Twas the Days Before Halloween

I have taken so many pictures recently that I thought I should get some up before the official trick-or-treating tomorrow night.  Ryan, Caitlin and Madison are really beginning to understand this Halloween thing and are loving it.  We often go on "pumpkin walks" around the neighborhood just to look at people's pumpkins and decorations they have up.  They love pointing out all the spiders and ghosts that they see.  The leaves have been falling, but we still have had pretty good weather for them to get outside and play. 

JP is on fall break Thursday and Friday, but did have a Halloween party at school.  The second graders didn't wear costumes to school this year.  You know your child is getting big when he doesn't get to dress up in class anymore.  Instead, each child was asked to bring in a pumpkin and then they took turns in each of the four 2nd grade classrooms doing experiments such as guessing how much it weighs and if a pumpkin floats or not.  I would not have guessed that actually do!  I found out its because of their large hollow center.  See you can learn something new everyday!  They did have a class party so he didn't miss out on any treats.

This year our house was Boo'd 2 times.  This is when someone leaves treats on your doorstep with a poem and a picture of a ghost to tape to your door.  JP was so excited when he received the first bag and he started showing me what he got inside.  I explained that it didn't say only his name on it and he would have to share the contents with his siblings.  He reluctantly picked out 3 pieces of candy and little goodies for them.  There are still many things that he has that are just his and because of the age difference and there will be many things he will get to do that they cannot yet.  However, he is slowly learning that being one of four kids means everybody shares and needs to be happy about it.  Joe and I are learning this with dinner.  You're lucky if you get seconds around here these days! :)

Pumpkin Carving:

Playing outside:

 Drinking like the big kids:

JP's new sign he made for his door.  I'm already cringing at the thought of taking that packing tape off the door.

Don't tell JP we like to play dress up in his pajamas when he's at school! (obviously his sign doesn't work too well!)

 

We wear our sunglasses at night:

 Here's a video of Ryan entertaining us:

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The trio- Ryan didn't want to put on his werewolf costume at first:

Two of the prettiest pumpkins in the patch:

Off to Bass Pro Shop fro some early trick-or-treating.  Ryan decided it was OK to wear his costume if it meant he would get some candy!

Lots & Lots of pictures from our trip!

Ryan and some animal friends:

Definitely a highlight!

Ryan really could have stayed there all night.  He was in Heaven!

I asked Caiti where she was driving to?  She said the Post Office!

Checking out the fish.

A little monkey even wanted to play my Game Box Boy!

He was the cutest thing.

Especially from the back!

Going up!

Only in America can you go trick-or-treating and buy a gun at the same time!

It Only Took One Week!

 It only took one week before I ordered another 2 crib tents.  Madison has not only mastered getting in and out of her crib, but she also readily helps Caitlin when she says "Pepper let me out!"  Madison has been unzipping Caitlin's tent so the two can run around instead of taking naps!  Ryan hasn't tried at all yet, but I figured why prolong the inevitable?  I'm pretty sure Ryan will like the crib tent so much he will want to sleep in it until he's about 12 or so!

In other news, JP lost his first front tooth tonight!  He was so excited!  It's been hanging on by a thread the past few days, so I'm glad its finally out.  In the picture of him in the previous post, you can see it was already starting to hang down at the beginning of the week.

My Dad hasn't seen the kids since February and mentioned after seeing the video last week that he hasn't heard the trio really talk that much.  Well, here's a little video about pretty much nothing, but you can hear them talking! :)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Being the Barber

Last night at dinner we looked at JP's hair and it looked odd.  His hair has so much wave to it that at first we believed him when we asked if he did something to his hair and he said no.  But it kept catching our eye and we said are you sure you didn't try and cut it?  After assuring him he would not get in trouble he let us know that he had in fact cut it a little.  One side of his bangs was cut up really high and the other half was much lower.  Of course today was picture day.  I attempted to cut the long side up.  Overall it doesn't look too bad, just a little high on one side!

Saturday:

  Tonight:

Rally in the Alley #8

It's hard to believe, but this was our 8th annual Rally in the Alley where we get together with the families with houses on our alley and across on the ends.  We now have 35 kids (and counting) in just one block!  JP is getting to be one of the older kids now.  One of the girls in the picture actually babysat for us last week too- crazy!

The kids all had fun playing games and eating all the yummy food everyone brought.  They did great hanging out for a couple hours and then we had to get home because Joe and I went out to dinner to celebrate our 10-year anniversary!  It's hard to believe we've been married for 10 years.  It's amazing all that we have accomplished in the past decade, but sometimes it feels like just yesterday that we packed up all my belongings in a U haul and moved them from St. Louis to Denver!  We were talking at dinner that when we celebrate our 20, JP will be a senior in high school!  But I told Joe first things first, we have to get through potty training the triplets before we can think about our kids going off to college!  I can't wait to see all the adventures we have ahead of us in the next 10 years!

The trio lined up for their first tattoos:

Showing off his tattoo:

JP practicing his corn hole skills!

The kids lined up for an egg toss:

Spencer getting hit with an egg that was intended for JP!

I caught a rare moment when all 4 kids were playing together:

We also started to get out our Halloween decorations.  More to come!

10 years ago!  October 7, 2000

Some Rearranging

 
We knew the day would be coming soon.  The trio had been getting closer and closer to getting out of their cribs.  Ryan tried it first and fell and it scared him.  Madison tried it a couple months later and fell and it scared her.  Caitlin tried it in the the past few weeks and woo-hoo freedom!

I was downstairs working at naptime and heard doors shutting upstairs and I knew it was time.  Time to order the crib tent.  When I went upstairs for the second or third time I saw that Caitlin had crawled up on her crib and over to Madison's.  As I walked in the door she was straddling the sides of Madison's crib and leaning over onto the windows.

I didn't know how Caitlin was going to take being caged in and I was shocked when I started to put it on her crib.  She was excited!  She kept saying "Caitlin's tent" and then she made me laugh out loud as I was finishing up when she said "oooo-that's nice!".  She was thrilled to get something the other 2 didn't have! Ryan and Madison were pretty upset that they didn't have one at first, but now they are used to it.  I also turned the girls cribs so they do not touch at all.  If I would have known it would make my life this much easier I would have gotten it months ago!  Now we just have to wait and see it the others will need them soon too.  Our goal is to make until their third birthday and then get big kid beds....we'll see!

Ryan asked me to take his picture!

This is how I find Ryan many days during nap.  He is always taking off his diaper.  Knock on wood, he hasn't had an accident yet!

Here are some pictures of the girls enjoying a cookie after their nap last week.  Ryan was still sleeping away.

Maddi and her crazy hair!

Caitlin

Doing some stretches! (actually this is a good shot to see how the girls toes curl under.)