Wish us luck we are off to Story Land this Saturday! Just looking at the pictures I'm getting excited at how excited THEY will be. I'll be sure to post some pics and 'twin funnies'.

Christmas In July

It's almost time to celebrate!!

Juice Box

If the twins have a juice box, Edie has to have a juice box. You know how it goes, she has to do what they are doing. She will hand her sippy or bottle back to me and shake her head no, no, no.

Once she has the juice box, she'll take the straw out and can easily put it back into the box. Wow, awesome fine motor skills! (gifted and talented!)

Floating Ray

She spent most of her time in the water with NO fear! She had no hesitation just laying back and floating. She has ALWAYS done it in the tub (it's a little harder in there now that there are three of them in the tub). She just let go and enjoyed the cool water.

Edie Had Fun Too

She was all smiles!

What Heat?

We spent most of the day in the water. The twins had a blast!

Tired Edie Baby

Where are the stakes?

In our attempt to go camping we had aired and cleaned out tenting system. In the process we had them set up on the drive, therefore we didn't stake them. We set them up the the girls got to explore them for a couple days.

You know when you have kids and it gets eerily quiet, usually it's not a good thing. The three were sitting on porch clustered around the little red wagons. I just thought they were playing quietly together. How sweet!

Todd and I carried on with assessing our camping gear.

Where are the tent stakes?

We couldn't find them and figured they were in the shed or the tote. Nope they were no where to be found. Well they have got to be here somewhere, I'm not going to worry, they'll show up.

Cleaning up the kids toys I moved the little red wagons. clank, clank, clank. What a strange sound in the handle. It must be broken. I picked it up to investigate. Dang it! The three yahoos huddling around the little red wagons were playing quietly together, they were threading 16 tent stakes into the little holes of the handles!

Camping Update

We made it 3.5 hours!!!

For the record I would just like to state I was in it to see it through.
We had everything we could possibly need! The tents were set, the sleeping bags were unrolled and the girls had all their little comforts of home from special pillows to their favorite toy. They loved running around the cabin area and going in and out of their little 'house'. They were layered in warm clothes, knee high socks, mud boots and a turtle necks. These garments were all doused in bug spray and they had the freedom to explore and enjoy the outdoors. The fire was set and we were ready to put the hot dogs on until...
Todd had retrieved some longer sticks for late night smores. This is when the tick was discovered on his pants. OK lets pack em' up. Down the hill we came bumping and bouncing all the way down. Reagan was upset, it was dusk and windy the trees brushed against her window. 'Hold my hand Daddy!' 'I don't like this, I don't like this.' she kept saying.
The house was insight and Reagan made one last statement. 'thank you for keeping me safe Daddy.' Makes your heart feel all warm doesn't' it.
We opened the truck and spilled into the drive and shuffled into the bathroom to make sure no one had any ticks on them.
All three girls were bathed and scrubbed and powdered to smell the like the sweet little flowers they are, everyone had some hot milk and off to bed.
Phew...

Happy Campers

Camping Test #1

Tonight we will kickstart the camping season with an outing to the cabin. Todd has been up there all morning with the generator cleaning and getting it kid ready. WE are going to set up the tents too. So I'll keep you posted on how it goes, worst case scenario we just drive down and get into our own beds. I'm very interested in seeing how it goes.

Excuse you

I was trying to get the troops together to take a picture, of course everyone went in a different direction. Well cattle in background had a bit of well...bad air. Aubrey is turning to him and saying 'you should say excuse me.'

The twins were in deep conversation about these goats. 'Why are they over here mama?' I wasn't ready to explain that these were the boys!

Charmingfare Farm

Julie and I took the kids (Jamie, Nicole, Aubrey, Reagan and Edie) to a petting farm/zoo today. It was a blast, I felt bad for the poor little & big (non-farm) animals that were there. We didn't spend much time with those because the girls could not get enough of the farm animals. The volume of the cow in the dairy barn was a little startling but they warmed right up to it. Of course we paid the ridiculous $3.00 fee for a paper bag of pellet food. Every animal that we came across they would say I want to feed him, no, Mommy YOU feed them. By the second time we visited the goats everyone was comfortable.

