Monday, January 31, 2011

Skiing in Colorado!!

Here ya have it folks - three future ski bunnies!!! :) Addison - Hailey - and Emily :)

WHEW! What a FUN vacation! (and a tad tiring too!) :) Funny how you often need a vacation after a vacation when you travel with these three. :) No...it was SO GREAT! I SO LOVE COLORADO AND SKIING!!! Here's the recap:
So, Kim and Kathy purchased a week at a condo at the Christian school's auction last April. We were so excited they asked us to come with!!! I think I was particularly excited because this meant we'd be able to see my family as well since they all live there. So - we packed a million pairs of snowpants, mittens, hats, you name it...and managed to only check TWO bags!!! (but we did have 5 carry-ons and 3 carseats) :) The trip down was great as the girls slept on the plane for the most part and then my parents picked us up from the airport. Kim and Kathy and Shane and Jody spent the night at Kim's Aunt Mary's house and then went up to the condo on Friday. We got to hang out with my family in Denver Thursday, Friday, and part of Saturday. It was so fun to see everyone! Then we headed up to the mountains on Saturday during a snowstorm. Thankfully we got there in one piece and just had small delays. Then Sunday morning, bright and early, my entire family came up to go skiing with us! THANKS SO MUCH TO GRANDMA GWEN, GRANDMA KATHY and GRANDPA KIM for watching all the grandkids!!!! We had SUCH a great day of skiing and it made me realize how much I miss the mountains and how much I love and miss skiing with my fam!
Here's beautiful Copper Mountain!!!

Oh yes....wouldn't you know it that Sunday, the day we were skiing with my family, also happened to be the day of a super important Packer game. :) Don't you worry Packer fans...Ryan managed to take some long ski "breaks" to watch the game. Lucky for him that my brother Kyle happens to be marrying one of the biggest Packer fans ever so Ryan has someone to watch it with him. I did see the last 30 minutes though and it was SO fun to watch it right next to a table of Bears fans! :) :) It was a great day for our marriage. :) A HUGE Wisconsin Packer win and a PERFECT beautiful day of skiing in the Colorado mountains. :)
The die-hard Cheeseheads :)
My skiin' fam :) I WANT TO GO AGAIN! :)
Then Monday was the girls' big ski day! And they were so excited! Here they are, all geared up trying to find their thumbs to give us the 'thumbs up' sign. (Addy, Hailey, Emily) Their ski's were so tiny and so cute!

Riding up the conveyer belt up their little mountain :) (AHE) Uncle Cory said they look like penguins here. :)

Lots of help from both the grandma's.
Grandpa Joel brought his cross country ski's up to help speed things along. :) Here he is with Emily..
Hailey caught on very fast. She even did a couple turns and could slow herself down! We were shocked at how well they did!
Addy was ALL smiles and was all about going super fast. But then of course, she'd whipe out...and then there were tears. :)
Em did great too....her legs just got tired a lot faster so it was a lot of work for us adults to hold her up and keep her from falling over. We were sweating more than the girls I think. And there is NO way Ryan and I could have taken the girls skiing without the help of 4 OTHER adults. :)

Yup - this is what would happen to Em.. :) THEY all did SO great though! Can't wait to take them again!!
Gotta have some mountain hot chocolate after a hard days work! (Hailey)
Then Monday night, we went on this cool sleigh ride. The sleigh took us out in the middle of no where and then to this cool western cabin. We were serenaded by Country music and served a great dinner. So fun! Have I told you I love where I'm from? :)

