Christmas 2011, #1

This morning we had our first of three Christmas celebrations. My parents and brother came over to open presents and have "brunch" (frozen breakfast sandwiches and coffee - no time to cook!). The kids had a great time ripping paper, discovering new toys, and then fighting over new toys. Apparently we're going to need 3 of everything. :)


Look at all these presents!

Hat-Dad, Meme, and Uncle Peter enjoyed helping them open presents

Lucas found a place to perch

Doing a little shopping

Zoey enjoying the new doll accessories


Exploring their new train table

Peter and I had fun trying to perfect the track arrangement.

Zoey found a quiet place to examine her train car

Cooperating??


Good thing we have a couple of days to recover before Christmas #2!

Breakfast with Santa

This morning we took the trio to a small local restaurant for a breakfast with Santa. We chose this route because we feared that a mall Santa would terrify the kids and that there would be a crazy long line. I think it was the best choice - the kids could sit back and observe Santa for as long as they needed to, and the didn't have to sit on his lap. Plus we got to eat some pancakes and drink coffee. :)

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Zoey was intrigued when Santa first walked in (they were all kind of stunned)...

...but then she got scared by his loud "ho ho ho"

Abby was the first to approach Santa.

Lucas watched Santa very seriously during the whole breakfast and finally tiptoed near him a couple of times.

By the end of the meal Zoey was willing to get this close to Santa

Trying to actually eat something while at a restaurant with the kids - ha!


Afterwards, we realized we hadn't really talked with them about Santa and didn't have any Santa books. But they mentioned Santa off and on all day so I guess he made an impression. Maybe next year we'll make it to the mall...or maybe this breakfast will become our new tradition.

O Christmas Tree

Last week I saw this cute idea for making a felt Christmas tree that toddlers could decorate and un-decorate themselves, in hopes of keeping them away from the real tree. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifhttp://www.johnnyinadress.com/2011/12/play-felt-tree-ornaments.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JohnnyInADress+%28Johnny+In+A+Dress%29

For less than $10 in felt and a slightly sore wrist from cutting all afternoon, we have some great trees! We decided to make 3 small trees rather than one big one. We used pinking shears to give the edges some flair, and we used cookie cutters as templates for cutting out the ornaments (just trace with a pencil and cut). We ended up attaching them to the wall with masking tape. Zoey was trying to rip them down as fast as my mom could get them up.

May-May adjusting the trees.

Hat-Dad helped cut ornaments out of felt.

Abby loved decorating the trees...

...while Zoey loved un-decorating them.

All cute and decorated.

This was the scene a few minutes later.


I'm so excited about this as an easy craft idea for all seasons and holidays - imagine a giant Easter egg, or Jack-o-Lantern, or tree, or whatever! Plus I want to make more ornaments - I have grand ideas of getting out my hot glue gun and putting together snowmen and candy canes and such. Plus presents to put under the tree like the blogger showed in her pictures. Guess I know what I'll be doing during nap time this week!

Party Animals

On Sunday we went to our second holiday party of the season. The kids did great at both parties, although they ran us ragged and we didn't get much to eat/drink.

There were even Great Pyrenees puppies to pet.


Heading home. We had to chase them down the driveway and wrangle them into the car.


At home, the partying continued...

Jason's habit of putting pants on their head has taken hold. Now they do it on their own, and then dance around the room.


New fashion statement

Playing nicely together!

Bird watching


Shirtless, wearing pink floral pants, and sitting in the lego basket


Zoey loves hanging out on mom and dad's bed.


Couldn't resist one more pants on the head pic

Conversations

People often ask us if the triplets have their own language. We usually say that we have no idea - I mean, they're babbling a lot and saying a lot of real words. How are we supposed to know if their babble means anything to them?? I think these videos suggest that they are communicating with each other somehow.

Discussing their weekend plans...


Deciding how to renovate the bathroom...

Christmas Tree Expedition

Today we trekked an hour north to a tree farm to get a Christmas tree. Jason knows the family who owns the farm and wanted us to go there to get the full "experience" of selecting and cutting down our own tree. I was prepared for meltdowns in the car, chasing toddlers everywhere, and general disaster. But it actually went pretty well! We had no trouble getting there by their opening time at 9am, since everyone was up at 6am, as usual. The kids were fascinated enough by the new experience that they were pretty cooperative, and we had plenty of DVDs for the ride home.

The farm family was very nice and obviously love what they do. There was a little outbuilding with cider and cookies, crafts and food for sale, and things for kids to do. They had a very thoughtful set-up for kids, with paper and crayons, books, and toys.


And bunnies! Usually when we visit animals all the kids hang back for a minute, and then Zoey marches up and pets them first. Today was no exception.

The bunnies were so soft and little!



After the bunnies, we took a short walk through the woods. They enjoyed kicking their feet through the piles of leaves.

Resting by a rock. Abby is a champion hiker!

Zoey shares my feelings about hiking. She wanted to be carried much of the way.

Why is it that toddlers are really fast, until you actually want to get somewhere?


At the end of the loop there was a chicken coop. The kids have learned to say "bok bok bok" so they were excited to see real chickens.

Isn't this sweet???


We finally got serious about picking a tree, especially since the farm was starting to get crowded.

Lumberjack Jason

Watching me pretend to cut the tree down

Checking out the fallen tree

Enjoying homemade cookies (provided at the farm) on the ride home



Undecorated tree, and wreath on fireplace

The kids "helping" to decorate the tree. They took the ornaments off as quickly as I could put them on.

Please excuse their outfits - Zoey was refusing to wear her pants, Abby didn't want her onesie snapped, and Lucas' pants got wet and he ended up in pants w/an orange stripe to go with his shirt w/a red stripe. Oh, and of course none of the grown-ups got to take a shower today.

Zoey running off with the ornaments



We finished decorating the tree after the kids went to bed. Notice there's nothing on the bottom half but lights? :)


And the stockings were hung by the TV with care...


As usual we are exhausted. Good night!

singing duo

Jason got this video today of the girls singing during lunch. :)