Shortcake Season is upon us!

Although we don't have local berries yet, we went ahead and had our first shortcake of the season & it was pretty sweet!!!

Everyone enjoyed it, Murray especially of course but Sweetie really dug into hers and just kept shovelling it in til it was all gone.

Slow Weekend!

After all the activities last weekend & the busy days this week, today seemed quite relaxed & easy. Murray got his sleep in this morning (should mean it's my turn tomorrow right?) and by the time he got up, everyone else had eaten & gotten dressed & was pretty much ready to go outside. The girls helped me hang clothes on the line and played on the swing set for a bit.


A boy from a couple doors down came over to 'help' me load our old paint cans & take them to the hazardous waste depot that was set up for the day. It was good to get that junk out of here. I don't want our garage turning into a storage area for junk we have no use for!



After lunch the girls went back in their pool for a bit but didn't stay too long as there was a bit of a breeze & they got cold.

no more group shots for her!

After drying off, Murray took them all to the hardware store to buy supplies to build them a sandbox for their birthday. Then they all went to the playground for awhile. In the meantime I stayed home & goofed off! Niiiiiiiiiiiiice!!!

Murray found a four-leaf clover!

I got some really good news today! After reading my rant of a post from yesterday, my FIL phoned to offer me a fantastic birthday present, his aeroplan points (or enough to get me to the weekend thing with my friends!). Just so you know Rick & Nancy, it's pretty darn close to KitchenAid excitement around here since you phoned!!!!!!!!! Wooohooo!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you!!

Aeropigs!!!!

I am sooooooooooo annoyed, frustrated, disappointed.... arghhhhh! I had enough points to go anywhere in North America & I had a specific trip in mind for them! I'm a moderator for an online group of moms who all had triplets between June-Dec of 2004. We chat daily, swap horror stories, compare notes etc. A lot of us are in pretty close contact and the group is planning a weekend get together this fall in Chicago to actually meet. I'd hoped we'd do this someday & had thought I'd be able to go, using my *%#@ points. I logged in to check on flight options the other day and my balance was zero. It almost made me sick, but since my last statement showed 35000 points and this whole business of points expiring was just introduced recently, I assumed there MUST be some sort of error & phoned to inquire. Nope. There's always been some fine print in there and after 3 years of inactivity (no new points added or points used) you lose the whole shebang, no warning, no notice NOTHING. So if you haven't done anything with your account lately, BEWARE! They could get YOU too!

Busy is Beautiful!

We had a couple of very full & fun days which always seems to make things run smoother around here. Part of it is knowing there's something to look forward to so then even if it's a slow or slightly rough day, I know that there's somthing on the horizon that will definitely be good!

Wednesday we went to playgroup in the morning so that takes care of that half of the day. They're all very comfortable there & run and play with all the toys, colour or read books, whatever they feel like doing. They stay busy & occupied and we always make a trip ustairs to Aunt Caffy's office for a little visit.

After playgroup, Teena & Boo came to our house for lunch and then the kids played most of the afternoon, until they had to go home. They got Teena to play hide 'n' seek with them but it seemed to be the lazy man's version! They all sat on the couch & pulled a blanket over the five of them while I tried to 'find' them when I came in the room. Obviously it was way too difficult to guess where they all were & I had to give up, at which point they threw off their blanket and yelled SURPRISE!!! Quite shocking to say the least : ))) All 4 kids immediately wanted to repeat the game, same blanket, same location, another half a dozen times & would have kept going indefinitely I think. It's sooooo cute to see them playing together & talking amongst themselves, making plans (ok guys c'mon, follow me!) and then take off giggling down the hall. They had a few disagreements over toys, my girls are afraid that Boo is going to take off with their highly valuable items or something. You'd think they'd be used to sharing stuff by now!

Can YOU spot the 5 people hiding in this picture?

