Pumpkins in February!

Way back in October, we took the kids to a pumpkin patch and they got to experience many different things including hay rides, a petting zoo and a pumpkin patch. It was a lot of fun and I would like to take them to this again this year.
Checking out the animals.

They seemed to enjoy the hay ride.

They weren't fans of the dirt in the pumpkin patch.

Having a hot dog.

Tyler saying, "It's just hay!"

The birthday party

Okay.... many of you have asked when or if I am ever going to blog again. My schedule has slowed down so after many months of not blogging very much, I am going to try to update you more frequently of our family happenings. Send me a comment from time to time and let me know you are reading - sure helps keep me motivated to take the time to blog. :)

Okay, on to the birthday party...

We had another party similar to their first birthday party - a house party. We had a good turn out of family and a few friends come to celebrate with us. Tyler was running in circles of excitement over all the people that came to celebrate his birth. The girls were a little unsure what to think of such a big group and were slow to warm up.

After visiting and having some appetizers and dips, we sang happy birthday three times. Last year we sang once but I wanted them to each get their own happy birthday song and not have to share that too. Singing to Hannah in this pic...
Singing to Tyler...

Singing to Whitney...

Tyler got seconds in the cake department. I think he is on cake overload.

Hannah always enjoys sweets of any kind.

Whitney was laughing at Ian who was keeping her entertained with a balloon.

Time for presents...

Craig said Whitney became camouflaged when she sat in her chair. Oh and I don't think they had any doubt in their mind what the chairs were even though they were wrapped.

Some of these last few are out of order. Whitney is checking out Tyler's four wheeler the day after the party.

Enjoying their chairs the day after.

Hannah scoping out her princess cozy coupe.

Whitney loves her princess cozy coupe. She sat in it forever!

Tyler screaming when put on his four wheeler. For some reason he is afraid of it.

I'll try to post a few other things in the next few days.

The paci monster!

I decided I would phase out paci's this month for my two who still take them - Tyler and Whitney. We started it Sunday afternoon and we decided to try the method of cutting the tip off the paci's. They both did surprisingly well. Tyler didn't cry at all despite the fact that the paci was "broken" and could no longer be used. Whitney cried a little bit but not much. I expected her to not handle this transition as easily because she is not as good of a self-soother. She did, however, wake up 2 hours early from her nap. Tyler slept awesome with no problems. Then when we put them down for the night, Whitney cried for a minute but went right to bed with no problems at all through the night.

The next day, yesterday, I realized Tyler was very unphased by the phasing out of the paci because he is now holding it for comfort. Whitney on the other hand is really freaked out by them. When Craig put them down for bed last night, Whitney freaked out and ran from the paci as if maybe she has had nightmares about the paci. It is so funny to see how the two of them react so differently.

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.

18 (20) Month & family professional pictures

It's been a while since we had professional shots of our crew, so I decided it was time for some more. I was aiming at 18 months but, I'm a little behind... A few weeks ago I scheduled a session with my SIL, Jill. Check out her website here and her blog here to see her work. She always does a great job if you are ever in need of a photographer.

We had to jump through many hoops to make this photo shoot happen on our end. Craig's work issued a service emergency due to all the rain we've gotten over the past week or so. So, basically he is forced to work 7 days a week, 10 hour minimum days until further notice. This however, isn't much different than any normal week. Anyway, we had to have my photographer (SIL, Jill) send them an email stating we had already booked the session... and all that mumbo jumbo... blah blah blah... in order for them to allow Craig off a few hours for a photo shoot. And he got the pleasure of having to return to work at 5:30, working another 3 hours, after the session, to get his 10 hour quota in for the day. Fun stuff! I know, I know... I should stop complaining and be happy that he has a job... I just wonder when do we get to have a life and take care of responsibilities at home like mow our lawn?? The backyard grass is probably about a foot tall in places because of all the rain and work and school, we literally have no time to mow it. Okay, on to the good stuff, my little rant is over...

We sat up shop first at home and we weren't having much luck... Hannah just wanted to keep running off the set being silly and the other two weren't too happy about having their picture taken. Then, we pulled out the bubbles and the chair and it was like magic! Ah... happiness and smiles! You wouldn't believe the work that goes into trying to make three babies smile and be happy at once! We were all sweating bullets running and dancing around!

The collages may be small so try clicking on them to enlarge them so you can see them better. Hannah started having a finger-sucking moment at home... not sure why, she couldn't have been tired. Don't you just love those curls???

Tyler my big, sweet boy! He looks so grown up here, it just makes me want to cry! And boy does he love his tiger.

Whitney really is a happy baby. She is so sweet and happy most of the time but when she doesn't want to do something, it is almost next to impossible to convince her otherwise.

Then, we headed to downtown McKinney and got some great shots in a nice historical district. We wanted to take a few shots outside in their winter attire before changing outfits, but man oh man was it hot! The kids were getting red in the face, Craig and I were wiping and blotting sweat off our faces and my hair was getting curlier and curlier by the minute! Ha! Notice the wavy bangs!

Anyway... We got a couple really cute individuals of Hannah and Tyler in front of this yellow house but Whitney wanted no part of it, so you won't see one of her. LOVE LOVE LOVE this one of Hannah!

I think Mommy and Tyler are laughing at crazy Uncle Kevin (my brother). He can be so silly at times... He even did push ups once to try and make them laugh.

This one got out of order when I loaded them onto blogger. This was in the beginning during the not so happy time - pre-bubbles and pre-chair prop.

Here's the chair! Oh the magic the chair brings.

I liked the way this one turned out even though we aren't smiling.

And last but certainly not least, Tyler's laughing smile. Don't you just want to eat him up?

Its a bird! Its a plane! Its a hot air balloon!

The blogger once again isn't allowing me to cut and paste the pictures so this post is completely backwards and out of order...

The balloons!

More balloons!

Had to get a close-up of my two eaters (Whitney and Tyler) chowing down on a hotdog!

Enjoying dinner! Craig enjoying his second dinner! And watching the balloons blow up.

Me and the kiddies!

A family shot.

I know, cheesy title, right? So, if you live in this area, you have already figured out what we did last night. Plano had their annual balloon festival and we made a short trip of it. Craig's work issued a service emergency (which means 7 day work weeks until further notice) due to all the rain we've been getting. But since we had a few appointments yesterday afternoon, Craig scheduled a half day of vacation yesterday prior to the S.E., which enabled us to be able to go do something fun for the weekend after we finished up with our appointments.

It was a little muddy in route from the car to the festival but once we got there, it wasn't bad, the roads were just a little wet. We had a great time walking around listening to the music, looking at the different vendor's booths and more importantly, the FOOD! We enjoyed lots of yummy foods that are SO bad for you - it was great! Nachos, BBQ sandwiches, hot dogs, potato swirly fries and even cupcakes. We won't be going to the Texas State Fair this year so this is a smaller version of that.

I met another triplet mom whose trio is 7 years old. We chatted for a few minutes sharing similar stories. Then, we were off to watch the balloons air up...

They didn't launch them off due to the weather but it was still fun to watch them air up for the "balloon glow". They aired up about 12 or 13 balloons I believe and I think the kiddos were very interested in what that big thing in the sky was.

They are scheduled to launch them off twice a day - at 7a.m. and 6p.m. but from what I saw on the news this morning, they didn't go up again because of the direction of the wind. Apparently with the wind blowing south, there is no where for them to land in Dallas so they don't go up.