FOUR!!!!

CET are 4 years old!!!!

I've said this before but 4 feels sooooo old! Three seems really little, still baby/toddler like but four is a big boy! The boys are doing great and becoming so independent, they can zip up easy zippers themselves, Eli is wiping his own butt (and doing a really good job) and the other two aren't far away. They can ride a bicycle without training wheels. Their sense of humor is growing and surprise me all the time at the jokes that they get and laugh at.

Unofficially the boys are 37 inches tall and weigh almost 30lbs (I will get official stats at our 4yr check up a month from now). Still very petite, this summer they wore a mix of 2T (shorts/pants and a few tops) and 3T (tops). They wear a size 8 toddler shoe but I think their feet are actually 7.5. As fall and winter approach I've graduated the boys to 3T pants (yay!) but I have a feeling we'll be in 3T clothing for a loooong time! Seeing as how they only grew 2 inches from 3-4 so from 4-5 they should grow less than that right? Anyways, we are finally tall enough for the ikea play area, woohoo! Can't wait for the next rainy day!

I don't feel that the boys behavior has miraculously changed as we are leaving the terrible threes (which was far worse than two btw) and turning four. But over the last several months there has been significantly less tantrums but still too much crying for my taste (maybe this is a multiples thing, I don't know). After never giving in to a tantrum maybe they think if they just cry loud enough they will get what they want. Sorry ain't gonna happen! I will say one miraculous thing as started to occur, the boys are developing shame (just a smidge but it's there and increasing). Not the type of shame where they are embarrassed to be naked but the kind of shame where they are embarrassed at what people think of them. For example if we are in a public space and someone starts acting bratty I just say, "(gasp)! you stop that! look at all the people looking at you and thinking what a badly behaved boy you are!" It has stopped them in their tracks several times now, ha!

We are also still napping!!! I mean how many kids do you know that still nap at 4?! I can count them on one hand so the fact that they still do makes me very very grateful. Can we go till 5? I really doubt it but for now we are going strong, albeit it's not ideal because the boys wake up at 7 am (or a little earlier) and nap from 2-5:30 pm and then bedtime at 9 pm (or a little later). We occasionally try to see if they can go without it but they always seem to really need it. They can miss one day ok but certainly not the next day or they can skip a long nap if they can at least sleep for 30 min in the car or something. I really should have them take shorter naps and just wake them up early but it's hard to beat the peace and quite especially when I can finally sit down and read or watch some Guiliana & Bill, ha!  I've decided it's just too hard. Anyways, for now I'm milking nap time it for all it's worth : )

Wait how old are we?
They really didn't get the whole get excited cause you're 4 thing, ha!

Three or four, what?

Caleb (it worked better individually)

Eli

Thomas

Honeycrisp Season!

Regretfully we missed blueberry picking this summer (we were in Cali) and then time got away from me and we also missed peach picking season. But I am so glad we didn't miss picking honeycrisp apples, they are soooo delicious!!! I'm also glad I didn't go over board like last time and buy 20 lbs, just 7 lbs to keep us munching all week long : )

Thomas didn't waste time and found himself a little treat

Phil was away on a backpacking trip so a friend and her daughter came with us

Love Eli's expression here (far right)

Another cute one from Eli (middle)

Caleb

This is what happens when I yell "everybody hug!"

"This land is great!"

Eli and I

This would have been great if I had taken off my glasses, doh!

Close but no cigar!

The boys with our little friend following behind : )

Ready For School!

The boys are ready for school!

We've been riding our bikes a lot lately!

E

Our first ever family bike ride!
It feels a little unreal that we are at this point in the boys life, I mean it was not that long ago that we were fumbling baby carriers and strollers. But yet here we are, everybody pulling their own weight rolling down the sidewalk and headed to the park. I can get used to this!

We took the boys out to pizza
(the boys would live in these shirts if I let them)

After pizza we stopped to get desert.
We love Tonallis on Alberta, they have great ice cream and donuts for cheap!

Phil and I like to say that Caleb sure knows how to relax, I mean just look at the way this boy sleeps, ha!

