Playin' at the Park

One of the downfalls to having triplets is that until they reach a certain age, you can't "just go" to the park. Because they're like cats - crazy, fast, rascally, disobedient, little cats. And keeping them all in your sights at a park is like herding cats. So I don't go to places like that alone. Yet. In good time, I will. But for now, we're just glad that Aunt Mary is right around the corner and is always ready and willing to help with the herd.

Conveniently, there's a quaint little park just behind our neighborhood and it's never really that busy and has a fun play structure for the kids!

So we made some lunches, and then hit the park! We had a little picnic and then mid-way through lunch, the kids decided they were ready to play! Sayonara peanut butter and jelly! We've got some playing to do!

See that giant cattle gate right there? Yeah, Ethan ran SMACK into it. It didn't go well.

And somehow, when I wasn't looking, my kids grew up. They learned how to climb up, and go down the slide ALL THEIR BUH-SELVES.

Sniff..sniff....

Honest to God, I could feel my heart swelling with pride as their little arms and legs climbed the rungs to big boy and girl-hood!

And they were SO excited to find bleachers again!

If you recall, they found bleachers with Nana and Papa Bunch not too long ago so this was extra exciting for them!

Run pregnant lady, run! Ah ha ha!!

Watching Hunter run is about the funniest thing I've ever seen. That girl's got a spring in her step for sure!

She was consoling Ethan because he was mad that I pulled him away from the water fountain. (There was a bee following us, what was I to do? )

Bye Bye Park! See you again!

Brisk Blue

I can probably count on 2 hands the number of times in my life I've gotten a pedicure from an actual salon. I'm more the "do-it-yourself" kinda girl. Much like my hair...I've never actually had my hair professionally dyed before either. I always do it myself.

As polishes go, I'm typically a pink or red kinda girl. But you see, Brian bought Hunter pink, purple AND blue nail polish for her Christmas Stocking, and the blue just sits there, all by itself, in the medicine cabinet, full of sorrow and loneliness as its pink and purple counterparts consistently get taken out and swiped over little tiny nails.

So fine. I'm a sucker (even for an inanimate bottle of blue nail polish). I decided to give myself a shabby pedicure yesterday. Aside from the fact that I'm entirely unsure why I'm posting pictures of my feet on this blog, I thought I'd show you my blue toes! (Interestingly, the last time my toes were painted blue was also the last time I posted a picture of my feet...my ankles were the size of tree trunks and I was just weeks away from meeting the trio. )

Anyway, because I can't do anything alone anymore, ever, it was only moments after I painted the first toe that I realized I had little helpers. Colton, who had "pretend painted" my toenails just yesterday with a tightly closed bottle of pink polish, was curious about the real process.... As you can see, he's pointing out my mistakes. He's a perfectionist, you know.
But Hunter. Oh, little Hunter. She's a girl after my own heart. And if you recall, she's always been a polished fashionista from her earliest days.... She's so darn smart...she was watching intently as I painted my toes, glancing up at me every so often saying, "toes?" "feet?" And then she grabbed the bottle of paint and I knew what she wanted to do.

I silently debated whether or not to indulge her innocent request at the expense of what would certainly be a mess or deny her entirely at the cost of listening to her dejected cries.

Well, she won. I knew how badly she wanted to be "like mommy" and it certainly wouldn't be the worst mess I'd ever cleaned up, so...I got a paper towel and handed her the brush. She is truly irresistible to me.

So we're still working on our fine motor skills. She's close, right?

She's so proud of herself. And look who's in line for his pedicure next! Mr. Colton.

Ethan, on the other hand is not lovin that Hunter ALSO wants to paint his toenails.

Or his feet. As it would be.

Yeah, she just tasted nail polish. (And for the record, let's all be very clear that I had JUST taken her piggies of power out of her hair, which is why her hair looks so lovely..)

Uh, a little lower Hunter.

Poor Ethan.

And this is what happened when I finally pried the polish from her little hands.

"But I wasn't done yet, mommy!"

