Texas High School Football - RC

I try to attend one football game a year from my home town of Royse City. I didn't get to go last year but we did this year and this was also Craig's first time to go with me since RC built this new stadium. You probably won't appreciate this post unless you are from my home town or unless you appreciate high school football. High school football is a BIG thing in Texas!

My home town used to be such a small town - a population of around 2,000 when I lived there as a kid. Now, I believe the small town's population is around 10,000. All things RC is exploding, no doubt!

The football announcer booth thing is massive and still blows my mind.
RC is really stepping it up and even has a replay video screen.
When I was in high school, I participated in the drill team for three years. This was the highlight of my high school years by far.

When I was in school ages ago ***sigh***, I remember the cheerleaders used to make these decorated/painted, paper banners for the football players to run through along with a spirit line. Once again, they have stepped it up.


Here is a pic of the announcer booth from the inside.

Craig and I
Me and Kelli - my long time friend of 25 years. We have been friends since the 4th grade and we were in drill team together. It was so fun to go to this game together and of course we had to sit near the band and drill team. :)
It was a fun time and I look forward to doing it again next year.

Praying Out Loud

I have never been very good at praying out loud. The thought of it makes me incredibly nervous. As our children have gotten older, we have started teaching them to pray. Sometimes I forget to pray at certain times, like before a meal but my kids almost always remind me. In order to remain consistent and teach them, I have had to "suck it up" and pray out loud. This normally isn't too big a deal because I am usually just at home with the three of them, however I have found myself in a more public setting, praying in front of numerous friends. YIKES! :) It is hard as I stumble over my words and/or stutter, but as I practice more and more, it becomes easier and feels more comfortable. Nothing like your children holding you accountable and keeping you on track.

Going Public

For weeks now, I have been contemplating making my blog public. Ultimately, I decided to go public again for multiple reasons.

One, I am hoping this will make it easier for my current readers - I have been told a lot of people forget their user id and password or just forget to check in on our family happenings. So update your google readers and blog lists on the side bar of your blog so you will be alerted when I update.

Two, I miss my fellow moms of multiples that I used to have regular contact with. I miss bouncing ideas off each other. It was and still is beneficial for me to get ideas from other MOM's blogs. Hopefully with my blog being public again, my experiences will help others.

My blogging has been rather unpredictable in the past. Lately I have been blogging regularly and hope to continue this trend. Please leave me a comment when you can and let me know you are reading. I would love to hear from you.

I am going to make this a trial run and as long as things go smoothly "going public", I will keep it that way; if not, I will switch it back.

Arboretum Fall 2010

I bravely agreed to join my MOPS playgroup in taking the trio to the Dallas Arboretum last week. I knew it would be a challenge, but I am really trying to step out of my comfort zone and be more brave when it comes taking the kids out by myself to places that specifically do not have a shopping cart involved.

Just about anytime we have somewhere to be in the morning, whether I have help from Craig or not, it is difficult. We don't rise super early at our house, so when we have to be somewhere by 10a.m., it always proves to be a challenge. The Arboretum is a good 50 minute drive from my house, so getting out the door that morning was hectic to say the least. But probably not quite as hectic as getting the kids and I out the door and to MDO in Allen by 9:15.

Craig laughs at me when I talk about how hard it is to get out the door this early and my response is... "I can get myself out the door this early, no problem but when you have 4 people to get fed and ready and having to stop to potty every few minutes, it creates a bit more difficulty."

After we (Craig was off work that day with appointments all day) got them ready and loaded up, I was not half way there and Whitney said she had to potty. I just ignored it because I was certain she did not need to. Then, somehow I got stuck on the 635W HOV lane so I took a slight detour before getting back on track to the Arboretum.

Once we got there, only 5 minutes late, I might add, I unloaded all the kids in a VERY busy parking lot, which had Mommy so frazzled it wasn't even funny. I got out my walking rope for all the kids to grab a loop and walk in. They all got a little twisted around the wrong way which is pretty common. Then Whitney fell and skinned up her knee pretty good. She cried as I hugged her while trying to keep the other two from getting in the street where everybody and their dog was coming in to the park.

We get to the gate, meet up with our friends go inside and take our first potty break. Fail - nobody went. I tried the public restroom and my portable potty in hopes they would feel comfortable enough to go there but no such luck.

Off we went to see the pumpkins. My crew is very shy in new places and are all slow to warm up. We had a pretty good size group with us that day so this is why I think nobody noticed when me and the trio got left behind. Meanwhile, I was dealing with one very fussy little boy. Stopped at a bench to have a little talk with him and then my friend realized I was not with them so she came back to give me a hand.... literally!

