Mmmmm

This video should leave you craving some yogurt...

Or really wanting to take a bath!

Fun Friday

I went back to work full time this school year, which has been tough for me. I REALLY loved having my Fridays off. After the girls were born, I was able to take leave from work until they were 7 months old and then I only went back 3 days a week for a couple of months before I was off for the summer. Last year, I worked 4 days a week and having that one extra day off a week was great.

Somehow, I am managing to get my butt up for work for a 5th day this year and I'm usually making it on 7 hours of sleep, sometimes less. When I planned my work calendar this year, I tried to sneak in one Friday off every month and today was one of those days.

The girls seem to be transitioning from 2 naps down to 1 because at least one of them has been boycotting their afternoon nap for the last week OR if they do go down, they are only quiet for 30 minutes or so. I decided I was going to try to keep them up in the morning and skip their first nap and see how they did with just one nap in the afternoon.

To keep us all entertained, I decided to take the girls to Costco. This is the first time I have taken all three of them by myself to a store. This would not have been possible if Costco didn't have the BIG grocery cart. I LOVE Costco. I was feeling confident and assumed they would enjoy lolly-gagging at all the people.

I knew that the girls would be pointing and whining for every bit of food they saw while we walked up and down the aisles, so I made sure I brought some animal crackers along for them to snack on. Riley and Makena shared the seat in the front of the cart and I buckled Alyssa inside the cart. Thankfully, she sat right down and didn't seem to care about being buckled in.

My favorite part of the trip was when Riley ran out of her animal crackers and Makena kept handing her cookies from her bag to keep her happy. And when those two mowed through their 2 bags, Alyssa was nice enough to share her crackers with them.

We had a successful trip and I was able to get everything on my list! Alyssa was squished in between boxes of food as we made our way out.

I have been busier than usual with the girls because Steve has been working ALOT. He was out of town for work 2 nights this week and gets home right before the girls go to bed on the other nights.

Needless to say, our backyard is only half way finished. We finally have our concrete patio in, but the grass, landscaping and finishing touches still need to be done. But, with the patio done, at least we can take the girls out in the backyard and let them play.

The girls need ALOT of supervision in the backyard because our lot really sloped in the back and Steve had to build retaining walls to give us more to work with. There are lots of places where the girls can fall over the edge of the retaining wall, but they are pretty good about listening to me when I HOLLER at them to get back.

The girls love playing down on the lower level of the yard. They collect and throw rocks all over the place and find lots of dirt to play in.

We were lucky to see a herd of turkeys out on the golf course while we were out today. The girls think they are hilarious. Turkeys are actually pretty ugly animals....they look like a throwback bird from the prehistoric age.

Riley and Makena helped me sweep the gazillion acorns off of our patio. Love the shade that our Oak tree provides, but the acorns that it drops are a pain in the butt. The girls kept slipping and sliding all over the place because of them.

The girls made it through the day with only one nap and they were great! Just another sign that my babies are growing up.

Boo hoo......

Who pooped?

With 3 toddlers running around the house, the words “who pooped?” must come out of my mouth several times a day. This usually results in a game of chase as the girls take off in all different directions trying to avoid the inevitable diaper change.

Most of the time, the identity of the pooper is unknown until I either peek into the back of the diaper and see the smelly whodunit OR if I’m feeling particularly brave, I simply bury my nose into their backside and sniff it out.

The girls have become quite helpful in the “who pooped?” game as they now take turns peeking down the back of their sister’s pants looking for poo-poo. And of course, the game wouldn’t be complete if they didn’t also try to look down mommy’s pants in search of poop.

Count your blessing girls. Mommy and daddy are hoping that we stay "with it" long enough so that we can change our own diapers when the time comes.

The new "craze" in our house

Matchbox cars have landed in the house and the girls LOVE them! Lissy found some cars at my brother's house last weekend and carried them around with her all night, so I knew that we had to get her some of her own.

The first pack of 5 cars that I bought, didn't do the trick because Lissy, being the collector that she is, was SO upset when her sisters had one of the cars. She wasn't happy carrying around only 2 or 3 at a time.

Daddy came home with 10 more cars and a carrying case on Saturday afternoon. Lissy went into full-blown "watchdog" mode as she tried to supervise who got to play with what and when!

