Alone in My Closet

...need I say more??? Some leg warmers and bangle bracelets and she'd be a Cyndi Lauper look-alike!! Still wondering how she did that to her hair...

A Family Tradition

Here's almost the whole gang on Sunday before church in front of the "tent"

Ella, Campbell, and Cayden in the water slide


Sarah sitting in the saw-dust floor of the tent



Ella and Luke enjoying the wagon



Ella on the big slide

Luke, Hannah, Ella, and Campbell taking a break

The girls wore poor Luke out and Sherry finally got the baby she was looking for... one who was sleeping!!

Personalities captured perfectly... Kate in front happy to be there, Sarah in the middle signing all done with the present situation, and Maggie's now famous whine face

Mimi with Kate at the table in the tent

Rylee Ann... born on Tuesday prior to the trio on Sunday- with all the new babies we've added to the tent this year things are going to be wild fun times in the years to come.




We have just had an awesome (and tiring) week at our church's campground. Attending campmeeting has been a family tradition of ours since 1989. We stay in small cabins (we call them tents) that surround a tabernacle where we have church services daily from Sunday to Sunday at both 11am and 8 pm.

Campmeeting is the kind of place kids dream of... a lot like camping and other simple family vacations (though really it is a lot of work for the adults), spending lots of time running around outside playing with friends that you only see once a year, enjoying lot and lots of homemade icecream, and just generally getting to be a kid.

Through the years our tent has been filled with both family and friends, and I believe this might be a record breaking year because among us we added 5 babies to the group and there's another on the way in December. That will give us a grand total of 8 age 3 and under for next year's week long adventure... unless there are others that squeeze in between now and then!

We've made many great memories at campmeeting... most of which we laugh and talk about from year to year. I am excited to be able to expose the girls to such a wonderful, loving, place of tradition.

A Year Ago Today...

I checked into the hospital a year ago today to spend my 5.5 weeks prior to the babies being delivered. I will never forget it because it was the first night I had spent away from Ella in her whole life... all 17 months of it. I knew when I went to the doctor that day there was a chance that I'd end up going to the hospital, but I assumed it would be for monitoring and I'd soon be sent home on total bed rest. That turned out not to be the case. Instead, I was there to stay for over a month.

Besides the obvious people whom I missed terribly, I also missed being connected to the outside world, having good food to eat, having a sense of control, and generally being in charge of what I did and where I went. Thankfully Mom and Ella visited almost daily, Scott visited every chance he got on weekends, and tons of other people called and visited as well. My sweet friend Suzanne helped me to get through lots of the hospital time by popping in when she was on call just to see how I was "really" doing. While I did have lots of friends and family bringing in snacks and meals, it was frustrating to feel like my only job was to grow babies and what I mainly had to eat was yucky hospital food. I know that any number of people would have brought me anything I asked for, but I just could not think of a thing that I wanted. I think that the hardest part of bed rest was the isolation I felt. I wasn't home with Ella and Scott where I belonged. Waiting to see if it would be the cleaning crew knocking on my door or someone coming for a visit may seem trivial, but it was actually a source of stress. I really enjoyed making friends with lots of my nurses, but I remember feeling guilty for wanting to have them stay and chat... like I was trying to keep them from doing their jobs or something. In the days when we first brought the girls home, what I would not have given for a few nights back in the hospital to just get some sleep! Of course, when I was there I had 15+ lbs of baby in my belly and sleep was often hard to come by then as well.

Now I have a new friend who is also expecting triplet girls with a due date in early October (just like me) who is on bed rest at the same hospital I was in. I called to check on her today, and it sounds like she is in great spirits! It really does bring back all those memories for me to chat with her.... I remember knowing that even though I missed Ella terribly, I was in the best place I could possibly be for my babies. It was a little scary to be more than 30 minutes away from the hospital already dilated and unsure if I was having contractions. Jen agrees, and being an hour away from the hospital for her will likely mean she'll be there until her little beauties make their debut as well. Until then, I'll keep checking on her and praying for her because I'm sure that the prayers of others are the reason I was able to keep a smile on my face and those babies in my belly until they were ready!

