The Sizemore Family

Aquino Christmas 2011

2012-01-02T15:29:00.002-05:00

After our morning at home, we went over to my parents house! We were so excited to see everyone there!

Ellery and Easton were all smiles with baby Isadora!

Quin couldn't stay away for long...

Five out of six kiddos were ready for the picture... Gianna needs a lot of time to warm up to situations. It was still too early for her to mingle and smile... silly girl!

I love watching Lincoln with all four of our kids! He gets along so well, and they all love him so much. He and Ellery were two peas in a pod. They loved playing with all of the toys.

Easton was still really confused. All he wanted to do was play with this toy.

Quin loved helping pass out the presents, as well as open them!

My Uncle John got in to the toy fun with the kid.

Miss Isa... our Santa baby!

After dinner, all five kids seemed to quickly... and quietly... disappear. Quin had set up chairs in the den for school. She was reading a story, and teaching the letter "p". I love the look on Gianna's face. And, the first rule that teacher Quin needs to learn is to not put the trouble maker in the back row ;)

And, as quickly as it snuck up on us...Christmas is gone. I love this season, and the time that I get to spend with my kiddos. I just love them!

Christmas Morning

2012-01-02T15:26:00.002-05:00

Each year just keeps getting better and better!

Although the triplets really didn't fully grasp the concept of Santa, they knew they were excited for something. They knew what Santa looked like, and that he would bring presents, but they didn't get that he would come that specific night.

Quin on the other hand, was beyond giddy! All on her own, she drew this picture/letter for him. It has Mrs. Claus and Santa holding hands and walking a dog(Awww... don't they look happy). There are butterflies to the left of them and then really small above the butterflies and to the left of Mrs. Claus is 'an elf running around with a gift'. She also wanted to add a note. She tried on her own, and then asked me to sound it out for her. It says, "I will do better next year. Quin"

Well, Santa loved all of his homemade goodies. (At the last minute, as she was being tucked in, she decided that she didn't want him to have the yummy caramel. She thought is was so cool that he knew not to eat it - ha!)

Santa even left her a note thanking her for the goodies and chocolate milk. He also wanted her to know that he appreciated how well she did at school, and that he hoped to see more of that at home ;)

I had them start with their stockings.

I love how easy Easton is to please... he was so excited about the apple and banana - hee, hee! That is, until he noticed all of the presents!

It took Ellery a little while to put down her stocking goodies to open her presents.

Easton and Gianna were both easily sidetracked! They could have sat with one toy for the the monring, without realizing there were more to open.

Quin and Ellery though... they went from present to present to present.

{Sidenote: Santa's elves must know that art supplies from 'Back to School' sales, and dress up outfits from the Halloween clearance area make the best Christmas presents!}

Mmmm.... Gorilla bread!

I didn't get pictures of our baking this year. Quin and the triplets helped unwrap all of the Rolos and peppermint Kisses, and they also helped me make the peppermint rice krispy's.
Quin did a great job helping me put it all on the platter!

I love making memories with all of my kiddos! I can't imagine how much they will grow by next Christmas :(

HaPpY NeW YeAr's!!!

2012-01-02T15:22:00.002-05:00

Over the past few years I have written about our New Year's Gift giving tradition. It is still one of my favorites! Much less pressure on my part and because they don't remember the tradition yet, they sleep really well. They had been up for five minutes before stumbling upon the gifts. I usually think to get them something practical and something for fun. Unfortunately, I totally flubbed up this year and ordered their hooded towels (practical gifts) too late. Ooops! They may have to become birthday presents ;)

The woman who watches our kids stayed late last week, so that Jason and I could make a trip to Ikea - woo hoo! So... most of their gifts were our great finds from there.

Santa brought Easton a basic train set, that he has loved. So, we gave him a large carpet for this cars/trains and an extension kit for his trains.

Ellery got some felt fruit.

And Quin got an iPod. Long story short - it is used, but it is perfect for her! We do need to invest in a few new songs though... If I hear Fireworks or Whip Your Hair Back and Forth again, I may throw the thing out the window ;) She loves it though. It is just one more reminder that my baby is growing up!

Even after the other three kids opened their presents, Gianna sat with her baby while sippin' her juice. They only get one cup of juice, so she was afraid someone might take it if she put it down.

Their group gift was an Elmo game for our Wii.

Gianna finally decided to open her gift, and found the vegetable version of Ellery's. The girls also got a play pot/pan set, as well as a new table lamp for their bedroom.

Jason made yummy cinnamon french toast!

In an effort to avoid the hat fiasco of last year, I thought we would try funny mustaches ;) I saw these fun freebie printables here, and thought my kids would get a kick out of them!

Quin

Ellery

Gianna

I love how her new squished nose smile just adds to the mustache look!

And, of course, Easton had the most difficulty cooperating ;)

I just think he wanted this sign for himself.

I grocery shopped early in the day and came home to this... Jason knew that I was going to take pictures of them with the mustaches. I had a hard time even looking at him without laughing/wincing/gagging... I love that he was a good sport for the day!

I mustache... how did I get so lucky?!?!?

We wish all of you a happy, healthy 2012!!!

Christmas Craftin'

2011-12-31T11:59:00.001-05:00

Hi, my name is Joelee and I am addicted to ... Pinterest!

It really has just replaced the way I used to use my Google Reader to save blog posts that I liked. The added bonus is that I can see what other people are saving too, and then ~~steal~~ repin their ideas. I also like that when I go in under my account, there is a picture of each specific link - I am such a visual person! I also appreciate being able to sort the ideas under like categories.

I do admit that Pinterest can start to make me feel like I need more time in the day... that other people are so much more creative than me... that I need to quit my dayjob to craft at home with my kids... that I need to work day/night to implement all of the amazing educational ideas into my classroom... Ahhh, I just have to keep it all in perspective! ;)

One of the very first things I pinned were adorable feet trees, and I knew I had to make our own. I wasn't a big fan of the red toes that the original had on it, so I had Quin make two sets. I much prefer the all green trees. I also had my kids each use their first three fingers for the trunks and added a foam/glitter star. I love the way they turned out!

I also loved the ornaments that used a child's hand and then used the fingers to make individual snowmen. A few weeks ago, Jason was out of town for the week. When he is gone, we tend to do more crafts (I need a plan when he is gone!). I didn't have plain ornaments, so we used the same idea on a plain blue piece of paper. When it was dry Quin added the faces/hats/buttons to the snowmen, and the triplets added the cotton ball snow and glittery snowflakes.

We had a mistake, but Quin wanted to make it look like a flying snowball... I have to say she has quite the imagination!

The following weekend our nanny from last year came and spent the day with our foursome while Jason and I did some Christmas shopping (it was a wonderful gift - thank you again Vickie!).

I had not hung our finger snowmen up yet.

I was so surprised when we came home and found these:

Aren't they too cute!

My last pinspiration was fingerprint candycanes... We whipped up a few and used them for gift tags. Not thinking too much about it, I cut them out and added the to/from on the back. If I were to make them again, I would cut them out in a rectangle and add the to/from next to the candycane. Ahh... I live and learn ;)

Our Special Visitor

2011-12-31T10:45:00.000-05:00

The weekend after Thanksgiving, when grabbing the paper, we found this present on our porch ;) After opening it, we figured out that it was a special delivery straight from the North Pole - from Santa himself! Inside of the package contained a book, a note and some Santa pictures (more about those at the end of the post).

Santa sent a note encouraging our children to be on their very best behavior, as well as a book that told us all about our special visitor. Christopher Popinkins was already 'hiding' in our house, waiting for us to find him {Christopher is the less creepy, slightly cuter, version of his cousin 'Elf on a Shelf'}.

Each day, Christopher sat perched in a special spot around our house - watching and listening to our kiddos. At the end of each day, he would 'zoom' to the North Pole to give Santa an update, and then he would 'pop' back into our house in a different spot for the following day.

It was a hoot to watch the kids search the house each morning! His spots were always too high to reach him because if kids touch him, he loses his special powers.

On Christmas, Santa took Christopher home with him... but we look forward to his return next December!

Have I told you about my sassy, stubborn, line-pushing daughter?!?! Good golly, I do love my Quiners, but she has an attitude that is all her own. She does really well at school, but let's it all go when she is at home. (Believe me though - I would much rather that, then have her be an angel at home and a stinker at school!) In hopes of transferring some of her good behavior home, a few months back I made a stop light. She is really the only one of the kids who grasps the concept, but they all have a clothespin. She gets a warning first, and then if she needs to be told again - she has to move her clip to the yellow (I have also done this in my classroom for years... but that didn't matter until her preschool teacher had one!).

So... that clever Santa sent pictures of himself to add to our stop light, to help Christopher know what to tell Santa each night. Did it help, you might wonder?!?!? As you can see, she was still on the yellow many times, but it helped keep her off of the red more than a few times! Overall, I am calling it a success for her :)

Now that Christmas is over, and the Santa stoplight has been put away until next year, I have added purple stars for each of the kids (a little more positive reinforcement). If it works wonders, I will let you all know!

Sizemore Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T10:41:00.002-05:00

The weekend before Christmas we headed over to Jason's mom house to celebrate Christmas with his mom, both of his brothers, their wives and our two nieces!

My kids were so excited!

Jason's mom left some of her 'unbreakable' ornaments off of her small tree so that the kids could help decorate.

She also had some fun name/winter decoration placemats for all six kids to do.

Easton and Uncle Mike worked well together!

The best picture I could get of all six!

Of course, all four kids were spoiled - Thank you for all of their presents!

Gianna loves her new stroller - her only problem is which one of her hundred babies gets to ride ;)

Jason's mom baked almost all of her sugar cookies, but left a small batch of dough for the grandchildren to roll and cut.

The highlight of the day... frosting the cookies. I was impressed with how well they all did.

Look at that concentration!

Gianna frosted maybe two cookies, but I think she licked enough frosting to cover five or six!

Easton started out strong....

until he spotted the sprinkle containers. The boy can stack anything!

A huge thank you to Barb for organizing a fun packed day! All four kids had a fabulous time, and slept well all the way home!

Santa

2011-12-31T10:35:00.001-05:00

We let the triplets in on our Santa Visit traditions this year! Both last year, and the year before, we took Quin out to eat at a local hibachi and to visit with Santa. The triplets loved it there (as did the rest of us)!

Ellery did a really good job using her chop sticks! We kept trying to get her to use her fork, as it is a much faster way of eating, but she stuck with the sticks.

Easton loved dipping his steak in the white sauce - YUM!

Our chef left behind his mini-twist-hand-drum-thing-a-ma-jig for my kids to play with... All the kids loved trying to get it to beat. If the other people at the restaurant didn't love us before this point in the meal, I am positive that they did after the drumming ;)

Because I had no idea what they would do during our visit with Santa, we went to the Holland Mall again in hopes that there would be a short line. We were in luck, because there was only one family ahead of us. It was good that we could watch another set of kids sit on his lap, because I think it helped reassure my kiddos that he was alright.

I was shocked! Ellery was the first one to hop up on Santa's lap - there wasn't a moment of hesitation on her part! Not wanting to be outdone, Quin did the same. Gianna and Easton both sat near him... It didn't last long, but long enough for me to snap one picture. All four kids were good - but only Quin talked to Santa. The triplets just kept watching his every move, but they were happy to give him a high five and accept the candy canes when we left. Yay for no tears!

All four pose quickly with their new hats and candy canes.

(Sidenote: The sweater Ellery has on just happens to be the same sweater Quin wore two years ago when she visited Santa... Sigh... why do they have to grow up so fast!)

More Than a Tree

2011-12-31T10:27:00.001-05:00

A few days after Thanksgiving we packed ourselves up to go pick out this year's perfect Christmas tree. I was very disappointed with our tree last year (it was a fire hazard by Christmas day!). This year we went to Post Family Farms (we picked our pumpkins there last year). From the information in the paper, I thought they had 'cut your own trees'. I was mistaken, but we had a great time anyways! We have had great luck with our tree this year! It is beautifully shaped and has kept most of its needles. The cutie patootie guy who sold us the tree, was more than happy to take our family picture.

They have THEEEE BEST donuts - straight from the oven... YUM! They also had complimentary hot chocolate.

Gianna gave both a thumbs up!

While waiting for the horse drawn ride, we took a self guided tour of the animal pens/barn.

Easton is such an animal kid!

When it snows they have horse drawn sleigh rides (I would love to go back and try it out!). When there isn't snow, they have horse drawn trailers :) My kids loved it.

They let Ellery pet the horses when the ride was finished - oh does she love horses?!?!

Our tree adventure took us so long, that we stopped at a local pizza place for some pizza and chocolate milk. I LOVE that my kids are getting old enough to actually sit and eat in a restaurant - woohoo!