Steve and I were laughing at Lissy as she frantically tried to push her sisters hands away from the cars, saying "wait" over and over. We've never heard her say "wait" before, but when you're a triplet, "waiting" is an everyday occurrence since there is only one mommy to go around when you want something. I guess I say "wait" more that I think I do!

When asking her sisters to wait didn't work, Lissy decided to just sit on top of the cars hoping that would keep her sisters away.

Drill Sergeant Lissy handing out cars to her "troops."

Riley and Makena snuck in some extra time playing with the cars while Lissy was still napping!

Got jammies?

I have this habit of stocking up on things for future use. This includes clothes for the girls. Who can pass up clearance sales with drastically reduced prices? I end up hitting the end of the season sales and stock up on clothes that the girls will wear 6-8 months from now. So far, I have done well in guessing correctly what sizes the girls will be wearing and it is nice to have that next size up when they grow out of something.

Now that fall is rolling in, I have brought out some of the warmer jammies for the girls.

Riley was my first victim child to try on a new pair of pajamas. Poor girl could hardly breath they were so snug. I was afraid she was going to split the backside wide open if she bent over too quick.

Oh well, everything else I bought DID fit.

If you see the girls walking around next spring with a butt cheek peeking out of their skirts, you'll know I should have bought the next size up.

Caught in the act

Makena was the last one to go to bed tonight, which means that she was left alone downstairs for a minute while I took her sisters upstairs to put them in bed.

She must have had it all planned out....as soon as I hit the stairs, she obviously made a beeline for the dishwasher, which she has learned makes the perfect stepping stool for finding out what is on the kitchen counter.

She found a perfectly good plastic stick that no longer has any formal use since the girls have destroyed the tent it was supposed to hold up and used it as a makeshift spoon. Genius! The container of sour cream that was still on the counter from dinner looked like a fabulous snack before bed.

Lucky for her, she can use all the calories she can get.

Halloween preview

Introducing Fifi, the french poodle (a.k.a. Riley)

We may have found our Halloween costumes! I will dress the girls all the same this year, before they're old enough to have an opinion about it.

Don't mind the poodle fur stuck to her lip....

Dinner conversation

I was lucky enough to catch the girls having a good chat over dinner tonight. I certainly think this is their "own" triplet language developing. I love how they throw in some body language for extra emphasis!

Aging gracefully

BF Jess told me today that she has been patiently waiting for a new post from me. Eventhough we talk almost every day and live next door to each other, it seems that she likes to read about my life through my blog. Every once in awhile, I get a wild streak of creativity and write a humorous post that makes her laugh out loud.

I don't have anything creative to say, but I did want to publicly wish my best friends Ly and Jessica a happy belated birthday. When we were in high school, I was always jealous that they were older....they got their driver's licenses first, had their cars first, turned 18 and then 21 first. I was always 6 months behind them.

The tables have turned.

It sure feels good knowing that I won't be the first one to turn 40.

This one's for you old girls!

Hope I made you laugh.

Where's the binky?

I was putting the girls down for their naps yesterday, carrying them upstairs one at a time and putting them in their cribs. I put Riley and Makena down first and came back downstairs where I was greeted with my Sweet Lissy patiently waiting for me to put her to bed. She was waiting with FIVE binkies in her hands. While I was upstairs, she must have walked around downstairs and found every single binky!

I posted about her binky addiction previously here. It obviously is not getting any better! She has a habit of collecting things in general, not just binkies. I wonder if it is a multiples thing? It may also be influenced by the fact that her sisters try to snatch everything away from her, as previously discussed here.

Whatever the cause for her hoarding, she sure was happy when I put her down for her nap with her collection of binkies!

I hope when she is a billionaire, she doesn't hoard all her money and remembers to take care of mom and dad.

8 Random facts

Thanks to Angie, I have been tagged and you lucky readers get to find out 8 random facts about me....Be sure to read to the end of the post, because some of my blogger friends may be tagged next....

1. My first job was as a telemarketer for Olan Mills Portrair Studio. I was 16 or 17. HATED that job. Before each shift, we would get these sheets with names and phone numbers and just had to pick up the phone and dial. We had this cheesy script that we were supposed to read word-for-word. This took some practice though, because you didn't want to sound too rushed, but you also wanted to get to the important part of the schpiel before the person hung up on you! There were about 6 of us making calls and our supervisor was sitting at a desk in the room monitoring us. It took some finesse to fake the phone calls without getting caught. The manager also gave us lame pep talks before each shift to try and "boost" our sales.
   