Addy clapping for the "Singer Man." He even sang "Old McDonald" for the girls. And, I just have to say that this girl is an amazing eater. Not sure too many 3 year olds would chow down on Beef & Bean Barley Soup but she asked for seconds! :)
Happy Hour :)
Then Monday night was an interesting one. We got back from the sleigh ride and Hailey managed to throw up ALL over Ryan and his coat. Props to him for taking it like a champ and making sure Hailey was okay before freaking out that he had vomit all over him. :) Such a good dad. :) So I thought Hailey was car sick since the mountain road was super curvy and the sleigh ride, etc. But, turns out she threw up at 11 and at 2 that night too! It was a BADDDD night. I don't even know if I slept at all. We were all sleeping in the same room. Ry and I on a queen, then Addy and Hailey on a double bed with Emily on the bunk over that one. Luckily, we had put Addy and Hailey in the bed foot to foot that night or Hailey would have thrown up all over Addison's face. I know this is probably so gross but I just have to share how bad that night was... So yea, it's so horrible being sick or having sick kids in a foreign place. So here we are, in the middle of the night, trying to do laundry and look for cleaning supplies and find extra sheets. We ended up putting Addison foot to foot on the bunk with Emily and then Hailey we put at the foot of her double bed with a random twin bedsheet that didn't fit. Well that was okay but when you sleep in the same room as your kiddos, I woke up every 5 minutes I bet because I THOUGHT that she was about to throw up again...so I'd RUN to her and then she wouldn't. Oh man. It was pitch dark in the room too....so we randomly found a small lamp to serve as a night light for the whole night which was really as bright as a normal lamp so we tried to sleep with the lights on in between vomit sessions. So anyway, at 4 o'clock, Addy wakes up and throws up at the foot of Emily's bed in the bunk bed now! So now we had no choice but to move Addy back down to where Hailey originally threw up. So many sheets were washed that night.... The only good thing about all of this was the timing of it all. THANKFULLY, Ryan and I were "scheduled" to be at home w/ the girls that next day anyway while everyone else went skiing. So that worked out perfectly for everyone else to get out of the house - and for us to finish doing laundry and take it easy w/ the girls. And we didn't have to miss a day of skiing! :) We think it was altitude sickness now....but who knows.
So then Wednesday, Ryan, Shane, and I woke up early to hit the slopes at Keystone. Jody and Kim joined us later. We had so much fun!!! Ry and I stayed late that day too and did a little night skiing which I had never done before. It is TOUGH in the dark!
And this is the girls' Great Uncle Ed and Great Aunt Mary who were SOOOO gracious enough to let us borrow one of their cars all week. THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Thursday morning we took the Gondola up to Breckenridge and packed a lunch with the girls and Ed & Mary. They loved it! (Addy, me, and Hailey)
Ry & Em
Playing games with Uncle Shane and Grandma Kathy in the condo
Dooyema family photo!
Peters family photo
Our super cute nephew Bryce!!!

And I just had to take a picture of the mountains. One of my favorite things in Denver is when you drive around town, you get this amazing view of the mountains. Pictures just don't do justice!

Trying to get a cousin pic. This one cracks me up. (Hailey, Bryce, Emily, Kamryn, and Addy)
Grandpa Joel and Grandma Gwen with their little joys.
Trying to get a family pic
My niece!! Cute Kami!!!
My sis, me, and my mom - love you!

And yes, I love Colorado too. It was 68 degrees and sunny and I'd even say HOT while we were there. LOADS of snow in the mountains...and then we sat outside all day in short sleeves. It was fabulous!!
Here the girls are at the airport. They run around on these things to kill time. :) They had a blast flying. They absolutely love it and get all hyper and ask a thousand questions. Our flight home left at bedtime so we thought for sure they would sleep on the plane. But nope. We had the best flight attendant who was great w/ kids...gave them each their own "princess" drink and talked to them the whole time. Hailey would say "Hiiiiiii sweetiieee" every time he passed by. I think she had a little crush. Hailey was so funny. She is quite the socialite. She would talk to anyone and everyone on the plane. She asked the guy behind her why he was sitting there, what his name was, where he lived, where his sister lived, etc. They love traveling and I'm so glad they do so well! :) That being said, we came home EXHAUSTED. We all slept in, then the girls took a FOUR hour nap which they haven't done in FOREVER. We always went to bed at like 9 on vacation but it just wore us all out! But, I'd do it again in a second! :) THANKS SO MUCH for such a great trip Mom & Dad Dooyema!!!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

South Eastern Wisconsin Mothers of Triplets or More

Here's a pic of some of the ladies in my South Eastern Wisconsin Mothers of Triplets or More group!!! We had a little get-together last night. Love these ladies!!! Some of us have two month old triplets and some have triplets that are 10!! So fun!!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Cactus Gulch


