Advent

This year we decided to attempt doing Advent with the kiddos.  What is Advent?  I am still learning but it appears to be a daily bible study that takes place Dec 1-25 and takes you through the Bible and God's story.

We have been using a free version I was able to download from Austin Stone Community Church.  It has a reading plan along with little pictures that relate to the story that the kiddos can color.  You can get it here!

Another great thing about this Advent study is it provides not only the readings in the Bible but also gives page numbers for the same story in The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones.  It's a great children's Bible!  We bought these for our kids this year for Christmas. When we found out the Advent we downloaded used it we let them open a Christmas gift early.

So far the kids have enjoyed reading their Bibles...even though we end up having to paraphrase the stories because their attention span is so short.  They are excited to get their Bible every night, look at the pictures, and find out what picture they get to color that night.  Here are a few examples of what they get to color and of course it goes right on the fridge.

2 years and 10 months of ..... craziness

So today...I was vacuuming out the van (which should be done on a daily basis but really happens every other month or three) and the kids were playing in the driveway.  I hop out of the van and make sure all were accounted for.  There's Presley, Keegan is over there and ..Ashton...Ashton?   I walk around to the front of the van and find Ashton...butt naked.  Why in the world are his pants and undies off?? Then he starts waving his undies around over the grass and poop starts to fly out.  Yea he is still hit and miss with the pooping in the potty thing.  At least he is a go getter and took care of it himself right?  Ugh...glad no one was around to see this.  Gotta love boys.

Driving home from our playdate and Walmart Presley zonks out pretty quick.  Ashton is crying/whining "hold me mommy...hold me"  with his eyes close until he finally falls asleep 5 minutes away from home.  Keegan is playing with his little plush cookie monster.  "Here is a chip Cookie Monster...its spicy.  Ohh Cookie Monster I told you so!  It's spicy!  It's ok {gives Cookie Monster hug}.  No hitting Cookie Monster!!!  BAD BOY!  You go to time out!  Not hit!"  And he continues to play and talk to Cookie Monster.  I think it is the cutest thing when Keegan pretend plays with his toys...pretty sure I could watch it all day.

My children somehow find their DVDs and get them out and play with them...frisbee, throwing, sliding, ect.  I have told them until I blue in the face "YOU ARE RUINING YOUR CARTOONS!" We don't have cable so we rely on DVDs and Netflix. Well today we were going to watch Mickey, but once I grabbed the DVD from the mantle ABOVE the fireplace I noticed it was split in half....pretty sure it wasn't like that when I put it up there.  REALLY?!? Ugh these kids.  We settle for Dora.  I was cleaning the kitchen when the kids started to say "Dora is freezing"  Must be a Dora in the winter right? Wrong!!!!  Dora now skips and pauses at the end.  I looked at them and said "Oh no!  What are we going to do?"  Presley looked at me and threw her hands in the air with a shocked face.  She then got a real sad look on her face and fell to the ground in a little ball.  A few seconds later she jumped up laughing.  Oh the actress she is.

Keegan

Ashton

 

Presley

 

Two and a half craziness!

Yea the kids are not bed trained...I'll be tyring that again soon....HOWEVER...They are potty trained!!!  Yup all of them!  Take that!  Ok Presley and Ashton aren't 100%....but they go most of the time!

They have recently gotten into coloring.  Which I'm okay with!!  I don't mind them sitting at the table for a few minutes at a time and give me a break.  We have been doing lots of fun things this summer...like the splash pad, playgrounds, we have a new little play area in our backyard that is sticker free, playing with our neighbor Maxx who is 7 months younger, and other random fun.

Keith switched the kids playroom and bedroom....it has been interesting.  I can't decide if I like it or not.  The kids have been helping a lot more around the house.  With what?

-They put their shoes away
-Laundry (they put it in the dryer and washer for me and starting to "help" fold)
-Put their dishes in the sink
-Cleaning up their spot at the table (They now sit in the adult seats...not more high chairs!)
-Helping empty the dishwasher
-Cleaning up their toys
-"Making" their bed
- Putting their dirty clothes in the hamper

Yes I am putting these kids to work!!  In August I am going to start a chore chart because they fight over doing different things (laundry, dishes, feeding the dog and cat)

Ashton has become a big boy.  He will dress and undress himself and won't let you help.  I'm okay with that.  He has also become our best picking up the toys helper.

