12.25.12: Santa delivers

Stella, Fiona and Daphne loving their new animals from Santa.

Santa delivered exactly what the girls wanted.  Stella wanted a pink teddy/black bear, Fiona a blue teddy bear and Daphne a yellow dress with oranges on it...oh yes, there is a story to this request.  Santa also brought Daphne a tiger and several new toys/games for the girls to share. Santa even brought the adults a few things in their stockings.

Daphne modelling her yellow dress with oranges on it.  This past spring just Daphne and I went shopping and she got to pick out any dress she wanted and buy it herself.  She picked out a yellow dress with oranges on it (from walmart).  Then Daphne grew and grew and grew and the dress was too short.  She seemed distressed by this so I cut off the top of the dress and made it into a skirt.  While she tolerated this, it was clear she wasn't satisfied. Meanwhile all of our state was searched for the previous dress (or any dress similar) to no avail. 

 

Then about a month ago, when asking what she wanted for Christmas, the following request was made: a yellow dress with oranges on it.  Yikes, how do you find that in the winter???  I tried every tactic I knew to change her request but was rather unsuccessful.  I explained the difficulty of finding a dress in that fabric and told her that Santa suggested we take her to the fabric store to see what was available.  Sure enough, Brant and Daphne found some orange/lemon print fabric and she was very excited.  We decided that we would mail the fabric to Santa to see if he would make her the dress.  Sure enough he did!  It isn't perfect, but it completed the check box and made one little girl very happy.  Next year let's hope for something more within Santa's skill set.

 

This year the girls' enthusiasm for Christmas was contagious and invigorating, I already look forward to next year's celebrations.

12.24.12: Prep for santa

This year the girls really understood Christmas, it was magical.  Complete with advent calendar, sitting on Santa's lap, making lists, cookies, wrapping presents etc - the girls embraced the holidays.  They each made and decorated a cookie for Santa in their favorite colors (of course) and made sure to leave him some milk.  They also left a toy that they have outgrown for Santa to bring to other kids who might be in need.  Stella chose to leave the stacking cups, Daphne squishy blocks and Fiona the toy camera.  With family in town bedtime was tough, they kept getting up because they were 'too excited'. 

12.20.12: Preschool graduation

Stella, Fiona and Daphne (sitting with their teachers Mrs. Nazzaro and Mrs. Shannon) 'graduated' today from part time preschool and will be going to full time preschool after the winter break.  We expected this transition to happen next fall, but an opportunity arose and we decided to take it.  We explained to the girls that they are graduating from part time preschool and 'get' to start at a new school.  They know their new school well as we have visited monthly since last spring. Their new school is play-based and allows them endless opportunities to play inside and outside.  It is exactly the kind of school I'd love as a kid complete with a garden, chicken coop and tree house. 

 

This means big changes in our household as I prepare to re-enter the workforce and Brant takes on drop-off/pick-up duty. He is excited to have some company during his commute but I have warned him that he will no longer be listening to talk radio - the girls barely tolerate radio commercials. 

Today was also the girls christmas performance which was ridiculously adorable with ~five songs sung by 35 kids.  We videotaped the whole thing (of course) and brought the girls some flowers to celebrate this very exciting day.  So proud of my little ladies.

12.11.12: New tradition

My sister and I rememeber fondly many trips to the ice cream shop with my grandpa growing up.  Since today is the girls' three and a half year birthday I decided we needed to start a tradition of our own, so we adventured to the ice cream shop.  Stella wanted pink ice cream (strawberry), Daphne green (mint chocolate chip) and Fiona left with no blue option picked my favorite color - brown (chocolate peanut butter).  They felt very grown up and each told me how much they loved 'their' flavor. It will be interesting to see if we ever depart from our color obsession.

12.10.12: Santa attempt - take three

Well we tried once at the mall rather unsucessfully (see below) with Stella curled in a ball and Daphne refusing to make eye contact but bought the picture because we weren't sure we'd ever do better.  

 

Next we tried just visiting Santa and talking to him, no picture. Stella wouldn't even get close to him, Daphne would barely talk to him yet Fiona was chatting with Santa no problem. 

 

Finally, at the zoo we visited Santa and we had two volunteers to sit on Santa's lap!  The girls had realized from our prior year pictures that Fiona had never sat on his lap so she was more than ready and Stella wanted to join in the fun this time.  However, Daphne was definitely not excited about the whole thing and refused to let go of me.  I consider the last picture (see above) a huge success as everyone is looking at the camera.  Perhaps next year we'll be able to get a picture with just the kids????

 

12.9.12: Rockets, Cupcakes and Princesses

This weekend we had two birthday parties and the weekend before we had one. It has been crazy but the girls seem to have so much fun playing with their friends and of course, eating the desserts! 

First was Peter's rocket themed party complete with a rocket blaster that actually worked on the girls very own decorated rockets.  They were shocked when their rockets flew up into the air and I do believe their daddy was very proud as well. In the picture, Daphne is anxiously awaiting Peter to blow out his candle so she can have the cupcakes she spied within minutes of arriving. 

 

Next came a cupcake party where the girls got to mix, decorate and then eat their very own cupcakes. Don't get me started on effect of sugar with triplet three year olds.  It was interesting to watch the girls in action.  Fiona wanted to dip each piece of candy in the frosting but not eat the cupcake, Stella wanted to just eat the top/pink of the cupcake partially decorated while eating the remaining candy separately and Daphne wanted to make sure that every drop of candy was in place on the top of her cupcake before she began eating.the.entire.thing!

 

Finally we ended with a princess party. We arrived wearing our tutus and left with a new tiara and wand. In the picture on the far right is Stella, then two down in the purple tutu is Daphne and Fiona is next to her in a black tutu.  There was a dance lesson and tumbling time and the girls were very excited about both.  The girls haven't shown an interest in princess stories in the past but after this party I went home and immediately ordered some princess books.  The girls didn't even know who Cinderella was....bad mama.

12.5.12: Taking care of daddy

Brant woke up this morning with a painful migraine.  While he was curled up on the floor, Fiona (pictured) brought him her blankets and pillow.  Daphne brought him a washcloth for his head and Stella brought her pillow, bear and blanket to snuggle up next to him.  I'm always amazed at how thoughtful and caring my daughters are.

As a side note, Fiona has a small scratch on her foot preventing her from wearing a sock on her right foot all together.  She also wanted to match both of her sisters' pajamas so she is wearing the same top as Daphne and bottom as Stella.  Oh yes, we are full into dressing ourselves these days.

11.30.12: Trains!

Daphne, Stella and Fiona have really gotten into their train set lately.  Today we set up every possible toy we could think of to put inside the track.  There was a zoo, tea party, dinosaur land, farm, several tunnels and more!

11.29.12: Dressing up

My little superheros!  Fiona, Stella and Daphne are really geting into dress up.  They basically find any dress up clothes they can and create their own characters.  It's ridiculous!

Daphne as a 'Super Daph' a panda/tutu/superhero. 

Stella as 'Super Robin' a giraffe/tutu/superhero. 

Fiona as 'Super Monkey' a tutu wearing monkey.  Sometimes batman shows up as well, but not today.

11.25.12: Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for and try to remind ourselves and the girls of this everyday.  For thanksgiving this year we had some friends over for our casual vegetarian dinner and football tradition.  It went really well especially considering we had 13 people (including 6 kids). 
During the long weekend home with daddy, Fiona, Daphne and Stella took full advantage of riding the 'Daddy Elephant'.  I wonder how much longer they'll all fit on Brant's back?