We're 3 Years Old!

We had a great time this past weekend celebrating Abbie, Bailey and Noah's 3rd birthdays. Every birthday feels like a huge milestone! We celebrate all 3 of them turning another year older and mommy and daddy surviving another year of raising them. Making it to 3 years is a big accomplishment...for them and for us! I've always heard people with multiples say, "Just make it to 3 and you'll be okay. The first 3 years are the hardest". We are through the bottles, the sleepless nights, the diapers and potty training, the learning to eat with a fork and spoon, the "terrible two's" and all of the other stages that every child goes through the first 3 years. They came and went fast x 3 and hopefully pretty soon we'll be 100% sure that we are not going back. :) This birthday I really felt like my kids were "big kids". They seemed so much older at their party. They were so excited about their Chuck E. Cheese party! They were a little overwhelmed at first, but warmed up after a little while. We went back to just family this year, since we have plenty with both sides put together. Our kids are so blessed to have so many family members that love them so much. Here's some pictures from their party Thursday night...

Grampy helping Bailey on the bicycle

Daddy and Noah playing air hockey

Caley, Abbie and Marah on the big truck

Chuck E. Cheese putting birthday crowns on the kids - This was as close as they got to him. This is VERY good for them! No hugs and no fives for Chuck E. that night. He only got a few waves, which is fine by me! You never know who it is inside those suits. :)

The cakes (Cars and Princess)

The birthday stars with their crowns and medals

Abbie blowing our her candles

Noah giving Daddy a five

Bailey getting ready for her own birthday song

Opening presents

Trying to get a good picture before opening presents from us on Saturday

Noah got his "gritar". - He was sooo.....happy!

Bailey in Noah's Spiderman costume

Abbie with her princess piano. Please excuse Noah jammin' out in the background with his guitar (in his undies). :)

Mommy and the girls on their "real" birthday (Sun., June 28th)

Officially 3 years old! I think they were tired of celebrating by Sunday. :)

Daddy and Noah

Happy Father's Day...

...to the best daddy in the world!  My kids are so blessed to have the daddy that they do.  He is an amazing dad in every way.  We love you!  :)

Father's Day 2009

On the Countdown

We are on the countdown for Abbie, Bailey and Noah's 3rd birthday. We have been doing a birthday chain to count the days down. Every night we pull off another link on our chain, so the kids can actually see how many more days they have left. Thursday night we are having a family party at Chuck E. Cheese to celebrate. They are so excited! The only thing that I am worried about is how they (especially Noah) will handle seeing Chuck E. :) The other day I started asking them if they were going to get their picture made with him. Noah immediately said "NO" and started saying that he didn't want to go to his birthday party. So, no more mention of pictures with Chuck E. Cheese. :) I'm sure the party will be great! Personally, I'm excited about just taking the cakes and letting somebody else do the work. Sunday, the 28th, is their actual birthday. We will be celebrating all weekend, I'm sure. I can hardly believe that they are almost 3! What a milestone for them...and for us! Lots of pictures to come!
Last weekend when we went to Florence Noah was obsessed with the guitar (or "gritar" as he calls it) at Uncle Rodney and Aunt Paige's house. He carried that guitar around the whole time we were there. He woke up Sunday morning and said "Mommy, I wake up. I can play the gritar." He wanted the Guitar Hero music on so he could play along with the music. It was halarious! So, we went in the toy store today with the kids to browse for birthday ideas and low and behold...a guitar! His smile says it all! We know what Noah is getting for his birthday...a brand new gritar! :)

Grocery Shopping

I snapped this picture of my kids today at the grocery store. I want to be able to look back and remember how I managed taking all three and getting groceries at the same time. Today I got the extra large "kid friendly" buggy and stuck all three in the seat together. I had them on a rotation driving the steering wheels two at a time. :) They did great! I was trying to get a quick picture, but it actually turned out really cute! I had to dangle some tomatoes over my head like a crazy person to get them to smile. I'm not afraid to do something silly to get a good picture of my kids. :) Just in case you're wondering, I only go to the store with all three of them to get a handful things. Why put myself through an extra long shopping trip if I don't have to? We save those big trips for when it's just one of us going alone or me and Ben both taking the kids. That helps me keep my sanity.

10 Year Reunion...times 2!

It has officially been 10 years since Ben and I graduated from high school.  We both graduated in '99.  In some ways it seems like it's been so long ago, but in other ways it seems like only yesterday.  My how life has changed since then.  :)  Well, sometime towards the end of last year we casually talked about our reunions that would soon be rolling around.  We joked off and on about how funny it would be if they ended up being on the same day.  I mean...what are the chances of that?  We both went to small, private schools (about an hour or two apart from each other).  So, we laughed about it, but blew it off thinking how that'll never happen!  So, we got the date for Ben's reunion early...Saturday, June 13th.  A few months later, the date for my reunion was announced...yep, you guessed it...Saturday, June 13th!  So, we had a busy day on Saturday trying to do a little bit of both of them.  We headed to a picnic for lunch for my class reunion.  The kids came along for that one.  Then, we headed to Florence for a nice dinner for Ben's reunion (minus the kids).  That was nice by the end of the day!  Thanks to Uncle Rodney and Aunt Paige for babysitting and letting us spend the night.  We had a great time!  :)  It was a busy day, but it was nice catching up with old classmates and talking about some of the fun times we shared "back in the day".  I just said the words "back in the day"...I think I'm getting older, for sure.  :)  

Me with my classmates at my reunion

Abbie, Bailey and Noah playing with my friend Jenna's little girl, Sydney

The guys in Ben's class at his reunion

Ben with his classmates at his reunion

34 Years

Happy Anniversary (...a couple of days late), Dad and Mom!

We sure are thankful you two found each other.

WE LOVE YOU!  :)

Then...

...and Now.

Here's to 34 more!  :)

(I stole these from my mom's facebook page.  Yes, the day I thought would never come...my mom is now on Facebook.  I love it!)

Summer So Far

We are having so much fun so far this summer!  We have been busy and have had a lot going on.  Busy is good now that my kids are out of school for the summer.  We have spent a lot of time already playing outside in the water...it has been HOT lately!  They have a big time together!  Playing in the sprinkler...

I went to the store and stocked up on more craft stuff for the summer.  I like to have some structured times during the day where they do various crafts and such (playdoh, stickers, color, paint, cut/glue, etc.)  It breaks up the monotony of "free play" all day long.  It is nice that they are getting old enough to do more and it is not a complete disaster like it used to be.  Here's the girls painting...