   
2. I am a HUGE reality t.v. show fanatic and having kids has put a huge damper on my ability to keep up with all of the trashy shows.
   
   
   One of my favorite shows that has new episodes currently is The Hills on MTV. The mindless, superficial drama sucks me in every time.
   
   Although they aren't as good as they used to be, I love Survivor, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, The Real Word, Road Rules, America's Next Top model......need I say more. Before Steve and I had kids, we had 2 t.v.'s in the house. There were nights when I had 2 reality shows on at once and Steve was banned from watching t.v. because I would watch one show and tape the other show. This meant that he often got sucked into the drama as well!
   
   
3. I was moved up a grade in elementary school. I attended a small private school and was in a 2nd/3rd grade combination class. A couple of months into the school year, my teacher and parents made the decision to move me up to 3rd grade. Had I been in a class with just 2nd graders, I doubt this would have happened, but I think the situation just presented itself. I loved school!
   
   I transferred to public school in 7th grade and met BF Jess the first week of school! In 7th and 8th grade, I used to get grounded by my dad for getting bad progress reports....I became more interested in talking and socializing during class. My dad says that if he had to do it over again, he wouldn't have moved me up a grade because I grew up too fast. I am so thankful my parents made the decision they did...Had it not happened, I would have grown up with a different group of friends.
   
   
4. Steve and I are closet Hootie & the Blowfish groupies.
   
   

Before the girls were born, we saw them in concert 3 times one summer. We talked about going to a concert this year, but didn't make it. They put on a great show. It also doesn't hurt that Darius Rucker (lead singer) is HOT.

5. My husband is a big golf fan and our first date was going to the U.S. Open golf tournament at the Olympic Club in San Francisco in 1998. We drove to San Francisco without tickets to the tournament and talked about trying to sneak into the place when we got there. Luckily, we ran into a guy who sold us some tickets right when we got there. Fast forward to Father's Day weekend in 2002.... Steve and I went to Monterey, CA for the weekend with both of our families. The trip revolved around the men golfing at Poppy Hills golf course. That weekend, Steve proposed to me on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach golf course in front of both of our immediate families. I was the only one who didn't know the real reason behind the trip that weekend.

6. When trying to decide on names for our babies, Steve tried his hardest to find names that were related to golf. He also likes to be unique, which drove me crazy as I had to nix weird name after weird name that he came up with. Once we knew we were having girls, Steve continued to propose funky names that I couldn't stand and there is only one that I can remember now. Hogan. After Ben Hogan, the golfer. The name was immediately shot down after I explained to him that "Ho" was not a flattering nickname for a girl.

7. The day that I got my driver's license was also the day that I got into my first minor car accident. My mom let me take the car a couple of miles from our house to pick up dinner from a take-out deli. We had a brand new Honda Accord that was really nice. Leather seats, sun roof, good stereo etc....I remember putting my Gogo's greatest hits cassette into the radio, turning up the volume and backing out of the parking space. Backed right into some lady in a beat up Camero.

8. I LOVE rap and hip-hop music and don't see myself growing out of it anytime soon.

So those are 8 random facts about me! I hope you weren't too bored. It is now my turn to tag a few people. If you see your name, you are supposed to post 8 random facts on your blog and then tag others if you want to keep it going!

You're it: Tammie, Teresa, Kelly, Joy, Suzanne & Joe

Now, Suzanne and Joe have a really good excuse if they don't get to their 8 random facts anytime soon. They welcomed quads into their family 5 weeks ago and brought one baby home this week and it's possible the other 3 may be home within the next week! But, I thought I would tag them just because they are great people and write a very entertaining blog!

If you listen closely.....

You just might hear the banjo music that should accompany two of my children whenever they walk into the room.

To my horror, Makena chipped one of her front teeth last night. Alyssa chipped both of her front teeth back in May.

For Halloween, I just might toss out the idea of traditional costumes and let them parade around in their diapers while holding a burlap sack tied to a stick.

Adventures in the car

Steve was up bright and early on Sunday morning, removing the carseats from the Tahoe and turning them around, so that the girls are forward facing now!

It was really gross to see what was in between and underneath the seats. YUCK!

Our whole purpose for turning the seats around was that we decided to take a road trip and head up to beautiful Lake Tahoe for the day.