Keegan has become more insistent with things he wants...even if it makes no sense and when he doesn't get it...we hear about it....loudly.

Presley has also become very picky about what she wears...I pick something out and she says "NO!" and then proceeds to tell me which outfit she wants to wear.  Sometimes she gets her way sometimes she doesn't

Ok here are a few recent pictures thank you to Monica Smart

28 months ( well almost)

Its been a while..guess I better post!  I blame the kids ... they never give me a moment to sit down.

Lets see....last you heard Presley and Ashton were starting to escape their beds....well we ended up taking the side off the crib...and now we never get a full nights rest.  Now that the kiddos are not contained they come into our room in the middle of the night crying and get in our bed.  I know..I know...I am supposed to take them back to their bed...and we did that for a few months...and then it got hard.  WHY?  Well because when you have 3 kids sleeping in the same room and one wakes up and you tick that child off by putting them back in their bed they throw a fit.  A loud fit.  Loud enough to wake everyone up and then they all want in your bed.  And then you are a peewee quarterback with a UT team charging toward you (yea that's right UT) and your night is shot.  SOOO we gave in and yours truly ends up on the couch a few nights a week...which actually means I get a good nights rest not sandwiched in between the 2 boys.  Also its funny...Presley always goes to Keith's side and the boys to mine.

That is probably our biggest challenge right now...I am hoping to tackle it and get the kids trained to stay in their beds next week...or maybe the week after.

Other than that we have three 2 year olds.  The good and the bad.  I hear from 90% of parents that 3's are a lot worse...I am going to be in denial about that and pretend that's not true and won't be for ours.  I don't know if I can take worse....its just the whining and fit throwing that drive me CRAZY!

The kids are starting to play with each other by themselves....they don't do it a lot (with me around) anyway.  The love to climb on me and always want me to hold them!  I am having to get tough with them.  They are starting to pretend play which is fun.

Presley is still the smallest one...she is just petite but has a big personality.  Everywhere we go everyone asks "Are they twins?"....and then they are shocked when I say "No, they are triplets."  Presley isn't that much smaller but I guess triplets isn't super common.  Presley is the best at sleeping in her bed all night.  She loves to dance and really loves to jump.  She is super friendly.  Everytiem we go to the park she makes a friend to play with.  The other day on the way to the park we had this conversation:
Pres: I want girls to be at the park
Me: Why?
Pres:  I want to play with girls and Keegan and Ashton to play with boys
Me: You don't want to play with boys?
Pres: NO!  Girls!

She got her wish today and made a friends named Paisley

Keegan is still so laid back and chill.  He will go and play by himself forever.  Until someone ticks him off.  Then the demon comes out.  He will scream so loud it hurts my ears.  If he is really tired or hungry he is inconsolable.    It really is ridiculous.  But that happens maybe 10% off the time..if that.  Otherwise we have happy Keegan.  He is the only one potty trained!!  We have the little potty chairs and he will just go when he has too and he usually dumps out his potty and flushes it.  I kinda like that he does that although it can be messy....he doesn't have the steadiest hand.  Keegan is also the most polite.  He says Thank You, Please, and your welcome...the most without being reminded.  Gold star for him.

Ashton is crafty...he gets into everything!!  Right now is favorite thing is to open the fridge...which is helpful sometimes...and other times not so much.  He is also the instigator.  He loves to take toys away, throw them, and slap.  He spends the most time in time out.  But he is good about going to time out, saying yes sir/maam and sorry.  He also thinks everything is funny and loves to laugh.  He has the deep belly laugh and laughs often!! I love this about him.

They all love to race and run around the house...well until the run into each other.  That's not so fun.

They love to pretend to go "shopping" and like to pretend to leave sayings their  "bye's and love you's" to everyone.

They love to help...dust, empty their stuff out of the dishwasher, laundry, get stuff out of the fridge for me, picking up toys (we are still working on this).

I will have to post some pics later when I figure out how to from my phone.  Thats all I use now!  Probably should stop that and use a real camera.

Escape Artists

I have not one but two escape artist that roam my home.  These two are mischievous, relentless, and conniving.

