Boo at the Zoo

Halloween is truelly my favorite holiday, especially now that I have children. Of course, the triplets wanted to be princesses & a superhero this year. We have always done a multiples theme for our costumes..... 3 peas in a pod, litter of pups, the 3 little pigs, nascar drivers & my favorite street lights. I really wanted to do 1 more year as multiples. I just needed a great idea to get the kids on board. After days of deep thought, I finally came up with the Shrek triplets. The kids were very excited about this idea. I am very proud of their costumes. If only I put this much effort into housework... I would have a sparkling house! We went to the Omaha zoo for their Boo at the Zoo. The kids had a great time. We were quite the talk of the zoo. We even got stopped by some foreign tourists and asked to take pictures with them. Too funny! Everyone had a blast and we saw some great animals. The kids have fall break from school this week so we are taking them to Kansas City to the Great Wolf Lodge, an indoor water park/hotel. Then.... halloween. YAY!!!

School Daze

I wanted to update everyone on the first weeks of school.
JOSEPH.... the boy who started school with the most tears is now fearless in the mornings. We walk into the gym, wait for the teachers to come & get them, me standing at the back of the gym waiting.... waiting for him to point to the exit door and wave me goodbye. Most mornings he even forgets to give me my exit. He just walks away with his friends without any worries. He takes his lunch everyday, a peanutbutter sandwich everyday. He won't eat the school lunch because it comes with fruits & vegetables. Alison has told him he doesn't have to eat it, but that is not good enough. He is my picky eater, atleast he is finally eating peanutbutter.
ALISON.... started kindergarten already reading at a first grade level. We informed her teacher of this prior to school starting. 3 weeks into school I asked her if she was reading in class. She said "no, my teacher says to have my mom & dad read to me at home." I was starting to get frustrated with her lack of progress. Then one weekend while I was at work she started making books. Her stories were filled with complete sentences. I asked her if daddy helped her write the stories. She responded with an emphatic NO! Thus began the communication with her teacher. We have since realized that she has been holding back in class. I met with her teacher today and she had great things to say about her progress. She is progressing like a first grader, not a kindergartener. What a stinker! Atleast her teacher and I are on the same page now.
IVY.... oh Ivy. She has always been my shy, sensitive girl... until those first days of school. She grew up so much in that first week. Then the fire drill happened. According to her teacher, Ivy was pushing her out the door. She cried and was terrified. Then the accidents started. I was noticing that she was having wet pants several days of the week. It took several conversations with Ivy to finally figure out that she wasn't going to the bathroom at school. Several more conversations to figure out that there is a fire alarm in the bathroom and she is terrified that it will go off while she is in there.. by herself. I feel so terrible for her, as did her teacher when I told her of the problem. The day I talked to her teacher she went to the bathroom, with her teacher waiting outside. After school she was so proud to tell me that she had done that. And with the biggest smile said "my teacher wasn't even mad when I asked her if I could go to the bathroom." Yep, still shy & sensitive.
Today I recieved my first call from the school nurse. Ivy was in the nurses office with an earache. I was caught off guard and couldn't think of what to do. Sometimes the nursing brain just doesn't kick in fast enough. After a few seconds of thought... if felt like minutes... I decided to take her to the Dr's office. Especially since she just finished a course of antibiotics for a long lasting cough. I get to the nurses office and find her laying on the bed looking pathetic, all I wanted to do was hold her & cry. I stayed strong and off we went to the pediatricins. Walking to the van she asked if she could go to Runza & play in the playground. Silly girl. I am glad we went to the Dr's because she has ear infections in both ears. The appt. ends with stickers & suckers and Ivy wanting to go back to school. What a trooper. I hope all our nurse calls go that smoothly.

Kindergarten

My babies are now big kindergarteners. I had alot of tears leading up to the big day. As much as I struggled with them during day, I was really sad to know that they were leaving me. My babies are growning up. The elementary school they are going to has 180 kindergarteners and 8 kindergarten classes. Because there are so many classes, the school has all the kindergarteners start in the gym, lined up by class. The kids wait there for their teachers to come get them. I go each morning with them to the gym and wait for them to leave for their class. I love taking them and getting from school everyday. You are probably wondering what I do with all my freetime now. I am getting my house in order, cleaning and errand running... all without kids. I do have to admit that I have been looking forward to doing all these things without kids. SuperTarget has become my best friend. I enjoy doing my shopping there and then just wondering..... I am getting good at not buying things. I am also starting to update my blog... as you may have noticed I am behind at this.

