Happy Birthday "Hopper, Paper, Pippee"

Today is our first born child's birthday!

(Did I tell you we have a 7 year old?) She's furry and lovable, and happens to walk on all fours! We got her shortly after we got married in June of '04. Brian was a motorcycle officer in Phoenix at the time. He happened to be out cleaning his motorcycle in the garage when some nice ladies walking through the neighborhood stopped to chat. About some puppies. Cute ones.

As I finished making my shepherd's pie, I heard the garage door open and Brian's voice call to me,

"Honey? Do we want a puppy?"

"Come again? What?"

The next thing I know we are standing in the kitchen of this nice girl's home staring at some 8 labrador puppies, just a few weeks old. And there, fighting for some space and some time at the food bowl, wearing a teeny, tiny green collar was our little girl. A little black lab- the runt. Once we saw her, we were smitten. We named her Piper, but for some reason, we called her "Ooodie" and often "ooodie, oodie, oodie." (We like to do things in threes, apparently).

As soon as she was weaned, she was ours. And we adored her. (Except for much of her puppyhood when I thought she was trying to make me crazy with her puppy behavior and constant nibbling of arms, fingers, etc.) The whole 'sock chasing' thing...yeah, I pretty much wanted to strangle myself. Little did I know then I was totally egging her on and even encouraging her to chase! (Hey, this was my first dog for whom I was the responsible parent. How was I to know??)

She was kennel trained almost immediately and was, by all accounts, a very good puppy. However, she did leave about 200 muddy pawprints all over our carpet one rainy day, chewed the kitchen cabinets and ate glass. Yes, glass. (She was fine. I was freaking out.) But boy was she loyal. And she still is.

When we lost our Harley cat to coyotes years ago, but found her and brought her home to bury, Piper just sniffed her and licked her. She was so clearly distraught by the loss of 'her' sister. I've seen few things as heartbreaking as the moment Brian first carried Harley in and Piper realized something was wrong. She knew. Those two were such a good duo.

None of us could've predicted that 7 years later, we'd have 3 troglodites running around here, all the same age and size. She has been the most patient dog you could imagine, and is just now starting to stand her ground with the eye poking and the "dog"back riding. Can't say that I blame her.

So Piper, or

Hopper (says' Colton), or

Pippee (says Ethan), or

Paper (says Hunter),

We love you and are so grateful that we picked you 7 years ago. We were meant to be a family and we have lots of great memories to make in the years to come. Happy Birthday!

Piper and her babies

Brian and Piper, camping.

Pretty shiny girl...so little

Piper, as a very new puppy and Aunt Kristen

Happy Birthday Piper Girl!

Well that could've been embarrassing.

Remorse and sorrow. Do they exist within little minds? I'm inclined to think they do, which frankly sort of amazes me.

In a fit of rage tonight (well, he took her car, what was she supposed to do?) my little girl reached out with raging claws and scratched my leg (in her mind, it was her brother, who was seeking refuge on my lap.)

I said softly and sadly, "Hunter, why did you scratch mommy?" Well stop everything. That face so filled with rage turned so sorrowful and so remorseful as she pleaded with me to get the superman ice pack from the freezer.

On the couch, my little bitty nurse tended to my wounds. She lovingly patted my shin where she had scratched me while sweetly uttering the words, "Oh mommy. Owie. Oh mommy, I so sorry mommy. I hurt you mommy. I so sorry."

I of course assured her that I was going to live, and yet she continued to check back on my owie for the next half hour or so.

She's a worrier, that Hunter. And I adore that she can sense other people's hurt.

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Colton has become increasingly attached to his mini Lightning McQueen car. He holds it in his grubby hands all day long. He takes it to bed with him, and late at night when I go to bed and do my last check of my sweet, sleeping babies, I pry the sweaty car from his still tightly clenched fist. I love how their interests change.

He spent the day playing with his brother and sister (and his grammy) and apparently spouted off the phrase "Knock it off" so many times everyone lost count. ( I'll tell you right now, THAT is a daddy phrase.) Yes, we are in the age of repeating everything.

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Ethan has found his words AND his confidence. This kid is blossoming into a full blown talker. Now that he's found his voice, he's so much less afraid to use it. I'm so proud of him. He is reading letters and numbers like a champ these days-on books, on TV, in the newspaper, etc. And when he wants to be, he is a very good sharer.

