off energy and I pulled out their rolling, mini four wheelers to push around the living room after lunch. They are now saying four wheeler, since the real sized one is sitting in the front yard, but it comes out sounding more like a four la la or in the holiday spirit, fa lala. Pretty cute indeed once you know what they are saying. They attempted to push their dolls on the wheelers as well as their giant monkeys. It’s crazy to think the toys used to seem so big compared to the girls; now the long legs have to crunch to ride them.

I love my children to pieces but man, some days they really know how to drive a person crazy! The tantrums, fighting, biting, complaining. All. Of. It. Luckily a friend visited for dinner and helped us do a fun painting craft, which certainly helped burn up some time, but even so the girls still ran wild and continued to be mean to one another throughout the evening.

The craft will turn into “hand” turkeys once the paint dries and I cut them out (or several days later still be unfinished on the counter; that’s more likely). Harper went completely 100% in, her usual style, and looked like she had slaughtered a pig by the end of it. Reagan’s method was one finger at a time with minimal paint on the page, but was all for full hand prints painted on her hands by an adult. Emerie tried to splatter as much paint as possible and loved every second of it. After much scrubbing (of the table, chairs, floor AND children), everything is back to cleanliness.

Wednesday

After a little early morning snuggle with Harper, everyone was up with a bang. We had a very overdue twin play date at the house, where my girls didn’t want to play out in the snow and our visitors did, so eventually we came inside and played with our books and toys. This could be because we put the new swings in the garage to warm and straighten up and they were less than pleased at their absence. Once inside, everyone was calm and composed for about two hours…something quite unusually with FIVE toddlers sharing a play area.

We decided even without family visiting this year, we would try to get a little cooking done to enjoy. With the announcement of another “hunker down” for Anchorage for whole month of December, we might as well attempt some of our own holiday joy and Craig is quite a decent cook! He prepped as much as possible while the girls napped and throughout the evening, ready for our first solo holiday.

Thursday

After a delicious breakfast of pancakes and bacon, which involved the adults eating the pancakes and the toddlers devouring yogurt and bacon, we loaded up and headed out to our favorite Eagle River park for some sledding and playground time. I can’t wait for the days when we can enjoy a quiet holiday at home, not have to trek out anywhere, and relax. This, however, is NOT how last year or this or even next year will go, but someday!

The wind was cold and for the first time the girls were enthusiastic to have their new face wraps on for warmth. All three were happy to chew on them and pull them down to “shovel” random snow in their mouths. The only glitch when they are pulled up to noses are the fogging of Emerie’s glasses, which frustrates her to no end. We are constantly wiping the lenses off a finger so she can see where she is going. Apparently it was also cold enough for cooperation on mitten wearing, and the fresh few inches of snow made sledding really fun.

The girls are continuing on their grumpy moods this week so the middle car seat was relocated into the back row for the drive home. Reagan begged to have the first ride…so I’m guessing she now believes that is her seat. The past few weeks the girls have been fighting over who sits in the middle, the spot no one wanted for the last year. This has more to do with being taken to the car first than sitting in that spot, and I’m guessing at some point everyone will have a designated seat instead of all switching around whenever we load them as we do now. We are still rear facing, even with those long legs in tow, because we are still far below the weight standard for forward facing and actively working on the height standard.

Emerie still managed to throw her glasses at Craig TWICE on the drive home and send some toys across the car at her sisters. But overall, it was less of a battle than with all three across and everyone snacked and sang songs until we made it home.

While the girls napped Craig worked on a multitude of dinner tasks and the amazing smell of turkey filled the house. Other deliciousness consisted of green bean and corn casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, homemade stuffing and pumpkin pie. Unsurprisingly and a repeat of last year, the girls pretty much didn’t touch any of it at dinner…except for the amazing, homemade lumpia the neighbors dropped off for us that afternoon. Reagan ate at least two whole ones! Sounds about right; we couldn’t even convince them to eat sweet potatoes, i.e. SUGAR. Silly kids.

Everyone was so grumpy after dinner that we booted them all outside for some swing time and playing in the snow. That lasted long enough to clean up some of the kitchen and prep bath time.

