Too much of a good thing?

I love the snow.

Usually.

In moderation.

But this is ridiculous!

School was cancelled Thursday before a single snowflake fell on Wednesday night.  I'm glad it was, though.  It was slippery and messy and WINDY!  5 kids and one mom trapped in the house by snow all day makes for a long day.  Know what makes it longer?  Adding a 2nd snow day!  Yup, Thursday night, we got the call...no school on Friday, either!  Oh boy!  But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Back to Thursday...

Even though it was still snowing, I finally went out and shovelled the driveway around 2p.  There was easily 6-8 inches of snow on the ground and I wanted to clear it before it became a foot!  I lifted one shovel-full and went back inside to get my mp3 player...I was going to be out there for awhile!  It was like shovelling a 6 inch deep Slurpee from 7-Eleven! And before everyone asks: No, Shane wasn't home...he was at work.  But even if he was home...I'd shovel...especially that heavy stuff...he has 2 herniated discs!  There was no way I was letting him lift that stuff and undo all the improvement in his back over the last few months.  By the time I reached the end of the driveway, where I started was already covered in an inch of icy slush.  I was slipping and sliding in my Uggs all over the place.  At one point, a was hit on the head by what I thought was a snowball.  I jumped up and looked around, thinking I must not have heard Shane come home.  It was just falling snow from the tree...that perfectly landed on the top of my head!

Shane got home around 5:30p.  It took him over an hour to drive what usually takes 12 minutes.  It didn't take long for him and the big kids to head out back and begin work on the "sledding hill".  By 8p, Zoe was inside watching the Olympics with me.  "The Boys" didn't make it in until after 8:30p.  They were busy working on a fort/tunnel.  Thankfully, we made it through the night with our power.  With heavy snow and lots of winds, the lights flickered a few times.  Zoe and I quickly lit a few candles and gathered all the flashlights...just in case.  She was quite worried that a tree would fall...or the electricity would go out...and ended up sleeping on the couch in our room...with a flashlight under her pillow!

It snowed all through the night...and all morning...and all afternoon...and even as I type this...it's SNOWING!

It took a loooooooooooooooooooooong time shovel today.  By 9a there was almost a foot on the ground.  And made it about 1/4 of the way up the driveway and quit.  Went back out with the whole gang about an hour later and finished another 1/2.  Came in...made lunch...watched some Curling...went back out to finish.  If it wasn't for our neighbor...I'd still be out there.  He came over with his snow blower and worked the "plowed snow".  Thank you, Paul!!!!

We had a blast out in the snow together...but it's STILL coming down...and I'm a bit tired of it.  Seriously.  Enough is enough.

Ty on top of the tunnel/fort Shane made for himself the kids.

About to send the girls down the sledding hill.

Stuck in the bushes.  Don't ask...I have no idea what Cole was thinking.

I was ATTEMPTING a picture of Ava stuck in the snow up to her hips...but she refused and just sat...so she wouldn't sink.

Eli carried around this broom most of his time outside.

She just sat there...content...for quite some time.

The "steamroller" lived up to his name and just rolled around in the snow for almost an hour.

Is there anyway that I can get rid of all this snow by March?  That's next week.  I'm really ready for Spring and having all this "white stuff" around as a reminder of Winter is NOT HELPING ME!

Happy 6th Birthday, Ty (13 days late)

"My little guy" turned 6 last Tuesday.  Actually, the one before that...the 9th.  I'm a little behind on things...

I DID manage to get Number 6 donuts to his class on time...

He's quite a joy, our Ty.  I wouldn't trade him in for anything.  Sure, he's a picky eater...and he moves REALLY slow.  But he is always making us laugh and is super friendly and loving.  He has such a tender heart and makes sure everyone feels welcome and comfortable.  He may be shy, but will try new things (like football) as long as you don't leave him on his own until he's ready.  He's very smart (sometimes I think he could be a little TOO smart).  But what I love the most about him is his love for Jesus.