Ivy the kindergartener

Ivy has suprised me the most with her response to school. She has always been my shy & sensitive child, so when considering splitting them for school she was the one I worried about. When we told them they would be split up she cried and said they needed to stay together. Always together has been her motto. I did alot of worrying for nothing. She has done the best! The first day of school she sat across from Alison in the gym waiting for their teachers to come get them. Alison kept trying to get her attention and Ivy's response was priceless. With a small turn of her head she said "Alison, shhhh, leave me alone!" And that has been that. My sensitive girl is all grown up. She is also the one to have clothes drama already. She will be fun during those teen years! Fun on Brians wallet that is.

Alison the kindergartener

Alison was so excited to start school. I always thought she would adjust the best to starting school and being in her own classroom. She proved me wrong. Don't get me wrong, she did great but she would try and pull the scared card, just like her brother, and I would tell her I didn't believe her and to get back into line. What a turkey. This summer I emailed the principle about each of the kids to help with teacher placement. I was especially concered about Alison because she was already reading and I didn't want her to lose that. She got paired up with a 1st grade teacher that has been brought down to teach kindergarten this year. Her teacher is excited to work with her on her reading and I have high hopes for Alison this year.

Joseph the kindergartener

Joseph stuggled the most with kindergarten starting. He was the kid that I thought would be easy going and enjoy making new friends.... especially boy friends. That is not the way things went. He cried the first 5 days of school. At least he cried while I was there and once in his classroom the tears stopped and he enjoyed the day. 2 mornings he ran out of his classroom crying and looking for me, only to be followed by his teacher running after him. One morning they wanted me to leave them at the front door. Everyone gave me a kiss and walked into the gym, as I turned to walk away I heard Joe running after me and yes, crying. I was amazed that he made it all the way out the front doors of the school. When I asked him what his favorite part of the day was he said "the whole day, except the getting there." I had just as many mornings of crying as he did. I felt horrible that he was struggling and for the first time in his life he was having to do it all by himself. I am happy to say that he is finally enjoying school and has made some new friends. Now when I drop him off I wait for his class to leave the gym and then he gives me the wave to leave. It always comes with a smile. A smile that melts my heart and has me excited to pick him up.

Alison's surgery

Alison had surgery to take her Adenoids taken out in July. She snores something terrible. We figured it would be best to take care of that before school started. She was such a trooper. The nurses gave her special rewards for having her blood drawn like a big girl. She stayed busy making a necklace with beads, putting a trash can together & playing with warm air hose. Brian & I stayed in her room while she went to surgery. The surgery only lasted 20 mins. The Dr. said she did great and should be snore free. She was very sleepy when she got back to the room and just wanted to go home..... she cried to go home all while she was sleeping. I loved snuggling with her while she rested. She was released 2 hours after surgery and wanted to go straight to Target to pick out a reward. That is Alison... nothing slows her down. She did great, she no longer is snoring and can actually breathe at night when she has a cold.

Preschool Graduation

The triplets had their preschool graduation yesterday. They wore cap & gowns and told the audience where they will be attending kindergarten. They all did a wonderful job singing and talking! I found myself getting teary!!! My babies are growing too fast. I remember getting teary when I dropped them off for their very first day of preschool last year. And now here we are... getting ready for kindergarten. I miss my babies. When they were babies life was to chaotic to enjoy them as snuggly babies. And now they are independent people getting ready to join the world of Elementary School. I am so proud of each one for the person they have become.

Lisa

So when I started this blog I really thought I would keep up with it. That has not been the case, I blame it on Facebook. I was looking at comments people have left on my blog today.. I welcome comments. I read one from Lisa! If this is my Lisa from North Carolina, you have been missed. If you are reading this please email me. My email is bdorn5@aol.com

Disney World

We took the kids to Disney World March 3-10th. It was a pre-celebration for the triplets 5th birthday. It has also been something I have been wanting to do since the triplets were 2 years old. I always said if we survived to 5 still married, still with 3 children & still happy we were going to celebrate with a Disney trip. Hard to believe, but my babies are turning 5.
We had a great time. NaNa & PaPa came with us. Brian & didn't want to be out numbered so we took reinforcements. It was the kids first airplane ride. They did great. We went to Animal Kingdom, Epcot & Hollywood studios 1 day each. We went to Magic Kingdom 3 days. We saw tons of characters and rode many rides. The kids had a great time and the adults were exhausted. I am including a few pictures, but if you want to see more send me your email and I will send you the link to Snapfish... it's a free photo website. You will need to join, but it's free and they don't bother you.

