Hanging around

We've done lots of just hanging out. Here's what we've been up to...

Lots of playing doctor...

...and riding our scooter. (Someone likes to push the limits and ride it in the house.) Wow! Everything looks so clean & shiny. Virgie must have just been over! ha!
Sweet Laney Cakes
Outside time!
Weeeee! One of Tyler's top 3 things in the world...swinging!
Sweet Audrey Poo
Lots of playing airplane
This fun little birdhouse was in Tyler's stocking and we finally got around to putting some seeds on it for the birds.
We hung it out in the bush where there are always tons of birds.
Travis & Tyler snacking away watching a movie
Oh little angel!
Gwen reading a story to Audrey. These two are a lot alike!! Two little peas in a pod.
Daddy teaching Tyler to check something out under the car. Ha!
Sweet smile, my little Audrey!
Hanging out in a diaper box after a Costco trip.

Watching brother play with the dogs out back
Daddy & Tyler playing on Tyler's computer game
zzzzzzzz!
Priceless! Daytona is a saint!
Daddy fixing one car...Tyler fixing the other!
The boys playing in the rain & mud!
Chillin' & relaxin' watching some Bubble Guppies
Playing in the rain with Virgie's umbrella

Cakey!

Ducks & geese

On one of Sam's days off over the holidays, we took the kids over to Mile Square Park to feed the ducks & geese. We've done this before and Tyler ALWAYS talks about the geese. He loves it!

He loves it....until a big goose the same size as him gets about 2 inches from him trying to grab the crackers right out of his hands. He ran SO fast! Of course, it freaked me out. So, the girls and I backed up as far as we could. I hate those geese.
We moved to a little dock area where the geese couldn't get us!

A Handmade Christmas

This year, we celebrated Christmas with my Mom, a little bit late. We all got together at our house on New Years Day. We decided for gifts, all of the adults would do a Secret Santa, but all of the gifts had to be handmade. Of course, most of the ideas came from Pinterest! :-) It turned out to be A LOT of fun and we've decided that this is what we'll do every year!

Britt made Sam some BBQ towels & plates...so cute!


Kevin made Patrick some slippers, a scarf & a beanie. Oh, and a knife pocket.
Patrick made Mom some reusable grocery bags...one of them, he sewed his Army patches from his uniform onto it. Yes, Mom cried! ha!
Mom made Ben a beanie, scarf & slippers....
and a really cool hammock out of masking tape! Of course, all red, with the Angels in mind.

Best shot of our group picture...why is my lamp always crooked?!?!
Tyler & Ethan giving hugs as Ethan was leaving..so adorable!
Such a fun Christmas get together!

Currently...

Just wanted to jot down a few things to remember this stage we're in right now. I'm loving this stage! (Not sure whats up with the funky format...ugh!)

Diapers: At least 3 boxes of Huggies from Costco (total...all 3 kids) each month

Wipes: Between 1- 1 1/2 boxes of Costco wipes each month

Formula: 5-6 cans of formula each month (48 ounce cans)

Naps: Tyler- one nap per day 1 1/2-2 hours. He usually goes down between 11-12noon. A&D- three naps between 45 min-1 hour each nap. They wake up and then they're ready about 2 1/2 hours later for a nap.

Bedtime: Bedtime routine starts around 7 and all three are usually in bed around 7:30pm and wake up around 6:30am.

Foods: Tyler has become a picky, not so good eater. We fight with him every night at dinner to stay seated and to finish his dinner. We're lucky to get 6 bites out of him. He's just more of a snacker these days. He loves any kind of fruit (faves-kiwi,

blueberries, bananas, strawberries), black olives, bagels, cheese, crackers, noodles and eggs. The girls are having 5 bottles a day; usually 6-8 ounces each. They started eating solid foods a couple of months ago, starting with rice cereal. They now have

tried apples, broccoli, avocado, carrots, bananas, blueberries, mango, green beans and sweet potatoes. I'm making

all of their baby food, just like I did for Tyler. I steam the food and then put it in my

handy dandy little processor and freeze the food in ice cube trays. So easy and it's the best for my little ones.

Activities: Tyler still loves to be outside. His favorites right now are his lawnmower, sidewalk chalk, scooter, swing and dogs. Thank God for great weather! :-) He loves to ride Daddy's motorcycle with him in the front yard. His speech has improved a million percent. What a difference going to speech therapy has made! I'm SO glad we went down that route. He's talking like crazy and the things he's saying....he cracks me up!

Audrey & Delaney are getting close to moving; Audrey more so than Delaney. Delaney is happy just sitting up

playing with her toys while Audrey isn't a fan of sitting up...she just wants to be on the move, rolling to get around. She's getting up on all fours and rocking front & back.

The girls both love their Exersaucers. They're done with the Bumbo seats and Delaney still loves her Jenny Jump Up. Audrey will stay in her JJU for just a few minutes now and then she's over it.