A Snapshot of Ty (in his words):

• Favorite Color - Red...no wait...Orange...orange, orange, orange (I beg to differ on this one.  It's DEFINITELY Red, at the moment) 
• Favorite Sport - Baseball (Yankees, of course)
• Favorite Number - 7
• What do you want to be when you grow up - A baseball player
• And if you can't be a baseball player - Let me think...I would...be a coach
• Do you like school - Yes...kind of
• What's your favorite subject - What's a subject?  Science.  I like to do science
• If you could change your name, what would you change it to - Jack
• What's your favorite thing to do after school - Stay and Play

And for those of you that want to see Ty through the years, and are really looking to kill some time,   Shane started a tradition this year of making "birthday movies" with of video clips and pictures set to the child's favorite songs.  It's WAY too long and too big of a file for me to post it.  So...just ask Shane...I'm sure he'd schedule a viewing for you.

The Celebration...
This year, to celebrate, Ty asked for a "NY Yankees" party.  But a few weeks before the invitations went out, he started worrying about his friends that are Mets fans.  So, we focused more on the baseball aspect and kept the Yankee paraphanilia to a minimum.  Still...there are 15 boys in his class.  15.  Yikes.  Surely, since his party was during president's weekend...and before winter break...some of them would be unable to make it...right?  Wrong.  Only one.  And the class that has had major strep throat issues was perfectly healthy by party time.  14 Kindergarten boys.  In my house.  For 2 hours.  I called in reinforcements (Thanks Deborah!) and sent Shane to his parents with the triplets. 

I think we did okay: 1 fall down the stairs, 1 fat lip, 1 bloody nose, a couple of bumped heads, a few tears and only 1 timeout!  No one was seriously hurt.  I was just exhausted!

(Craft time...decorating Pennants)

 

(Marble Baseball)

(Mayhem in the basement)

(Cupcakes!)

(Pinata - even the Mets fans liked it...they got to HIT a Yankee jersey!)

(Some of the gang)

(Blowing out candles)

The next day, we had a joint Mom/Ty Family Birthday Dinner.  And Ty got his "big" gift...

A  new (to him) bike!

(I love Craigslist...thanks for driving 2 hours round trip, Shane!)

MIA on purpose (sorta)

Where have the blog posts been?  Simple: Stuck in my head!  Most of them sound really good when I'm thinking of them.  Then I usually fall asleep and when morning comes, so does reality...three 2 1/2 year-olds, piles of laundry, trips to and from school, and of course...a house to clean.  So there sits my laptop.  On a desk.  In the office.  Getting dusty.  And lately, by the time the house is quiet and kids are in bed, I'm beat.  There's no brain-power left.  So I leave my cute, red, much-loved, laptop in it's place and I twiddle around on my iPhone while I watch TV and fight off sleep.  It's not until I'm awoken in the middle of the night by one of my children that the thoughts (usually complaints and aggravations) for a post form in my head and help me fall back to sleep...until the next child wakes up crying.  See the cycle forming?

The last few days, my fellow 2 to 2 1/2-year old triplet moms have been emailing about potty-training.  Ugh!  Seriously.  The thought scares the daylights out of me.  A few of the moms (with triplets younger than mine) have already potty-trained their gangs.  They were giving advice to one of the moms that's about to start (or is thinking about starting).  One was telling a "disaster accident story".  Another mom (I know this is getting confusing, but hang with me...there is a point coming) wrote an email in response to the story and honestly stated that she was a "wuss" and would be putting off the potty-training.  I quickly chimed in that I'd join her club.  Her honesty was refreshing.  It got me thinking...

Maybe that's what I need: a completely honest blog post!

Ready?

Buckle up...keep the comments to yourself (I'll be turning them off)...and read on, if you dare...

I'm struggling!  Big time!  The novelty of having three little ones has worn off (if it was ever really there) and I'm having a hard time.  The house isn't getting clean.  The laundry isn't getting done.  The meals are getting less and less healthy.  The patience is shorter and shorter.  I leave the house with the "babies" less and less.  I find excuses not to go out.  It's so much work.  It barely feels worth it.

