Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Woohoo!
Very proud mama moment! I pulled out one of their training potties today and let all 3 boys take turns sitting on it while we talked about going potty. They love the idea of the potty and seem to understand what they should do on it. Now that they know there's a potty their size in the bathroom they took turns announcing that they had to go all day long. This evening I sat each of them on the potty before I put their pajamas on, and Will actually used the potty!!! It was very likely just a fluke, but man, was I so proud! I'm pretty sure he was pretty proud of himself, too.
Saturday, June 24, 2017
Day = Made
I don't think they've ever had a happier moment than watching this forklift in action at our favorite place, Sam's Club, last night. They talked about it the rest of the evening!
Thursday, June 22, 2017
2 Years Old!!
Holy cow, we are officially parents to three 2 year olds!
I took this video through tears- it was their last night playing as one year olds. I don't know why it's so hard for me to deal with them growing older. I do just fine on their actual birthday, but the night before I'm such a mess! I spent far longer than normal saying goodnight to my one year olds for the last time. I am excited to see them grow up, but man- is it hard to say goodbye to the baby years!
It seems very fitting that our outside-loving boys were born on the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. That gives us extra time to spoil them! The boys were greeted in the morning with balloons and streamers at their door (something I remember my parents doing for us when we were kids)- they LOVED the balloons and promptly tore down all the streamers.
We cashed in our free zoo membership that my VUMC colleagues gifted us when I left, and took the boys to the zoo for the first time. Aunt Cari joined us, and we had a lot of fun, despite it being extremely H-O-T outside. We will definitely look forward to going back many times over the coming year, and doing a better job of planning ahead and packing a lunch so we can stay longer!
Cari watched the boys while they napped so Will and I could take advantage of the one nice day we were supposed to have this week and enjoy a celebratory day date. We took our our paddle board and kayak out on the lake for a bit and reminisced about how much our lives have changed in just 2 short years!
After the boys woke up, we hosted an impromptu birthday BBQ in the backyard- hotdogs and cake for our favorite 2 year olds!
We are having Will's family over on Sunday so they can open all their presents, but we did let them open a couple from us last night. Just what any 2 year old boy could want- they got new trucks! They love the Little Blue Truck book series, and were very excited to have plush trucks that they can take to bed with them at night. After cake and presents we gave them baths and then let them stay up a little later so they could play with their new trucks. Overall, I think it was a perfect day in the eyes of our new 2 year old boys!
Their little blue trucks came equipped with horns that beep. We joked that we would hear the "beep beep" on the monitor each morning now and would definitely know when they were awake. Sure enough, this morning we heard "beep beep" on the monitor around 7:45. :)
I took this video through tears- it was their last night playing as one year olds. I don't know why it's so hard for me to deal with them growing older. I do just fine on their actual birthday, but the night before I'm such a mess! I spent far longer than normal saying goodnight to my one year olds for the last time. I am excited to see them grow up, but man- is it hard to say goodbye to the baby years!
It seems very fitting that our outside-loving boys were born on the first day of summer and the longest day of the year. That gives us extra time to spoil them! The boys were greeted in the morning with balloons and streamers at their door (something I remember my parents doing for us when we were kids)- they LOVED the balloons and promptly tore down all the streamers.
We cashed in our free zoo membership that my VUMC colleagues gifted us when I left, and took the boys to the zoo for the first time. Aunt Cari joined us, and we had a lot of fun, despite it being extremely H-O-T outside. We will definitely look forward to going back many times over the coming year, and doing a better job of planning ahead and packing a lunch so we can stay longer!
Cari watched the boys while they napped so Will and I could take advantage of the one nice day we were supposed to have this week and enjoy a celebratory day date. We took our our paddle board and kayak out on the lake for a bit and reminisced about how much our lives have changed in just 2 short years!
After the boys woke up, we hosted an impromptu birthday BBQ in the backyard- hotdogs and cake for our favorite 2 year olds!
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| Action shot of Griffin touching his hot candle- oops! Fortunately he was OK- nothing a couple presents couldn't fix! |
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| Cooper loves cake, especially the icing! |
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| Griffin isn't a huge fan of sweets- he can take them or leave them |
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| Will devoured his piece and then spent the rest of the time trying to eat his brothers' shares! |
We are having Will's family over on Sunday so they can open all their presents, but we did let them open a couple from us last night. Just what any 2 year old boy could want- they got new trucks! They love the Little Blue Truck book series, and were very excited to have plush trucks that they can take to bed with them at night. After cake and presents we gave them baths and then let them stay up a little later so they could play with their new trucks. Overall, I think it was a perfect day in the eyes of our new 2 year old boys!
Their little blue trucks came equipped with horns that beep. We joked that we would hear the "beep beep" on the monitor each morning now and would definitely know when they were awake. Sure enough, this morning we heard "beep beep" on the monitor around 7:45. :)
Friday, June 16, 2017
Visiting Friends on The Long Drive Home
Originally Will and I had talked about stopping in Chicago for a night or two on our way home from Wisconsin. But after dealing with over 2 hours worth of traffic delays on our way up to Waupaca (thanks to both Chicago and Milwaukee roads), we decided at the last minute to jet over to Minnesota and visit our friends Amy, Mike, and their 4 kiddos. We enjoyed a relatively short drive (only about 4 hours total) and got to Mike and Amy's house in time for the boys to enjoy some outdoor time with their new friends.
