Dance & Gymnastics

The girls are still very much into dance and gymnastics.  Their summer gymnastics class ended last week while dance ended a few weeks earlier.  Their last dance class took place during the week that Anna was sick.  She was feeling better (but not completely back to normal) and she so badly wanted to participate because they were allowing the parents (and grandparents, etc.) into the studio at the end of class to watch a dance.




They could wear princess dresses for this class which is why they are dressed the way they are.

Anna




In a few weeks, their kindergarten tap & ballet class will begin.  I have to tell you how much they practice dancing.  We have a DVD of all the performances that took place during their dance recital back in June.  There is a dance recital everyday in our house.  The girls dress up in dance costumes and follow the DVD. And don't forget to pause between each song for outfit changes.  "Do I need tap shoes or ballet for this one?"




Kindergarten gymnastics starts up in a few weeks as well.   Their "American Girl Dolls" are very into gymnastics as well.  Here is Allie's doll vaulting.

Elmo (and other buddies)

Sometimes he's naughty but he's still Allie's precious child.  That's what she calls him.  When he is misplaced (or in hiding) and she finds him, she always exclaims, "Oh, my precious child."  I was reprimanded the other day for holding precious child by the neck.

And yes, she still sleeps with him every single night.








This is his suitcase packed for Disney.

Shopping with triplets

Last Saturday found us at the local outlet mall.  I don't like shopping there on the weekends due to the traffic and massive crowds but they were hosting a AAA day (show your card at the information booth and receive a booklet of discounts!) and we were in desperate need of a few items.  The wedding for Rich's niece is in a few weeks and the girls had absoluely nothing appropriate to wear.  In addition, Rich and I both need some summer clothes, including a proper bathing suit for me, and we were hopefully that items would be on sale.

Clothing a family of five is expensive.  I wear the same outfits to work week after week because I don't have time to shop like I used to and I refuse to spend, spend, spend.  I used to shop all the time because I had free time and I could be picky looking for items on sale.  I can't do that now.  Plus, clothes don't fit me like they did 7 years ago. Boo.

I did have a coupon for OshKosh and although I hadn't planned to buy any school clothes for the girls now, I did allow them to pick out an outfit.  They will need them when the weather turns soon enough.  I bought a pair of jeggings (jean leggings) for Anna and they look so freaking awesome/cute on her.  My kids are too skinny for most pants so leggings are a staple in our house.

The bathing suit store was a total bust.  Even though I'm older now, most of the suits in there are just not me and look "old."  The girls were shopping with me in that store and provided plenty of entertainments.  First, they were dancing to the store's music and kept pointing out bathing suits that they thought looked nice.  "Momma, look at this one.  It's so pretty."  When we reached one of the sections near the back of the store, I muttered, "Hmmm.  This looks like the old lady section."  Well, Allie dediced to announce, "Yes, this does look like the old lady section."  A much older gentleman waiting for his wife in the dressing room had a good laugh over that one.  Then the girls proceeded to point out the "boobies" on all the mannequins.  I even heard, "Look, that one is naked!"

My kids are well behaved in general and definitely in public places.  They don't run around or pull clothes off of racks or climb on racks or scream.  But they are kids and I still need to watch them.  My mind can only multitask to a certain degree and then it shuts down, which means that I can't really shop with 3 five year olds.

So the success story of the day happened in Carter's.




I guess these are supposed to be for the holidays, which occur in December.  And this is August.  Hey, works for me!  So does a sale and a 20% off coupon!

I think that Allie and Emily should switch sweaters but that's how they want it.  I'm just happy that they look appropriate for a wedding and that they coordinate.




They are supposed to be hugging but Anna is rebelling.   

Cousins!

The girls have many, many cousins - close to, if not more than, 30 first cousins to start.  And now their older cousins are marrying and adding to the family.  (We refer to them all as cousins.)  At family parties and events, there are little kids and babies, who will soon be little kids, for the girls to play and socialize with.  They absolutely love it.

About a month ago, we enjoyed a weekend full of family visits and parties.  The girls' cousins, Clive and Charlie, were visiting from Virginia and even though they are boys, the girls love hanging out with them.




This was Friday morning.




Saturday afternoon, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law hosted a pool party.









Anna




Emily









Allie




Anna was holding this basket while Charlie tossed a small basketball into it.  She was having a blast and thought that it was hysterical that whenever she put the basket down, Charlie would hand it back to her and say, "Hoop.  Hoop."




I love this series of photos of Emily and Baby Patrick.










And Baby Patrick is no longer a baby.  Sunday was his big first birthday party. 




