Us - week 3

Almost fell off the wagon there! A few days late, but here is what our week 3 looked like! Our first picture is most everyday...Easton JAMMING his mouth full of food. 

We had some rainy days so it was time to start incorporating jump time to get the cabin fever wiggles out. Jenna loves jumping - land, trampoline, couch...you name it. 

Isn't it wonderful (and embarrassing) when you find something in a closet you bought a long time ago ? I think it got stashed away in the Birthday season / Thanksgiving clean up, but alas!...a new cute rug for the loveseat. 

Our original "Little" Christmas was postponed due to the flu outbreak in the family. Ryan's brother and family came up from SC so we were able to have our Christmas time together then. Caden and Easton loved wrestling with big cousin, Evan. 

Easton made his rounds to everyone. He quietly went upstairs and got cousin Lauryn to read him some books in bed. Adorable! 

Busted! Easton is not allowed to play with the twins' leapfrogs. He may have gotten away with a few extra things while Ryan was traveling for work. 

Ryan and I have adopted a tradition from some fellow twin parents we know. We are going to each take a month and intentionally plan a date day/night with Caden and Jenna individually. It is so good for them and wonderful for us to have time alone to see their little personalities and get them all to ourselves. Ryan took January and first up was Caden. Ryan took him to the train show which is Caden's love language right now. They had a blast and ended the outing with some KK doughnuts - that makes any outing complete! 

 Caden will ALWAYS choose a chocolate sprinkle doughnut. Always. 

Mommy had to do some damage control for this first round of "dates." Jenna was not happy she was not invited. Oh the indignity! ...as one of those Thomas trains say on the movie. So she got to finger paint by herself ... her love language. 

The twins have started sleeping together in their tiny toddler beds. It is adorable, yes. But one night while Ryan was traveling last week, I headed to Gigi and Papa T's for a little break. Out of an entire king sized mattress pad on the floor, this is how they slept all night....crunched in one top corner. 

My pantry redo is mostly done! Everything came out, I painted the front facing board with chalk paint and labeled where everything should go. Now anyone can put my groceries away! :) hint. hint. 

Us - week 2

Week 2!!! Quite a fun week minus our first picture. Easton went to get tested for allergies. As yuck as it looks, chill Easton just said "ouch!" once then just sat in my lap and looked at the pictures on my phone. Strangely we do not have sure answers. His nasal passages show strong signs of an allergy reaction, but all of the pricks on his back were negative. So, it does help to know each random runny nose he gets is probably a flare up and not a sickness, but to what?

We finally had our annual Christmas "brunch" with our special group of friends. THIRD time was the charm as we had to keep rescheduling due to sicknesses, fevers, flu, you name it. I even kept my Christmas decorations up so we could have our annual picture in front of the tree. The things you do for friends! :)

Princess attire was the big hit. These three are such special friends.

I do a hand print Christmas craft each year. I'm obsessed at seeing how much their little hands grow. And considering how tiny the twins' hands were that first Christmas, it makes it even more reminiscent to see. This year, we switched it up and did a footprint...three weeks after Christmas. oops. No one else needs to know. And how about you can't tell whose foot is who? Triplets I'm telling ya...

We busted out Caden's "big present" from Gigi and Papa T. This picture represents a four year old boys dream: jumping while watching a Thomas the Train movie. :)

We know Jenna can jump on "land". But Jenna on a trampoline? Danger. Girl is crazy while jumping.

It has been cold and wet this past week. So there has been a lot of coloring. I love it and I hate it. Soon many marker tops!!

I am beginning to see this scene a lot lately. The boys are starting to gravitate towards each other during play time. Caden got his leapfrog for Christmas and Easton just LOVES to sit next to him and watch (because he is not allowed to touch!). To me, it is a really sweet snapshot of their future growing up together as brothers.

Kids Say...

Jenna: Mom can I have some iPad?
Me: What? (I was getting ready in front of the mirror)
Jenna: Can I have some iPad right here? (points to her eyes)
Me: ohhh, do you mean eye shadow?


Jenna fell in the backyard and was having a particularly heavy "drama queen" day. After crying for some time and not moving on, she told Ryan "I think a snake bit my hand when I fell." Oh, Jenna....


Jenna: Dad, I have a secret. I can't tell you that Mommy got you a shirt for Christmas presents today.

Us

So I follow a blog of a mama of five (FIVE), including triplet boys. She recently posted an idea that is genius to me! The idea is to post a quick snapshot of your week...quick, no big write up, not that much brain power required. That is my cup of soup right now. Love it.  So here goes! Week 1 is all cell phone pics so not the best quality, but nonetheless....

