Thursday, June 30, 2011

A Little Bit of Random

We are in the midst of a major fruit fly infestation. I think the homemade traps are finally doing their job. I Googled "fruit fly infestation," because really, that's the kind of thing the Internet does best.

I found a whole bunch of suggestions, including homemade traps that involve a piece of banana, a plastic cup a rubber band, and plastic wrap with tiny holes poked in it. Jeff was a little skeptical, and I did help the process along with a lot of swatting, but I think we're finally almost fruit fly free.

****

After much searching, I finally found something for the boys to wear to the big wedding in a few weeks. It was so frustrating! I didn't want to spend a fortune, and every place I looked didn't have the right sizes for all three boys. Even online I couldn't find three pairs of black pants and three white dress shirts in the right sizes for anything less than a small fortune.

Then I wound up at Sears.com. They had four-piece vest sets: vest, dress pants, dress shirt and tie on clearance for $14 with free shipping. And they had the sizes I needed. Yay, yay and yay! Thank heavens when everything arrived, it fit.

The boys were very excited to try on their "handsome man" clothes, and disappointed that it wasn't time to go to the wedding yet. I hope they are that excited on the wedding day when it's time for pictures.

****



Recently I was snuggling with Amelia at bedtime when she gave me a big hug and said, "I wish you were my twin, Mom." So sweet!

****

The other day I took the kids to the park for some playtime and a picnic.

When I mentioned the picnic Amelia told me, "We're having a party, Mom!"

I smiled. And then she added, "You can come along, since you're the one who drives."

*sigh*

Still not one of the cool kids. They just keep me around for my driver's license. Good thing she was so sweet about the twin thing!

****

The other day one of the boys had a little issue with his winky when he was sitting on the potty. (Just think about it, you know what I mean.) He looked down in surprise, then said, "My winky is broken!" Then he added, very matter-of-factly, "I need a new one."

****

The other day Sam asked for "Santa crackers." Jeff and I looked at each other. What? He insisted on "Santa crackers." Turns out he was talking about the Keebler elf on the graham cracker box. Ohhhh! Santa crackers! Of course!

****

And now I'm off to bed to see if another good night's sleep can squelch this cold and cough. I'm on Day 9 and I'd sure like to be healthy for the Fourth!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Wordful Wednesday: "Why, Mama? Why?"


The other day I read that the  average four-year-old asks 437 questions a day.

I'm not sure how many questions the average almost-three-year-old asks, but I feel like we're getting close to that 400 mark already. 

Times three, of course.

Plus a five-year-old whose questions are getting really hard to answer!

So the other day when we were hiking and saw this sign, we had to stop.

Isaac, Sam, Amelia, and Alex

Because of all the questions we can ask, "Why?" seems to be a favorite right now.

Play along with Wordful Wednesday at:



© Trippin' Mama 2011

Monday, June 27, 2011

Seventeen Years Later


On Saturday Jeff and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary.

Who ever would have guessed that this:


Would turn into this:


We celebrated by taking the kids to the zoo, but they wouldn't keep them so we brought them home.

Jeff's gift to me was to take all four kids to the grocery store to buy a few things for supper. He texted me from the grocery store parking lot to inform me that the way to get a quiet van is CHEETOS. Genius. Pure genius. Yet another reason why I married that man.

We all stayed up late to catch fireflies. Amelia's an old pro, but it was the first time the boys got to catch them. They all had a blast, though we lost a few fireflies to some overzealous catching.




It wasn't a day full of romance and candlelight dinners, but it was a perfect way to celebrate this crazy, wonderful life we've built together.

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Saturday, June 25, 2011

More Fun with Tupperware

We've had a string of rainy days here lately, keeping us cooped up in the house. So the other day the boys decided to go "skating." It's not the first time they've amused themselves with my Tupperware!



It's a little tough on the Tupperware, but it did keep them busy for a while!



© Trippin' Mama 2011

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Writer's Workshop: Things You Wish You Could Say


This week's prompt: List 10 things you wish you could say to strangers who share unsolicited advice about your parenting skills.