We decorated the tree the following day, and all four kids loved helping.

The weather was also warm enough for us to put out all of our outdoor decorations in one full swoop. Easton even decided that he needed to come out and vacuum up all of the pine needles that fell off of the tree. He cracks me up - bare feet and all!

Thanksgiving

2011-12-31T08:37:00.000-05:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parents house! My sister and her two kiddos, my brother and his girlfriend, my grandpa, my Aunt Shelley and my Uncle John were all able to join us!

There was lots of yummy food, and lots of laughs!

Easton, Lincoln and Jason

Easton carried on the age old Aquino tradition of putting black olives on each finger before popping them into his mouth!

Quin gave Isadora lots and lots of lovin'!

Ellery even stopped playing for long enough to give Isa a few kisses.

Any family get together with Uncle Nate isn't complete without some rough housing with Easton and Lincoln. Boys, boys, boys...

Gianna didn't stray far from Popa and Isa :)

Ellery and Great Grandpa spent a lot of time together - I just love it!

The weather was beautiful! Ellery and Grandpa played catch.

Easton, Ellery and Lincoln played in the leaves with Grandpa also!

I have sooooo many things to be thankful for, and my family definitely tops the list!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-12-26T22:11:00.000-05:00

For those of you who have checked out the main page of our blog, or are Facebook friends with me - most of these pictures are old news. I did add one or two new ones though :)

In late August we had the amazingly talented Tammi from More Than Words Photography take our pictures again (she has taken our fall pictures for the past three years now). It always shocks me that she can take such beautiful pictures when I walk away from the session thinking 'What a disaster!'. A huge thank you to Tammi for being so thorough, patient and caring!

I love that she caught Easton on an upstep - he is a few inches shorter than Ellery, but you can't tell in this picture.

This is a different picture than I added to the right side of our blog. Quin was such a stinker during this session - she had lots of attitude, and wanted to do everything on her terms (pretty much how she always is though!). I love how happy she looks in this picture - as if she is thinking of something that is making her laugh.

This is also a different picture of Ellery than I added to the side of our blog. I had just had her bangs cut a week or so before the session - I was bummed when I realized how long they looked in the picture. Oh well, she is beautiful with long bangs or short!

I think Gianna is such a cute girl - but I have a hard time getting cute pictures of her. Not so hard for Tammi though!

My handsome little man :)

This was the very last shot of the session. I love, love, love this picture!

Many of you tell me that we are always so photogenic {I give all of the credit to Tammi - she is the one who takes the pictures!} For all of you who give me such a hard time, I had to add this picture. I am sure there are many more silly looking pictures that never come close to making the cut, but Tammi included this one. It makes me laugh every time I look at it. I love the look on Gianna's face, and the fact Jason is smiling as Quin makes a kissing face at him.

A huge thank you to both Tammi and her husband who helped make this another successful session!

Halloween

2011-12-26T21:33:00.000-05:00

Ah yes, I realize it is the day after Christmas and I am posting about Halloween... sorry!

If you have followed us for a few years now, you realize that I love to put together theme costumes for Halloween. The first year the four kiddos were Goldilocks and the 3 bears, and then last year they were all zoo animals. This year we went with the 3 little pigs and the big bad wolf. I gave Quin the option of being the wolf or a pig, and she opted for the pig. She put up a fight the few days before Halloween (she wanted to wear one of her princess dress up outfits). Since I told her the only way she would be able to trick or treat was as a pig, the prospect of candy won out! Come the night of Halloween, she was a very good sport!

They were sooo stinkin' cute from behind - those curly tails bobbed as they walked!

I love the look on Easton's face! We had so many people stop us - all he wanted to do was keep walking. We had several people ask us if they could take their picture... Jason was very disturbed by this! I just laugh and kept us moving!

I sure wish they would cooperate with me! I tried to get Easton to look like he was 'huffin & puffin', but he had no interest!

Why couldn't he focus for a picture??? Well, duh... the candy was calling his name!

It was a beautiful night! We were able to sit on the porch and hand out candy. I only wish it was this nice every year. The kids had a blast putting candy in the kids bags, guessing what other kids were dressed up as, and telling everyone what they were dressed up as.

We ran out of candy (we do every year). If my memory serves me correctly, we handed out close to 550 pieces! Crazy kids are probably still eating all of that candy - ick!

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:18:00.000-05:00

May the warmth and joy of the holiday season be with you and your family!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Fall Flashback

2011-12-23T22:45:00.000-05:00

Wowza! It has been 2 whole months since I last posted - yikes! I will try my best to stay to the point, but I must (for the sake of my 'baby book' format) post our past few months events in order. Yeah, I know it's Christmas Eve eve... sorry!

So... without further delay, here is what we were up to this past {gulp!} fall!

In October, we met up with my parents, my brother and his girlfriend, and my sister and her family. We met at an apple orchard in Charlotte - although it was so much more than just apples! They had fish in a pond to feed, pumpkins to pick, a petting zoo, bounce houses, a cider mill... The weather was in the low 80's (crazy!). We had a great time!

Quin feeding the fish.

Easton loved pulling the wagon full of apples!

After walking all the way to the back of the orchard, we could ride on the 'train' back to the front of the orchard. All four kids loved it!

Our four kiddos and Lincoln loved feeding the animals!

We spent quite a bit of time in the covered picnic area (to cool off!). They had apple cider slushies, and super yummy donuts!

A few weeks later we carved our pumpkins at my school. The other first grade teachers and myself put on our annual 'Family Pumpkin Carving Party' for our first grade students and their families. It is always a great time to let the families make their pumpkin mess at school and then take home their pumpkin masterpieces!

Jason took on the task of carving our pumpkins with all four kids! I was able to stop by every so often, but I needed to circulate among my families. All five of my Sizemore's did fabulous!

Easton's favorite part? The cider and donuts, of course!

Quin was so proud to show off her finished pumpkin to anyone who would look!

Near the beginning of November we were able to celebrate my dad's birthday! My sister and her children (Lincoln and Isadora) were able to meet us at my parents house, along with my grandpa.

It was the first time that the triplets had the chance to interact with Isadora (she was in a sling when we were at the orchard). My little momma, Gianna, was in her glory! She couldn't keep her hands off of Isa!!!

I can see these two becoming best buds in the near future!

Ellery is drawn to my Grandpa - I simply adore watching the two of them interact! They can toss a ball back and forth forever. You can hear Ellery giggling from the opposite side of the house. Love, love, love!

Everyone had a great time playing in the leaves also!

Even my dad (Popa) got in on the fun!

PHEW! Nothing like rolling three posts right into one!

It's a Girl!

2011-10-22T22:45:00.000-04:00

I am so excited to introduce you all to my new, beautiful niece - Isadora Marilyn! She was born September 22, at 4:48pm. She weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inches long.

I thought it was pretty cool that they stamped her feet directly onto Kirk's forearms.

Long story short... Isadora had been breech for many weeks. When Abbey went in for the scheduled c-section, they did a last minute ultra-sound and found that the baby had flipped. Abbey had really hoped for a natural delivery, so she was ecstatic! I was so excited (and honored) because Abbey told me that I could be in the delivery room if I could make it in time (how nice is that, since never in a million years did I want anyone in the room with me?!?!?). Unfortunately, by the time I left school and was on the road - I missed my sweet niece's delivery by a half hour - 30 stinkin' minutes!!! It was still so special to meet her so soon after her entry into this world!
My mom was able to be there for the delivery (she was there for Linc's also).

I just love the smell of new babies - and the warmth of their smooth skin!

Quin and I went back to visit the day that Abbey and Isa (pronounced Eeeesa) came home.
It didn't take long for her to find the perfect niche in my dad's neck :)

Quin was immediately smitten with her! We would be rich if we had a penny for every kiss Quin gave her that day.
Look at that dark hair - she may end up looking more like my sister :)

My brother Nate with Isadora.

Quin, Isadora and proud big brother, Linc

Quin has talked often about going back to cuddle with baby Isa! I love this picture. Quin kept looking at her and whispering things to her like "Do you want to be friends?" and "I can't wait until you can play dress up with us!".

I am so happy that Isadora has joined our family and can't wait until the next time I get see her!

'Four' School

2011-10-22T21:54:00.000-04:00

So, my baby is in real preschool this year! She is LOVING it! She goes three mornings a week and would love to go every day. She is excited about learning and socializing!

Her teacher describes her as sweet, kind to others and funny. I am so happy that she pulls it together at school, because those are not always the words I would use to describe her at home ;)

{SIGH} I can't believe she will be a big kindergartner next year. I would love to just bottle her up and keep her young and innocent. {Even bigger SIGH!} I love you Quinners!

Cruisin'

2011-10-22T21:36:00.000-04:00

This one has been waiting in my editing pile for awhile! :(

Wayyyy back at the end of August, we took our whole crew into Grand Rapids for the car cruise. Before the triplets were born, Jason parked his Camaro and took part in quite a few of the cruise offerings. Needless to say, we haven't been able participate a whole lot since the babes have been born!

The weather was perfect this year, so we decided to at least drive down and park in a parking lot to watch the cars drive along 28th street.

Quin has her own ear muffs that help make the sound more tolerable. She loves driving with Jason, but hates the loud engine.

The triplets and I followed Quin and Jason. I love how you can see the top of Quin's head :) People always get a kick out of her booster in the backseat.

We made a pitstop for food - Quin wanted to stay in her seat even though Jason went in to grab our dinner.

Easton LOVED all of the cars and trucks!

The girls... well, they enjoyed their picnic.

Hee, hee Jason had to reshine his car before we took off. I thought the kid prints were cute - he thought otherwise ;)

Horsies

2011-09-17T22:31:00.002-04:00

My wonderful friend Meagon recently got two ‘horsies’ (as my kiddos called them), and she was lovely enough to have us out to help care for and ride them. What sweeties the horses were, and three out of four of my kiddos loved them!

I was surprised, Ellery was the first one to fall in love with them. She is usually cautious with animals, especially those bigger than her, but she was enthralled with both horses. Almost too enthralled, I was so afraid she was going to try and walk under one of them!

Gianna wasn’t so enthusiastic about either horse. In fact, this is how she looked for most of our visit! Poor girl :(

And then there is Easton, my animal lover! He loved the horses, but also loved their ‘barn’ cat! I’m thinking the feelings weren’t mutual – ha!

Each of the kids were able to ride the horses! A big thank you to Darrin and Meagon who walked in circles, merely for my kids entertainment! Quin has asked at least every few days when we can go back!

Easton and Ellery were also perfect riders!

I think this is the cutest picture! Darrin, Quin and Easton stood together and watched as Jalen rode too!

We were finally able to get Gianna up on the horse! She wouldn’t go near the horse unless I held her, so… I got to ride too! So much fun! I don’t think it was her favorite, but I was proud of her for riding!

Poor Ainsley was sick, so Jalen did double duty! He has my girls wrapped around his pinky – watch out!

Thanks again Meagon and Darrin for a great day!!!

Back to the Zoo, Again!

2011-09-17T22:28:00.002-04:00

The past two summers we have taken Quin to John Ball Zoo. It is a wonderful zoo that is within 25 minutes of our home. We thought we would venture a little farther from home this year for our annual zoo trip – and take all four kids. We drove to Binder Park Zoo. What a spectacular zoo and well worth the extra drive time! My pictures don’t pay it justice! We should have left the strollers in the car – they were only good for carrying my bag. The kids walked the entire time, and we were there for five hours! The zoo is that wonderful (I know I was happy to sit down when we finally left!) By the time they were buckled in they were screaming mad – both from wanting to stay longer and exhaustion. It ended up being a quite and peaceful ride home though!

The highlight of our trip was the giraffe exhibit! I don’t think it is often that all six of us experience something at the same time, that is new to all of us. Feeding giraffes was one of those times! It was so neat to see the giraffes up close, and their tongues – so fascinating!

The kids were unsure of this ginormous animal, but warmed up after awhile.

I love how it looks like this giraffe is yelling at them for more crackers :)

Here is the giraffe deck. I thought is was neat to take a look back at it, from the next deck. We were on the side where the baby giraffes stood. What neat animals!

They have two separate areas, separated by a long walk or a tram ride. We opted for the tram ride, and the kids had a ball, although waiting in line to catch the trams was close to unbearable. I got a glimpse into what our lives will be like in the future at a Disneyland type of park. Good thing we have a few years before they will be asking to go!

What a great family day to celebrate the summer!

Lobster Handprints

2011-09-17T22:24:00.002-04:00

So here is my throw back to summer :) {Oh summer, how I miss you already!}

We made these lobsters mid July, and I just took them down. They were adorable! Quin happened to be sitting with me when I opened an email with this post in it – and she exclaimed ‘We have to make those!’… Okay, twist my arm ;)

Quin was adamant that we change the locations of the eyes because of the puzzle piece below. I am always amazed when she recalls little details that I never even notice! I do love her addition!

