Weeds and Roots

Things to add to the list-the list of interesting facts about me....You know, the one where I proclaimed to love blood and gore and shark attacks (AND fluffy bunnies). Well I'd like to add the degree to which I despise ventriloquism. And I mean DESPISE. I don't know why, really. I simply find it to be one of the most irritating, annoying 'hobbies' ever. My jaw gets all tense just watching people try to do ventriloquism. Yech...

Add to that, number 27: I LOVE to pull weeds. Almost as gratifying as vacuuming, but a little more work. I hate that they grow so rampant here, and I hate how much they love my backyard, but nonetheless, I love pulling them. Particularly after the monsoon rains when the rock hard ground is actually kind of soft.

After a loooong day at work yesterday, with my own classes and getting stuff ready for mine and my sister's classrooms, (yes, we'll get to that, soon). I came home to a slightly overcast sky, shockingly mild seeming temperature and 3 kids who were eager to play outside. So Brian and I pulled weeds while the kids played.

As with most things, before too long, I realize that we are joined by little "helpers." And who I am to deny any human being the pleasure of pulling weeds? Especially when those humans are my offspring whom I fully intend to use for their slave labor in years to come. :)

So we pulled. MOST of us pulled from the roots, OTHERS of us ripped the foliage off the tops leaving the root and stem. But hey, it's a start. The best part is that they adopted my trademark grunt when pulling particularly stubborn weeds. Hunter and Colton actually sit in the rocks to brace themselves and then pull with all their little mights while grunting their best grunts. They are hilarious. (Even funnier is how Hunter grunts for me anytime she sees me try to do anything that looks strenuous, like open a new jar of pickles, lift a new box of cat litter, etc.) She's so smart it's scary sometimes.

But I digress. May I just say how proud I was of how well they followed suit in my "weed pulling strategery" (yes, that's a Bunch Family word, much like "automagically." As in, "Just one day after pulling weeds, they seem to have automagically reappeared.") They began their weed pulling all willy nilly, pulling here and there and everywhere, but realized before long that mom actually had a plan. We pull weeds in grid like fashion. Start in one area and concentrate there until all the weeds in that section of your imaginary grid are gone. Then move on. So to assist them with this, we began counting. Each of us in the same little section counted to 10, (pull one weed for each number) and before we knew it, we had cleared a little section quite nicely! I must say, I was quite impressed with them!

I grabbed the camera to take some pictures of my wee gardeners and should have known that Hunter would want to take some of her own. Cameras are kind of 'her thing' right now, except rarely is she allowed to use a real one! So I let her take some photos. :) Enjoy. I deleted the ones of my butt and my chest and up my nose. You're welcome.

Welcome to Hunter's Photo Gallery

(I obviously took the last 2)

So we dealt with the weeds for a good solid hour and then decided to call it quits and deal with the roots. MY ROOTS. It has been more than 5 months since I'd dyed my hair and it was time. Unfortunately, they discontinued the color I've used for years which left me to purchase a similar color in a different brand. SCARY....Naturally I chose Friday night to do it so that we would have a full weekend to fix it if need be.

Yes, you should be afraid.

I figured if I drank enough wine, it wouldn't matter how it turned out. Right? :) Anyhoo, I do actually like the color, but I would be lying if I said I didn't notice the deep reddish/purple 'shine' you see particularly in bright light or sunlight. So pretty much anywhere. :) I know it'll tone down in a week or so, so in the meantime, it's okay if you look at me funny. I won't be offended.

And I'll leave you with these photos of my 'big' little girl who has mastered the art of wearing a bra. Just like her mommy, she is.

Sigh...they grow so fast.

Happy Saturday Friends!

I never saw it coming...

You people are so good to me! Pretending to tell me last night's blog actually counted AND was funny? Such good liars. That's why we're all friends. :) Then again, there was Charlotte who was mildly and refreshingly honest and agreed with me that it WAS a bit of a stretch. Oh, and there was follower #146 who apparently found last night's blog totally un-funny to the point that I am back to 145 followers. Oops. Oh well, can't please everybody all the time, right? I'll miss you #146 and hope you'll come back when I'm funny again.

So tonight, I am sitting on my comfy couch, amidst a big ol mess in the kitchen, coated in snot. Not mine, but my 3 babies'. They've all got colds and they're all grumpy. I'd say I'd like to know how it always happens that when one gets sick they're immediately ALL sick, but then I watch the toys that get passed from mouth to mouth and alas, the answer is as clear as the snot dripping down their faces.

