It's An Elmo Birthday Party!

After a week of migraines and hard work, today has come and gone. We threw the kids an Elmo themed party. It was on the small sizes again (one day we will do a big one), but still turned out to be a GREAT day! The kids were dressed in some Elmo shirt I had found just last weekend. The kitchen and dining room were decorated in balloons and streamers. Here are some of the decorations:

Although the look different then I originally envisioned them, they turned out great. With only a paper to trace the outline of his head, the rest was made up. The boys' cakes were chocolate and Liz's was yellow. Again I surprised myself with my ablilty to pull this off. Like Jeremy says I may have a new calling in life...lol! Who knows what a little practice and more knowledge could do for me...lol!

We put the kids down for their nap early and had to wake them up as guest started arriving and they were still sleeping. They took a while to warm up to everyone but eventually came out of their shells a little bit. After eating lunch we went to opening presents. Zach dove in right away with his gift from his godfather, Fred, Noel & Owen (who will be 2 yrs in March). Not only did Zach get this great car game but an awesome outfit with a cap and sunglasses....

Who knew sunglasses would steal the show. He is such a ham!

Liz found it hard to wait to open presents. She just started grabbing while Zach was unwrapping. She did not slow down to find out if the gift was for her. Here she is opening Zach's gift from Nana & Papa...

Auntie Jackie helped Alex with opening his gift from Nana & Papa....

You may think since Liz opened one of Zach's gift that she may let him open one of hers....yeah, right...here she is opening her gift from Nana & Papa...

Although Jeanne, Brent and Mackenzie were unable to join us, Maddie and Morgan were here to watch the kids' excitement over their gifts....

Not only did they get those cool shirts but the big box held an even more exciting gift...

They waste NO time trying it out....how cool!

Tissue paper was a lot of fun for Zach as he opened his gift from Marcus (Liz's godfather), Renee, Brianna and Camden. The three of them will be dressed very cute this summer!

Here are the kids sitting in their rocker made by Papa for the first time. Hard to get their attention with new toys, wrapping paper and an audience...lol...

Alex and Liz did take a moment to check out the cool books from Grover (Alex's godfather) and Sarah. We have a lot of reading ahead of us.

Zach didn't wait for Liz and Alex to help him Auntie Jackie and Uncle Momo's present. He went in head first for it!!!

Auntie Jean's present was almost forgot as it got lost in the wrapping paper. She has a great sense of humor...little does she know, but she will be here when the kids use her present of paint! Can you tell she finds herself very funny? She's the one in the background bustin' a gut laughing...lol!

After gifts it was on to cake and ice cream. Even though Auntie Jackie had the card that had Elmo singing happy birthday, we still all sang to the kids. With a little help from mom and dad to blow out hte candles we were ready....

Here they are clean....but only for a short amount of time....lol! They are waiting patiently for their untensils even though I told them to dig in...

Alexis joined the table for some fun. She turns 2 on the 1st of March, so the kids were filling her in on what it is like...lol!

Today I got confirmation that Liz takes after me in the sweets department. In this next picture notice where she is sitting...yup that is Alex's chair and unfinished cake. Is there such a thing as too much?!?!?! Don't want to waste perfectly fine cake...you go girl!

Unfortunately is was after most poeple had left when the kids' true personalities started coming out. Zach and Liz were running around with their balloons. It took Alex a little bit before he was comfortable with them but he did join the fun. Who needs toys?!?! Next year it will be bring a balloon party...lol!

Here is Alex with his balloons and some gift bags...

Liz playing with them at the table...did not last for long...

Zach is in there amongst all the balloons...he was not happy unless he had everyone's balloons!

A gentle reminder...