The first week of 2015 was spent at the beach as we always do. I love getting away from hustle, bustle, traffic, "to-do's", all of it! And I just really love the beach. :) 

We found a few boxes of sparklers so we went out to celebrate the New Year. Mr. Safety (Caden) was sure to keep his arms perfectly perpendicular to his body, Easton wanted to hold it himself and Jenna was a dancing fairy with no reservations. :)

Aunt Rha Rha and Uncle Brad got the kids a stomp rocket for Christmas. It is super fun for children and adults! It took all the kids 2 minutes to figure out the running start / jump combo produced the biggest blast offs. As a result, there is a rocket, a broom handle and a little bouncy ball in the tree branches down at the beach house. oops. 

No beach trip is complete without a wagon ride around the block with Papa T. 

I made homemade salted caramel sauce for our neighbors for Christmas this year. SCORE! Amazing. Yum. I gave some to my mom and sister only after making them promise to bring it to the beach for our gluttonous snacking binge. I then made my friends' homemade pound cake recipe. I could lick the screen right now looking at the picture. SO GOOD. 

Papa T also always brings his PVC pipe (??) to the beach to draw objects, names, and a maze for the kids to follow. For some reason it is the best thing ever to the kids. They love it!

I love the beach and I love this boy. He said "we at the beach" 1,456 times.

And just because this picture is blog worthy any day of the week. Listen to the silence! 

My pantry is in need of help...serious help. I have so many bottles of ketchup because I can't find the one we have, think we are out and buy another one at the grocery store....over and over! So, it ALL came out. I have a plan to get it organized, but as with everything else it takes me 6 weeks to get any small task done. 

And to end the week on a bit of a sad note, my sweet Mama Peggy died after a long lung illness. She was my "adopted" grandmother who took care of me and my sister when we were little, kept my mom from dropping us off at a Fire Station for free and gave us wonderful childhood memories. More on Ms Peggy later, but tonight at the visitation it was obvious many, many people will miss her like I will. 

Trains and Tiaras

So, last year we had the twin's 3 yr birthday party and Easton's 1 yr birthday party within two weeks of each other. My baby was going to get his own special first birthday party, but I basically knew the moment I started planning that from there on out, the kids would be having a combined party. That is what happens when your birthdays are 2 weeks apart during an insanely busy time of year. :) They do everything together anyway - might as well party together, too!

That brings us to this year. When I asked the twins what they wanted at their birthday party, Caden immediately replied "trains" and Jenna immediately replied "princess." Lucky for them I follow a blog of a mom who has quadruplets (3 boys/1 girl) and she had thrown a Trains and Tiaras party. Perfect! At times like this, you have to love the internet and gleaning off others creativity. I took a few ideas here, a few ideas there, got super lucky the Dollar Store is carrying Disney princess party stuff right now and used the 497 trains we have laying around this house to throw together a party.

Ryan was gone most of the week for work and a dear friend's son (2 years old) was hospitalized with serious complications. That combination plus the fact that I am soooo miserably tired these days meant the party was down a few notches from the usual. But seeing my friends journey up close and seeing my three children run around healthy and happy and at home made that "party" enough for me. I still love throwing a serious party for my babies, it is just something I always will have in me. It is a serious reflecting time for me that they are here and call me "mom." So many prayers and tears were cried for them to be here so you better believe I make a big deal of their birthday.

Special thanks to my sister again - without her most of my life would be documented in a blurry cell phone picture. :)

choo choo! 

Hallelujah for Dollar Store princess gear 

The girls had their own princess room to dine in 

Whole Food cake didn't happen. Tragedy. Thank goodness I have an extra Thomas or twelve to throw on a cookie cake! 

Thank you Pinterest, my first successful birthday "cake" homemade. 

Princess Drama of course had to wear her new yard sale princess dress. 

I just love this picture. Deep conversation about something with those two. 

Candy-necklace making station

These two together are TROUBLE 

I printed lots of Thomas and Princess coloring sheets. Papa T (my dad) was so excited. :) 

Trying to make his move

killed it. 

Easton showing everyone his new Thomas pillow. He bear hugs that thing every night as he falls asleep. Adorable!

My two four year olds and one two year old. Yes, it will mess with your brain, read slowly.  And yes, Jenna had a wardrobe change. 

Hello & Goodbye, Fall

Well, Santa came through. I'm typing on our new laptop where it took 2.4 seconds to open up the Internet, the space bar has worked every single time and...wait for it... every picture I selected uploaded the first time. WHAT? 

