Shut the Front Door!

Last week-Baskin Robbins.

This week-The Mall. 

Brian needed a couple of dress shirts so rather than just go solo, you know, in peace and quiet, at his own pace, with the ability to look wherever he wants for however long he wants, he invited us.  :) 

His little home zoo. 

They were awesome! There was no stroller involved (it was at home) so they were FREE! But they do so well nowadays staying together. 

Here they are perusing Dillard's.

 Hunter is shopping for some gloves. She must be anticipating a cold winter. 

You can never go wrong with mirrors. They were so funny. 

 She's wondering why she can't see him in her mirror and he's wondering where she is in his mirror. Funny  kids. 

Peek-a-boo around the circular shirt display! 

Next Stop? "The Finish Line"

They crack me up, because they refer to all benches as "couches". 

"Mama? I sit on the couch?" 

And then they parted ways and each found his own couch! 

Ethan's couch

Colton's couch on the left and Hunter's couch on the right. 

New Shoes? Nah. Not today. 

Yes, I made them pose on another 'couch' just outside the mall....will they ever all be looking at the camera at the same time ever again? 

Another good outing! 

Now, moving on to our next topic.

 If you are easily grossed out or are squeamish, you are free to skip this next photo. 

I'm really only blogging it because doesn't everyone need photographic proof of this type of thing? 

Hunter has woken up from naptime with a bloody nose. I sat her up on my bathroom counter and we wiped the blood off her face. I had no Q-Tips up there to swipe the inside of her nose to really clean her up, so we proceeded to go downstairs. She played for a little while and then I noticed her nose was starting to look "drippy" again. So I got some Q-Tips, wet them and started swiping the inside of her nostril. I could tell she had some major coagulation goin on in there and that we were going to need a tissue.  I grabbed a paper towel and held it to her nose. "Blow, Hunter." 

And that she did. Right into my tissue. 

(She's very good at blowing her n nose.)

And lots of blood came out as WELL as this....

In case you need some help here-That's blood and that black ring is a rubber elastic for her hair! Good times, folks. I'm only unsure about whether it went in through the ol' nostril or if she swallowed it and then somehow aspirated it back up through her throat and nose? Is that even possible? WHO KNOWS?! Either way, don't all parents wonder what things their children put in their noses.  :) I actually thought it was the first time she has done this, but as I sit here, I am remembering that it  was Hunter who jammed a vanilla yogurt covered raisin up her nose a year ago or so.

I can only wonder who and what will be next. 

And then there's THIS! "Shut the Front Door" are the exact words that left my mouth when I first saw it! I just KNEW IT! I knew it was something everyone hoped and wished for! In my most recent Toys R book,  I see this! 

And now, in case you  are blind like I am....

 Triplets! This is hilarious!! I may have to get some! 

Oh right, I already have some!  :) 

What's your flavor?

As Baskin Robbins' goes, I'm a Cherries Jubilee kinda girl. 

Have been for at least 15 years. 

I'm not sure whose tastebuds I inherited, because I can confidently assert that both my mom and dad (and even my sister, for that matter)  almost always lean toward the chocolate-ish flavors while I always lean towards the fruity ones. (With the exception of say, a raspberry-swirled-chocolate. That IS something my mom might get. Okay, and she does love a good strawberry cheesecake.) 

And then there's Brian. I've often thought maybe I inherited HIS dad's taste buds. Over the years, I've discovered that he and I have many common food loves....cherry pie being one of them. (Hence, the cherries jubilee.)

Brian? Not so much. He's a mint chocolate chip kinda guy. "Fruit doesn't go in ice cream," he'd say.

So the question remains- Whose taste buds will our kids inherit?

For now, it doesn't matter because I pick for them! And tonight screamed Rainbow Sherbet all around! 

So, anyhoo, there was no occasion for this outing. 

Just a dad realizing that he often comes home from work so late that he misses out on the fun stuff. So he made a deal with his little girl the night before, that we would go get ice cream when he got home. I'm sure by now you don't need me to tell you that she remembered. 

 About 12 times that day, she remembered. 

So here we were. On an ice cream date with their daddy. (And me too.)  :) 

Much like I might window shop at Bloomingdales in NYC....

"The Boys," as Hunter refers to them. 

This face...I love this face. She's such a squirt. 

And this face...

And this face...

And this face. 

AND this face! 

The fam. Thank  you nice stranger lady for taking our picture. 

Such the ham, he is. 

Playing 'guess which hand it's in," with Daddy.

My little girl and me

These next two photos are two of my favorites I've taken in a long time. For one thing, the fact that they orchestrated the two photos so perfectly reminds me that she's not a baby anymore. She is a little human and she 'gets' us. It's such a weird feeling to be able to talk to your 'baby' and say, "Okay, now put your hand like this, and don't smile." And then say, "okay this time, let's smile." It's sort of surreal, really. 

So here they are. 

Don't smile....

Smile!  

Hunter Olivia, you are such a precious little thing. 

And you boys...so rough and tumble. Could you be any sweeter? Watch the interaction between these two. They kept holding hands and then they'd fling their hands in the air and then do it again. 

Then Dad suggested "knuckles"

I believe there was even a Lightning McQue.en inspired "Ka-CHOW" at the conclusion of this "fist bump." 

This was a great little outing with my little family. 