Our Own Night Light

2011-09-17T22:22:00.002-04:00

I took a short photo class this summer (thanks Mom and Pop!). We had homework to take pictures with different settings, and I thought this would be a great experiment to try and photograph. Both the dark room with the glow-jar, and the fast movement of jar made it trickier than I thought to photograph, but you can get the gist from the photos!

I saw this idea all over the web this summer, so I’m not sure where it originated. There were a couple different versions that I read. To make our jars glow I used left over glowsticks. I carefully cut off the end of a large glowstick, making sure that it was in the jar as I made the final cuts. The liquid oozed out into the jar. It glowed from the get go, but became more vivid as the kids shook the jar, and it glowed for quite some time! My kiddos LOVED them! Quin even took one to bed as a night light. She still asks if we can make them again! I’m thinking they might be cool to try again at Halloween – you could even make the jar into a jack-o-lantern face and use an orange glowstick. So many possibilities!!!

Summer Vacay 2011

2011-08-10T23:13:00.003-04:00

***Warning: There is an obnoxious amount of pictures/text below!

Near the end of July we took our family of six on our first real, week long, vacation! (And, we survived!!!) We went to Traverse City (northern lower Michigan). Jason and I had traveled there often before we had kids – but, what a completely different experience with kids! We loved {almost} every minute of it – although I was disappointed that we never even set foot in downtown TC. We did however manage our own mini wine tour during ‘nap’ time :)

The first half of the week we stayed at Grand Traverse Resort – in a ONE room (regular) hotel room. We were squished, but I was so happy it was the first half of the trip - the kids didn’t know anything different. The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Talk about ‘fun in the sun’! We spent the first three days making trips to local beaches. The kids loved the sand. They didn’t venture far into the water, but it was just fine with me.

We were smooshed into one itty bitty room (I chalked it up to some fabulous family bonding!) Quin didn’t seem to care either – her favorite part of the trip was the fact that she slept in a ‘huge’ bed, all by herself. No lie! The babes each slept in a ‘pack and play’.

Some of my favorite comments (and we heard MORE than our fair share of them) were about the kiddos backpacks. They each were responsible for carrying their own beach towels when we were going to swim, or their blankets when we were switching hotels.

In order to save money I brought food for breakfast (cereal, milk, yogurt, granola bars…) and we ate in our room. I also brought lunch food (sandwiches, fresh fruit and veggies, crackers, applesauce…). I packed our lunch each day in the cooler and we ate at the beach. We splurged on dinner out each night – and let’s face it, my sanity can only handle one ‘out to eat’ meal each day :) We laughed because every single place we went to, we were put in a distant corner. It was perfectly fine with me, less pressure to keep the kiddos quiet!

My kids love ranch, and were in hog heaven – the servers always brought more than enough ‘dip’ to keep them happy! Easton became accustom to drinking it by the end of each dinner – ewwww!

And, my personal belief is that, no vacation is complete unless you eat ice cream at least once a day! We found a new ice cream place each day. We were in ice cream withdrawal after we came home.

We spent two days at an awesome park:

It had a great beach, huge playground, clean bathrooms and was right next to a marina. We spent one day there playing at the beach, but it was also the perfect place for us to kill a few hours when we switched hotels. If you are in that area with kids, it is worth checking out!

We spent the second half of our vacation at Great Wolf Lodge/Waterpark. We had a large suite, so it was a much more comfy stay! It had a large eat in area, and a separate bedroom for the kids.

Well, we didn’t fair much better at this waterpark than the last. Jason and I both laughed that we spent a lot of money for them to stand ankle deep in water – so that they could people watch the same people who were watching us! Quin and Gianna did venture down the inside water slide a few times, but didn’t love that it ended in water (crazy kiddos!). They just aren’t water kid. I need to get them into private swimming classes – anyone know of someone local who does this? (I am serious!)

The second day we were there, they opened up the outside pool and we had much better luck out there! They had a slide that had water trickling down, and the triplets loved it! They also had a fountain/splash pad area which was perfect for all four kids. The outside pool was also ideal for Quin because the shallow end was just under 3 feet deep, so she could stand. Alleluia – vacation saved!!!

I do appreciate that once you get there, you really don’t have to leave! The first night we ordered pizza to our suite. The second night we had a great dinner in their restaurant – and the kids earned their ‘wolf ears’.

We loved the clock show/story time that they have in the main lobby each night – what a great way to cap off your day!

We took the long way home, and drove over to Sleeping Bears Dunes National Park. Jason had never been, and I thought the kids would love the dunes. Well… I didn’t totally think through the fact that it was over 90 degrees outside, which means that the sand was close to boiling! We had a good go at climbing them though! Jason took off first and I could hear him complaining the whole way up. By the time I caught up with him, Easton and Gianna’s feet were so red! We knew they wouldn’t make it much farther. Quin also decided that it wasn’t worth it. So the four of them turned back quickly. Ellery though – I love this girl! – she is one determined cookie. She didn’t care that her feet were the color of her red shirt! She wanted to get to the top. She and I made it about 3/4 of the way up, until my feet felt like they were going to burn up. I knew if my feet hurt, hers had to have been ten times worse. She was sooo mad. Screaming fit right there on the sand! I had to carry her, kicking and screaming, back down the dune under my arm.

Can you tell that I was the only one into the climb?!?!? Oh well!

I am so glad that we took the chance to go on our own! We had a blast – so many wonderful memories. Jason and I just have to laugh at all of the comments we got. If we had a dime for every time someone told us that we ‘had our hands full’, or asked if ‘they were all ours’ or told me that I ‘must have popped those kids out back to back’ – we could have had our whole trip paid for {In all fairness, for every rude comment we got, we got ten more sweet/kind comments!} A big thank you to Jason for being such a team player – I couldn’t do it without him!

4th of July Decoration

2011-08-01T13:39:00.003-04:00

Better late than never, right?!?!?
{Sure seems like I start a lot of entries on the note!}

I thought I would post these so that I could add them to the right side of our blog, maybe for next year...
Here is the view from the outside of our front window during the month of July:
The sun's glare was awful, and I totally forgot to go out later that night. So, here is a view from inside:

I took the same 'pattern' from the snowflakes that I made for the triplet's first birthday party, but changed it up with blue gingham and red/white striped papers. There are a ton of tutorials on how to make the snowflakes on YouTube!

And of course, I couldn't resist making handprint flags. Since we made a large flag with all of their handprints last year, I thought we would make individual flags.

I painted their hands blue and red, and then added the white star with a chalkboard marker after the blue dried. :)

Our Fantastic 4th!

2011-07-17T21:17:00.006-04:00

We had a wonderful 4th of July with family! We were able to go to my sister Abbey’s house. It was a beautiful day, and we had so much fun hanging out with everyone – especially this happy guy!

My kiddos had a great time playing with all of Lincoln’s toys, eating at his picnic table and running around his backyard! It was hard to get the five of them to sit for any amount of time, let alone all look in the same direction and smile :)

I was able to snap 6 pictures before they looked like this – ha!

We brought along our little splash pad. Linc LOVES water! He was the first in!

It took awhile, but eventually all five kiddos played in or near the water. I have to laugh at the look on Linc’s face :)

As we were leaving, the boys had one final hug. I hope they stay good friends – the boys will need to stick together among all of those girls (my sister is having a girl!).

One last squeeze for my favorite nephew!!!

When we got home it was slightly dark – good enough for some ‘fireworks’ with 2 year olds. We had fun with some ‘Pop Its’. All four kids loved throwing them hard to hear the faint pop.

It wasn’t until after we were done that I noticed the age warning on the top of the box – whoops!

We also stuck a bunch of sparklers in the grass – the kiddos were amused for about 3 minutes. At least we tried!

Quin had asked to stay up and watch the fireworks, so we thought it was worth a shot. Jason stayed home with the babes, while Quin and I ventured out. I took her to a perfect spot that Jason and I went to several years ago. Unfortunately, we could hear the fireworks, but barely could see the top of them even during the finale. The trees must have grown likes weeds!

I was shocked – Quin didn’t really seem to care much. I think she was just happy to be up so late (she never gets to stay up past 8:30 or 9:00). She was a good sport – I think, in part, because she didn’t know what she was missing.

On our way out of town I caught a glimpse of more fireworks in my rearview mirror. I quickly turned around to head back down and found the perfect spot to watch the beach fireworks (without driving out to the beach, or dealing with traffic – score!).

Quin loved them, but tired quickly.

We had one round of sparklers when we got home.

She was so tired we had to carry her in! I love to see these new experiences through her eyes!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-07-03T22:04:00.002-04:00

We had a wonderful Father's Day together! A big thanks to my mom for having us over and making a fabulous meal for Jason (and my dad!).
I love the picture above of Jason and Quin! She loves him dearly :)
I tried to get a picture of the him with all four kids, but Easton couldn't even find time to sit with them (he is such a boy!). I wish all three girls were looking.

I am so thankful that my children have a wonderful father who is involved in all areas of their lives - they are so lucky to have him!!!

We made him a framed picture for his office. I saw a list of ideas for Father's Day crafts/activities. One of the items was to make a t-shirt with handprints and a similar saying to that below. I figured it would be equally cute as a framed picture. We made one for my dad and grandpa also. I tried to leave a heart on the palm of their hands - some turned out better than others.

I couldn't agree more with the saying - Jason is definitely the best around!

Bowling Frenzy Part 2

2011-07-03T21:25:00.003-04:00

Earlier in the week Quin and I met up with my friends Kelly and Kelly and their kids for our second annual bowling frenzy. We had a great time, and at a low price! If any of you are in need of something cheap do with your kiddos, don't forget about Kids Bowl Free! I love that we bowled two FREE games, and only paid under $3 for the shoes - cheap fun, woo hoo!

Quin was nervous again, but quickly fell into her bowling groove!
I had to chuckle at how big the ball was compared to her :)
She ditched the metal bowling 'helper' after the first few frames, and threw the ball all on her own. She was one tired girl by the time we headed home!

Thanks again to Kelly and Kelly and their broods for meeting us - we had a BALL! :)

'Toddler' T-Ball

2011-07-02T22:33:00.003-04:00

Quin just finished up her first 'season' of t-ball... 'toddler t-ball'. I think the name is a little misleading since it was for kids ages 4 and 5. It was, however, a great introduction to the general ideas of t-ball - running the bases, taking turns, hitting and fielding - all with Jason right next to her the entire time. She loved the special time that she was able to spend with her dad. I don't think she was as sold on the entire idea of t-ball itself though. Oh well!

Jason had big plans for her! Unfortunately, she was not a fan of playing out in the field. If Jason wasn't standing next her, I am positive she would have been spelling her name with her foot, sifting the sand or waving at me in the stands ;) Sorry for Jason, but this time the apple didn't fall far from her Momma's tree!

Quin much preferred to hit! The catch... she is too short for their tee. Another dad was creative, and daring, and let her hit off of a helmet that he held. She did much better!

The first part she told me about after the first game... the hand slap line up at the end. She has even had the triplets help her reenact it! GOOD GAME GUYS!

Caterpillar Handprints and Butterflies

2011-07-02T21:42:00.007-04:00

WOW - I feel like June flew by! I have no idea where it went (okay I do - finishing school, garage sale, grad class...).
I have loved the time home with my kiddos, and it is even better when the weather cooperates and we can be outside! We have had fun exploring the plants in our backyard, and have found many caterpillars and butterflies (and a bunny and toad). These real life discoveries, and our love for Eric Carle's book 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar', spurred a new handprint craft!

This isn't a new idea, I have seen it before in teacher print. Quin was adamant that the caterpillar look EXACTLY like the one on the cover. First, we painted just their palms green and red. We then just painted their fingers for the legs and antennas. I let Quin do the eyes and nose to all four caterpillars with her fingertips.

Ellery was excited to match her book to the caterpillars once they were up on our door!

We also took some coffee filters, pipe cleaners, markers and spray bottles and made butterflies. The kiddos started by coloring with washable markers on plain ol' coffee filters.

{Check out Gianna's new accessory... sunglasses! She loves them, and wears them everywhere.}

All four kids fight over the spray bottle that we use to do the girl's hair, so when I found some in the travel section for cheap I knew they would be a hit! I bought one for each kid.

It didn't take long for the filters to dry in the sunlight. Quin and Ellery helped me make the butterflies... Gianna and Easton lost interest, no shocker there ;)

So simple!

