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.

MOPS & MOPPETS

A friend invited me to join her mops group at a church in Allen and I am so glad I did. The cost is low and it is 2 Fridays a month from September thru April. It lasts for 2 hours in the morning and is very much needed to give me a regular break throughout the month. Each mom helps with the MOPPETS (the children), on a rotation, two times during the year. Today was the first time I have visited (I missed the first meeting) and I really enjoyed it.

Getting the kids and I ready and out the door before 9 a.m. was a challenge as we aren't super early risers in our house. Mommy managed and we even got there early which was a good thing because I had to find where to go and get all the essential paperwork filled out etc.

The kids were kind of clingy at first but by the time I took them to their class they did great and nobody cried when I left them. They had a good time too - playing with other kids and being in a different environment. The teachers do crafts with the kids, learn Bible verses and learn about Jesus.

After dropping the kids off, I went in with the ladies and found my table. Met several new moms in my group and immediately fit right in. Everyone was all very friendly and welcoming. There are about 10-12 ladies in our group and we sit together each time we meet, chat a little over a wonderful breakfast, I might add (the groups rotate bringing breakfast), watched a video (this week), we do crafts (today was decorating aprons for hospitalized children with cancer), we have a speaker (this week - Larissa Linton, the founder of a charity organization called Heroes for Children shared her personal story of losing her first born child to a rare form of leukemia at the age of 3.

This charity specifically focuses on supporting families of children with cancer. She spoke to us about how important it is that we teach our children philanthropy. Here are a few ideas, shared by Larissa, to involve your children in philanthropy: talk to your children about it; create a collection jar of loose change to donate; donate items; create goody bags; make art; hold a lemonade stand, book or cookie sale; donate to a charity in lieu of gifts; attend an event; be creative.)

After the speaker shared about her story and organization, we had a little more time to chat, plan events and discuss the questions from our reading. We have a book to read between meetings called "Momology - A Mom's Guide to Shaping Great Kids". I have quite a bit of catching up to do since I came in late but I look forward to reading it. :)

In addition to meeting 2 Fridays a month, the group gets together for playgroups and mom's night out and I am looking forward to attending these and getting to know these ladies as well as my kids "getting to know" the other kids.

Making a Difference

In addition to potty training, I have been very busy spending my time researching and focusing on various different things - what we eat being the main one. Some other things I have been focusing my time and energy researching include: coupons, cookware, T.V. education, painting/decorating kid's rooms and selling various baby things.

Update on me: Many of you probably know I haven't been feeling well the past few months and this has undoubtedly jump started my motivation to research and change our diets in our house. Finding out what exactly it is that we are putting in our bodies was a goal I planned to achieve shortly after finishing school and my not feeling well has definitely caused this to become one of my top priorities. I would also like to update that I have been feeling much better. Not sure that it was caused from a change in diet (as I started feeling better before I really changed my diet) or if it was from the medication my doctor prescribed me. She thought I had gastritis (sp?) an irritation of the lining of the stomach.

Food changes: I know many of you have wanted to know what all I have done as far as food changes go so here goes. First, I am so lucky to have friends that I can go to for resources and tips. This can be such a overwhelming thing to take on and I have procrastinated because I simply didn't know where to start. So most of my info is coming from my friends who have educated me and I wanted to share what I have learned with all of you and hope you can take something from it.

I am still in the process of really researching what certain "bad food ingredients" are, what they are used for and what they do to the body. I will go ahead and share what I am working on eliminating from or at least limiting from our diet. If you google "bad food ingredients" it will pull up a whole slew of things and almost everyone has HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), MSG, hydrogenated oils/transfat, nitrates, aspartame among many others at the top of the list. Many websites will give a short description of what each of these actually is etc. I also found several links like the one below that actually lists the foods in a chart format and tells what it is, what it is used for, what it does to your body. http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/health/9-ingredients-to-avoid-in-processed-foods-1268429/

I have gradually been finishing off many foods in my pantry and fridge that have these ingredients in most of them. I can't bring myself to throw them away. :) As I run out of things, I am replacing them with a much healthier version. So, for now, the things I am reducing/eliminating from our diet include: foods with transfats and/or hydrogenated oils, MSG, nitrates, HFCS, preservatives, hormone induced poultry and beef, artificial sweetener, premade or boxed foods. Really trying to cut down on the processed foods.

