Good times at the Gillis House

2011

2012-01-04T19:35:00.002-07:00

So here are a few things from 2011 that I wrote down to blog about:

Elizabeth referred to a u-turn as a “we-turn” (because we all were in the van :))

Here are some song lyrics my kids butchered:
instead of "ain't no hollerback girl"
they would sing "ain't no batman girl"

A conversation between Joshua and James:
Joshua: When you grow up are you going to be allergic to dogs and cats?
James: No. Only pigeons.
Joshua: Ok. My city doesn't have any pigeons. Only birds.

And over Christmas break James told me "I need to wake up and smell the starbugs". When I asked him where he heard that he told me his teacher says that :)

Let’s try this again…

2012-01-04T19:30:00.001-07:00

So this year my new year's resolution was going to be to not make any new year's resolutions, but then I thought about my blog! I guess this still doesn't have to be a new year's resolution, but something I am going to try really hard to do. I want to write something on my blog at least once a month. That's my goal J

test

2012-01-04T19:23:00.001-07:00

This is a test.

some little gems I found...

2010-07-03T11:06:00.002-07:00

Over the last week both James and I have been cleaning the computer desk off (yes, it was *that* messy). I came across some notes I had taken on things to blog about. I'm guessing by re-reading these notes that they are from maybe February of this year...better late than never, right? :)

I don't think any of the kids have gotten bitten by any ants, but one of them must have had an ant crawl at them at some point, becuase we went through like a month when ever anyone would have an itch (especailly Elizabeth) she would say, "oh, there's ants on me". One day she was itching her nose and she said, "there's ants in there" When she was done itching I asked her if she was ok she said her favortie phrase of the week: "it's nice and better".

Here's something I caught myself saying that I hope I won't ever have to say again: "Joshua, get off the table and put on your clothes" :)

Some more pictures...

2010-05-31T20:38:00.002-07:00

May pictures

2010-05-31T16:25:00.002-07:00

Here are the boys eating some smores:

Elizabeth looking cute on our new grass:

My hubby looking *really cute* on our new grass!!!!

Kids say the darnest things....

2010-05-31T16:07:00.005-07:00

Some more funny things the kids have said:

I took Joshua to a public bathroom the other day and when we walked in he took a look around and said, "there's no stand up bathroom here" Yea, sorry Joshua, no stand up bathroom in the girl's room :)

and speaking of Joshua and the bathroom (one that he will love to hear when he is older....) At home the other day he was walking around holding himself. I asked him if he had to go to the bathroom. He said, "no, I just like holding it" It must be a guy thing!

Elizabeth's new phrase "I can't how to do it" which translates to 'I don't know how to do it'

The kids sometimes ask if we can go the the "two nines store"--that would be the 99 cent store.

Here's some pictures of the kids play food.
We have apple juice:

Grape juice:

And of course, chicken juice:

according to the kids, that is! :)

Silly Elizabeth

2010-05-28T20:53:00.001-07:00

About 6 months ago (just remembering/having the time to blog it now...)when I was tucking Elizabeth into bed I said "I love you". I'd been trying to get the kids to reciprocate that saying so I after I told Elizabeth that I loved her I said "now what are you supposed to say?" She said, "thank you". Ahhhh, burned by my own daughter! :)

A few weeks ago she was sitting on the potty and she was holding onto the sides. She said, "I don't want to go down the drain. I'll get lost. I'll get lost with ants, spiders, and monsters." Then she laughs and says, "I'm just kidding!"

The Arrow Place

2010-05-28T20:51:00.002-07:00

I was driving with the boys tonight and they were asking me what every building was as we passed it... "what's that one? what's that one?"
Some they knew, like Red Robin and "the cow place" (Chick-Fil-A).
Then James asked, "what's that arrow place?"
Mom: "It's called In and Out. They have burgers and fries there."
James: "and chicken?"
Mom: "no, no chicken."
James and Joshua: "Whaaat?!!!"
James:"They are supposed to have chicken. That's crazy"

Our crazy week

2010-05-28T20:27:00.003-07:00

Monday night we went to Sweet Tomatoes (Souplantantion for those of you in California)for dinner. It was our last dinner out with our Au Pair.

That night at 10:30 p.m. baby James woke me up to tell me that his stomach hurt. I tucked him into bed but he came back a few minutes later and threw up (he made it to the toilet thankfully!). He said "I ate too much". After that was all taken care of and I was back in bed I was thinking, hopefully it was just because he ate too much because the next day was the kids last day of preschool and then THAT NIGHT James and I were going out and spending the night out (!) while we had the chance since our Au Pair was still here. It made me think back to the time James and I had a trip planned to Vegas and Kathleen was here to watch the kids and they all got a stomach bug right before our trip and we almost cancelled, but they were better so we went.... but I was thinking, it's ok, he just ate too much.....then at 12:30 he was back :( of course his stomach was empty...poor guy. Again I thought, "it's ok, it's ok..." Then he was back at 3:30, and 5:30....

Well, fast forward to later on Tuesday---James is doing fine, no one else got sick! James and I were free to go out!!!! Yea!

So we went to this Hilton, and decided to proceed directly to the pool, do not pass go, do not collect $200. It was all about laying by the pool with a book. Absolutely amazing! :) Read, relax, take a nap? sure! read some more. Then we had some dinner, slept in, and the next day repeated the pool procedure... read, relax, take a nap? sure! read some more... it was fabulous!

So Wednesday around dinner time we come home, the kids were super excited to see us (which is always nice) Joshua told me "I missed you sooo much" and James said "yea, I missed you" :)

Then Wednesday night, as I lay sleeping...James comes into my room to tell me that Elizabeth is crying. I go in there and she says her belly hurts. She says "I ate too much". I reassure her that it will be ok, go back to my room, and I hear the sound nobody likes to hear but everyone knows what it is....yup, Elizabeth threw up...in her bed :( My first thought was, well, at least she waited until after we got back from our night away! :)

The rest of the week was not as exciting. Joshua never got sick. He had an afternoon where his belly "felt funny" and he didn't eat snack, but that was all.

Overheard the other day...

2010-04-03T14:25:00.003-07:00

Joshua: When I grow up, I want to be a mailman.
Elizabeth: When I grow up, I want to be a doctor.
James: When I grow up, I want to be a tomato.
************************************
We try to teach the kids to ask for things nicely instead of always saying "I want". Like we don't want them to say "I want dessert" it should be "can I have dessert please?" The kids are starting to get it but they are still mixing it up a little. Like Elizabeth who often says things like this "Can I want dessert please?"

*********************************
Our au pair (Marion)shared these stories:
We played hide and seek…
James: …nine, ten, eleventeen...then after he finished counting, he said: hey, where did everybody go???
********************************
She worked on a Friday night and put the kids to bed…
Marion: James, you need a number five at night right? (meaning his diaper size)
He held his hand up to give me a high five!
**********************************
Marion and the kids were practicing sc, sp, st – words, so she said: skunk
The kids repeated: skunk
Marion: scarf, school etc.
Suddenly Joshua said excited: spurple!
Marion: that’s starts with a p Joshua!
********************************
Marion and the kids were at the park and James saw a truck.
James: See guys, but this is not a garbage truck!
Joshua: no, it’s not Wednesday(which is our garbage day)!
James: yeah, it’s Thursday!
Marion: actually, it’s Friday!

Pictures from the park-February

2010-03-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Touch-a-truck March 2010

2010-03-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

The city of Glendale does a yearly event called Touch-a-Truck. Here are some pictures from our visit:

Here's the world famous Wienermobile:

I wasn't going to post this one, but then I found the one we took last year and I thought it was too cute not to post them both. You can really tell how much they've grown!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-03-29T19:43:00.003-07:00

Here are some pics from the Valentine's day party at school:

I was so excited because I actually got to go! My school was having parent confernces so I was able to leave work early!

Checking out the loot with Grandma:

Pictures that our nanny took

2010-03-28T19:49:00.005-07:00

We have an awesome Au Pair! Here's a few pictures she took of the kids:

She said in this one they were pretending to be a rock band:

Not sure what they are doing here but they look cute:

Playing at the park:

Jenn and her new baby!