Not the best picture - lots of reflections, sorry! (I do love Gianna's face down on the bottom right - 'really Mom, another front door shot')

Mother's & Father's Day Mugs

2011-06-11T21:21:00.004-04:00

Sorry to those of you who tune in for triplet updates... this is one is merely about hand/foot prints.
I have noticed in the past few months that at least half of the traffic on our blog each day is due to people stumbling across us in search engines after searching something about hand and/or footprints art projects (it kind of makes me laugh!). I had no intention of making this blog about anything other than our family's navigation through the world with triplets, but I also want to make it the most meaningful/useful to our readers. So... I have added some direct links over to the right hand side of our blog that will take our readers directly to a specific project.

While doing so, I remembered that I have never blogged about the Mother's and Father's Day mugs that I have made in the past.
I started out by making my mom, Jason's mom and myself a mug for the first Mother's Day after Quin was born (she was just 7 and a half weeks). We have a local paint your own pottery place, Paint A Pot, where I purchased the un-fired mugs. They let me bring home all of the paints/supplies. I found it difficult to paint not knowing exactly how the coloring would turn out, and it was tricky to paint on the rough ceramics. With that in mind, they still turned out okay.
I tried to use her finger to make the dragon fly, but it didn't work - so I tried to free hand/fix it. I did use her fingertips to make the caterpillar on the handle. Inspired by the first mugs, I did the same for Mother's Day after the triplets were born. I each of their footprints as the flower stems, and Quin's fingerprints for each of the flower blossom. Because the babies' feet were so small, I was able to fit three flowers on each mug.

I also made Jason a mug for Jason's first Father's Day. Unfortunately I didn't use a dark enough color for the angel's body (which was made from Quin's footprint). It is faintly visible when looking at the actual mug, but not so much on film :( Her handprints were the wings.

On a similar note... we made the woman who watches our kids a birthday card! I painted the palm of each child's hand a different color and their fingers yellow. I added the frosting and flames after the base was dry.

I love the way Gianna's cupcake turned out!

I hope this is helpful to those of you out there searching for some fun memories to help preserve your own kiddos hand/footprints forever. I LOVE getting out some of their old projects - it is amazing how fast their little hands/feet grow!

One Fine Face

2011-06-10T21:49:00.003-04:00

That was the name of the song that Quin danced to for her big dance recital. And boy - even after applying enough makeup on her to make a street girl jealous (and more makeup than I wear in a month) - I think my Quinners had more than just a 'fine' face! :)

Quin had her big dance recital a few weeks ago - and she did as well as expected.
Her nerves were on a roller coaster the week before. Because she really had no idea what to expect, I think it was more a fear of the unknown.
She struggled at the dance rehearsal, watching her teacher off stage instead of doing the routine. She only did about a third of the dance.
There were two performances - one Friday night and the second Saturday morning. She did increasingly better each time.
By Sunday morning she was in full tears because she couldn't go 'dance on the stage anymore!'.
I was so proud of her! She did a great job - especially for her first stage performance!

Tulip Time

2011-06-10T21:03:00.006-04:00

Last month (yeah, I am very behind on my posts!), we made our way down to Holland for Tulip Time. There were many, many beautiful tulips like these... But... I can't lie! Just like in the past few years (here and here) we really just went for the FOOD! I love the rich Dutch traditions, the costumes and wooden shoes, the dancing... but it really is the food that I am head over heals for ;)

Unlike Quin, who took three years to even somewhat appreciate the greasy goodies, the triplets aren't afraid to dig in. They are unanimous with their favorite though... the French Fries!After Ellery's personal bowl of food was gone, she grabbed the tub o' fries and completely hogged them - she is a fry girl through and through!
Gianna
Even Easton enjoyed his bowl full!
I promise they ate more than fries!

Quin ate enough to be considered a meal, but not as much as most four year olds would love to eat! She cracks me up! I suppose this is a good thing.Since it is Tulip Time, after all, we headed over to some tulip fields. This is the closest picture that I was able to capture of the four of them with tulips behind them - ha! Quin was trying to get them to lay on their bellies next to her, but they wanted nothing to do with that pose. We worked hard to get the babes to be 'gentle' to the flowers, but it was a struggle. We eventually settled for kisses - hee, hee!
Ellery loved running from each type of tulip, and looking at their colors - she really had no need to kiss them though! At least one of them helped save me from the 'tulip police'.
This was my favorite. Easton just couldn't resist digging in the dirt whenever there was a few extra seconds. Such a boy! Another Tulip Time down in the books... After looking back at the old Tulip Time posts, I can't believe how fast it seems like the kiddos have grown. I can't imagine how big they will seem by next year!

Mother's Day 2011

2011-05-14T22:30:00.005-04:00

I was excited when my brother invited us to his place for Mother's Day. Although my mom, sister and I still ended up doing the cooking - it was nice not to have to worry about cleaning my house for guests! Kudos to Nate for thinking of inviting us!!!

It was the first time that my kids had been to his apartment, and the first time they met his cat (Dischord). They loved him, and were on the hunt for him the entire visit! (I am NOT a cat person, so they have had very little interaction with cats - and it showed!)
I love this picture of Quin and Nate - and she just loves him!!! She was beyond excited when she found out we were going to his place for Mother's Day!

We brought along a few of our riding toys to help keep the kids entertained. Easton showed Lincoln how to use the battery-powered 4 wheeler (it goes very slowly).

Lincoln learned quickly! Feet up, doing stunts ;)

We had a lot of fun trying out our new ginourmous bubble maker!

I couldn't believe that all four kids stayed still long enough for me to get them in the same picture - yay!

And... they even waited for Lincoln to join in the picture fun!

Ellery and Gianna also had a great time digging in the 'flower' beds. I was excited to see them get their hands dirty! Maybe they will be big helpers in the garden this summer (I can always wish, right?!?!)

A big thank you to Nate for having us over! It was so nice to be able to spend the day with my amazing mom and sister (along with the rest of our family)!

We Are Expecting...

2011-05-14T22:20:00.002-04:00

?
?
?...
Another niece or nephew :)

I am so excited that my sister Abbey has finally decided to announce that she is expecting again - yahoo! She is due the end of September.
Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have been in a 'baby wanting' stage since the triplet's 2nd birthday. So, this is perfect! I don't have to carry the baby (I did NOT like being pregnant!) and I don't have to train another baby to sleep (I do LOVE my sleep).
I get to love on both that new baby, as well as spoil big brother Lincoln!!!
Unfortunately, I don't think Linc has a clue what is coming ;) This may be closer to how he feels about the baby once he/she enters his world!

A big congratulations goes to Abbey, Kirk and Lincoln! We can't wait to meet him/her!

Easter 2011

2011-05-06T21:36:00.005-04:00

First - I had to share this adorable, and versatile, craft that Quin made at three-school! It is a layer of tissue paper on the bottom, different cut outs/glitter/streamer pieces... and then a layer of contact paper on top. Simple, but cute! She loved making it, and asked if we could make another one at home. I also like the opaqueness of the tissue paper - great on the fridge or in a window.
We had a wonderful Easter, spending quality time together as a family - always my favorite time!!!
Before breakfast we had our annual egg hunt. Competitive Quin was out for all of the eggs. She loved searching for them (loved it a little TOO much).

Ellery gave her a run for her money though! (atta girl!)

Ellery even found her own egg :)

All three of the babes kept clinking the eggs together, as if they were mini symbols... We had more than a few eggs with cracks by the end of the hunt.

To no ones surprise, the egg hunt didn't hold Easton's attention past the first few finds. He cared more about the baskets!

And, the shredded paper confetti in the baskets!

Gianna also found a few eggs before she discovered the books in the baskets. She was totally enthralled with the books, she forgot what the others were doing.

Later we made our way over to my parents house. I felt as though I took a ton of pictures, but only a few turned out well. The day had so much action and fun that no body wanted to look at the camera.

Easton spent a good portion, after eating, with his bib flipped around. SUPER EASTON!

Gianna and Ellery rocking together.

When we came home I tried {unsuccessfully} to snag a few bunny ear/flower headband pictures.

Quin

Ellery

Easton ('What?!?! You want these on my head?!?!? NOOOOO')

And poor Gianna was my biggest bust of the evening - check out those tears. Every time the ears would get near her, she would rip them from my hands and throw them across the floor. Hopefully she isn't traumatized by bunny ears forever :(

We will give it a go next year!

I hope you all had a wonderful, and blessed, Easter!

March of Dimes Update

2011-05-06T21:23:00.002-04:00

We had a wonderful time last weekend walking to support The March of Dimes!
A big thank you to everyone who donated! We were able to raise $960!!! The company that Jason works for matches their employee's donations 3:1 (they match three times of the one donation). This definitely helped us, and our cause - what an amazing gift from them. THANK YOU!!!

Gianna and I before the walk :)
I didn't realize that a good portion of the 3 miles was on unpaved roads. It wasn't the most comfy ride for the kids (I will plan different stroller methods next year!), but they were troopers. They enjoyed people watching, but were a little tired of being strapped in at the end of the walk.

Check out the look on Quin's face! What could make one grumpy 4 year old, even more grumpy??? People dressed up as mascots!

Unfortunately, we didn't get any great pictures of the four kids together, but none the less... a great time for a great cause. Thanks again everyone!!!

March of Dimes

2011-04-25T21:57:00.004-04:00

This coming Saturday we will be walking in the March of Dimes, March for Babies.

{I can't believe how lucky we are! Look at those teeny little features - and this picture was taken when they were around 4 weeks old! We owe their health to the wonderful, and educated, nurses/doctors at the DeVos}

Jason wrote this to his co-workers today, and I couldn't say it any better!
Now that the kids are older, healthier, and much more mobile…..we feel it is our time to give back. We would not be where we are today without the support that March of Dimes provides. We feel we have a powerful story to tell about GOD's work and how he reaches his hands down to so many people to help. We knew that March of Dimes would be a great place to start giving back. If you are not familiar with March of Dimes, and specifically the March for Babies initiative…please check on out their webpage.

The link below will take you to the site.

We will be taking OurSizemoreFour to a March of Dimes, March for Babies walk on Saturday. If you are able to donate to our cause, please do.

The donation process is simple….just click on the link below or copy it to your browser. Our team name is Sizemore 6.

www.marchforbabies.org/team/t1690050

Thank you! Jason and Joelee

Girls Day Out

2011-04-17T21:33:00.002-04:00

So maybe it wasn't an actual day, more like a few hours, but... it was 'girls only' and we were definitely 'out'! Quin, Gianna, Ellery and I met up with my fab friend Meagon and her equally fab daughter, Ainsley. The six of us went to see the performance of 'The Aquatic Adventures of Johnny Starfish and the Mermaids', put on by the Grand Rapids Ballet. The performance was perfect - short and sweet, with great costumes and music. Very entertaining - all three of my girls loved it. That is saying a lot! Quin and Ainsley hanging out before it began: Gianna playing with Meagon (also her God Mommy!)

So, seriously... not a good picture. All three girls were done sitting and wanted nothing to do with pictures.

Before the performance, they had activities for the kids to enjoy. Quin made a fish out of a paper plate, but wouldn't try any of the outfits/hats on (she said that there were too many people watching - Lord help me at her dance recital next month when she has to stand up in front of people and dance!). Anywho... they still had all of the costumes in the lobby after the show and she was more than eager to try them on then (the crowds cleared quickly when the show was over). She loved the pink frilly ballet costumes.

Gianna wouldn't try anything on, but she loved touching the hats.

I was surprised, but Ellery was happy to try the hats on. Way to go Elle!

A big thank you to Meagon for suggesting that we go! And, a big thank you to Ainsley who puts up with my kids :) We love you both!!!

Spring Break Art Projects

2011-04-17T20:54:00.003-04:00

We had some extra time over spring break to do some crafting! I would have loved to have gotten these adorable lambs up at the beginning of March - and added lions, but... there was no time :( The lambs alone are perfect decorations for Easter. Quin couldn't stand the idea of them not having something to stand on, so she added the green hill by using her decorative scissors. Not intentional, but I like how my flash looks like a sun. Hee, hee :)

We also made flowers out of their hands and footprints.

We put them in our front window (instead of our door) and I just could not get a good picture. You can see them well from the road though, and I love how they look from the inside also. Our white paper is so thin, and the paint dries pretty thick, so the flowers shine through to the inside also.

Quin and I usually test out my ideas before I let the babies dive in. I tried a couple of different flowers, one being this tulip. I did not like it when we did it on the paper. Just for fun, I cut it out later and decided it was pretty cute. If you live in Holland, it would be fun to make rows of these during Tulip Time!

These, obviously, are not related to handprints or footprints, but we worked on them at the same time. I first saw them here, and thought they were clever (and cheap!). As I painted their hands with different colors, I painted the inside and outside of toilet paper tubes. I just used regular Crayola washable paint. After they dried I just eyeballed them as I cut them into small circles, and then hotglued them together.

