Friday, September 30, 2011

Luau - 4th Birthday Party


Addison, Emily, and Hailey are turning FOUR YEARS OLD on Monday.  Time is just FLYING by.  So, since they have school on their actual birthday, we had a few friends over to celebrate their birthday yesterday.  It was a little luau!!  We did the Limbo and watched a little kid dvd that taught you how to hula dance :)...and colored monkey pictures and of course, ate food and birthday cake!
Addy, Emily, and Hailey - silly four year olds....

 Coloring with friends...
 Gotta have fun glasses/straws at a Luau....
 And yes I'm totally cheesy...but I love it. :)
 We had asked everyone to come barefoot to the luau and in lieu of a gift, to bring some old shoes to donate to the organization called Soles for Jesus that gives shoes to children in Africa....
but our friends were extra generous and brought Addy, Emily, and Hailey a gift too! 


 Sweet Addy - we started singing "Happy Birthday" to her...and she just hates having all the attention on her....so she started bawling..
 1 minute later Em was born, so 1 minute later we sang to Emily!
 and 1 minute later Hailey was born!!  Happy Birthday!
 Then last weekend, I ran and the girls and Ry walked in the Komen Race for the Cure.  It's a 5K run and lots of people from our church ran in honor of a friend who is fighting against breast cancer right now.  We were supposed to dress up like pirates since we were on "Rachel's Raiders" team. :) (Hence the pink eye patch on my head) :)
 I run and think about all the people that I know that have been affected by cancer. It's really powerful to run and see so many people with tags on their backs in honor of people they know that have battled cancer...
 I wish I could have met you Annette K. (Ryan's Grandma)..I miss you Grandpa K, Grandpa P, Uncle Butch and I celebrate with you Survivors - Cousin Laura, Aunt Pauline, and friend Kara.



Friday, September 23, 2011

Erin Elizabeth is here!




 We are so excited that our sweet little (or should i say 9 lb big?)  niece is HERE!  Erin Elizabeth came into the world at 2 in the morning today.  Jody, Erin (and Shane!) are doing really well!  There were some worries about Shane not being able to make it through the whole thing...but he did great and even cut the cord - go Shane!  :) Erin is absolutely adorable and it was so great to meet her!  Every time the girls saw Auntie Jody when she was pregnant, they would always ask her "When are you gonna push your baby out?" So this morning, I told them that Jody pushed her out!  They were SOOO excited.  Addy especially wanted to go to the hospital right then...at 6:30 a.m.  And they wanted to make her special cards and so I wrote down what they wanted to say.  So cute.  Tonight at dinner, I asked them who they thought Erin looked like...and Emily was SURE she looked like Uncle Shane because she didn't have long straight blonde hair like Jody.  I can't wait for these girls to all grow up together and I love seeing my girls in a "big sister" type roll....makes ME want a baby again!!!!
Here's Hailey with cousin Erin
 E, A, H with Erin

 I LOVE HER!  She has been prayed for for SO long!!!!
 Taking a peak at Auntie Shell - beautiful girl!!!  CONGRATULATIONS Shane & Jody!  We are so happy to go through this parenting adventure WITH you now!!  Praising Him for another miracle!! Yay!!!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

My babies are SCHOOL GIRLS!!

Well, my babies first day of school for the REST of their lives is officially over!  They LOVED it!!!!  The girls were up super early like skipping around with excitement.  Addy kept saying "This is so 'essciting'!" :)  They just couldn't WAIT.  Then we get there, and they rush off to play with their friends right away.  I was like, can mommy have a hug? :)  So they did give me a hug good bye....and didn't even care when I was leaving the room.  Don't worry - I was actually doing really well too.  I had a ton to do this morning with getting prepped for MOPS to begin next week as well as youth group stuff and then some returns and groceries!  All in a few short hours....so I was happy to have the break...and at one point I just felt so free!  It was crazy! :)  I can't even tell you how great it is to know that they are in such an awesome school.  It is such a strong community already and it felt so good leaving them there.  And, have I mentioned how AWESOME it is to live 1 minute from church and school!?  :)
Here the girls are showing their excitement. :)  (EAH)  I thought I would put the girls in their colors to help the teachers out the first day. :) 

I love that they are sisters and that they get to experience so much together.  They are so so blessed to have each other and such a special bond.  I am so excited to see how God is going to use them at school and beyond!  I am so proud of you Emily, Addy, and Hailey!!!!


 My big girl!!!  Addison would NOT stop talking after school. Ryan met us at Culvers to celebrate their first big day and she told us like EVERY detail.  So cute!
 Em loved it too!  She said in the car right afterwards "Mom, I really love school." 
And Hailey wants to go tomorrow too!  She made sure to tell us that she did not go to the "princess's" (principal's) office today.  :) 
Hanging up their backpacks... 
And then they were off to playing right away.  Apparently they did talk about some letters, sang a song about sticky bubblegum, played outside, went to the bathroom in groups, sat on their "Ruby Reds", had storytime, walked in a line quietly in the hallway, had a snack, and who knows what else! :) 

Then on Labor Day we went on a fun hike to Lapham Peak.  It was beautiful and the perfect day for a hike!  Addy, Tyler, Emily, Hailey, and Braden 

 At the top of the tower :)
 All the kiddos...
 They love growing up together!