Anyway, the only pictures I currently have loaded on here are the few I snapped of my fall items as the twins were ravenously taking down any pumpkin they saw getting ready for Christmas decor. So, just sitting down to get the feel of blogging again with the only pictures I have access to. Enjoy some orange since we have all moved on to red and green. I get the feeling that will be typical - me, this blog, pictures....a few months late to the party. :) 

Our Thankful Tree this year. Items included: grass, the sky, the "jumping place", football,  Jesus, God in Heaven and "I can jump." 

My amazing blocks from my friends at Carolina Homemade on Etsy. Awesome, awesome. AND - they are reversible. I have already made the "flip" to the reverse side which says "jingle bells." 

Yes I sure did make that! Got crafty with my extra time on vacation at the Lake this year. 

Why yes I did make this one, too. I shocked myself! 

Super Huge Picture Frame

What do you do with one that is just sitting around? Enter Pinterest.

(I had this for sale on craigslist but the guy who came to  buy it just wanted the picture itself, not the frame. Hey, whatever you want when you still pay full asking price, right?)

A can of spray paint, a yard of super cheap, adorable fabric and prints of your precious babies and voila!

BEFORE

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out the 3rd time. First time, I had the pictures glued to foam board on top the fabric on TOP of the glass. The pictures bubbled with the type of glue I used, so I peeled them off and used a picture glue. Still a little bubbly so I just abandoned the canvas 2D look and put the pictures behind the glass so they are protected, flat and secure.      



AFTER

                    

Kids Say...

Oh my goodness, when your little toddlers start talking, it can usher in some of the most memorable moments of parenting! Here are some things the kids say that I can't stand to forget. And yes, I've been kind enough to use them in a sentence for maximum comprehension.

- Slip-aly. Otherwise known as Slipery
Mom, the floor is slip-aly where I spilled the water.

- Poop Duck. Otherwise known as Duck Poop
Ewwww, mom, look at all that poop duck on the (car) window. Mom, the geese left all of this poop duck on the road...gross!

- Yeg. Otherwise known as Leg
Caden: mom, my yeg hurts from jumping too much today. (I'm sad to say that since I first wrote this down, Caden is now correctly saying "leg." :( booooo for maturity!

- PonyTails. Otherwise known as Finger Nails.
Jenna: mom, can you please paint my ponytails?
Caden: ooohh, mom, I love your beautiful ponytails!

Say What?

Your eyes do not deceive you. This blog actually has a post again! Word on the street is that Santa is bringing us a new laptop and it is my number #1 priority in using that computer to start using this blog as a tool to remember our life happenings again. Blogging has fallen by the wayside for two main reasons: 1- our current computer is a sure way to send my blood pressure skyrocketing. It takes 30 minutes to turn on, another 30 to get to blogger, good luck getting a picture to import and the space bar sticks. So, needless to say, blogging wasn't worth it and I don't have an hour to just get to the main blogger page. 2- any free time I have has been spent on home projects or sleeping.

Anyway, working through a difficult parenting time this past spring/summer has shown me how much the Lord has blessed us. I have been given an amazing opportunity to spend my days with my kids and the stories and lessons learned are too good not to share. Plus, if I've learned anything in the parenting journey it is that we have to do this life together! We were not made to live life alone or on an island. Community...the Church...is a beautiful thing. If we could be a little more open about real life I think many of us would realize we are not alone in our thoughts, our struggles, our victories and celebrations. So.....if Santa delivers, then that is my commitment to myself and my lonely, ignored, sweet blog. :)

Sharing is Caring

Another fun video to prove a) the kids DO share AND get joy from doing so at times (a reminder for me that these moments exist on those "special days.") and b) to document perhaps the first and only time Easton has willingly given up food to someone else.

p.s. yes that is a bandaid on Jenna's forehead. No, she was not injured.


Sharing is Caring from Casey Little on Vimeo.

The Easton Dance

A glimpse into our evenings.....looks like Easton is turning into our little family clown! A few things I love about this video: a) the belly laughs from the twins b) the stomach poke out mid-way through - a new move Easton threw in there for us and c) that the twins still ask Easton to do the tip toe dance weeks after he started it. It is neat to see the twins ask Easton for entertainment instead of mom / dad / each other.


The Easton Dance from Casey Little on Vimeo.

Let the storm rage on...

Well, we missed the phase when everyone posted their toddler singing "Let it Go"from Frozen. We were just waiting for the right moment and friends, I think this is it.

Be sure to note the Jenna-Sass tell Caden to "let me hear it, let me hear it" like she is trying to find the correct pitch (hilarious!) and then I challenge you to pick out Jenna's voice vs Caden's voice.  I may be mommy blind, but I'd say they nailed the high note. :) Enjoy.


High note: Nailed it from Casey Little on Vimeo.