2010-03-14T20:42:00.004-07:00

Last time I saw Jenn pregnant!

Here's James holding her at the hosptial:

Jenn, me, and new baby girl:

The happy couple:

Zoo

2010-03-14T20:32:00.002-07:00

Here's a few pictures from the Phoenix Zoo.

Christmas!

2010-03-14T19:54:00.006-07:00

Here are the kids opening their stockings. I love the fact that again this year, the kids were happy with what they got in their stockings and didn't even ask about any other gifts. I know that won't last for too many more years!

Opening some gifts:

Some of their new toys:

Elizabeth and Daddy putting together some toys for the new Diego house:

It's a Spongebob Christmas!!! Besides their SB pjs, they got SB books, puzzles, and James got a SB toothbrush holder! (that's baby James, not Daddy James)

We love reading!

2010-03-14T19:50:00.002-07:00

Elizabeth and Joshua just looked so cute reading together I had to take a couple pictures!

The Polar Express

2010-03-14T19:39:00.002-07:00

Here are a few pictures from the Polar Express train ride. We all had a really good time. I think the kids were a little young to get the idea that we were going to the North Pole to see Santa, but they loved the train ride and loved seeing Santa. Next year they might put the two together. Add don't mind how cute I look, I was just getting over a stomach bug! :(

Snow!

2010-03-14T07:53:00.002-07:00

We took the kids up to Williams, AZ in Dec to take a ride on the Polar Express. When we got to the hotel we first took the kids outside to play in the snow (we didn't travel far, the hotel parking lot will do!)

Nice picture :)

2010-03-14T07:50:00.001-07:00

We came outside one day and saw this:

Making a gingerbread house

2010-03-14T07:36:00.004-07:00

Making a gingerbread house (Nov. 2009)

Here's Daddy explaining how to carefully put the icing on: (notice Daddy's cute example)

Then Daddy realized that ziplock bags of icing is too hard for the kids so he gave them knives to spread the frosting:

Of course I don't have a finish project to show you (duh mom!). But Daddy put all the pieces together and it was on our dining room table for a month or so. The kids really enjoyed looking at it and dinner time and talking about which side was theirs :)

November 2009

2010-03-13T20:36:00.005-07:00

At the Railroad Park:

October 2009

2010-01-12T21:50:00.007-07:00

Here's the kids at Halloween.

Here are a few pictures from a tumbling class the kids took.

July 2009

2010-01-12T07:14:00.004-07:00

Here are some pictures from our trip to California.

2009-06-21T12:46:00.005-07:00

Hi! Remember us? There has been so many things going on here I just haven't had time to write anything on our blog. The good news is that I have been making notes of cute things that the kids have been saying and doing. I was waiting to post this until I added some new pictures, but at the rate I'm going I thought I better just post this now and add some pictures later....

Here are a couple cute un-grammatical things the kids have been saying:

Mom to Joshua, "Do you need nay help?"
Joshua, "No, mine fine"

The kids are learning a little Spanish. They can count in Spanish (up to 6, sometimes up to 10) and when things are hot they sometimes say "hace calor" and the other day Joshua took a drink of some ice water and said "oohhh, hace frio". I'm not really sure if that is the correct Spanish grammar, but it's cute!

We were at the park and baby James had to go potty. It was a little bit of a walk to the bathroom so I asked him, "do you have to go really bad?" James said "no, me good boy"

This story must have happened a while ago because it was raining--Joshua looked out the window and says "rain-stop". Then he paused and said "Rain don't hear me. Rain no talk"

We were driving and we were stopped at a red light and I heard Joshua saying "stop. stop. stop. stop." I looked up and saw the red hand for pedestrians was flashing and every time the red hand would come on he would say stop.

*********************
New pictures coming soon....and a post about our California trip we just took...

Baby Got Back

2009-05-03T20:54:00.004-07:00

Ok, if you don't laugh at this video something is wrong with you! :)
It's a video of James jamming to his favorite song :) seriously, he ALWAYS asks for this song when we are in tha car.

Untitled from James Gillis on Vimeo.

The kids' birthday party

2009-04-21T20:39:00.009-07:00

Due to our crazy schedules and the fact that the kids wouldn't know any better, we had their birthday party a few weeks after their actual birthday.

We decided to get each kid their own "colossal cupcake" and decorate them with their favorite characters.

Elizabeth had Dora:

James had "cars" as it's called around here. (It's Lighting McQueen from the movie "Cars")

Joshua had Diego:

Then we took the extra cake decorations and Daddy made a cake for the adults:

The kids had a great time, and I believe all the adults did too!

Holy Crap-it's been a month since I've written!

2009-04-21T20:16:00.008-07:00

Gosh, it's been so long since I've written...do you want to hear all my sad stories of what I've been so busy doing? Probably not---so I'll just tell you a few funny kid stories.

The other day, after going potty Joshua and said, "penis... squishy" then he grabbed his penis and said, "squeak squeak". Like it's a dog toy or something...

This past weekend baby James was not very happy with me (for who knows what--something minuet I'm sure). Then he told me, "Mommy go to work. Konstantin here" (Konstantin is our au pair in case you forgot, you know, our "manny"). I tried not to take it personal. I'm sure there will be many more cases like this in the future....

Another James story-one day he asked me for something (let's say it was milk) and he said "milk, Robot" Like my name was Robot. Ok, that's cute. But then he said it again and I was thinking he was saying it a bad way. So I told him my name is not Robot, it's Mommy.

The next day James asked for something (let's say it was pizza) and Daddy said, "Say 'Can I have some more pizza please?'"

Then we found out the TRUE meaning of Robot:

James said, "Can I have more pizza please RO-bot?"

RO-bot = BEE-otch

Just the way he said it-it was like, ok, Bitch, I'll play your game, I'll say the words you want me to say, if it's going to get me some more pizza.

So of course, this is our new running joke around here. Daddy and I call each other Robot (when the kids can't hear us, of course).

Try it, it's fun! :)

Then there is Elizabeth. Poor baby wants to be "just one of the guys". The other day she went potty and then stood up and grabbed her vagina and shook it.

Daddy asked her what she was doing and she said, "I'm shaking my snake"

I am too scared to ask her where she heard that from! :)

Crazy Kids

2009-03-31T12:42:00.004-07:00

The kids like to dance when the washing machine starts. Here is a little clip of the boys moving and grooving to the washing machine.

Untitled from James Gillis on Vimeo.

Happy Birthday!!!

2009-03-23T09:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my three beautiful kids!!!

Today they turn 3!!!

Can you believe it?! I can't! It was three years ago today that these tiny little guys came into our lives. James weighed 2 pounds, 10 oz., Elizabeth was 2 lbs., 5 oz., and Joshua was 2lbs., 15 oz. You wouldn't know it by looking at them now!

We are so happy and so lucky to have 3 happy, healthy, amazing kids!

Lucky You!

2009-03-22T20:00:00.000-07:00

Lucky you!
The first five people to comment on this post will get something made by me!

My choice.
For you.
This offer does, however, have some restrictions and limitations...
1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be just for you.
3. It'll be done this year.
4. You will have no clue what it's going to be. I may draw or paint something(ok, maybe not). I may bake you something and mail it to you. I may send you a photo collage. Who knows? Not you, that's for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. (Not intentionally strange, but you may label it that way.)
The catch?
Oh, the catch is that you must re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. And those of you that don't have a blog can make it a note on Facebook, or find some other way to offer it up!

So comment at your own risk!

2009-03-21T20:42:00.002-07:00

So Joshua and (sometimes Elizabeth) have started this new thing that is really funny, but you can’t laugh because you are the parent and you are not supposed to encourage it….
It’s usually at meal time and Joshua will do something he is not supposed to, like put his hands into his food. After Daddy or I say something to him, or catch him doing it, he closes his eyes and keeps doing it.
You know, like he's thinking, if I can’t see you, then you can’t see me either!
It’s pretty funny, but as the “adult” you have to act serious when you say “Joshua, I can still see you!”

