Ella's Skating Debut

Today was Ella's turn to have a date with daddy. She decided that she wanted to go ice skating. Big thank you to Grandma Mary for taking Aimee and Kendrick and awarding Jon this date with Ella.
Jon said that Ella did a fantastic job at ice skating and from the video clips it looks like they both had a great time on the ice. Jon did not realize when he was recording the clips that you can not rotate the movie so you will need to tilt your head to the side to be able to watch these clips.

Even though they are not straight I still thought there were great and I wanted to share. I love how encouraging Jon is with Ella. Telling her that she is doing a great job and being so patient. Another good reason why he is such a great daddy.

260

This is the number of posts that I have done on this blog. I cannot believe that I am already at 260!!! I was amazed when I noticed that number today.

I get such mixed emotions about this blog. Some people think I am crazy for doing it, some people love it and talk to me about it all the time. I get nervous about who is reading it and exposing my family to harm because of it but then I remind myself that I am careful about what I put on my blog. I use this blog as a way to look back and show my kids what activities we did when they were small. To give them a glimpse of how we raised triplets and stayed sane. I really wish my mom would have had a "blog" when I was growing up. It would be great to look back and see all the activities and have a glimpse of "our" world through her eyes. I guess I don't necessarily need to make all of this "public" but knowing I have an audience makes me stay devoted to posting on this blog. It is kind of like when you are on a diet and you have to get on a scale for someone else to see.

This blog has become an outlet for me. It helps me to reflect on what is going on in my life and in my family's life. I have thought about changing the blog name and making it even more private which I might do one of these days but for now I am going to keep plugging away at this one. If nothing else just to remind me of where we have been and reflect on what we have going on now.

The other day Jon said he ran into one of our neighbors at the Gym. She told him that she really enjoyed the blog and that he must be a great husband and father because I write so highly of him. So for that neighbor...you are right. Jon is an awesome husband and father and even though he did not say much about it, I am sure it made him feel great that you took notice.

To my fellow blog readers! Please comment one of these days so I know my audience!!! How about if I say Pretty Please with sugar on top!!!! I would love to beat my old comment record of 7 comments!

So 260 and I am still plugging away. Who would have thunk it that night long ago when I started this blog journey. My only regret is not starting it earlier!

Friendship

On Monday nights we have our Gymnastic class with the our friends the B Triplets. Today it was their Birthday so we were invited out to dinner with them to celebrate. We headed over to Friday's for dinner. It was an amazingly fun night aside from the six trips to the bathroom during the meal.
It was amazing to sit back and watch all of the kids interact with each other. They all picked a buddy and they were telling each other jokes, telling secrets, and talking about their interests. They even helped each other eat. K (mommy to the B Triplets) and I have been hanging out together with our kids since they were about 1 year old. She too has GGB triplets so it is a perfect set up. My kids always enjoy their company and K and I always talk about them being best friends. These are my kids "oldest" friends and here is to many more years of friendships and celebrations together.
Tonight both K and I sat back in amazement to watch our kids interact. I asked her were the time had gone. I remember clearly when her kids turned 2 and she was in disbelief. Time is just flying by.
I had another realization tonight about having three-four year olds. I am really looking forward to this summer and how much fun it is going to be. It has been a long winter and I think we are all ready to be outside in the warm weather and swimming and playing. Every season of every year it just keeps getting "easier" around here. This summer will be no exception to that rule. We already have a camping trip planned and a week of vacation with just the "five" of us. We are all looking forward to it.

Birthday Parties

We are now reaching the age where we are invited to Birthday parties for our friends. It is so much fun to take the kids to these parties and watch them interact with the other kids. It is sweet to watch them sing Happy Birthday to their friends too.
This weekend we went to J, E, & M Birthday party. They are triplets that we hang out with a lot. They are three months older than my trio Their Mommy and I have been friends for a long time and we knew each other long before our triplets were here. She used to be my Youth Group leader when I was in High School (another post someday). As you can see from the pictures, it was a Gymnastics Birthday Party. The kids all had a great time and best of all was that Ms. Anne was there to help entertain the kids. It really was a lot of fun and if you ask Kendrick, the best part of all of it was eating the Birthday cake!

Sweetness

When your three 3 Year Olds...

