Mother's Day and More!!

We decided to take the kids fishing at our local state park Mother's Day weekend. They were hysterical!! We used crickets for bait and Z was terrified of them and wouldn't let daddy put one on her hook. M (our animal lover) was the best fisherman of the bunch and loved the crickets. C just wanted to squish the crickets and then throw rocks in the water.

After many failed attempts at catching fish, we let the kids splash around in the water. That didn't last long b/c a young Hispanic girl rode her bike over to us and told us that there was a "LARGE animal" in the water and that they had been asked to get out of the water earlier. The picture above is of C on our way home. He is carrying his pants and wearing his 'tighty-whiteys' with pride!!

The picture below is of me and the kids Mother's Day morning b/4 we went to lunch and the picture below is of 4 generations of my hubby's family. (Notice C being sympathetic to Granny and laying down like she is!)

These are pictures of the kids at their Mother's Day Out spring program. The first picture is of them with their favorite teacher "Miss Beth". The 2nd picture is of them dressed as fireflies for the spring program. The last picture you can see Z (3rd from the right) shaking her booty to one of the songs that they were singing.

The kids graduated from their early intervention center this past Sunday. It was a bittersweet day. They have learned so much from their therapists and teachers and they will be missed dearly but it is time for them to move on and show the world what they have learned!!!!!!! The first picture is of M with her favorite helper, Mrs. Van, after the graduation ceremony. When M first put on her graduation gown at home, she said, "I'm Jesus!". The second picture is of the kids on their last day at the early intervention center having an ice cream party. Z is on the left and C and M are on the right towards the back of the picnic table.

Cutest things kids say-- Part 2

Yesterday at therapy, Z saw a little boy in the workout gym who only had on shoes, socks, and shorts. She immediately started yelling that he was naked. I quickly corrected her and told her that he had on shorts and was not naked. She thought for minute and then yelled out, "His shirt is naked!!".

Today, we were getting ready to go to mother's day out and an airplane flew overhead. M looked up and said, "It's daddy on da airpwane." Z said, "No, daddy is in Wexus silly." Daddy is gone for a week to Texas for computer training and we took him to the airport. That is why they still think he is in a plane.

Kids say the cutest things!

Now that we have 3 VERY talkative 3 1/2 yrs. old, we hear them say cute things all of the time. Some of our favorites:

From Z: "I hold you mommy" = hold me mommy

"Old McDonalds" = McDonalds
"I have chilly bumps" = chill bumps
"Uncle Bob's Sauce" = Country Bob's Sauce, her new favorite dipping sauce

From M: "I U"= I love you

"I have pever" = I have fever.
"Awry's" = Arby's
"ear tips" = Q-tips
"wailwoad twacks" = the impressions on her arm from elastic sleeves

From C: when asked any question, he responds, "Well.........????" or "Hmmm! Lets see"
"I feel yucky" = he doesn't feel well

"...but, but, but..." = usually says this when he disagrees with you
"Chick Pil A" = Chic-Fil-A

Prissy Pieces Hairbows & Accessories

I recently started a businness called "Prissy Pieces" and I make hairbows (infant, small, medium, & large), hairbow holders, ponytail holders, and headbands. The hairbows an be made with either an alligator (infant) clip or a metal barrette. The prices range from $2-$8 and all bows are treated to prevent fraying. Above are pictures of some of my hairbows and hairbow holders. The hairbow holders can be personalized or I can make it out of a single wooden letter.

I am currently working on a website: www.prissypieces.com and hope to have more pictures posted there.

This is my way of trying to contribute to the family and it is a stress reliver to me to make hairbows.

CRAZY! CRAZY!! CRAZY!!

Z & M in their "pretty dresses" and princess crowns.

Things have been wild and crazy here since I last posted. We decided to go to Orange Beach over Easter weekend. A friend of mine has a condo and we got the "friend's rate" so we couldn't turn it down. We asked MeMaw and PePaw to join us for a few days. The picture above is of them on the beach the first day we got there. That is the only time we wore a swimsuit the entire trip. It was FREEZING cold and it rained on Saturday and Sunday.