Sweetie's first nighttime trial in panties was not a success unfortunately. She had one accident around 4am & was very upset when I had to remove her favourite nightie ("my cousin G give it me!). I managed to wrestle her into some clean dry ones. I had double made her bed when she had the flu so only had to peel off the top layer and she had new sheets waiting underneath the plastic mattress cover. (neat trick I picked up from veteran trip moms!) It took her awhile to settle back down to sleep, the nightie loss was more traumatic than I realized...

Last night however, she did it! We took her to the bathroom before we went to bed & again in the middle of the night & she was fine. I think we're done with diapers, can it really be true???

Wednesday night I didn't dare go out for my walk, the sky was overcast & looked potentially rainy & I'm trying to preserve this sleek look as long as possible! Murray strongly hinted that my exercise videos would do the trick so I dug one of those out. Him & his bright ideas.... that's what you get when you're married to Mr Fitness!

Lovey, Boo, Honey & Sweetie (Sweetie thinks she's in a parade or something!)

Me and the three!

Yesterday we went on a trip to the firestation with Teena & Boo and they seemed to really enjoy it. The fire department does a great job trying to familiarize the kids with what they do and one of them got all their gear on, helmet, mask, oxygen, the whole works. He talked through the mask and explained that that if there was a fire in their house & that they might see him there and that he sounded funny but not to run away because he could help them escape etc The girls were all afraid of him anyway but I thought it was a great idea to give them a preview. We have smoke detectors at home but I've always assumed that we'd be able to get everyone out ourselves & never thought about them being afraid & trying to hide.... Just what I need, another potential disaster to worry about!

After the firestation, we went to McDonald's for lunch or as they girls call it "Old Macdonalds" LOL We had lunch & then they went in the play area for almost 2 hours! It's funny to see that Lovey is the bravest. Sweetie is the climber & risk taker at home so I expected her to be off like a shot, going up through the tower, going down the slides etc but she always hangs back, makes a few attempts but gets scared, starts to cry and comes back down. Meanwhile Lovey's up on the top level, crawling through the tunnels, happy as can be. Honey got a bit of a slow start but wasn't long following Lovey's lead.

Sweetie's First Night........

without a diaper! After 2 nights of staying dry, we told her that if she could do it for 2 more nights, then she'd be all done with diapers. She did it. We take her to pee before we go to bed ourselves & then again if she starts stirring in the night. It's been getting harder & harder to keep her diaper on at night because apparently they're too "wiggly"! She'd fuss & cry and squirm all over as I tried to get her diaper back on after a potty run. We'll see how it goes...

By the way, have you been looking for a word for pants that don't fit right or are undesirable or too uncomfortable or you just don't feel like wearing? Well, they're too "razey"according to Sweetie.

She's really coming out with some good ones lately! The other day, Murray was getting her cereal & she said "Hurry up Daddy!". Considering it was awfully early in the morning, he wasn't very impressed with her tone & told her it wasn't nice to say that to him. She was quiet for a minute and then said "I want to tell somebody to hurry up!" She was very careful not to mention any names though!

Yesterday I was checking my email while they were playing upstairs. I headed up to find Honey using the potty on the landing, helped her clean up & continued on up. Got to the bathroom to find Lovey on the toilet, also wrapping up a #2. Then I noticed Sweetie standing next to the tub with no pants on. I walk over & find her job in the tub. I asked her why sh'ed pooped in the tub. She looked up at me & said "I didn't have any place to go!"

Swimming in May....

We spent alot of time outdoors yesterday, it was gorgeous! I decided to drag their pool out of the garage, put a little more air in & clean it out. I thought that would be a good project for them to help me with & I brought out some buckets & gave everyone their own cloth to scrub with. They worked very diligently! It was really important to them that we get all the dirt off. They got quite wet in the process but it was so warm that it didn't matter.