Giggle
Play Together
Pray,
Say "I love you"
Say "Please, Thank You, and Your Welcome
Say "I'm Sorry"
Cuddle
Bear Hugs
Kisses
Show their emotions
Talk on the Phone
Listen very well (especially when others are watching)
Ask to talk to God
Pray
Love Each Other
Bear hugs in the morning
Watching them sleep
Holding hands

Stress Relief

Gosh, it has been a busy week around here. I am not really sure with what but my stress level has been high. I guess it is a lot of stuff going on at work right now. It is amazing to me how I can leave the office and feel so drained and stressed out. Then when I got home, put some comfy clothes on, sit back to enjoy the kids and amazingly my stress all disappears. I love their laughter and silly-ness.
The other night we were reading books up in the girls room. I was so tired and ready to crawl in my own bed. We have been struggling with bed time lately as I am sure the kids are ready to be done with their naps and they are just not tired at 8:30 PM (another topic for another day). All of a sudden I turned my head to see Kendrick with a silly green wig on. We all started giggling and he was so proud of himself for making us all laugh. It was a sweet moment.
Moments like these help me to really take note as to what it is all about. Life is not about the deadlines we have at work or all the things we need to get done. Life is about spending time together and enjoying each other's company. It is about making memories and giggling together. I am so glad that I have three little people to be my stress relief at the end of the day.

God Speaks

It is amazing to me that we now have already completed two months of 2008. As a busy mother, wife, daughter, sister, cousin, granddaughter, niece, friend, project manager, and woman, I cannot believe how fast time seems to be slipping by.

These past months, I feel that God has been speaking to me through so many different channels. I am not really sure how to explain what I mean other than saying that in those quite moments or even the not so quiet moments all of a sudden something will spark me to reflect about where I am at and what I am doing. I feel so incredibly blessed to be right where I am at, doing exactly what I am doing. Yes, life is busy and yes I get crabby but I can honestly say that right now I just feel happy about myself and about my life. However, I do have feel that I am struggling with a few things and that may be why God is speaking so loudly to me right now.

Here are some of the things that have sparked my reflection:

The other day I was driving somewhere by myself and I decided to turn on the radio and I was not paying much attention to what was on until this song came on titled Amazing Grace by Chris Tomlin. This song holds a special place in my heart as I sang this at my Grandma's funeral a few years back with my late cousin Michael. Now I am not sure why the radio was on the Christian Music station as I have never listened to that station before but it was and it was an incredible 4.5 minutes of Amazing Grace and reflection about life.

At church last week we had a guest Priest in who was running a retreat at our church. He has an incredible message about forgiveness and letting things go in our life. He talked about a woman who had come in for confession and spilled out that she lost two small children 4o + years prior to the present time. At that time her family forced her to "move on" without letting her have the time she needed to grieve her late children. This woman had been carrying around this anger towards her living children and husband for 40+ years because she did not want to forgive. What a lesson this was to not hold onto anger but to let it go and forgive.

Recently, a very good friend of mine (another mother of triplets) sent me an email about a devotion she had just done in her bible study. It was titled "The Real Me" by Renee Swope ( http://reneeswope.blogspot.com/ ) Here is a little of what this devotion said:

"...Who was I? What did I like to do? Unfortunately, I’d never taken time to answer those questions. Instead, I had tried to be who others wanted or needed me to be. But honestly, I wasn’t very good at it. I often had this uneasy feeling in my heart and a sense of just not being happy. I was also a constant candidate for burn out...

...Isn’t it easy to completely neglect ourselves to meet the needs of everyone around us, and call it self-sacrifice? It sounds godly, but in doing so we risk shutting down a place in our soul where God’s dreams and gifts are waiting to be revealed. It’s not self-seeking but God-seeking to intentionally get to know and become the woman He created you to be."

This devotion really hit home because as a mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, it is so easy to get "busy" with life. I tend to be a people pleaser because I try and avoid confrontation at all costs. I am starting to realize that this is not always the right or healthy thing to do because in avoiding upsetting someone else, I upset myself. As the devotion said, I don't want to risk shutting down that place in my soul where God's dreams and gifts are waiting to be revealed. One of my biggest challenges in life has always been self confidence. I am not sure why this is a challenge but lately I have really been noticing it.

Just last week at work the Project Manager that I am working with just looked at me and said "No More Nicole...we now proceed with CONFIDENCE"! Wow, what a truly revealing moment for me. I am a highly educated, smart woman. I am the mother of three amazing children that happen to be all the same age. I have a husband who loves me and has the utmost confidence in me, I have parents who have always believed in me, I have many friends from all aspects of life. I have the biggest support system around me. WHERE IS MY CONFIDENCE? Just the other day I was cleaning out my junk drawer. I found a note from one of my friends that said this "Nik...you have always been marked for greatness, but you can't get there until you can make peace with yourself" WOW! This was another one of those moments where I felt like God was speaking to me again. This note was at least 8 years old.