The bottom 3 pictures are of the kids on Easter morning in the condo. You can probably tell by looking at C that he doesn't feel well. He had a bad sinus infection and an asthma flare up while there. On Sunday night, (the night b/4 we came home), Z ran out of the bedroom with socks on (with no plastic grippies on the bottom) and slipped on the tile floor and hit her head. She knocked herself out and suffered a concussion. She threw up several times on Sunday night and all the way back the Children's ER on Monday. (She has had a concussion b/4 so we knew what to watch for.) After 4 hours in the ER, we learned that her shunts were fine, she did suffer a major concussion, and she was really dehydrated. After some fluids, LOTS of stickers, and a visit from Daddy, M, and C, she felt a lot better. We were finally back at home at 9:30 p.m.

Z got a new brace for her right foot and we have been on a mad hunt for 2 pair of matching lace up shoes. One in a 10 wide and one in a 9 narrow. As you can imagine, that is impossible!!!! Her brace is to help with the arch on that foot. Her right foot turns inward and she walks on the side of the foot. The brace will make a huge difference if we can ever find 2 shoes to fit!!!!

Daddy has been working on his final Master's project and has to finish it by early May. Once he does, he will be able to graduate this Spring!!! GO DADDY!!!!!!! Daddy was also involved in an auto accident today. He was driving his truck on campus and a girl was going to fast in a curve, lost control, and smashed into the drivers side. He wasn't hurt but I can't say that about his truck. We hope that the insurance will total it out b/c the repair costs would be more than what the truck is worth. When the kids saw it, they said, "Oh no! Daddy crashed! He needs sticky tape to fix it". (For those of you who have seen Dora the Explorer, you know what sticky tape is and according to Dora, it fixes everything.)

All of the kids are sick with sinus infections and C is still battling some wheezing so his doctor gave him a nebulizer, which should help get the medicine into his body better and faster. He has to wear a mask and the machine turns the medicine into smoke and blows it into his face. We told him that he was smoking and then realized that he would go and tell all of his friend and teachers that he smokes!!!!!

I will close with something very cute that Z said one night at dinner. After a very big and yummy meal, I pushed myself back from the table and said, "That was delicious. I feel fat and sassy now!" Z responded, "No mommy, you are just fat!!!".

Night time prayers

No pictures to post today. I just have a sweet story about our bedtime rituals. Every night after the kids put on their pjs, brush their teeth, and pick out their bed lovies, we sit on the floor in their room and say our prayers. We have always prayed "Now I lay me down to sleep" with them since they were born. About 8 months ago, daddy or I started saying a prayer after that to teach them how to pray for others and about our day. They learned a sweet prayer at Mother's Day Out and started singing it at bedtime too. About 2 months ago, we started asking if any of them would like to pray. Usually only one of them would volunteer and they would thank God for EVERY member of our immediate and extended family and that was it!!! About 3 weeks ago, they all started praying individually. Usually Z goes first and her prayer is pretty predictable. She thanks God for C, M, mommy and daddy. She always asks that C and M have a fun day with their speech therapist (who they see once a week) and that she has fun with her physical therapist (who she also sees once a week). She asks that everyone's yuckies go away (everyone stayed sick for about 2 months). She asks that they have a good night-night and then screams, "JESUS NAME AMEN!!". C goes next and repeats almost the exact same prayer and screams even louder, "JESUS AMEN!". M goes last and she tries to remember what they have said and usually repeats herself about 5 times and screams, "AMEN!". Well, last night, they all prayed for something completely different. It was SOOOOO awesome. M thanked God for each of her friends at therapy and for a good day at MDO. Z prayed for her teacher and for daddy to have a good day at work. C prayed for me to make lots of money selling hair bows and thanks God for all of his toys and food. It is so sweet to see them blossom and learn to love the Lord!! I look forward to night time prayers now!

Multiples at the zoo!

Since most Mother's Day Out and schools were having spring break this week, a bunch of my friends with multiples decided to meet at the zoo. I think seeing all of us walking together was more of an attraction to passerbyers than the animals. We got lots of "Your hands are full" and "God bless you".

In picture #1, (l-r) Brewer surviving quintuplets (2 boys and 2 girls), Mellon quads (1 boy & 3 girls in wagon), ZMC in the jogger stroller, and King triplets (1 boy & 2 girls). The ages range from 21 months to 3 1/2 yrs. old.