I had thought that we could get it cleaned up & then I could fill it later or another day... nope. They wanted to go swimming immediately! I managed to put them off til after lunch. It took many trips to the laundry room for hot water to get a decent temperature but they spent over an hour in there "swimming" so I think it was worth the extra effort!

They practiced putting their faces in the water, even Ms. Cautious gave it a try & ended up doing the best job of it & even touched her nose on the bottom!

They jumped,

and jumped!!

and then we worked on the flutterkick for a bit...

I looooooooooooooooove my stylist!

Oh MY!!!!!!! I've fallen in love with a ridiculously expensive salon/spa place to get my hair done. I went for the first time when the girls were just a few months old. It was my birthday & I wanted some pampering so Murray sent me here for a haircut and a massage. Since that, I haven't been able to go back to the $18 haircut. No one touches my hair but Selena!

Unfortunately, this means I can only get a haircut about twice a year, depending on how long I can hang on to my birthday and Christmas money that I get or whether or not Murray splurges on gift certificates for me. It is SUCH a treat to go to this place. I walk in there & it's like I'm on vacation!
The location is nice, they have a cushy little waiting area and someone takes your drink order while you wait for the stylist (ok, just juice, water or tea but STILL!) and it's quiet and there's all this soothing music..... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! and THEN she makes my hair look sooooooooooo good!!!! I love it, I love it, I love it! She does an awesome job that I can't seem to repeat on my own, she's well worth the wait.

Ok, I know, this is a bit much, after all, it's just hair! But frankly, there's way more pictures of those kids on here anyway, one little post all about me isn't going to kill ya! : )))

Lovin The Sun!

Let's GO!!!!!!!!





What a difference great weather can make! We've been getting outside so much more lately & the girls are getting lots of use out of their swingset. It's almost time to set up the pool I think. They've even been going back outside in the evenings after supper for some jumping fun or for walks. They are already starting to resist the idea of bedtime while it's still light out though. I wonder how long before it turns into a real battle?




Sweetie doing her "princess dance"




With them finally feeling better, things seem so much more pleasant around here! Poor Lovey, at one point, after several trips, sat on the toilet and said "I'm getting tired of this!" Oh the things they come out with & I can hear myself in these expressions they're starting to use. So far the worst thing I've heard them spit out is "I don't want to hear that!" I'm sure my time will come that I slip at the wrong moment & those little ears pick up something they shouldn't though!



On Friday Mum was down & I went out to do some shopping. I bought myself a photography book recommended by Shelley so I can study up before she takes me out for my shooting lesson. I also got groceries but that's not too exciting. It was soooooooooo nice to run out & do something on my own for a little while. I had a blizzard for lunch & just relaxed & enjoyed my freedom. Thanks Mumma! She kept them busy while I was gone with new little Shrek toys. They're quite fascinated with him as he says "I'm an ogre!" and "belllllllllllllch!" and something else we can't quite make out.



Got these sweaters last fall & they're still a bit big but they can wear them!

unless of course, SOMEBODY refuses!!

Murray & I took the girls to buy plants on Saturday morning. They had a pretty good time at the nursery & they each selected a bedding plant to bring home. Murray was quite pleased to bring home 6 pots of strawberry plants & I decided to try a few vegetables. It's almost 11PM and he's still out there getting those plants all in. Besides the berries, we've got onions, tomatoes, and then we have some seeds that need to go in. We found a neighbour who could come till up our grown over garden patch. Murray started digging it up and after a couple of hours had barely made a dent in it. This guy came and half an hour & $30 later, the whole garden was all churned up beautifully. It'll be interesting to see if anything will come to fruition or not! Having vegetables in the backyard sure would be handy! I'll try and get some garden shots tomorrow.

Tomorrow is National Multiple Births Awareness Day & our local club celebrated today with a family bbq. It was held at a preschool centre & all the kids had a blast! There was a magician there to entertain for awhile, lots of play equipment and plenty of toys too. Mum & Dad came down to help out & see the girls since we weren't going up to their place this week.