Once we get to the pumpkins, they were all still very fussy, clingy and not wanting anything to do with any kind of pumpkin, but it didn't take long before they warmed up and started having a good time. I gave them a little tiny pumpkin to hold and all the bad attitudes were gone...for two kids at least. :)

It was virtually impossible to get the three of them looking through this window at the same time.
We played on hay bales and held pumpkins while getting our pictures taken; we ran through pumpkin houses; we went through hay mazes and watched as our friends got their faces painted. Then we stopped for another potty break and a friend helped watch two kids for me while I went in with just one. No luck with any of them after trying the regular potty and the portable potty. Starting to get nervous about the pottying or lack thereof.

We then headed over to feed the fish and just as I gave my kids their bread to give to the fish, they started eating it. Turns out there were no fish at that location so we headed to another and thankfully our friends shared some bread with us to feed to the fish since we had already eaten our fish food. Ha! The kids really enjoyed throwing bread in and watching the dozens and dozens of fish swim over and eat it all up, while the moms kept a close eye on the many toddlers inching closer and closer to the edge.

After that, we stopped for a picnic lunch and boy were our kids hungry... or at least mine were. :) After a nice lunch and a short play time, we headed toward the exit but this time, I gave Tyler Mrs. Jennifer's hand. So much easier for my girls to keep up if they are holding an adult's hand. I think I spent the majority of the time walking through the park with my head turned around, while telling the kids "come on; keep up; we're getting behind" etc.
We stopping by the petting zoo just before we left. The kids got to pet the goats, sheep, rabbits, donkey and chickens. Then we were off to the car and on our merry way back to Oklahoma! We made it home with zero accidents which makes Mommy very happy! : )

I do think I have been making small strides to get my kids out more. Just taking them to the regular places I go like Target and Kroger, except now adding potty training to the mix, is a much bigger and more complicated task. So, I go from that to driving almost two hours round trip, on foot - w/o strollers and potty training??????? Made for a pretty exhausting day for me but I do think the kids enjoyed themselves and I did too for the most part.

I have another playdate at an open gym on Tuesday and I am hoping this will be much easier on Mommy. Crossing my fingers the kids won't clam up like they did at the Arboretum or have a potty accident.

Hannah's First Haircut

Hannah has a habit of twirling her hair for comfort - both day and night which creates knots in her hair. Because of this, I have had to cut the knots out of her hair several times leaving the ends of her hair rather jagged and out of shape. Today, she had another one of those untangle-able (is that even a word? Ha!) knots so after I cut another hunk of hair off, I decided to give Hannah a little trim. I never thought I would be one of those moms that cuts their kid's hair just because I was too afraid I would mess it up.

These two pics were reenacted pics because when I actually cut her hair, I was home alone so we recreated the scene after he got home from work. :)
Couldn't get the little monkey to sit still for a pic of her and her hunk of cut hair but that is what I am holding in my hand.

She didn't sit very still so I am sure there are parts of it that are very uneven. Thankfully though she has curly hair so the curls hide any of that. It definitely looks better than it did. She didn't even realize I was cutting it - she just thought I was fixing her hair. Works for me!

Trio's First High School Football Game

We took the kiddos to their very first high school football game tonight. We went to the Melissa game which was nice for the simple fact that it took us a very short time to get there. :) It was also nice because it provided me a sense of community and unity to other residents in our small town.

Waiting for the game to start.
We got there early and were able to take a few pictures before the game started. We then found our seats and of course, I had to sit close to the band. After we got settled in our seats, off I went to the concession stands to get us some good ole high school football concession food. Yum! Hotdogs, nachos, frito pie, popcorn and candy was our dinner. This huge box is what they put my food in to carry. Ha!


The kids were a little nervous and whiny the first time the crowd cheered as the band played after scoring a touchdown but they quickly got over that and began to enjoy the night more and more. They enjoyed watching the cheerleaders, the mascot, the band and Tyler really enjoyed his popcorn - eating it for almost 2 hours straight.

Of course, we couldn't stay for the whole thing but wanted to stay until half time was over because we figured they would really enjoy the half time show and sure enough they did, clapping and cheering with excitement.


Although, if I had my choice, I would have chosen a RC game to be the kid's first experience of high school football, but we gladly settled with Melissa instead. We all had a great time and I look forward to many more family events like this.

Community Outreach

For the past few months I have been questioning, "Is there more I can do? Is there more I can be involved in?" To answer that simply... Of course! I have been having this overwhelming feeling of needing more in my life. I need more purpose in life besides just being a wife and mother. I hesitate to use the word "just" for fear it may sound like this is no tall order. I am proud to be all of these but sometimes we just need more and I think it will make me a better wife, mother and friend to boot. I am not very involved in much of anything (from playgroups to MNO, to outreach) I don't work outside the home, I don't earn compensation and I think this causes me to feel more like I don't make much of a difference in this world and have no purpose outside of raising kids and being a wife and friend.

