Happy Birthday to Moi!!!!!!!!

Contrary to popular public opinion, having your "hands full" isn't alllllllll bad!

So technically I'm another year older... but if you're expecting me to mature any time soon, you must be new here. : )))

Murray had a late hockey game last night & didn't get to bed til 2:16am so when the kids started fussing around 3, he was pretty out of it. Same at 4, 5 & 6am...seemed like someone was always having a problem. Honey has been talking in her sleep often lately. One night she started hollering "I wanna be a BUNNY!!!!!!!! I wanna BE A BUNNY!!!!!" and other times she'll say "Lovey took my Baa-bee". The dreams must be getting more vivid or something.







Around 7:00ish, Sweetie needed to go to the bathroom & I wasn't really all that keen on getting up just yet and I heard her hop out of bed & go by herself and then crawl back into her own bed again. I was surprised! She normally just starts crying when she first comes to. I heard the others stirring & Murray was still totally out of it so I decided to get up with them. He staggered out of bed and groggily asked if I wanted to sleep some more but I figured I'd let him off the hook.



I went & crawled in with Sweetie & then Honey came in and joined us & Lovey wasn't long behind & we were all snuggled up in there. So wonderfully cozy! I got lots of birthday hugs & kisses and they sang to me over and over : ))))



Murray took them to the dollar store so they could each pick out presents for me. I got a new spatula, cutting board AND purple charms for scrapbooking. Quite a good haul!



I also got lots of phone calls, a nice surprise visit from T and as if that's not enough, Old Nanny made us a pumpkin cheesecake & sent it out to our house via her daughter who lives nearby. I was feeling good & spoiled!


Most of the other guests thought the tats were real. What the heck did they think he was dressed up as then?????

And the day wasn't over yet! Murray & I had a big night out too. My aunt & uncle were having a Halloween party so we dressed up & went over. (the girsl told me "you look beautiful Mummy!" but thought "Daddy looks funny...")



We had our trusty sitter come over & the evening went off without a hitch (unless she's holding back on us...). We enjoyed the party, loads of great costumes and OMG!!!!!! the FOOOOOD!!!!!! Holy ol appetizers Batman! I swear, there was something new coming out of the oven every 20 minutes! and that was on top of all the platters of cheese & crackers, pretzels, chocolates, cheese balls, guacamole dip and the best stocked bar in town (well it looked like a lot of liquor to me anyway but what do I know about it?). We only stayed for a couple of hours but since we rarely socialize anywhere by ourselves, that felt like a nice long evening ot us. We were home by eleven & all was quiet here.

Our super duper hosts!

Aunt Caroline

the lamest costume at the party & her mad scientist, calculator wielding boyfriend.

Holy CRAP!

Since when did we forget how to go to the bathroom around here?? It's getting to the point that I'm tempted to just piss on the rug myself!!!!!!!!!!! Heck, everyone's doing it, I'm starting to feel left out. *sigh* We've been having trouble with Lovey all week. First she was holding out on us and trying not to give anything up. Every once in awhile something would slip and we were going through 5 pairs of underwear a day! Then finally, I decide to pull out some Runts candy and offer it to the next successful pooper. I think it was Sweetie who was more than pleased with the new incentive. Honey took one look at Sweetie's reward & did not pass go, did not collect $200 and went directly to the can & did what she had to do to get that treat. Lovey decided she'd get in on the action and wasted no time in making her deposit. and what a deposit. Good thing she didn't wait much longer.... She is soooooooooo stubborn! Earlier in the day, I'd gotten frustrated when we were in the 3rd set of underwear in half an hour and told her she had to stay in the bathroom until she was finished. I set up Murray's laptop on a tv tray & put on a Cinderella movie. She sat there for half the movie with NO results. Uggghhhhh!!

I thought maybe the new candy would solve things but she had several accidents again today. It's driving me CRAZY!!!! Today she was playing outside & then all of a sudden says " I smell something stinky..." Hmmmm..... "Lovey, is it your pants????" "yeah. I pooped" For the love of Pete, child!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Are you even TRYING?????????? arghhhhhhhhhhh!

There's been so much going on this week, and I'm feeling a little overwhelmed & stressed with all the "to do's" kicking around in my brain. Maybe she's picking up on my anxiety???? It's verrrrrrrrrrrry difficult to act non chalant and pretend that it's ok, we'll just try harder next time blah blah blah when I want to scream my head off. I pulled out some lifesaver suckers & picked up some Garbage Candy & more Runts at the store tonight in hopes of making clean unerwear a little more appealing tomorrow.

The good part of the day was this morning when Shirley came back after a long hiatus. The girls were really excited to see her & didn't give me a hard time when I wanted them to finish eating (insead of playing), get dressed, make their beds, brush their teeth etc. They had a great time reading with her, getting her to help bandage up poor wounded Bonny with all her owies and teaching her how to pretend trick or treat.

I'd better get to bed so I'm not so testy tomorrow!

