tripletlife

Cake & Party Time!

It seems like yesterday that we had the girls fourth birthday, and yet here we are, a full year later already! As expected, Grandma Sue and I attempted to create three masterpieces for the girls’ birthday cake again this year. Considering I believe last year’s accomplishment was quite grand for turning four, we upped our game for age five and added props. This year’s cakes took a lot of time, but it still felt easier than the prior one, simply because the girls are older now and don’t need as much constant attention so we could prep while they played and “helped.”

A couple days prior I started the flower melted icing molds, opting for pink, purple, teal, pink and white and making a number of sets. I ended up not prepping enough ahead of time and making more in the moment, and Craig added another version of teal at the end. Reagan helped me with a few teal sets and did a great job scooping it into the molds, all by herself.

Prior to Sue’s arrival, I quizzed the girls on their preference of princess and questioned their favorites to plan party decorations. Given that they all have their own preferences, it makes it impossible to theme just one doll or one color. I can’t quite tell if they made their choices based on the designated life theme colors, or if Aurora, Rapunzel (Pan) and Jasmine really are the favorites. Either way, by the time we purchased everything to begin the task, Emerie insisted she wanted Elsa and not Rapunzel, which she did not get!

Sue spent a good afternoon making the cake stacks for the main part of each dress. We ended up using a small bunt cake pan and a round cake pan and the girls had the pleasure of jamming, and I mean jamming, the dolls into the partial holes. I volunteered to cut the feet off each to fit better, but Sue wouldn’t let me…you know…that might bring up those traumatic life memories of poor Gecko the chicken last year, when he lost his head and then he lost his feet. No, we didn’t shove him in a cake….but tough times remember by all!

Reagan and Emerie went to school on Friday while Harper stayed home a second day with a high fever that diagnosed as an ear infection. Because of that, only she participated in cake decorating, as you will see by looking at Aurora versus the other two. I worked the morning while Sue prepped everything, rolled out the marshmallow fondant, and together we molded the icing over the cake cutouts. Usually you get better with practice and time right? I would say we progressively did worse throughout the six hour cake extravaganza, but mostly because the fondant seemed stickier with each attempt. Each dress had two overlaid layers and as it dripped or stretched from gravity, we reevaluated which side was the front. We added the doll after cutting out the middle hole of both layers and found we required another layer around her waist, since the dolls were about a half inch too tall (told you we should have chopped feet off!), and then used flowers to cover it.

Aurora turned out the most smoothest, and Rapunzel’s flowers covered her imperfections, which included a few random melts on her backside, to cover up the icing tearing. Jasmine’s fondant was the most difficult and resulted in an entire flower front to cover the dreadful imperfections we couldn’t undo. And those gold outlines? Those are unicorn horn sprinkles and stars, which worked great with Jasmine’s teal look. We initially tried to stick all the decorations using icing, which worked okay, but found it more efficient using a small paint brush and water and painting the dresses to restick to them.

In the end Harper decided Rapunzel was more decked out than Aurora, which was true after I added the pearl beading down the back, so she sat next to me on the table and added the bling for over an hour, while I finished the other two.

We completed the look by adding pink, purple and teal fondant to the chocolate (for Harper) and vanilla (for Emerie and Reagan) cupcakes and used the remaining flowers and leaves to finish each with a treat on top. We also learned our lesson from last year and put icing under the big cakes so they wouldn’t slide during the car ride over. Well, not completely learned our lesson, since we forgot until cake number two to actually secure it down. The cupcakes around the dolls are meant to be the train of the dresses and colors inter-weaved with one another. Overall I think it turned out quite well, even with the random holes and fronts covered in flowers.

5th Birthday Party Success

Big smiles waiting to hit the pinata.

It was a busy two days of preparation for the big day. Prior to having kids, I always looked in disbelief at how much parents went all out for kid birthday parties, thinking I’d never make that much effort for a day. And yet here we are, making six+ hour cakes, ordering party bag goodies, birthday balloon bouqets, ordering party dresses, and going through all the motions. I also believe because the girls have to share their birthday for their entire lives, it’s only fair to at least make some effort to make it fun and everyone feel special. I mean, we only have eighteen birthdays with them in our household and each one should count!

Craig, Grandma Sue and Grandma Anne took all three to get fancy fingernails a couple hours before the party, while I finished up a few last preparations. Everyone returned with flowers on each finger, Grandma Sue a pretty teal color, and Craig completely decked out fingers to toes, very likely with colors chosen by each kid.