My dad came to visit tonight and was greeted with 3 crying kids with nasty noses, fighting with each other and fighting for his attention. Good times. We do warm welcomes right, yes we do.

Well aside from his regular visit with the grand-babies, the other reason my dad was coming over was to deliver a present he'd gotten for me on his recent wedding/honeymoon trip. He found this great canvas painting which he said immediately reminded him of my feelings for my Bunchkins, and so, he got it for me. (Yay me!) I just think it's so neat and so well said. Not sure if I'll hang it in their playroom or put it in their soon to be "big kid bedroom". (Again.) Seems like it should go in their bedroom huh? Anyhoo, pictures to come....

So in the meantime, I'm going to go back to my list from last night and am finally going to visit #2 and then 3. (I'm hoping my guardian angel will be blowing me kisses while I sleep)...good night friends. I have sub plans to write...more on that to come.

All right people.

I REALLY want to get to numbers 2 and 3 but I got nothing for number 1, people. For real. I can't think of a darn thing to write about tonight. I've been sitting here for about an hour now, trying to be witty or clever or entertaining and all I can think about is how much I want to get to numbers 2 and 3. Mostly 3, actually. I might even be willing to skip #2. Furthermore, it's like torture watching Brian at the other end of the couch snoring away. TORTURE! So I'll leave you with a few tidbits of my Wednesday Wisdom...and then sign off:

Here are some things I learned today...

1. There are not enough hours in the day.

2. Falling off the slide onto the grass ends better than falling off onto the patio. Just ask Hunter.

3. The greetings I get when I get home from work ALMOST make working Full Time worth it.

4. If you don't duct tape it or put it in footie pajamas, it WILL take its diaper off and fling poop out of the crib.

5. 2 out of 3 kids will always eat a meal. There's always one who screws up your dinner plan. That one goes hungry.

6. Shark Week doesn't get old. Even though half the shows are from last year's season.

7. Sometimes you just have to post lame blogs.

So friends, after the day I've had on

I rounded the corner and found myself at the intersection of

and

So this teacher mama is going to sleep. Sorry for the lameness. Tomorrow will be better. I hope. :)

Water Babies

I won't say too much about it, because I'll start getting all "woe is me"y again, but in case you missed it, I went back to work full time.

Back to work full time means that I now spend twice as many waking hours with other people's kids than my own. That hurts my heart. But feeding them, clothing them and having gas in the car to drive them around IS actually kind of important, and as such, I went back to work so that we could do those things!

Luckily for me (and more so for my Bunchkins), my mom watches them and sends me videos and pictures all throughout the day of their various activities. Videos of them running naked through the sprinklers in the backyard, playing at the park, having tea parties for one, doing laundry, eating lunch, you name it, she shares it & I love it.

So here are photos from one of their adventures. We have a great little park within walking distance of our house and they often go there to play on the swings and slides. It was so darn hot on this particular occasion that they turned it into a water day by dumping bottles of water on their heads! I just love the joy on their faces. Sheer bliss to see your kids loving life...

A girl can never be too prepared for the park. Just like her mommy, the purse goes everywhere. More than likely, she's got a spatula, some applesauce, 8 diapers, scissors, toys, and 12 pens in there. You know, just like mommy's. :)

Pouring bottles of water on their heads!

Good times, good times..

Love Letters for Ethan

Ethan,

Baby C,

Ethan Bear,

Littlest boy,

My baby.

This post is about you!

Those who know the trio personally know that Ethan is a charmer. He had classic good lucks from the day he was born. He's got eyelashes a mile long and a giggle to boot. He hugs the longest, kisses the best and his sweet little voice could just melt you. (That is, when he's not screaming.) He's also a boy of very few words. Sure he talks, and sure, he's learning more constantly, but compared to his brother and sister, he is a dude of very few words.

Ethan is on his own timetable, kind of always has been. He hit all of his milestones last. We worried that he would never roll over, and then that he'd never sit up, or crawl, but by the time it came to walking, etc., we had him all figured out. We stopped worrying because we knew he'd get there...on HIS time. Such is the case with his speech. But as with everything, every now and again, you get a surprise.