With our first major holiday sans any out of town family, I’d say it could have been worse. And we have much to be thankful for this season; three smart and beautiful ladies, a happy (albeit tired) and loving husband and cook, a roof over our heads and heat, a wonderful hometown, essential jobs through all this craziness, and a life that always brings the unexpected but often fun. Happy turkey day to all of you!

Friday

The snow started dumping early Friday morning, the perfect weather for Thanksgiving weekend. We did not let that hinder our morning zoo plans and I loaded up kids and strollers and winter gear to trek out in it.

Pretty decent snowfall while we explored

This time we brought one of the double chariots so the girls could sit for a bit intermittently and be contained when attitudes struck. Excluding the fact everyone was in a maniac mood for the morning (including me by the end of it), it didn’t go that badly and I had Uncle Will to help me corral them. The few inches of fresh snow didn’t deter them from running amuck and snacking on it at every opportunity. At least that’s clean snow, right!?

If I had to pick a favorite animal today, it was probably the turkey (which is hilariously timed and so fitting for the week!). One stayed cozied up by the heating lamp while the other one socialized with the girls. As we walked toward the caribou cages, it paralleled us along the fence line. Harper thought that was just so hilarious and informed me I love it a few times, pointing excitedly at the turkey. Emerie stayed behind once everyone moved forward to the alpacas and bonded a bit more with it, until it gobbled (squawked?) at her unexpectedly and she about jumped out of her skin. Apparently a real gobble gobble isn’t quite so comforting. She wanted to get away from him ASAP.

We swung by to see the otters a second time before heading back to the car. Meltdowns were imminent and I was glad the stroller was there to contain two of them. They all liked watching the otters belly slide across the snow, their style of sledding, and hooted and hollered at them.

After nap we donned the snow gear and shoveled the front driveway while the girls sat in the yard with me and “supervised.” We don’t love taking them out front and rarely do so, since for the past two years they bolt into the busy road; but, in snow gear, as well as the late afternoon darkness, they are slower and more timid to taking off down the street.

Craig put the plow on the four wheeler and after clearing the driveway, he convinced the girls to sit behind it while pulling them down the block in the big sled (sitting on my lap, of course!). They talked about that adventure all evening and yes, we went super slow the whole time!

The last funny thing to note for the day, poor Emerie wouldn’t go to sleep because of the turkey gobble from the zoo. She explained to me in a concerned expression that the turkey gobble upset her and I responded he went bye bye (as turkeys do on thanksgiving?). After a good fifteen minutes back and forth from a clearly anxious toddler, she finally drifted off to sleep.

Saturday

By Saturday the toddler mood swings were starting to get really old (or before Saturday really). Others that have warned us that “three-nagers” are actually worse than the “two-nadoes” stage are probably right; at least that seems to be how we are trending. There is an incredible amount of meltdown rage at our house throughout the day; everything from stealing toys to being told no to disagreements about wearing their gloves or a previously chosen color of underwear. Other disagreements spur over who gets to go in which potty chair, because someone peed on someone else’s existing potty chair pee (maybe TMI but it’s funny and true!), when everyone wants to wear the same pair of boots or the same jacket, when one sits too close to the other and they touch, or when they slam the downstairs gate shut on one another. Not to mention other times when no one ever answers us the same, so all three want to sing a different song, watch a different show, read a different book, or have a different drink. I could go on forever…and certainly write an entire blog on reasons for toddler rage.

It’s a constant and long battle that takes a ton a patience AND stamina- because these tiny humans feed off your sense of tiredness or irritation and it FUELS THE FIRE. So, I admit, we both lose our heads probably once (or more) a day after a full day at home, likely with every moment filled with some kind of toddler rage, crying fit, repeated demand or total meltdown all while trying to accomplish everyday tasks, keep things going forward and done.

Through all this, the girls are starting to say sorry more often after an unkind deed, and while the upset sister doesn’t want to accept the apology yet, we are progressing on giving it. Time out is quite frequent right now and I hope that is teaching them to understand when they’ve disobeyed or been unkind. They are using their words better now, and when someone is in timeout inevitably one or both of remaining group will make a point to tell us they are listening. Momma, listening! Daddy, me listening! It’s very cute, but it also usually comes from a place where they haven’t been doing just that. This battle and continued loop will continue for a long time.