Steve and I have never been stupid enough brave enough to take the girls very far. There is a long list of reasons why. Here are a few of the reasons I can think of off the top of my head:

• The girls still take 2 naps a day and at this age, it's pretty much impossible for them to nap unless they are at home in their cribs.
  
  
• We are outnumbered.
  
  
• We almost need a small trailer to take all their necessary gear along with us.
  
  
• The word "trip" implies some version of a vacation. Taking a trip anywhere with 2 year old triplets is not a vacation. It is WORK. Even if we are only going 2 miles in our own neighborhood to visit my brother.
  
  
• No place is toddler-proof....which is usually manageable when you only have 1 toddler to watch. In our case, broken collectibles and knick-knacks is pretty much a guarantee. And it's always fun when the people we are visiting have pets. It's amazing how fast the girls find the cat litter box and pet food that is meant to be eaten by the pet, not them.

Being the naive smart mother that I am, I planned for us to leave around 10:30 in the morning, the usual time that the girls go down for their nap. It would be perfect. They would sleep the whole way there and wake up feeling happy and refreshed.

Who was I kidding? The girls were more interested in pinching playing with each other on the way up that they had little time for sleep.

Riley did yell out "night-night" repeatedly on the way there.

She probably meant it more like, "Hey idiot parents, you know this is my nap time right? You know it's not pretty when I don't get my nap, but go ahead and keep driving if you want. I'm fine with acting like a fool in front of complete strangers out in public. Screaming.....crying, it's all good."

Both Riley and Makena, finally fell asleep when we drove into Tahoe. A 30-minute catnap was all they got.

For most of the ride, the girls were happy to ham it up for the camera!

Steve and I changed the girls into their swimsuits and hurried out to the beach. Alyssa, who was napless at this point, was ready to lose it any minute and was crying to get out of the stroller.

The picture below was the only one I took of the girls on the beach.

We were too busy chasing the girls around. It seems they aren't the least bit afraid of freezing cold lake water that knocks them down with each wave that comes to shore.

I was hoping that the girls would be happy to play in the sand. Envisioning that they would play at our feet for hours making sand castles or just filling and emptying their buckets.

The sand held their interest for 30 seconds.

They were much happier running towards the water that was too deep and cold. Our beach fun lasted for a little over an hour.

Luckily, we have another reason to visit Lake Tahoe. My Aunt Laurie and Uncle Bob live there and we decided to further test our napless toddlers by stopping by for a visit on our way back home.

I gave full disclosure before we stepped foot onto the property that I could not be held responsible for any crying, screaming, biting, or tantrum-throwing behavior that our beautiful children might display.

Lucky for us, Laurie and Bob have a beautiful back yard that kept the girls entertained. They immediately found the horse and doggy statues that were the perfect size for my 2 year old toddlers!

And who knew that the dog cage could provide so much entertainment? It was also the perfect size for my 2 year old toddlers. Steve and I were tempted to leave ther girls there and head to the casino for a buffet dinner.

Food, water and shelter all in one enclosed area.

I don't think Murphy, the dog, would have been too happy about the 3 intruders playing with her stuff.

Murphy even got to come out and play with the girls for awhile. She licked the girls every chance she got!

The girls were angels while we visited Bob and Laurie.

It seems they were bottling it all up for the car ride home. They only screamed cried for 45 minutes to an hour. I thought Makena's head was going to start spinning though...she was THAT upset.

Riley conked out about 1/2 way home and slept through the hysterical antics of her sisters.

Makena finally calmed down by playing with a container of playdough.

Steve looked at me like I was crazy for giving it her. He reminded me that I wasn't the one who cleaned out the car that morning. Apparently he had to do quite a bit of scraping to get the crusty goldfish and grapes off the back of the seats that had been smashed there for months.

I also heard the words, "We're never doing this again" come out of his mouth at some point in the day. At that time, I was in full agreement.

But when I look at pictures like this...my memory is totally wiped of all the work and drama that goes along with being a triplet mommy. It's only been 24 hours and I am ready to pack them up and head out on another adventure.

Only if we get to come home and put the girls down for bed in their own cribs.

I'm still smart enough to know that there isn't enough vodka and pineapple juice around to keep me sane if we tried an overnight trip.

She's a genius

Riley watched me kill a fly this morning.

"Bug all done" was her astute comment.

I think she might go to Harvard.