Birthday party number five left our previous covid-era parties in the dust. Over the past three years, we slowly increased the attendee list throughout our apocalyptic life experience (not sure if that reference is from covid or raising toddler triplets); age two was a family only party since the city shutdown on their birthday, their third birthday at the jump park allowed everyone to mostly separate but still celebrate, and their fourth birthday at the Alaska Club play center was a complete success of friends and loved ones- the girls still talk about it a year later. My end headcount for this year was 26 kids, plus our three birthday beauties, and a lot of adults and family enjoying fun (and noise?). We opted out of inviting the entire preschool class and let the girls choose the attendee list, snagging a class list after school one day and letting them choose. The list was mostly girls, sprinkled with a couple of boys, and Emerie insisted that my boyfriend Jude HAS to come. Talking to his mom at the party, Jude commented recently that not only are the kiddos dating, but Emerie informed him- not asked- that they would also be getting married. A girl that knows what she wants.

Tyler time for more kids than just ours.
Everyone signing happy birthday and the girls looking shy at the attention.
Chatum & Dorian ball pit wars

I ordered customized twirl dresses specifically for the party, and while they didn’t exactly align with the cakes, they matched the theme of princesses in general. The Sleeping Beauty dress wasn’t up to par, so I went with Harper’s second favorite color black, in the form of Anna from Frozen. Emerie was excited to see hers was Elsa, after wanting the cake changed to her preference and being told no. Reagan’s Jasmine dress is my favorite, with ruffles and super twirly.

Cousins before Chatum hopped on a plane back home.

In true triplet fashion, I held my breath up to the last second that someone would be sick and unable to enjoy the party, or something else would come up to cause issues. Harper was starting to feel better from her ear medicine and we would find out later that Reagan had one too and started feeling crummy. We miss so many things, especially in the winter, that relate to fevers, coughs and colds. On the drive over to the party I realized no one grabbed the candles off the counter and called Papa Cliff to pick some up, and as I unloaded the three at the Alaska Club, on super icy parking lot conditions, I grabbed the balloon bouquet and turned around to Reagan puking all over the ground. Another mom across the lot came over to see if she could help, and we managed to make it into the building. And to Reagan’s credit, she didn’t get a drop on her brand new dress. Great job little girl. After getting cleaned up by Grandma, she seemed to feel just fine and for the most part enjoyed playing at the party.

The kids ran around for a good ninety minutes in the play place, goofed off and played with cousins Tyler and Chatum and started ball pit wars, and snacked on Grandma Sue’s vegetable pizza and vege-platter. I also saw blurs of cousins Corbin and Elliot running and climbing, and finally put faces with names of their classmates and kids the girls talk about on the drive home each day. I caught Reagan snuggling with Aunt Janelle a few times, all three checked in and were thrilled to see Miss Tawni, Isabelle let Emerie borrow her Elsa wig to match her dress, Harper was a blur as she circled the play area over and over with her friends, and everyone lined up for a turn with the pinata, which made it through all the younger kids without breaking.

Cupcake time and singing created three blushing girls; also three girls that really wanted to eat their princess cakes, not a cupcake. Unfortunately for them, those cakes were to be saved for their actual birthday and in Seward. We ended up not making the trek down to the peninsula due to bad road conditions on the way down, so the cakes are still sitting on the counter.

All in all, great turnout. All three had similar answers on their favorite party moments, and all agreed Tyler coming was the biggest highlight, followed by Miss Tawni’s visit and presents. I’m pretty sure if we ask them in a six months what their favorite part of their fifth birthday was, it won’t be their awesome cakes OR presents- it will be the fact that Tyler attended and played with them. It’s sweet how much they love their cousin! The chaos of present opening in the moment meant we have no idea who brought what or for who….so we went through everything in the living room later and the girls especially liked the princess keurig coffee maker, the bath time crayons, Aunt Jenny’s mermaid swimsuits, and the fancy tutu dresses from Aunt Janelle and Paris, that immediately went to Tyler for a dress change mid-party.

I will save the official fifth birthday kid update for the next blog, with all the details of how my girls have grown and matured over the past 365 days.

❤

Rehoming Kittens and F- Words

Last week we released two of the three kittens (Wallace and Winnie) to go spend their lives at the cousins’ house. At the last minute we switched up which kitten would stay with us, much to the dismay of Harper, opting to keep one of the orange boys and letting the black haired beauty go. Winston is the kid cuddler of the group and sleeps next to Rory, our poor adult cat whose life was ruined by the arrival of new family mates (his words, not mine?!). Some nights I also find him cuddled with a kiddo in their bed, or on the pillow next to Reagan, who is almost always in our bed at some point through the night. All the kittens tolerated the preschool torture pretty well for the most part; it wasn’t uncommon for me to find one wrapped in a blanket, sitting in a doll stroller or bed, or snuggled in a blanket and “going shopping” with a kiddo, until they found a way to escape.