Happy New Year! We rung in the new year with a bunch of our friends at our house with a Wild West Murder Mystery party! It was so fun!!!! Ryan was Sheriff Dan Fairweather and I was Ruby Sapphire, the singer saloon girl. :)
The whole gang...
Male Best Costume - Dale as Judge Paulson in his dad's throw back suit from the 70's!!! with "Etta Johnson" (Jen)
Preacherman "Elijah Entwhistle" (Mike) with wife Kara (chinese immigrant Soon Li - female Best Costume!!)
Check out these cute suspects. :) They were so awesome. I love my girls! We put them to bed a little early...and then they slept all night even through ALL the super loud commotion and gunslingin' and dancing and you name it. :) Since they were so good, I guess I won't complain about the 6a.m. wake up call! :)

Gotta have saloon doors at a Saloon.
and an "outhouse." :)
Our Mason jar drinkin' mugs

tensions were mounting...
the shootoff between Judge Paulson and Sheriff Blane
Three Feathers checkin' out the dead guy...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
The Wild West Women
and the Cowboys....
and then let the fun ...and the dancin' in 2011 BEGIN! :) :)




Saturday, December 25, 2010

"Receiving Christ" Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas everyone!!
Our pastor had a great sermon on Christmas Eve this year. He talked about how our culture tends to say that the real meaning of Christmas is about "giving." He challenged that idea in that the real meaning of Christmas is really about "receiving." That we have One True Giver ...who gave us EVERYTHING by giving us His Son so that we may be forgiven and have eternal life and RECEIVE Him as our Savior. Our main job at Christmas and every day is to RECEIVE Him and to KEEP receiving Him every day! Everything else that we give is really a reflection of the true Giver. He talked about how we should all have that "childlike" faith and be better at RECEIVING this GIFT of His Son. Children are AWESOME at receiving gifts (let me tell you). :) They don't say "Oh no - you shouldn't have. I don't deserve that. No thank you. You keep it." They don't get stressed out around the holidays...because they aren't worried about how many gifts to buy, and what's on the best sale, and what amazing meal they should prepare. Nope. Children just take it ALLL in. They get so excited about the coming of the gifts...they open their arms with no hesitation, no embarrassment, no delay....and sometimes they even forget to say "thank you." I loved the picture that this painted to me since our three girls are at a GREAT age for loving Christmas time...and so I can see all the joy and excitement and thrill they get from receiving a gift. Makes me wish I had that same joy, excitement, and thrill all the time when I think about RECEIVING the Ultimate Gift of Jesus. I don't need to be ashamed. I don't need to hold back. I just need to open my arms to Him like my girls do with no abandon. Receiving isn't always easy....like when I had to receive help when the girls were babies...it was hard...but I knew then, that I had a great need and that I HAD to except help or I would die! Seriously! :) And I think it's very similar with receiving Christ. It's not easy to take that step...until we recognize our NEED for Him...and just hold out our arms and say "THANK YOU JESUS!!!" God is seriously sooo amazing and sooo crazy about us! We are so so blessed!!!!
So yes, we have so much to celebrate this Christmas....and we had such a fun time celebrating this year with the girls because they really do show so much joy and excitement! We celebrated last Friday with Ryan's side of the family since Shane and Jody are with Jody's family today. And then we skyped Christmas with my family last night (THANK God for skype!!) and then we celebrated with just the girls and Ryan and I last night...and then had Kim and Kathy over for brunch and some more presents today. It was such a great Christmas! Hope you all had a great one too and that you're truly able to RECEIVE the gift of His Son this year and always. Just like I want our girls to get better at saying "thank you" after receiving a gift, I hope to get better at thanking Jesus by the way I choose to live each day. Merry Christmas everyone!

Em, Addy, ad Hailey by "their" Christmas trees.

The girls' new favorite "snack" after naps. Hot "Chalk - O - Latte" as they call it. :)
Grandpa and Grandma's dog Pepper also got a gift from the girls this year - a stylin' Christmas outfit to keep her warm. :)
Santa brought the girls new shake cups for Christmas. :) Which was funny because since we wanted to have shakes on Christmas Eve night, we had "Santa" come a little early with just one gift, the shake cups, in their stockings. We said Santa was going to make another trip that night but he only had time to drop off these cups. OH man....it was so funny b/c the girls were thrilled w/ their cups...but they were MORE concerned that Santa didn't put anything in our stockings!! They felt so bad for us and were asking so many questions about why he forgot to put something in our stockings. Even in the morning, the girls ran downstairs to see if Santa came to fill their stockings, and the first stocking they checked was mine! My little sweeties...