Today, my mom filmed Ethan and Hunter sitting on the couch with a chalkboard between them. They were taking turns drawing and then erasing the chalkboard with a wet rag. Then they'd pass the chalk to the other person. Furthermore, when asked to draw an oval or a circle (er-excuse me, "a seeckle") he drew a near perfect 2 year old oval. It was pretty incredible...

And what a sweet smile he had while watching old home videos of themselves as babies wearing newly fitted helmets. That is a great feeling as a parent. And I was reminded once again....my kids were happy. And still are.

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Now let's get to the embarrassing part. Not sure I how I didn't feel a draft on my own, but as I prepared to walk out of my house for work this morning, I was kindly asked by Mary, "You know those have a huge hole in them right?" Uh yes...Sure, I did....er, now I do. Wow. Can you just hear what 40 5 year olds might've said? Awesome.

(Seriously could not get it to rotate. Weird. It's fighting with me tonight. Anyhoo, you get the idea, I'm sure.) Enjoy the weekend everyone!

WARNING: Boring post ahead

I thought about just not posting anything tonight, but I didn't want you all to think I forgot. I didn't forget. I just can't think of anything to say. I was going to post some great photos of the kids on the Slip and Slide, but I've apparently met my blog photo quota! I can't post another photo until I purchase more picture storage space! (Good to know, right?)

So I suppose I'll go waste another few hours of my life on Pinterest or happyplace.com (Thank you, Dave Conca!)

And that's all. By the way, I didn't actually sign up for the Blog-a-day this month, I was just doing it of my own accord. Otherwise, I would never post something so awful and lame. In fact, as much as I'm gonna try, I'm not even sure I can promise that I'll even finish out the month. I'm sorry. But really, let's be honest. I've forced you to sit and read this nonsense when you could be doing something WAY more important....like pin photos to your boards or look at hilarious signs on happyplace.com.

So go, treat yourself to one of those fun things....you'll feel better about my blog tonight. Maybe I'll see you tomorrow, maybe in 2 days. We'll see! :)

Is she coming??

This is a token Hunter Phrase, which I'm taking the liberty of borrowing tonight....

"Is she coming?"

My Auntie Days are coming soon...

Almost time to meet my niece, Brinley and

I CAN NOT WAIT!!

My kids have 2 of the best aunties in the world and it's a role I am so looking forward to!

And besides, that belly is as big as my triplet belly was and I think maybe even an inch or two bigger? Get that girl outa there!

She'll be 101 in less than a month and I love that my kids know her. I LOVE that Ethan walks out of the house, stops, turns around, waves and LOUDLY proclaims, "bu-BYE Gigi! bu-BYE! bu-BYE Gigi". Is she not the cutest little grandma ever? My sister's Baby will be her 19th GREAT Grandchild , (Her 18th was just born a week ago) and I know Mary is thrilled that she will also get to know and love her little girl.

And despite the heat, we decided to play outside today after work. We climbed trees...

We climbed cars....

(I'm sorry...but I really AM that mom. The one who lets her kid stand on top of car.)

C'mon, see how close I was to her?? She was totally safe.

And when the heat was too much, we decided to come inside. Hunter is helping Gigi into the house. Seriously little girl? You can be the sweetest thing ever.

And after big days like that, all little boys and girls must go to bed.

(Actually my mom sent me this picture today of King Colton napping in his big boy bed at her house. Yes, it's a queen sized bed and a pint sized boy.

Love it!

ToTWOlly Random Tuesday!

I am so brain dead tonight that I have been sitting here pondering possible topics for no less than 43 minutes. In defeat, I decided that I would try something new. I'd close my eyes, blindly scroll through my i-photos and randomly stop on 2 different photos, upload them and write about them somehow or at least let them inspire a thought...

So here we are at ToTWOlly Random Tuesday.

It would figure that of the one MILLION photos I have of my kids, I would stop on two photos that have nothing human about them.

Well, okay, I take that back. This first one is SORT of human.... Woody and Woody! This photo was taken on our first plane trip to Kansas City this past summer. We were flying there to do a photo shoot for a book we are being included in for Hanger Orthotics. We dared not travel without Woody and Woody and I must say, they were good travelers. (We may have accidentally-on-purpose taken the batteries out of one of them...so that helped, I'm sure.)