The first night without Wallace and Winnie involved tears and anxious kiddos that “their” kittens were gone forever!! I’ll just NEVER see the baby kitties again. So very dramatic yes, even after constant reminders that we can visit whenever we see cousins. Harper is still upset, after about a week, that we gave Winnie away. The following day we brought dinner out and both kittens immediately came out to greet not only Craig and I, but also the girls! It’s good to know we raised them right….and they can handle kid chaos and loud noise…right?!

On the actual kid front, instead of just #kittenlife, the girls are finally over the two week cough and back into routine after our Juneau trip. They continue to share new personality traits, some more wonderful than others. For example, the latest insult to one another is no longer I’m not inviting you to my birthday, as it was last year. Now it is I’m not going to marry you, with a tongue sticking out and extreme attitude seeping toward one another. After a kiss the other night, Reagan told me that meant I married her, because kisses mean marriage, Mom, and you just married me! And to top that off, several times I’ve caught Emerie yelling the f-word, correctly mind you, but also muttering it under her breath, like stop f-ing doing that. I wonder where she learned that from hahaha…. Emerie also had an epiphany the other day on the word burger, explaining that her pronunciation sounds the same as her saying booger. Mom, like the boogers in your nose; they sound like a burger! Everyone is picking up so much more about the English language in their already excellent vocal skills.

All three are really getting into their drawings, numbers and letters. Reagan has almost all her letters memorized and helps her sisters learn theirs; she likes to draw them when instructed how to spell words. She has her name down and enjoys signing all her artwork. Her customized letter “R” still has the adorable circle with two lines dangling from it and is about the cutest letter I’ve ever seen. Harper is picking the alphabet up really quickly as well, but is much better at writing it if she sees it visually, which is my learning style too. She stresses over spelling her name out correctly and often replaces the “a” with the “e”, but is getting better by the day. She colored and made a fan at school last week and was thrilled to bring it home and model it. The next day all three had fans in their backpacks- coincidence? I think not. So far Emerie is the least interested in her letters and lacks the focus on writing and learning them, but every once in a while gets on a tangent and you HAVE to answer all letter requests immediately so she can write out words. She is still a bit unsure writing her own name, but is also improving, telling us she has lots of “e’s.” She has greatly improved on her numbers over the last month too, and can piece the whole train numbering puzzle together without any help, a big improvement from earlier this winter.

As you will see in the photo below, we are working on learning important words in the English vocabulary, such as french fries, tea, and how to write out the whole family’s name. “S” was the letter of the week at school two weeks ago and the girls all fought over bringing Grandma Sue’s picture for Friday show and tell. This past week was letter “T”, and a photo of Tyler was shared. They asked to bring him in person, but settled with bringing a photo. Good thing we have lots of family that has lots of different letter starts, so they pick them up easily and associate the letter with their names.

Our living room is now more of an art studio- i.e. Reagan discovered how to use scotch tape. She constantly brings home five to ten pictures from every school day and runs around the room, taping them up in different places so we can see them. Harper mostly adds her designs to the side of the fridge, and Emerie forcefully demands Craig puts them in his office.

Last week was a busy, out of the office week for me with a convention, so for girls’ night in (and Dad’s night out) I slacked and bought everyone happy meals from McDonalds. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve created the more fun (and healthy) charcuterie boards for the night, and when I commented that at school pickup, Harper and Reagan informed me I should make the goody boards and then you should leave and go to Shiloh’s for dinner, so we can have girls night with dad. Emerie disagreed with that suggestion, commenting I should leave and go to Jessie’s house instead, but definitely leave so Dad could join. What the f children?! No love.

And now, can you believe in only two more weeks my tiny humans will be five years old?! I surely can’t believe it ❤

Triple Travel to Juneau

Craig and I had an epiphany a few weeks ago, and decided to make a scheduled work trip into a full family trip to Juneau, with the girls spending day times with Grandma Sue, Auntie Amanda and Papa Lon while we both went into the office each day.

The house was filled with excitement, unsurprisingly, at the thought of 1) riding on an airplane; 2) going to the mysterious Juneau; and 3) seeing Grandma Sue’s house. In fact, over the past year these children continued to call us out about the lack of visiting the infamous Juneau, a detail that is problematic according to all three and cause for complaining.

Our household somehow made it through the entire month of January without catching any significant illnesses, which is a first in our journey of having children. January’s are typically sleepless, full of coughing fits and/or puking and of course darkness due to the dead of winter- all such lovely memories. Healthiness was very welcomed, as I’ve been working late every night for much of this winter, even canceled my rotating Friday off schedule (that I’ve worked for a decade) to accommodate more hours, and have definitely had a fear that something would take the whole family down for a week or more, like the RSV bout in November.

