Thank You, Miss Christine!

During the school year, one of my neighbors is kind enough to hang out with me and the kiddos during the mornings on Wednesdays. I try to use the time to go somewhere fun, but we generally end up running errands. Anyway, it's summer vacation and her son has the audacity to need his mother around, so we're without Mrs. Pookie (not her real name) for a few months. I hope she wants to come play with us again come September...

A rare photo w/Mrs. Pookie and a couple of the girlies on a non-errand day.

Oh No! Oh No!

A couple nights ago, Johnny was walking across his room and he stepped on a book. This is not unusual - there are usually books scattered all over the place. The problem is, it was one of the kids' baby bibles (that almost always have a picture of Jesus with children on the cover). I heard him say "Oh no! Oh NO! I stepped on Jesus!".

I told him I thought Jesus would be okay, but we picked up the book so he wouldn't have to worry about doing it again.

Lingering...

Trusting only in thy merit,
Would I seek thy face:
Heal my wounded, broken spirit,
Save me by thy grace.

We sang this in church two Sundays ago and it is still with me.

How Do They Do It?

I sort of single-parented this weekend. I say "sort of" because Fooz grabbed a couple kids Saturday morning and I blissfully only had two. Two toddlers in the grocery store and out-and-about is simply dreamy, by the way. Johnny and Gracie were divine. And another "sort of" is that my FRIEND, Joan, had all four at her house for more than several minutes while I ran home (we live across the street) and threw dinner in the oven. However, there were times this weekend when there was no back-up and it was not emotionally cool.

At one point Saturday night I had all of this happening at once, as we're going up to bed:

1. Lizzy putting on her very best throw-down-tantrum
2. Johnny dumping an entire box of tacks all over the middle of the floor (which meant I had to keep Gracie, Johnny, and Ainsley from running all over them)
3. Johnny crying because I yelled "JOHNNY. DO NOT MOVE!!!!" and freaked him out.
4. Ainsley crying because she managed to step on the lone tack that had skittered across the hardwood.

And I paused and wondered how people manage when it's just them and there isn't another adult around to help. Scenes like this are totally common in this house, multiple times/day. I would be an even worse mess than I am now if John wasn't around to share in managing the chaos.

So I tip my hat and throw out loads of respect to anyone who truly single-parents. I don't know how you do it without losing your mind or at least maintaining some semblance of dignity.

Pup-pee Dawoog!!!! (as miss gracie calls them)

Oh, how I wish we had a video monitor for the triplets' room. The conversations I hear when they're supposed to be sleeping, the shrieking, the "One, Two, Three, GO!" followed by jumping and laughing...I would give anything to see what is actually going on. I'd like to know who really is the one who wakes everyone up, which ones staccato-kick their beds, the leader of my lil' packages of sweetness.

The other day I heard them chattering as they woke up from their nap. Then silence. Then laughter. Then...woofing? Seriously, they were all taking turns going "woof, woof" and then all three would bust their guts.

I lurked outside their room for a couple minutes and then entered to this:

The Boy.

Gracie with her classic smirk.

Lizzy, who is usually the one I hear laughing hysterically. If you ever need to feel funny, hang out with this kid - she'll laugh at just about anything.

And just because she followed me upstairs to see what the ruckus was about...

All of them had their stuffed dogs "woofing" at each other and, apparently, it is the funniest thing ever when one is 2-and-1/2.

I am not looking forward to the days when they are no longer confined to their cribs.

Dress Up

It's very important to my oldest and she is trying (not always in vain) to expose her siblings to the joy. We hear "who wants to play dress up!??!?!?" often and you will see that her brother gets pretty fired up about it. Poor guy. I told someone the other day that he will have no sense of pride by the time his sisters get done with him.

The Queen, as herself.

Normal.

As "Tinkiebell" (as Tinkerbell is called in our home). "I'm flying! Look at me! I'm flying!" (what she was running around, saying)

A rare moment - catching Gracie with a smile on her face. The kid smiles (smirks, actually) a lot - it's nearly impossible to get on camera.

And then there's the pink bunny outfit. Poor guy. He was so excited to put it on, too. Buddy, at least I didn't put in the princess dress pics...