Splish Splash!

 On our way to Saturday market!

 E

ETC

Triplet Playdate!

 AHHH! cuteness overload : ) PMH (order?), ETC

water from the hose never tasted so good!

 he takes his milk drinking seriously

perfectly balanced with three, the best jungle gym feature for triplets!

 what was that? oh, so you aren't going to eat your vegetables? Well guess what, that bread that you can't eat fast enough is zucchini bread! Suckers!

I took it off thinking maybe he doesn't want it there, but no he put it right back on

Updates...and there's a lot!

We are having a fantastic summer and I'm amazed how different it is from last year when the babies were still only crawling and taking two naps a day, which meant for the most part we were home bound. We couldn't even go into the backyard last year (we don't have nice soft grass for crawlers)! Now we are all over the place, to the park, to the kids museum, to the science center and to playdates : ) We go out of the house about three times a week (not including weekends) and if we are home and it's not raining we are in the backyard having fun. Last year we never left the house unless we had an appointment! I feel like I have a life again, albeit a very different one : )

The babies have had a seriously long healthy streak, it's literally been months since they have gotten sick. I sure hope they keep it up and we can enjoy our trip to California next month without incidence!

For a while now the boys have refused to be fed and only like to self feed. The only way around it is if I feed them free range and they think they are just getting tastes of my food. They are also getting really good at feeding themselves with spoons. If I give them rice, for example, I only have to help them at the very end. They do spill about 1/3 of their food but I think that's pretty good for someone who isn't even two yet!

When something upsets Eli, he falls to a sitting position then he throws his head back hitting his head on whatever it lands on. I'm thinking this is the precursor to tantrums!

I like to talk about how much the boys fight but maybe I should clarify what I mean by 'fight.' The boys are not very aggressive towards each other, they do not hit each other (yet). They do bite and it seems to happen when one boy accidentally corners his brother or of course when they are in close contact and at a tug of war over something. I used to be able to say that Caleb bites sometimes, Eli bites quite a bit but Thomas is my good boy and does not bite at all. Well sadly I have to report that Thomas has joined the ranks of his brothers and so now he bites too. They are getting better at pointing out who bit them, which is very helpful. They push to get to something they want but never because they are angry at each other. I've been keeping their hair pretty short so thankfully there is no hair to pull! And of course there is always a lot of screaming involved.

They are playing together more and more these days and it's not just copy cat games. They like to tickle each other and as they do it they say 'tiddle tiddle tiddle' (It's also the same sound they make when they beckon kitty cats).

Thomas has deemed himself owner of everything, especially Thomas the Train stuff. As you can imagine this upsets the other two boys. Sorry Thomas, but I don't think you can keep this up for very long!

The boys are getting better at posing for pictures, they now give me 3 seconds to take a picture before they disperse. I just need to work on getting them to smile on command for pictures since my silly faces aren't working as well as they used to.

The other day Caleb was nursing before bedtime and he just had to stop and tell me something very exciting...

I have these types of conversations often with all three boys. Sometimes we go back and forth for a couple of minutes. Only God knows what it is they are trying to say because I can't make out a single coherent word out of them!

Oh Crap! moment #29-32

Oh Crap! # 29

 There was a language barrier and the possibility of offending a well intentioned family, so there was no avoiding it! Caleb is eating Doritos!!! I feel guilty every time I pop one of those things into my own mouth (which is not often), so of course I don't consider these saturated fat filled, artificial colors and artificial flavored snacks appropriate for anyone, especially not my own children!

Oh Crap! #30

 Eli climbed all the way to the top and there is only like a 3inch lip on either side! Those skidders give them some seriously good traction : ) Uncle Garret to the rescue while I snap pictures and take a video. Here is a video of the boy in action....


Oh Crap # 31

I was inside preparing the boys a quick meal when I kept hearing some happy yelling every few seconds. I finally got curious/worried and went to check on the boys. I keep that baby gate up because I'm afraid of someone falling down those dirty concrete stairs and into the infinite abyss (our basement)! Apparently Caleb was trying to play peek a boo with me. 

The chair placement was a parental mishap!

Oh Crap!# 32

While the boys nap I clean up and sweep the living room, I put the cars on the couch so they aren't in my way. Usually either I or the boys take them down to play with once they get up. I heard the boys stirring after a long nap and went in to get them out. First I grabbed Thomas and sat him down on the couch and went back in for Eli. As I come out I find Thomas like this about to take off with his car! 