I have switched from canned veggies to frozen or fresh (mainly frozen) due to the BPA found in cans and also because veggies are more fresh if frozen or fresh out of the produce because many canned vegetables lose nutrients. Again, I am no expert at this - I am just starting my research, this is just what I have learned thus far.

Peanut butter, jelly, syrup (I buy pure maple syrup), honey (I buy the N. Dallas Honey Co. honey in the orange label), bread, ketchup, chips, crackers - there are options that do not have HFCS, preservatives, hydrogenated oils etc. in them and even at the regular ole grocery store. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have to start shopping at certain stores to find these items. If you would like specifics of certain brands of foods that don't have these bad food ingredients, I will gladly share.

Flour - I currently have bleached flour (bad bad bad) in my pantry and have been using it up but after that no more. I will primarily use wheat flour but also do combine all purpose flour (unbleached) when I make waffles or muffins from scratch. Speaking of waffles and muffins, I have started making them from scratch rather than buying the pre-made kind. Saves money and so much healthier. I took this idea from my friend who makes hers in bulk and freezes them; then thaws them when ready to eat. I spent several hours a couple days last week making muffins and waffles but it will last me a while. I found a couple of muffin recipes I like and got a waffle/pancake recipe from a friend. I will share if interested.

Also I would like to point out that this isn't necessarily a low calorie or the lowest calorie diet possible; just a healthier, more natural way of eating. I always thought our diet wasn't "that bad" but little did I know how much crap was in the foods we were eating. We are trying to eat whole wheat & whole grains pasta, bread, brown rice. And brown sugar over white sugar when possible. Also, chips... I bought some chips and was in too big a hurry to really look over the label while at the store. I bought baked chips and regular chips and noticed when I got home that the baked chips which are lower in calories, have MSG, dyes, artificial colors and flavors and a ton of other ingredients in them, and the "On The Border Cantina Thins" have no hydrogenated oils, no artificial flavors or colors, low sodium, and are gluten free. These chips have 20 more calories per serving than the baked but with much fewer junk in them. The baked chips have at least 20 ingredients and the OTB chips have less than 6 ingredients. The less ingredients, the better. **Update** I've seen a drastic change in the ingredients in chips. Seems like 2 years ago when I first started researching, Lays had hydrogenated oils in them but just this week (3/19/12) I was at the store looking at several bags of chips and noticed lots more healthy(ier) choices.

Spaghetti sauce, sloppy joe sauce... you can either buy a healthier version or make your own from scratch. Salt and sugar, I just try to cut down on both of these and buy items with low or no salt and low or no sugar. I am kinda jumping all over right now, but you have to watch your labels because they can call some ingredients by different names and if you aren't careful, you could be eating the things you think you are avoiding.

Nitrates are found in a lot of lunch meats, hotdogs - packaged meats. Just look for the labeling to read "nitrate/nitrite free". Same with other foods - just look for the label to say "no MSG, no hydrogenated oils, no HFCS" etc. I buy all my meats at Whole Foods except lunch meat. Hormel in the brown box can be found at Kroger and is Nitrate free.

We have also started buying chicken and beef that is not hormone induced. Grass fed beef, USDA organic eggs. We eat USDA organic yogurt (Stonyfield brand) - yoplait etc is loaded with dyes, sugar, HFCS and junk. Milk and cheese - I still buy the regular stuff because I read the label that says my milk has no rbst hormone in it. The jury is still out on this decision... but for now we are sticking with the regular milk/cheese rather than organic. **Update** We do USDA organic milk now.