At the Park

Ella insisted on dressing herself for the trip to the park today. She usually does well and even matches her clothes. Today, however, she found a new appreciation for her sweat suit drawer before we left and even though it was 80 degrees out insisted on wearing fleece! Yikes.... we let her out of the house in a red flowers on yellow onsie top with sage green fleece pants and bright neon green crocs. A few teenage girls saw her outfit and were giggling and saying how cute she was... I said, "She doesn't need a sign that says I DRESS MYSELF, does she?"

All of the babies enjoyed the smaller play area at the park. They played peek a boo with Ella through the glass bubbles and also enjoyed poking their fingers through the holes on the floor.

Kate says, "I'm gonna get you Dad!"

Sarah signs "all done"

What you talkin' bout Willis?

Kate above and Maggie below equally unimpressed with the swings

What We're Up to Lately....

After the babies finish their bottles in the mornings they have started trying, by whatever means necessary- including pushing open closed doors and pushing down pressure mounted gates, to get into Ella's room to wake her. Lately she has been awake by the time they finish their bottles anyway, so I just let them crawl on in. They all like to jump and play around in her baby bed together. It is great fun until someone gets hurt.... every single time!

In the afternoons we've been heading outside for a little fun in the sandbox and on the swing set. Every one of the babies has eaten her fair share of the sand out of the sandbox already, and hopefully they have all gotten their fill. There won't be any sand left if they continue to eat it at this rate!!

We've also been playing out on the back enclosed porch lots lately too. It is amazing what a difference there is in an almost walking baby and a new to crawling baby.... they go up and down the little tykes slide about a thousand times each. They also love to play in the pretend kitchen and with everything that we keep out there in general. Kate got all scraped up out there after falling (quite possibly with Ella's help) out of a rocking chair and into the wall. Check out that head injury...

The other news, of late, is that Sarah is standing on her own lots these days. They are all babbling up a storm, and now thanks to the Baby Signing Times DVD's we just got, they are all signing lots of new words as well. They are really growing up way too fast!!

Kisses from Ella

Today as Ella was making her rounds kissing each of her baby sisters good morning she said, "Ooh Mom, I just love baby kisses, and doggie kisses, and people kisses the best in that order." I guess I know where Daddy and I stand, ha, ha. It is so much fun to watch her uuuzz'n on her baby sisters! Their little eyes light up when she directs her attention their way. I hope that things continue to progress along the same path that they've started where her affections are concerned. In just a few more months when they are walking and keeping up with her she'll be blessed with 3 of the most adoring fans/ best playmates any girl could ever ask for...

Church Tricks

The girls were very cute in church this morning. They were all flirting and playing with the people in the rows behind us. Each one was waving hi and blowing kisses.... I'd never seen them blow kisses before, and I must say it was very cute!! They were so loud in their games and playing that I guess we'll have to go straight to the nursery with all 3 of them next week. Also, this morning Sarah picked up a toy phone while we were getting ready and put it up to her ear and said as plain as day, "Hi daddy!" They are changing, learning, and growing so much...

Fabulous Friday

Well, it wasn't exactly fabulous.... nothing special in fact, but I think that from now on that will be our theme for Fridays. The babies were finally in a great nap and bedtime routine- 9am, 1pm, and 6:30pm to bed. That should have been my first clue that things were about to change. It seems that every time we get into a good groove around here, it is suddenly time for a change. Now the babies are having a hard time getting to sleep for their am naps, waking up after only an hour for afternoons, aughhhhhhh. Guess in a few days we'll have the NEW schedule figured out, but we have had some pretty strange days here lately..... hence the lack of posts.

Ella's imagination has been in overdrive for the last week. She has walked around our living room imagining that she is in all sorts of cities, in her Mimi's pool, and playing with all her friends both real and imaginary. It is funny, but my best defense mechanism for days when she skips her nap and is especially terrible in the late afternoon is to say, "Let's play pretend." She immediately assigns me the role of baby Ella and herself as the mommy..... so cute! Scott and I took her by herself out on a date last night. She was so excited all afternoon at the prospect of going on a date with us. Every time she stopped and thought about it she would just clap her hands together like she was going to burst at any moment. We planned to go to the movies then out to eat, but when we got to the theatre she declared that she absolutely didn't want to see any movie about a rat! (Maybe she takes after Amanda just a bit?) So we let her decide what we did.... we had dinner and play time at Chic-fil-a and then came back to Mimi's pool and swam.... just the 3 of us. It is so nice to spend time with her one on one. I have to make it a priority to start doing that with the babies soon too!!!