Of course, several days before our trip a new cough started with Emerie, and after a few days she felt better but Harper and Reagan presented symptoms. Luckily it wasn’t significant enough to cancel our plans, and off we went toward adventure! It would turn out that the girls would cough our entire trip- I even have one home from school today as I finish writing this from it- silver lining was when they were calm or sitting (such as on a plane), then one couldn’t even tell they had a cough at all.

Pre-flight photo in the ANC parking garage

We managed to fit the whole family’s clothes and toiletries into two suitcases on the way down, bringing also a carry on suitcase with the important essentials like Reagan’s stuffed pandas (all three), Emerie’s turtle from Dr. Winkle and its baby turtle as well as her purple blanket, and of course Harper’s spotted seal and puppy dog, and then packed an additional tote stocked with winter boots, snow gear and some toys for downtime entertainment at home. In true girly style, several dress-up dresses and the princess heels made the cut, so everyone could strut their stuff at Grandma’s house.

All three rocked matching cupcake themed dresses, Frozen princess coats and grey flower boots for the flight down; excited to show Grandma their outfits on arrival. Emerie demanded to wear her summer sunhat, you know, for all that sun we expected to see over the week in Juneau…

Anchorage received another snow dump the night before our trip, but nothing significant enough to affect airport operations and our flight schedule. With the heavy snow loads this year, we no longer bat an eye at six inches of accumulation; I’m not sure how I really feel about that, but at least it is beautiful out. What a year to enjoy that as a kid! We loaded everything into Craig’s expedition first thing in the morning, including three, folded car seats from my SUV. I dropped him curbside with everything but our kitchen sink, then parked and walked inside with the kids. They complained about the cold and snow as we descended the parking garage, and were instantly excited to see the escalator stairways going down and back up to the ticket counters. Needless to say, the airport is a pretty fun place (I know I am slightly biased but I’m not wrong!). Check in was simple, probably because Craig handled it all while the girls climbed around on the metal carts, a huge difference from our prior experience with Alaska Airlines booking our tickets incorrectly, and by the time we lined up for TSA, Emerie was already insisting she had to pee. Sounds about right.

They pestered the TSA agent with questions, including why everyone everything needed to go into separate bins and shoe removal. The girls were bummed they didn’t get to do the X-ray machine, but that rage vanished as moving airplanes and the snowplow crew came into view in the sterile area.

We rode the horizontal walking escalators a couple times before settling at the windows to wait for boarding. Reagan kept walking backwards on it and enjoyed going the opposite direction, even as we called her back. Of the three, she definitely seems to be the most stressed at the concept of traveling; I also expected Emerie to ask to go home immediately like she usually does. Harper and Emerie counted the parked Alaska Airline jets on the apron and others taxiing for take-off. A few stopped and then raced down the runway to go airborne, prompting everyone to ask a bunch of questions when one 747 cargo plane didn’t immediately start its ascent down the runway, listening to my response they were waiting for the”green light” from the tower controllers to proceed.

We boarded the plane, with the girls quite the hit walking down the aisle toward the back of the full plane. We all sat in one row, and after Reagan refused the window seat, let the lady sit by it instead of in the middle of our family. Reagan and I sat on one side and Craig took the aisle opposite, with Emerie in the middle and Harper looking out her window.

Ultimately it was an uneventful and smooth flight, much to my happiness. The girls were slightly nervous when speeding down the runway as the terminal sped by, and hollered quite loudly we are flying!! once we left the ground. Passengers around us had a good chuckle. Reagan held my arm until we were over the inlet, and then happily watched Aladdin the rest of the ride while the other two watched Monsters Inc.

Harper enjoyed looking out the window at the mountains for the first few minutes before deciding it was way too bright out with the sunlight over the clouds. Since it’s only about a 75 minute flight, we didn’t break out the real snacks and gave each the bag of pretzels. While Reagan snacked on some, she mostly used them to create letters on her tray table. We did learn that preschool sippy cups do pressurize in the air. I perfectly timed my restroom break during this realization, when Reagan went for a drink of juice and it shot all over her and the three unsuspecting passengers sitting a row back.

During the flight, all three undoubtedly had to see the tiny bathrooms, and practically made it back to their seats before either parent could push the flush button, as that was terrifying. And as I predicted, about ten minutes from landing and after one, in-flight relief, Emerie announced a pee emergency- for the record she survived AND didn’t have an accident.

