11.19.11: Singing books

(left to right: fiona, nana, stella, daphne)

I think the morning went something like this: Hi Nana (hug, hug, hug)....now read us a book, please.

Nana was a very good sport during her recent visit and even 'sang' books to the girls as requested/demanded so they could jump to the rhythm of the song. They sure love jumping, reading and their Nana - combine all three and we had some very happy girls.

11.18.11: Just like daddy

(left to right: fiona, stella, daphne)

The girls really enjoyed playing drums at our multiples playgroup this week. They even continued drumming long after the music stopped. I wonder when they'll discover Brant's drum set setup in our guest room? Hopefully not for a very long time....or at least until we meet all of our neighbors.


(left to right: daphne, fiona, stella)

The girls have magnadoodles that we keep in the car for those special times when I need some help entertaining during longer car rides. Somehow these magnadoodles made it into the house one day and the girls got really excited. They all rushed over to the chair to 'email daddy'. I'm not even kidding. I drew on a < send > button so they could make sure their emails made it to daddy at work.

11.11.11: Game on!

(left to right: stella, daphne, fiona)

That's right - we started potty training. We think they are ready, they think they are ready, and we have been talking about it for weeks. Bracing ourselves to be home bound for the three day weekend. Game on!

11.9.11: Lions, groceries, and toes...oh my

Stella found this lion costume at a new playarea and asked me to help her put it on. She even played in it for a few minutes and then decided she was done. I was amazed she tolerated it at all. Perhaps her new nickname should be StellaLion...


Fiona filled up her grocery cart as full as she could and drove it all around the room. Good thing she isn't in charge of our food budget or we'd be broke.


Daphne....ahh Daphne...somethings never change.

11.5.11: Books

The girls love books. They love books more than any toy, food, or activity. I actually found myself taking away books as a consequence once. (Who am I? What kind of mother takes away books???)

The girls still have quiet time in the morning and one day when going into their room I saw the following:
- Stella and her dog were reading to Fiona from across the room
- Fiona told me 'Alligator likes to look at pictures. I am reading to alligator."
- Daphne set up all of her animals to read to them as a group.
The girls have most of their board books memorized, so I even hear the correct words on some of the pages. (I suppose they could just be super geniuses and actually reading, but given the amount of times we have read the same books to them - I am assuming it is memorization.)




So when our library held their yearly event downtown, how could we resist. The librarians from various branches acted out popular books, played music, and there were more books than a little one could dream. There was an opportunity to play dress up - which was tolerated just for the picture (stella/postal worker, daphne/cop, fiona/astronaut). Please also notice that we finally had to break out the long sleeves...I suppose it is November. The girls had a great time and even got to take home two books each. Another benefit to having triplets...coming home with six new books! Don't worry, they'll have them memorized within a week.

10.31.11: Halloween

My little cupcakes (fiona/purple, daphne/blue, stella/pink). That's right the girls were cupcakes this year for Halloween. Thanks to Auntie Melissa for finding the pattern and Auntie Kelly for collaborating on the construction the girls wore adorable homemade cupcake costumes.

The girls each picked their own colors, so it was really no surprise that Stella was pink. Stella LOVES pink. Daphne and Fiona needed to be reminded over the past couple of weeks about the colors they chose, but all the hype definitely paid off. The girls did a practice Halloween run at the zoo this weekend with Peter and Nicole and then successful trick-or-treated tonight around our neighborhood even saying 'trick or treat', 'happy halloween', and of course thank you appropriately. We also painted pumpkins and made cheesecloth ghosts hung outside in our trees. Their favorite part is sorting, stacking and shaking their new toys (aka candy). All in all, a very successful Halloween.




Now for my personal bragging on thriftiness. Given that we have triplet two year olds and just one two year old can be unpredictable with regard to wearing costumes, I wasn't sure about investing in 'real' costumes. After consulting with friends and family, we decided on the cupcake pattern. Then comes the thriftiness. Kelly brought down a left over tree costume which had plenty of brown felt used for the dress bases and some crate and barrel ribbon used for the straps of the dresses = both free. Using Joann's coupons + sales we were able to get the pink, purple and blue fleece for $2 each, $.25 for each sprinkle felt color, and $3 for the cupcake wrapper felt, + some glue sticks and that is it. All three costumes for $10! The hardest part was making up a pattern, but construction was pretty simple. Thanks again Melissa and Kelly!

10.28.11: Future firemen?

The girls awoke this morning to some malfunctioning fire alarms at Nene's house (thankfully Nene and I were already awake making breakfast). After valiant attempts to silence them, the fire department showed up. During the firemen's first visit, the girls were able to tour/play on the fire truck. During the second visit the girls got stickers and pencils. Who knows what a third visit could have gotten them??? All in all not many toddlers get to play in a real working fire truck, so they were pretty excited regardless of the blaring alarms going off in the house. Nene was a little less excited to have all the surprise company.


(left to right: stella, daphne, fiona)


(left to right: daphne, fiona)


(left to right: fiona, stella, daphne)


(left to right: daphne, fiona, stella)

10.27.11: Adventures at Nene's

With Brant thoroughly stressed out writing grant proposals, the girls and I attempted the 2.5 hour drive to Nene's on our own. The drive was a challenge and not something I plan to relive anytime soon. Of course, if I figure out a way to detach my arm thereby allowing me to hand over dropped toys, sunglasses, or shoes while driving - then perhaps another attempt will be in order. In the meantime, we stayed very busy with exploring a new house, eating at a big(ish) table, swimming, going to the zoo/aquarium and of course reading every book endlessly.



(fiona/pink, daphne/green, stella/flowers)


(left to right: daphne, stella, fiona)

10.22.11: Decorating daddy

While skyping with Nana, the girls (left to right: daphne, fiona, stella) began to 'decorate daddy' with their alphabet puzzle pieces. I was impressed with their teamwork and perseverance to get all the letters to stay. We still have no idea why they started to do this, but every time Brant laughed the girls just replaced the letters that fell off with new ones.


Daphne likes to jump in her bed. Let me clarify, Daphne REALLY likes to jump in her bed. Most mornings we wake up to this smiling face with proof of said jumping in her crib tent.

10.21.11: Meat Sciences

(left to right: daphne, stella, peter, fiona)

Tonight we went to an event at the Meat Sciences department, mainly because we were promised farm animals - obviously not for the food. While we didn't get a chance to see the piglets, the girls were able to see horses and (jumping) goats. In this picture, Peter and the girls were trying to coax the horses to come and talk to them. Perhaps the horses knew better than to approach four toddlers.