They also interject adjectives in their sentence structure now, such as Emerie this morning, point out her “my yellow pee” or Reagan stating she wants to wear “my blue hat” or Harper stringing off a few descriptive sentences about whatever is going on.

The girls were riled up once again for the start of the weekend so we ordered breakfast takeout (is that called takeout?) from a small, local restaurant, built block towers at the kitchen table while Craig picked it up, and then headed off to Kincaid Elementary for playground slides, swings and a sledding hill.

After a cheeseburger lunch, with Reagan eating an entire adult burger herself, everyone went down for a nap while Craig ran to Costco. Overall the nap was very restless but successful, and they willingly snuggled on the couch afterwards and had a snack with some Pan on the until Daddy came home.

We ended this day with more thanksgiving leftovers (including the amazing homemade cranberry sauce that was delicious- thanks Sara!), pumpkin pie (the girls ate the whip off the top…) and our first Christmas pajamas of the year, which Harper greatly disliked until I explained the snowflakes on the red-striped pants were from the frozen princesses. That explanation seemed acceptable to her and she stopped trying to take them off.

One more day until routine change!

Sunday

Today’s agenda was set around visiting Santa in the morning. After a quick cereal breakfast we visited the Potter’s Marsh boardwalk to burn a little energy before seeing the jolly red man. It’s been a while since we walked out there and our first time with snow, which was helpful because the girls couldn’t see straight down through the boards. It’s also great for the containment, with only two directions to choose from, so everyone could run freely, but for the most part they just wanted to walk and hold our hands and see the wildlife.

Two moose were spotted down below and we were able to get a pretty close look from the boardwalk. The girls were so excited! They called out to “Mr. Moose” and Harper asked if she could first kiss him, then hug him, and that she loves him. The walk provided some much needed time outside and produced much chatter about moosies for the afternoon. I’ll note we did have to promise Emerie that no turkeys were present during that time, as she showed concern about it.

After the boardwalk we quickly changed into Christmas attire and rushed over to Cabela’s for our morning photo slot. I fully expected rage crying like last year, but because no one can sit directly on Santa’s lap, they were content to sit on the bench in front of the glass and not concerned about the jolly man behind them. No one really wanted to look at the camera or smile; instead they kept looking up at the flashing lights after each snapshot. Overall it went pretty well and everyone snacked on a candy cane as we walked around the store and looked at the fish.

The girls were very chatty today about family members. All morning they asked about Auntie Manda and wanted to talk to her, so during lunchtime we did a quick FaceTime call and they were excited (so excited they all pooped- true story!). Later in the day Reagan asked a few times for cousin Tyler, saying she wanted to show her cheek owie to him. Emerie also said she missed Papa Cliff and the other two agreed. I’m glad that even though family isn’t local, the girls still have a close enough relationship to want to talk to them. Thank goodness for modern technology!

Post nap activities included several rides around the neighborhood on the four wheeler, certainly to our neighbors’ dismay, until our hands and feet were tingling and cold. We colored the ornaments from the Santa visit and with some effort, convinced the girls to hang them on the tree and not steal each other’s. As you can see, Harper attempted to color the entire body brown and black; we had to forcably take the colors from her after insisting it needed some holiday spirit on it. I think all three did a good job!

We ended the evening with everyone eating their entire dinner plate. I note this because it’s incredibly unusual, with each kiddo eating more than half a mini pizza, two servings of broccoli and green beans (we slacked on dinner…yes…since we were outside playing on the four wheeler). Everyone excitedly ate their ice cream reward while I sipped some wine!

It sounds silly, but a tiny part of me feels sad the girls went back to daycare (I said a TINY part). While the past two weeks were very draining and busy, there were also happy parts and fun adventures spent as a family. I look forward to the days when they are a bit bigger and it’s easy to do some of these things without the major prep work ahead of time and sense of tired afterwards, and I know that will come eventually. For now, I will relish my workday at home with a hot cup of coffee and a silent house. I will enjoy knowing the girls are off having fun with their class, burning energy and getting out of the house for a bit. I will appreciate the Christmas decorations in my house and the snow outside my windows and get excited for the upcoming holiday season. Can’t I also be thankful for that?!

❤

The Douglets

Triplets in Alaska

Thanksgiving