Eventually rental cars were selected, car seats installed (by Craig) in Grandma Sue’s rig, and luggage picked up, and we were off like a herd of turtles for our Juneau adventure.

Each night the girls co-slept next to one another in Grandma’s guest room and then whoever fought the longest was able to sleep next to Craig. It became quite the debate and cause for consternation, until everyone had their turn to snuggle. Overall they all slept quite well, other than their never ending coughs, and didn’t have a night-night nummy (melatonin sliver) even once for the week, which we definitely relied on during past vacations. Only one night Harper wandered out to the couch to spend the rest of the night next to me.

Day 2 – Valentine’s Day!

I still chuckle that my advisory board work trip corresponded with the holiday of love. While Craig and I had a long work day, the girls had a fun filled day with Grandma Sue, Auntie Manda and Papa Cliff. They conned the adults into some good treats (probably more than we even know at this point!), extensively played with pink balloons, and sported their heart boutique dresses I lugged down from Anchorage. They rocked new beaded necklaces and “purses” from Papa Cliff and Grandma Sue attempted heart hairstyles. Everyone decorated heart shaped sugar cookies with sprinkles and licked the sprinkles and icing off a cookie afterwards. The unlicked cookies circulated both the DPS and DOT offices.

During the day the girls ran around town with Grandma and Amanda, made custom cards and drawings for Mom, Dad and grandparents, and dressed up as princesses. They snuggled with Papa Lon and watched some television, once the coughing increased. It was pretty much like a standard weekend day at home. We went to Bull Winkles for dinner, where the girls ate absolutely nothing Craig ordered. And the pizza was pretty good! They did enjoy the arcade games, where we watched them win first place on the motorcycle racing, quite impressive. Who knew they could steer so well?! The girls also demanded to watch Lion King with Amanda later that night.

Day 3 – Clearly going south wasn’t going to equal warmer or less snowy weather, with slushy precipitation falling almost the entire visit. Enough accumulation allowed the girls to make a fancy snowman, and Sue to text me she was teaching the girls how to use spray paint. By nightfall it was melted into a pile of spray paint slop, and the girls called it a flat snowman. Everyone “helped” Papa Lon plow the driveway on the four wheeler, like they do with Craig at home.

With the advisory board meeting taking up my entire work day as well as the entire evening, it was great to know the girls were out having fun with family and keeping their grandparents on their toes! The house wasn’t even on fire by the time I made it home and all kids were fast asleep, not that I harbored any doubt of Grandma Sue’s abilities!

Day 4 – I don’t have a lot to report on this fun day, except that “fun” might not be the descriptive word Craig would use for his day. Grandma and Amanda brought the girls downtown to visit Daddy at work and then headed to lunch. About halfway through my work lunch I received a text from Craig that Reagan puked the contents of her stomach all over him after a cough; getting almost nothing on herself. Luckily Sue and Amanda were able to handle cleanup and kiddos in the moment, and keep any other lunch goers from turning too green in the process.

We enjoyed a deer roast for dinner that night that Lon hunted earlier this winter, with potatoes, veggies and rolls. Emerie scarfed down two servings immediately while her sisters took a bit more convincing. It was delicious!

Day 5 – I took a few hours of leave on Friday in attempts to take the girls to the beach with Grandma and Auntie Manda. Mother Nature didn’t receive the memo and we saw continuous, slushy snow the entire morning and temperatures hovering around freezing. After a Costco run the girls continued coloring at the table and watching movies inside. Their coloring creativity continues to expand and it’s cute to see the little people, animals and flowers that emerge on paper. Harper makes a really cute sunflower! We never made it to the beach, and will have to table that adventure for our next, more summery visit.

We did hit up a couple stores around town to burn some time, and managed to get ourselves immediately kicked out of the only kid play area in town. The lady claimed the girls were coughing too much; but if she had given them five minutes to settle in, they would have calmed down and been fine. Instead she followed them around with sanitary spray and then demanded we leave. Amanda and I took them around the other mall and let them look through a couple knick-knack stores to burn some time. They conned me into purchasing bunny ear headbands in their colors, some kid jewelry (such as the tiara Harper wore the rest of the visit), pretend paper money and click together markers (that were really cool!). After walking out of the first store, Emerie instructed us to wait, Mom, I have to say goodbye to my husbands, turned, and hugged all the mannequins. So random!

Also random, walking down the freezer aisle at Three Bears, we met the aunt of one of the local triplet sets in Juneau that we’ve never met before. It really is a small world; this is the second time this month I’ve met a new triplet family member randomly at the store!

