8.15.14: Avoiding ants

Waiting for the bus....where the ants can't get to us (Stella, Fiona, Daphne)

8.11.14: Bus

Today the girls took the bus to school for the first time.  They even walked to the bus stop a short distance away.  Getting to ride the bus is a big deal and we have been talking about this as one of the major features to the new school.  After 15 minutes of waiting (we weren't sure about the accuracy of arrival time) the bus pulled up and whisked away the girls to school.  No tears, just excitement - after all riding the bus is something only big kids do  :)

8.10.14: Science Experiments

Thanks to Brant, the girls have become obsessed with Mythbusters and therefore science.  I am excited for them to have interest in science....Mythbusters a little less.  Regardless, we are trying to embrace this new love for science and experiments.  Brant decided to was time to 'test' the Diet Coke and Mentos experiment.  In addition, we also created a volcano just to watch the explosion...but it couldn't be a simple volcano, instead we had to cover the volcano in rainbow clay and dye the lava our favorite colors.  Who knew science could be so much fun!

 Daphne's volcano

Stella's volcano

 Fiona's volcano

 Daphne Diet Coke + Mentos

 Stella Diet Coke + Mentos

Fiona Diet Coke + Mentos

8.7.14: Kindergarten

Today was the first day of Kindergarten.  We started our morning by parking in our neighborhood and approaching the school from the back to avoid some of the drop-off chaos we had been warned about.  The girls were very excited even though we still walked into a pretty chaotic situation.  I have to admit, it was much easier leaving the girls at school knowing they would be there together, looking out for each other and making sure they stuck together when necessary.  Upon completion of the first day of school, they were all a chatter about the new friends, teachers and school they were so very excited to be a part of.

Fiona, Daphne, Stella

They have English Kindergarten in the morning, Spanish Kindergarten in the afternoon and then Gardening and Crazy Math class during the after school program.  They have a three week rotation between 'specials' of Art, Music and PE.  Essentially, they have a fabulous mixture of play and learning.

8.1.14: Olaf......or Elsa

The flyer from the bookstore said Storytime with Olaf, so clearly we had to go.  Upon arrival and a crazy amount of people, Olaf was a cardboard cutout but thankfully Elsa did arrive.  After a few books (that no one could hear) and countless screaming/whining children (not ours), we managed to get a picture with Elsa (Stella, Fiona, Elsa, Daphne).

7.19.14: Breakfast request

Some mornings, Daphne has a hard time getting ready for school.  Lately, we have been making a list for her to checkoff the items she needs to do to get ready, this seems to motivate her - she loves checking off items on her list (she clearly knows how to make her mama proud).  Well today, she changed things up a bit and drew a picture of her breakfast request even providing instructions on how to make it.  

Bread + Toaster + Jelly.

7.12.14: Hiking

We were in need of a driving adventure to test out the new car, so we drove up to Mt. Lemmon to go hiking and play games for the afternoon.  It was a wonderful break from the heat.  (stella, fiona, daphne)

7.10.14: New car

Back in March 2008, we bought a Honda Civic Hybrid and about eight months later we learned we were pregnant with triplets. Many said we would have to upgrade to a bigger car, but we are proud of the fact that we did not.  We fit three bucket carriers, three rear facing convertible seats and still three forward facing seats in that Civic - much to many people's disbelief.  We survived in that one car until our relocation to Arizona at which point we had to have two cars.  

Having just bought a house and only one of us employed, we bought a less expensive second car that already had >100,000 miles on it.  We knew this car wouldn't last forever.  Days after Brant drove back from Santa Barbara, the car reached its end.  With Nana in town, Brant and I took advantage of the babysitting and went out car shopping.  After hours of negotiations we ended up with a new car.  We asked the girls what their favorite part about the new car was....the air in the back, the 'tv' (dashboard screen) in the front, and my personal favorite...the one that got the biggest oohs and aahs...the back windows go ALL THE WAY DOWN.  Yes, that's right, turns out this minor detail made our kids thrilled.  We were just excited for a new, safe, reliable car.

7.6.14: 6th Annual Family Day

Today was our sixth annual family day, the day everyone was finally home from the hospital back in 2009.  This is a very important day for us as it always brings back memories of those tough weeks while the girls were in the NICU.  This day always reminds us how lucky we are to have a happy and healthy family - none of which we take for granted.  We celebrated by spending the day together and, as is our tradition, getting pictures taken (left to right: Daphne, Stella, Fiona).  We love you girls!

7.4.14: Nana one-on-one

Not only did Daddy just return home, but Nana came to visit.  Since preschool was ongoing but Nana was in town, we came up with a compromise.  Everyone got a special day with Nana, just one-on-one.  Each girl independently got to skip school for the day and do whatever she and Nana wanted to do.  Then Nana picked up the remaining girls at school and they all got to spend the afternoon together.  We figured in less than a month, the girls would be attending 'real school' where skipping was less permissible so we needed to take advantage of this opportunity now.  Needless to say, they all very much enjoyed there one-on-one time.  I think Brant and I were even a little jealous that we can't do something similar  :)