1st Day of Preschool

Where has the time gone?  My babies aren't babies any longer.  They're preschoolers!  Somehow time is moving faster than I'd like it to some days.   (Other days can't be over fast enough lol).  Yesterday was bittersweet.  The girls were VERY EXCITED to start their 1st day of school.  We did a lot of prepping and planning to make sure they knew what was coming.  However; they missed the part where they were staying and we were leaving.   So we got them to school - they sat down at the table and we said our goodbyes.  Triple nuclear meltdown! 

When we picked them up (Pete took the day off so we could both bring them to school) they were exhausted.  They must have played hard and had a good time because not only were they tired - they agreed to go back again!  Yay!

We took them out to lunch at Friendly's after school and then came home for naps.  They came home with tons of paperwork to be filled out...I need to get on that. 

So it was a good 1st day :)

Hurricane Irene

Well it's blog worthy because there hasn't been a hurricane in CT in 20 years.  I don't remember the last one...and I'm sure the girls won't remember this one.  This is a touchy age for them.  They take things SO LITERALLY so we have to watch what we say.  (Case in point...Pete said something about throwing one of them out the window and Emily burst into tears saying "I don't want you to throw me out a window!").  *disclaimer - he was JUST KIDDING*  So I wanted to be very careful how I approached the hurricane with them. 

1st - they aren't terribly afraid of thunderstorms.  I do my best to take them outside when it's thundering and make a big deal out of how cool it is.  So I didn't want to make a big deal out of the hurricane...but let's face it - I was scared! 

2nd - how do you tape up windows, make an emergency kit, move cars and tie things down...all without raising some concerns to a few preschoolers?  It's not easy.  But it can be done! 

We started by telling them we were going to get A LOT of rain.  We kept it simple - just rain.  They don't understand wind yet.  Next - I told them 'guess what?  Today is the day we make a spiderweb on the windows!"  So I let them watch me tape up the big window in the living room and then the windows in our bedroom.  Then - as we explained the lights going out and how we would have to use flashlights and candles...we talked about how cool it would be for their beds to be in our room so Pete and I didn't get scared when the lights went out.  So we moved our bed, made room for their beds, and let them sleep in our room.  Just for the night though - we don't wanna make a habit out that!  They thought it was great that they got to sleep in our room so WE didn't get scared.  :)

This morning - we still had power so I jumped out of bed, made coffee, bagels, Eggo's and boiled some water (don't ask why...I have no idea).  All just in case we lost power.  But we only lost power for a brief moment - then it came back on.  No damage to the house here but some trees and power lines were down in the neighborhood.  I guess we managed to get through this hurricane unscathed.  Thank God! 

Simple things

I always try to find ways to keep the girls occupied.  I love to take them outside and I love to take them to new parks...and they love going to the park.  It's hard not to get caught up in the house doing housework while they're playing and keeping each other occupied.  If you show up to my house on any given day (before nap) - you will find the table with breakfast left on it, toys on the floor, clothes strewn across the house and an empty coffee mug somewhere in the house.  On nice days - you won't find us here though.  I'm big on ditching the 'adult' responsibilities for taking the girls to and do something.  We like to visit people where I use to work, hit the park (or 2), go to Grammies house and hang out with the dog, take a walk, go to the pool, visit our cousins (this is a fav), anything BUT stay home and get caught up in cleaning.  I hate when my house is messy.  But I have to remember that one of the reasons I quit my full time job was so that I could spend TIME with the girls.   Cleaning the house while they're playing in another room isn't the kind of time I want.  I want good, quality time with them!  Not so that they can grow up and say "My mom spent sooo much time with me when I was little."  Nope. It's so that when they grow up I can say "I am so glad I got to spend that time with them when they were younger."  Time is something we all need/want more of.  And it's the one thing in life we truly can't buy or get back.  So I wanna make the best of what I have. 

We were suppose to go to the Cape this weekend but our plans were foiled by the impending hurricane. Since Pete had the time off anyway - we went to the zoo yesterday.  Have you ever read the book "Good Night, Gorilla"?  We have been reading this book to them since they were infants.  The bind on the book is destroyed and although the pages are made of a carboard like material - they're starting to get demolished as well.  But the girls insist that we keep the book and they love when we read it to them.  In the book - the zoo keeper is saying goodnight to all of the animals while the gorilla is letting the animals out of the cages.  So at the zoo yesterday - Hannah was way too nervous to enjoy anything.  She kept asking if they were going to get out of the cages.  LOL  At least she's paying attention when we read to her!  When we were at the bear exhibit - the bear got up and walked toward us.  Hannah & Hailey just about jumped out of the wagon and took off.  But they did enjoy themselves and we had a really nice family day. 

We took the girls to Friendly's for ice cream after the zoo.  When I asked the girls what their favorite animal at the zoo was - Emily & Hailey said the tiger.  I thought that was pretty weird since the tigers we saw were just kind of laying around and we didn't spend much time watching them.  Hannah said her favorite was seeing the monkey's (those were very active and they had 3 or 4 different species so it was a pretty big exhibit).  Then Emily says "I even gave the tiger a high five!"  Pete and I started laughing so hard..........

She did give him a high five!

Whineeeeeeeeeeeee

I really dislike HATE whining.  But it seems to be ALL that the girls are doing lately.  And it's driving.  me.  insane.  They whine to get a glass of milk, to get a toy, to go out to play, to get picked up, to go to the bathroom, to brush teeth.....you get the picture!   I think this might be what does me in!  The whining is winning. 

