Long Time No Blog

Wonder why I haven't blogged lately? Well, normally I sit down to blog in the evenings after the kids drift off to sleep. It's my quiet time to enjoy some down time and keep you all in the loop with our crazy life!

About 2 months ago, Jeff and I were just sitting down to eat after putting the kids to bed, and they decided to go crazy. It was party time in the bedroom and they were having a gay old time throwing blankets and pacifiers at eachother from their cribs. After about 15 minutes, Haley's voice got VERY clear...Jeff and I locked eyes in sheer terror when we realized her voice was clear because she was standing in the hallway! Right behind her were two other little heads peaking around the doorway. Without a word, in panic mode, we jumped up and ran toward the nursery. It was like slow motion. I remember thinking, "oh crap, our lives are over", and "is this really happening?", and a few other choice words I can't mention on this blog, and I remember saying, "whatever you do, don't laugh or show weakness"!! By the time we got down the hallway they had scrambled back into their room and slammed the door. When we walked in, they were all huddled in the middle of the room in the pitch dark. They were laughing...not good...

So now we enter a new phase of raising triplets! No one said this was going to be easy did they?!

Goodbye Cribs!!


















Tyler meeting Ben Franklin at mommy's college reunion



















Ellison and Aunt Shelby...Go Grizzlies!


















Haley the cheerleader!



















Three little monkeys jumping on the bed!



















CHEEEEESE!!!



















Bustin' a move!



















Ready...Set...Go!



















Mmmmooooooo!




















Oh yeah! I almost forgot! Jeff and I could certainly use a few prayers this weekend! We are attempting to run our first half marathon on Saturday! I never in a million years thought he and I would be runners, and here we are! It just goes to show the lengths we will go to get out of the house a few times a week!!

A Magical Week

The Happiest Place on Earth...or as the kids would say, "PRINCESS HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!". An entire week at Disney World with three, two-year-olds! Can you even imagine? I'm pretty sure most of the people reading this are wondering, "what were you thinking??", but we did it, we survived it, and we have so many incredible memories and stories to tell from it! Now don't get me wrong, we weren't singing zippa-de-do-da at every single moment, and at some point (ok, well, maybe several times), each of them was dragged by their arm, legs scraping the pavement, screaming at the top of their lungs, but no one had a camera at that moment, so if you ask any of us...it never happened!

Our shy little Elli came out of her shell...she absolutely LOVED the princesses and was so excited to meet them! She puts her princess dress on now and twirls around just like the real princesses do! Haley couldn't get enough of the race cars and rollercoaster...the faster the better for our little dare devil! The faster we went, the more she giggled! Tyler loved Buzz Lightyear (pronounced buzz eat year) and even figured out how to make his "gun" shoot the bad guys on the ride - he scored more than I did!

The photos are priceless, but can't even begin to do justice to the awe and amazement in their eyes throughout the week!

Are you kidding me?

To say this has been the week from hell would be an understatement. Seriously. I can't even begin to do it justice, but let me try and explain the best I can.

A week ago Monday Jeff came home from a long weekend in Indiana playing golf and "drafting" his fantasy football teams. I know more about the NFL than would be considered normal or acceptable for a heterosexual woman my age...but I digress...

He had mentioned on his trip that his leg was sore, and by the time we settled in for the evening it was killing him. His calf was sore to the touch and he could barely walk on it. Something just didn't feel right. Very easy to dismiss it as pain associated with being an old guy trying to train for a marathon, but again, it just didn't feel right. I called a good friend and she had the same feeling I did. By this point, I'm pretty concerned so I called the ER and told them his symptoms and the doctor suggested we get in the car and head over right away. Uh oh. Four hours later (2:00 am) we leave the ER with a temporary diagnosis of DVT, deep vein thrombosis. Not good. A blood clot with potentially life threatening consequences. Here we go. THANK GOD, the DVT was ruled out the next morning and diagnosed as a more benign clot. But still a clot. Yuck. So Jeff has been taking it easy this week, but he's still swelling and is in quite a bit of pain. Yuck.

Fast forward to this Monday. Hartee decided to spend a few days with DeeDee (to escape the triplets), you know, a little vacation at the lake. Well, Monday night I get a call from mom and she's absolutely hysterical. I've never heard her like that before. She could only get a few words out and the only thing I could decifer was that she didn't know what to do, and it had to do with Hartwell. Oh, and something about a racoon. Uh Oh. Here we go again...

After everyone calmed down, here's what transpired...

Mom let the dogs out and decided to grab a coke and sit on the front porch with them. By the time she got to the kitchen she heard Hartwell "screaming" bloody murder. First thought...he's been hit by a car...second thought...he's too slow to have made it up the hill...third thought...I'll just open the door and see what's going on...fourth thought...is that a cat attached to his stomach?...next thought...no, that "cat" has a striped tail...IT'S A RACOON AND IT'S ATTACHED TO HARTWELL'S STOMACH...final rational thought...IT'S A RACOON AND IT'S ATTACHED TO HARTWELL'S STOMACH AND HARTWELL JUST RAN PAST ME INTO MY HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!