I hear all the other moms talk about taking their triplets to the Zoo...or the park...or on walks...and I marvel.  How do they do it?  I can barely get my three from the car into the church for bible study 200 yards away without breaking into a sweat.  I keep thinking it'll get easier with time...but it's not.  We've been going (not so regularly) since September and it's still a fight to get them to hold hands...mine or each other's.  I'd never venture down the street with them.  How, on earth, would I keep track of them at a park?

Maybe I depended on Lindsay too much in the beginning.  Maybe I got used to having 2 extra hands.  Maybe it got easier to just leave them home.

Well...now I don't have that extra help.  It's time to buck up.  It's time to make a choice.  (This is where this mega-depressing post has the promise to become a little more positive.)  It's time to come to grips with the fact that I have three 2 1/2 year-olds.  I'm not babysitting.  Their parents aren't coming to get them.  They're mine.  This is life!  This is MY life.  Stuff's not going to be easy.  There's not going to be a whole lot of time left in the day.  There's not going to be a lot of energy left.  But that's the way it's going to be...for awhile.  It may get easier...it may not...but I can't keep the triplets in the house forever.  I can't keep them in diapers until high school either (although I'm still not sold on potty-training in the next month or two).

But I CAN make a few changes.  I CAN take the triplets to the gym and bring them to "Tot Drop".  I CAN venture out with them to BJs or Walmart or (dare I say) Target.  I CAN bundle them up and romp around in the snow with them for a little bit...even if it takes 30 minutes to get them in their snow-gear.  I CAN do things with three little ones.  It's just going to take patience (Lord, this is where I'm going to need Your help) and a willingness to fail (again Lord, help me out here).

Change isn't going to happen overnight.  And there's NO WAY there will be an "outing" each day.  But we're going to start with...pardon the intentional pun...baby steps. 

I'll focus on Charles Swindoll's famous attitude quote:
“I believe the single most significant decision I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important than my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. It alone fuels my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitudes are right, there is no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.”

I think a big part of keeping my attitude positive is blogging at the day's end.  I need to get down the positive (and negative) points of my day.  I need to vent frustrating stories...and laugh about the funny (even if it wasn't funny until hindsight).  So it may not always be pretty.  It may not always be funny.  But it'll ALWAYS be honest!

Thanks for listening.  This has DEFINITELY helped.

Report Cards

If you're anything like me, "Report Cards" weren't exactly a highlight of the school year, back in the day.  It wasn't that I was afraid of the grades.  I was a pretty average student.  I knew I'd get the, "if you'd apply yourself a little, your grades would improve" speach, but that's alright.  I was ready for it.  What worried me were the comments.  You know, the added little jabs the teacher to got put in: Talks too much in class, Tends to distract others, Has difficulty sitting still, etc.  Those always seem to get my parents more upset than the actual grades.

Thankfully, Zoe and Ty don't actually GET grades, yet.  Just "checks" to indicate where they are on a certain process.  Ty, for example:

No, he's not perfect...he does have some areas to work on.  This is my favorite segment...where the teacher points out that Ty's priority is NOT staying in the lines:

Wanna know what cracked me up even more?

"Prints name with appropriate upper and lowercase letters".  Really?  There are 2...T and y.  Can you imagine if he'd gotten a check in the "With 4 or more errors".  But what cracks me up is that the teacher has pointed out that he does a nice job with his "y".  So Ty, we might need to work on your "T" so we get that compliment next report card!
Then there's the behavior stuff.  The stuff that I struggled with as a student (and still do, if the kids were to fill out a Report Card for me).  They're given "grades" 1-5.  Ty, our resident "Teacher's Pet" did great...with a few exceptions...

That's right...he's slow and unorganized!  Not news to me.  I tell him all the time, "If you go any slower, you'll be in reverse!"  Dad likes to say, "Ty...I'm growin' a beard over here!"

Zoe did great too.

But can we please note where she excels...

That's right: ORGANIZATION!  Maybe somehow, we can combine her with Ty.  Any ideas?