Pictures posted below!

2009-03-21T20:00:00.001-07:00

I now added pictures to the post "Routines". So in case you already read that post-go back and check out the pictures! :)

Words of wisdom...

2009-03-20T21:43:00.000-07:00

The other day we were all watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the t.v. and Mickey said something about his friends the chickens (probably “Do you want to help our friends?"-which happened to be chickens).
I said to Elizabeth, “Are you going to help the chicken friends?”
She said, “Noooo, chickens aren’t friends, chicken is dinner.”

Routines (now with pictures!)

2009-03-20T21:40:00.004-07:00

It’s funny how some things happen once, then twice, then before you know it-it has turned into a routine. The kids have taken it upon themselves to create some of their own routines. Like at bedtime, we all walk up the stairs and the kids run into the boys’ room. They all “hide” behind James’ crib until Daddy and I come in and “find” them. Then Elizabeth runs into her room while we put the boys into their cribs. Mommy gives the boys hugs and kisses, then I go into Elizabeth’s room. Elizabeth is “hiding” again, this time under her bed. (The first couple times she did this and I would look under her bed to find her, she would tell me which side of the bed to come find her). Once I “find” her she runs out from under the bed and sits in the rocking chair waiting for me to sit with her. Then Daddy comes in and takes over, rocking with her for a few minutes before laying her down to sleep.

Another routine that we used to have (it’s almost gone), is after nap time is done, or in the morning after bedtime, the kids gather up their stuffed animals to take downstairs. When they get to the stairs, they throw the animals downstairs, then go down to get them. This routine has all but stopped since they usually just keep whatever is in their crib there. Except for Joshua, who I think has just been slowly taking a couple things into his crib at a time and not ever taking any of it back downstairs Here are a couple pictures to prove my point:

This is James' crib to see as a comparision.

Simple.

One blanket, one pillow, one stuffed animal.

Here's Joshua's WALL OF STUFF:

I demolished his wall so you could see how much stuff was built into his beaver dam:

Here's a closer look (left side):

Here's a closer look (right side):

Get down with your bad self.....

2009-03-09T10:00:00.003-07:00

Here is a little clip of the kids dancing to one of their favorite cds, Choo Choo Soul.

Dancing to Cho Cho Soul from James Gillis on Vimeo.

Pictures of Joshua

2009-03-05T06:38:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of Joshua (who is usually the one with the most pictures---but not this month I guess):

Joshua in the backyard (with his favorite pink shoes!--well, they are Elizabeth's but he wears them more then she does): Love that smile!

Pictures of James

2009-03-05T06:37:00.001-07:00

Here are some pictures of James:

This one is from January, but I thought it was so cute! This is our friend Kathleen playing with James:

Say cheese!

Here's James outside at the sandbox. Notice the cool 80's style headband (and no that is not graffiti on the wall behind him--it's water stains...gosh it looks like I have him in some scary alley):

At the zoo:

Pictures of Elizabeth

2009-03-05T06:35:00.001-07:00

So I've been meaning to write a blog about what's been happening lately and I posted some pictures...but I haven't gotten to the writing part yet and before I know it these pictures will be so old....so here are some pictures!!! I'll write later!

Elizabeth acting like we are torturing her by brushing her teeth:

All done brushing!

Cutie-pie pigtails:

When I asked Elizabeth what she was doing she said, "I'm a turtle".

At the zoo:

Just a usual day...

2009-02-28T18:36:00.006-07:00

I'm not really a morning person.

So in the morning I like to sleep as long as possible. Which means that I sleep until the kids wake me up. Which is o.k. except that I have to get ready for work. What I usually do is get the kids all comfy on the couch with a blanket and the t.v. on and I go upstairs to get ready. Usually I get ready and come downstairs and they are still sitting the same spot that I left them in. Usually.

Well, last Wednesday was not usual.

I came downstairs and found this:

Elizabeth (I'm sure with some help from her brothers) had taken all of the ice cream sandwiches out of the freezer (and a few various things from the fridge). Luckily, only one ice cream sandwich had been opened...and it was kinda strange that Elizabeth was the only one covered in ice cream (guess she didn't feel like sharing this morning--works out good for me.)

How can you be mad at a cutie like this?!

The funniest thing was we went into the bathroom to wash her hands and when she saw herself in the mirror she said "oh...big mess!"

2009-02-09T19:17:00.002-07:00

This weekend we went out for dinner with the kids and the fam. The kids did a great job being well behaved in the restaurant. When we were putting them in the car, Daddy was telling them thank you for being so good.
Baby James said, "Yeah. No fussing, no crying, no screaming"
That's right James, that is why you guys were so good. There was no fussing, no crying, and no screaming! :)

What's for dinner?

2009-02-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

The other night I was brushing Elizabeth's teeth and I noticed a white piece of something on one of her teeth. I was worried at first that it a piece of her tooth that had chipped or something. It's hard to get a toddler to let you dig in their mouth...but finally the piece came loose. It was a soft white piece of something.

I said to Elizabeth, "What's this?"
She replied, "It's dinner!!!!"

a what?

2009-02-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

We give the kids treats for going potty (mini marshmallows).

Tonight baby James had gone poop so he gets two treats. Daddy went to give him the treats. Baby James comes running in to see me with his mouth full of marshmallows and says "poopy treats!"

Yuumm! Poopy treats! :)

Re-post about the kids morning routine

2009-02-02T21:00:00.006-07:00

So somebody mentioned that my story was a little hard to follow-o.k., I guess it probably was. So I changed the "child one" and so forth to the kids names....just know that the kids' role in the morning theater changes daily.

Here's a typical morning: It's morning time and the kids all still have on their nighttime diapers. I've told them all to come to the bathroom so we can take off the diapers and put on their underwear. No one wants to come of course, so I have to pause the t.v. to get there attention (um, yeah, our kids love t.v.--oops!) Then I get to hear the cries "more t.v." "no potty" "more Dora"...
But since the darn t.v. is not on, they come down to the bathroom. That is when the chaos ensues.
It goes something like this: Joshua takes off his pants by himself, while James is standing on the step stool turning the lights and fan on and off, on and off.
Mommy to James: "get down" Elizabeth starts crying because she can't get her pants down. Mommy to Elizabeth: "come here, I'll help you"
Mommy to James: " I said get down! Leave the lights on!"
James gets down, but the lights are turned off.
I turn the lights on while Joshua is getting off of the little potty and is trying to dump his pee into the toilet, Elizabeth is standing right in the way still fussing because I have not been able to help her like I said I would.
James has moved back into the hallway. Mommy to James: "come in here an go potty" I see a devilish grin.
I get the pants off Elizabeth while I help Joshua dumps his pee in the toilet.
Elizabeth is sitting down to go potty while James has come back into the bathroom to turn the light off again for us.
Joshua: "nooo, turn lights on! too dark!"
Mommy to James: "I said leave the lights ON! Come over here!"
I turn the lights on and quickly grab James before he can run out again.
Joshua is trying to put his underwear on by himself and has both legs in one hole- "mommy, help!"
James is trying to take off his diaper- "it's stuck, it's stuck! Help mommy"
Joshua is trying to wash his hands in the sink, Elizabeth is dumping pee, and I help James take his diaper off.
I try to take Elizabeth’s pants all the way off and she starts freaking out.
Mommy to Elizabeth: "I have to take off your pants to be able to put on your underwear!"
Elizabeth does not really want to let me but I do it anyways because I know that is the only way the underwear will get on. "I'll put your pants back on after we put on your underwear".
James is going now going pee.
Elizabeth has underwear and pants on and is now moving toward the sink to wash her hands.
Joshua takes over the job off turning the lights on and off. I'm content now sitting in the dark. I don't really care. I just want everyone to go pee and leave the bathroom with underwear and pants on.
James finishes going pee. Mommy to James: "Come hear so I can put on your underwear". In toddlerese what I just said was " run, run as fast as you can! Mommy can't catch you-I'm the naked-man!"
So James runs into the play room. Huummm, he thinks-where should I go today-inside the playhouse? On top of the school bus? Sitting on the carpet? Into the living room? Sitting on the couch? Climbing over the couch? Or just run?
I catch James, and some how get underwear and pants on him.