Those are Allie's hands behind him.  Watch out!




***Just a friendly reminder that you do not have permission to copy, steal, take or whatever you want to call it my photos.  These kids have watermarks stamped across their heads for a reason.

A slice of Cape Cod

As I previously mentioned, we were able to enjoy a day trip to the Cape a few weeks ago.  We live less than an hour from the bridge but, unfortunately, we tend to avoid outings in that area due to the predictably unpredictable traffic.  Traffic onto the Cape is heavy late Friday/Saturday morning while traffic coming off of the Cape can be a problem Sunday afternoon/night.  You never know how much time it will take you to reach your destination.

With the thought that we could miss some of the weekend traffic and crowds, we decided to head down there on a Friday morning.  Of course, this was made possible with my 80% work schedule and Rich's unemployment.  We are trying to take advantage of both while they co-exist.









We reached the Centerville area in less than 90 minutes and drove directly to the beach.  While we were unloading the van, the lifeguards announced over the speaker system that there were blue fish in the area and that they could bite so swimmers should stay away from them.  We were also told that these fish were jumping out of the water near seagulls.  (I think everyone's a bit more aware of what's in the ocean due to the recent shark sightings and attack.)  This lead to Allie asking if the "snapping fish" were going to get us every time we went for a swim.  We did see some activity but it was in deeper water and you can bet your bottom dollar that I was not venturing out past my waist.

Identical triplet guide:

Allie - blue fish
Anna - pink flowers
Emily - pastel hearts







The currents weren't strong or dangerous on this day but with this beach, the drop off to deeper water comes quickly and the girls were hesitant to play in the waves without an adult present.









Allie was the adventure seeker on this particular outing and decided to partake in some body surfing.









Because I wore my bathing suit (I don't always when we go to the beach), I earned the 'parent of choice' award for the day.  This means that the girls wanted me to bring them into the ocean.  I had to toss all of my bathing suits after the girls were born because bikinis and my former size 0 mid-section stretched out to almost 36 weeks of a triplet pregnancy don't really mesh well together (and I try to keep our freak show appearance to a minimum.)  This is a one piece and it's too long so I wear swim shorts with it.







    


Who needs free weights when you have kids?




Allie and I went for a walk alone to hunt for shells and take in the sights.




















And then it was Anna and Emily's turn.







In the middle of the afternoon, we started packing up and removing sand, which is quite a lengthly process, before driving to Hyannis to enjoy an early dinner at Baxter's.  (We do use the baby powder method for sand removal, which I highly recommend.)  Rich and I both love the Cape and dream of owning property there some day.  I'm also a bit of a real estate geek and love watching shows like Property Brothers on HGTV.  There's a neighborhood where we always check out the real estate listings so we drove through there on our way to Hyannis.  It's amazing to see how much property values have dropped over the past eight years or so.  Back in 2005, houses (in that area) with approximately 1,000 square feet, 2 to 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, less than a mile to the beach were listed (and selling) for $500,000.  Those same houses are now selling for approximately $350,000.

We arrived at Baxter's just ahead of the dinner crowd so we were able to find a table right next to the deck with a view of the harbor and boats and we didn't have to wait very long for our food.  Now, the girls are usually very well behaved in restaurants to begin with but I was pleasantly surprised with how much they enjoyed eating there while watching boats pass by.  In contrast, there was a three year old girl there who spent most of her time running around.  I guess I hadn't realized that my kids had matured to this stage of enjoying nature and the world beyond "playing."




Months can pass by without strangers asking if the girls are triplets and then, somehow, we become a public spectacle.  The girls behind the counter had asked if they were triplets when we ordered our food.  Not a big deal.  But all of a sudden, while we were eating, we were surrounded by all these people asking if the girls were triplets.  It was a bit entertaining because this one guy didn't believe us.  He kept saying, "No way.  You're kidding right?" Does it look like I'm kidding?

Because the girls were really into watching the boats and sightseeing, we drove over to the other side of the harbor and walked down the pier.  Unfortunately, many of the boats had not returned for the day so there wasn't too much to look at.  We've promised them a return visit with an boat outing.  There were some larger boats offering a one hour tour of the harbor, which I think would be perfect for us.










On the drive home, the girls told us that they had had a fantastic day.  Allie exclaimed that it was just as fun as a vacation day.  We stopped for ice cream after we crossed the bridge and then sat in traffic.  It took us 50 minutes to drive 3 miles.  I wanted to cry.  We kept the girls entertained with CDs.  We are hoping to return for one more beach day before summer officially ends.