Sunday, September 4, 2011

Lots of "firsts"

Hi!  Where do I begin?  I feel like so much has been going on!  August flew by and now the girls are getting ready for the their first REAL day of 3K!!!!  Last week, they had their first "meet and greet" day where I went with them and they could drop off their school supplies, meet the teacher, and play in the room so they would get comfortable with it.  Then this Wednesday, I get to drop them off!  I can't believe they are old enough for SCHOOL!!!  But since it's just Monday and Wednesday mornings from 8:20 - 11:20, I'm actually pretty excited!  And so are they!!!! It'll be so nice to have a break and I know they are going to love it!  But when they go all day every day in a couple years, I don't know WHAT I will do!  I can't even FATHOM what that will be like to have a totally quiet house and to have everyone gone at once.  Crazy.  I don't want to think about that yet.  
ANYWAY  - so here are some pics of the girls all ready for their "meet and greet" day at school.  I was making sure they had everything in their backpacks and I noticed Hailey snuck a Barbie in hers.  So I told her she can't take her Barbie to school and she said "But Mom...it's for Show & Share."  She knows more about preschool than I do!!  It's so cute how excited they are! Their friend Isabelle came with us that day so I had a full van load!  (Addy, Emily, Isabelle, Hailey - all yelling "I LOVE SCHOOL!"





 And THEN, a couple days ago, our neighbors called us to tell us that one of them learned how to ride their bike with no training wheels!  So we all went down to watch and cheer.  It was so cute.  Well when we came home, my girls wanted to learn how to do it too!  So holy cow, I took off the training wheels of one of their old bikes and started running behind them all, taking turns holding them up while running.  My back was going out, I was sweating like crazy in the heat, and they didn't want to stop!  That's one thing I never thought of with having triplets - but training 3 girls how to ride a bike w/ no training wheels while Ryan was at work was a crazy idea!  I was tired! :)  But anyway, Addy turned out to be the most determined and got it in 2 days! She's so cute and so proud of herself.  I was actually pretty proud too.  If any neighbors saw me, the minute she got it and went by herself I started jumping up and down and screaming.  I couldn't believe my little girl could do that. :)  Here's the proof :)
 And THEN, we had promised the girls that we would camp sometime this summer.... So...last minute, on Friday, we decided to camp with some friends in our backyard! :)  Both of us have never set up our tents before so it was an adventure and pretty funny.  It was a HOT and sticky night...but we survived.  Only to say we probably won't do it again in a while.  The girls were not good at going to sleep in the tent.  They were so excited at first...but then Em said "mom, can we just go inside?"  And they were all worried about their sleeping bags touching each other or getting wrinkled.  Oh man.  Their Dad was no better.  He would say "Oh I think I'll go get us some water...".and then just happen to sit in the AC for a while and watch the end of the Brewers game.  Ry Ry Ry.  We have lots to practice before we go for real camping with my Colorado Camping family. :) Then at 5 in the morning the tent was blowing like crazy and then all of the sudden there was  a torrential down pour and lightning and everything so we rushed all the kids inside.  Our friends ended up in our family room floor...and we ended up in our super soft amazing beds. :)  Then we all woke up at 7:30, watched cartoons together and had a french toast breakfast inside - not your typical camping experience at all but it was still fun and we definitely made some memories. :) (AHE)
 (EAH)
 Cartoon time - everyone was pretty sleepy.  The girls were up so late!

Then a couple weeks ago, one of the girls' babysitters and one of my high school small group girls (did I mention that I'm getting back involved with youth group again?)  I'm so excited..I'll be leading a group of junior girls in small group and they're a riot and the whole thing has been very cool - just how I totally felt God leading me to these girls and everything.  I can't wait to see what God is going to teach us all this year.  Anyway, here we are at one of their houses picking raspberries.  The girls LOVED it!  Addy ate every raspberry as she picked them.  Hailey saved her whole bucket and then dumped the WHOLE thing on top of her ice cream and ate it ALL.  And then Emily was going to bring hers home and save them...but then when she thought about how she might have to share them, she quick ate the WHOLE bucket on the short ride home in the car.  So fun!  
And here we have Green Bay Packers Aaron Rodgers, Charles Woodson, and Tramon Williams.  I love how Aaron Rodgers is sporting high heels and some jewelry. :) We're pretty excited for football season over here. :)  Grandma Kathy got these "faces" at training camp one day.  She had a riot ordering Culvers with these by her face.  :) 


And THEN, a couple weekends ago, 3 of my friends and I spent the night in Madison, then hit the outlets in Johnson Creek on Saturday and then Saturday afternoon, we ran the Dirty Girl race!  It's a 5K race with lots of military like obstacles.  We had so much fun!!! (Andrea, Heidi, Desirae, me)