12.30.11: Cousins-to-be

Kelly and Rob had a very exciting Christmas announcement, they are expecting their very own little one (due one day after the girls third birthday).  Presented in the form of pasta sauce, complete with an ultrasound picture in lieu of nutritional information, they shared their news with us.  The girls didn't really understand and were a bit nervous because I was so excited, perhaps a little too excited.  In a month we will find out the gender but of course healthy is all that matters.  Kelly said it best, "Either way the kid will be in makeup and dresses with them having triplet lady cousins three years older - the kid just doesn't have a chance to avoid it."  Well put!

Clearly we had to celebrate by toasting and rubbing Rob's belly since someone (cough cough) was too shy.

Since then I have taught the girls to ask to 'see their cousin' during our weekend skype sessions with the Kochmans and Kelly hesitantly shows them her belly each week.......I love it!

Congratulations Kochmans

12.29.11: Tight fit

I am always excited when the girls play together and I can get a picture.  Today they squeezed into this tube at a playarea and no other kids were allowed in.....go team!  (stella/pink, fiona/green, daphne/purple)

12.25.11: Santa brought us...

TRICYCLES...and thankfully we have no furniture so there was plenty of room to ride in the house (daphne/snowflakes, fiona/hearts, stella/deer)

Then it was time for riding outside with our family (fiona/green, daphne/purple, stella/pink).  Aunt Kelly, Uncle Rob, Nene, Kelly boy and of course Brant and I all helped push the girls around the cul-de-sac.  The girls learned to steer and pedal a bit, but definitely prefer to be pushed at super speed around the neighborhood.  This is exactly why we bought a house in a cul-de-sac and we look forward to years of bike riding.

After riding bikes for over an hour, we moved inside but the girls still wanted to wear their helmets.  Inside they enjoyed reading (fiona/pink, daphne/green, stella/purple), looking at camera pictures of themselves and playing their new matching game.  Daphne took a special liking to feeding cookie monster her 'alphabet soup' (aka magnetic letters).  

It was a wonderful holiday and the girls were absolutely spoiled by all of our friends and family.  We are thankful to everyone for their generosity.

12.24.11: Jumping on christmas eve

After a late arrival from family on Friday, the girls woke up very excited on Christmas eve to discover everyone was still here.  Then they went into their playroom (where the Kochmans were sleeping) and found a new toy (aka the blowup bed).  Oh boy did they LOVE jumping on the blowup bed, I think you can tell from these pictures (top to bottom, daphne, fiona, stella).

The girls were very excited to show everyone their bear crawl train.

In keeping with our maternal family traditions, the girls opened some presents on Christmas eve.  We all tried to open presents with the girls, but it was a bit chaotic with thirty little fingers trying to open every package in sight.

The crew:  Kelly boy, Nene, Uncle Rob, Auntie Kelly, Kari/Daphne, Brant/Stella, Fiona

12.20.11: Cheese face

After breakfast this morning, Fiona and Stella decided to play on the couch (while Daphne was still eating).  Sure enough there was a lot of giggling - too much giggling.  We discovered Fiona was sitting on top of Stella and they both thought it was hilarious.  This squishing was followed by a long conversation they had with each other - about half of which we understood.

Behold the 'cheese face' aka the two year old exaggerated smile.  It has become very common in our household pictures.  Each girl has one.  Daphne's cheese face is the least frequently seen, so how could I resist taking a picture when Daphne wanted to show me hers.

12.17.11: Lights

(left to right: fiona, daphne, stella)

Tonight we adventured out with the Marrones to see the Winterhaven lights.  It turns out there is a neighborhood tradition to go bonkers decorating your house in lights for the holidays.  So much so the neighborhood closes down the streets, policeman direct traffic and spotlights are added to ease street parking.  People from all over the city come to see the houses and some of the them were amazing. One house even mimicked the Bellagio water fountains in their front yard. The girls had a great time pointing out the colored lights, snowman, reindeer, snowflakes and their favorite - santa.  The lights were pretty amazing and I look forward to taking the girls next year.

12.13.11: Gingerbread house

Today the girls (left to right: stella, fiona, daphne) decorated their first gingerbread house.  Oddly enough, it was decorated with 'decorations' and 'glue' and not candy and frosting - thus not confusing anyone into munching during assembly.  Definitely something we'll do again next year.

Have you ever bought a house over a weekend?  Well we did and sure enough we didn't realize that we had thriving fruit trees in our yard.  We were thrilled to discover the grapefruit and orange trees were actually producing fruit (not to be said for the sad lime tree).   We also discovered that our pool water heater was not broken (contrary to the prior owner's disclosure) and after some simple cleanup, we were able to enjoy our hot tub - a wonderful treat given the cold weather.  Two pretty fantastic discoveries during one weekend.

12.11.11: Two and a half years old

(left to right: daphne, stella, fiona)

Today the girls turned two and a half. There is a common theory that doubling the child's height at two and a half years old is a good indicator of how tall that child will be in adulthood. If this is in fact the case (reinforced by their current shoe size), we are going to have some very tall girls.

Fiona: 28lbs 6oz, 35.75", shoe size 9
Daphne: 32lbs 2oz, 36.75", shoe size 10
Stella: 28lbs, 35.5", shoe size 9


(left to right: fiona, stella, daphne)

Given the girls' weights above we have finally reached a break even point with my total pregnancy weight gain. That's right given their current weights, together we (fiona, daphne, stella, and I) weigh the same that I weighed during the final days of my pregnancy. Hard to imagine that something so cute can come from this. Too bad I can't carry them all at the same time anymore (perhaps if I duct taped them to my body....nah, probably not even then).

12.9.11: Arizona snow

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

In an effort to attempt all things Arizona, we adventured to the outdoor mall which provides weekend 'snowfall' in the courtyard. We thought the girls would be excited to have snow (albeit human made) falling from the sky (albeit second story) into a courtyard (albeit containing patches of AstroTurf)....oh, it is very different here. Turns out Fiona was a little scared of the snow while Daphne and Stella seemed to embrace it.

Then the band started playing music, picture this:
A decent high school band playing music in a courtyard. A semi-circle of people around said band enjoying the music. Daphne jumping in the corner behind the crowd to the music, Stella joins in jumping to the rhythm. Then I squeeze our way up to the front of the semi-circle so Daphne and Stella can see the musicians and instruments (Fiona was cuddling with Brant). Sure enough, turn on the super charm and Daphne starts jumping to the music in front of the crowd. It was ridiculous and I wished more than anything I had a video, but she insisted that I hold her hand while she jumped. We asked the girls what their favorite part of the whole evening was and got a unanimous answer.....music!

12.5.11: First snow

(left to right: stella, fiona, daphne)

Okay, let's not be overly critical here. We live in Arizona there is 0% chance we will ever have real snow falling at our house. I define real by our previous Boston/Chicago standards (no Seattle and LA - your 'snowfall' doesn't qualify either). Given our locale, this may be the closest thing to snow that we get at our house and therefore I dub it the girls' first snow....at least until we make a trip to the mountains.