Christmas Eve tradition: New PJ's...with tutus of course. :) Winter Wonderland in our front yard

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A GREAT Surprise...

sunshine and WARMTH!!! A couple weeks ago, Ryan said we were going to our friends house for dinner with a few other couple friends. I knew he was up to something cuz he never plans stuff like this! But the guys wanted to get us all together so they could give us an envelope...with an itinerary for THE LADIES to go to Naples, Florida!!! It was sooo amazing. I LOVE the sun and what a great gift to get some sunshine and good quality time w/ my mom friends. We were most excited for the warmth....and then also that we'd be able to have complete conversations without interruptions from our lovely kiddos! Poor Andrea ended up not being able to make it since she had a 3 month old...guess we'll just have to go again sometime!!! :) :) :)

My friends Jenn, me, Heidi, and Desirae (We stayed at Desirae's in-laws condo in Naples - it was so great!)

Lovin' the sun at South Beach in Marco Island
Ready for a night out on the town...
And not only did our guys send us to Florida in the dead of winter, but they also surprised us with flowers delivered to the condo door! THEY ARE KEEPERS!!!!!!
Yes, we took a picture of our luggage. We were just so proud of ourselves that we didn't have to check ANY baggage. :)
And here we are making our sad faces because we didn't want to leave the relaxation and sunshine. :)
So we had to buy this palm tree necklace to remind us of the warmth when we got back to our 7 degree blizzard. :)

BUT...of course we missed our amazing hubbies and children.....and it definitely doesn't feel like Christmas in Florida.....so it's nice to be back. We met four ladies from WI in their fifties at the airport who were also on a girls trip. They do it annually and said we should too!!! :) They were so cute and fun and I HOPE we can do that too! THANKS FOR A SUPER FUN, REFRESHING TRIP BOYS!!!!


Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Christmas Time



Hi everyone! I really do love this time of year! Although, yes, it always feels busy and crazy...that's why I loved this devotional that I read this morning from Proverbs 31 Ministries that I'll share with you. She talked about remembering to take time to unwrap His presence during this Christmas season....

Unwrapping His Christmas Presence

7 Dec 2010

Renee Swope

“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and you will call Him Immanuel, God with us.” Isaiah 7:14 (NIV)

Plans for the perfect Christmas danced across the stage of my mind. My mom, my brother and my husband's parents were coming to see us. Plus my dad and his wife would be here Christmas day, and JJ’s brother and family were coming too. Inviting our out-of-town families to our home for the holidays for the first time was a dream come true. The fact that they could all come at some point between Christmas and New Years was just short of a miracle.

I'm so embarrassed to admit this, but by the time everyone got here I couldn’t wait for them to leave.

In the midst of all the preparations, I'd gotten tangled up in Christmas lights and unrealistic expectations. It all started when my husband and sons petitioned for blinking colored lights on the tree. We don’t do colored lights on the tree. I am a “white lights” kind of girl, I insisted. But then JJ suggested our decorating decisions should be a “family activity” that year. Who was this man and why had he not brought this up in pre-marriage counseling? I wondered.

The control freak in me started to freak out. Don’t get in the way of my perfect Christmas with white lights that make me and my home feel peaceful.

Further attempts to have the perfect house, perfect menu and perfect table settings were stealing my holiday joy. This being my first time hosting a holiday dinner, I'd failed to notice that my Christmas place mats didn’t coordinate with my everyday cloth napkins, and I didn’t have festive napkin rings. Worst of all, I didn’t know how to cook a turkey.

In the midst of all the holiday obligations I’d placed on myself, I experienced one of my worst Christmas days ever. I had a house full of people, but an oh-so-empty heart.

As I walked through my living room picking up wrapping paper, I wondered why my dreams of the “perfect Christmas” hadn’t come true. Many of the elements seemed to be in place: kids running around with remote control cars, adults on the couch snoring to the tune of Jingle Bells, and grown men playing sidewalk hockey in the driveway. We’d lit Advent candles and set out the nativities. Still, something was missing.