I sit down on the couch.

Phew, deep breath.

I look at the clock: " Is it time for me to go to work yet?"

Ahh--Good times, good times!

Hopefully that helps! :)

Ok, give me the dirt

2009-01-28T21:10:00.006-07:00

So I know what you are all thinking--what's with all the cutesy posts lately?! I'm reading this blog to find out how you guys deal with crazy triplet toddlers, I don't want to hear about the cute things they do and say! Tell me about the tantrums, the poop in the crib, the crying and whining for no good reason!!! The reason that we haven't been blogging about that is because none of that stuff happens at our house.

Yeah right! Did I have you going for a minute there? (Anyone that's been to the house in the last 6 months would know I'm lying!)

I guess I haven't been writing about that kind of stuff because I trying to only put good stuff out there-I want to place my order for good times (a la The Secret and Oprah). "One good life, please".
Hey--who's taking my order?! Can I talk to a manager?! I want my meal comped! (Jennifer G-that one was for you)

Ok, just kidding...I'm gone off on enough tangents now--I'll try to amuse you with a toddler triplet story. Here's a typical morning:

It's morning time and the kids all still have on their nighttime diapers. I've told them all to come to the bathroom so we can take off the diapers and put on their underwear. No one wants to come of course, so I have to pause the t.v. to get there attention (um, yeah, our kids love t.v.--oops!) Then I get to hear the cries "more t.v." "no potty" "more Dora"...

But since the darn t.v. is not on, they come down to the bathroom. That is when the chaos ensues. It goes something like this: child one can take off their pants by themselves, while the child three is standing on the step stool turning the lights and fan on and off, on and off
Mommy:"get down"
Child two starts crying because they can't get their pants down
Mommy: "come here, I'll help you" " I said get down! Leave the lights on!"
Child three gets down, but the lights are turned off. I turn the lights on while the first child is getting off of the little potty and is trying to dump their pee into the toilet, their sibling is standing right in the way still fussing because I have not been able to help them like I said I would.
The third child had moved back into the hallway.
Mommy: "come in here an go potty" I see a devilish grin. I get the pants off the second child while I help the first child dump their pee in the toilet. The second child is sitting down to go potty while the third child has come back into the bathroom to turn the light off again for us.
Child one: "nooo, turn lights on! too dark!"
Mommy: "I said leave the lights ON! Come over here!" I turn the lights on and quickly grab child 3 before they can run out again. The first child is trying to put underwear on by themselves and has both legs in one hole- "mommy, help!"
Third child is trying to take off their diaper- "it's stuck, it's stuck! help mommy"
First child is trying to wash their hands in the sink, second child is dumping pee, I help the third child take diaper off. I try to take pants all the way off of second child who stars freaking out. Mommy:"I have to take off your pants to be able to put on your underwear!" Child two does not really want to let me but I do it anyways because I know that is the only way the underwear will get on. "I'll put your pants back on after we put on your underwear".
Third child is going pee. Second child has underwear and pants on., moving toward sink to wash hands. First child takes over the job off turning the lights on and off. I'm content now sitting in the dark. I don't really care. I just want everyone to go pee and leave the bathroom with underwear and pants on! Third child finishes going pee.
Mommy: "Come hear so I can put on your underwear".
In toddler what I just said was " run, run as fast as you can! Mommy can't catch you-I'm the naked man!"
So the third child runs into the play room. Huummm-where should I go today-inside the playhouse? On top of the school bus? Sitting on the carpet? Into the living room? Sitting on the couch? Climbing over the couch? Or just run? I catch the third kid, and some how get underwear and pants on them. I sit down on the couch.
Phew, deep breath.
I look at the clock: " Is it time for me to go to work yet?"

Ahh--Good times, good times!

In that charming story, notice I didn't name the children. That's because every child has played every part in the story before.

I do want to mention that I no longer do that in the morning. The kids have gotten to the point where they just tell us if they have to go potty. I just take off their pants/diapers inthe living room and replace them with underwear right in front of ht t.v.-everyone that is except Joshua who doesn't really want to be bothered with underwear. He just wears diapers all day.

umm, no thank you...

2009-01-28T21:05:00.002-07:00

Hey-another post! Yea!

Elizabeth, she looks like a cutie-pie princess, but acts like a daredevil! (where does that come from?)

Here's the new cute thing she says:"umm, no thank you."

To answer questions like, "are you going to eat your peas?"
"ummm, no thank you"

Or "can you share those toys with your brother?"
"umm, no thank you"

The best is when she shakes her hands in a no gesture while she is saying it :)

Another cute thing James says

2009-01-18T22:30:00.001-07:00

Another cute thing James says:

the instrument maraca:

"maracaca"

Of course, maybe I should check that that doesn't mean anything bad in Spanish....

Not

2009-01-18T22:24:00.005-07:00

Baby James has a new phrase: "not".
It is used, of course, in place of no. For example:

Mommy: Do you want to read this book?
James: Not.

Mommy: Are you hungry?
James: Not.

I don't know how or why this started. It was cute at first, but now I've started trying to correct him, since it won't be very cute the older he gets. I'm imaging him as a teenager saying the same thing:

Mommy: Have you done your homework?
James: Not.
Not so cute then....

2009-year of the 3s

2009-01-18T22:13:00.005-07:00

Ok, I've been prompted by Andrea to reveal the

YEAR OF THE THREES!!!

(said in a spooky, Scooby-Doo type voice)

(Thanks, BTW, Andrea for all the comments--ahem, ahem, anyone else?!)

So, Andrea guessed the two big ones-the kids are turning 3 and I'm turning 33. The rest are really just random things I keep thinking of that are multiples of 3...so not really that exciting....hopefully you all noted my sarcasm in the previous post, but here we go:

The year is 2009 (3X3)
The kids' birthday is in the 3rd month, my birthday is in the 12th month (3X4)
It's our 6 year wedding anniversary (3X2)
We finally have a good au pair, who didn't start until 2009-he's our 3rd au pair and he will be with us for 6 months (3X2)

I swear there were more things....I can't remember now...I'm sleepy.

Even Dads can cry.

2009-01-13T08:25:00.004-07:00

So, the other day I had a Dr. appointment so I was leaving the house later then normal. I was taking care of the kids so Stephanie could leave a little early to get a head start on work.

After breakfast we all started to play. Nothing special, just our normal playtime thing. Elizabeth asking Dad to "chase you" (her way of asking for me to chase her). Then of course James join in and I am running up and down the hall way, though the kitchen after them. They love it and so does Dad!

It was getting time for me to leave so I was telling them that Dad was going to be leaving for work. They all were giving me hugs and kisses, a couple rounds of that.

I then made it to he front door, when Joshua ran to the kitchen door way, he waved good bye and blew Dad a kiss.

As I walk to the car I was tearing up thinking how much I wanted to just go back inside and stay home all day. Oh, how I love those kids!!!

Elizabeth's First ER Visit

2009-01-04T21:10:00.002-07:00

Let me first start by saying that she is okay. I did not want to hold any one in suspense the entire blog.

It was Friday afternoon and we decided to take the kids to the park around the corner (about half a mile) to play since the weather was nice and to combat the cabin fever.

We all decided to walk since there were 4 adults to 3 kids this time. Mom, Dad, Au Pair-Konstantin, and our dear friend who flew out to see the kids-Kathleen.

So, we are there playing, having a good time, it was getting close to 4:30 and we usually eat around 5 so we tell the kids that we are going to be leaving in about a minute. I walk over to start to make sure that we have everything ready to pack up. I turn around to watch Elizabeth go down a corkscrew slide (mind you it is one that she has gone down alone numerous times before), and she her face plant on the side as she is going down. I am not sure if her foot got caught or what, but all I know is I see Stephanie get her at the bottom of the slide, and then say, "We have blood".