In picture #2, (l-r) C is wearing lime green shirt, Parker and Hudson D. (set of triplets), Z, Laney D., Aiden K. (set of triplets), M, and Taylor and Jenson K.

The smell of burnt plastic!

We have been waiting for C to do one of those "typical boy" stunts. Well, he did it last night while daddy was frying okra. The entire time he was cooking, we smelt burnt plastic and could not figure out where it was coming from. Once daddy removed the frying pan, we saw the source of the smell (picture 1). It was one of C's matchbox cars and it use to be silver!! Picture #3 is the car after we removed the eye. Notice the gooey wheels. Picture #4 is the final result after it cooled off. We still don't know when he put the car under the eye. I used the same spot to cook lunch and it wasn't there. Boy oh boy are we in for some fun with him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Update on M's eye!

Here is a picture of M's eye a few days later. Again, she looked in the mirror and said, "oh, Pretty. Yellow." She still has a little greenish ring around it today but it isn't very noticeable. I also included a picture of me with Z and a very close-up of C.

M's Boo-Boo!!

Last night, M was running through the house and tripped on daddy's computer cord and hit the corner of the hard plastic Lego table. As soon as she got up and turned around, it was already swollen. Luckily, she hit the bone on the outside of the eye. The first 2 of pictures are of her eye last night. It was just a little swollen and had a small scrape on the outside. The next 2 pictures are her this morning. It was more swollen and has turned several shades of purples and pinks and the scrape was scabbed over. When M saw it in the mirror, she said, "OOH, Pretty!!" "Look Mom! It's pink and purple" "I have a rainbow eye!" She has been very proud to show off her "pretty" eye!!

Surviving the Flu and More!!

In early January, the kids were able to visit with their 2nd cousins who live in Portland, OR and their great Aunt Glenna Marie. They came to B'ham for a visit and stopped by our house. The kids had such a blast!! They stood at the front door sobbing when their new friends had to leave. There is a picture above of all of them together.

After a big rain storm, we put the kids in their rain boots and jackets and let them splash around in all of the huge puddles around the house. They got so filthy and loved every minute of it.

There is a picture of C with his new friend, McKenna. She is also a triplet and her mom, dad, 2 brothers, big sister, and big brother came over to the house for a visit. C LOVES her!! You can tell how proud he is to hold her. We kept the triplets over night when they were 2 months old and C helped out a ton. I asked him if he would like a baby brother or sister of his own and he said, "No, I like this one". Thank goodness b/c I am not ready to have another little one right now.

The other pictures are of us at the Tennessee Aquarium. We went there in the beginning of February. The individual pictures of the kids are of them inside the crab tank. The picture with the scuba diver is them watching her feed the sting rays. The lady would make the sting ray climb the window right in front of the kids. They were so amazed and the sting ray was HUGE!!! The last picture is of Ben and kids in the butterfly garden. Their butterfly garden puts the B'ham Zoo's garden to shame.

The 2nd week of February, I got the flu and 2 days later, Ben got it. My parents and his came over to help out with the kids. Luckily, they never got it. They all had really bad sinus infections though that lasted 3 weeks. Ben and I have finally shakin' the last of the flu this week and are finally catching up with the many cancelled appointments and missed phone calls.

The kids are still loving their mother's day out class and therapy class. They have learned a ton of new songs and prayers. They can all spell each other's names and the words "stop, go, and cat". They know all of their letter sounds and can count to 39. (I know, what a random number) Z has decided that her favorite color is purple and she loves Dora the Explorer and Strawberry Shortcake. M likes the color pink, Care Bears, and anything princess. C likes blue and cars, trucks, and diggers. They are building lots of new things around us so we have taken several walks to look at all of the diggers. It is so much fun to see his face light up when he sees them go by.

I think that sums up our last 2 months. Hopefully, spring will come with fewer illnesses and lots of sunshine!!!!!!!!

Belated Christmas Pictures!

Here we are Christmas morning! I'm holding M b/c she wasn't quite ready to see what Santa had brought.

Below is C looking at the empty plate of cookies and glass of milk and the note that Santa left.