Craig and I have tossed up the idea of buying meat and possibly some fruits/veggies from a local farmers market or local farmers who sell to the public. I found a website called Local Harvest where you can put in your zip code and find local farmers that will sell to you. Click here for the link. We have also talked about him hunting year round and eating only wild meat that is truly eating organically and not being pumped full of hormones and chemicals. We have also tossed around the idea of having our own garden with a few fruits and veggies, although I don't know that this is something I have the time to take on. The jury is still out on fresh produce and whether or not to go organic on that. I have heard about the "organic" label controversy. Organic is much more expensive and I don't want to buy organic if it isn't truly organic. It is sad that we can't 100% trust the food labels but ultimately it all comes down to money and it seems that is all the food industry is driven by is --- $$$ and not healthy eating.

TV Education: We have also been watching several food documentaries - one being Food Inc., another - Food Matters and also I now record and watch the Dr. Oz show every day. Food Inc. is very eye-opening and really gives a good explanation as to how our beef, poultry, grains and fruits and veggies are being produced in such a non-organic way and only because $$$ is the primary concern. Producing in the fastest and cheapest way to turn the biggest profit is #1 in their eyes. I would encourage you to watch it if you haven't already. Food Matters is also a good film discussing similar topics in addition to prescription drugs vs. natural, healthy diet and vitamins to help heal the ill. Lastly, the Dr. Oz show has awesome demonstrations that really helps one to better understand the way things with the body work - his show is interesting and never boring. He discusses everything from health concerns such as GI problems to neurological from PMS to you name it. He discusses vitamins and what you should take at different ages. He gives tips on how to handle certain fruits and veggies to rid them of the majority of the pesticides found on them. I can share if interested - just LMK. Oh and PS, speaking of vitamins... check your multi vitamin labels you are giving to your kids. Chances are, if you are buying it from Target or Walmart or some place similar, it has HFCS in it. I buy my kids' vitamins at the Vitamin Shoppe and chose one that they recommended which doesn't have HFCS in it.

Cookware: Dr. Oz discusses what types of cookware to use... Which is something else we are looking to replace soon. All our cookware is Teflon and some are even chipped up - I have thrown away 2 pans thus far. The jury is still out on this as well as to what to get. I'm open to any tips any of you have on this or anything I have discussed. **Update** We bought hard anodized nonstick cookware, after lots of research. Easy to clean but isn't like teflon.

Plastics: Another thing I learned from Dr. Oz... plastics (I have learned so much just in the few weeks I have been watching, my head is spinning trying to store it all)... We haven't decided to do away with our plastic food storage containers just yet but I did take a quick inventory and made sure none of them have a #3 or #7 in the triangle. These plastics may let off dangerous chemicals like BPA. Good rule of thumb - don't put hot foods in plastics as the food will melt the chemicals out of the plastic and in the food and don't microwave food in plastic containers. **Update** We still use plastic occasionally to store food but for the most part I use pyrex glass containers.

Coupons: Another big thing I have been wanting to do for a while, and have attempted in the past but always failed, is clipping coupons. I can see that every little bit helps and if you take a little extra time to organize this, it can really help save money. Again, I got several of my resources from a friend and I will share with you some links on here. Money Saving Mom is a fabulous resource. This website has printable coupons, deals that stores like Wal-Mart, Target, Walgreens are having, recipes and much more. There are even direct links on here where you can read and print off different store's coupon policy to have with you in the event a store doesn't want to honor your coupon. You can also print off coupons here for Target coupons. coupons.com and afullcup.com are also awesome websites to print coupons on. I could go into some tips for clipping coupons but this post is really long and you probably already know the tricks to save the most anyway. :) Shop where coupons can be doubled, double up on mfg. and store coupons, use coupon on an item on sale etc. **Update** I am not a good couponer... I try to save some here and there but not much.

Misc.: In addition to all this, I have been busy with selling various baby items, Craigslist shopping for some furniture for the girl's room, painting and decorating the kid's rooms (the girl's room is finished, btw and Tyler's is almost finished - pics to come soon) and have just enrolled (all be it late) myself and the trio in a MOPS group in Allen to which I am very excited to start this coming Friday.

I would love to hear from you and hear any thoughts/tips you would like to share on anything I discussed.

As a stay at home mom, I am excited about making these life-changes and am going to try to stick with it as much as I can. Providing my family with healthier meals and saving money in the process by cooking more from scratch and also by clipping coupons, hopefully I will feel more like I am making a contribution and/or making a difference.