Uh, yeah you are, little one.

But, like a good mommy, I wore my beautifully painted toenail polish all night and all the next day!

In fact, as I sit here writing this blog, there, my "Brisk Blue" Smurf toes sit, staring back at me.

Gotta love it.

Day 3 Done. 28 to go.

Titles

Titles. I've had lots of 'em.

Sister,

Daughter,

Student,

Friend,

"Miss/Hey you/Ma'am" (all used during my days as a flight attendant),

Hottest girlfriend ever, :)

"Teacher, Teacher, Teacher",

Miss Daniels,

Mrs. Bunch,

hottest wife ever, :)

and most recently, Mom.

Yeppers. It is my favorite title of all.

Then in 2007, my sister got married and I gained another title.

Sister-in-law.

This is my brother in law, Emilio and my sister, Mary.

Well, they must know how much I value my many titles,

because they gave me another one.

AUNT AMI!

(Can I get a woot-woot?!)

This is a picture of my niece or nephew who will be joining the crazy family on

September 4th, 2011

Look! He/She is waving to me! hee hee...

I am so excited! I've loved being a mom more than anything else. But I have also been a firsthand witness to how important Aunts are. And all I know is that I have some pretty big Auntie Shoes to fill! But I'm ready and up for the challenge! I can't wait to meet you little one!

And for the record, Hunter wanted me to tell you all she hopes it's a girl.

She gets enough of boys every day. :)

In a word...

You don't have to tell me. I KNOW. I've been M.I.A. (But M.I.A. from my lovely blog just means that I was P.I.A. {Present In Action} in my REAL life. ) And we are busy, busy, busy people, let me tell ya.

But, because I'm having a moment of "blog-neglect guilt", I have decided to put back on that crazy 'blogger-momma hat' that I tossed up onto that dusty shelf in my closet on the last day of November after I hit "publish" for the 31st day that month, congratulating myself with a hefty sigh and a big "hell yeah!"

So here I go again. Crazy hat-on. A blog a day in March. Because I love you.

So the theme for March's blog-a-day is "IN A WORD." So here we go...in a word?

CURIOUS

That is how I would describe each of my kids' take on the day's activity.

Because today we tried something new.

We've mastered crayons.

We LOVE painting.

We'd never tried chalk before....

And when I see 6 sticks of sidewalk chalk in the dollar section at Target, how can I NOT bring them home? So I handed them to the kids to see what they thought of my brilliant idea!

Once it was clear that it was not a snack, they started experimenting.

They needed a little demonstration first to understand the power of the chalk, so Aunt Mary and I started drawing and writing, and soon they understood that chalk is really like giant crayons!

Here I said, "Hunter, I'd like you to write the letter that comes after W" and look what she did! She's brilliant!

(okay, that might not be an entirely true story...)

Note to self:

On future chalk occasions, do not dress your kids in dark colors from head to toe.

Dropped some chalk down his pant leg.

Rockin the chalk AND her sparkly new flip flops. (or "thoos" as she calls them.)

But let's review Colton's "thoo" choice. Apparently he loves ALL his shoes so much that he wants to wear all of them. Together. On the same day. And trust me when I tell you that I tried to reason with him that maybe we should switch one of the shoes, and he was not having it. He picked these two and that's what he wore!

Aside from just scribbling, Colton actually attempted to "trace" the lines that Aunt Mary drew on the sidewalk, which, interestingly he also does with crayons. He likes to trace his name or other shapes I draw.

Time out from chalk to take a quick jump on the trampoline....

And get mad. About something.

Ethan is trying to make a break for it....

Uh, Hunter? I thought we clarified that it is NOT a snack. :)

I know this is only fascinating to me and my family, but I posted this picture simply because of how eerily similar she is to me at this age. Genetics are amazing.

Yep...there's them "thoos" again...

And little Mother Hunter...always cleaning up after everyone.

And that, in another word is FUN.

Go run to Target and get your wee ones some sidewalk chalk!

Day 1. Done.

Happy March, my friends.