Valentine's Day Preparation

Valentine's day is upon us and time for kids to be helpful... whether I like it or not. Preschool designates snack/ show & tell day for each of the kids. Today (2/13) is Ivy's snack day, it also happens to be their valentine's day party. Which meant she could bring a treat, rather than a snack. She wanted to make princess cupcakes. So, yesterday we made cupcakes with pink frosting and sprinkles on top. I reluctantly let them frost the cupcakes & put the sprinkles on by themselves. I hate when they make messes. I will go out of my way to avoid them making a mess. This was a real test for me to sit back and let them work away. I do have to admit that they had a blast. They also had to make bags for their valentines to go into. I bought stickers for them to decorate with. Appearantly the triplets think the floor is a trash can, because that is were the paper backings from the stickers ended up. I'm sure my voiced was raised during this period of time. When they were done the kitchen floor and table were covered in sprinkles and stickers. Thankfully it was warm enough outside that I was able send them away while I cleaned. In true fashion as soon as I was done cleaning the floor.... they ran in the house with muddy shoes. I do believe that was the low point of my day. The point of my story is this.... School was cancelled for today because of snow!!!! Of course it was! What a bummer. All that work and Ivy won't get to take cupcakes for her snack day.

New camera fun

We bought a new pocket digital camera in preparation for our Disney World trip. I have been wanting 1 for quite a while now and I finally had Brian convinced it was time to buy one. It might have been the threat of an unhappy wife if the Disney pictures didn't turn out. I love the camera. I have been playing with it, making sure I now how to use it prior to getting to Disney. By the way,,, we leave for Disney in 21 days. We are so excited. I have finalized all the trip details this morning. It is quite overwhelming. The triplet and I looked at pictures from a friends recent visit to Disney. They were so excited to see their friends with Disney characters. I hope it helped them realized what we are going to be doing. Even if not, they are still very excited. I created a Disney calendar that we cross off the days each night. This way they know when we are going. Disney was not the intent of this blog.. guess I'm excited! Today was beautiful outside, so we met our friends Jennifer and Deacon at the park for lunch and play. It was fun. Although, Joey fell and hit the ground- leaving a floor rash on his forehead- and later hit his head on a slide. That was the clue that it was time to head home and take a nap. My house is quiet now and I thought I better update the blog, since I haven't done this in forever.

More pictures of winter fun.

Winter fun

Today we are having a snow day. It makes me sad that the triplets didn't get their Christmas party at preschool. They don't seem to mind, seeing as how all they wanted to do this morning is play in the snow. It is the first time they have been able to play outside this winter. It has been too cold. If you couldn't have guessed... getting triplets ready to play in the snow takes for ever. Thankfully they were being really patient. It also helps to have a husband who owns his own business, a busines that is really slow right now. Brian didn't go into work until 11am. After they played in the snow, they drank cold chocolate. Cold chocolate is their version of hot chocolate, it's just chocolate milk in a coffee cup. It's funny what they think of. They had a blast seeing Santa. It took them a minute to warm up to him, but once the presents came out it was game over. We are counting down to Christmas with out Advent calendars. That has been a God send. It has diverted many days of "is it Christmas today?" Only 6 more days until Christmas...YEAH!

Cookie Baker

Tonight we have a cookie exchange and santa visit for my work. I decided to bake some cookies to take to the exchange. Alison is my helper, and in true form she was right by my side "helping". I attempted to make brownie cookies, which didn't turn out so well. I used the remainder of the batter to make regular brownies. Alison helped by cleaning the bowl when I was done with it. I am pretty sure she got more on her face than in her tummy. I can't wait to see the kids with santa tonight.

We have gotten into guitar hero. The kids love to play it. They watched their cousin Eric play and he was really good. So, they always ask why they get boo'd and he didn't. I just remind them that he's good at the game and we are just learning. They think it is funny when each other gets boo'd.

