Proud (10/5/12)

Another day of presentations. Look how proud and excited Will is!

The School Year's First Field Trip (9/21/12)

A bit of background (since I haven't finished the post on where my kids are going to school)... Will attends a charter school that is all project-based small-group learning from about 8 to 12 each day. I pick him up, and usually we come home for lunch, then do about an hour or two of at-home school work. We love this school model, but all that is for another post, too. What is important to THIS post, is that the afternoons are open -- not at school -- and parents work together and with the teachers to plan field trips for the students to enrich their at-school projects and at-home lessons. The first outing was during a science project about recycling and a math project to design an outdoor classroom. One of the parents arranged a tour of the at the fairgrounds to explore the Secret Garden, learn more about country life, explore the wonders of the great outdoors, and learn more about the people involved in agriculture in our community.

I took Ben, Maddie, and Jon out of school a bit early so they could go learn, also. ... and because that was the only way I could pick them up before evening while Will was on the tour. Unfortunately, the tour guide didn't show up because there was some confusion about the date, but we had a good time, and I KNOW the kids learned at least a little bit. It was nice to meet some of the kids Will often tells me about, and I was appreciative that the mom of one of Will's best new friends in his class helped me keep track of Will so I could keep an eye on my ever-exploring kindergartners.

After a few hours at the fair, the kids were begging me to get them the junk food. Though I remember liking all the fried treats when I was younger, I can't even smell it now without getting a bit of a tummy ache. Somehow, I convinced them that Sonic's happy hour would be a better use of our money, so we headed out for slushes and one order of cheese sticks (5 stubby sticks for 5 of us -- perfect!). We took our treats to the park so the kids could run off some of the sugar, then we headed home. The three younger ones fell asleep in the car, but Will waited a few minutes longer.

Sick Little One (10/2/12)

Jon came home with a headache Wednesday. His teacher met me at the car to tell me it had been hurting him, and that several kids in the class had had a virus that started with a headache, then fever, then sickness. By the time we got home, he was asleep in the car. When I checked his temperature a bit later, it was 103*F. Thursday and Friday, he had fever off an on all day. Ibuprofen knocked the fever out for a few hours, but then it kept coming back. The poor kiddo would go from acting perfectly fine then thirty minutes later, he would be sound asleep in strange places.

Saturday, Jon still was running a fever, and I headed to the store since Allen was about to leave town. Sunday, Jon was fever-free all day, but then the tummy-ache started. Thankfully, he was back to being silly by that evening, and we were back on schedule for Monday.

July and August - Summer-ized

What a busy summer! So much as been going on that I haven't had a chance to keep up with the blog. When I did have a few moments, I had picture-problems. Now, I am faced with the daunting task of trying to write about a busy 6-week gap while trying to write about all the new things going on now, too! Here is the quick summary of most of July and the first half of August -- some are Facebook status updates, some are from my calendar or photo collections:

July 2 - The kids started swim lessons today. I guess we will be at the pool for the next two weeks.

July 2 - Maddie asked me if George Washington was grounded... My response was "????" she continued, "after he died, did his family ground him like we did to Grandma Rose?" ... So, my five year old(s) believes someone buried has been grounded. That meaning actually makes more sense to me than what my definition of "grounded" is.

July 4 - Bluebirds hatch in the nest with the video camera. The kids and I watched them a lot on the computer screen.

July 5 - Three baby bluebirds, one day old

July 7 - We traded in our 2000 Toyota Sienna and replaced with with a 2011 Sienna. While Allen and I shopped, the kids went to see Brave with Nana and Papa.

July 9 -

July 12 - 8 days old. Eyes are open all the way.

July 15 - The bluebirds are 11 days old. Last photo like this because if I open house at 12+ days, they may fledge too early. And Sialia was mad at me for opening it too take the picture... Not sure why since she usually let's me do it.

July 16-20 - Will attended zoo camp this week. The little kids and I ran errands most days, but spent two days at the zoo. Other than the aviary (which they always love), the kids had a blast "playing" with the otter who enjoyed racing the little kids.

July 22 - Our family has been practicing the dance (choreographed, with videoed instruction) we are doing for the kids great-grandparents 60th wedding anniversary.

July 23 - I checked on the bluebirds today and cried. The babies are all dead :( I'm not sure why, but I'm guessing it is because it got so hot this week. The birdhouse is in a sunny spot. Broken-hearted over the birds... again.
July 23-25 - All four kids went to VBS at the church we have been attending. I used the time to get a haircut, grocery shop, and enjoy the little bit of quiet.

July 25 - Heading to Waco for a few days of Camp Gramma and Granddad
July 25 - August 12 - Allen took two and half weeks off from work!