Silliness

Well it has been a long time since I have blogged... about two months... Since I blogged last, Craig went on a ski trip, had a few sicknesses, attended a couple of playgroups with the kids, attended my nephew's first birthday party, dyed my hair brown, went to a Star's game with friends, had several girls nights out, attended my niece's baptism, celebrated my Mom's birthday and had a belated Easter egg hunt for the kids (a separate blog post on that to come).

Just thought I would share a few pictures of the kids being silly.

Having fun with the ball cap.

Hannah undressing herself.

Lots of hat fun.

More undressing...

Fun in Mommy's sneakers.

Fun with the tongue.

The new "shat".

Playing outside.

Undressing herself again.

Record breaking snowfall

I know the majority of you that read this blog are full aware of how much snow we've gotten but I have several readers who live out of state and they may not be aware so I just have to share. We have had such a rare winter around North Texas this winter. Not only has it been much colder than usual, we have had several (3 or 4 I think) rounds of snow this winter. Christmas Eve and February 11th were the most significant of all. Yesterday it began snowing around 4 a.m. and continued a little past midnight on Friday (today). North Texas made history breaking several records.
*Yesterday's snow made it the snowiest day in North Texas history with 12.5 inches of snowfall in a 24 hour period.
*Yesterday currently sits at the second most snowiest February and the second snowiest winter in history for the DFW area.
The last time it snowed this much was in February 1978, when I was 6 months old. It was such a fun day for us to watch outside the window as the snow fell in what felt like bucket loads all day and night long. Such a rare occurrence for Texas. We ventured out in the snow, not once but twice yesterday to fully experience this beautiful day.

We first went out in the morning and I wasn't sure how the kids would like the snow because they weren't super fond of it at Christmas. I was pleasantly surprised when they were all excited about putting on their coats and letting me put their hoods on them to venture out in the cold and wet snow.

I tried getting them to look up at the sky and stick out their tongues to catch some snow in their mouths. They did it a few times but not enough for me to get a picture. I did get a pic of Tyler looking up at least.

Whitney did well for a little while but then eventually started getting cold and had had enough.

Hannah was the wettest of all because she actually stepped out into the deep snowy grass a few times. She still had the most fun.

We didn't stay out too long - maybe 15 or 20 minutes because they don't have mittens and were really cold.

Then when Craig got home from work, we went back out in the snow to make a snow man. The kids were a little better dressed as Whitney let me put a toboggan on her and Hannah and Tyler let me put my gloves on them. Whitney was having nothing to do with the gloves. I put jeans on the girls and they both had on tennis shoes this time.

Craig starting the snow man...

Hannah had enough of the gloves and was still having a good time but I feared she would wear down sooner because of it. Notice Whitney is holding a ruler? I measured the snow throughout the day. I measured about 4" yesterday and then this morning after it was all over, I measured again and it was around 7" but I am sure the wind blew some of it off and/or some melted because I think we got more than some of the southern counties like Dallas and the official recorded number counted at DFW was 12.5".

Tyler never once tried to take off his gloves and he didn't cry once.

Hannah's hood is getting a little wet. We were out there for a good while, playing and watching Craig make the snow man.

Whitney was very happy and having a good ole time and then all the sudden she was done.

Craig said he thought Frosty's body weighed about 50 pounds.

By the time we finished, the girls had been fussing and crying for probably 10 minutes. I got the strollers out and put them in it until Craig finished, in hopes it would help keep them happy until then but it didn't really help.

Our snowman's arms blend in with the plant in the back ground so its kinda hard to tell he has arms.

Craig took this shot just before we went inside. It was only about 6 or so... It wasn't as dark as it appears in the pic.

Frosty by himself... Notice the matching plants (in the background) on both sides of the snowman? They are being flattened by the snow. I was surprised they didn't get more covered and squished by the snow.

Whitney was so fussy and upset after we came in so I held her and Craig held Hannah for a while to warm them up.

One street over from ours, there is a treeline backing up to the houses and I just had to take this shot this morning.