Last week Maggie learned that she can climb up onto the fireplace and eat the rocks out from under the gas logs. Thankfully my Pop came and placed some plywood permanently over the opening so there will be no more rocks consumed... from our fireplace anyway. We are also having to tie one of her legs to the table on occasion to get her to sit in her seat for meals... she is such an escape artist that the belt around her waist doesn't do the trick anymore.

Kate has been the most easygoing baby this week. She has been generally happy, only tries a couple of times to steal someone else's toy before she moves on to find her own, and several times she has gone missing only to be found playing by herself in Ella's closet. She's the best eater I've got right now. She also can get up on the fireplace and thinks it is a great place to play. She still cheeses with a crinkled up nose any time the camera is in sight.

Sarah has a whole host of new noises that are cracking us up these days. I've been trying to catch her with the video camera, but not having any luck. I think anytime she finds something interesting... primarily books and hats, she is set off. The noise is almost a coo, but not quite. It's very hard to describe, but hopefully I'll catch it and post a video soon. She has learned to play defense so that the other two can't steal toys away from her. When she sees them coming she will tuck the toy into her tummy and spin around in circles so that they can't take it away.

That's all for now, but I will try to get some new pictures in the next few days.... seems they are changing almost daily now!

Fun in the Sun

The pool was way too cold on Saturday morning for the babies, so they just hung out by the water table while Ella swam with Kari and all of James' family. They had big fun splashing and throwing their little pink crocs in the water. We have picked the date for the big birthday bash... August 25th, at Mimi and Pop's pool. More details to come... can't believe a year has almost passed since these three arrived!!!

Making Cookies...

We had a rainy Friday afternoon, so the girls and I made cookies after their nap. Boy was the kitchen a mess... I didn't think to take a picture of the floor, but let's just say that even after sweeping several times we're still tracking flour all over the place. Fun times!!

Independence Day

When we were first married Scott was on active duty in the ARMY. We made some amazing friends in those first few years together... most of us were new to married life, us girls were new to the ARMY life, and back then we didn't have any children. Thanks to that we now have friends scattered all over the world, and I'd like to think that means we have an extra appreciation for the daddy's who miss birthdays and holidays because of deployments and moms who are strong enough to handle the entire load on their own. Lots of the friends we made in those years stayed on active duty and are making a career of military service. Our family would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all the service men and women who are doing their jobs so that we may continue to enjoy our freedom! We love you and appreciate all that you and your families sacrifice.

We'll be saying extra prayers for all the families we know with loved ones in the military tonight, and please join us today and in the days ahead in special prayers for our friend Karin and her girls as they lost a husband and father in Iraq in the end of June. I know it is a cliche', but freedom isn't free.

More Pictures

Having Aunt Kari and Uncle James around has meant the world to us this past week... it has also meant an extra couple sets of hands and more opportunity to take photos. So here are some from yesterday afternoon. The girls are enjoying watching the dogs playing in the yard. They are so eager to get around and investigate everything! They are going to be wild once they can walk...

Close-Ups

Ella

Sarah

Kate

Maggie

Nanny's House

Like trying to herd cats...

Maggie enjoys an ear of corn

Cayden offers Ella some chap stick

Cousins

Just a couple of pictures from lunch at Nanny's house Sunday. If you notice, all four girls have on the same dress. We tried our best to get a decent picture of all of them to no avail. We were able to catch one of just the babies, but they are constantly on the move and my digital camera is way too slow.... better luck next time hopefully. I heard Ella asking one of the babies the other day, "Do you want to be cousins?" as if that is the greatest thing in the world. I said you are sisters and that is cool too! She didn't seem convinced, but I think it's just because she has such great cousins!! I am so glad that the girls have cousins that are friends. It reminds me of a long time ago when Adam was little the way he described how good a friend someone was... " Well, they are not like cousin friends or anything..." We are very blessed to have wonderful cousins on all sides of our families!!!