I have been a member of PAMOM for 3 years and one thing I have done for a couple of years now is mentor PAMOM expectant MOM's. PAMOM partners up MOM's who have multiples with MOM's who are expecting. This is a great way to help out a fellow MOM and "give back". When I was pregnant with my triplets, I had a mentor as well and it was such a wonderful thing to have my own mentor to ask questions and turn to because she had "been there, done that".

I have started to make a few changes by adding various activities to my life such as: joining MOPS and becoming more involved with PAMOM (attended my first meeting in 1 1/2 years last night). At the last MOPS meeting we did a community service craft, decorating aprons for hospitalized kids with cancer, and at the PAMOM meeting, we pinned purple ribbons for domestic violence awareness month. I look forward to more adventures with MOPS including dressing the kids up in Halloween costumes and visiting a local nursing home. It really is rewarding to "give back" and those on the receiving end are benefiting too. I encourage you to do so. But no judgment from me if you don't. The purpose of this post isn't to "brag" although it may appear that way. The purpose of this post is to share my thoughts with you and encourage you and also to ask you to share any outreach opportunities that are important to you.

As time and my schedule permits, I would like to become more involved in community outreach programs that are special to me and maybe even take on leadership position in the future.

Lot's of Firsts at the State Fair

We talked about possibly taking a ride up the big wheel but decided not this year.

We arrived at the fair and before we even got in the gate, I ran into some of my relatives. Then, not 30 minutes later, we saw some other people we know. Later we saw some others as well. I usually always see at least somebody I know at the fair each year but I thought it was funny to run into family before even entering inside the fair. We got there around lunch time and it was really crowded with people, the food lines were crazy long and the kids were getting hungry. After weeding through the crowds, I decided to go on a hunt for some food for my kids without having to stand in a long long line. Craig though I was never going to return.

We had the most memorable experience with making numerous stops to the potty while at the fair. We brought a portable potty chair but we also tried using the restrooms and quickly found the portable potty worked much better. We really didn't think we would find enough places that were secluded enough to allow the kids to do their business, but surprisingly we did. We just backed up to a building, dumpster or line of shrubs etc. and put the two strollers in front to block that side. It worked out really well. The kids did well keeping their pull-ups dry (I just wasn't brave enough to do regular underwear) although we did have a few minor leaks.

It definitely takes a lot longer to get through the fair with kids in tow that is for sure, but then again, what doesn't? I couldn't believe it when I looked up and we had been there 3 hours and literally all we had done was potty, eat, potty, and see one thing. The pottying novelty wore off and we were able to get through the fair with much less potty break distractions.

We stopped at the "Little Hands on the Farm" and the kids went through the entire process of farming for the first time. This was such a fun and educational experience. We started off getting an apron. Tyler was the only one that wanted to wear one. We also picked up our baskets and our corn.
We watered the trees...
we picked our fruit from the trees.


We milked a cow


We placed milk in our baskets after milking our cow.
We planted our seeds.
We watered our seeds. We also watered our seeds with milk but unfortunately I couldn't get a picture. Ha!
We picked our vegetables out of the garden.


We stopped for a picture - Tyler on the tractor.
Whitney
Hannah
We picked up their bag of grain.


We "rode" tractors... although we didn't actually ride them.
We fed the farm animals.
We made a stop by the farmer's market to sell our foods.
We went shopping in the store and picked out whatever they wanted and payed for it with their hard earned money.


Tyler giving the cashier his money for his crackers.
Hannah receiving her merchandise back after paying for it.
After we finished farming, we attempted to take a picture. You'll see in the next few pics, our failed attempt to get everybody to look through the holes at the same time but not for lack of trying.
Take two
Take three


We wandered around the car show as Craig dreamed of owning a big, monster truck. Tyler experienced his first time to sit on a monster truck tire.

The kids had their first experience with cotton candy. Of course, they all loved it but after a while, Tyler (of all people) was very concerned about his dirty, sticky hands.
Of course, Mom & Dad couldn't pass up the cotton candy either.


We watched the parade come through that evening. (I think this was their first parade???) We saw police on horseback.
We saw clowns...


We saw some motorcycle cops. This one in particular stopped and just stared at the kids and said hello.


We saw some interesting creatures on stilts.
We saw floats...
This, as always is the best part!


Of course we had to pet and feed all the farm animals.



Their first time to sit in a real tractor. On our way to the car, we decided to give the kids a "ride" on the tractors that we saw when we came in. They were really tired by this point but enjoyed sitting in the tractors anyway.



After making it to the car, pottying and getting everybody and our gear loaded up, we were headed for home and the rest is history. As soon as Tyler started to nod off, I flashed the camera again and he woke up.

We ate corny dogs, tornado taters, nachos, funnel cakes, cotton candy, fried bacon, ice cream and loved every minute of it! We saw several other of the "usuals" like the pavilions, a trip through the Midway, a passing by of Big Tex, but we missed several other "usuals" like the dog show and the street acrobats and performers. All in all, it was a great day and a very fun and memorable experience with family.