Woody is something we're big on right now at the ripe ol' age of 2.5, 2.5 and 2.5. Well Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, you know, pretty much anything to do with Toy Story. So you can imagine my sadness when we got on the airplane to come home and I suddenly realized that Big Woody (hee hee...control yourselves) was somehow left behind. We may have left him at the Ballroom where the photos were taken, or he may be living the night life in Down Town KC. Who knows. What I DO know is that we came home with only one little cowboy. So sad.

Photo number 2 actually ties in right nicely with number 1. Both show things we are into right now. Can you tell what they were playing with?? Oh yeah. Chalk, chalk and nothing but chalk. They sort of go in phases where they can't get enough of it, and then they'll be totally disenchanted with it for a while. Nevertheless, our back patio is littered with chunky pieces of sidewalk chalk ready for grubby hands to draw with. And can you imagine my anxiety when bare feet meet dusty chalk meet my wood floor? STRESS! I love a mopped, vacuum floor more than a lot of things, so little feet prints all over the floor are a huge STRESSOR for me!! Oh well. Whad'ya gonna do?
And so we'll wrap this sad excuse for a blog up into a neat, tidy little post about other things the Bunchkins are into right now.

1. Woody/Buzz/Rex/Jessie, etc. Toy Story Anything.

2. Cars. They are now equally obsessed with anything Cars.

3. Fly Swatters. You got flies? I got the triplet fly killers. And they're good. Give em a swatter and stand by. They love to go hunting for flies in the house.

4. Trampoline. Yep. Still enthralled with the jumper!

5. Blankets. Playing in them, under them, on them, etc.

6. Dolls.

7. Doll Strollers.

8. Shopping carts and anything else that can be pushed around the house.

9. Painting. These kids love to paint!

10. Wearing hats for fun!

11. Books. Books. Books. They love to look at books.

12. Repeating words and phrases commonly reserved for frat houses. oops.

13. Cleaning.

14. Playdoh is a new love.

And that's a good enough list for now! People, I must go to bed! Hope you are having a wonderful day! (And if you are one of our newer followers, I promise you, I am not always this lame. :)

Hooray for Halfway!

And hooray for blogs that are done for me! It couldn't have come on a better night! Remember the contest so many of you voted and voted and voted for until you landed us in the #1 spot in a very close race against our blog friends 'The McCleary Quads?" Well today, our mini features were published on the Circle of Moms Site! By clicking on the link above or at the bottom (the circle of mom's favorite button) you can read the full feature as well as read everybody else's entries! Have fun! I know I'll be busy reading lots of bios!

Small Wonders

In case you hadn't rushed out to buy your 'Meet the Letters/Colors/Shapes/Numbers' Videos yet, GO DO IT now! I am absolutely astounded at how much the kids know! All three of them! They know their letters, they know their shapes, they know the numbers 0 -10. For crying out loud, Hunter knows what an Octagon is! And Ethan proudly proclaims "Ti-rangle" when he sees a triangle! What's more impressive though is that they notice shapes and letters and numbers all over the place, not just while watching the videos. (Which, by the way, they request by name). "Mommy, letters?" , "Mommy Shapes?"

Case in point. Last night, I was snuggling Colton, holding him and gently swaying back and forth. We were standing near the couch, when suddenly and excitedly, Colton starts saying, "Seeckle", "Seeckle". It took me a minute to see what he was looking at, when I finally noticed where he was pointing.

The couch.

One of the kids' sippy cups had left an imprint in the suede of the couch and Colton noticed it was a "circle!" I love it!

I think I'm ready to start them on their sight words! (You think I'm joking?)

Just you wait...

www.preschoolprepco.com

Lots to say for such a little thing

Anytime people ask about the kids' language development, I often say we've got one speaking 1 or 2 word phrases, one speaking 2 and 3 words phrases and one speaking in sentences. But it occurred to me that years from now, I would not remember just how true that was. So I have decided to be better about recording the things they are saying at just a month shy of 2 and a half years old.

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This morning, almost immediately after being pulled out of her crib, Hunter says to me:

Hunter:

"Ohh! Fingoonayo Mommy. (fingernail)

Oh no! Fick it mommy? (fix it)

Mommy fickin the nayo Hunter?"

[Mommy clips the hangnail and files all edges smooth.]