Elizabeth is obviously crying loudly by this point, I walk over and have her look over at me and I see this inch long opening right above her right eye. Let me tell you this thing was bleeding, reminded me of a MMA fighter getting cut open with an elbow. So, as you know we decided to walk so there is not van waiting near by to take her to get looked at, so I take off running to get the van.

After arriving back at the playground with the van, I see Stephanie about to put Elizabeth in the swing to do a little swinging. I get out of the van with this look of, and why are you letting our little girl with a head wound out to play some more? (Stephanie writing here: Elizabeth was in the swing because umm, we have a strong and stubborn girl! Once she finished crying all she wanted to do was go on the swing. She was wriggling her way out of my lap and I thought, well, at least she will be sitting in the swing....carry on with your story....) Stephanie mentions that it has pretty much stopped bleeding and asked what my thoughts were. I said I would be more comfortable if we had someone look at it.

After waiting and then talking with a nurse in the ER, she mentioned that we may be seen quicker if we go over to an Urgent Care. We call one to make sure they do stitches and we head out. We get to the Urgent Care check in and talk with one of the nurses there to make sure they can handle the case. One of the docs come out to look at her wound and mentions liquid stitches (glue), but since he does not use it all the time, he would send out the doc who does. The doc who does use the liquid stitches comes out and says yes she would be able to close it with just the liquid.

Half hour later we get called back, Elizabeth does amazing while they have to clean it and then apply the stitches. All and all it was an ok experience. It was nice to know that Kathleen and Konstantin were at home taking care of our other 2 while Mom and Dad could handle the emergency.

Here is a picture of the after-math:

Like I said at the beginning, she is fine. You wouldn't even know anything had happened to her. Every now and then she will put her finger on the cut and say "owie". We are very happy that everything turned out ok.

psst...leave a comment!

2009-01-04T20:55:00.001-07:00

Hey!

I see you reading all these posts, leave a comment! :)

Please :)

Another one bites the dust....

2009-01-04T20:48:00.002-07:00

...au pairs-- that is.
Yes, we have let our second au pair go. But the good news is that we have already found a replacement and he has already started. Yes, we have another "manny". He is 20 years old and from Austria. We really think this one will work out-third time's a charm, right?! (there's another 3 from my year of 3s---that post is still to come...) Tomorrow will be his first day home with the kids since Daddy and I go back to work :( bummer... Grandma will be here with him in the morning, but then he will have the afternoon to do my himself. But Daddy and I think he will do great! We'll keep you informed :)

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-01T12:01:00.001-07:00

This is a lot later then I ever thought I would be up tonight, so I thought I would wish everyone a happy new year.

I hope that everyone has a great year!

2009! Crazy! Later I will have to write about all the 3s happening this year.....(oh, suspenseful! What a great teaser!hehehehehhe) ok, time for bed :)

Christmas stories Part 4-Christmas Day

2008-12-31T22:43:00.009-07:00

After all of my Christmas Eve stories, I guess I better write about Christmas Day.

When the kids first got up, Daddy moved them into our bed (a rare occurrence in our house), then he decide to take a picture....

Yes, that is Mommy TRYING to sleep still :)

They stayed in bed for a little while, then we went downstairs. Anyways, when we went downstairs we let them open their gifts in their stockings. Everyone got a little chocolate Santa (which surprisingly they didn't gobble it up-probably because they were so interested in the other gifts). The kids each had a coloring book and an ornament. The boys had some Hot Wheels and Elizabeth had two mini My Little Ponies--or would you say Ponys-since "Pony" is the name of the item---anyways, I digress...
It was cool because they were so happy and so excited just to have those couple simple presents. They had no idea what was coming up...and they probably would have been ok without any of the extra things. But of course, we still gave it to them all. They love the train table and all their other presents. In the afternoon Grandma, Grandma Grandma (my Grandma), Uncle Sean, and Aunt Ingrid came over. We exchanged gifts and had dinner. Overall it was a great Christmas.

Here are some more pictures:

Here's Elizabeth opening one of her gifts:

Here's James with Grandma Grandma:

No, I didn't put a Halloween picture in by mistake, one of their gifts were some dress up clothes.

Christmas stories Part 3-Christmas Eve II

2008-12-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

On Christmas Eve, when asked what they want Santa to bring them, the boys both said a train. Mommy: "What about Elizabeth? Does she want a train?"
Kids with smiles: "Noooo...."
I thought this was cute, but the next day I found out it was kinda true because the kids got a new train table with lots of different trains. Elizabeth does like the trains and playing with the trains, but not as much as the boys do. So Daddy and I got Elizabeth a new baby doll. She really likes it, and Daddy and I think we made a good choice.

Also on Christmas Eve, when we put he kids to bed we told them that Santa and/or Frosty would be bringing them presents in the morning (because I think by this time James was not as worried about Santa coming). I left the boys room to go into Elizabeth's room. When I left Elizabeth's room, I could here James talking so I was going to go in to tell him to quiet down because it's bed time. But I heard him saying this: "Santa, come....Santa, cooome" It was so cute it made me smile :)

Here's a picture of them in their new Christmas pajamas from Grandma:

Christmas Stories Part 2:Christmas Eve

2008-12-28T21:56:00.005-07:00

So I thought I would document Daddy's first (of many) Christmas Eve's

assembling Christmas presents!!!! :)

This year Daddy got to put together a train table and then he put together a box of train tracks so the kids could use the trains right away.

Twelve hours later....

Just kidding- Daddy said it only took about an hour.

Flash forward to Christmas morning---
the cool train track that Daddy put together took about 1 minute to be knocked down by 3 eager toddlers! :(
It has now been turned into a nice big flat loop with no supports to knock over.

Christmas Stories

2008-12-28T21:34:00.004-07:00

Hello all! I know, it's been a while since I have posted anything. Sorry! I do have some stories that are floating around in my head and I hope during the next couple days I am able to post them... I thought I would start with some Christmas stories....

I really think that I've written this story already, but I couldn't find it...
so I'm writing it down and if it is a repeat, sorry...

A few weeks ago we were telling the kids about how Santa brings you presents if you are a good boy or a good girl. James was not really excited about Santa bringing presents to him. (I'm not really sure why) but he started to say "no Santa, no Santa". I asked him if he wanted Frosty (as in Frosty the snowman) to bring him presents. That would be o.k., but not Santa. Weird, I know. But then throughout the Christmas season, the kids had two separate occasions to sit on Santa's lap and James did sit with Santa.

Happy Holidays!!

2008-12-24T08:26:00.004-07:00

We hope that everyone has a great Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or other holiday that you celebrate.

A better birthday

2008-12-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

First, I want to start by saying that I started this post DAYS ago, and I'm just finally getting around to finishing it and posting it.

I'm telling you this so you don't think that my husband and I planned on both writing super sappy posts about each other and we are not trying to make you gag :)

Now, back to my original post titled "A Better Birthday":

Well, my husband didn't tell me that he had plans for me over the weekend!!! (When I was bitchin' about my poor sad birthday)

Anyways, my great and creative husband came up with an Amazing Race themed day for me. (We love that show!)

Here is an example of a clue that was left for me:

So he planned this day of fun for me AND watched the kids by himself (which is nothing new-he's a super dad!) but he also took them to the zoo by himself. He's a little crazy I think :)

Anyways, just wanted to share and say thanks to my wonderful husband!!!

My Wife

2008-12-17T10:40:00.003-07:00

Have I told you all lately how amazing my Wife is!!

Well if not let me.....

She gets the kids up in the morning (well they ususally are talking in the crib or calling for her, at about 6:00am) but she is the one to take them down stairs. Takes care of all potty breaks and toys troubles, fixes them breakfast and still manages to get herself ready for work and out the door.

Then after dealing with 17 8-9 yr olds. Comes home with a huge smile for everyone.

I won't get into all the work she does throughout the night with the kids, but let me tell you it is a ton.

Just thought I would put in writting what I think and feel everyday.

Thank you for all that you do!!

Your Husband and Kids.