After painting a custom picture at Papa Cliff’s house later in the afternoon, we enjoyed family dinner with cousin Chatum and Auntie Salena. Much to my happiness, Sue made my favorite chicken fried steak, green beans and potatoes, and the kids ran around wreaking havoc.

On the flight home we switched up the seating chart, with me at the window, Emerie in the middle next to an older gentleman who talked about Frozen and Elsa with her, and Craig on the aisle with Harper and Reagan next to him. While the girls asked several times over the week when we would go home, they wished to stay with Grandma when we arrived at the airport. Even with the laid back schedule and crummy weather, they know she makes everything fun and exciting and they greatly enjoy her visits.

We ended the flight with Emerie’s announcement she had to poop, but not before I jotted down some of her ridiculous questions throughout the trip:

  • When does this plane go upside down?
  • Are we going to land on the water?
  • When are we done driving on the clouds?
  • Where are the clouds? (as we were flying in them)
  • Why is that light on (the fasten seat belt sign)? I don’t like it; turn it off.

The girls slept nearly twelve hours on the first night at home, indicating their level of travel exhaustion. It was a great trip and easier than our adventures last year. Not lugging around strollers, a diaper bag and diapers, not to mention easier scheduling without needing to fit naps in each afternoon, made the whole trip much more simplistic. The new headphones were a hit, in their colors of course, so everyone could watch a movie on our iPads. It’s a blessing that they sit that long now, and the plane ride went by pretty quickly because of it. I also learned I should pack more snacks; they didn’t eat any on the way down, but our afternoon flight on the way back, cleared out the whole bag. If it was a longer flight, I would definitely need more.

We are already looking forward to the next one!

❤

Preschool Spirit Week

Last week was spirit week at the girls’ preschool. It feels like they are so old to participate in such an event and I could have put a bit more planning into it to make it fun, but here we are! I thought it would be cute to document what they each dressed up as throughout the week. While the concept of allowed dress up was missed by the girls, they definitely had fun getting to wear abnormal outfits to school each day.

Day 1 – Pajama Day

Monday was pajama day, of course, since who wants to actually get dressed and start the work/school week? This was an easy pick for everyone and we opted for cotton sleepers instead of the long, flowy princess styles that are not functional during the day. Stylish isn’t always practical, right? Reagan also insisted on covering her feet with cozy socks, because it was the theme!

Day 2 – Dress Like Your Parents Day

Day two was a bit more of an argument to make a decision. All three agreed they didn’t want to dress up as Dad (he’s not into dresses and that was a deal breaker), but when we suggested jeans (jeggings- they’ve never worn REAL jeans), cute boots and comfy hoodies, they declared a compromise with skirts, boots, and two layered princess t-shirts. Now I am in no way a fancy dresser (obviously), so the insistence to “wear dresses like Mom” made no sense upon request. Everyone also had a high, messy bun, headband, and a coffee cup for their morning photo!

See the resemblance?! They look SO GROWN UP!

DAY 3 – Class Color – Blue Butterflies

The 4-year old preschool class they are in is called the Butterflies and apparently that meant their class was blue. Luckily I found three blue pants and found their blue shirts from the previous daycare class, and we were good to go! The girls didn’t quite get that memo because everyone had to have a colorful tutu and ballet flats.

Craig had the idea to bring the butterfly wings from the fair to wear for the day. He was able to snap a few cute shots of everyone running through the halls at school (or should I say flying?) and repping Mr. Ivan’s class.

DAY 4 – Future Career Day

This was probably the hardest day to pick of the entire week. While I attempted to get cohesive, real life job desires out of each kid; everything always loops back into their love for princesses and fairy tales. After making that comment, another mom reminded me this is the time when reality doesn’t, and shouldn’t, be the driver of the future, and wishing to be a princess isn’t a terrible thing. It means they wish for happiness, love and a fun story; and really, what is wrong with that?

At first each separately asked for Queen Elsa. After more discussion, Harper opted to be a ballerina, with a pink skirt since a sheer, dance skirt wasn’t very warm, and several accessories, including her pink bowed tights. In fact, her outfit was very coordinated as pink and black and she wore those glasses the entire day. Emerie requested her bring-it-in-dress, which is Isabella from Encanto, a sunhat and a flower wand. It took a bit to get any answer from her but Elsa, her go to costume for everything. Reagan requested Jasmine for the day and a mom to the kitten for the picture that morning. She also mentioned she wants to be a teacher, but the impending dress options booted that idea right out the door when she remembered Jasmine (and our current at home Disney theme).