Personalities: My sweet Tyler is just that...sweet! He has such a sweet demeanor and he has such a big heart, full of love. He is a really good little boy! About 90% of the time when I ask him to do something, he responds, "OK Mommy" and then does it. That other 10%, I just tell him I'm going to count to 3 and I start counting...works every time. He says "bless you" when someone sneezes...even a random stranger. He gets excited when he bites into an M&M and says, "Look Mommy..a chocolate chip is

in there!" When I ask him how his nap was he says, "So nice". When I ask him how

his lunch or dinner is, he says, "So gooood". He's falling asleep on his own now (since June/July)! He easily says sorry to his sisters if he accidentally (or on purpose!) hits

them and he loves to give them hugs to make them stop crying. I just adore this little boy. He really does make my crazy chaotic Mommy life a lot easier.

Audrey- Oh, my sweet Miss Audrey. She is my little handful. She is so sweet and has an adorable little face & smile, and she's a firecracker. She doesn't ever want to sit still and she's always trying to move and climb out of your arms if you're holding her. She's really easy to get a smile out of and she's very social. She hasn't figured out how to entertain herself for longer than a few minutes. She loves playing with any stuffed

animal or soft toy that has tags on it. That will keep her busy for a while. When Audrey is hungry, she's hungry NOW. There's no warning! She's not a fan of solid

foods. Not sure how we're going to handle this! She only takes a pacifier when she's in her crib falling asleep. Audrey is my awesome little sleeper! She's the best sleeper out of the three. She falls asleep and 99% of the time, she's out for the night, without

waking up. She's always so happy when she wakes up...my little sunshine! She isn't attached to her Mommy. I can leave the room or house and she couldn't care less. She's so easy to get to smile. Strangers love her because they just glance at her and she's lighting up and kicking her feet. It's pretty funny!

Delaney- My sweet Miss Delaney. Complete 180 from Audrey. It's amazing. Of course, she has an adorable face & smile, too. She's never trying to climb out of your arms, in fact, she loves to be held. She can entertain herself with the simplest of toys, for a long time. When she's hungry, she'll fuss a little then keep playing, then fuss a little more, then play. It's a gradual thing. Delaney HAS to have her pacifier to fall asleep. If it falls out, she'll wake up crying for it. She will take it anytime you put it in her mouth, not just bedtime. This makes her a challenging sleeper. She wakes up in the middle of the night because of her pacifier falling out. I put it back in and she's out again. Delaney loves her solid foods. She will eat every drop out of her bowl. Most of the time, she wakes up happy, but sometimes she needs to warm

up a bit before she's cheery. Delaney lights up when she sees her Mommy; Mommy's little girl, hands down. She cries sometimes when I leave the room and I just know she's going to be my sensitive little girl. People other than Mommy or Daddy have a hard time getting her to smile; she's more serious.

I think the only thing the same about these two little girls is that most days, they have the same outfit on and they both fall asleep on their own in their cribs. Other than that, they're so different!

Random stuff: Tyler is still going to Mom's Morning Off on Friday mornings and he's totally figured out that Mommy is coming back to get him. It was tough for a while (on both of us!) for me to leave him. They called me to pick him up because he wouldn't stop crying. Ugh! He's great now though! He knows Ethan is in his classroom or on the playground right next door. This is preparing him so well for preschool in August!! He may be ready, but geeze lousie...I'm not!

I'm finally at a point where I'm comfortable taking all three out & about by myself. It helps having three very good babies with easy going temperaments. It's pretty funny because now taking just one or two of the kids with me anywhere is such a breeze! It's actually a really great break to take just Tyler with me to the store or Target. It's become a fun night out for us :-) It pretty much takes an act of Congress to get out of the house with all three of them, but as long as I'm organized, it goes a lot smoother. If we have to be somewhere early, I'll pack everything up the night before and I always try to have the diaper bag packed with the essentials. It's pretty funny to hear people's comments in passing, when we're out & about. If I had a dollar for each time someone told me, "Wow! You sure have your hands full!", I'd be a rich, rich gal! I saw a quote on Pinterest and I wish I were cheesy enough to say it back to people..."You think my hands are full? You should see my heart!" Super cheesy, but oh so true!

We're still waiting on teeth for A&D to come in. They've got to be breaking through soon because these girls have been cranky and they're drooling like crazy!

Bedtime ritual: Each night after Tyler takes a bath & brushes his teeth, Sam reads him a handful of books and then I go in and sing to him. We sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, You Are My Sunshine and Rain Rain Go Away. We started to sing Rain on a rainy night and it just stuck. I sing the first few words of each line and Tyler finishes the last couple of words. I just cherish this time. It's so darn sweet!

Tyler loves Bubble Guppies (Bubble Guys as we call them), Blue's Clues, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and the Upside down Show. Looks like we finally outgrew Barney! The girls love Bubble Guppies!

That's all for now!