Halloween is my favorite holiday, next to Christmas. October has been filled with fun activities such as going to the pumpkin patch with the preschool class, boo @ the zoo & trunk or treating at church. We went to the pumpking patch and had a great time picking out pumpkins. Of course, we had to pick out the biggest pumpkins we could find. Like carrying 3 pumpkins by myself wasn't bad enough, I had to carry 3 heavy ones. Alison LOVED the haunted houses. She probably does better in them than I do.
The kids had a halloween party at preschool. They got to wear costumes and bring home a ton of candy. This year we are street lights. When I had the idea the kids were totally into it. That, of course, changed when the costumes hit the stores. It took alot of convincing to get them to wear the street lights. After the prek party they are said.... "I thought I wanted to be a ..princess, batman, scooby doo, etc." Next year I'm pretty sure they won't go with the triplet theme.
We have taken them trick or treating twice so far. They really don't need to go out on halloween, they have so much candy already. The costumes are way to cute to only wear 1 day.

Bad blogger

I am a really bad blogger. I thought I might update the sight with a brief synopsis of our latest activities. I hope to add pictures later.
Alison was diagnosed with walking pneumonia 2 weeks ago. She had a cough that came from the depths of her lungs. Poor kid. She never missed a beat though. Then 36 hours later she fell out of bed (no not a bunk bed) while sleeping and I had to take her to the ER. Xray revealed my worst fear... a broken collar bone. She is in a sling for at least 3 weeks. We started her on Tylenol with Codeine. You would think that she would have been laying around with having pneumonia and on narcotics. But oh no.... I don't think anything slows her down. We have had the summer cold make it's way through everyone the past couple weeks. I am ready for everyone to be healthy. During the mist of Alison, we found a lump on our dog, Margarita. She had to have surgery to remove it. Thankfully it was not cancer. Brian and I had many conversations about what all we would for the dog. The kids love her and she loves them. We have to do about anything to save her.
The triplets have also gone back to preschool. They go Mon/Wed/Friday mornings. I am in love with my quiet mornings. Target is my new best friend. They seem to be learning so much already. I hope to do a better job of blogging. Pictures will be coming soon.

Colorado trip #1

The triplets and I travelled to Colorado with my parents in July for my cousin Rachels wedding. The kids actually travelled really well. I think I only threatened to pull over 1 time. We stayed with friends our first night there. I used to babysit the girls when they were little. Hard to believe that they are teenagers now. I am getting old. We had a blast at the wedding. Ivy has been looking forward to it all summer long. She took in every moment of the wedding ceremony. She is probably all ready planning her wedding. Scary!!! We then travelled to Vail for cousin Maddox's baptism. The pictures are of Mindy's brother Micheal and I. We are Maddox's Godparents. I am now a Nina. He is such a cute baby. We then travelled to Estes Park for the Garrison reunion. The triplets enjoyed hiking and swimming. Joey was such a big boy and slept on the top bunk in our room. After the reunion we went back to Vail to spend time with my brother, Matt and his family. We ended up putting 1700 miles on the minivan. That equates to lots of time in the vehicle with 3 four year olds. It was a great trip. The kids are getting so much easier to travel with. If you have noticed, Brian was missing from the trip. He recently quit his job to start a business. It is called Midwest Tent & Event. He rents & sets up tents, tables & chair. The summer is his busy time. And he has been extremely busy. We miss him terrible. His hard work will pay off, I know it.

Joey loses a tooth

Today was a huge day in the Dorn household. Let me start from the beginning. In May Joey fell on the steps going to the basement and hit his mouth. A bottom tooth was loose. We took him to see the dentist. She said to keep watching the tooth, hoping it would re-harden and stay until his baby teeth fall out. It started hurting again yesterday. I noticed it was loose again. We went to the dentist today, she said it's time to pull it. The girls and I waited in the lobby while he was a big boy getting his tooth pulled. He never cried or screamed. The dentist said he did better than most adults. I am so proud of him. We put his tooth in his first tooth box and placed on the dresser. He's not sure about the toothfairy being at his bed while he sleeps.
Here's a funny..... the triplets learned about losing teeth from watching a video of cousin Grace losing her first. They associate a loose tooth with missing teeth. When we are out in public and they see someone with missing teeth they say, loudly, look she/he has a loose tooth. It is so embarrassing. God love the childs mind and mouth.