Christmas 2012

Elliott loves his new bed and happily makes it every day.

Lillian likes her new bed too.

Theresa is also delighted with her bed, despite the fact that it doesn't have princesses on it as requested.

Yay!  New underwear and puzzles!

This isn't Lillian; it's her cousin Abby.  Do you think they look alike?

The kids are always happy to get new books!

Theresa gets really excited about each of her presents and loves them all! 

The kids are almost three and loving every minute of the Christmas season.  

Little crafters

The kids LOVE "projects."  Any sort of arts and crafts activity is a hit.  I am posting the activity we did this morning because it was actually MY idea.  I usually get all my activity ideas from the internet or someone else, but this idea occurred to me yesterday.  I cut up scraps of wrapping paper and the kids happily glued them onto trees I had cut out from white paper. (No green paper in the house, so I guess we had to "decorate" snowy trees, lol!)  Now, feel free to steal my idea....and get rid of all your small pieces of leftover Christmas paper now instead of when it's all crumpled up in a storage room by next summer. 

And for the record---Last potty-training update:  Done, done, and DONE!  Woohoo!!!!  Theresa still uses a pull-up at naptime and bedtime, and Elliott still uses one at bedtime, but I'm calling them potty-trained.  I was super-happy to take them all to ECFE last week in regular underwear (without worrying too much!).  I wonder how many diapers we contributed to the landfill in the last 2 1/2 - 3 years of diapers, though?  Ugh! 

Holiday helpers

Making caramel bars for Matt's birthday.

Making rolo pretzel delights for Thanksgiving.

Theresa didn't eat any rolos herself, but she did pretend feed one to her doll.

A mini-argument over rolo-hoarding:  Elliott:  "No take them, Theresa!"  Theresa:  "It's just one, ok, Elliott."

The tricky part--putting rolos on top of the pretzels.  Lillian would put them upside down to irk Elliott.  Elliott "fixed" them by flipping them all over.

Theresa at a standstill because she was unhappy about having chocolate all over her fingers.

Finally!  Yum!

I finally found another way to keep all the kids entertained for more than five minutes--unwrapping candy!  Yesterday they unwrapped a whole package of caramels for Matt's birthday caramel bars (which he prefers over cake), and today they unwrapped a whole package of rolos.  They also put each rolo on top of a pretzel to make some treats for Thanksgiving tomorrow.  You might be wondering how many they ate.  The answer is none.  I made a firm statement at the beginning of the activity that we needed them all for the treats and they could try a treat at the end when they were all done.  It worked!  A small lesson in delayed gratification.  They do better than I; I always sneak a few.  :)   For other toddler moms, there are directions on the back of the rolo bag for Pretzel Delights.  Your kids can do everything but push the pecans into the warm rolos.  It is a great way to wile away the better part of an hour. 

Mothers of Multiples Halloween Party

The kids had lots of fun getting into their costumes!   

TC Marathon

Matt ran his first marathon this past weekend!  The kids were great spectators, and Nana and Papa were in town to watch and help with the kids too.  The kids were really proud of the sign they made for Matt, and bickered over who got to carry it back to the van after our first stop.  Lillian and Elliott were convinced to do "teamwork" and each take a side of the sign.  Sometimes (not very often) I can convince them to use "teamwork" instead of fight.  Anyway, Matt was happy with his time (3:33) which was two minutes faster than his goal.  Congrats to Aunt Shanna too, who ran the Chicago Marathon while Matt was running here in MN!  I sure hope the kids inherit some athleticism from the Anderson side.  I like to run too, but I don't have the talent they do!  Oh, and the kids did do the toddler trot that was held in conjunction with the marathon.  The girls did great. Among the three, Theresa finished first, then Lillian, and Elliott was grumpy and had to be carried the whole way.  Nonetheless, they all got finisher medals and T-shirts just for running a short little distance.

Wagon and pony rides

Today we had another orchard outing.  (I LOVE fall and can't get enough time outdoors in the fall!)  This orchard was bigger so we got to ride a wagon out to pick apples.  The orchard also had pony rides, and Theresa was brave enough to enjoy one!  The other two chickened out.  (Someday in the future they will be reading this, and Theresa will have something to gloat about, right?)  She rode a little pony named Daisy.  The couple who owned Daisy were so nice, letting Theresa pet her and take her time sitting on her before they started walking with her.  My favorite part was that Theresa not only did it, but she looked like she was enjoying herself too.  What a good sport!  I thought all this walking and playing at the orchard would tire the kids out like crazy, but guess what?  Theresa and Elliott had their first full day without a nap....not one little catnap in the van or anything.  The scary part is that there were no meltdowns until about 15 minutes before bedtime.  I keep telling Matt I'm going back to work as soon as they stop napping--I'm only half-kidding.  Hopefully today was a fluke, and Lillian is definitely still a napper.  She slept for two hours while Theresa and Elliott were shrieking and hollering out the ABCs.  She is the most challenging when awake, but she can be counted on to nap and get to the potty on time (both of which are key in keeping this mother sane most days).   