The ice cream was simply a bonus.  :-)

On Hunting, Ice Capades & Poor Parenting.

So as it turns out, there's a little Hunter in all of us. 

Some of us hunt deer, elk, javelina...

Some of us hunt for deals at Target, 

and the three wee ones hunt for flies. 

Oh yes. Fly hunting has become an actual sport in this house the past few days. 

There's fly sighting....with the littles calling out actual fly locations for the others.

"Dhere. Dhere he is. Quick! Get im. Dhere he goes!"

And there's stalking...with actual children crouching at the knees lurking through the house, fly swatters in hand, peering around corners in true hunter fashion. 

And then there's the killing. There is some serious stark-raving-mad waving of fly swatters in the air, on the cupboards, on the floor, etc. in the same frantic, even spastic fashion-just like their father does it, by the way.  I may or may not be leading that charge with my very own red swatter...

And then there's the celebrations after the kill. 

"Good job, mommy! You got im! You got dat fwy!"

What then follows is freaking hilarious. As if they've immediately forgotten that they JUST cheered ME on for killing the fly, I accidentally-on-purpose fling it so that it lands on the floor in front of them.  And at the very moment that it lands, I say "There he is! Get him! Get him!"  And just like crazy people, that dead fly gets deader and deader and deader as it its guts get squished between the grates of a pink, a green AND a blue fly swatter. Poor flies. They never see it coming. 

The kill.  

Examining the fly carcass. 

Know what else I have pictures of?  Adults dressed like Toys skating around an ice rink while mesmerized toddlers stare in awe. 

I am of course talking about Dis.ney's Toy Stor.y on Ice.

Have I mentioned how much I love my kids? 

They are so crazy sometimes, 

so sassy other times, 

so mischievous most of the time, 

but so darn cute all of the time.

{I'm their mom, what can I say?} 

There was a troop of us. I mean a troop besides just MY troop. My dad and Genise, my good friend and resident Bunchkin sitter, Niki, and the Pearsons- Anabelle, Brian and Jaxon. We all headed out with half of Tucson to the opening night of Toy Story on Ice! 

The cool mother that I am dressed my kids in matching 'Curious George' T-Shirts. Why? Um, I'm not sure really. I guess partly because I couldn't find 3 Toy Story T-Shirts in the sizes I needed  and partly because these shirts were long sleeved, brightly colored and in the right size. And cute to boot.

Aside from Halloween, I don't know that I've ever dressed them the same but there's definitely something to be said for quickly identifying your 3 kids in a big crowd, when you only have to look for one outfit. Alas, here we are. 

My little family.  

Niki and 2/3 of the Bunchkins. 

Niki, Brian and a different 2/3. 

Colton and me

Temptation is rough. 

But I didn't buy myself anything. {hee hee}

We didn't buy them anything, either.

Because they really didn't need it. 

And much to my surprise, they didn't even throw a fit. 

Probably because standing at the top of the arena looking down was mesmerizing enough all by itself. 

That little girl's head is the little girl who sat right in front of me. In front of her? Yeah, that's the ice. For real. The kids LOVED being able to see everything so close up. 

Brian and Ethan

Genise, my dad and Colton

I couldn't NOT smile watching them watch the show. 

I was sitting there thinking about all the times we went to the Ice Capades as kids. 

It's all so magical when you're this little. 

Best seat in the house. 

Though Ethan also seemed to enjoy watching the show from this vantage point. Crazy kid. 

And there was popcorn. 

Yummy buckets of $10 popcorn. 

Which promptly fell straight to the floor only minutes after we bought it. 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? 

Now just try and contain yourselves. I, Ami Bunch, mother of triplets confess to letting my kids (and maybe even my friend's kid) eat popcorn off the floor. 

Yep. I said it. 

I tried to detract them, I did. 

But they were like flies to sh#@.

It was 4 against 1 and frankly, that was a battle I did not care to fight at that moment. 

So I just let it go. 

I mean honestly, they eat crap off our floors all the time. 

Please, try to contain your disgust for a moment because the best part came when the young dad up and  behind us tried to get my attention and then proceeded to point to the kids eating the popcorn off the ground. 

I smiled politely and just kind of nodded my head nonchalantly {knowing full well what he was pointing for}. 

Somewhat distressed, he points again and this time adds some urgent sign language for 'eat' to let me know that the kids are EATING the popcorn off the FLOOR.

{Cuz surely I must not have seen it right?} 

Imagine his horror when I smiled back and said, "Yes, I know. I'm okay with it." 

And then he smiled an awkward smile, and actually laughed a bit. (Probably in disbelief, but in MY mind, he's thinking, "You're so COOL. I only WISH my wife were as easy going as you. I wish MY kid could eat popcorn off the ground.") 

Yeah. That's how the story will go when I tell it from now on. 

Besides, whose stupid idea was it to give my kids a freaking 25 minute intersession?

 That's totally asking for trouble. 

Maybe I should've been embarrassed that my kids know as much about Toy Story as they do, but I wasn't. I was proud as they called out every character's name like they were beckoning their best friends to come over by them! 

Thanks for the fun!  

There were some happy little kids tonight... 

Good memories made, for sure. 

And just think, someday, they'll be taking their own kids to some new age Ice Capades show and they'll remember this moment....

Isn't it great to be a kid?