Wednesday, sweeeeeeeeeeeet Wednesday!

Sweetie was having a hard time coughing last night & around 4am I went & crawled in with her. I'm not sure how that helps her throat but she always settles down & falls back asleep if I'm in there with her. I only intended to stay long enough for her to fall back asleep but the next thing I knew, it was 7:30am! So much for getting back into my own cozy bed!



We had a good time at playgroup as usual & headed off for gymnastics. I find the session a little tricky. Three of them, one of me... you know the drill. They aren't really into the whole sit down & listen to the instructions thing. They just want to get in there & play on the stuff and I have to try and corral them & then get them to do what the coach instructed. Whooo boy. My biggest consolation is that there are 2 little boys that are several months younger than the girls & they are MUCH more out of control than my girls. So in comparison, we're not doing too bad & Stretch (that's the coach's name) says that they're doing great & par for the course.

Although they're not 100% obedient (ha!) they're definitely 110% cute! When we got home, we made a ghost out of a bedsheet to hang in the trees out front. They were very excited about it and loooooooooooooove our new friend in the yard! They kept running over to hug & kiss him. He has even been given a name... ready? Ghostie! or sometimes Ghostie-ah.

Then they reallllllllllllly got into the spirit and wanted to "pretend' Halloween so we got out the costumes and they dressed up, got out their treat bags & went trick or treating up and down the hallway. I could hear them knocking on my bedroom door & saying "Hi!" Then they'd run back and "show" me their loot. They even shared their chips & chocolate with me. So generous with the fake stuff, let's see how it goes when the real stuff rolls in!

They were especially excited for Murray to come home and be SCARED of the big bad ghost! I wish we had a camera set up in the kitchen to get some footage of their chatter at dinnertime. They just never stopped tonight. They told him all about the costumes and the ghost and somehow Lovey started talking about what dinosaurs (or something) eat and apparently it's sandwiches with old people in them. Crunchy ones at that! with tomatoes on top. So if you're of an advanced age, stay away from large slices of bread.

Practicing being really scary!

Shooting someone else's family

I had a mom from the multiples club ask me to do their family photos in August but then my camera broke and then there were a lot of weekends tied up with other stuff & this was the first week we could arrange to get together.

Somebody tell me where the evening light went????? I realize it doesn't stay light til 9:00 anymore but 6:30 didn't seem much of a stretch but I was having a hard time by then! I couldn't use my regular lens at all, it wouldn't work in the dwindling light so I had to go with the new one and I'm not wild about the results. I think I got a few she'll like but I had hoped to have a few more than that to show for her $40 investment. Hopefully I'll improve soon! I was really nervous about how these would look in print so I went to Walmart & got a few done just to check & they all looked fine at 4x6 so I felt much better after that!

Shooter Shelley Came & Went

We had our family photo taken today but I'm not sure how it went! The wind picked up just after we left the house (outdoor pictures) and it was a bit chilly & it wasn't long before Sweetie was "freeeeeeeezing!" and they kept asking to go home. I thought turtlenecks & cardigans would be sufficient but apparently not. Surely something turned out? We'll have to wait & see. She said she'd try and have a couple pictures ready for me in early December but it would be awhile longer before everything was done. It's a busy season as everybody tries to get that Christmas card photo done so I'll just have to try and be patient.... soooooooooo not my strong suit but it'll give me something to look forward to!

Weekends are TOOOOOOO short!

I can't believe it's almost midweek already, although you KNOW I'm looking forward to Wednesday!! : )))

It seems every weekend just races by lately & it's all rush rush rush. Lovey & I went shopping for a few hours on Saturday & picked up a few more Christmas gifts & some outfit options for them for their pictures. We went to 3 different stores & it was hard to find things that weren't "matching" but still looked like they coordinated. I saw 3 variations of an outfit at Sears that had all the same colours in the same shades of aqua & grayish brown but when I figured out I'd have to spend over $100 on them JUST for the picture, I decided it wasn't worth it. I'd just bought them a pile of new clothes when I was in Chicago (or as Honey calls it "The 'cago"). I mostly picked up playclothes & no dressy stuff or anything warm enough to wear without a coat. Not that my sweater idea turned out much better....

On Sunday we had a little breakthrough at church! Murray was able to take the girls out for Sunday school AND come back in for the rest of the service. They looooooove their Sunday school teacher & were quite happy to go off with her when they were done the group sing song thing they do first. Woohoo!

Laundry woes here! Our clothes dryer element is glowing bright red & I have an appointment to have it looked at but they told me that I shouldn't use it in the meantime. Before going to M&D's on Sunday, I ran a couple loads of clothes to take up there to dry. This of course took longer than I expected and the kids were fussy & cranky as they all have colds so by the time the washer was done it had been a long day already.

At M&D's they decorated Hween cookies! They had a great time spreading on the icing & sprinkling the candies on & eating the cookie afterwards (or the trimmings at least).