One of my friends who happens to be 11 years older than me told me last week that confidence will come with experience. She said that she remembers feeling exactly the same way in her early thirties. This was great comfort to me. I know I won't gain all of this confidence in just one day but now that I am working on it I hope it will start to come.

God is speaking and I am listening. I want to be the woman, mother, wife, friend, etc. that he put me on this earth to be.

“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together
in my mother's womb.” Psalm 139:13 (NIV)

Freckles

Wikipedia states:
Freckles are small colored spots of melanin on the exposed skin or membrane of people with complexions fair enough for them to be visible....

Yesterday when I picked up my sweet daughter Ella to get one of her famous bear hugs I noticed some spots on her face. The closer I looked there were more than just one. Then thinking I was crazy I asked Jon to come and take a look. He confirmed that their were spots and that our sweet daughter Ella is now getting freckles.

This should not have been such a big surprise to me because I have freckles and my mom has freckles too. I am sure freckles go way back in our family history. However, I was surprised because I did not expect freckles to just show up! Ella was embarrassed at first when I was pointing them out to Grandma and Grandpa over the weekend but then tonight while we were brushing her teeth she wanted to point them all out.

It will be fun to see who they show up on next!

Space

Recently, we were all in the car driving and here is what our conversation was:


Out of the blue KJ asked: "Why do we have to go really fast to get into space"?
Daddy: "Space is really far away and you have to go fast so you can get there"
KJ: "Can we go to space?"
Mommy: "Only Special People get to go to space"
KJ: "Well we are special Mommy so we get to go to space because God made us special"
Daddy: "Yes, you are special but to get to space you have to study really hard"
KJ: "I will study planes really really hard so I can go to space"
Daddy: "You will need to go to a lot of school so you can go to space"
KJ: "I like school and I will study planes really hard"
Ella: "I like school too and I am going to study playing really hard"

I guess we will have to replace his Spiderman book with some books on Space!!!

However, I think we are right on with Ella. She plays everyday!

A Healthy Update

I had my follow appointment from my annual MRI. The good news is that everything looks great! I was so relieved and now I do not have to worry about going on any medication for another 18 months. Yipppeeee. He wanted me back in a year but since I had a good report, we compromised on 18 months!
I had to wait over two hours to get in to see my Doctor. I was not surprised by this as he usually is running behind. Last year I had to wait about that long too. I don't mind because I really do trust and respect this doctor. Plus, the reason why he is always running behind is because he is so dedicated to his patients and what their concerns are. He has spent hours with me before answering my questions and taking the time to make sure I was comfortable about what was going on and what I needed to do for my health. Even my parents have met with him after I was diagnosed with the MS. He fit us in for a 15 minute appointment over his lunch but it ended up lasting for over an hour with his answering all of the questions and concerns that my parents had. They wanted a second opinion but I was not going to mess around so they met with him instead. After this session they were just as comfortable as I was with the diagnosis and treatment plan.
Big Thanks to Jane for watching the kids for me so they did not have to come along to my appointment with me. That could have been a disaster trying to entertain them for 2 hours while we waited for the appointment.

Icees

This weekend, I was able to finish up this session of "mommy dates" as Ella and I headed off to the mall for some one on one time. The mall was so busy as it was a holiday weekend but we managed to have a good time regardless.
I really enjoyed my time with all three kids. It was so refreshing to go out with one kid and just focus all my attention on them. I know that all three of them really enjoyed it too. Hopefully, Daddy will get his turn this week to finish up his "daddy dates"!
Here is a picture of Ella on Saturday night drinking her treat...an Icee. Daddy introduced those to the kids last week so now they are the new favorite.
Now it is Grandma Mary's turn to have some "Grandma Dates" with the kids. Jon's schedule for March looks great so she might get a chance to do this.
It is so great for the kids to get some individual attention. Thanks to Grandma Mary and Sue and Denny for helping us out with our "date" sessions. One of the best parts about these dates is that we have been able to make it to church every Sunday due to all of the help we have had. Yahoo. It feels GREAT!

What does love mean?