Notice my plant this morning after getting probably double the snow dumped on it than the pic above?

I guess Craig must have taken this shot of the house this morning before he headed off to work.

A great end to a fun and memorable day.

This is one way to meet a new neighbor

Okay, so this blog has taken a major back seat in my life because I have been so busy with school and kiddos. Heck, I may not even have readers anymore... Anyway, school is coming to an end and it has been busier than ever this past week or two. Yesterday as I was leaving for school, very stressed, rushed and frazzled. I had an accident in my neighborhood, with nobody else than my neighbor across the street from me.

The streets are too narrow in this neighborhood so when cars park on the street, it is very hard to squeeze between the cars. I was heading out and a truck was coming in. There were two cars parked on both sides of the street, but not directly across from each other. They were just slightly diagonal from each other on the street. Well, me and the truck coming at me had the same thought that we'd both keep driving instead of stopping and letting the other car pass first. We thought we'd just maneuver around each other and the two parked cars.

Well, it didn't go so well. We clipped each other's mirrors. He was in a Ford F250 and his mirror wasn't damaged at all. Mine, however, was demolished. Thankfully that was the extent of the accident and thankfully we both handled ourselves well and didn't start pointing fingers as to whose fault it was because it could have become a very awkward situation if the conversation got heated especially considering we are neighbors. Because it wasn't until the end of the conversation and insurance swapping of information, that we figured out we live directly across from each other.

After realizing we are neighbors, I introduced myself and he did as well. Then, his exact words were, "It's a good thing we didn't get nasty with each other." I hope none of you ever have to meet your neighbors the way I did.

I will post some updates soon of halloween and updates on the kiddos.

The "ONE" reason I like picking up dog poop...

... It prepares me for things like this that I might find in the yard. I found a spider when scooping up dog poop in the yard before playing outside with the kiddos. That's right, a tarantula! I actually thought it was dog poop at first, but luckily before I scooped it up, I realized it was a spider. All the kids and dog were already outside with me while I picked up. I don't usually have much to pick up since I pick it up so frequently, so I can usually get it picked up pretty quick before they get into it. And, mind you, we were all barefoot outside!! After I saw this creature, I rushed everybody inside, dog and all. Then I went to get some poison spray and sprayed it and sprayed it and sprayed it. Of course, when I first started spraying, it tried to run and boy was it HUGE! Bigger than my hand for sure. Ugh!!! I was a spraying maniac and it had no chance. After all that was said and done, I got the kids and my shoes on and went back outside. It was over on the side of the house so I knew it wouldn't be right in our playing area, so we went back outside to play. Craig had the pleasure of picking it up and disposing of it when he got home from work.

A day of fun with Mamaw

Thursday we had a fun day with Mamaw. I wanted to take the kids to a petting zoo but the two I checked into didn't work out for one reason or another so we decided to go back to the fun little playhouses in Allen. After a short time there it started getting hot and my three were starting to get fussy so we headed to the mall to play some there indoors where it was cool. They had a blast there despite getting ran over by a few bigger kids a couple of times. Then we headed for lunch before racing home to get naps and then I raced off to school. Here are some pictures from our day. They are all from our first stop - I was too busy to take anymore at the other places we went.

Mamaw and Whitney

Tyler saw me taking this picture of Hannah in the window and he had to run over and peek out at me.

Tyler the banker

My boy is going for the vault.

Whitney and Tyler playing customer and employee.

I think Hannah was asking Tyler, "what's grease?"My boy likes to fix cars. Like father like son!

Mamaw and Tyler

Hannah didn't like sitting at the desk. She reminds me of me not wanting to sit at my dad's car station when I was a kid. Like mother like daughter... Ha!

Tyler checking things out. Whitney sitting at the desk.

The perfect sized bench. What are they looking at?

Tyler loved sitting in the big boy chair.

Coming into the home stretch

I start back to school today and am so glad to see a light at the end of the tunnel. I will be taking three classes this semester, which is one more than I planned to take. But because certain classes are offered so seldom, I felt it necessary to take this third class this semester for fear it wouldn't be offered next semester. Needless to say, I am taking on a lot! Because I am near the end, my classes are more difficult which is an added stress.