July 26-28 - Allen and I met Casey and Christina in New Braunfels. We all had a great time catching up as adults, having left all 8 kids at grandparents'. We tubed the Comal River the first afternoon. Friday morning, Christina and I hit a few shops in San Marcos, while the guys canoed. We enjoyed plenty of tasty food, did some wine-tasting, and watched the Olympics opening ceremonies at a brewery. We were up late both nights playing games, but the few days "off" were so much fun! I really enjoyed the quiet road-time with Allen, too. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures.

July 31 - I took Maddie for her first professional pedicure. Too much too early? Maybe, but it was worth it to have some special time with my daughter.

August 1 - Wishing I could visit Santorini again, but until then, I'll settle for around-the-world vacations via DrawSomething...

August 2-6 - We had a fantastic time at a family reunion in California. It was the little kids' first times on an airplane, and we did fly out at o'dark thirty, but the trip was a blast! We hiked among sequioas, had our own family-style Olympic crazy-games, danced flash-mob style, celebrated a special wedding anniversary, ate lots of good food, played outside constantly, and even had a bit of down time. I hope to blog about it all soon!

August 9-10 - Will had Innovation Camp both days, and I went for a parent orientation on the second day. This camp was set up by the teachers to introduce the kids at his new school, but also to let the teachers do some assessments without interrupting and wasting school time. Will enjoyed it, and I learned enough about some of his up-coming assignments to be really excited!

Double Features

We had another busy weekend, but I managed to get enough photos to tell most of the stories. Saturday, we had a Cub Scout double outing: the Cotton Belt Depot Museum and Camp Ford Civil War Historic Site, with a picnic lunch between the tours. With our two outings, we had two guest -- Nana and Papa came to enjoy the outings with us, and we returned to our house early afternoon. Ben, Maddie, and Jon opened a few more birthday gifts, then we all spent the afternoon "playing." Maddie and Nana worked on some crafts; Daddy and Papa helped Ben and Jon assemble new Lego sets. I took pictures and tried to soak up the rare bit of quiet that the afternoon with new toys and grandparents.

... and I may have finally figured out who taught Jon his unique way of sitting to do floor projects. ;)

Three little punkins - 10/18

 The day after these three turned six, I helped chaperone the kindergarten field trip to the pumpkin patch. Will wasn't too bummed since I did bring him a pumpkin AND he got to spend the afternoon with his buddy. I was technically WITH Jon's class, but he was the only one I actually lost (and found) that day. I tried to keep an eye on all the fun the three were having with their friends, but it was tough. It was a fun day, but very busy with so many people -- lots of other school were there, so it was a bit stressful for me since I really hate being in crowds. These three kiddos had a great time, and that's really all that matters to me.

Celebrate, Remember, Reflect

Happy Birthday to my three little ones!

It really is such a bittersweet day. Ben, Maddie, and Jon started life 3 months early weighing 3 pounds, 2 pounds 15 ounces, and 2 pounds 11 ounces, respectively. They started on breathing machines, feeding tubes, IV drips, and blood transfusions. They started in little clear boxes with more wires and tubes connected to their tiny bodies than any of my appliances have. The bitter part is remembering back to those days -- the toughest three months of their lives, of MY life, those three NICU months. The next nine months were a blur, and I don't remember much of it. I remember the feeding cycles - change, feed, burp Ben (20 minutes); change, feed, burp Maddie (30 minutes); change, feed, burp Jon (45 minutes); grab a glass of water, go potty, pump (20 minutes); have about an hour to choose one or more of these: sleep, eat, play with Will, shower. That cycle was repeated every three hours. I don't know how we got through it... like I said, I don't remember much.

But look at how SWEET it is now! The feeding cycle has been replaced by the everyday taxi-cycle - feed them, take them to school, pick them up, feed them again, feed them again. The assembly lines of our home once were prepping 27 bottles, changing three sets of diapers and clothes. When they were eating baby food, we still did dinner assembly-line style: popping the spoon into one mouth, dipping it in the peas, popping it into mouth #2, dipping in the peas, popping it in mouth #3, repeat, repeat, repeat. Strangely, we still use assembly lines as we prepare lunches for school - making 20 sandwiches at a time, scooping out 20 baggies of goldfish crackers, making 20 baggies of fruit; we do this once a week so that mornings go more smoothly. We still often [sort of] line up all our kiddos to sign school papers, pass out allowance, comb hair, wipe faces, and give them good-bye kisses and hugs. This is our life now.