Amy and Mike have 2 older kids- Marley (6) and Levi (4), as well as a set of twins Hayden and Micah, who are just a few weeks older than the triplets. Since we sprung our visit on them last-minute, we didn't have any big plans. Amy took us to one of their favorite local parks in Excelsior, and we enjoyed lunch al fresco (with 7 kids!) right on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. After the kids went to bed we took advantage of the late evening sun and had drinks on their back porch. It was lovely to spend time with them in their home, and the kids all got along really well!
We left Minnesota early Thursday morning and headed south toward St. Louis. Our next stop on the invasion tour: Winchester, IL. We invited ourselves to spend the night with Will's long-time friend Colin, wife Jacky, and their 2 daughters- Norah (3) and Vivian (14 months). The drive to Winchester was uneventful, but really long. We were in the car nearly 11 hours by the time we rolled into Colin's driveway. Unfortunately Cooper was on day 2 of not feeling great, which meant I was on day 2 of staying up/trying to sleep with him on the couch, so we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with Colin and Jacky. But we feel better knowing that they are making the drive to Nashville next month to spend a weekend with us!
Glad to have friends who are willing to take on our party of five at a moment's notice! I hope we didn't wear out our welcome, and can come visit again soon!
Amy and Mike have 2 older kids- Marley (6) and Levi (4), as well as a set of twins Hayden and Micah, who are just a few weeks older than the triplets. Since we sprung our visit on them last-minute, we didn't have any big plans. Amy took us to one of their favorite local parks in Excelsior, and we enjoyed lunch al fresco (with 7 kids!) right on the shores of Lake Minnetonka. After the kids went to bed we took advantage of the late evening sun and had drinks on their back porch. It was lovely to spend time with them in their home, and the kids all got along really well!
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| Twins meet triplets |
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| Park play time |
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| All 7 kids |
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| So cute!! |
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| Party of Five at Lake Minnetonka |
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| Party of 10 at lunch! And we made it through with zero incidents! |
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| Hayden and Griffin hugs |
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| Looking for Tank the dog |
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| Don't let that cute face fool you- we were up ALL night long with him! |
We left Minnesota early Thursday morning and headed south toward St. Louis. Our next stop on the invasion tour: Winchester, IL. We invited ourselves to spend the night with Will's long-time friend Colin, wife Jacky, and their 2 daughters- Norah (3) and Vivian (14 months). The drive to Winchester was uneventful, but really long. We were in the car nearly 11 hours by the time we rolled into Colin's driveway. Unfortunately Cooper was on day 2 of not feeling great, which meant I was on day 2 of staying up/trying to sleep with him on the couch, so we didn't get to spend a whole lot of time with Colin and Jacky. But we feel better knowing that they are making the drive to Nashville next month to spend a weekend with us!
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| They sure do love dogs- watching Colin take his pups out |
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| Quick shot before we hit the road to head home |
Glad to have friends who are willing to take on our party of five at a moment's notice! I hope we didn't wear out our welcome, and can come visit again soon!
Tuesday, June 13, 2017
40th Anniversary Celebration in Wisconsin
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| Happy Anniversary! |
We ended up in Waupaca quite randomly- months ago we were looking for places in Michigan or Wisconsin that were big enough to accomodate a party of 18 and Molly stumbled on an old barn in the country that had been renovated into a large house. It was perfect for our group. Lots of space for kids to run around and play, a HUGE kitchen to prep meals in, and a great outdoor deck for evening moon watching and kite flying.
We didn't have a big agenda for the weekend, but we did have a great time! There was lots of eating, lots of drinking (bourbon slush was on then menu all four days), impromptu dance parties on the deck, s'mores, a backyard fire, full-moon gazing, kite-flying on a windy evening, haircuts for the entire party of 5 thanks to Molly, a round of Cards Against Humanity for the adults, beach time, paddle boarding, a picnic at the local state park, a boat cruise on an old-fashioned paddle boat, and lots of cousin play time. I'm so glad we were all able to get together to cheers my parents- they have built quite a legacy in the past 40 years and they deserved a break from their busy lives to celebrate and relax!
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| Amazing barn! |
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| 9 Grandkids under age 10 |
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| HUGE kitchen island, perfect for all 9 grandbabies |
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| Delicious dinners |
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| Papa and the baby of the family- Gabby |
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| Picnic at the park |
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| Picnic at the park |
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| Naps with Uncle Shaughn |
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| Papa, Nana, and 9 grandbabies! |
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| S'mores |
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| We watched a full moon rise over the horizon |
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| Dad's first time playing Cards Against Humanity |
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| It was a hit! |
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| Some rainy days, but followed by amazing sunsets! |
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| Molly and kids |
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| Shaughn and Andrea- how cute are they?! |
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| California Crew- Andy, Sandy, and girls |
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| Mason, party of 5 (all with fresh haircuts!) |
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| This is what happens when you have 5 girl cousins |
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| Decorating a banner for Papa and Grandma |
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| Plenty of book reading |
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| Beach! |
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| Molly, Ella, Andy, and I went paddleboarding/kayaking one morning |
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| Paddle boat |
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| H-O-T boat cruise |
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| Will's first haircut! |
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