10. Let me know when you're teaching your next parenting class and I'll be there.

9. Are you real, or are you just another voice in my head?

8. You think this is a temper tantrum? I'll show you a temper tantrum!

7. That advice and $3.75 will buy me a latte at Starbucks. And I could really use the caffeine.

6. Really? Why couldn't you just be like everyone else and pretend this meltdown isn't happening?

5. I know you think that you are doing me a favor by sharing your thoughts. Believe me when I tell you that I am doing you a favor by not sharing my mine.

4. When you've successfully raised your triplets, you get back to me.
3. (Sing-song, with fingers in my ears) I'm not lis-ten-ing!

2.  AAAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!

1. Thank you for that unsolicited advice. I'll consider it later while I have a glass of wine and let my children run naked in the yard.

Inspired by:

Mama’s Losin’ It

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Wordful Wednesday: Adventures of the Tribe


The other evening I set the boys up at the kitchen table to play stickers while I did a couple things with Amelia in the other room. Pretty soon I heard giggling and then gales of laughter.

Generally giggles and gales of laughter means the boys are doing something mama would rather they not be doing. Or it means there will be some clean up involved.

So I headed to the kitchen to see what was up, and I found this:

Sam, Isaac and Alex show off their sticker bellies.

The boys were yelling, "Stickers!" and giggling madly as they put them all over their bellies.

Say, "Stickers!"

It's another one of those things that I know wouldn't be as much fun for just one.

Play along with Wordful Wednesday at:



© Trippin' Mama 2011

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Pestilence and Floods


Yesterday Alex woke up and his face was so swollen he could hardly open his right eye.

Nope, his brothers didn't do this!

His whole face was swollen. Eyes, cheeks and across the bridge of his nose. It didn't seem to bother him, but it was severe enough to motivate me to drag him and the other kids to the doctor's office, in the pouring rain. Of course we had to park as far from the door as possible.

I wish I had video of the five of us trying to make our way to the door shuffling along under two umbrellas. A turtle could have beaten us by a mile. Umbrellas were of little use, especially the one Amelia was holding. We were soaked by the time we got there.

The doc thinks Alex had a severe reaction to some bug bites. We gave him a little Benadryl before nap and bedtime and the swelling was gone by this morning.

When we came home someone had an accident in their pants and when I went to toss the dirties downstairs I found water in the basement. Ugh.

Our crawl space flooded in the torrential downpours we've been having. Fortunately, it wasn't much water, but we still had to move everything out of our storage space to clean it up. And we've got someone coming out to dry out the crawl space tomorrow.

Seems there's a little too much truth in that adage: When it rains, it pours!

At least this time around Jeff didn't get electrocuted. But that's a story for another day.


© Trippin' Mama 2011

Monday, June 20, 2011

Nothing Says Happy Father's Day Like A Little Urine


Jeff promised to delete this if I put it on the blog, but it's just too ironic not to share.

Yesterday we celebrated Father's Day by letting Daddy sleep in. Then we went to McDonald's for lunch and headed to the big library instead of our little local branch. Several people have told me the children's area there is awesome, and it did not disappoint.

Since we're working hard on the potty training everyone wore their big boy undies and I packed a couple pair of spare shorts, undies and a few pull ups, just in case. (This falls under my triplet mama motto to "Be Brave.")

We played with the toys and spent a lot of time putting letters, shapes and numbers up on their big magnetic boards. We read some books and checked out the kid-friendly computer games. Amelia and Isaac had fun rising the escalator, but Alex and Sam REFUSED to ride it.

Then Jeff curled up in a big pod chair with all of the kids to watch a video of a book reading while I found us some books. 

Image from EBay

A short time later he came over and told me someone was wet, because he was wet. I checked all the boys and nothing. Everyone was dry. Uh-oh.

Getting peed on by your own kids is one thing, but sitting in a urine-soaked chair? Ewww! And seriously, we took three pretty-newly-potty-trained boys out in big boys pants and someone else peed on my hubby? How ironic!