Presley and Ashton love to escape from their fortress of sleep.  Their crib.  They love to do it when I lay them down for their nap.  Sure they lay down fairly easy and look so cute and sleepy.  Once I close their door I excitedly flop on the couch, and turn on last nights favorite show that I missed...due to the escape of last night.  A few minutes after my show has started I hear laughter, banging, and crying.  Oye...I walk back to their room and there are Presley and Ashton pulling all their clothes out of their dresser and fighting over the pumpkin pj top.  Keegan is meanwhile standing up in his crib laughing at the two goobers.  After about 30 minutes of laying them back down they finally give up and fall asleep.

This same exact thing happens every night.  Presley gives up pretty easy though due to extreme tiredness.

I usually leave their bedroom door cracked at night now.  Why?

For ASHTON who will get up during the night or early morning hours.  Instead of him waking the others up he can tiptoe into our room.  Come to me with his two bears and wake me up.  He usually climbs in bed with me and wiggles and wallows until we are both wide awake!

Oh what to do.  Soon it will be three.

Case of the missing poo

Yesterday I was cleaning up the kitchen as I do a million times a day.  Ashton walks in saying "diapa?".  I look down, to my surprise he is diaperless.  This happens often so I wasn't too surprised.  I rushed to the playroom to find his diaper before he does his business on the floor.  To my horror I find his diaper hidden...with poo residue on it.  Then I see his hiney...poo residue.  But I can not find the poo!

I search the playroom over!  Looking in toys, behind toys, under toys, in cracks (no pun intended).  Nothing, no smell no evidence of poo.  I then look in every other possible room it could be in.  Nothing.  I ask Ashton..."where is your poo poo?".  Nothing.  I tell Mercy (our dog) "Go find the poo poo!"  Nothing.

I come to the conclusion maybe he didn't have a poo poo...just a little leakage?  And we go about our day.

THIS MORNING
(SVU dun dun sound here)

I am changing Keegans diaper.  I notice Mercy is chewing on something...brown...

EWW  its the missing poo!!

Case solved and a little grossed out.

20.5 Months---oye

Keith asked me the other night why I haven't posted in so long....silly question I know.  These children keep me busy!!  Let me try and update the best I can while they are napping.

Keith has settled into his new job here at Clyde and is about to start basketball season...which means we won't see him very much for a few months.  I have started a new business as a consultant for Tastefully Simple (gourmet food made simply)  You can check out my website HERE I am always looking for new customers, party hosts, and new consultants!  Ok my plug is over.  But really I LOVE selling Tastefully Simple, its fun and easy.  It does keep me busy too....a fun busy.

The kids are all healthy and doing well.

Ashton carries a giant bear around with him everywhere!  He loves it.  It's pretty cute.  He has also begun to throw fits and want to be held all the time.  This doesn't work so well when you have triplets.  Ashton is also talking a lot...especially about his bear!  He is excited about Trick or Treating this year and is going to be ... a bear!!

Keegan is still so sweet.  He doesn't through tantrums often except when he is extremely tired...and there is no calming him down when they happen.  Good thing they happen rarely.  He LOVES shoes still.  First thing in the morning he likes to put shoes on...whether they match or not...or even if they are on the wrong feet.  Try and take them off and he will let you know how he feels about that.  He is still really good at playing by himself and keeping himself entertained.  I have found that Keegan loves sweets...he has mommies taste buds.  For Halloween this year he is going to be a puppy!

Presley is a monkey and an entertainer.  Today when we were leaving a small store she said "bye" to everyone and waved.  When music comes on she busts out with her moves and sings.  She loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  Presley is still very attached to her elephant.  If she sees you put it into the washer (which you have to alot because she sucks on it) she flips out and full on tantrum begins.  She has also starting throwing awful tantrums.  Time out has been very affective for her and Ashton.  We put them in the corner of the hall and tell them they can get up when they are done screaming.  Sometimes it takes seconds...sometimes 10 minutes.  But it works and its safe.  Presley is so friendly I think she will really enjoy trick or treating.  She is going to be a cat!!

There is probably so much more I could tell you...but I just got done handling a few tantrums and my brain is fried.  If you have questions or want to know more about something feel free to leave a comment!

The kids have been spending their Thursdays at Mother Day Out at a church in Abilene.  I think it is good for them and great for me!  LOL.  Today they had a Halloween parade where they got to dress up and go around getting candy from Church volunteers.  I took a few pictures.  Forgive me but these are probably the only picture I have.  You can look at more if we are friends on facebook!