They/I enjoyed feeding the goats, sheep and lamas. There were allot of babies on the farm so the girls enjoyed watching them play. The piglets were wired and everyone enjoyed them jumping and wrestling with their piglet siblings. The kids (baby goats) wanted to jump and play with my kids. They were not so sure at first, and there was a teeny tiny moment of panic when the goats closed in on them looking for food.

Reagan had her eye on one chocolate colored little goat, she really took a liking to him and kept calling him baby. She would walk the length of the fence to try and get him alone and in her tiny little voice she would say 'come here baby, here baby, come get your dinner.' Once we got INSIDE the gate she wasn't so sure about him. Aubrey was the food holder. She would pass out a little handful to everyone and walk down the path holding the bag. She would say, 'I'll give you some when we get there'. Edie kept pointing and and saying ooh wow. She liked watching the goats too.

Overdue

I'm am very much overdue for some posts. So since we spent a good part of today out in the warm sunshine and cool pool I thought I would share some of our pre-summer time fun with everyone.
As you can see Edie is a full time walker. She is inquisitive and of course she is happy as a clam, ALL THE TIME. She has no fear in trying new things like a kiddie pool, she shows no hesitation and she is so dang smart. The girls will bicker about a toy and I'll say there are two go find the other one, For example, the girls got these little backpacks for a few bucks. One is blue and one is pink. Reagan had hers on and Aubrey tried to take it. There was of course this explosion of crying. I told Aubrey to go to the toy bins and find her blue one. Edie had already gone over and got it and kept saying Ahhh, Ahhhh basically pushed it at her. As if saying Gee you two, here it is don't fight.
The twins are very much 2, they love to NOT AGREE on anything, but in the end want the same thing, for example a blue pool.

So enjoy these pictures and please understand when I come to a BBQ or some sort of gathering and my legs are not shaved, and I look like I've already put in a full day...I have :)

Hooray!! Everybody Clap

Edie & The Big Blue Pool

Here is what I think SHE was thinking...
Ok there is...um, one leg oooh chilly,
then the ahhh other, whoooo yeah it's kinda cold,
Hooray for me I did it!
Everybody clap!!

Three Pools

Here are the girls hanging out in 1 cool pool on a hot day. They spent a good part of the day in this 1 pool. We had a big blow up pool. But with three toddlers the water needs to changed regularly, as in every hour!! Therefore, the blow up pool was difficult to handle and keep clean. We looked at a couple of stores on Sunday but couldn't find a single plastic hard side pool. Todd found these (3, purple not shown) at Wal-Mart. So there are THREE pools in the drive.

Reagans' Ranch

We go through a lot of ranch dressing at our house. It is a staple and something we need to buy almost once a week. Fortunately in the recycling bin I had 2 empty bottles. I soaped them all up and got all the gunk out and the twins were making ranch soup, ranch salad, ranch noodles, ranch tea and of course ranch cake. He she is showing off her prized possession of the day ...

an empty bottle of ranch.

There is no stopping her!

What's over here? What's over there?

Legs

This is Edies little old man laughing face. She figured out the cap on the bottle and in a deep raspy laugh she goes heh, heh, heh.

No doubt she can keep up with her sisters! We were playing outside this morning before it got to hot. And she was pretending to cook and filling bottles, putting on and taking off the covers to little jugs and pans. We have a bit of chipmunk problem and every time one would run by she would point and say wooooow in her whispery exhale. Thanks for the water shoes Meme!

Silly and Serious

Room For Rent

Three bedroom, no bath, great views.

Well here it is.

It's still in good shape!!

We started thinking about our annual Christmas in July that we have with my family. We decided this year we will try to camp with 3 small children.

We had just returned home from a great Fathers Day lunch at Bob and Davids, and decided since NO-ONE slept and the girls chatted the WHOLE way home that we would give them even more fresh air. We wrestled the tote out of the loft and got the tent out to see the light of day.

I was certain the mice had found their way into this too. They have already jumped out at Todd the first day he opened his folding chair, and then the rodents decided my $$ jogging stroller would make a good home and ate through the canopy to make a steamy nest between 2 layers of plastic. Grrrr. Thankfully it (the stoller) is in good shape, and the tent was perfect, with no freeloading rodents taking up shelter in our 'little' once used tent. I think it'll work out...

The twins will be in the 1st dome, we'll take the master suite right in the middle and Edie will have her own room on the left. So now it's all about preparing, and hey the tent being set up will give the kids a bug free place to play, AND they can get used it before Christmas. Again, I think this will work out...