4 Year Pics! (A Bit Early)

A local professional photographer put out a model call for identical twins which a friend forwarded to me (thank you Lindsey!). I responded to it and she was more than happy to be able to add identical triplets to her portfolio! She normally charges about $300 for a session like this so we're very grateful for the opportunity. If any local friends are in need of a photographer I highly recommend her as you can see for yourself how great these pictures came out!

Here is her link: Amber K Wilson Photography

As you all know we like to do pictures every year and since these were actually taken back in late July we'll just fudge and say these are the boys 4 year pictures (they really don't look much different, ha!). I've had these pics a while and I was hording them so we could get around to doing family pictures to include in this blog post.

She posted these pictures (including a couple I didn't post here) on her own blog as well and the link is here in case you are interested: P Triplets

The best is not last, it's first!
Caleb, Eli and Thomas in birth order of course : )

Eli showing off his pearly whites

Eli full of sweetness

Thomas

Thomas showing off his charming good looks

Caleb was the only one that agreed to pose with his hands in his pockets

Caleb as handsome as ever with his perfectly round head
(we don't call him our round headed wonder for nothing!)

Love this one, it'll have to go up on a wall soon!

Thomas striking a pose!

JUMP!!!

Just Phil and I, how boring!
This picture and the next were taken a week ago by a friend with our camera,
not too shabby I think, ha!

Our family picture!
Can't say it's the best but getting these boys to all look at the camera and look happy is a feat that may just have to be left to the professionals, haha!

Little Scholars!

The boys started preschool today!

I was really hoping we'd get into Head Start since it meets Monday through Friday (not to mention they are fed breakfast and lunch!) which would have been great to get them ready for starting kindergarten a year early (if we so decided to go that route). But they said we made too much...GASP! I know right?! They obviously don't take into consideration that we have three kids of the same age. Sure we could send one kid to a good preschool, but three? No way!

I was not without a plan B though. After doing some research I found some more affordable options and while I liked the idea of a co-op preschool, I didn't love the idea of having to, well, cooperate (or volunteer on a regular basis). So I decided on the preschool at our local community center which meets a couple times a week for a couple of hours.We got the last three open spots, whew! We applied for a scholarship and I was thinking that we may just have to home school full time if we didn't get any financial assistance. But what do you know, we got it! We still pay but only about half what we would have had to, yay!

It works out pretty good because it gives me a break, well really just time to run errands or say, go to the dentist on a more regular basis. And I'll still have plenty of time with them at home. My goal is to be more structured this year on days we don't have preschool. I want to have planned learning activities in reading/writing and math (and of course we will be doing all our learning in Spanish). I would love for them to start reading sometime soon (really just being able to sound out words) and to be able to do simple addition and subtraction problems. Can we do it? I don't know, but we'll sure give it a good try! They have a good basis for it since they know all their letters upper and lower and the sounds that are associated with them. And numbers seem to come easily to them so I'm very hopeful : )

So back to our first day, they loved it and had zero separation anxiety! It helps that they went to nursery school and that they have each other because other kids weren't fairing so well. Their class is made up of 12 three and four year olds. So the boys make up 1/4th of the class and the funny thing is that there is only one girl in their class. In any given order the class is structured with: learning station time (free choice) where the kids can learn though exploring the different stations set up in class, circle time where they discus new themes through stories, songs and discussion, snack time, arts & crafts, physical activities, and story time. Preschool will be great for them (as much as it is for me too) because it'll get them out of the house more frequently and learning new things under a more structured environment. They are more than ready for it!

ETC all ready for school!
The teacher appreciated that the boys are color coordinated but asked that I put name tags on them until she can learn which color goes with which boy : )

Back pack contents include: water bottle and a spare change of clothes

They wasted no time at getting their education and found a station that interested them : )

When I picked them up they were getting a scratch and sniff sticker before going home

Can you find their names?
(each line indicates a preschool class, so there are four that meet in this classroom)

playing in the park outside after class

This was before preschool orientation night last week

Our latest Costco finds! Life gets expensive when you have three boys that wear the same size (no hand me downs from siblings!) so I was more than happy to not only find a great deal on winter jackets but also in three different colors and in the right colors! This is a total parents of multiples problem, ha!

Stripes

Snugly boys before bedtime!

CET

Here is a silly little video of the boys jumping on the bed : )

Thomas went winter coat shopping but decided to wait for a better sale : )