Happy Halloween! (Just a little late)

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!

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

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

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!

Pumpkin Patch

The weather made me do it - that's my story, and I am stickin' with it!!! :)

Once I realized that last weekend's weather was going to be sunny and at least mid 70's, I started to bug Jason about taking our crew to the pumpkin patch. I slowly wore him down, and he actually agreed to go - just the six of us!


Everyone else had the same idea - it was PACKED! I just figured we would slow a few people down, but they could deal (not everyone liked my plan, and several people cut in line in front of us while we waited for the hay ride - seriously people!). Oh well... the bonus was that we unknowingly ended up in line with one of my co-workers and his family (who happen to have a set of twins and a single). They were with a group of people, and they were all super nice and helpful! Because of this, we actually got a whole family shot - not to bad for an impromptu (thanks Missy!!!).
All four kids were somewhat perplexed at the hay ride, but ended up loving it. They had great fun tossing the hay and watching it fall - we ended up with a few stray pieces tucked in their shirts. Easton actually fell asleep on the ride back to the farm area!

We were dropped off at a large pumpkin patch. Gianna would not give up on this pumpkin. She tried for quite awhile to pick it up - she is determined!

We started walking, but the vines caused quite a problem for the babes - more than a few face plants :) I was so happy that we were able to score a wagon - one of the biggest helps to make our time a success! I am sure the wagon is supposed to be strictly for pumpkins, but...shhhh... it helped us avoid a few meltdowns!

Easton loved rolling this one in the parking lot, and thought he was pretty cool when he realized he could actually carry it!

They also had a great farm/activity area. There were pumpkin rides, horses for riding, a hay area for pictures, farm toy area... Quin was happy to show off her love for MSU!

We were able to go through a barn with a variety of farm animals. The calf was so happy to see Easton and Quin - he kept reaching his head through the fence to lick them! There were also large and small sized horses, and piglets - so cute!

The true reason why I think Jason agreed to go - donuts and cider!!! So yummy! Easton and Quin both loved them, Gianna tolerated them, and then there is Ms. Ellery... she is so picky (I am sure my parents think that is my payback!). She barely touched the donut - gave it right back to me! Oh well... more for the rest of us!

I was so hoping to get a cute fall picture of the four kids on our porch. No such luck! Ha, ha!

I am so glad that we took the risk and ventured out! Watch out world - you may be seeing more of us!!!

Oh Those Eyes!

Last week we had check ups for the triplet's eyes with the pediatric opthamologist. For Ellery and Gianna, it has been a year since their last appointments. Because of Easton's surgery last June, he has had his eyes checked - but needed to go back for a check on his sutures.

All three have made good improvements. All three remain farsighted, but that seems to be somewhat expected for small children. Easton is at .5 unit and Gianna is at 1 unit - which are both improvements over last year. The doctor doesn't seem to be worried about either of their eye sight, and assumes that the farsightedness will subside. They don't have to go back until next fall. Ellery was at 4 units last year, and is now at 2 units. He was happy about the improvements, but still thinks that she may need glasses in the future. (I am just happy it isn't right now - trying to keep glasses on her may be close to impossible!). She will need to have her eyes rechecked in 6 months.

On the subject of eyes... When we are out and about with the babes, one of the things that is a topic of many conversations is their eye color. I have complete strangers approach me to make comments. Most comments are very nice. Although Jason and I both have brown eyes, we both have parents/grandparents with green and blue eyes. Ellery gets the most comments by far - her eyes are absolutely gorgeous!


Gianna also has beautiful blue eyes. When I have Gianna out alone, people always comment on her eyes! The shape of her eyes are different than Ellery's, but both girls actually have the same color eyes. Easton on the other hand has dark brown eyes - almost black! They are stunning in their own way. (This picture was taken before he had the dermoid cyst removed.)

Quin has brown eyes, but when she wears green - they definintley have a green undertone.

I love how the our two sets of genes can produce such beauty!!!

Annual Apple Outing

We took advantage of the sunshine last weekend, and went on our annual trip to the apple orchard. Quin was so excited to see all of the apples growing on the trees. She loved spotting the full trees and pointing our strollers into the right direction. She got the hang of tipping the apples up so the bottom went towards the sun - I think she picked more apples than Jason and I combined! What a great helper!
And, of course, she had to taste test 'just one'! Her favorite... the Cortland.

We were once again quickly reminded of what a difference a year can make! Last year the triplets spent most of the time in the triplet stroller, and weren't able to sit up for pictures.

This year when they weren't in the strollers, they were running in three different directions picking apples off of the ground!

I can't wait until next year when we can ditch the strollers and take wagon rides and let the kids ride on the 'cow train'.

Ellery was so excited to find a ladder, and wasn't afraid to use it!

Gianna collected the most apples from the ground - yuck! She had a great time though!

All Easton wanted to do was eat one! He kept looking from the apple to me, and then back to the apple.

He finally dug in and loved it!

Quin and I will be using the apples tomorrow to make apple crisp, yummy!!!