The good news is I will only have one more class to take in the Spring, so my last semester will not be as stressful. It'll take me nearly five years to finish a two-year program but the way they design it, it is impossible to finish in two years because the classes are often times not offered every semester (and certainly not in the Summer) and if they are offered, they are only offered one time that semester. The students have to be EXTREMELY flexible to get their schedules to work with the school schedule. This has become quite a problem for me and many other students when it comes to the end and their aren't as many classes needed to take. And besides all that, I did take a year and a half off to carry the triplets, deliver them and get through that first year after they were born.

I will be going four days a week for a few hours on those days and my classes are in the late afternoon/evening so I still don't miss much time with the babies. I have three babysitters lined up and one back-up. I really appreciate these four ladies willingness to help me finish school despite their busy schedules. It really means a lot to me.

Please pray for me during these next four months as I take on this big load. :)

May Misc. Activities

I've pretty much blogged about our major activities for the month of May. But, I wanted to document a few other things.

We started the beginning of the month celebrating Craig's Mom's 60th birthday! We took Mamaw and Papaw to lunch one Sunday and had a great time. We tried to embarrass her by getting the wait staff to sing to her but apparently they don't do that at Uncle Julios.

I had a play date with my SIL, Michaela at the mall. My trio was of course very nervous and scared which made it pretty tiring but then I had another play date at the mall with my friend Jennifer and they did SOOOO much better. Then, I had another play group with the cousins on Craig's side. We went to a park in Rowlett and I will have to remember this park for the future. It is all fenced in which is great! A couple of schools came and unloaded about 3 buses of kids so they ran us off but we still had fun playing in the grass under the trees.

We had a social function with our ABF and we had so much fun. I think this was the first time we've been to an ABF function - the entire family - since we had the babies!! We ate at Spring Creek BBQ and had the entire back room reserved just for us. This is a great place to have large gatherings for future reference.

We took the babies to a splash park in Allen and you guessed it, they were pretty nervous and scared. Hannah warmed up the most but even she was a little standoffish. They enjoyed the park as well. And they are really starting to enjoy climbing up the steps on the playground which makes for two very busy parents trying to keep the three of them from falling off!

I was invited to be in a book club. I figured I could probably handle it during the summer but I am not sure if I can keep up when school starts back up in the Fall. I read my first in a long time, non-children's book. It was great being able to "escape" in a good book and then get together at the end of the month to discuss the book and socialize with friends.

In other news... Whitney began pulling up on everything. This started about 2 weeks ago and we are so excited! She is also cruising a lot and we are helping her walk around while holding on to our hand.

We all got sick with some sinus infection cold thing. We are pretty well now... just the lingering runny noses including me! Craig has gotten over his but mine and the kids just won't end. Hannah is on her second round of back-to-back ear infections. If this medicine doesn't work, we will try one more then we will have to see an ENT. She had an ear infection before they got sick then when I took her back to follow up, she was at the tail end of her cold thing so we aren't sure if it is another infection or the same one and the medicine didn't work.

We are also working on teaching the babies how to use a spoon to eat. I was really surprised by how well they are doing. They are really interested and Tyler especially doesn't want me to feed him with a spoon, he wants to do it. It will be so nice and less messy once they get this down. Then, it's on to plates and bowls.

ECI came out this week and evaluated the babies. They were very pleased with them all around for being triplets. They were only behind in their speech (with the exception of Whitney's not walking) so they will be working with us on these two things.

As you can see I am not the best picture taker. I need to get better but I think I need an extra set of hands for that! Ha! Enjoy a few random pics below.


Whitney pulling up and standing at my feet.
Yeah Whitney... Standing at the play kitchen!
My best climber got in the car all by herself.

Isn't she cute?

Hannah and Mommy playing during pool time outside.
Tyler and Mommy one-on-one time.

Tyler checking out the fence.
Tyler exploring - checking out the fire wood.

Brotherly - sisterly love!
Is Hannah under there?
I think this was the day we went to the Arboretum.

*** Be sure and scroll down to see another new post below.