After warning him not to move an inch I grabbed the camera and snapped a quick picture and then got him down safely. Forgetting that there were two more cars on the couch and an easily influenced Eli that had just witnessed the whole thing, I left to get Caleb and of course Eli had to try it out as well nearly giving me a heart attack again and making me feel like a complete idiot!

Ok, so in keeping with the theme of fear, I was starting to convince myself that once the boys turned two I'd turn their car seats forward facing. I figured that's at least twice as long as most people keep their kids rear facing. That is until I saw this picture floating around! I had no idea that it's recommend until the age of four. There is NO WAY I'm taking any risks with my PRECIOUS cargo, and I'm also grateful that we are hardly ever on the freeway! I'm sure it's just a matter of time before they make this a law but really it begs the question, why isn't it already?!!!

Little kids' heads are just proportionally too big for their little necks! Broken legs are better than broken necks or heads in my book!

Happy 8th!

Happy Anniversary! 

a picture of us 8 years ago on our honeymoon to beautiful British Columbia, last year I wrote about how we met on A Love Story post if you are new to the blog and would like to read about it : )

We celebrated our anniversary a little early this year to take advantage of free baby sitting by the boys' uncle Garret : )

We let the boys open our gifts, a sewing machine for me, thanks babe! It's my new favorite hobby once I learn how to work the darn thing...it took me a 1/2 an hour just to get the bobbin loaded! I better just find someone who can teach me because it's gonna take me forever to read the manual : ( Anyways, I'm really excited about the possibilities and shock myself all the time by how much I enjoy domestic life (I also love gardening and cooking, could I get more domestic than that!). I can't say I'm a crafty person but I am resourceful! My first project will be making pillows and pillow cases for the boys cribs (I think they are old enough for that, right?)...Then I'll be designing the boys 'big boy' room, I'm already starting to gather ideas on Pintrest for the theme (a big secret but worth the wait...it will be a while), I figure if I stick to right angles I shouldn't need too much skill on the sewing machine (sheets, curtains, pillow cases), haha...all I need now is TIME!

unwrapping gifts just wore out little Eli out, (btw we've been married too long to care about fancy wrapping paper so we just used newspaper, hehe!)

Phil has taken up smoking! That's right, I got him a smoker so we can eat the smokiest of meats : )

First we went out for a drink and appetizers

Who knew a grilled cheese sandwich could be so dang good! Next we rode our bikes to get sushi at our fav spot, you know you are getting good sushi when the chef has a thick Japanese accent and his wife is the waitress! No picture of the beautiful spread, my appetite got the better of me : )

a few days later we went to a friend's wedding, our 3rd night out within a two week period! I must say, I think the baby honey moon is over because I can really enjoy myself now when I'm away from the babies and look forward to it...I think it's about time but I'm still not sure why everyone was so anxious for us to 'get out' when the babies were just a few months old, I mean we had just spent 6 baby-free years together when everyday was a date night! 

Now some cute pics of the last few days...

mixologist

ECT

C with uncle Garret

baby pile!

I've gotten so good at gardening that I've started to grow babies!

E, such a goofy boy!

T flashing his pretty eyes <3

Uncle Garret is back in China again, we'll miss him sooo much and not just because he watched the boys are three different occasions all by himself! When the boys were little babies and our visitors were about to leave I'd always have this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, kind of panicking I'd think 'how am I gonna do this by myself again!?' Then our visitor would leave and of course I'd manage just fine by myself. I stopped getting that feeling shortly after the boys turned one but I must say that Garrets bon-voyage brought back that feeling! He is just THAT good with kids, seriously you should become a preschool teacher someday Garret : )

The Oregon Garden

Since Phil had the day off yesterday we headed to the Oregon Garden in Silverton, but not before stopping at their charming little downtown. They had several streets closed off where people were selling antiques. Although tempted many times we didn't buy anything, here's to will power!

 as long as the snack cups are full the boys are content to just people watch

 a nice man with weird shoes let the boys pet his sweet dog, Eli gave him many pets and hugs : )

Off to the gardens now....

T

 the boys favorite part of the gardens

C

 E

The onlookers, don't blame them since the boys were putting on a SHOW with their silly screams and funny antics. I'm sure they were marveling at the fact that Caleb and Eli were soaking wet and Thomas was as dry as dust!

 Garret and Eli

 E, short dark and handsome!

 attack, attack!

CET

The gardens were beautiful and after working in my not so small yard I can appreciate all the hard work that goes into it. I used to think my yard was small but right now the weeds are kicking my butt even though I obsessively weed when I'm back there, I can't keep up (and that's just the back yard)! I'm sure the record breaking rain in June has something to do with it!