Third Apple Orchard Outing

This is the third year of apple orchard outings with the kids.  The first year we used a stroller.  The second year we used a stroller and three child harnesses.  This year we used nothing!  These days we try to give them plenty of opportunity for exercise to make for an easier naptime and bedtime.  The kids picked apples, rode little pedal tractors, ran around a shrub maze and played in a pile of straw.  The kids also talked us into mini-donuts.  (Ok, so it was me who asked the worker when he was going to fire up the donut machine.) 

First Fair Trip

Since Matt introduced me to the state fair six years ago, it's been one of my favorite days of the year.  We took the kids for the first time this year, so we didn't spend the entire day there.  We did make it to 1:30, which I thought was decent considering it was so hot.  My own favorite moment was sharing mini-donuts in the shade this morning.  Usually the kids don't get excited about donuts, but Elliott ate four!  There is something nice about watching such a skinny kid indulge.  As dictated by tradition, we went to the health fair booth to get weighed.  The girls each stepped on the scale and were each 34 lbs.  Elliott didn't want to go on the scale, and we didn't push him--it was a day of fun and we wanted to avoid unnecessary arguments.  I am so curious what he weighs now, though.  He seems to be eating a bit more lately, and I am suspecting he is going up in weight.    

Parks, parks, parks

We have been to so many parks this summer!  It's our go-to activity when we have nothing else on the calendar.  This dinosaur gave me an opportunity to get all three of my munchkins in the same picture. 

Our weekend

Yesterday the company Matt works for hosted a family picnic and baseball outing.  We didn't actually watch any of the Saints game, but the kids had a great time in the play area.  The girls stuck to the playset, and Elliott found a new best friend in the young man operating a batting cage. Instead of a tee from which to hit a wiffle ball, the thing blew air out of a little cone to hold the ball in the air for the kids to hit.  He screeched with delight when he put a wiffle ball on top of it and it "floated" in the air.  He was so happy and having so much fun that the man operating the game let him put the wiffle balls on top of the cone in between other (paying) customers.  I love to see Elliott having so much fun doing something other than vacuuming or "helping Daddy" (his other two favorite pastimes).       

We love playdates!

The kids have really been talking a lot about all their friends lately.  They are always super-excited to have playdates and see their friends at school.  This morning it was so hot our playdate involved water and watermelon smoothies.  Yum!  Elliott sat down next to me with his snack this morning.  I said to him, "Oh, Elliott, are you coming to sit next to Mommy?"  (He doesn't do that often.)  He responded, "No, Katie."  He had no problem letting me know he was coming over to sit next to his friend, NOT me.  He has proven to be the most ungrateful little son lately.  Last week I came into his room to get him out of his crib.  He glared at me and said, "Mommy work, Daddy stay home."  Sheesh.....no appreciation at all for making all his meals, doing his laundry and generally being at his beck and call all day long.  It's lucky for both of us that he does have his moments of charm too.  When I ask him how his food is during mealtime, he almost always says, "tasty."  He's got that going for him at least. 

Beating the heat at Nana and Papa's

Could the kids have had a better 4th of July?  They spent the week playing with their cousins, splashing in the water, and eating freezie pops.  Papa and Uncle Rob watched the kiddos while we ran our 5K race as we do every year.  This year Matt actually ran the 10K with his sister Shanna, though. 

Our drive to Wisconsin was a bit more interesting this time.  We traveled with two little potties and stopped about once an hour to take potty breaks.  I would say Lillian is officially potty-trained, and Theresa is close, but not quite.  I feel a little bit bad for Elliott.  In the past few days, he has talked a lot about being "all done with diapers" and he always wants to go potty when his sisters do.  He just doesn't seem ready and hasn't had much success in staying dry, though.  It tugs at my heart that he wants to do something as well as his sisters, but he probably just can't yet.  I know this will happen over and over again with many different things as the kids grow older, though, and I imagine it will always be hard for the child who is still learning.  Growing up as triplets they are going to pressure each other to do things and learn things before they are actually ready, and I think it will be hard for me to watch them struggle as they push their limits.  Potty-training seems to really highlight this for us.  Theresa would probably still be in diapers, but she is trying so hard because she sees Lillian wearing underwear and just very much wants to do the same.  Because she is pushing it a bit, the whole process might be a little harder than it needs to be.....but in the end, it might be a blessing in disguise.

Matt has had the whole week off.  It has been so nice; I'm already dreading Monday when he goes back to work.  At least we have cooler weather to look forward to, though!