I must say that this week has gone so fast that I have had hardly anytime to keep the movie going in my head...it is obviously still there but just on pause. I am in final prep mode for the party tomorrow. The cakes are made and formed...now they need to be frosted. I will be so happy if they actually turn out like I envisioned them. The balloons are ordered and ready for pick up tomorrow morning. The house is cleaned....woo hoo! It has been a stressful week but it is all worth it. With a few things left to do tomorrow morning, we will be ready to rock! I cannot believe they are going to be two!
So the real reason for this post was to tell a funny story. I have plenty to do today to finish things up, so when this morning started with a laugh I am pretty confindent today will go well. The kids were all up by 7:30 this morning. I put them all in the boys' room to play. Since they were playing so nice I decided to go lay on my bed and rest for just a little bit. I have had many migraines in the last week due to the stress I put on myself for the party and other life stresses we are dealing with. So laying down just for a second before our day starts was something I needed. I could hear them playing and had to go in one time cuz someone was yelling 'no, no, no' but everything was ok. So I went back to my bed. I may have doozed off for a minute or so when I heard Liz screaming. This scream is the one she normally uses for when the boys steal a toy of hers. So I let her go for a bit so she can learn to work thru things. But it was not getting better so I went in. Here is the scene...Zach apparently climbed up on the shelves, next to the dresser. Then emptied the diapering basket on the dresser. The basket contains the diapers, lotion, butt paste, etc. The wipes sit in front of that basket. So Zach emptied the diapers (about 15 of them) and threw the wipes down to his cohorts in crime. They proceeded to empty the newly refilled wipe box. Zach focused on the butt paste. He had the open tube in his hand when I got there. Both hands were covered. Alex was still working with the wipes when I arrived. Liz apparently also worked with the butt paste. You may wonder what had her screaming...well when you play in butt paste and you get it on your hands it does not come off easily. She was ticked off that she had it on her hands. She keep pointing the one finger at my like 'mom do something...get it off'. She screamed until I got a washcloth and cleaned her up. I did not notice until I had her hands cleaned that she had used it elsewhere. Apparently our children know their routine very well. We put lotion on their faces every morning and night due to it being so dry. That lotion is kept in the basket. She thought that she had lotion. She applied it to her cheeks...very nicely I may add. I was amazed that she was not irritated by that. Maybe had I see that in the first place I would have run downstairs to get the camera but I thought it was just the hands so wanted to get her cleaned up to stop the screaming. So there is no photo proof. All I could do was laugh. The boys helped me put the wipes back in the box one by one. It is my own fault for leaving them. A gentle reminder that I have 3 two year olds...can they be trusted to be alone?!?!?
Hope you got a good laugh from this. There is always something goofy happening in this house. Hope you all have a good weekend and I will post birthday party pictures soon.
Love, Jen

It's official....

...we are potty training! Last week Thursday Liz officially went on the potty and this morning Zach went on the potty. So now all three have gone pottied on the potty! The are also beginning to request to sit on the potty. Is that a light I see? You know the one you normally see at the end of a tunnel...like the diaper tunnel...lol! Yet another challenge is upon us, let's see how we fair with this one. As with most other challenges, the benefits will be all worth it!

Two years ago today I was in labor & delivery being monitored for pre-term labor. I can remember exactly where I sat as I made the phone call to my perinatologist as well as packing a bag very quickly and saying goodbye to the dogs...thinking the whole time that I would be home later. Who knew that later would be a long time later. Who knew it was the beginning to the end of my pregnancy journey. What a journey it was...and you know what? I'd do it all over again...in a heartbeat!

I have a feeling that this week is going to be emotional for me. Probably more emotional than I was last year. I think that with the little extra time that I now have I am able to reflect more. I have the film playing in my head...replaying the bedrest, the delivery, the NICU, the firsts, etc. Playing like it was yesterday. I have caught myself a few times in the last week looking at the kids and just being amazed that I am lucky enough to be their mommy. My dream of being a mother not to just one but three AMAZING individuals! The frustrating days melted away with the smiles, the hugs, the kisses and the love...all times three! I could not ask for more and would do it all again!

Ok so this emotional mommy will try to stay on track and tell you about some things that happened over the weekend. The weather was absolutely beautiful! Although a lot of the snow was melted by Saturday morning, we still took the kids out. They had yet to try their new shovel that they got for Christmas. So we went out found a good patch of snow and let them play. It was pretty wet so we only played for a little while. It felt great to be outside. The winter has just been too cold to do a lot of outside play. Here are some pictures from the morning...

Liz enjoying the nice weather and the white stuff too...and yes that is a boy snowsuit but if you remember the post about their first time out in the snow...she could not move to well...I had the extra snowsuit so why not use it...
Zach trying to figure out where to shovel first...

Alex wasted no time...started shoveling as soon as we hit the snow...

Daddy watching the kids play....

Daddy and the snow removers...

Yesterday, Sunday, my sister and I went to Costco to pick up a few things...one very important thing was diapers. Jeremy put the diapers away for me when I got home. Once the kids saw the box they wanted it...so daddy emptied all three boxes. The kids first played with them in the dining room part of the play area. They had fun changing box as well as having their afternoon juice.

