Spring Has Sprung!

The signs of spring are all around us finally! The other day we played outside for hours and it was wonderful. We ate popsicles and played with bubbles!

Chase

Ty

Jackson

Tyler sharing with Chase

The flowers that Tyler helped me plant last fall are even up and blooming now! Here's "farmer Ty" standing proudly next to the first flowers to pop open!

Today is room make-over day here. Tonight we're hoping to switch the boys to their toddler beds, but first we're transforming their room from  a baby room to a toddler room! The big reveal will happen on Monday morning, or Sunday if I'm too excited and can't wait. Oh, it may even happen tomorrow. We'll just have to see. Fingers crossed that the boys do well in beds! We haven't had any climbing out of cribs since nap time on Tuesday, thanks to some serious pep talks and threats of blanket removal. 

My Lifeline

Very early in my pregnancy, before I even knew we were having triplets, I joined a group of other women on a message board who were all due in September and October of 2007. The bulk of us were pregnant with our first and we were from all over the country. We posted daily with each other to complain about pregnancy ailments, odd cravings and how often we were using the bathroom. As time has passed (we've now all been posting together for 3 years!) the group size dwindled a bit; what once was a group of 25-30 women is now down to about 15.

These women have been my lifeline. During the early months, when I was always stuck at home, it was nice to have adults to "talk" to. We've rejoiced as a group when one person bought her first home, and when another met and married a wonderful man, and most recently when three new babies were born into the group. We've mourned as a group when pregnancies were miscarried. We've prayed for each other when someone has a concern or health issue. How funny and how cool at the same time that so many of my greatest friends could be scattered all across the country and that I'd never met them in person.

A few months ago we started talking about doing a big get together. Another woman in the group lives in the Kansas City area too, and with KC being in the center of the country and relatively cheap to fly into we decided it was the perfect location! Late last week 6 women descended on Kansas City for 4 days of fun. One flew in from Washington DC and two from California. One drove from Michigan, one from North Dakota and one from Texas. Oh, and did I mention everyone brought their 2 and a half year old? We had 8 moms and 10 kids... only one of which was a girl!

We played outside when it was warm...

Which wore my children out...

We headed downtown another day for some fun at a free fairy tale exhibit and lunch at the Crayola Cafe (which was the closest we got to a group picture unfortunately)

Friends were made and popsicles were eaten

Then the snow came and it royally messed stuff up. How does it go from 65 and sunny one day to snowing 4 hours later?! Due to the crazy road out to the lake house the out of towners were staying at, it was decided Saturday morning that they should find a hotel.

This is as close to a group shot of the kids as we could get.... 3 of the kids were already headed home, unfortunately!

All in all it was an awesome but tiring weekend. And a little tip to those of you thinking of getting together with other moms you've met online: do it without kids! Crabbiness, bedtime, missed naps, hungry 2 year olds, etc definitely put a damper on the adult's fun. Don't get me wrong, it was great to see the kids all playing together but they will definitely not be invited next time!

Fun With Grandparents - Pt 2

We sure know how to pack the fun in around here! Monday afternoon my parents arrived back in town (they had been visiting my brother and his family in west Texas) and that evening we took the boys out to dinner, where they got buzzed on lemonade (see those videos here).

Tuesday morning we headed to one of the boys' favorite places, Deanna Rose Farmstead! Chase was excited to see Grandma had a whole bag of quarters for animal feed. Chase has no fear of the animals while Tyler flat out refuses to feed the big goats (he's ok with the baby sized ones).

Chase in stripes, Jackson in green and wearing a hat, Tyler in brown

Towards the end of our time there Pop Pop treated the boys to popsicles. What a mess that turned into! It was a full day before the green stain on their face, hands, arms and legs wore off.



Last night we all (Nick was home!) went out to dinner at Longhorn Steakhouse. Tyler was observant and all on his own signed "tree" while he was looking at broccoli. I always thought they looked like little trees too! Just for you, my loyal summer readers, here is a bonus video this week!



This afternoon I will take my parents to the airport. It's been a fun trip and the boys have had a ball! Thankfully they won't be bored for long as Saturday morning Nick's parents, brother and youngest sister fly in for 5 days of fun!

Popsicles!

In an effort to get the boys to up their liquid intake, we turn to Pedialyte popsicles. These overpriced tubes of flavored water were a hit on the first day! Now Jackson won't touch 'em.

Speaking of J-man - keep in your prayers. Chase and Tyler seem to be much better now (although not 100% yet), but Jackson is just getting worse. He now has dark circles under his eyes. The poor boy looks terrible! He's refusing to eat today (I even offered him a cookie at 9 this morning!) and he's hardly drinking. I'll be bringing him back to the doctor this afternoon.

Now on to some cute pictures! (Jackson in white and Chase in Gray)