Trying to escape the holiday noise, I went upstairs to my bedroom and sat down on the floor in my walk-in closet. Taking a deep breath, I opened my Bible to read the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2. Slowly, I let each word remind me of that first Christmas night and God’s promise that came true in Bethlehem. “She gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped Him in cloths and placed Him in a manger...” Luke 2:7 (NIV).

A cross reference led me to Isaiah 7:14: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and you will call him Immanuel, God with us.”

Closing my eyes, I pictured Mary wrapping baby Jesus. Her hands carefully folding each corner of cloth. Like a beautiful bow on the perfect Christmas gift, she placed a kiss on his forehead.

That’s when I realized what had been missing. In the hustle and bustle of creating the perfect Christmas, I’d forgotten to unwrap the perfect gift, the most important gift of all, the gift of Immanuel, God with us.

Bowing my head, I opened my hands and my heart, and unwrapped God’s presence in my closet that day. I invited Jesus to bring calm to my anxious heart. To bring His perspective to my expectations and to help me enjoy the gifts of my family that were waiting downstairs. Simply pausing to acknowledge and thank Jesus for being with me brought peace to my heart unlike anything white lights and matching table settings could ever bestow.

It ended up being the perfect Christmas after all!

Dear Lord, no matter how busy life gets or how lonely I feel this Christmas, I want to unwrap the gift of Your presence each day. Help me to see You, hear Your voice speak to my heart, and pay attention when You lead me with Your peace and perspective. I seek Your purpose in all of my plans. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Emily, Addy, Hailey
This pic cracks me up. Emily and Hailey at 6:30 in the morning...prefer to be out of their footie jammies, in their underwear, ON the table, deep into putting together a princess puzzle...and check out the weather outside. :)
O Christmas tree. Speaking of unwrapping His presence this time of year, I should have thought more about that when Ryan and I began to put up our Christmas tree this year. Normally I look forward to putting the tree up but this year, I DREADED it! Last year, our pre-lit Christmas tree all of the sudden became only "pre-lit" on the BOTTOM branch. The rest of the entire tree lights wouldn't work. And we would need extreme patience and a LOT of free time to unwind all the pre-lit lights or check for one million fuses, so we just put some more on top of it...and it'll just work have to work. :) Christmas isn't about the Christmas tree anyway, right? So no need to get in a tizzy over it. :)
I LOVE CHRISTMAS COOKIES!!! This is a tradition that I always did growing up and I think my girls are going to want this tradition as well since they LOVE eating them. I think I'm going to have to double the batch next year though as we ALREADY finished off ALL of the cookies and we didn't even give any away! Oops!!
Hailey - eating the frosting by the spoonful...
Em's bowl of frosting all gone...I don't see very much on her cookie...
Addy
Here the neighbor girls came over to help make Christmas chocolate pretzels. Mmm....those are ALMOST gone. :) :)
And, the girls have just been funny lately. I try to remember their sayings but since they say so many, I can't keep up or remember them all cuz they come and go so fast! :) Here's a few random ones:
I'm playing house with the girls and Emily is pretending to be "Dad." She said she just got back from work and I asked her what she did at work today. She said "I sat in my black chair..." "What else did you do?" "I checked my 'puter..." "uh huh..." "I ate my lunch..and the end!" Funny how that's what she thinks Ryan does all day. :)

Ryan was putting Hailey to bed and she said "Dad, why you have to go to work tomorrow?"
"Because honey, if I didn't go to work, we wouldn't have any money."
Hailey: "But you have some money in your wallet."
"Yea, I need to make sure it keeps coming though."
Hailey: I have some green and purple money in my purse Dad."

At the dinner table I said "Addison, honey, you're eating too fast. Slow down..."
Hailey: "Or you'll get a TICKET!!"

Em: Can I stay up ALL night Mom?
"I don't think so Tim."
Em: MOOOOoooom! You just called me TIMMMM!!!
"No hun, it's just a saying."
Em: "No - it's Grandpa's name!" (Grandpa's name is really Kim!) :) :)





Thursday, December 2, 2010

3 year pics - taken in our yard

Addison Lee
Hailey Grace
Emily Ann

Addison, Hailey, Emily
Hailey, Addy, Em
Emily, Addy, Hailey
Hailey, Addy, Emily
Addy, Emily, Hailey