6 Years Old!

How can I have such big kids already, how can they be six years old, SIX?! How can I be a mother to three 6 year olds when it feels like they were just 6 months old yesterday!? Crazy right?

When the boys are being cute or sweet I love to tell them "you are so cute I just want to put you back into my belly!" And then they say laughing, "no mami we are too big!"

CET are 6 years old!
My boys are so delicious! I tell them all the time,
"I just want to eat you up with whipped cream and a cherry on top!"
Or "te quiero comer a besos, ven aqui!"

CET on our way to school for the first time ever as 6 year olds!

Yes I took lots of pictures!

Eli thought of the idea of taking "alone pictures."
Of course I agreed!

Caleb

Thomas

Our 6 year stats are as follows:

Caleb 42.5 in tall (7th%) 38.8 lbs

Eli 42 in tall (5th%) 38.7 lbs

Thomas 42.25 in tall (6th%) 38.6 lbs

Everyone wears a size 5T (or XS boys) with room to grow into and a size 10 toddler shoe. All continue to be the perfect picture of health! We pray this is always the case : )

New Routines

We are settling down to our new way of life that includes eating dinner earlier, making lunches, walking to and from school and a little homework here and there. The first couple of days the boys were in school I had this feeling like 'oh man what am I going to do with ALL my free time!' Then reality hit me and I started to realize just how quickly pick up time approaches. I've yet to just sit down and just read for pleasure. Stupidly, I figured the house would stay cleaner since the boys would be out of the house for such a large chunk of the day. Turns out they can trash the house within an hour of being home! Consequently I spend a good couple of hours cleaning everyday (and not to mention cleaning stuff that has been neglected for the past 6 years, haha!). Packing lunches takes me a little longer than it has to because I've been trying to be creative with them thanks to Pinterest. For now at least I'm having a blast making their lunches. I feel like I need to compete with the hot lunches the school sells, which at $2.70 a piece we could not afford long term (it would add up quick at $8.10/day!).

I've been walking a ton as well (I figure if I don't have a job at least I'll be fit, ha!). My goal is to walk the boys to and from school come rain or shine. It's half a mile each way so I get to log 2 miles a day! In addition I try to do at least one long walk per week about 3-5 miles and if I need one or two things from the grocery store I'll walk instead of drive. The first full week the kids were in school I walked 15 miles and that's impressive only because that's up from maybe 1 mile a week, haha! I tell ya it's hard to stay active when you're caring for triplets full time (I was never much for pushing a 100+ pound strollers and my guys didn't really like riding in them anyways).

I'm also looking for part time work in my old field. I applied to two jobs already and I actually interviewed for one but sadly I did not get the position. I was surprised I got an interview so quickly and hoping its a good sign. It might take a while or it may not, either way I'm happy to stay home for now as there is lots to keep me busy! Taking care of a family of 5 is no simple task even with the kids being in school. I don't know how families with two full time working parents do it. If I went back to work full time I'd have to hire a housekeeper, cook, nanny and landscaper, ha!

Anyways, can you believe these stinkers turn 6 tomorrow?!!!

School-lovin' trio!

Heading home after a long day at school.

Thomas showing me his classroom at the open house. 

Star chart!
They are very proud of the stars they earn each day : )

The boys showed us the library.

Thomas

Homemade pizza bagels, olives, carrot sticks and ranch dressing.
Pizza bagels were a big hit!

Homemade quiche with broccoli and strawberries.
Only one boy liked the quiche so I guess that means I'm never making these again : (

Tortilla roll-ups (cream cheese&ranch, ham, and spinach), pretzels, olives and pears.

Shrimp drizzled in lime juice, marinara sauce, cheese, crackers, and peach slices. 

Hood to Coast Trip

A couple weekends ago Phil did the famous Hood to Coast relay run (199miles from Mt Hood to the coast). The boys and I drove to the finish line to meet up with the team and celebrate with them finishing. We also stayed a couple of nights on the coast for fun!

Swings on the beach!

The team!

Snuggly boys at the end of a long day (although it was a MUCH longer day for papi, ha!).
We stayed at cool hotel in Astoria.

All the stuff they found in the abandoned building before they turned it into a hotel. 

Caleb and pops.

CET

More CET : )

Astoria column

I was pretty scared to be up there with my precious trio!

Beautiful view though!

Caleb

It was a great spot for flying our gliders if only the wind were blowing in the opposite direction : (

It was a beautiful day!

Summer Catch up!

Gonna try to get my blog up to date! These are a few things we were up to before school started....

We were the envy of all the kids at the pond with this inflatable lobster!

Isn't this thing hilarious!

My little sunbather : )

Such responsible boys bringing it back to the car.

It was really hot this day so filled up 200 balloons with that little device
that allows you fill them up really fast.
Kept them entertained for approximately 15 minutes, ha!

Convention time!
We cruised though the whole three days and the boys were angels through out it all. Boy what a difference a year can make!

Eli

Caleb

Partial family selfie

The handsome trio : )

Back to school shopping!

First Day Of Kindergarten!

I'm going to have to go out of order (against my ocd to keep things in chronological order). Otherwise it'd be another month before I write about our first day of school! The day before school started I thought I was coming down with something and figured 'well at least it will be nice to lay around all day till I get better.' Well the next day I felt fine, so it turns out it was just sadness! No I'm kidding I was pretty excited for the big day. It was a very smooth day and the boys were very excited and happy to finally go to kindergarten. There were a few kidos not too happy or crying and I'm sure glad we didn't have to deal with that. After a kiss goodbye to each boy, Phil and I went to a little breakfast for the parents in the auditorium (some call it the crying room, ha!). After that I had an errand to run followed by a shopping trip to Costco and household chores (so I didn't do anything too exciting, I know I'm lame). I was surprised at how fast the day went! I didn't get very emotional at the drop off, I just kept thinking 'how cute they were with their little back packs and their little class.' Later in the day if I thought too much about it my eyes would well up with tears but I kept myself in check and I'm over it now. It's weird (although maybe not to other parents) but I love just watching my kids... playing, talking, eating, and everything else that isn't naughtiness, I will miss this the most. I know I'll still get to do this but still, it's not as much as I'm used to. I cannot believe how quickly almost 6 years flew by! When I picked up the boys from school I poked at them to find out what all they did and what they thought of everything. But they are such guys and didn't elaborate on anything (see video below) just simple one word answers or they'd give me the run around and not say anything in the end, stinkers! Because of this I'm just itching to volunteer in their classroom so I can peak into their new little world : )

I warned the boys that there would be lots of picture taking and boy did I not lie...

I told the boys they could always pick out their own clothes for kindergarten (although I still call dibs on the weekends!). In preschool they were color coordinated so their teacher could tell them apart. Well we still have that same problem going into Kindy so their shoes will be the key to telling them apart. Each has two pairs of shoes (Thomas red or orange, Eli blue, Caleb green or yellow). 

Eli

Caleb

Thomas

All ready!
Sure gonna miss my little sidekicks!

We really should be biking to school (in true Portland style) but I decided I really want the exercise, ha! It's half a mile each way so between dropping off and picking up I get to log 2 miles a day, yay!

We made it to school nice and early.

With papi.

In their Spanish immersion class eating breakfast. One of my favorite features is that ALL students get a free breakfast (unlike lunch, boo!). We will save hundreds of dollars on breakfast cereal and rice milk!!!

Here is our after school conversation, you will be amused at how many words they can speak and yet say so little, haha!