It was hard to get a true picture of them against the lighted windows, but I really like how they turned out!

I also had to add the cutest leprechaun's ever! I hope to make these with my own kiddos next year, but the following two are from my first graders. We made the handprints first and then my students used paper from our scrapbox to make the whole body/head. ALL of them were simply adorable - they added so many details!

I love this one! He decided that his leprechaun had a small beard, and spiky hair - I just love the way first graders think!!!

We Made a Break For It!

2011-04-09T21:40:00.009-04:00

Once I realized that my kids could do this: and this:

with their cereal, I knew we could venture out for an overnight adventure! Woo Hoo! This is the family fun I have been waiting for ;)

We took advantage of my spring break, and took our awesome foursome to Double JJ Ranch. We went for two nights, which was perfect for a first time away as a family of six. We went the first night on our own - and had a ton of fun navigating our way around the place and spending time in the waterpark! Our suite was sweet! (sorry, couldn't resist) It had a full kitchen which was perfect - we made breakfast and lunch right there, and didn't have to worry how the kids would act/what they would eat.

It also had a large living room (we quickly had to do some kid proofing).

There were also two large bedrooms and two bathrooms. All four kids slept in one room. Each of the triplets had their own pack and play (they couldn't climb out of them - thank goodness!). And Quin slept on a futon. It was perfect - one big sleepover :)

{Sidenote: My only complaint (for anyone who is considering staying there) was that the doors to the hall and decks didn't have tall deadbolts or chain locks. The dead bolts were built into the door handle, so our kids couldn't easily get out whenever they wanted - kinda scary!}

The master bedroom has a jacuzzi tub within feet of the bed - Quin thought that was hillarious! All four kids loved to take their baths in there. Quin would beg for us to turn on the 'rockets' (jets).

The second day, my parents (GiGi and Popa) joined us for the day. My sister Abbey, her husband Kirk and their little guy Lincoln also joined us for the second day and night. It was nice to have extra hands at the waterpark, and extra playmates.

I couldn't resist adding this picture of Gianna sitting on GiGi's lap. She is soo happy!

Easton HATED the water - no way around it. We went to the waterpark three seperate times. It took him at least 45 minutes each time to warm up. And even then, all he wanted to do was go down the little slides and splash water at others.

He loved being out of the water though!

All that stress really tired him out!

Quin had a blast!

The next two pictures aren't great, but I was afraid of dropping my camera in the water (I totally wouldn't put it past me!). Both Gianna and Ellery loved the water. Both girls liked floating on their bellies and 'walking' around on their hands in the shallow end.

Gianna

Ellery

Another horrible picture, but one I had to add. I just need to document how long and lanky Ellery is! There were some major recessive genes working together the day God made her! It cracks me up. I wouldn't be surprised if she is the tallest one in our family some day.

We went out to dinner with everyone - and Lincoln kept us all entertained! I just love this face!!! After checking out of the hotel, we mosied on over to the 'Back Forty' where there was a petting farm, horse riding, and other activities. All of the kiddos loved the animals.

Easton may not like the water, but he does LOVE animals. No matter where we go, he is always drawn to animals (and they seem to love him right back!).

We had lunch with Abbey, Kirk and Lincoln before we left. We ate at a little bar, with fighting 'cowboys' and everything. I was so happy that the three of them could join us on our get away. I am hoping that this is only the beginning of our 'family' trips together!

Ellery and Lincoln did some high fiving while we waited for our food.

We had a great time away! I love seeing my four grow up, and become such good friends. There was a lot of hand holding as we made our way through crowds (Quin is really good at looking out for the babes!). My favorite is when they hold hands when they don't need to (this was in an open pasture).

I can't wait for many more getaways with my awesome foursome (and Jason too!).

Our Bed Time Saga

2011-04-09T20:59:00.004-04:00

I have always felt good about our sleep training tactics. Jason and I have worked very hard to give all four of our kids the skills to be good sleepers - they have only slept in their cribs, know how to soothe themselves back to sleep and nap really well! Quin transitioned beautifully out of her crib into a toddler bed. Somehow I had lulled myself into thinking that it would be that easy with the triplets. Not so much!

About two weeks ago the triplets decided that they didn't want to stay in their cribs anymore :( They have been able to climb out of their cribs for months, but with their sleep bags on it hasn't been worth their effort, until now... The three of them are in cahoots together! If left to their own device, they will stay up for at least an hour and a half after bedtime. And, if I don't watch the monitor close enough, this is a taste to what I will walk into: (They were all sleeping, so I went to brush my teeth. It was a matter of 5 minutes, max!)
They love to pull every last piece of clothing out of their drawers. I had to laugh this time because Ellery's sleep sack got stuck under the drawer and she couldn't get out. Easton did try to help her, but Gianna just acted as if there wasn't anything wrong with this situation. UGH!

At first I was curious to watch what they would do without anyone 'watching'. The one and only time that we did not interupt their shenanigans they played tag, hid in their closet, opened their shutters, climbed into each other's crib... They also had a great deal of fun rocking together in their chair - they would rock altogether and then the girls would push Easton out and laugh and laugh. I was able to catch some of their actions on video, from the monitor. Gianna tired out the fastest, but wouldn't climb back into bed (who knows why!). Easton and Ellery rubbed her back and gave her kisses as she screamed for me - really, very sweet indeed!!!

The 'fun' of this tired quickly for Jason and I! So, we have worked hard the past few days to get Easton's room ready enough to move him out of their shared space. He has slept in his (very stripped down) room for three nights now, alone. Although the three babes are falling asleep better, Jason still needs to stand in the hall and police their crib hopping for at least a half an hour. We are hoping that the fun of this wears off and we can return back to normal. We do not have the toddler railings for their cribs yet, and I would like to keep them in their cribs as long as possible.
To be continued...

HaPpY BiRthDaY Quin!

2011-03-28T21:44:00.011-04:00

WOW! Between school (assessing and report cards) and sick kiddos at home, we have been MIA for sure! It has been over a month since my last post. Sorry! During my absence, we celebrated one amazing little lady's birthday! I can't believe that Quin is four already :( To see her pictures of birthdays past, go here. Time flies when we are having fun!

We did not have a party for her this year. We did have the chance to meet up with both Jason's side and my side of the family for little get togethers! It is always nice to see family!!!

On Quin's actual birthday, the babes were very sick. We decided it was best to take Quin out for a little lunch date. We invited her BFF, Izzy, along and met up with my parents at Red Robin (yum!).

Sidenote: Soon after Quin turned 3 she asked me if she could have gum. Without much thought, I answered not until she turned 4. Well, she never forgot! Anyone who knows Quin(and many strangers as well), knew that when she turned 4 she was going to be able to chew gum! Such a small reward for her patience. I made her and Izzy both gumball necklaces. She was totally smitten with it :) Quin's very first piece of gum (on her birthday). Quin and Izzy before our luncheon - are the two of them cute together, or what?!?! My mom brought them little princess goody bags. They quickly became the queens of Red Robin! A big thank you to Izzy for joining us for lunch, and helping to make Quin's birthday a blast! When we got home, Quin quickly went down hill. She was still fighting off the end of a cold herself, and was tuckered out from lunch! This is how she really felt about me trying to take her birthday picture :( She did tolerate me for this one, but that poor nose... it had been wiped one time too many!

For her birthday, Jason and I bought her a coin operated gumball dispensper. She loves it, and it has been the best 'good behavior' motivator ever! If she has had a 'good day', she gets a piece of gum when we get home from work. I have even made a gumball coloring sheet for her to keep track of her good behavior. I had no idea that gum could be so rewarding!!!

Unfortunately, I do have to tell ya that we have tested, and approved, the peanut butter trick - it does work to get gum out of hair! UGH! I am hoping that it was a one time only test :(

Happy, happy Birthday Quinner the Winner! We sure do love you!!!

Quin's 4th Birthday Interview

2011-03-28T21:24:00.005-04:00

I just couldn't stand the idea of Quin's 4th birthday pictures going down in history, with that icky raw red nose! I had to take a few more pictures with the birthday hat, after she was feeling better!
On with the post...

Around New Year's I remember reading, somewhere out in blogland, about somebody who did kiddy interviews at the beginning of each new year. The idea has been brewing in my head, and I love the idea of doing birthday interviews instead. How much fun to see how their likes/dislikes, interests and general thoughts change over the years.

I started out by asking Quin what her favorites were...
Food: macaroni and cheese (and she doesn't like pizza!)
Vegetable: carrots
Drink: water
Restaurant: Wolfies/Red Robin
Place to go: Mommy's school
Color: purple/pink (although she likes all of the colors)
Toy: her 'babies' (dolls)
TV Show: Handy Manny
Thing to do: play dress up
Type of weather: summer
Place to play: go to the park
Game: Memory
Book: Any sticker book

I also tried to ask a few questions to get her talking (didn't work out so well)...

If you could change your name, what would you choose? Loma (long vowel o, she has many variations on this name that she gives her stuffed animals, dolls, imaginary friends...)
What is something Mommy says to you? "Don't write on the counter" (Really, that was all she could come up with!?!?!)
What do you want to be when you grow up? a princess, a mommy, a big kid and a teacher
Who is your best friend? "Izzy and I can't wait for summer"

Love ya Quinners! I hope all of your 4 year old dreams come true!!!

Quin's Heart Shaped Crayon Valentines

2011-02-25T22:08:00.006-05:00

A few of you asked either how Quin's Valentine crayons ended up turning out, or wondered how I made them. (Thanks for asking!)

I started them way back mid January. I always buy enough crayons before school starts so that I can replace them half way through the school year. (Crayons are MUCH less expensive before school than now!) I always feel guilty throwing away the crayons, but my students really have no interest in using them once they are broken or dull, and I hate the crayon sharpeners (I usually give the end of the year crayons away to summer type camps...).

Quin asked me a couple months ago how crayons were made, so I thought this would be a great project for the two of us to do together with all of the old, gross crayons from my room!
We started with these!
And then sorted them by color.

After sorting them by color, we peeled them. Okay, I peeled them! Quin tried, got frustrated and gave up very easily. The peeling was by far the most time consuming part!

Quin and I broke the crayons into little pieces and placed them into like colored heart spaces. I bought the heart shaped silicone ice cube trays on clearance last year for $1.

We baked them in batches, for about 8 minutes at 300 degrees.

The process of baking and cooling takes a long time! It isn't hard, just time consuming (like laundry!). We would have to remember to take one 'load' out, let it cool, dump them and then start another 'load'.

We put various colors of the crayons into plastic bags and tied a heart onto each one. I wanted to write 'Will you be my valentine, for crayon out loud', but Jason didn't think it was very threeschool-ish. We settled on 'Crayon you be my valentine?'.

Quin loved passing them out to her friends, and she was able to keep a set for herself!

We made a large rainbow heart crayon for her teacher, and the classroom aide. It was so much fun to watch the colors run together!

Overall, I don't think I spent more than $8 (I bought the trays, ribbon and paper). Not bad... I would probaly have spent more than that on cards and candy.

Happy {Very Belated} Valentine's Day

2011-02-25T21:39:00.004-05:00

I have no idea where the last two weeks have gone! Well, actually I do... Most of it was taken up by screaming, whining, coughing, nose wiping, antibiotics... you name it :( I am so happy to report that we are over all of it, for the moment anyways.
(Okay, maybe not the whining, we always have a lot of that - ugh!).

Unfortunately, because of the cold/ear infections we didn't spend a whole lot of time 'feeling the love' of Valentine's Day at our house. The kids all started to get colds a few days before Valentine's, but really started to lose their battles the day before. I saw a picture on line of cinnamon rolls shaped like hearts, and thought they were adorable. I used my regular monkey bread recipe, and rolled them instead of balling them. (We love a good butter/cinnamon/brown sugar weekend treat!). Not even these yummy creations could keep smiles on their faces for long :(
Well... the cinnamon rolls were the one and only thing that we did that day. I had a few more ideas (heart shaped pancakes, pink playdough...) that I wanted to do, but we never got to them :(
It took the kids over a week to get over their colds/ear infections. Oh well, there is always next year!

I did, however, want to get pictures of them in their heart shirts. I had to take the morning off this past week to attend one of their speech therapy appointments. We had an extra hour or so together, so I was able to snap a few shots.

Quin got into her dress up clothes before I could get a picture of her just in heart shirt.
Ellery

Easton, in action!

Gianna had no interest in a picture. She kept blowing me kisses instead :) She was too busy playing with Quin's little hand held game thinga-ma-jig.

I couldn't resist posting this one of Ellery. She comes across very serious, but once she warms up there is a silly side to her!