These kindergarteners are HEALTHY!! and oh what a miracle that is! These three are loving, sweet, and over-the-top silly. They are ornery, stubborn, yet fairly easy-going. They are individuals - Ben loves science, rough-housing, and cuddling; Maddie loves art, dolls, and reading; Jon loves building, helping, and games. Our children do not have the learning disabilities, the deafness (though, I do wonder at times), the vision problems, and so many of the other issues that are common to micropreemies. So today is a day of celebration for our family. Today we celebrate the births of these three precious children. Today we celebrate the milestones they've crossed and the ones we have survived. Today we celebrate these three living miracles of God. Today we celebrate how far THEY have come since those first fragile days. Today we celebrate how far God has brought Allen and me in this crazy journey of parenthood. Today we celebrate, remember, and reflect!

Happy sixth birthday, Ben!
Happy sixth birthday, Maddie!
Happy sixth birthday, Jon!

Typical Afternoon

This is often what our weekday afternoons are like:

• sunny
• kids playing outside
• kids on swings
• kids playing ball or frisbee or both
• kids wearing play clothes, school clothes, pajamas

Will gets out of school at noon and works on homework until it is time to get the younger bunch just before three o'clock. When we get home, there is mass chaos -- backpacks all over the place with the contents exploding from within, lots of whining for a snack, sometimes a few tears that there is laundry to fold. After everyone settles down a bit, Will finishes up the last bit of homework and the kids head outside or upstairs to play together for a couple hours. THIS is what I love to see!!

A Party for [Almost] Six-Year Olds

These three precious children had their first friends-invited (not just family) birthday party today... and we all survived the mild chaos. Several weeks ago, I searched for answers to how to handle a triplet party. I didn't want the friends' parents to feel like they had to bring three gifts. I didn't want anyone embarrassed for not knowing they were triplets (embarrassment if they were the only ones who didn't bring three gifts). I didn't really want three times the toys to have to keep reminding the kids to take care of. It turns out I didn't find the chapter in Emily Post's book on the proper etiquette for such a circumstance. The most challenging part of it was that the kids were wanting to invite friends from school, and I hadn't met the parents, yet, so I couldn't just call to clumsily explain the situation. In the end, we decided to let each of the kiddos invite two friends, and I enclosed a note in the invitation that said, "Dear Parents of New Friends, Ben, Maddie, and Jon will be celebrating their birthday together. We are allowing each of them to have two guests, rather than inviting all their classmates. Gifts are not necessary, but if you would like to bring a gift, please just bring one for (filled in one name). We look forward to meeting the children we hear so much about." (I'm posting this because many friends of multiples asked me to share how I handled it. I will take other suggestions for next year, though.)

This idea worked for the most part. Each of them sent two invitations, but had a third person in mind in case we got a "no" early in the game. One mom did call immediately because they couldn't come, so Jon was able to get the other invitation out, and two of his friends were there. Maddie and Ben each invited an "old" (aka: known before school started) friend and a new one, but not everyone came. Gramma and Granddad came for the day, and some of the friends' siblings came, so Will had a good friend there to play with, too. We chose to host the party at the park so I wouldn't have to come up with lots of party games (I don't like them), or maybe I really didn't want to have to make sure the house was perfectly clean... twice (before and after the party.)

Except for the wind, the day was beautiful! Not too hot, not too cold. The wind was brisk enough that we finally took all the balloons to the car, and I don't think the kids got to blow out candles because the wind kept doing that for them. I decorated a cupcake the way each requested: Ben chose astronauts, Maddie wanted Pocahontas, Jon wanted Spiderman. Did you know there aren't any plates and napkins designed to fit all three of those themes? We just went with bright party colors -- it worked. The kids played hard for several hours. They graciously opened gifts and thanked everyone for their kindness, presence, and presents. They were polite to each other and all their friends. It was really such a perfect day!

Pileated Woodpecker

Today was pretty enough that all my windows were open. As I was reading, I heard a bird call that I didn't recognize, so I started looking for what I heard. I was amazed to look out the kitchen window and see this beauty in the tree. I didn't recognize the huge (about the size of a crow) woodpecker, but I always have my bird guide nearby, and I quickly discovered it was a Pileated Woodpecker. I snapped a few photos for proof that I saw this somewhat rare-to-see bird.

Mom & Me Camp

Will and I just returned from another Mom & Me weekend campout with Cub Scouts. We were really cold, but we had so much fun that it was worth all the shivering.

