We hate Santa!

My mom & I took the kids to the mall to "observe" Santa one day a couple of weeks ago. He was just leaving to go on a break, so he stopped by the stroller and chatted with us and the kids for a few minutes. He tried to shake their hands and get them to smile at him. They wanted NO part of this scary looking man! So, he said, "Just keep bringing them by and they'll eventually warm up to me!" Well, I had no intention of bringing them back to actually sit on his lap. I didn't want to traumatize them quite yet. Well, our church's Christmas play was a couple of weeks ago (shortly after the Santa encounter at the mall) and Santa was there afterwards at a party for all the kids. Without my knowing, Eric decided that it'd be fun to get a picture of all 3 of the kids on Santa's lap. Call it maternal instinct, but while I was sitting in the service I thought, "I think I should go check on the kids in the nursery". Well, when I got there all the kids were gone and they said, "Eric brought them downstairs to see Santa!" I ran downstairs and sure enough...all 3 kids were having a nervous breakdown! So, apparently, my kids HATE Santa! I am sure they will warm up to the big jolly guy eventually, but for now I am going to just keep our distance.

Christmas Dinner

The kids LOVED being at the table for Christmas dinner. Normally, we feed them before we eat. So, whenever they get a chance to actually eat with us they get really excited. On Christmas day, we had a great meal together and the kids loved being dispersed between family at the table. They grubbed on turkey, mashed potatoes, broccoli, green beans and homemade rolls...yummy! Alana had an especially fun time sitting in between Auntie Sheri and Uncle Jose. She felt very special! :)


Alana getting some love from Auntie Sheri & Uncle Jose

Alana loving being at the table with everyone

Joe doing his goofy smile

Alexa showing her empty tray

Traveling with Triplets

As I mentioned in the last post, we flew to Colorado to spend Christmas with Eric's family last week. We had a really fun trip and the kids did great! Here are some pictures of our days of travel, including going there and coming home. Eric's mom flew with us so that we could have one adult per child. Until they are 2, the kids can fly as "lap babies". We decided to give it a try and they all eventually fell asleep on our laps. It wasn't easy flying with a kid on your lap, especially when the airline stewardess annoyingly kept telling me, "She needs to be ON your lap!" while I was letting Alexa stand next to me in front of the empty seat before the plane even started moving. Anyway, having triplets is definitely a deterrant to people wanting to sit right next to you. In fact, our plane was completely full minus the 3 empty seats right next to each one of us...hmmm???


Us and all of our luggage!

Josiah shortly after waking up after we landed in Colorado

Alana looking across the aisle at Mommy & Joe

Alexa sleeping on Grandma Jean's lap

Alexa shortly after waking up after landing in Colorado

Alana sitting like a "big girl" on the seat shortly after landing

Alexa

Josiah getting ready to go through security

Colorado Snow

We just returned from spending Christmas in Colorado with Eric's family. We, unfortunately, had no internet access for the week so sorry about the lag in posting. Anyway, we had a great trip. I'll post more pictures soon. The kids did AMAZING!!! They are such super great travelers that they make it all worth the crazy amount of time & energy that goes into planning & packing for a trip with triplets! Yikes!

The first couple of days, the weather was sunny & blue sky with only snow on the ground. Fortunately, our "stay in" day was the major snow day. We took advantage of the snow fall and bundled the kids all up so that they looked like walking marshmallows. Josiah & Alana loved the snow. Alexa's gloves kept falling off and so she wasn't too excited about the cold white stuff touching her hands. It was pretty funny & lots of fun!


Daddy with Alana & Josiah

Alana enjoying the sled

Daddy & Joe

Alana & Joe

Grandma Jean enjoying the snow with Joe & Alana

Alana

Joe enjoying his first touch of snow

Alexa stayed in my arms for the most part once her hands got wet & cold. That's big cousin Jake pulling Alana in the sled.



Grandpa Gary enjoying his favorite toy...the snowblower!