On the plus side, I didn't have to tell a librarian that one of my kids peed in the chair. (Side note: Shoe store lady, I'm still sorry we peed on your carpet!)

Needless to say, that prompted us to take everyone to the bathroom and hightail it home so Jeff could clean up.

Jeff didn't let that put a damper on his Father's Day celebration, which is just another reason why he's the best dad ever!
Jeff with Amelia and Sam

I love you, honey. Thanks for all you do for us each and every day.

 
© Trippin' Mama 2011

Saturday, June 18, 2011

From My Kitchen: Greek Chicken Salad


See, I told you I'd make up for a bad blogging week today, and I have. What better way to end the day than with a fresh recipe for you to enjoy?

A week ago I hosted a big playdate. When you invite fellow triplet moms and their kids, every playdate is a big one. Everyone brought lunch for their kiddos, and I made lunch for the moms.

I wanted something light and easy, but different. I love chicken salad (not gloopy, heavy-on-the-mayo chicken salad, though!), but the cucumbers are fresh right now which got me thinking Greek. So I whipped up a little Greek chicken salad and served it in pita pockets. It was a definite hit.

This is one of those dishes you don't need an exact recipe for, though I've written down how I made mine. Just taste as you go until you like it. Here's the recipe:

Greek Chicken Salad
2 C. cubed, cooked chicken
1/2 C. sliced cucumber (I halved mine for easier eating)
1/2 C. diced sweet bell pepper
1/4 C. sliced Kalmata olives
6 oz. crumbled feta cheese
1/4 C. Greek salad dressing

Mix all ingredients together. Line pita pockets with romaine lettuce and fill with chicken salad. Serve immediately.

If you have time, pour the dressing over the chicken the night before so it can soak up the flavor. Just before serving add the remaining ingredients and a little extra dressing as needed.

This is a great recipe to play with. You could add tomatoes, leave out the peppers, or try tzatzki sauce instead of Greek dressing. There are lots of delicious options!

Enjoy!
© Trippin' Mama 2011

The Our Father


The other night Amelia was saying her prayers before bedtime. As always she said, "The our Father who aren't in heaven."

She's been saying the Our Father like that for a while, and I have just let it go as she's worked out all the other words, but I decided it was time to correct her.

I said, "Amelia, I know it's a strange word, but we say 'Our Father who art in heaven.' That means our Father who is in heaven."

Amelia said, "But Mom, He's not in heaven. He's here with us."

How could I argue with that? "Aren't" it is.

© Trippin' Mama 2011

I'm Blaming Vacation Bible School

Wow! I really neglected ye olde blog this week. You know it's bad when someone texts you and says, "I think your blog is broken." Nope. Just the blogger.

Amelia had Vacation Bible School all week, and it just about did me in. Load four kids up by 8:30 a.m. every morning to drive 15 minutes to the church. Unload everyone to walk Amelia into her classroom. (Hey, at least this year we got to ditch the stroller -- one less load and unload each way!) Load the boys back up and then repeat the process 2 1/2 hours later. Whew! The boys ate lunch in the van more than once. 

Next year I'll volunteer every day and put the boys in the nursery so they can go to school too. They begged to stay with Amelia this year. Of course, Sam and Isaac both had pink eye this week, so I couldn't volunteer the one day I had signed up for anyway.

Amelia had a blast learning songs, listening to Bible stories, snacking and making crafts every morning. On the last day they had a program, which I had to miss for a board meeting. I hated to miss, but she performed for me the night before, and when I only have four board meetings a year, it's pretty tough to skip one.

The day before the performance they sent home shirts for the kids to wear. Last year she got a youth small, which was huge, but it fits pretty well this year. So I figured we'd be in good shape this time around. Instead they sent home a youth large.
Seriously, two of her would have fit in this thing. When we tried it on Amelia said, "It's a dress!"
I thought that was a great idea. A couple buttonholes and a piece of ribbon later, and it was.

Not too bad for a late-night effort after we finally got the boys in bed. That drama is ongoing, though I think we are seeing a little progress.