We hope that you all had a fabulous Valentine's Day!

Snowday(s) Snapshots

2011-02-04T22:11:00.005-05:00

We had an unplanned mid-week break due to the 'blizzard' this past week. We got around 18 inches of snow in a very short amount of time, coupled with lots of blowing and very cold temperatures. All of these together equalled two snowdays - yay!

By the afternoon of the first day, Quin and Jason were out trying to shovel/snowblow the driveway. Quin loved it, although I don't think her little shovel made a dent in all that snow!
This is the view from our front door. The area on the porch is covered, and snow doesn't usually accumulate there. The wind blew tons of snow on the porch - you can't even tell that the porch floor has a checker board pattern on it!

In my book, Snowdays = Food+Crafts+Fun

We started out the morning with gorilla bread (aka - monkey bread on cream cheese steroids) Double Yum!

We made heart shaped apple and strawberry pies.

I love this picture!

And, snow ice cream!

We put 10 cups of *fresh* snow in the bowl, a can of sweetened condensed milk and a tsp. of vanilla all together - and mixed. (note to anyone who wants to try - I would refridgerate the condensed milk for a few hours before hand, so it wouldn't melt the snow so quickly).

All of the kids loved it!

Easton

Ellery

Gianna

There was a whole lot of dancing throughout the two days. (Thanks again Uncle Nate for the Yo-Gabba-Gabba CD... not sure if I ever want to hear that one again! ;)

Quin and I made good ole' fashion heart suncatchers (crayon and wax paper melted with an iron)

She and I also spent most of the second day finishing up our 'heart crayons' that we have been working on. She will be giving these away as Valentine's to her classmates later in the week.

I was also giddy to have had some extra time to start organizing my sewing supplies! We have been slowly working to refinish our basement into a playroom/sewing area (it has been painfully slow!). My sewing machine was covered with a few inches of dust, and I found fabrics that I had forgotten all about. My old sewing room/guest bedroom will soon become Easton's bedroom. I can't wait until it is all moved and organized!!!

I was telling Jason last night that I think the last two days are what weekends should really feel like! Our weekends are so often filled with running errands, making meals, cleaning and lesson planning that I forget to spend REAL time with my family! I am so thankful for the two days that the blizzard gave to us!

Winter/Valentine Art

2011-02-04T21:35:00.005-05:00

I had a life lesson when putting together our latest footprint art.
I thought it would be adorable to have a set of footprint snowmen decorated 'perfectly' by me (on our front door, facing the road) and Quin's version (facing inward on the door, towards our living room). While working together on the snowmen (I was drawing on my own, and she was copying on hers), I had to go to the kitchen for two minutes to do something with dinner. When I came back, all of the 'scarves' and 'faces' had been drawn on both my paper and hers. My gut reaction was to quit, we were done - they didn't look anything like I had intended! After looking again though... I saw the most adorable snowmen! They are so much cute-er than if I had instructed her step by step...
So, my lesson for the day... It is the process, not the product. (Although, the product is pretty cute too!) Thank you to Quin for reminding me of that!
We also worked on handprint penguins, but those too went a little awry! After cutting them out and decorating them, I realized that all of the fingers should have been black - with just a white belly. Oh well... they are still cute!

The woman who watched the kids last year put this adorable Valentine's Day foot hearts together, and I had hoped to do a replica of it for this year so that we could compare the foot growth in the past year.

Unfortunatley, we didn't get to it over the past few days, so chances are it won't happen. Maybe next year!

Birthday Dinner

2011-01-30T21:34:00.005-05:00

So... my babies turned 2 yesterday... {sniff, sniff, big sigh!}

As sad as their growing up is for me, I do love that they are getting old enough to go out to eat - woo hoo! We have taken them out to very low key places to eat (think sub places, pizza places, local hamburger dive...), but never a 'sit at a high chair, eat off of your own plate and behave' kinda place. Before we had the triplets, we loved going out to eat. That is one of the few things that I miss about my 'pre-kid' life, but we are slowly getting back there.

To celebrate the triplet's birthday, we went out to eat!!!
We chose to go to Red Robin. All of my kids love french fries, the place is loud and the staff usually does a great job when we take Quin there. We weren't disappointed. The food and the staff were great, and the babes did a fantastic job! My parents, my grandpa and my Uncle David joined us.

Easton was excited to see us all from his 'head of the table' position.
It totally helped that they had presents to open while we waited for the food. I hope they don't expect presents every time we eat out now ;)
Ellery

Easton

Gianna

Dinner was great, but... the big highlight was that the staff sang Happy Birthday and each of the babes got their own ice cream sundae. YUM! They loved every drop of them!

The people watching, french fries, presents, sundaes were all good, but what did the girls love the most??? The Balloons!

Ellery was so distracted with her balloon that she almost didn't eat all of her sundae. Good thing she caught the waiter as he was trying to take it away!

My dad, Popa, and Gianna

Ellery never let the balloon get more than 6 inches away from her, leading to the most static electricity hair that I have ever seen on a 2 year old! Poor girl has fine, crazy hair to begin with, she didn't need help from the balloon ;)

When we got back to the house, I was hoping for a picture of all three kids and me. No such luck! Good thing I can count on Gianna for some lovin'!
Quin had some ups and downs when it came to the focus being on the triplets, and not on her. She handled it well for being only three! She did want to play with all of their presents the moment we got home though!
Thank you to my parents, Grandpa and Uncle David for the gifts and helping us at the restaurant! It was a great way to spend their birthday!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY BABES!!!

2011-01-29T21:50:00.009-05:00

WOW! I am in amazement when I think about all of the gains that Ellery, Gianna and Easton have made since their first birthday! In the last year they have gone from just barely learning how to crawl, to now running circles around the house and each other! I can't believe that it really has been two years since the triplets were born. Time really does fly when we are having fun!

Over the past year they have become a more interconnected and cohesive group! Each of them (including Quin) is keenly aware of where the others are and what they are doing. I love to sit and watch them interact!
With that being said, one thing that I am truly in awe of is the triplet's individuality! I don't think three children born within two minutes of each other, could be more different. (Then we throw Quin in the mix, and she is even more different!). We try to encourage and celebrate their unique personalities.
What amazing little beings all four of my children are - I am so lucky to have been blessed to be their mother!

Here is a snapshot of where each of the triplets are today...

Ellery
Within hours of birth:

1 year old
2 years oldEllery is my most serious child. She is a watcher, and takes EVERYTHING in. She is not a risk taker, and has to do things almost perfectly before she is willing to try something in front of others. She is the most shy of the three, and is currently going through a stranger anxiety phase (and takes much longer to warm up to males). Ellery is a problem solver, and loves to do puzzles and read books. She also LOVES to color - she has perfect pencil grip (something this teacher momma is proud of - ha!). Even though she is serious, she loves to have fun and dance around with the others.

Gianna
Within hours of birth 1 year old
2 years old
Gianna is warm and friendly, and so sweet! She is the mother hen around our house. She watches over the others and lets me know when something might go wrong. She is by far the best at helping us pick up. She is a lover - giving kisses and hugs to all of us at unexpected times... I just love that! She also loves to read and take care of her 'babies', but her favorite activity is dancing! She loves music and rhythm! She stops whatever she is doing at the faintest sound of a beat - and she is actually very coordinated, yay! She is very good at imitating others and is a quick learner.

Easton Within hours of birth: 1 year old
2 years old
And then there is my little man... he melts my heart every time I look at him (they all do really!). There is just something about a boy though! Easton is his own little person, and has his own agenda. It blows me away how much 'boy' there really is in him! He loves wheels, building blocks, riding toys, pretend tools, his vacuum, running, climbing,... Easton is non stop! He is definitley the peanut of the bunch - but I think it has a lot to do with the fact that he is go, go, go! He loves to laugh, and playfully tease others. I can totally see him aggravating his sisters in the very near future with his silly and teasing ways!

Once again, he did not want to keep the birthday hat on for the camera. But, every time the camera was put away, he would grab the hat and go! Silly Monkey!

The only therapy that the triplets are receiving is weekly speech, at our house. Their verbal skills are definitely behind, but I am sure they will catch up over time! All three of them talk, just in their own little languages - and... they totally know what each other wants (Quin is great at understanding them also).

Thanks again to everyone who has hung in there with us for the second year of the babes lives! We continue to be blessed with amazing family and friends!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABES - I love each of you so very much!

When Mom's Away, Linc Gets to Play

2011-01-27T21:21:00.002-05:00

My sister, Abbey, and her husband, Kirk, were able to go to Vegas for a long weekend. While they were away, my parents had the pleasure of watching Lincoln - woohoo! I took my awesome foursome over for the whole day on Saturday - and we had a blast! My brother, Nate, was also able to come and play for the day!
I love to watch Lincoln interact with all of my kids (I know I say that every time we get to see him!). What is even better? Seeing my brother join in on the kid fun! The six of them (my four, Linc and my brother) played ALL day long. Thanks again Nate!
Nate is trying to show the boys how rough housing is done right!

Abbey and Kirk have a great sun room/play room, full of toys new and old. Quin dug out Lincoln's old (door jam) jumper. Her immediate thought for what it was??? A giant stethoscope :)

Growing up we would often have family 'dance parties' after dinner. I have continued this tradition with my own four. So... Quin thought it was only right to include Lincoln, Uncle Nate, Popa and Gigi!

Ellery and Gianna even did a little table dancing - go girls!

We missed having Abbey and Kirk around, but sure did love our time with Linc!

Slip Sledding Away

2011-01-27T20:31:00.005-05:00

Two weekends ago we took the kids sledding for the first time. There are some incredible sledding 'mountains' near our home, but we needed some tame starter hills. We brought them to the school (playground) where I teach. Quin loves going to my school and was super excited about bringing her sled with her!
Quin was scared to go down alone at first, so Jason and I both were each able to re-live our sledding days for the first few rounds.

She finally became brave enough to make it down on her own - and loved it! Within minutes a certain Ms. Ellery was screaming mad - She was dying to get on that sled!

Quin obliged! :) She was happy to have the babes go down with her.

Gianna

Ellery

Easton

The triplets took a couple trips down on the sled together.

It was very cold out that weekend, and the triplets didn't last long. So, I brought them into our school's gymnasium. We gathered a few balls and I thought they would love to kick and chase after them. Well... that only lasted for a few moments until they found the...

drinking fountain!

What can I say... they live a sheltered life. HA! All three kids were fascinated with pushing the side buttons, seeing the water fly and trying to catch it. When Quin came in from sledding she was happy to show them all of the ins and outs of the fountain.

We spent quite a bit of time shooting hoops, throwing balls and going up and down the steps.

I love going home with 4 exhausted kiddos!!!

Icy Fun

2011-01-11T21:26:00.004-05:00

On Saturday we took our Sizemore four down to Holland for the ice sculpting competition. What a neat, free, entertaining family activity! It was fascinating to watch the carvers! They each had different techniques and tools. It was magical to see them carve such cool creatures out of big ol' blocks of ice! Quin didn't like it when they used the chain saws - 'too loud', but liked it when they used their little drills and sanders. They even use irons.

There were a lot of fish and birds. This dragon was different and looked like a lot of work!
Quin loved this eagle! It was very cold out, but the sun was shining, and added beautiful light reflections to the different ice sculptures.

My only complaint was that they didn't close the main street down, so it was VERY crowded! It was difficult to get the strollers through the crowds that gathered behind each sculpture/carver. It was even more difficult to get pictures of them because there were so many people walking in front of them.

This was our favorite fish (plus it was on the large corner giving us lots of room for a picture op).

The Apothecary Shop had a family of four Eskimos carved for people to stop at for pictures. If our kids were a little bit older, it would have been cute to get their pictures all at once. Hopefully there will be more interactive sculptures in the future - cute idea!

If you know me at all, you know that I HATE the cold and winter. I do have to say though - if you can't beat it, why not join it! We had a lot of fun watching all of the events!

First Skate

2011-01-11T20:52:00.007-05:00

This past Sunday Jason took Quin ice skating for the very first time! She has been dying to go for over a year now. Jason loves hockey (that may be an understatement!). He watches it on tv, has taken Quin to a few hockey games and up until recently our whole basement was a Red Wing haven. He may have had more fun than Quin!

The city of Holland has an outdoor rink this year, so it was nice to bring her to a local rink. When we got there it was snowing big fluffy flakes. Quin was more interested in trying to catch them in her mouth, than getting on the ice. She thought catching the flakes (and getting them stuck to her face) was hilarious!
As we got there, a few hockey players were finishing their game. After they left, the ice was completely empty for a few minutes. It was nice to have the rink to ourselves! While Jason laced up his skates, I walked Quin around the rink. (It was covered in snow, so it was easy to walk on - Jason was upset there wasn't a shovel. Oh well!)