DAY 5 – Heritage Day

Friday’s heritage day meant Craig dug out the Douglas kilts, reminding me the German side of their DNA would not be as cute of an outfit. I will definitely have to find some cute beer maidens in the future, which shouldn’t be a tough sell. And he really wasn’t wrong! They wore those kilts the entire school day and were thrilled that Craig had stopped at Target and sized up their black ballet flats to match. I especially like Harper kept to her style with sparkly tights.

Overall all three had fun with the choices throughout the week; so much so that they now want to wear five different outfits a day and go through all the new size six clothing, since it’s exciting and new!

❤

Winter, Dance and Those Wild Children

So far 2023 started off without anything too significant or exciting happening. Lots of winter, snow, working hours and wild children. The kittens continue to grow and change each day, and it’s prompting a lot of old memories for this mom on life “back in the day” with three rambunctious babies. That day was only a few years ago, but it feels like a whole lifetime with how much things have changed!

For example, the girls’ unique personalities became evident even before they were speaking, and each had a slightly different attitude on things throughout development, and it’s still true today. Harper refused to roll over, adamantly indicating that was a skill not worthy of her time, and yet she was the first of the three to walk, with Reagan right behind her. The similarities are pretty funny in the kittens, because one kitten slowly started walking forward, with the second observing closely, and the third less interested at first. Within an hour, the first was walking, the second was mimicking the first at a slower pace, and the following day number three gained the skill and joined the club. In our case, Harper was the first to take her steps forward unassisted, with Reagan carefully watching and learning immediately after, and then Emerie not long after that.

When it comes to containment, you might remember the full “cage” that spanned our entire living room for quite a long time, from crawling to climbing to walking and until escaping. And the baby gates, which blocked off each level of the house and the loft. One kitten (named Wallace) was the first to figure out how to escape out of totes and boxes if he used a sibling as a step stool. The girls did this exact thing, figuring out how to boost one another out of their fenced in play area and into freedom, before mom and dad fully baby proofed the rest of the house and blocked off the stairs. Persistence is key!

Back in the day – caged off

Personalities are also similar. One kitten is the “wild child” of the three, has a need for speed, was the first to take steps, and always instigates the troublemaking with the siblings. Doesn’t that sound like one Miss Harper? Another kitten (named Wesley although it might be Winston now?) is far more timid than his brother, but will pay close attention to the activities at hand, holding out the longest before participating. He’s a sweet soul. Does that sound like Miss Reagan, especially when she was smaller and more shy? The smallest kitten (Winnifred, i.e. Winnie Rose- because the girls insisted she had to have a middle name!), is also shy, needs one of her eyes scrubbed off occasionally so it’s not shut with goobers (i.e. eye issues), her siblings gang up on her a bit because they are bigger than her, and she loves to cuddle and be rescued from the chaos. Sounds like Miss Emerie to me!

It is also funny to watch Molly and her obvious annoyance and frustration at her three littles running in three directions. I greatly understand her sentiments and still live in that today, although nothing like it was two years ago. She will take naps up high on her climber, where she can keep an eye on the crowd, knowing they can’t reach her!

For the most part the girls are pretty aware of the kittens wandering the house, and if not there is my constant “don’t step on the kitten!” reminders. I’ve only caught them a couple times with compromised kittens. The first time all three were downstairs in the bathroom, with a paper shoebox full of water in the sink, trying to give Winnie a bath. As you would guess, she was not impressed; and luckily I caught them before she was fully submerged. The second time all the kids were jumping on Grandma Sue’s bed (I.e. the guest room bed) with two very terrified kittens trying not to die. No kittens were harmed in either incident!

On the non-kitten front- you may all be shocked to learn the love for the song Shake It Off has finally depleted. In fact, I now get demands to NOT play it, after several years of constant replaying more than any one person wants to hear it. We definitely had some really cute memories (and videos) of the littles shaking their bald heads and tiny butts to it. Uncle William is now educating everyone on other songs by the songstress and pushing us into a new era of music. Different music videos are also quite the hit; of course they don’t follow the intricate meanings behind the scripts and scenes, but they all excitedly love her outfits, shoes, and sparkling wonders. Some of the most exciting parts are the funniest things, such as her dress changing from white into red and her fancy shoe choices!

A new session of dance started last weekend. Since age three’s dance class was so very miserable for us parents, with the tantrums, not listening, and times dragging all three out kicking and screaming in front of throngs of disbelieving singleton parents, we held off for a full year before trying again, and this time with a new tactic: dividing them up. This is the first time we’ve tried this method for any activity, although we talked about it when transitioning into the four year old daycare class, and ended up keeping them together, which has worked out so far. In efforts to maintain some parental sanity, Emerie and Reagan are in gymnastics at 11:15 on Saturdays while Harper starts dance class at 11:30, with the younger group until she turns five in March. The parent area is in between the two rooms, so we can see both sides easily and provide stern looks through the window when they act out.