Look out! Daddy's driving!

2008-12-13T21:55:00.006-07:00

The other day we were all going to the library and Daddy was driving. Daddy almost passed an empty parking spot so he kinda pulled into it all quick-like. Joshua said, "whoa Daddy" and Elizabeth said "be careful".

And the last few times we've all been driving together Elizabeth will say "be careful Daddy, slow down."

At least I'm not the only one critiquing Daddy's driving anymore! :) hehehehe

PVMOM play date

2008-12-07T21:29:00.008-07:00

Today we had a play date with about 60 other families of multiples. We can not always make it to these events. They usually plan them is during the kids naps. Lucky us, this one was at a good time. 10 - 1 The kids nap is at 11:30 but we thought we could push it back since we knew they would have so much fun, they would not be tired, or want to leave. As you can see by the pictures, it was at an oversized Mc Donalds playground. There was this huge jungle gym apparatus, a slide area, and a gymnastics room (which included a trampoline).

Let me say the kids loved it!! We ended up staying till 12:30. Of course the kids slept in the car on the ride home. Well, I think James was asleep before we left the parking lot. Elizabeth and Joshua we up a little longer, but finally crashed about 15 minutes from home.

Mom and I took them up stairs to sleep by 1:00 and they all slept till about 3:45, even Mommy got a little nap in. It was a blast, even I want to go back.

Daddy started a blog.

2008-12-07T14:23:00.001-07:00

Here is the link.

http://gillisfamilyinaz.blogspot.com/

I made it mainly for my family that lives in other states.

New pictures on the slide show

2008-12-04T21:16:00.002-07:00

By the way- have y'all seen the new pictures on the slide show?!

Correction to "Happy Birthday?!"

2008-12-04T20:57:00.004-07:00

Ok, I want to set the record straight. There were a couple high points to my birthday yesterday.

1.) My husband brought home a couple YUMMY YUMMY cupcakes!

2.) My kids each made me paper birthday cakes (which are really cute!).

So it wasn't *terrible*

:)

Happy Birthday?!

2008-12-03T21:08:00.003-07:00

Happy Birthday to me. Let's just pretend that I had a nice birthday so I can move on to the next one.....Ok, pity party is over.

I'm tired. Too much birthday fun today....wahwah...ok, Debbie Downer....

Last day of November

2008-11-30T20:50:00.002-07:00

Today's the last day of the blog-a-day challenge and well, we did pretty good. Missed a few days at the end of the month, but overall, pretty good....

I liked having this challenge, it made me post when I might not have, and most of the things I posted I'm sure I will be glad that I did. I hope you all enjoyed reading our ramblings this past month, and I hope those of you that were also doing this blog-a-day challenge will continue to post a lot as well.

Making cookies...

2008-11-30T20:12:00.004-07:00

Today we made some cookies with the kids. Here are some pictures:

Here they are rolling and cutting out the cookies:

And here they are "decorating" the cookies:

They all had a good time and loved the cookies :)

Paging Nicky Boyd, Nicky Boyd...

2008-11-28T21:54:00.003-07:00

Ok, random post time. Ever since I've moved back to Arizona I keep thinking about a friend I had in elementary school here. Her name is Nicky Boyd. She was from Wales; then she moved here and we went to Najavo Elementary School. After I moved to San Diego, at some point she moved back to Wales. We kept in contact through letters for a while...then stopped.
When I was in high school I went to Europe and somehow I ended up connecting with her and got to visit with her and her mom in London. Then we lost contact again. One time when I was in college I came here to visit the fam and I took a chance and went to her old house and knocked on the door. Her parents still lived there; and I was able to re-connect with her again. That was the last time I talked to her. Skip to present time. Here I am in Arizona and I have not randomly run into her. James and I did try to drive by her parents' house--my memory is not as good as it used to be...I wasn't exactly sure where her house was...I've tried doing some internet searching and looking on facebook...so I thought I would put her name out into the universe. Who knows, maybe she'll google her name and this blog will come up...

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T20:35:00.003-07:00

Sorry, it's been a few days since I've written. Hope everyone had a great turkey day :)
We had dinner at our house with Grandma (my mom), Grandma-Grandma (my Grandma), and Leo (our au pair). Everything was YUMMY! James favorite part of the meal was the cranberries (that crazy kid! Of course he is the one that likes to eat lemons...)

Here are some pictures: (and yes, I know--they look sooo big!, especially James, he looks like such a big boy)

Elizabeth with Grandma-Grandma (her Great Grnadma)

2008-11-24T22:09:00.001-07:00

Sorry, no post tonight. Trying to upload pictures to Costco's website.
New post with pictures tomorrow....

More pictures from the zoo

2008-11-23T21:46:00.004-07:00

Here are a couple more pictures from the zoo:

I didn't notice until now that the monkey Joshua is sitting on has a pretty scary face for being on a children's ride. Luckily, the kids never saw the front. Only the back in which this monkey is wearing pants. I think the monkey was the only animal wearing clothes...not sure what that is about. But it's cool because the kids all talk about what animals they were riding and Joshua's is always "monkey pants" pretty fitting for Joshua-monkey pants-hehehehehehe. Ok, I'm totally rambling now, time for bed :)

I really took a lot of pictures that day--I might have enough to make it through the rest of November, one-picture-at-a-time :) heheehehe

2008-11-22T22:39:00.003-07:00

Remember in a previous post how I said we went to the Wildlife World Zoo and the animals were sooo close-even the tigers?! Well, we went again today and I have the pictures to prove it:

Here kitty, kitty...

Ok, that one might be a little deceiving :)
Here's one of the boys:

Now, that's up close and personal!

Oh-No.......

2008-11-21T11:12:00.002-07:00

We missed our post yesterday. :(

Sorry to our faithful reads out there. You would think between the 2 of us, one of us would of remembered. Well, what is done is done. Maybe we will post twice today. I know it does not make up for it, but it is something.

I think between our meeting with our Local Care Coordinator(Au Pair thing) and Stephanie working on the kids free photo books, posting to the blog slipped through the cracks.

Look for some more infor or new story tonight.

Where'd it go?

2008-11-19T21:54:00.002-07:00

So I really should be going to bed right now, but I got this damm post a day shit to do....so here goes.
First, some background: the kids often hide things and then say "where's the book? where's book? There it is!" or "where'd book go? There it is!"
So the other morning I was having all the kids go pee-pee in the potty (that's good times, I'll tell you...) and their new favorite game is to go potty and then run off before they put on their underwear. Well James did that and I was waiting with Elizabeth for her to finish and I look up to see James (naked from the waist down) standing up against the wall and he says "where'd penis go? where'd penis go?" and Elizabeth starts chiming in as well "where'd penis go?" Then James jumps out from the wall and the two of them say, "there it is!"

James' favorite new phrase

2008-11-18T22:25:00.003-07:00

"Something else"
I think it started with something like, "Do you want an apple for snack or something else?"

Now he picked up on that phrase and uses it a lot. When he doesn't like what is on the t.v., or what type of food he has, or many other times throughout the day, he says, "something else".

But of course since he is two and a half it sounds more like this, "Something else. Something else. Something else! Something else please. Something else please. Something else!"

It was cute at first.....

Ah yes, good times, good times....

One of those days.......

2008-11-17T21:32:00.003-07:00

Where the only cure is cuddling on the couch with some kids.

By myself

2008-11-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

So, the kids have started to use a new phrase. “Myself”, which means they would like to try and do whatever the current task is by themselves. It could be as simple as getting down out of their highchairs or something kind of complicated as buckling themselves into their car seats. This is just another step in their pursuit to being independent. Stephanie and I enjoy these little moments but when it takes an extra 10-15 minutes to sit there and let them try, it gets a little hard not to just take over and do it for them. Once they have completed said task, they smile and exclaim, “By myself!”

Mommy, Elizabeth and a rice cake.

2008-11-15T19:28:00.003-07:00

I know, not the greatest quality, it was taking with our old digital camera.

Just something to blog.

Enjoy!!

do I have to?