Stay tuned, more to come!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Monday, June 13, 2011

The Potty Training Finals


The boys have been in big boys undies since December, and I was putting up with dirty pants multiple times a day as we went through the worst stage of potty training. It's what I refer to as the "please-please-I'm-begging-you-to-poop-in-the-potty stage." Emphasis on the "please-please-I'm-BEGGING-you."

They were doing pretty well when it came to peeing in the potty and I hated to use pull ups and confuse them, so we trudged onward, even after the day they pooped together on the floor.

On Mother's Day two of three boys pooped in the potty, causing me to celebrate that as the best Mother's Day gift ever. (Sad, but true.)

Not long after that came a day when everyone seemed to have forgotten everything they knew. I had a dozen pairs of wet and/or dirty undies in the wash by noon. I'd had it. And then the boys came up from the basement playroom and proudly announced, "We went downstairs and pooped together."

WHAT?!?

Sure enough, every last one of them was poopy. Who knew pooping in your pants was a team sport?

It was the end of the line for me. Jeff called about that time and got a download of crazy from me that he didn't even know what to do with. I later told him he could have legitimately hung up on me. He'd have had to sleep in the garage for a week, but it would have been legit.

Mama needed a break, so I gave in and bought pull ups. A one week break stretched to almost three weeks, but we're back in undies again, and everyone is doing great. We've been venturing out in our big boys pants with only one minor accident. (Note to the shoe store lady: Seriously, carpet? All you sell are kids' shoes. I'm sure we aren't the first to pee on your floor.)

Alex has the pooping thing down now. Something he likes to prove about six times a day just so he can get a Tootsie Roll. I may have the first two-year-old with hemorrhoids if he keeps this up.

And Sam has become obsessed with a pair of red Lightning McQueen undies. In fact, he has them on over the top of a diaper tonight. Since I didn't get to wash them, I'll have to battle him out of the them in the morning. But that's a battle I'm willing to fight!

Here's hoping that this time the end truly is in sight.

Trippin' Mama 2011

Saturday, June 11, 2011

Yes, I Can Draw A Line In The Sand


This morning we took three of the four kids to a festival in the park.

Isaac stayed home with a babysitter.

Not because he was sick. Because we've been working all week on rewarding the boys for doing well at nap time and bedtime. And last night he wound up in the the pack and play after getting out of bed several times, despite clear warnings.

I know. Mean mom. I confess that it killed me to leave him behind.

And the boys kept bringing it up as we drove. "Isaac doesn't get to come." "Isaac isn't here today."

OK, could we please leave the knife out of Mommy's heart for a bit?

Isaac cried when we loaded everyone else in the van, but was fine when we left. I had his sitter bring him down at lunchtime so he could get in on a little bit of the fun.


Letting Isaac come for part of the day assuaged my mommy guilt. But then I worried that I was caving by letting him come at all and it wouldn't have any impact.

His brothers took care of that for me.

They kept talking about what they saw and Isaac would say, "We didn't see that." They were quick to reply, "We saw that before you got there. You stayed home with the sitter. You didn't stay in your bed."

Thanks for your support boys!

Tonight Isaac didn't get out of his bed at all. Not once.

That may be an anomaly, but here's hoping he has finally gotten the message.

This parenting gig sure is tough sometimes!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Thursday, June 9, 2011

A Confession


Tonight I got to go pick up Amelia at a friend's house while Jeff put the boys to bed.

I drove two miles UNDER the speed limit the whole way there. And back.

Not that bedtime around here is difficult these days or anything.

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Wordful Wednesday: Isaac the Sleepless


This is what happens when you refuse to stay in your big boy bed and end up getting a very short nap.


I got Isaac up at the end of naptime today, after he'd slept about 45 minutes. (And in the pack and play, again!) I sat him at the kitchen table for his snack and when I came back with his milk, I found him asleep on his chair.

Boy, just give it up already and stay in the big boy bed. Trust your mama. We'll ALL be happier! (And better rested.)
Play along with Wordful Wednesday at:


© Trippin' Mama 2011

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

How Does Your Garden Grow?