I then told them if we picked up the play area we could play with them in the living room part of the play area and maybe watch an Elmo movie. After picking up, we moved the boxes...one by one they carried them in. I prepared the boxes for watching the movie. The kids loved it...oh and the movie too (well at least for the first 5 minutes that they watched.

After that first five minutes or so, we moved on to the next thing that boxes are good for...building and climbing.

This box of diapers was filled with more than just diapers...I got this handsome little boy! BTW, they played with the boxes right up until bedtime. Again I ask myself...we have toys why??? lol

We are all healthy again, so we will be going to play group this week and are looking forward to it as we all need to get out! I will probably do more post this week as their birthday approaches.

Love, Jen

It is potty-time!

When starting this posts I was going to say it was an exciting week but really the week was pretty ordinary. I watched Alexis a lot so the days flew by. The real excitement started Friday night and continued thru the weekend.
Friday night at bath time Alex started throwing a fit after supper and it continued thru the bath. The way he was acting was similar to a previous bath time in which he ended up being pulled from the bath in order to go to the bathroom. So thinking it was that again, I quickly washed him up, got him out and dried up. The kids potties are in the same bathroom so I pull him on the potty just "in case" he needed to go. I finished washing the others and everyone ended up on their potties. Zach was done sitting, so Jeremy got him dressed. Then Liz was done, so I got her dressed. All the while Alex sat patiently on the potty. When I finished dressing Liz I went to get Alex. I found him standing by the bathtub saying "mess, mess"...there was nothing by him, so I lookong in the potty. Low and behold, give the boy some peace and quiet and he used his potty. Can I tell you how excited I was?!?!?! I was thrilled!!! So thrilled I just had to tell someone...first I tried my sister...no answer, so onto my mom...she was thrilled too. I did finally get a hold of my sister so she could participate in the excitement.
Saturday morning we asked the kids if they wanted to try. Alex was up for trying as was Liz. Zach wanted nothing to do with them. Liz was acting very funny. Look like she was actually trying really hard to "go" but was goofing around at the same time. So I was unable to really tell what she was doing. Little Ms. Elizabeth was successful. All that pushing she was doing did produce two drops, so we are chalking that up to success. Again I made phone calls...I know I am a lunatic, but the thought of no more diapers can send someone to the loonie bin...lol.
Sunday morning was also exciting. Yup, you guessed it...on the potties again. Alex once again had success! I cannot express how proud of him I am...actually not just him...them all. They do an excellent job sitting and not playing. We don't have little naked ones running everywhere. Now who knows this could all change...lol!
Superbowl Sunday was really like an ordinary Sunday around here. Daddy watched the kids while I got some much needed things done. Although the Superbowl was on...we could not hear much of it. Plus we had to eat at halftime, so we did not see any of the halftime stuff. Since the Packers were not in it, I decided the kids and I would cheer on the underdogs, the Cardinals. So I dressed them all in some red for the day. Unfortunately our support did not help the Cardinals to a win but they were darn close!
Here are some various pictures from the last week. Enjoy!
Love, Jen
Liz riding the "horsey"...she is have absolutely no fun!
How can you not love that face?!?!

The boy have the belief that anything can be used as a chair...today we are using the bouncing balls for chairs. They work pretty god but require a lot of balance and paying attention.

Zach checking what's around the corner...

Alex goofy around with a burprag on his head...stay steady...don't fall off...

Alex and Zach trying to show what angels they are...

Balls are not the only thing good for a chair...what about our trucks... Alex and Zach both find them perfect for reading books...Sunday morning daddy watched Blue's Clues with the kids. The kids all decided to play with the Magna Doodles and they all wanted up and daddy's lap. Since it requires a little more room, daddy got on the floor. The kids used him as a back rest. Here they are watching Blue and doodling.

Here is what it looks like to have 3 kids & 3 doodles on one lap!

Sunday after supper the kids continued to play. This time the construction hats came out. Not just for one of them but for all of them. They also tried them on mommy and daddy. Fun game but can become dangerous as the kids cannot tell how hard they are putting htem on your head. I can't wait to see them with dress-up clothes. They are hilarious to watch with the hats!

My mom came over yesterday for a short time to watch the kids while I ran to the store quick. When I came home I found out they had learn something new. Nowadays this does not surprise me as they are VERY talkative, repeat pretty much everything and are constantly trying new things and using their imaginations. So what did Grandma teach them...how to be a choo-choo train. It is too funny. The kids had a blast doing it! Thanks Grandma!!!