Happy Valentine's Day 2008! Thank you to all that sent us Valentine wishes and gave us Valentine treats! The kids love it all. They woke up asking if they could eat some chocolate. Today they have school so last night we had them get their Valentines ready for their friends. It is so much fun to watch them get so exited about holidays such as Valentines day. It brings back memories of when I was a kid and getting Valentine's at school and really enjoying them.
The other night in the spirit of Valentine's Day, I asked the kids what Love means. Here is what their answers were:

Aimee: "Mommy & Daddy"

Ella: "Being nice to each other"

KJ: "Hugs & Kisses"

I assured them that all of those things mean love and so many other things do too. I am thankful for this holiday and the fact that it helps me to step back and really think about and focus on all the people in my life that I love. In my busy days, I sometimes forget to slow down and smell the roses. This Valentines Day, Jon and I have made a promise to slow down, focus more on each other, and truly soak in these days of parenting preschoolers and the innocence of it all.
Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. May cupid strike at just the right moment!

Aimee goes ice skating...

Today Aimee got to have a date with Daddy. She asked if she could go ice skating like KJ did when it was his turn to have a date with daddy.Jon said that Aimee did a great job ice skating and she was laughing and having fun the whole time. Even when she would fall, she would get right back up and do it again. She worked really hard and as you can see she got very tired and napped when they left the ice skating rink!

Aimee and I had our Mommy date this past weekend. We had so much fun and I just love to get the chance for that one on one time with the kids. It is such a gift for me and for them. It must make them feel really special to get all of our attention set just on them. It feels good for everyone involved.
Big thanks to Grandma Mary for watching the other two so Daddy and Aimee could have their date. Also big thanks to Grandma Mary and Sue for taking the kids so Aimee and I could have a date. Everybody got some great individual attention time this past weekend. KJ was at Grandma's and Ella was at Sue's.
Next up for Mommy and Daddy dates is Ella. This date will take place this weekend so stay tuned for an update next week.

The Catch Your Breath Kind of Day

Today has been going well. It is one of those days where you feel like you are getting a lot accomplished. Interestingly enough, I overslept this morning and woke up to KJ asking to watch some TV. When I realized that I was to be somewhere in 10 minutes, I flew out of bed, threw on some clothes, and hurried out the door. Jon was home so I was able to do this.

Then we headed to Swimming lessons and we were lucky enough to have Grandma Mary attend today. She was very impressed with the progress that the kids have made since the last time they were at swimming. I have to agree with her. They have come a long way. Thank goodness for the YMCA and the deal we can get on swimming lessons there!


The check engine light came on in the car last night for Jon when he was driving home so we had to get the car in first thing thing morning. We just got the call and it is going to be about $400 to fix it but we were okay with that since we felt it could be a lot worse. We have not had any issues with this car for so long that we were kind of due for a fix up. I love HONDA'S! They run so good with little problems. We feel they are a great value for cars. I knew something was up with the car so I was glad we were able to get it into the shop and fixed in one day!

The past two days the kids have not napped. I was nervous about it but when I did not struggle to get them to bed last night it felt like HEAVEN! So now we have quiet time but we do not force them to nap. We will see if this continues to go well.

The best part of the day was the conversation we had about going to space in the van this afternoon. I will post about this later. Also, my dear parents offered to babysit for me tonight so I could attend the Multiples Club meeting for this month. It was pamper me night and I had an awesome chair massage and then the second best part of my day...I won the registration for the multiples convention this year. It has a $60 value! YIPPPPEEEEEE!

Okay, that is enough random thoughts for the day. Today was a great day!!! Alleluia!!

Aimee the Song Bird

Here is another video clip of Aimee singing. I love how she uses her tongue to get the words out! To funny! Oh and for the record, she does not have her ears pierced she just likes to wear sticker earrings.

Mouse In the Corner

This video was taken at my Friend Sue's house. Here is a glimpse of the kids interacting with each other.

Pretty

Last night in the middle of the night, KJ got sick all over his bed. As a mother I have to say that the worst thing we have dealt with yet is the stomach flu. If we have to get sick then I would much rather take a cold and running nose rather than the stomach flu. I HATE the stomach flu.

We are still not sure why he got sick as he has been his happy old self all day today but none the less, he did not get to go to school this morning as we did not want to spread the stomach flu to all of his classmates.

The girls went off to school though and they had a great time as usual. The craft that they did today was a door hanger that says "Jesus Loves Me". The used water color paints at school to decorate their hangers. On the way home from school, Jon said that he over heard the girls arguing about their "door hangers". When he asked them what they were talking about, Aimee said that she thought her hanger was prettier than Ella's hanger because she painted more of it. Jon then explained to them that both of the door hangers are pretty and that they had both done a great job on them. Then Aimee pipes up from the backseat and says "Ella's hanger is pretty, daddy, it is just not VERY Pretty"! Jon and I had a good laugh over this one.