The kids with their Mickey Mouse hats and their new playhouse and washer/dryer. C with his "Big boy underwear" and new toothbrush.


M with her new hat and Dora game.

Potty Training

The kids with their "trophies"...potty training stickers!!!!



Okay, so I apologize in advance for not posting Christmas pictures as I promised, but the week after Christmas, we decided to start potty training everybody! I'm hear to say, NEVER potty train three 3 yrs. old at one time and with a tiny bathroom. For those of you reading this who successfully potty trained 3 or more children at one time, I applaud and admire you. For those of you who were unsuccessful, I totally sympathize with you and feel your pain and frustration. Our potty training week was not a total loss. M is completely potty trained. She will pee/poop anytime, anywhere, any potty. C took a little longer but he will now pee at home and in "mommy's car potty". I keep a potty chair in the car b/c he will not (until this past Thursday) pee at mother's day out or the Bell Center. He would hold his pee the entire time he was there and then run to use "mommy's car potty" when I picked them up.........4 hours later!!!!!!! On Thursday, his teacher finally got him to pee in their potty!!!! He hasn't had a pee-pee accident in over a week but he still poops in his underwear. He said he is afraid to poop in the potty so we continue to work on that. Z is a totally different story. She will NOT pee/poop in the potty. She tries but to no avail. She will wear underwear and then will ask for a diaper when she has to go. After about 10-15 minutes, I'll hear her scream..."I did it mommy. I pee-peed in my diaper!". When we made her wear underwear all day, she only peed once in 24 hours. Needless to say, we have backed off and are moving at her pace. We also had a meeting with her therapists and believe that she has some tight muscle tone issues in her upper thighs and "girlie area" and has difficult relaxing enough to pee in the potty. We hope her therapists can come up with some strategies to help relax her and her muscles.

Enough potty talk......Everyone is doing well. We are headed back to MeMaw and PePaws this weekend to get in some last minute deer hunting and for the kids to be in the "country". M wants to ride the horses, C wants to go hunting, and Z wants to feed the animals with PePaw. We love going down there and long to have our own "country" spread!!!

Happy Holidays!!!!

We had such a wonderful Christmas holidays! Ben was off for 2 weeks, and the kids and I enjoyed every moment with him. On the 16th, we had Christmas with his side of the family. The kids enjoyed spending time with their cousins and after filling our bellies with good food and opening presents, we all went to the B'ham Zoo to see the Zoo Light Safari. The pictures at the top are of the kids riding the carousel and sitting in their triplet jogging stroller. They was the only way to get them around that night. The zoo was packed and we were so disappointed b/c the only animals we got to see were the barn animals. The kids enjoyed the lights and "snow" so that is all that really matters.

The pictures of them with the reindeer antlers on are from the day we went to see Santa at the mall. Last year, they HATED Santa. This year, they LOVED him! They all sat in his lap and told him what they wanted for Christmas (C--a car present; Z--Dora present; M--Princess present) They took a great group photo with him and talked about him non-stop until Christmas Day.

On the 17th, we left to go spend the week with MeMaw and PePaw. We all had a wonderful time out in the country. No telephone, no interstate noise, no hustle and bustle.......just peace and quiet and a very dark sky full of stars!!!!!!!!!! The kids and I went on lots of "adventures" while PePaw and Daddy built a shootin' house. (It's more like a condo.) We walked a mile in the woods and played in the mud, water, and dirt. They learned what an ant bed is and why you don't mess with them. They all got to ride horses, feed the hogs, ducks, donkeys, horses, and deer. They went mud riding with PePaw and Daddy. They played in a huge mud puddle and loved every minute of it. They all shot a 22 rifle (with Daddy's supervision of course). They went with me and MeMaw to see a train depot. They got to see the engineer back up several cars and hook to more. Once he saw us, he blew the horn and it scared the kids to death. They got use to it though and loved watching a "real" train in action! The pictures on the bottom are of the kids looking at the train and M watching Z fall down when attempting to walk on the train tracks.

We came back home on Christmas Eve to get ready for Santa to visit. This was the 1st Christmas that the kids understood what he did and they have been singing 'Happy Birthday Jesus' for weeks now. Once I download the pictures from Christmas, I will post them and tell about our Christmas morning.