The last two years I haven't managed much of a garden. The summer I was pregnant with the boys I was in no shape (ha!) to garden.

Last year my sister Judy helped put in the garden when she was here for Easter, so we got peas, green beans, potatoes and a few tomatoes. But the garden still didn't get much attention, and it was not a good year for tomatoes in this area.

So far this year, we're doing much better.


We'll be turning the kids loose on these peas any day now.

And the romaine lettuce you see on the far left is growing like crazy and so yummy! I have learned that I much prefer head lettuces like romaine and buttercrunch to leaf lettuce. So I planted both this year. Plenty for us and the rabbits.


This bed has tomatoes, peppers and a couple cucumber plants in it. So far things are looking pretty good. I'm hoping for lots of tomatoes so I can make lots of cream of tomato soup. I'd love to have enough to can this year. The kids love it and ask for it all the time.

I'm also looking forward to fresh-from-the-garden salsa. I've got onions and cilantro out there to round out that recipe. And I've also got green beans, carrots and dill growing out there. Yum!

I grew up with a big garden, so I can't quit bring myself to subscribe to the square-foot gardening method. Things just seem too crowded to grow really well. I do take advantage of interplanting early crops with later ones, like planting green beans right next to the peas that will soon be done for the season and throwing herbs in around the edges of the garden or wherever I think they'll grow. My dill is growing right in the middle of all the peas and thriving.

Since I'm actually tending to the garden this year, it's one of the things that's keep me from blogging as much as usual. Sorry about that, but the payoff is delicious!

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Monday, June 6, 2011

"I'm Twapped!"


Today Isaac refused to stay in his big boy bed at naptime. This has been an ongoing problem, so I moved him to the pack and play in our room as usual.

He got out.

Several times.

It was impossible to keep him in a bed while I was also policing the other two boys who were having a bit of trouble staying in their beds, too. (Although they did MUCH better once I removed Isaac. I think they got the message better than he did.)

Finally I had enough.

As it turns out, you can makeshift a crib tent out of a crib sheet and a pack and play...if you have enough duct tape.


Trust me when I tell you Isaac was not amused.


He was even less amused at bedtime when he wound up in a slightly more sophisticated version of the cage. As I fastened the cover in place with safety pins Isaac looked up at Jeff and said, "I'm twapped! Mommy is twapping me."

You bet I am buddy.

Seems necessity really is the mother of invention.

© Trippin' Mama 2011

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Let's Take A Hike!


Last weekend we headed to a local park for a hike through the woods.


We did a little hiking last year, but it wasn't as easy as it is now. It involved a lot of paved paths, holding hands and praying that we wouldn't have to carry everyone back to the van. I love that we're able to do "normal" activities again without even having to think about it much.

And I love that my kids enjoy being outdoors and burning off lots of energy!

Isaac, Sam and Alex

I have a feeling I'm going to be really running to keep up with the kids this summer!



© Trippin' Mama 2011

Thursday, June 2, 2011

A Bedtime Conversation


One of the pluses of having to police bedtime for the boys is getting to hear their conversations with each other. This is what took place the other night when I was sitting quietly in the rocking chair to make sure they stayed in bed.

Alex: Tomorrow we'll get to go to another crade.

Isaac: Not "crade." Pah-rade. Say pah-rade.

Alex: (Very mater of factly) Crade.

Isaac: NO! PAH-rade. Say PAH-rade.

Alex: I said "crade."

Isaac: (Yelling impatiently) NOT CRADE! PAH-RADE!

I guess we know who isn't going to be the teacher around here!

The conversation continued.

Isaac: I like the race car dribers.

Alex: Yeah! We could dribe race cars.

Sam: Yeah! And we could be a marching band.

Alex: Yeah! I lub marching bands.

Then after a long pause, Isaac piped up: "I want to stand on a motorcycle."

I don't know what was said after that. I was too busy saying another "Hail Mary" to listen.

© Trippin' Mama 2011