2008-11-14T22:18:00.001-07:00

blogity blog blog blog
there, I blogged :)

Sorry, I'll do more tomorrow!

A tearjerker-don't say I didn't warn you!

2008-11-13T20:59:00.005-07:00

So yesterday we took the kids to the library and one of the DVDs they wanted to check out was "The Muppet's: A Christmas Carol ". I thought it would be good because it was the Muppet's the the kid are all into Christmas (this year will be sooo fun!!!!). I didn't really pay attention to the fact that it was A Christmas Carol.
It was a little weird because some of the characters were rel people and some were Muppet's. Anyways, the kids and I were sitting all snuggly on the couch (Daddy and Leo, our au pair, were on a run) watching the movie. I was doing a lot of fast forwarding because I quickly realized it wasn' t really a movie for 2 1/2 year olds...I stopped at a part that had Kermit and Miss Piggy ("Froggy and Piggy" as they are now called) and they were the family that his Tiny Tim in it (Tiny Tim being a little Kermit)
ANYWAYS, they are all having a nice dinner, laughing and joking...then we fast forward to Scrooge and the Spirit of Christmas Not Yet.. and they visit the same house and we find Miss Piggy and the two little piggies crying, and Scrooge realizes that Tiny Time has died. HERE'S THE PART YOU ARE WAITING FOR: I look over at baby James and he has tears in his eyes. I ask him, "are you crying?" and I notice a line of tears running down his sweet little face.
"Yea," he says.
Oh, talk about breaking my little heart!

We watch more and the end has Scrooge going to Tiny Tim's House and bringing a big feast, everyone's happy and jolly. Tiny Tim delivers his famous last line, oh, happy ending! There's Baby James with tears in his eyes again. As soon as the movie ends, he's asking to see it again!

That boy, I tell you, he can be so sweet! And he obviously understands a lot.

Anybody there?

2008-11-12T21:31:00.002-07:00

Just thought I would remind all you readers that there is an option to add a comment after reading my blogs :) Thank you to my two faithful commenters!

Just needing some love.....

Oh the cute things kids say...

2008-11-11T21:14:00.000-07:00

One night in the tub someone kept tooting. I said "who has gas tonight?" James replied, "car". Yes, James, the car does have gas :)

Here's a phase Elizabeth uses a lot, "o.k. thank you". Sometimes she says it while she is talking to herself. Sometimes she says it in response to a questions she asks someone. As in, "Mommy go outside? O.k., thank you"
She's also started what my mom calls Martian Talk. It's like she wants to say a whole sentence or a couple sentences but she only knows a few of the words. Like, "Ababish doub doub go outside", or "Immish graishh drink water grandma". Has anyone else heard kids talking like this?

We were all watching t.v. and some music came on. Joshua was sitting next to me on the couch and he started dancing in his seat. I starting moving too and Joshua said "No mommy. No mommy dancing". Geegsh! Everybody's a critic these days!

Good times, good times...

233rd Birthday of the Marine Corps.

2008-11-10T21:33:00.003-07:00

OOH-RAH

From the halls of Montezuma,
To the shores of Tripoli;
We fight our country's battles
In the air, on land, and sea;
First to fight for right and freedom
And to keep our honor clean;
We are proud to claim the title
Of United States Marine.

Our flag's unfurled to every breeze
From the dawn to setting sun;
We have fought in every clime and place
Where we could take a gun;
In the snow of far-off northern lands
And in sunny tropic scenes;
You will find us always on the job
The United States Marines.

Here's health to you and to our Corps
Which we are proud to serve;
In many a strife we've fought for life
And have never lost our nerve;
If the Army and the Navy
Ever look on Heaven's scenes;
They will find the streets are guarded
By United States Marines.

Semper Fi!!

You're cute

2008-11-09T21:13:00.006-07:00

So let me preface this story by telling you that when my kids talk they don't understand pronouns and they just copy what other people say. For example, when Joshua wants me to carry him down the stairs after nap time he says "carry you" because i used to ask him if he wanted me to carry him , and I would say "do you want me to carry you?" And he would reply, "carry you".
Well, today we took the kids to the park and Elizabeth and I were playing together. A car drove by and she said "car, Grandma"
I said, "no, not Grandma".
She thought for a second and said "people".
"Right, people"
"No Grandma, people" and she laughed.
A minute later Daddy walked up and I was telling him the story. Elizabeth was close enough to overhear us talking about her and she was listening in. Daddy and I laughed at the cute story and looked over at her. Elizabeth said "you're cute". And of course she is talking about herself because it's something she's heard a thousand times before...
So cute :)

2008-11-08T20:59:00.005-07:00

So I decided I better do the blogging tonight before my husband takes over :) Just kidding honey! (But then again, I just remembered one of my original posts was his reaction to me telling him that I started a blog, which was "what do you have to blog about?"....)
Anyways, I'm home alone tonight! Well, except for three sleeping children...I'm home alone. I almost don't know what to do with myself.... And what have I done with Daddy, you ask?! Well, he took our new au pair out! Yes, that 's right, our new au pair arrived last night. Things are going well so far. The kids seem to like him. He just has to get used to this whole U.S. thing (the food here is different...) and this whole Arizona thing (it's hot here...) Oops, good thing he got here this week and not two weeks ago. It's like cool here to us. I was wearing jeans the other day (and as my friend Eden said "90s is jeans weather in Arizona"). But the two of them went out to but some electronics and go to Dave and Busters to play some video games (total boy stuff, ya know? and if I had any idea how to spell the sound that Tim the Tool Man Taylor used to make on Home Improvement then I would add that here)
So I'm home alone. I watched some t.v. and ate some snacks (some Halloween candy....) and now I'm blogging before I watch some more t.v. (but this time I will do some school work).
That's it-my exciting Saturday night.

Sham Wow (Dad)

2008-11-07T12:31:00.004-07:00

So there was a request for me to report on my newest as seen on TV product.

Let me first say I am a sucker for those infomercials. I can watch them all day and I would buy every one of them if I could. Except that, I know better and Stephanie would kill me. (But baby I don't know who sent us $2,000 dollars worth of as seen on tv products, I would say with a sly grin.)

I have owned a couple already and they don't always work as reported. Egg Wave - trashed, Pasta Pronto - trashed, Hurcules Hooks - still have and do work, Magic Bullet - Love'm, Snap Hooks - work good on windows(but thats about it) and I am sure I have had couple others that I can not recall at this moment.

Here is my report. The note that comes with the Sham Wow says that there is a break in time and that they will get better the more you use them. As of right now I am happy with them, they do pull up spills out of carpet rather well and wet counter tops are a breeze. Mirrors and glass currently still leaves streaks. I am hoping the more I use them the better they will become.

I will follow up this post with one later, after I have used them a little more

From the mouths of our kids...(Dad again)

2008-11-06T20:04:00.002-07:00

I think this will be the first of many quick little posts that will help get Stephanie and I through the month of November. Also, since Mom is a little under the weather Dad is taking back the reins and doing a little blogging.

We were playing at the Children Museum and it was getting close to going and Mom told James that is was almost time to go, James' reply was, "In a minute". He did not yell no like some kids, instead he replied with that. Which would make sense because we have started to give all the kids choices when they want to do something, right now or in a minute. Most of the time they choose in a minute, but that is okay, because we are alright with waiting another minute. They are usually okay with leaving after a short wait since that was their choice.

Such great tactics we learn as parents. More to come soon.