Last year Harper did the best by far, in terms of listening and behavior and actual participation,while Emerie and Reagan fed off each other and missed half the classes due to needed intervention to minimize disruptions. All three strongly desired to climb all the mats and swing on the equipment when everyone else was listening and out on the dance floor. It was a disaster and the most money I’ve probably ever spent to be so miserable!

The first week of round two went much better. There was discussion on who was in gymnastics and who was in dance, and of course major disagreement with our plan, but once class started, it went well! Emerie is definitely meant to tumble and climb on things, and it greatly impresses me when she runs across the balance beam, knowing she has a a bifocal and weaker eye sight than her peers. Reagan also seemed to enjoy the class, only having one moment of the pure pouty face, which I did not help with by taking photos and saying I sent them to Grandma Sue. Harper, across the hall, had a wonderful first class and didn’t need any intervention. She wore her princess heels as her tap shoes, and seemed to really enjoy herself. The roughest part of the whole activity was when Reagan and Emerie were done and waiting for Harper’s class to wrap up. Reagan threw down to go into the room to “watch” her sister, and managed to throw a fit in front of everyone when she didn’t get her way.

Every day in between the two classes the girls asked what day it was and what day dance and gymnastics falls on. What’s funny is how they define the days of the week at this point in their lives:

  • Sunday – means no school and some fun activity with cousins or the boys
  • Monday – ugh school. I’m tiiiiiired!
  • Tuesday – no one ever asks about this day
  • Wednesday – this is school pizza day
  • Thursday – no one ever asks about this day or “is it the weekend yet?”
  • Friday – chocolate milk and show-and-tell day at school!
  • Saturday – the weekend and now dance day

Week two went well also, and I’m hoping the trend will continue. The gymnastics teacher told me after class that she split Reagan and Emerie into separate groups for their breakout activities after she heard one encouraging the other not listen. Emerie started the class out a bit feisty and not wanting to be there, but pretty quickly started having fun. She’s great at tumbling and always pops up with a big smile. Reagan constantly comes over to ensure our eyes are glued to her body as she participates. She proudly flipped over one of the bars (assisted) and after a few tries could almost do it by herself. Harper happily tapped around in her new tap shoes and black sheer sleeved leotard. It cracked me up she was in black from head to toe- black leotard, black tights, black ballet slippers, and a black sheer skirt. Oh and don’t forget the black scrunchie, accessories!

Speaking of accessories, the last week or so Harper is constantly wearing her Mirabel glasses. They have no glass so they don’t get smudged and dirty; she seems to think she looks like Emerie in them. The funniest part is that I constantly call her Emerie when looking out the of the corner of my eye, even tho she doesn’t have green glasses!

I swear the last few days must have a full moon, because the crazy cabin fever from the kids is ROUGH. They’ve impressively trashed the house several times, drowned the downstairs bathroom with toilet water (and who knows what else), worn a dozen outfits a day, gone through clothing drawers and closets they’ve never opened before and dumping things out, and been wildly crazy with the back talking, fighting and not listening. Guys- we are so tired. I’m not sure if this shift can be attributed to the dead of winter, an impending development shift or sickness, my working longer hours than normal at work, or something else, but they are wild. New name calling popped up as well; Reagan’s insult of choice is now you spit-head. That, and you-toilet-water-poop-spit. I’m pretty sure she’s not going for “shit head”, since I have no idea where she would have heard that from (yeah yeah but really we don’t say that), so I believe she really means spit. And reminds us spit is gross, so she thinks it’s quite the insult. Such fun.

This month’s theme songs are from the live action Aladdin film, where Disney added a new song by Jasmine that the girls adore called Speechless. It’s girl empowerment and she takes down her enemies in song and the girls think it’s just amazing. It’s a pretty song in my opinion too! Every drive includes it and all three love singing along. Harper has her own lyrics to the melody and it’s hilarious, with SPEECHLEEEEESS three times louder at the end of each relevant line. They also like the songs by the genie guy and when Aladdin and Jasmine are running (first seen). It’s really nice to be able to watch another live action movie besides Maleficent, which is much darker! And little do they know one of their birthday presents is fancy Jasmine dresses that I bought during after Christmas sales. You ain’t never had a friend like meeee!

I can’t believe we are almost a month into the new year, but here we are. Kittens are growing everyday and so are my little ladies. While I look forward to spring just around the corner (quite optimistically I might add), I’m also excited for them to celebrate my birthday this year and Valentine’s Day. After that they’ll be turning half a decade, which I am NOT ready for.

❤