OK...can you imagine the insanity that ensued? It had something to do with Hartwell screaming and thrashing on the floor with said racoon attached to his underside, mom running to the garage to get a broom, mom running back to Hartwell and beginning to hit the racoon. Ok, let's be honest. I'm quite positive she was screaming and beating the #$*^ out of the racoon like a woman possessed. Racoon finally decides this woman is seriously going to kill him, so he let's go and decides mom's bedroom looks like a nice place to run and hide. Yep. Dog is bleeding in the family room and injured racoon is in the bedroom. Run to the back sliding doors (oh yeah, stop and open the gate in case the racoon wants to take the stairs on his way out), open the doors and swing like a monkey in one motion to the barstools on the deck. No racoon. Crap. Run back to the bedroom and slam the door to scare the racoon. Run back to the deck and jump on the barstool. Racoon finally stumbles out of the bedroom and falls two stories below and runs away. Whew. Run back inside and see if Hartwell is still breathing. Yep, but he's bleeding. Call Jennifer in hysterics. Take Hartwell to 24 hour clinic. There was a run-in with a police officer on the way, but you'll have to ask her about that! Is your heart pounding?

Fast forward to today. I took Hartwell to our vet to make sure he's ok. Ended up with the Department of Health sitting in our living room explaining that Hartwell needs to be quarantined for 45 days. They are assuming the racoon had rabies since mom wasn't "man" enough to wrangle it and have it tested. Seriously? Even with the rabies vaccine AND a booster at the ER? Yep. So now Hartwell has been officially labeled a "Menace To Society" and can no longer linger in the back yard on his own. I figure as long as he's not foaming at the mouth, I'll let him out on his own, but the first sign of frothing and we'll just have to leave him in the house with the kids.

So that's been our week. Thank God, Haley, Elli and Tyler have been great! I just can't seem to keep the old men in my life straight!

Here are a few photos I took recently...aren't they growing up SO much?!

First Day of School...

First day of school...Well, ALMOST!

The kids are getting to the point where they are SO eager to learn, so we decided a couple weeks ago to enroll them in preschool 2 mornings a week! Can you believe they are actually old enough to go to school? Wow!

So yesterday was orientation...a time for us to all go in and meet their teachers, play in the classroom, and run around the playground. They had a ball! We were the last to leave the classroom - they were having so much fun exploring all the new toys, we practically had to drag them out to the playground!

Today was the first "real" day of school...big day! Well, for Haley and Tyler is was. Elli woke up with a fever! Poor girl! She missed her first, first day of school! Jeff dropped them off this morning (better him than me). Haley was crying when the teachers got her out of the car. Tyler just looked back at Jeff and said "bye bye daddy!!". So heartwarming!

Here are a few photos of school! I can't help but think back to them laying in the hospital hooked up to IVs and monitors. God has blessed our little family...no doubt about that!











































































The only bad thing about starting school is listening to annoying moms brag about how little Johnnie can count to 4 million backwards and his sister Daisy speaks four languages fluently. Well, SuperToddler, can you do this? No...I didn't think so.

Family Vacation!

Aaaaahhhh...a week off work spent with family at the lake. Can life get any sweeter? I think not! What great memories we will have! The kids are incredibly spoiled after an entire week of being catered to, carried, chased and hugged! Tyler can officially swim! Haley is talking in full sentences! Elli is counting to 14 on her own! I swear, they grew up during the week! They aren't babies anymore! It was so great spending such quality time as a family! Need to do that more often (hint, hint Cincy crew)!!!


Haley helping DeeDee shuck corn for the seafood boil!



















Elli hangin' out with Katelyn watching Happy Feet!



















Tyler looking like he's ready for school!





















Sidewalk chalk...simple pleasures



















The gang!




















Run Ellison Run!!!!



















Piggy Tails!



















Life is good!

Tubing Tyler

We've come a long way in a year! Last year we spent our time at the shoreline floating in baby tubes. This year we're jumping off the dock and tubing behind the boat!!!! How fun!!! I think these kids are going to be okay with the water! I finally figured out how to use my video camera and thought I'd share a great summer moment of Tyler's! Forgive me if you get sea sick!!!!

A Quick Hello!

Whoever made up the "no running in the house" rule never watched the joy on a two year old's face as they rounded the bend at 100 mph!!

Aaaaahhhh...Much Better!

I seriously think Tyler and Elli recovered faster than Jeff and I did! Thank God, everyone is healthy and back to bouncing off the walls! I'm still amazed that Haley avoided it...way to go girl!!!

Everyone is talking and trying to string together words to make sentences...too darn cute! For the longest time, Tyler has been obsessed with our cars (boy to the bone) and has been saying "Daddy...Tuck", "Mommy...Car", over and over and over and over and over. Well, now he's obsessed with what we do..."Mommy...work", "Daddy...run". What?! Where did I go wrong here?! He asked for Jeff last night and I told him Daddy was golfing, so now it's "Mommy...work", "Daddy...guf" over and over and over and over. Like I needed to be reminded!!! When I get home from work tonight I'm going to teach him to say "Daddy, guf...Mommy, beer". Yeah kiddo, that sounds better.

The tree that fell last month is still laying in the back yard, which Haley likes to remind us of daily..."tee fa, tee fa down, tee fa boom, tee boom, tee fa" you get the picture. Her daily chore is to feed Hartwell "Hawell eat", and she has figured out where we keep his dog treats. She likes to sneak in and grab a handful, pass them out to Tyler and Elli then run around yelling "Hawell teet, Hawell teet..."!

Elli likes to tell us about the animals she saw at the zoo...her favorites are "gewaff, elfant, monchey, wion, hapfeet (penguins)". She is also singing her alphabet, and although sometimes the letters are a little hard to recognize, she has the tune down to a tee and always finishes with a round of applause, yay!! She's really into her colors, her favorite are "ornch, yewo, geen". Fun stuff.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer! Cheers!