Of course we brought the babes! They love getting outside, and it was the perfect chance to use the Choo Choo wagon for the first time (it worked like a charm!).

Gianna

Easton

Ellery

Quin and Jason spent a lot of time practicing skating (a.k.a. walking/falling/sliding...) around the rink. The whole time we were there, there wasn't more than ten people total at a time. It was nice to not feel rushed or feel like they were going to be run over by speedy know it alls.

I ran over to the other side of the rink. The babes sat so nicely almost the whole time watching Jason and Quin (the three little heads to the right side of the picture).

Before I know it, the babes are going to want to be on the ice chuggin' along with Quin!

Jason and I drove seperate so that I could take the babes home when they got too cold. What troopers they were. The four of us left just a few minutes before Quin and Jason, but they probably could have made it the entire time!

A big thanks to Jalen for letting Quin use his skates! She thought it was so cool to have his skates!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

2011-01-01T22:49:00.003-05:00

So, once again, the whole 'wear something on my head, while mom tries to take a picture of me' thing didn't go so well ;)

Easton took one look at that red hat and got off of the couch.

I thought maybe another head topper would help. He was very expressive on how he felt about me trying to get his picture! Hee, hee If he saw me point the camera towards him, he would put his head down. Isn't he too young for that?!?!?!

Quin screams '"Happy New Year to you ALL"

Gianna is pretty excited about the year to come!

So is Ellery!
And, I finally snapped a picture of my little man! Such a tease!

What a fabulous year 2010 was! I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store for us!

To all of our family, friends, and blog readers:

May your coming year be full of peace, full of love, full of laughter & full of life. Here’s to health and happiness!

Gifts for the New Year

2011-01-01T22:43:00.006-05:00

Last year I wrote about my parent's tradition of giving New Year's gifts to help usher in the new year. As a parent now, it is one that I look forward to probably just as much as Christmas. I love that Quin doesn't remember this tradition yet. It was fun to see her excitement as she happened upon the presents. All four kids sat and looked at the presents for a moment :)
*Sidenote - This was the first year that we took our Christmas tree down before New Year's day. The flu bug hit our house bad last week! We were out of commission for over 5 days. Although I lost a lot of vacation time, I was so thankful that it wasn't during school - writing sub plans stinks! Because of the flu, I did some deep cleaning - which included taking down {almost} all of the decorations. I couldn't take down the little tree until after the New Year gifts were opened though.

Just like last year, we gave each of the kids two new sets of pajamas! They needed them! Quin also got a robe. Sounds strange, I know, but she asked for it. Here is a little secret about me: I love my robe and wear it ALL of the time. I wear it from the moment I get out of bed in the morning, until after my kids eat breakfast (it protects my clothes for the school day). On the weekends I wear it much longer. And if I am really cold (happens often!), I will put it on - I just love to wear it. Anywho... Quin has asked for one for herself. I hope she loves it as much as I love mine!

Along with pj's, we gave each of the kids a little something. Gianna got a new baby (she steals Quin's all of the time).

Ellery got a microphone. (I know it isn't pictured - sorry.)

Easton got a truck that he can push around.

And, New Year's morning isn't complete without monkey bread!

Ellery loved it!

I wish all four of my kids the best year yet!

Sizemore Christmas

2011-01-01T21:53:00.005-05:00

The day after Christmas we headed to Jason's brother Jeff's house to celebrate Christmas with their side of the family. Just as with my family - we are rarely all together, so it was wonderful to see everyone!

We attempted a cousin picture will all six grandkids... and it didn't go over well. Gianna was in no mood (she needs a minimum of 30 minutes to warm up when we go somewhere...). We should have tried again because by the end of the day all four of my kids were so happy to be there - they were running circles and screaming with delight. So fun to see! Our foursome were spoiled all over again!
Quin

Gianna

I was so proud of Ellery! Number three was the charm - she got right in there and ripped the paper off without too much thought.

Easton still didn't have much interest. It is so amazing to me how different he is than the girls. Jason helped him open most of his presents.

Unfortunately, I lost track of my camera and don't have very many pictures. The kids had so much fun playing, I wish I had pictures of them in action!

Another big thank you to Grandma, Aunt Christy, Uncle Mike, Aunt Monica, Uncle Jeff, Allyson and Haylee!

Aquino Chrismas

2011-01-01T21:43:00.005-05:00

After spending the morning of Christmas day at home, we headed over to my parents house. I LOVE to see my family. I feel like we are rarely all in the same place, at the same time - so it is always a treat when it happens!
I loved all of it, but this picture was my very favorite part of the day:) Lincoln, my sister's son, sat next to me the whole time we opened presents. His little chubby fingers would inch towards any present with a bow - it was SO cute! That was all he cared about - so innocent and sweet!
My foursome had a great time opening presents. Quin obviously knew what to do, and was a little more gracious and patient than she was in the morning (In the morning she acted as if the presents would all disappear if she didn't open and use them right away... ugh!)

Gianna was Popa's helper! She loved opening her presents, but was much more concerned with helping pick up all of the wrapping paper scraps and putting them into the trash bag - she is such a good girl!

Ellery was very hesitant in the morning to open her presents, but slowly got the hang of tearing the paper off by the afternoon.

Not a good picture of Easton, but I don't have any pictures of his outfit - he looked SO handsome! (I don't have many of Quin either - hmph!)

After making sure the paper was all cleaned up, Gianna plopped down right next to Linc. She had her arm around him, and kept leaning over to give him kisses. She is such a mother hen - so loving! I love the look on his face - the whole time he just looked at her like 'why in the world are you sitting that close to me, AND do you really need to touch me!'.

Within a half an hour, Easton and Linc made their way over to the toys. Are they boys, or what?!?!

One of Quin's favorite gifts was a keyboard with a microphone. She immediately found a way to 'put on a concert'. She had several songs in her repertoire - she started with the ABC's, and then made up words for the rest of her songs all to the tune of ....ABC. Good thing she was so excited and cute about it! I think Linc may be her first groupie!!!

We had a fabulous Christmas day - thank you Gigi, Popa, Aunt Abbey, Uncle Kirk, Lincoln and Uncle Nate for all of the fabulous toys!!!

Good Morning Christmas!

2010-12-30T22:40:00.005-05:00

Oh what fun! Christmas was even better this year than last - who woulda thought?!?!
Quin still did about 95% of the unwrapping, but I don't think she minded one bit!
The big difference this year? Gianna and Ellery were so excited to dig in to what Quin was unwrapping. (Last year, they just looked cute sitting in shiny wrapping paper).

Easton? Well... he didn't get into it for awhile. At first, he was mad that all of the boxes and wrapping paper and things were in the way. He just wanted to ride - he is such a boy! He was slowly drawn in by the toys as he saw what Quin was unveiling as she ripped the paper off of each package.

I couldn't get all four kiddos to look for even one quick second! Quin was obsessed with the dress up shoes that were peaking out between the papers, Ellery and Gianna loved ripping and wrinkling all of the paper, and Easton was finally excited by the toys!

Jason and I decided that the gift from us would be one big 'family' gift. The more I think about this idea, the more I like it. It amazed me how fast our budget exploded when buying for four kids - we will have to learn short cuts in the future!

The 'family gift' for this year was the relaunched ChooChoo Wagon! I couldn't believe how big it was when Jason brought it in the night before. If people didn't notice us before, they will surely notice us now. We will not be using this wagon when we want to go places and blend in with all of the other families ;)

The ChooChoo will be perfect for walks or for when I want to take the kids somewhere by myself! Each car has a seat belt - I love it!

Growing up, my brother, sister and I would spend forever combing through all of the goodies that Santa left in our stockings! We were allowed to look at only our stockings until our parents woke up. I hope my own children will get to that tradition in the coming years! For now though, we looked at the stockings after we opened all of the gifts!
Can you tell that Easton and Quin are ecstatic with the apples and bananas that Santa used to fill out the bottom of their stockings??? Personally, I think Santa was pretty smart - that banana really rounded the heel well! :) Their stockings were also stuffed with pretend things for their play kitchen. Quin was excited to put it all away.
There was about an hour to play before we had to get ready to go. All four kids were excited to dive into their new gear!

When asked what she wanted for Christmas, Quin has told them a changing table for her doll Betsy, and a dress-up doctor outfit.

Dr. Quin at your service:
She is all business when she is working! I love that she used her new changing table as her patient table. Good thing she was working that morning - she told us all 'Betsy needed rest, but she was going to be alright'. Whew!

Gianna loved her shiny new dress-up clothes!

And here is a picture for those of you who think my kids play so nicely together! Even on Christmas morning there is drama at our house! Ellery and Easton were fighting over Easton's new vacuum, and it broke - leaving them both in tears!

No worries though! Daddy fixed it, and Easton was back to vacuuming in no time! (Easton is obsessed with vaccuums - a little strange, but very endearing!)

Santa sure was good to our family! Now, we need to figure out where to put all of this stuff - yikes!

Dear Santa

2010-12-30T21:40:00.003-05:00

Quin was very precise about what to do for Santa this year. Her attention to detail cracks me up! She must really pay attention to the pictures in our Christmas books, and to what she sees on TV.

After putting the babes to bed on Christmas Eve, we let her stay up for awhile to get Santa's plate ready. She went straight to work coloring him a picture. She decided that Mrs. Claus should be in the picture also - how sweet of her to think of the Mrs. ;) Santa is on the left, and Mrs. Claus is on the right. My favorite part about her picture is that they each have 'belly boos' (belly buttons). She added hats to both of them, and a lot of hair to Santa. There is also a reindeer and some presents near the bottom of the page. It will be fun to see how much her picture changes for next year!
She was also very particular about what to leave for Santa. Milk wouldn't do - no, he had to have Holly Nog. She also picked out each of the cookies herself (as well as a chocolate mouse that was brought over for us from our prior nanny - Quin thought the mice were the cutest, and yummiest things ever, so this was quite the sacrifice!). The plate wasn't complete until we also had carrots for Santa's reindeer.
She was so excited the next morning when all that was left were crumbs! Job well done Quin - Santa thought your treats were scrumptious, and the picture was unforgettable!

My Santa Babies

2010-12-30T21:25:00.003-05:00

If you haven't noticed yet... I love to get individual pictures of my kids in holiday head gear. I used to do it to Jinx and Miya too. They look sooo cute! My kids are getting smart though! They avoided me, the camera and the Santa hat as long as they could - stinkers! Instead, they thought it would be great fun to race on their riding toys around the house.
I finally caught them, or they tired themselves out.
Gianna thought she was hilarious playing peek-a-boo with the hat! Okay, she was pretty cute :) {I can read her mind already}
"What Mom? This hat? This is the one you want me to keep on my head?"

I was happy that Ellery cooperated well!

Easton on the other hand... wouldn't stay still to save his life (nothing new there). I still love this picture... Oh, those eye lashes!

And then there is Quin... fake Aquino smile and all :)

3 Days of Baking

2010-12-29T11:21:00.005-05:00

About a week before Christmas Quin became worried that we wouldn't have any cookies to leave for Santa - what a fear to have! So the three days before Christmas we... baked! Quin loves to help me in the kitchen, and what better place to make memories (and I have a feeling, a tradition was created too).
The plan was to use the time that the babes were napping each afternoon, to bake. It worked out well, for the most part.
On the first day we actually did not bake. We made two different types of dough and left them overnight in the refrigerator. We also dipped pretzels into white chocolate. YUM!
Quin is better at cracking eggs than I am!
The first day we had two of the cutest nappers wake up and wonder what we had been up to :)

We did most of the baking on the second day. Quin's favorite part... using the rolling pin and flour. We rolled out and baked sour cream sugar cookies and topped them with different kisses, and rolled some in crumbled candy canes - Quin LOVES candy canes! We also made cinnamon roll cookies - so worth all of the work!

Good thing Gigi gave her an early Christmas present - an adorable apron! Quin thought she could make a bigger mess with the flour because she had the apron on :)

On the third day we made caramel bars, and 'frosted' the cinnamon roll cookies. She loved squeezing the frosting out of the bag. There were a few cookies with big 'ol globs of frosting on them, but she got the hang of it after awhile.

She was so proud of her platter! It looked so fancy.

Unfortunately, we forgot the platter on our second day of Christmas when visiting Jason's side of the family. I was so bummed! I now have a ton of cookies in the freezer and hope they thaw out well later!

Merry Christmas!!!

2010-12-24T22:08:00.002-05:00

May your Christmas be filled with Love, Joy and Peace!