We left home at 6:30 am Saturday and headed for McDonalds for our traditional egg McMuffin for the road. We drove east and got to the camp at 8:00, then hiked our stuff to our campsite. After quite a bit of talk about where to set up our tent, we chose a spot, cleared the sticks, and set up our tent. Our old two-person tent will likely be retired this week since several of the poles have cracked. Thankfully, I was prepared with a first aid kit that had enough band-aids to tape them together enough to keep the tent up. Also, both zippers on the door have broken -- we were able to get in and out, just not easily. I either had to fight the fabric flap to open it and shut it, or we squeezed through a half open door. We weren't sure if the tent would be waterproof or not, but since it didn't end up raining on us, it didn't matter....this time.

As we were setting up the inside of our tent, I gave Will this special quilt I made him. Though he chose most of the flannel fabrics awhile back, he didn't realize I had been working on the quilt when he was at school. He was thrilled to get his quilt for his scout patches. It was the perfect warmth for the cold night, too!

After setting up our little home, we helped a few other moms and boys with theirs, then we got to do the fun stuff. Our den had four boys and moms there, but we sometimes participated with some of the other kids from our pack (who were 1st, 2nd, or 4th graders). First, we hit the chess station and the boys learned to play chess. Will already had that belt loop, but we made sure his friends learned enough about the game to earn theirs, too. The boys all already had the marbles loop, too, but they stopped to play for a bit anyway. We headed down for the BB gun range since we missed that last year, but we had to pass on the archery (sadly) because the line was so long. Will and I both got off a few great shots with the BB gun, but then we learned it wasn't actually shooting. The bad news is we had no proof that we were aiming so well. The good news is we had no proof we were not aiming so well.

We had an hour or so between activities and lunch, and our camp group decided to build a fire circle. We got permission from the ranger to rebuild one (the previous one was wiped out by some downed trees). So, from nothing, we swept clear an area for the fire rings. The boys helped gather the right size logs (also from the downed trees) to make a fire ring and an outer ring to sit on and mark the caution zones. It was really fun for me to watch the boys figure out how to work together to move some large logs that were short enough that only two boys could carry them, but they were too heavy for two boys to carry. They used their brains, their muscle, their friends to create a really awesome seating area for all of us -- the moms patted them on the backs and congratulated them on some great work!

After lunch, we had another round of activities. The boys and moms played softball and volleyball (I'm quite sore from a lot of hard running). We launched bottle rockets -- that was definitely fun, but the water mist made us colder. Will's bottle ended up at the top of a huge pine tree, but he was excited to do it all again. The boys worked on the music belt loop and did a few crafts before we headed back to our campsite.

Our afternoon filled up pretty fast. One of my peeves is that our pack (or others) never taught/teaches the boys fire safety. It frustrates me to no end to have campfire with a bunch of uneducated parents, boys, and siblings and a lot of accidents waiting to happen. So, after I discussed that with the moms (and several from our group already knew my opinion on it), we used part of our hour-and-a-half of free time to teach. All the boys (at our campsite) and moms gathered around the newly built fire circle and we talked about why we built it with three circles. We talked about fire safety rules inside the circle, about not throwing stuff into the fire, about how to keep ourselves and each other safe. It was much easier talking to the kids in the daylight before they were tired and fascinated by flames. After we were fairly certain they understood the safety rules, we talked about what we needed to build a fire -- the tinder, kindling, and fuel. We talked about how to find all those without destroying nature, then we broke into four teams to gather tinder, kindling, fuel logs, and water. After we had a healthy supply ready, we showed them how to build a log-cabin style fire (without adding the flames yet.)

After dinner, we went to the big campfire ceremony. Several leaders and Boy Scouts did some skits and recognitions and retired an American flag. We got permission to light fires at our individuals camps (due to wind, we weren't sure we'd be allowed to light ours.) When we got back, we tried to light it, but the first match didn't get the wood hot enough. The second through twelfth matches didn't light, and several boys started heckling the four of us moms working on lighting it. It was really frustrating when a dad from our group (there helping staff the event) boasted that if he was in charge he would already have a big fire. I bit my tongue before commenting he was welcome to do the fire while we all headed to bed early. He left. We found a lighter and had a beautiful fire -- the perfect size! It was starting to fade just as we finished the bag of marshmallows. It was barely glowing when moms started telling boys to get ready for bed. It really went well -- no one got hurt, a lot of kids learned how to have a safe campfire, and all the moms and boys worked together to pull it off. I, again, was asked to consider being the safety officer for the pack. I, again, am considering it because I like teaching the kinds of lessons that matter.

Will and I talked for awhile before we fell asleep. I really do enjoy the times in the car -- just the two of us -- the times in the tent, and the times we are working together to set up the tent. We have such special moments of shared triumph! ... taking down the tent and packing up after a late night of being cold and sleeping on the ground, well... that part wasn't so fun, but we survived! :)