Hunter:

Ow! Dat hurts! Ow, Mommy! {for the record, it did NOT hurt.}

Mommy:

I'm sorry Hunter.

Hunter:

I sowwy Mommy.

Mommy:

You don't have to be sorry, Hunter. Mommy's sorry I hurt you.

Hunter:

Mommy, paintin the nayo? Paintin the fingoonayo toes, mommy?

[Mommy paints Hunter's fingers and toes pink.]

Hunter:

Oooh. It's sho pitty mommy. (It's so pretty).

Hunter nayos sho pitty.

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At breakfast, the kids were all eating cereal and a pop tart. Hunter noticed that Colton had made quite a mess on the table and from the kitchen, I heard the following (mostly one way) conversation ensue.

Hunter:

Uh oh! Oh! Messy!

Mommy, need wash. Mommy? Need wash please. (nice manners, eh?)

[Mommy hands Hunter a wet rag and watches as she proceeds to wash the table in front of Colton.]

Hunter:

Mess! Oh Co-tin! Messy.

All done! Mommy I washing.

Mommy:

Good job, Hunter. Thanks for washing the mess.

Hunter:

All done Mommy! Put away?

[Brings the rag back to the sink, and goes back to the table.]

Hunter:

All done!

[Scoots Colton's chair away from the table.]

All done Co-tin (Colton)

E-tin all done? (Ethan)

Want get out? E-tin out of chair?

Want dwink E-tin?

Ooh. It's cold. Dwink is Cold.

[Gets both boys out of chairs.]

Kay boys. Come on boys.

We go outside.

Coming? Coming?

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Man, she sure is a busy body. Gotta love her.

As for me, thanks for all the concern. I feel a TON better today than I did yesterday. The kids were kind enough to sleep until 9:05 this morning, so that helped me get caught up on my own sleep. Here's hoping there's no coughing tonight. :)

Sick.

Me, that is. I'm gettin sick. I can't keep my eyes open, and it has been a week! So I'm off to bed. Sorry about the lack of blog. Hope your Friday went better than mine! Here's to you, Saturday!

Tid Bits

All I have time for tonight are a few endearing photos from the past week.

And all this time, I thought it was my mom who was being so kind and doing our laundry for us during the day! Now I know she was secretly making the kids do it!

From the laundry room...

Down the hallway,

Into the living room.

Really? Could I BE more impressed with their teamwork?

Taking time out from laundry to brush the chompers.

Ethan and GG (who will be 101 years old next month!). He likes to open the lid on a step stool in her room where these wooden bowling pins are stored. He brings them to her one at a time. And she is such a good sport and totally plays along!

Before I go to bed for the night, I always go in and check on the babies one last time.It is then that I usually have to pry their little arms and legs from the slats in their cribs, reposition them onto their pillows and cover them up with their blankets. The other night, I went in and found this in Hunter's crib.

She was all curled up at the other end of the crib and 'her baby' was sleeping like the Princess and the Pea on the triple layered bed Hunter made for her. She's such a good mommy. :)

And one of my favorite moments this week came when I poured myself a glass of wine in front of Hunter and she inquired, "Das Mommy's Juice?" Uh, yes? I suppose we could call it juice...grape juice? :)

That's all she wrote for now!

No time for words

I'm trying my hardest to get to bed in a single digit hour tonight (which leaves me 47 minutes to finish this blog, do all my school work and straighten up the house.) So I'll type fast.

There's a tiny part of me having baby fever...my sister is having her baby soon, my friend Anabelle just found out she is going to have a baby girl, my cousin Regan just had her baby girl, my friend Nicole's sister is pregnant, several teachers at school are pregnant, and I'm, well, not.

I know, I know. Get over it.

Okay, done.

I'll compromise. I'll look at photos of my babies were they were actually babies.

This blanket seems so small to me now. I can hardly fit one kid on it, which makes me remember just how small they once were. So small that they all fit on this little blanket.

And I love Colton's Fozzy Bear hair."

This photo was taken on Easter 2009, while they were still in the NICU.

Itty bitty babies

Little rolled sausages!

But now they're {almost} all grown up! I love that my mom does all kinds of activities with the kids while she watches them. The other day, I left her some paints and paintbrushes and the kids had art time. They LOVE to paint!

Such different painting styles...

Take that Picasso! Monet! And all you other fancy painter people!