Day with Quin {Santa!}

2010-12-21T21:51:00.004-05:00

I was so happy to spend my official first day of Christmas break with this smiling face: Quin and I started out our special day by going to watch a special production of the Nutcracker. My fabulous friend Meagon's daughter, Ainsley, had a part in the local ballet. I wasn't sure how Quin would do, but she loved it! She asked questions about what was happening through the entire show, and only tuckered out the last 15 minutes or so. Although Quin acted shy when she went back stage afterwards, she loved seeing the dancers up close. She talked about it the entire way back to Holland! Way to go Ainsley - you did great!

We headed back to Holland where we met up with Jason for our second annual 'Wild Chef and Santa Day'. Quin loved revisiting the hibachi restaurant. She was interested in everything that our chef was doing, and laughed along with all of his 'tricks'. She hated the fire though. Her favorite part... using the chopsticks! She did well for a first timer :)

She also loved that she could sit next to BOTH of us :)

After lunch we went to the Holland Mall to visit with Santa! What a gift - we were the only ones there ;) Quin wasn't nearly as afraid of him this year, and walked right up to tell him exactly what she wants (a changing table for her doll, Betsy). We had to rewind a little and do some small talk before she could ask for her present (what a stinker!). This is as close as she would sit to him:

She didn't stay long, but did a good job! When we left she wouldn't give him a high five. He tried to get her to do a fist bump (which made me laugh!), but she would not go for that either. A simple wave would do for her.

As we walked away, she wanted to hear him 'ho, ho, ho' again. So... since no one was there, we went back up for a second chat. He was a good sport!

Our 'Hand'some Tree

2010-12-21T21:48:00.001-05:00

The latest and greatest front door decoration is a tree made from the kiddos hand prints. Quin opted for an outdoor Christmas tree - I think she just wanted to use the white glitter and cotton balls! :)

Our Final Decision

2010-12-06T21:32:00.002-05:00

Most Wonderful Year Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with custom Christmas cards at Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

Just in case you were wondering what I decided on... :) I didn't realize when I originally posted about this card that I could add one more pic inside - so cute!

Fall Family Pictures

2010-12-03T22:08:00.006-05:00

When I contacted Tammi, of More Than Words Photography {by Tammi}, last summer and she was booked into the fall I was a little freaked! I booked our November pictures right away - and I wasn't disappointed.

(I still think Marc photography who did our summer pictures did a fabulous job too - I love how the two photographers captured our family so differently, but so perfectly). It is fun to see, through pictures, how much the kids have grown since the summer - amazing!

I am always impressed when photographers capture great pictures of the six of us! I love this beautiful couch, with the rustic setting. Kuddos to Tammi!

This one is one of my favorites. Who really cares about us - it is all about the kids!!!

L to R: Quin, Easton, Ellery and Gianna
This one reminds me of those pictures that comes in a frame when you buy it ;) Quin
Ellery - seriously... where did those eyes come from?!?!?
Gianna - I love how her fun, giggly side comes through in this picture.
Easton - He was freezing, and wasn't overly happy. I love how Tammi captured his cute serious side!
After some tickling, we got a few smiles out of him. I just love his smile and those big dark eyes!
This picture makes me laugh every time I see it! Tammi brought some empty wooden spools that the kids kept stacking and Easton thought it was hillarious to knock them down. I can still hear his laugh - he had so much fun!
Tammi captured some beautiful pictures of Quin!!! There is a whole series of her blowing this dandilion. Gorgeous!
I also love this one of Quin. Her eyes are normally more brown, but the green in them really comes out here.
A HUGE thank you to Tammi!!! She does such beautiful work, and is so easy to work with. I caught Quin arranging her toys the other day and taking pictures of them. When I asked her what she was doing, she told me she wanted to be like Tammi :) Love it!

The Search for the Perfect Tree

2010-12-03T21:01:00.005-05:00

Before we had kids, Jason and I used to go to a local tree farm and cut down our Christmas tree. We would search and search for the perfect tree - some year's results were better than others. One of my favorite memories was of our first Christmas tree hunt. We found the perfect tree, but it didn't fit very well into my little Mazda MX6. We ended up stuffing it in from the trunk, past the back seat and out the passenger side window - I mean a good two feet out the window. The memory of the tip whipping through the wind and brushing mailboxes still makes me laugh. Needless to say, the tree was not so perfect by the time we got it home! :)

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it!) our last three Christmas' have been slightly bogged down with a baby, then bedrest and then many babies. Feeling the need for a good hunt, Jason and I decided to resurrect our tree hunt tradition.

We waited for a sunny and chilly (not freezing) day, and went after the babes afternoon naps. The babes started out in good moods. Gianna was happy - just a little squished in the picture :)
I love Easton and Gianna's expressions. About ten minutes into the trip, I think they wondered what in the world we were doing!

After about fifteen minutes, Easton had had enough! He kept whipping his mittens on the ground. His teeth were chattering and he wouldn't stop whining/crying.

Gianna lasted a little bit longer. She had fun chasing the wagon through the trees and would hop back in when she would get tired.

And then there's Elle... she was in heaven. The girl loves to be outside, and she thought we were there purely for the game of hide and go seek - she had a blast!

As soon as Jason started to cut down the tree, all three babes stopped what they were doing and watched. Quin could not figure out how in the world we were going to put the tree 'back together' once we got it home. :)

It was so cute watching Quin chase the tree as Jason pulled it away.

I was very disappointed! Almost all of the trees looked as if they were already dried out, and all had big 'holes' or were lopsided. I finally found one the I could live with. Unfortunately, as we approached the machine that shakes and wraps the trees, we noticed all of the their pre-cut, perfect trees leaning against the building... ugh! Ours is really perfect after all though - it is ours!

To top our trip off - the building where we had to pay, had a small area of chicks that we were able to hold/pet. All three girls fell in love with the little chirpers.

Ellery

Gianna kept trying to give them kisses.

Quin loved that she could hold them all by herself!

I love looking at our half decorated (I'm not sure how much the babes and Quin will really let us decorate this year), but perfect tree. What a great way to start our Christmas season! Another tradition that I can't wait to continue on with!

RIP Ms. Miya May Mocha

2010-11-30T22:04:00.003-05:00

We recently had to make the tough decision to put down our first 'baby', Ms. Miya May Mocha. It has been close to a month now, so I think I can spare you all of the emotional toll that it took on us. She would have been eleven years old in January, so she lived a long and happy life. She was such a sweet dog, with a wonderful temperament for our kids! She put up with a lot of my shenanigans - she (and Jinx) have been dressed up every Halloween until last year and have been in most of our Christmas pictures.
We brought her home within the first year of our marriage when she was only 8 weeks old. She was THE cutest puppy!!!

Her facial expression was always priceless - you could just tell she tolerated my silliness because she loved me!

All of our kids loved her, and she let them climb all over her! Easton definitely misses her the most. Miya would let him lay on her (usually cuddled up in the niche between her belly and front legs) while he drank his bottles. I wish I had a picture!

She went down hill fast. The vet did both an x-ray and blood work on the day we took her in. They found that Miya had a tumor wrapped around her heart and water around her lungs. Her blood work pointed towards cancer also. It was an easy - yet heart wrenching - decision. We knew she was hurting and putting her down was the best choice :(

We all miss her dearly, but it has been especially hard on our other dog Jinx. He wouldn't eat the first week. He always let her go outside first and eat first - so he has had difficulty 'relearning' how to do these things alone. When he does go out, he wanders the back yard as if he is looking for her. What a love/hate relationship they had! He is slowly getting back to his new normal, and we hope he sticks around for awhile (he turned eleven this past October)!

Thank you to everyone who sent us cards and emails expressing your sympathy - it is so nice to know that the world is full of dog people!!!

Christmas Cards - Decisions, Decisions

2010-11-30T14:00:00.010-05:00

Last year I made adorable, customized photo calendars from Shutterfly for our immediate family. I loved how easy it was to upload and select my own photos to add to their huge variety of photo collage layouts. It was simple (which I love), and they turned out beautifully. Here is how ours looks (ignore the mess on the actual calendar part!) Shhh... I will be making them again this year! I love that the 'old' photos that I uploaded from last year are still in my account. As I work on the 2011 calendars, having quick access to the old photos will make it that much easier to mix the old with the more recent pics to make gorgeous new calendars.

Since I loved how the calendars turned out, I have been checking out (or maybe obsessing over) Shutterfly's beautiful Christmas Photo cards. I love how you can select card previews based upon the number of photos you want to add. I am especially partial to the cards that allow space for one larger photo and four small photos. I like to include a large family pictures, and then showcase individual pictures - on the front of the card. They have some beautiful choices!
The first one that I am loving is:
Another that I love is:
I don't know how I will make the choice :{

If I can't decide soon, I may just have to send out New Year cards instead :)

Shutterfly has wonderful prices, and you can buy them in as large or as little quantity as you like!

And... if you are a blogger, they have a great deal for you!!! Head over here and check out their opportunity to earn 50 free cards! What is better than free?!?!?
*This post is part of Shutterfly's 50 free card deal ;)

Happy Halloween! (Just a little late)

2010-11-03T21:47:00.007-04:00

Elvis, I mean Lincoln, entered our building during the day! We love to have him come and visit us. He looked so cute in his costume, and even had blue 'suede' shoes for the actual night.
Quin loves it when her 'Baby Lincoln' comes to visit. She can't keep her hands off of him. It is also fun to see how the triplets interact more with him each time he comes to visit.

Abbey and I took on the task of trying for a Halloween picture - to no avail. This is the best :(

Later that night, Quin had a ball trick or treating! She met up with her best bud, Izzy, and they roamed the streets together. Okay, it was only a few houses, but Quin loved every minute of it.

Besides getting the candy, Quin loved eating the candy, seeing the costumes and handing out the candy.

While she was gone, they babes and I handed out candy. The triplets thought it was great fun to see all of the kids too. This is how everyone was greeted at our house.

I was just happy I didn't have any of my animals escape from our zoo!

I was shocked at the volume of kids this year! The most we have ever had was 500. I bought over 450 pieces this year, and we were completely out with more than an hour left of trick or treating hours. I raided the stash of candy that Jason hid before I started passing out candy, and even raided Quin's bag for a few treats when she wasn't looking.

I felt horrible! I had to post this sign on our door :(

Watch though - next year I will buy for more kids, and have less. Just the way it is!

We Live in a Zoo!

2010-11-03T21:10:00.007-04:00

Jason's mom always tells people that we live in a 'Gated Community'. Sounds so posh, right?!?!
Unfortunately, when you take a look at the gates within our 'community' you realize that we live with hooligans, no, it is more like animals!
Given the constant chaos, playing, running, yelling... at our house, it was only perfect that our Halloween theme be zoo animals! Quin actually came up with the idea when she and I visited the zoo a few months ago. She originally wanted to be a penguin, but we struggled to find a cute and somewhat realistic penguin costume. Her second choice was a kangaroo!

Quin also had the triplets costumes picked out by the time we had left the zoo. She thought Ellery should be a giraffe.

She thought Gianna should be a bear, but again - we found it hard to find a cute and realistic bear costume. Quin's second choice for G was a lion.

And of course, she chose a monkey for Easton.

I have to give her credit for her choices! Each costume choice was very believable, and with good reason :) Ellery is by far the tallest, Gianna loves to cuddle and has quite the roar, and Easton never stops climbing.

Gianna wasn't a big fan of her costume and was in quite a tizzy about the head piece (I can't say I blame her). Easton took full advantage, and thought it would be a great time to tweak her nose! Nothing like a tormenting your older sisters ;)

Everywhere you turn in our house, there are gates - I am sure they feel like caged in animals. They love to hang on them (evident on the above gates), and they love to try to push through this one!

Just in case you didn't believe me - Easton LOVES to climb! There was no encouragement here!

Bat Hands & Ghost Feet

2010-10-30T10:09:00.002-04:00

For those of you who care :)
Here is the latest hand/foot motif! The babes are getting better with each season - maybe they will actually begin to enjoy having their hands/feet painted :)

Pumpkin Carving Party

2010-10-30T10:05:00.001-04:00

I was so happy to 'kill two birds with one stone' this past week :) My fellow fabulous first grade teachers and I hosted a pumpkin carving party at school for all of our first grade families. We provided cider, donuts and the multi-purpose room at school, and the families bring everything else.
My parents were gracious enough to watch the triplets, while Jason and Quin came to join us. Quin loves to come and visit the school where I teach, and see my 'students'. She was excited to see all of them there, and carve her pumpkin right along with them!

Quin with her 'leetle' pumpkin before she helped carve it.
She helped hold the bag for the seeds. We toasted them with cinnamon and sugar the next day - yum!

By the end, all she wanted was the cider and donuts! At least I got her to slow down for 30 seconds to snap a shot of her finished pumpkin!