On Saturday after I was done shopping, Murray took Lovey & Honey over to the warehouse at his office & they brought their bikes & practiced for over an hour and a half. Sweetie didn't want to go and then changed her mind just as Murray was leaving & we couldn't catch him . The next day she started off the same way but realized the error of her ways & Honey & Lovey were very convincing in how much fun it would be & talked her into it. Murray said they had a blast on Sat, their faces were all smiles as they zipped around the room & realized they really did know how to bike! He got some video footage so if you'd like to see that, email me & I'll send you the link.

Still playing around with my new lens that I got in the 'cago. I haven't quite figured it out yet & still seems hit or miss but when I do get it to work, it's pretty cool!


this is how great the depth of field can be, just a tiny point of focus & the background blurred out so it's not so distracting but I think for portraits I'm going to have to have a little more in focus than this otherwise it'll just be someone's nose.

Honey was playing peek a boo with the beads.

Colour Quandry!?!?!

We're getting our family pictures done this morning & now I'm not so sure about my outfit selections!!!!!!!! I thought it'd be nice if we all wore solid colour sweaters & jeans. Sounds simple enough doesn't it?



Well now I'm thinking they don't look so hot! Can I wear my burnt orange sweater if one of the kids has pink on? Should I wear my pink one instead? or is that too much pink? Maybe I should swap it for my beige one maybe??????? I like the orangeish one better & it looks more "fall-ish" but I'm not sure it fits in with the others... and what about our blue jeans? They're not all the same shade of blue!!! and if I'm wearing blue jeans, can I wear my black shoes? or should I wear blue shoes? and if I wear blue shoes will my black socks look funny???? and I put Murray's clothes out for him but he decided to add a BRIGHT RED shirt under his navy blue sweater! THAT'S not going to show up much now is it???????? ACKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!


Where's wardrobe when I need them???????????

M.E. Weekend

I was away in Chicago for Thanksgiving weekend (Murray and the girls stayed with his parents). I've been part of an email group for triplet moms since I was pregnant. Not only does everyone in the group have a similar family situation to mine, everyone's kids are the SAME age. All babies were born between June-Dec 2004 (OK so a 6 mth difference for some but verrrrrrry close!) We've been chatting and emailing & sharing stories, challenges & successes and family photos for years. This year we decided to arrange a Mothers Escape (M.E.) Weekend and went to Chicago.

Originally there were 12 of us planning to meet, 3 who lived locally & 9 flying/driving in. Then we had 6 last minute situations that prevented half the people from coming. Although the reunion (so to speak) was much smaller than planned, we still had a blast. I met up with one of the moms at the airport. We'd never met in person or even spoken on the phone before. I wasn't sure how things would go initially. Would it be awkward? It's one thing to spill your guts by email, quite another to look them straight in the eye! I needn't have been concerned, Kara found me & walked up with a casual "Hey Kelly!" and that was that. My online friend immediately became my IRL friend. Everyone was the same way. I remember one mom even commenting "you know, we never really introduced ourselves!" Everybody just started chatting & it was so comfortable & relaxed & fun.

We all went out for supper to a nice steak place on Friday night, then back to the hotel to hang out in the hot tub for awhile. I'd woken up verrrrrrrry early, too excited to sleep before my flight & by the time we got out of the hot tub, I'd been up for over 20 hours & couldn't keep my eyes open anymore. I fell asleep in the room while everyone was talking & didn't hear a thing til morning.

Good thing I got a good night's sleep, there was ALOT of shopping to do. I don't they'd ever seen anyone on such a mission. Little do they know that although we went from 10am til about 6pm (I did allow an hour or so for a lunch break), I could have kept on going for several more hours!!!!!! I couldn't get over the deals I kept finding! New Nikes: $50 (here $150), Children's Place Outfits $15 (here $25). Even the $4 hair elastics at the grocery store looked good to me. Plus, NO CONVERSION!!!!!! The dollar's at par (or thereabouts) so what you see is what you pay! Normally I'm adding in 10-15% for the currency exchange but not this time. I was in a total frenzy for shopping. LOL I'll have to add an extra day to my trip next time so I don't waste their weekend at the mall. : )))

Saturday evening was even more fun. One of the locals cooked dinner for us (her husband is also in the group) and we spent several hours with her family in her home. A very relaxing & fun evening. We played several different games on the Wii game station/console/thingy and she fed us like there was no tomorrow (she'd also cooked for 12 though). We were very well looked after to say the least!!!!

Sunday came all too soon and after breakfast it was time to pack up & head to the airport. OR SO I THOUGHT! After I got dropped off & checked in for my flight, I found out there was a 2 hour delay & I'd already arrived 2 hours early and then had 4 hours to kill. I could have gone to another mall!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (just kidding Kara!)

I had so much fun with these girls! We laughed & laughed over each other's stories and got to know each other even better than before. I hope we do it again next year & that even more people make it.