The big thing in their world right now is language and speech. Interestingly, our triplets seem to represent all ends of the speech spectrum. We have Hunter speaking in sentences, Colton using mostly 2 and 3 word phrases and Ethan concentrates on one but is now venturing into 2-3 word phrases. To be totally honest with you, the only reason I even mildly care about their speech is that we are on somewhat heightened alert because of Colton's cleft lip and palate and how it may affect his speech. So he and I see a speech pathologist at CRS where the rest of his cleft lip/palate team reside. If it wasn't for that, I really doubt we'd even be talking about actual development, but rather we'd be simply enjoying the big and little progresses each kid is making.

And this blog is about one of those big progresses...Ethan's, to be exact.

The other day, Ethan brought me a book and nestled his little self into my lap where I sat criss cross on the couch. I read him the title (as all good kindergarten teacher mommies do) "Whoops", and before I could turn the page, his grubby little finger was pointing to the 'O' and his little tiny voice was saying /O/. And then he pointed to the other 'O' and again said '/O/.

At this point I'm saying "Good job Ethan! You found the O's! (All the while, I'm very surprised that he even knows the letter O, but I'm attributing it to the fact that we always talk about O when we spell Colton's name. )

As I go to turn the page again, that little finger stops me once more, as it heads to the fine print at the bottom of the page in the sentence, "A Happy Bugs Sparkle Book" by Jane Edgecomb and Noeline Cassettari.

Well son of a gun, wouldn't you know it? He found all the little o's in those words too! Again I praise him because really, I'm totally floored.

But then, I hear that little voice say, "dubba you", "pee", "eth", "eye". Stop me dead in my tracks why don't you, Ethan. He knew all the letters in the title! (I'm giving him credit for the exclamation point which he called 'i', cuz really? It looks like an 'i' when you're 2. And are standing on your head.

So I of course, am totally beaming! That's 6 letters for my little boy whom I've barely heard speak real words on a terribly frequent basis.

Well, it got better. My mom and Al recently built the kids a new kiddie table upon which they put ABC stickers in random fashion all over the table top.

As I picked the kids up the other day after work, we thought it would be fun to "quiz" Ethan again. So we'd point to a letter and say, "What's that?" And at least 12 times, he responded correctly!

Now fast forward to Friday night. Our friends the Pearsons came over to play, (and maybe have a drink) and work on our classroom websites. At one point, with both of our laptops out, and Ethan making his way into my lap, I decided to open up a keynote presentation of the letters of the alphabet. It's the tool I use to test my kindergartners on their letters, basically one letter on each page, out of order.

One slide at a time, I showed it to Ethan, and letter after letter after letter, he recited correctly. 21 out of 26 capital letters correct! And the ones he got wrong? For V, he says Y, U he says W, etc. I repeated the quiz with the lower case letters and he got about 13 out of 26 correct and is now up to about 16 out of 26 lower case letters correct!

Can you just tell how proud I am of him?

So you wanna know how he did it? And no, I am not getting paid to say this. I just really believe in the product so I wanna share it.

About a year ago, my friend Anabelle loaned me some videos called "Meet the Letters, Meet the Numbers, Meet the Colors, and Meet the Shapes." They are nothing fancy, and the simplicity is almost unbelievable. And yet, they sit and watch these videos almost as intently as they watch Toy Story.

(This is them, glued to Meet the Numbers)

And boy, are they are learning. Not just their letters. He knows shapes, numbers and a few colors. The claim on the product states that "A study of over 50 babies and toddler, who watched Meet the Letters, resulted in over 90% of these children having complete upper and lowercase letter recognition by or before the end of the two month study. Many learned their letters in less than two weeks."

I realize the proof is in the pudding and I'm going to try and videotape him doing it, but I'll be darned if I can get a video to post to my blog...it hasn't worked for me in about a year....

Anyhoo, if you want to check out these videos for your kids aged 9 months to 5 years, go to www.preschoolprepco.com.

Ethan Bear, your WHOLE family is so stinkin proud of you...the sleeping giant...that's you. Quietly observing the world around you and then BAM! There you are knowing all kinds of stuff...what's next? The Periodic Table of Elements?

Love you, baby boy. :)

(Now, just in case you thought that was too boastful a post, I'll go ahead and tell you that after naps today, I walked into their nursery and there was my smart Ethan, butt naked from the waist down, his poop on the floor, smiling proudly.) There. Back to reality. :)

Day 2...CHECK!