Last Minute Beach Trip

Most vacations require weeks or months of planning.  I honestly can never think of a trip that we put together this last-minute.  But somehow it all came together and Sarah and I got to spend some unexpected time relaxing in the Florida sun.  Kurt and the boys spent some quality time together at home.  We had beautiful weather the whole trip.  We ate some amazing seafood. Sarah had a ball with all the extra attention.  She has become quite the shoe thief "borrowing" everyone's shoes. And just like her mommy in younger days, Sarah found a beach romance the 2nd day.  And then a 2nd beach boyfriend the 3rd day.  She works fast!  It was a short trip but we made lots of memories.

Sarah loved building sandcastles

There were so many shells to collect

Toes in the water...buns in the sand

Tired girl

Beach Boyfriend Aidan

Hugs for Aidan

Very seriously tying the laces on the shoes

Wearing Diana's toe-shoes

Hugs from Beach Boyfriend #2

The Best Seat in the House...

To watch the Dawgs play...and it's all mine.  

The best seat in the house

We have season tickets to the football games in Athens.  But my favorite seat to watch is with my hubby and my babies.  Since it was a non-conference game we let my folks take 2 friends to the game with our tickets.  And we had a tailgate for five.

Jake loves football

Sarah gets snuggly

Touchdown!

 

For all you blogger-faithful I am sorry we are not posting more.  It's not that we aren't doing lots of fun stuff...we are maybe doing too much fun stuff!  Life has not slowed down a bit since moving back to Gwinnett.  Our weekends are packed full of pool time, play-dates, birthday parties, family visits, unpacking (still), house projects, and more.  Add in Kurt's job hunting and me studying for a continuing education exam and you have got a completely full plate.  But it's all stuff that makes our lives better and prepares us for the future.  So we forge ahead!

Potty update!  Sarah is doing amazing!  She is no longer having any accidents.  In fact, now she wants to do it all herself and refuses my help.  She has gone from "nothing at all" to "mommy I can do it myself" in just a few weeks.  Lucas has been a little slower.  We started with him 2 weeks ago and he has just now actually started going in the potty.  We were completely accident free today.  Victory!  Jake is showing some interest and even sitting on the potty for awhile at a time.  But no success there yet.  Stay tuned.

The kids are still loving preschool.  They are learning so much and the teacher sent a note home that she is impressed with how well they know their ABCs, numbers, and colors.  When Kurt goes back to work the kids will be in a combo of preschool and daycare full-time.  I'm glad to know they love it so much.  That should really help the transition!

Sweet Jakers

Just call her Ruby

Ready for school

Taking Kayli for a ride on our new scooter

The future of kids...same room and still texting!

BFF...Kayli & Sarah

The Trio Tackles Preschool

It's the night before school starts and I'm anxiously laying awake in my bed nervously biting my fingernails.  No, it's not a grade school flashback...the trio was heading to their first day of preschool.

I should never have felt anxious.  They did great.  To start they are going just 4 hours per day and 2 days per week.  Their days are filled with outdoor or gym play, story time, music, art, science, and more.  I am so impressed with the curriculum for kids just shy of three years old.  They even eat lunch there.

The teacher has written reports home to us telling us the kids are so social and funny and get along great with the other kids.  The first week Sarah liked "playing in the pretend kitchen" and "doing art projects".  Jake liked "playing kickball" and "playing with the dump trucks".  Lucas liked the "group dancing" they did and he liked "playing tag".  Kurt and I both think this is going to be so great for each of their developments.

There was one drawback though.  As you might expect, after their first week all 3 came down with colds.  Nothing too serious but still put a damper on our weekend.  I know they have to be exposed to other kids and their germs eventually.  I just hate when they are sick!  But I think we are all past it now.  Hopefully.

Morning breakfast before school

Sarah walks right in

Sarah & Luke already playing with the toys

Jake has found a toy he likes

And they don't even miss us!

Caution...Changes Ahead!

The only certain thing in life is change, right?

Well, we've had our fair share over the last two weeks.  First, we decided to start potty training Sarah.  Since we have zero experience with training we decided to just try Sarah instead of all three.  The first few days were rough.  Despite all the pre-training work we did to get her ready it was still a big change.  She had 11 accidents before she finally used the potty in the toilet.  But after a week and a half she's doing so well with almost no accidents.  I sure hope we can get the boys trained in a week too!  Fingers crossed!

Sarah being a big girl

We also decided it was the right time to separate the triplets into their own bedrooms.  I was so nervous about how this would go.  They've been together since the day they came home from the hospital.  We gave each of the kids 2 new toys to get them excited about their "new" room.  There were a lot of tears the first night but by the next day that had already acclimated.  I was so amazed with how easily they took to it!  These kids never cease to amaze me!

Then last Tuesday my first little nephew Eli Patrick was born.  He was less than an ounce shy of 8 pounds and 22 inches long...tall and skinny just like his daddy!  I can't wait until I can visit little Eli again.  He's so precious.

Auntie Kelly holding Eli

Sweet sleeping boy

On Monday the kiddos start 2 day/week pre-school.  That too will be a big change.  Stay tuned...

Random Coolness

I was struck by something so totally random tonight that I decided to include it in the blog.  As I was tucking the kids into bed and starting their light machine, I realized it had turned so instead of projecting the image on the ceiling it was on the wall.  The kids thought it was really cool and started pointing out all the sea creatures  like octopus, starfish, crab, etc.  As they moved in front of the machine, they each cast a shadow on the wall.  They soon took notice of it and started making deliberate movements so they could see how it affected their shadow.  We spent 10 minutes talking about shadows and doing all sorts of things.  It was just so neat to see the kids learning a new concept that most adults take for granted.  Their little minds were processing a new idea they had never thought of before.  Very cool.  And random.

Luke's "little" shadow and Jake's "big" shadow

Our First Trip to the ER

From the moment we pulled out of the parking lot at Northside Hospital with our little Sarah packed safely in the car (she was the last one to come home), I prayed that it would be a long time before we saw the inside of another hospital.  Thankfully, we have managed to dodge hospitals for over two and a half years.  We've been able to squeak by with just routine doctor visits.

Until now.

On Tuesday Lucas fell from one of his many climbing adventures and got a deep cut about a half inch long on the back of his head.  It was a pretty deep cut so we decided to take him to Urgent Care to get a few stitches.  They wouldn't treat him because of his age and told us to go to the Children's ER at Gwinnett Medical Center.  So off we went.  Lucas was pretty unsettled and frightened right from the start so the nurse treated him to a Popsicle to calm his nerves and allow them to apply a numbing cream.  Then they came back with a nose spray that was designed to make him feel very "loopy".  It worked because he was acting like he was "drunk" in no time.  Despite the cream and the loopy meds he was very scared during the stitching.  I had to hold him down with my body while the doctor worked.  He begged and pleaded for me to help him.  It broke my heart.  But I knew we were doing the best for him.  Being a parent and making tough choices is hard!

Since we left the hospital he hasn't seemed to be bothered by his injury at all.  After a solid nap, he was his usual energetic self.  He hasn't been touching it or favoring it in any way.  Thank Goodness.  And here's to hoping it's a long time before we have to go back!

Lucas's cut...about as long as my finger nail

Calm boy after getting his popsicle

After the "loopy" meds.  Poor guy couldn't keep his head up!

Just zoned out & relaxed...sipping his juice