This morning, I was late to work as I was trying to help Jon get Kendrick all cleaned up from the rough night and also get the girls ready to go to school. I told Aimee to get her clothes that I had put out and that I would help her put them on. A few minutes later I noticed that the bathroom door was shut so I opened it and Aimee then exclaimed to me to "Get Out" as she was trying to get dressed and then she shut the door right on me. I stood in shock for a minute as I could not believe that my little baby girl that just a month ago needed some assistance in getting dressed is now needing privacy to get her clothes on and off.

Jon watched this whole thing and then laughed at me. He told me that this has been going on all week. I asked him when our kids went from being 3.5 yrs to 20 yrs old? He was teasing me all about needing to let go blah blah blah and thought he was pretty smart until I responded to him and exclaimed that I needed another baby. My babies are gone and I need another one!!! Let's just say he stopped laughing and told me I am crazy! I just smiled.

Hopefully tonight things will be a little more quiet in this house. I have big FEAR of the stomach virus as it is not pretty not even just a little bit.

Ice Skates

This is the start of one of our future Hockey Players! KJ went out with daddy yesterday to do some Ice Skating and "Hockey Playing"! Jon said he did pretty good for his 2nd time on the ice. I was happy to see that Daddy was smart enough to remember the helmet since I forgot it last time. Jon is such a natural teacher that he does much better with all the "firsts" than I do. I was not blessed with many patients so teaching the kids "new" things can be very challenging for me. I just thank God that Jon is very patient and natural at being a good Coach!
Kendrick had some wipe outs but the good news is that he could stand by himself this time. I grew up as a "hockey sister" so hockey was very much a part of my life. It is a great sport so I do welcome any of my children to play hockey. Next, Jon will take one of the girls out to teach them how to skate and play hockey!

Weekend Update

My friend Sue sent me an update today on what the girls did this weekend. I wanted to capture it on the blog for the girls when they get older:

Here is what Sue reported:

When we were getting ready to go to the party, I told the girls that Josh has two cats and a dog. Aimee piped up "we have two cats, but one hits". Denny says who does the cat hit, she replies "kids". Just matter of factly.

They played pictionary and they were so pleased that Josh would give them words that they could draw (or we were told what they were drawing so we could guess). They were on Jakes team. Then we did the guess which penny and Aimee was so much into it with Josh always guessing the wrong hand and then being very dramatic about it.

When we got home, we read stories. I read them the Ugly Duckling for the first time and they got so emotional about it. (The other animals and the ducks brothers and sisters and finally the mom shuns the ugly duckling). We talked about being nice to everyone and loving everyone no matter what they look like or even if they are mean. Ella told me she loves Kendrick even though he is mean and sits on her tummy. Hard not to laugh during such a serious conversation.

KJ's My Star

This afternoon and evening, I was lucky enough to have a date with my buddy, KJ. We had such a great time and it is always so refreshing to be out and about with just one kid. I love to focus my attention one of my kids and I know they love it when they get all my attention too.
We started out going to visit one of my very good friends who is suffering from a severe case of Postpartum depression. I feel so bad for her and what she is going through. We had a nice visit and I hope that I was able to help her with some of the hard feelings she has going on right now. It is hard to watch your loved ones and close friends go through something like depression. It is hard to understand and it is hard to know what to say. I promised her that I knew she would get better and that she was well loved and supported. Wow! Postpartum depression is a nasty nasty disease. KJ and I successfully entertained her little girl and we also helped lighten the mood for her family who is trying to help her out.
After our visit we headed to the mall to go on some rides and visit Build A Bear workshop. KJ really enjoyed his time with me and I equally enjoyed my time with him. The mall was very busy but we made the best of it. It is always amazing to me how the personalities of the kids really change when they get one on one time with Jon or I. He was so happy and he really enjoyed having all of my attention focused just on him.
When we finished at the mall we headed home where KJ had an Ice Cream sandwich and fell fast asleep in the chair watching his Cars movie.
This morning as we were getting ready to go to church KJ came upstairs and asked me "Mommy where are the sisters"? This was funny to me because we never refer to Aimee and Ella as "the sisters".
We are going to take turns with all the kids for some one on one time. I am anxious for my time with the girls.