2008-11-05T20:39:00.009-07:00

Hi. It's me-posting again. I love how everyone is posting everyday, it's fun to know that I'll have something to read every night. It's also interesting how many people are commenting about election day and the election results. It's even more interesting to see the differences in people's thoughts on the election...but, I'm not one to talk much about politics....so, here is my topic tonight: it's actually a question-when someone posts a comment on your blog and you feel like you should answer it, do you answer it as a comment? But what if that person doesn't look at the rest of your comments to see that you replied to their comment. (I just wanted to see how many times I could say comment) Or do you reply in a post? I suppose you could email the person directly? Or, stranger then all of those ideas is to talk to the person?! No, that can't be the answer :)

Well, since I am talking about it, I'm going to reply to some comments here:

Andrea's comment to Daddy: What type of potty did you bring? A fold-up kind?
That would be a no to the fold up kind. Daddy was caring the big plastic potty that converts to the step stool. Time for us to invest in a fold up kind :)

Eden's comment:
Cute idea for the costumes! So, I want to know, did you really give them more candy the next day or did it get tossed???:)
I really thought that the next day I would give them some candy (and I thought that we did) but Daddy said no we did not. There were some crackers and mini oreos that we kept to give them. The rest was put out for our trick or treaters or kept for Mommy and Daddy :)

Kay said...
I hope it is ok that I sneak a peek at your cute family occasionaly. It is so fun for me to see you and Eden as Moms, then remember the silly kids you were.
Yes, feel free to check my blog whenever you want :)

Eden said...
I'll give it a shot...the whole "a post a day thing", does 5 posts in one day cover me for the 1st thru the 5th (because that is my typical m.o.) or do I have to post every single day?

Here's Andrea's response to your comment:
Andrea said...
To answer Eden's Q: NO! Five posts in one day does NOT count for five days-worth. You can post multiple times a day, but you must post every single day! Even if it's just a pic.

And I wanted to tell you (Eden) that you can write posts and schedule them to post on a different day. That way if you have a couple things to write about you can spread them out over a couple days. I"m not sure if that is "cheating" but I won't tell if you don't :)

Time to go-see you all soon (at the Blogs!)

A trip to the park. (Posted by Dad)

2008-11-04T06:29:00.005-07:00

So, Stephanie was working late on Nov 3rd, which left me home alone with the kids from 2:00pm til 6:00pm. What was a Dad to do? My first thought, have the kids dig some holes in the back yard, then I thought, what would the kids like to do and the park sounds like a good idea. I changed out out of my work clothes, got the kids some shoes and socks. Packed up some snacks, a potty (in case some one needs to go while we are out), sand toys, food for the ducks, and oh yeah the kids.

They all did very good walking together, listening to Dad and even holding hands while we crossed the street. Joshua was either holding my hand or helping me pull the wagon. (he is the cutest) It was a little warm so we did not walk to fast, wanted them to have some energy when we got to the park.

We decided to stop and feed the ducks prior to walking over to the park. Even though the ducks did not want to have anything to do with us. The ducks must of been fed plenty earlier that day. Either way the kids still loved throwing food at the ducks in the water. Next off to the park.

We did some slides, a little chasing, and some swings. Then it was about snack time. I wrangled them up and we all sat on the bench to have a little something to eat. Right about the time we were done, this little girl (about the age of 5) came over and sat next to us and exclaimed "Hi, I'm just going to sit here". Then she proceeded to let me know she was going to play with Elizabeth once she was done with her snack.

The boys and I played while Elizabeth sat and finished her snack, along with her new friend waiting in toe. When finished, Elizabeth and the girl we walking hand and hand around the play area. The little girl was asking her questions like, "You want to swing?, You want to slide?" In turn Elizabeth would just smile. Eventually Elizabeth did want to swing, so I lifted her in and the little girl was going to push her. They did that for about 5-10 mins, while I was playing with the boys. It was kind of nice, but I was a little put off by how friendly the little girl was (I know I am crazy, but something about people in mine or my kids personal space makes me a little weird), unless we know you, then your cool. =)

After about an hour of playing it was time to go. I love how they seem to be okay with leaving, as long as you give them a 2 minute warning then they are fine. But, here was the one problem with leaving. Since we brought so much stuff and now the kids wanted to ride home in the wagon someone would have to carry all the other stuff. Let see who the winner was. Right, Elizabeth, I loaded her up like a little pack mule and pulled her behind the wagon. I am just kidding. In one hand Dad had the wagon full of three tired kids, over his sholder he had the diaper bag, and in the other hand, a potty, sand toys, and food for the ducks.

The walk home seemed a little longer then the walk there, maybe because I was sweating like crazy and seeing black spots.

We made it home safe and sound. I only had to drink a gallon of water to get hydrated :)

Spanish! Spanish!

2008-11-03T19:00:00.001-07:00

One time the DVD "Frosty the Snowman" started to play in Spanish for some reason during the day while no one that was technology-savvy was here, so the kids watched it in Spanish.
That night Daddy got it back to English. The next day when I was putting "Snowman! Snowman!" on the t.v. I got this plea from James, "Spanish! Spanish!" Yes, he wanted to watch "Frosty the Snowman" in Spanish. Okayyyy--sometimes my kids are weird. However, it's pretty funny to see the 3 kids watching the movie in Spanish. Who knows, they probably understand more of it then I do!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T20:18:00.005-07:00

Here are our cuties on Halloween! Our knights in shining armour and the little princess!

Here's James with the helmet on:
Elizabeth with her best pose for the camera: And Joshua with his helmet on:

We took them trick or treating to a couple houses around the neighborhood. Before we took them, Daddy was explaining to them what they were going to do.

"You knock on the door and say trick-or-treat. Then they will give you candy and you say thank you." Then Daddy had them practice.

"When they open the door, what do you say?"

James replies, "CANDY!!" Um, no. That would be rude.

Of course, we had nothing to worry about because 90% of the time the kids became shy and said nothing at all. What?! My kids shy with nothing to say?!

But luckily, also about 90% of the time they did say thank you. Well, at least at every house at least one child said thank you.

We had to keep telling them to put their candy in their buckets and when we get home they could have some candy. Joshua kept trying to eat the candy with the wrapper on.

After we got home we gave them a couple of pieces of candy and then Daddy took their buckets away with promises to have more candy the next day. The boys were fine with that, but Elizabeth started crying. She did not want to give up her candy!

But eating candy has given me my new favorite word of the week courtesy of Joshua: "lickypop" (that would be lollipop). It makes sense, it's a lollipop and you lick it: lickypop!

Good times, good times :)

November 1st

2008-11-01T14:12:00.007-07:00

Really, its November?!
It's hard to believe that for two reasons:
1. The year 2008 is almost over, and

b. It still freakin hot here in Arizona!! Well, not really, it's not HOT, it's only in the mid 90s! :)

**********************************************************
So my friend and fellow blogger Andrea posted this comment on the blog the other day:
"Are you doing the NaBloPoMo challenge? A post a day everyday during the month of November? C'mon, DO IT! Even just a picture counts. : )"

So I have no idea what NaBloPoMo means (and since I don't have any contact with my friends except through my blog I'm sure Andrea will tell me in another comment), but I think I am up to the challenge of a post a day :) Daddy says that he will help as well!

And maybe my other bloggin' friends will be up to the challenge as well! :)
.....was that one too many smiley faces?! :)

Cleaning up my blog...

2008-10-31T22:00:00.006-07:00

Hi! I just wanted to clean up some things from my blog--this is also called "Mommy is still up because she raided the kids' Halloween candy!!!

These are the things the kids loved when I first posted on July 1st:
Singing and dancing
Wresting with Daddy
Doing Puzzles
Reading
The Wiggles
Spaghetti
Sesame Street and all of the characters

And here are the things the kids loved that Mommy and Daddy wish they didn't:
Using their food as a facial cleanser.
Doing things that we just told their brother or sister *not* to do.
This pull-the-flap-for-a-sound book called "Don't Wake the Baby!" (it's magically disappeared.....)

Check back soon for new likes and dis-likes!

Daddy fixed it!

2008-10-27T19:02:00.003-07:00

As you can see from above, Daddy fixed the slideshow. It is now where it should be.
More kid stories coming soon....

Houston, we have lift-off!!!

2008-10-24T21:40:00.003-07:00

So after trying for the 50th time and getting just a little frustrated (o.k., o.k., stop laughing--a lot frustrated) and with Daddy looking over my shoulder I was able to post the slide show on the blog. The only problem I think is that it is a post so after I blog more, the slide show post will get moved---I'll figure a way to not move it!!!! (or die trying...or throw the computer out the window trying!)