Happy Fathers Day

WuBBieS

Here are a couple of my prototypes. Betsy the cow and Lily the pig (hope you don't mind Dani).












Lily's' ears have mink fleece and she has all kinds of textures for little fingers to feel, including 3 ribbon hairs. I've been having alot of fun making these, and I've had an opportunity to try some of my 90 stitch options on my new machine.

Thunder Storms

OK, pick any day of the week and you'll hear, 'she's touching me!' or you'll hear Edie's voice of discontent expressed by squealing like an air raid siren. This is usually because someone has invaded someones personal space. Unless of course....

the clouds start to rumble. The twins each scoot to the side and let Edie in the middle, and they all snuggle til the storm passes. Of course this is followed by the gamut of 'why?' 'why, mama is there thunder?' So we talk about how the clouds need to send down rain to water the flowers, grass, trees, and put clean water in the pond ( Our pond & Meme's pond). About ten minutes later they will ask why again.

Happy Summer

I think most of you got this one today.

They are so big.

Ok all you new moms and dads out there, I want to hold all those little ones!!

Congratulations!

'I have Boogies'

It's not crying or anyone being upset, just these quiet little voices from down the hall that let me know they have boogies. This is what I wake up to at 2, 3 4 o'clock in the morning. If I don't say 'OK, I'm coming', they will say a little louder. 'Excuse me mama, I have boogies. We've been talking about manners lately. If I don't get right out of bed it turns into. 'Mama, I need a tissue please, I have boogies!'

After a full scale Boogie meltdown this morning I got everyone settled. They have Daddy's' special blanket and all their special tokens of comfort.

The girls have found 'Go, Diego, Go!'. They love this show. So we are having some quiet time before we go out and get some fresh air or fall asleep

Three Little Red Wagons

Edie got a little red wagon for her birthday. She would push it all around the house when she was learning how to walk.

I never had a hard time thinking of things as coming in '2's because of the twins. I was six weeks pregnant when we found out we were having twins, since then everything...EVERYTHING comes in duplicate.

OK it's carved in stone, that's the way it is around here.

Then, a short 18 months later I could start thinking of things coming one at time. We were delighted to find out we were pregnant with Edie. I could now stand in front of a display and and say to myself, 'oh, I only need to buy one these for Edie.'

Now a short 13months later...I need to change the process again.

I've said it before, she (Edie) wants to do what they are doing and they want to do what she is doing. Therefore, I now have to think (while standing in the toy isle) should I pick up 2 or 3 of these. Edie thinks she is two and a half anyway. They ALL like the same things, and play with them at the same time. If one of them moves on to play something else, they all go. The like the same cups, food, toys, books, baby dolls, pillows, and blankets...need I say more?

I'll just consider myself a mother of 'triplets' at this point.

I've already had people ask me in stores, or the lady in G-town that directs traffic with the Mickey Mouse gloves if they are triplets. I smile and say 'almost'. There is usually an awkward silence then I'll explain our unique situation.

In closing that is why I have 3 Little Red Wagons!

OK, OK...

Here it is. A brand new Kenmore sewing machine model #385.16231. I had seen it on line and really liked all the features that it had, but it was a little out of my price range. Thank goodness for some forgetful associate at Sears! They did not take down the sale sign from the weekend sale. So I got it within my price range only by luck. And OH MY GOSH, let me tell you how wonderful this machine is. I mean I was hooked before, but now it's becoming all consuming.
Get this...It even threads the needle for me. There is this tiny little foot that comes down and grabs the thread and pulls it through the eye of the needle. My old machine, every time I stopped sewing or reversed stitched I would have to re thread the whole thing including the bobbin. Speaking of...

The bobbin is now located directly under the sewing foot. Each time I finish and remove my project I can look down and see how much I have left on it, without having to take the whole front of the machine off and take out the bobbin from the metal casing and inspecting it so often.
Therefore I've been reading the manual and educating myself about my new 'toy'.

This is why I have not blogged in a couple of days. I've been researching, shopping, and practicing. This is my first project on the new machine. Not to bad. It'll take some getting used to, but like I said OH MY GOSH, it's quiet, smooth and I don't have to re thread EVERY time I finish a stitch.

By the way this is a true WuBB. I'm appliqueing faces to most of my little blankets now to make them uniquely mine. Isn't he cute!