First Haircuts for the Girls

We decided that Josiah is a crazy hair growing machine and desperately needed another haircut (that would be 3 so far). So, we took him to the salon down the street from our house where we go to get our hair cut sometimes. Josiah sat on my lap and was a little annoyed by the stylist spraying water on his head, but was otherwise unaffected. We decided that since the girls' hair was starting to get a little shaggy in the bangs that we might as well get their hair trimmed, as well. The girls were NOT EXCITED about the whole idea and Alexa's face says it better than words. Unfortunately, I was only able to get a picture of Alexa while she was sitting on Eric's lap, but take my word for it...Alana was equally terrified!

We LOVE Shopping!

I've mentioned before how much the kids LOVE to go to Costco. Well, a couple of weekends ago, I desperately needed a break and so Eric decided to take the kids on an outing to Costco all by himself. He's way more ambitious than I am by myself, so I am quite proud of him! Go Honey! Anyway, he took some fun pictures of how he got all 3 of them in 1 cart and managed to get all the groceries, as well. Josiah, didn't seem to mind, but found a snug little spot inside the cart between the milk and diapers. The girls got to ride shotgun in the seats and seemed to enjoy it, too. I wish all stores had such big carts as Costco. I have no idea how you'd get 3 kids in a normal size cart. Hmm...I don't even want to think about it!

The Big Green Thing in our Living Room

The kids are all in awe of this big green thing in our living room. We considered whether or not we really wanted to go through the trouble of even putting up a tree this year, since we were convinced that they would find someway to knock it over. After a long deliberation, we came up with the brilliant idea of putting the playzone/gates around the tree. Eric came up with the idea of putting the tree inside the Radio Flyer wagon to elevate it enough so that we can still see the whole tree even with the gate around it. I wasn't too sure of the idea at first, but it seems to be working so far.

The kids love to run up to the gate and just stare up at the gigantic tree. Their favorite thing is to watch it light up when we first turn the lights on. They all say, "Oohhhh!!!" It's pretty cute! The pictures, unfortunately, were taken before we actually decorated the tree. But, you get the idea!

The Fridge

For some reason, the kids LOVE the refrigerator! Every time I open the door, I have to fight off 3 very strong and determined children! They love to explore the shelves on the door and Josiah has even figured out how to take the shelf off...Yikes! More than anything they like to remove the stuff from the shelves, show me with a huge grin what they've found and then return it back to the shelf (sometimes). Alexa loves to get in and actually stand on the ledge inside the frig. It's pretty entertaining! They haven't figured out how to open the door by themselves yet, thank goodness. Once they figure that one out I guess I'll have to invest in another latch like the one we've already had to put on the dishwasher, due to Josiah's obsession with opening the dishwasher (that's a whole nother story!).

The Butterfly

One of my friends, Aparna, gave me this super cute Butterfly rocking thingy for my baby shower before the kids were even born. It took awhile for them to be big enough to ride it, but now they can climb on & off of it and they seem to "chirp" in delight everytime they see it!

The After dinner Hair!

The kids are notorious for rubbing their slimy, wet hands in their hair when they are finished eating. It seems to be a pretty clear way for them to say, "Okay, I am full now! Stop feeding me!" Needless to say, we get the point! Anyway, in order to get all the food out of their hair we pretty much have to "wash" their hair or at least get it pretty wet. So, we have fun spiking their hair and making some interesting hairstyles once they're all cleaned up!

Josiah the Snuggler

Josiah is a snuggler! He loves to cuddle and his favorite place to fall asleep is in your arms. He recently has been waking up from his nap early and crying. So, he gets picked up and held and loves to fall back to sleep in my arms. Recently, my dad (aka Papa) was here and Josiah fell asleep in his arms. It was cute to compare the picture of Josiah sleeping in Papa's arms last week and him sleeping in Grandpa Jardine's arms in August (last picture). He's quite the big boy now!


Josiah & Papa both dozing




Josiah sleeping in Grandpa's arms in San Diego this summer

Smiley Kids

Sometimes it's amazing to me when I realize how smiley my kids are! It's hard not to be joyful when they are so smiley and so stinking cute (if I may say so, myself)! We got the trio in true form the other day...all smiles! :)