Last night Pete and I went to the annual margarita party at camp Chabbot.   And as always it was wonderful (we even played Quelf!).  I love the fact that I can feel at home with my cousins.  Whether they're here at my house or I'm at theirs - it's the same feeling...accepted and loved.  Oh and they didn't whine so that made it even better..................................  :)

Busy week coming our way this week.  I'm working Mon, Wed & Thu and we're leaving for the Cape on Thursday afternoon - returning on Sat (or Sun - we haven't decided yet).  And the girls start school next week!  I'm nervous and excited.  I'm sure it'll be more positive than negative.  I think the girls are more than ready for school and school is hopefully ready for them!  We shall see....

Grrrr

I posted yesterday and today....on the other blog!  LOL  I need to find a way to combine them into one I guess.  Anyhow - here's the link...........

http://luccotriplets.blogspot.com/

Cousins

Have I mentioned before how much I love my cousins?  I hope the girls really enjoy their cousins as much as I do.  Yesterday we took a trip to go hang out with Daniel and Christopher for the day.  Daniel (who is 13) I thought would just disappear into his room for the day and sleep or play video games.  But he didn't leave us at all!  As a matter of fact - he played with us and hung out with us all day.  Even going outside!  When the girls took a nap - Christopher was watching TV and Daniel and I played a quick game of mad gab (fun game but hard!).  He showed me some hilarious videos on youtube and we started a words with friends game (scrabble on our phones).  He's a pretty cool kid and he's an awesome older brother. 

Christopher and the girls played all day too.  Actually - it was mostly Christopher and Emily playing together while Hannah & Hailey played together.  If Emily walked away from Christopher he would come get her, take her by the hand and say 'Come on!' and off they would go again.  He didn't mind them playing with his toys and he wanted to JOIN them with whatever they were doing!  He didn't take nearly as much down time as he has needed in the past and there was NO FIGHTING ALL DAY LONG!!!!!!!!!  4 toddlers could have easily turned into chaos and a huge headache.  But these kids were amazing.  With Daniel's help I made it through the day with no bumps, bruises, broken bones or lost children.  But I think I enjoyed spending time with Daniel most.  He's a good reminder for me that not all 13 y/o kids are horrible!  LOL 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PETE!!!

Funny stuff

I don't know how I forgot to put this in yesterday's blog but it's worth it for sure.  So earlier yesterday the girls and I had to run some errands.  Breakfast WAS offered but my 3 munchkins decided not to eat.  Normal this isn't a problem - there's plenty of food here to munch on during the day.  But I'm getting them ready for their school schedule and that means they need to eat breakfast earlier and not have anything until snack time.  Since we were going to be back before snack time - I didn't bring one with me.  First we had to go to the bank.  That took an hour...ONE FULL HOUR.  The girls were good.  So then I was debating if we should even go to Target because they had been so good at the bank - I didn't want to push my luck.  But we needed to go to Target so we went.  Soooooo I've got all 3 in the carriage and I'm looking at something.  Hannah says "Mommy my belly hurts."  I say "Oh sorry to hear" and go back to shopping.  Then she says really loud and pathetic "But my belly hurts so bad because there's nothing in it!"  OMG if I could have crawled in a hole I would have..................

Play dates

Today we had a play date with the Dudley crew - they have triplets that are 4 months older than the girls but they also have a TEENAGER!  He came along for the day as well - and everyone had a great time.  The kids actually played TOGETHER today which is really great.  I'm noticing that the girls are really playing more with other kids the more we get together.  

After our play date - we headed over to the neighbors house - the one who has 2 boys.  We needed to tell Pete that we were headed over there so he knew where we would be.  Emily knocked on our back door and when Pete opened it she said "I'm going to Matthews house."  Pete said "What?!" And Emily said "I'm going to Matthews house, that boys house."  Haha Pete was quick to say "Ummm - you're not allowed at boys houses....unless Mommy goes."  Mommy was going anyway but it was a funny conversation. 

Then it was time for dinner, baths and bed.  No naps for the girls today so it was a long day.  They went to sleep NO PROBLEMS! 

Change

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  So without change - we would all be insane (because if you DID do the same thing over and over again and got the same results - it would bore you to insanity itself).  Change is good.  I like change.  But sometimes 'change' means changing from a fluid lifestyle to a ridged strict daily regiment.  Very much like what happened when we gave birth to the girls.  No more coming and going as we pleased, having people over whenever they wanted to show up, leaving for the night on whim...so on.  BUT what we did was change.  We changed our ways to fit the needs of our new family.  And by doing so - we now have 3 happy, very regimented toddlers.  (toot horn here...while patting self on back). 

I think we need some change again.  And school might just give us what we're looking for.  If I could PAY for anything I wanted...it would be time.  God if I only knew how valuable time was before I had kids I wouldn't have wasted so much of it doing only Lord knows what. 

Here's to change...............

On a side note - I'm missing my family.  Especially my cousins up in MA.  So change might mean skipping out for a day or two to get up there. 

BEACH BUMS!

Yes my girls are going to be beach bums...and I am more than thrilled about this!  We spent the day at the beach yesterday and they did amazing.  Emily kept saying "Mom - we need a boat."  We played in the sand, water and on the pier.  We threw seashells into the ocean and even checked out some crabs that some other kids caught.  Oh and we saw a ton of jelly fish (aka: gooey fish).   It was definitely a fun trip and there will be more beach days to come!!!!!!!!