Tag: triplets

Painting Skylanders

The boys are all into Skylanders, and also, strangely, YouTube videos where people paint the figurines.

I made a deal with Linus – for every two chapters of a book he read, I’d buy him a jar of paint so he could paint some of the duplicate figurines they had.

Yesterday, he earned three tiny jars of Testors paint, which he used to recolor Food Fight, an artichoke-shaped fella.

Just reminded me of the jars of Testors that my brother used to have. I don’t remember what he used them for. Rockets? Tiny movie sets? Hmm.

IMG_6377

Can you tell which is the before and which is the after? Ha ha ha!

IMG_2761

Meanwhile, back in the USA

While George and I were off gallivanting across Merry Olde England, the boys were spending plenty of Quality Time with their maternal grandparents.

I don’t know everything they did, but here’s what I do know:

They took a yo-yo class:

11406661_10205160929441670_7466733474289049569_o

They went to the beach, where they swam in a pool:

10421251_10205186332596733_5505474616610370355_n

They visited a naval museum:

11406285_10205206492980730_7251574619130339259_o

And ate the kinds of food only a grandparent can guiltlessly provide:

11402641_10205200799718402_7048835999326116086_o 11415563_10205208946522067_9145456900362348296_o

I know they went fishing and walked on the beach but I don’t have photos for those. I know they had a great time.

I also know, poor things, didn’t have enough clothes and were apparently dressed like orphans because their terrible mama doesn’t know how to pack a suitcase. Apparently. I don’t know how they all survived. I really need to up my organization game.

I also assume an Oreo commercial is in the pipeline. Nabisco! Gimme a call!

90 months!

While Mommy and Daddy are gallivanting in England, the boys are having a great time with Grandee and Larry.

90months

Look at those smiles! I should probably hire Larry to take monthly pics from here on out, huh?

Not happy

I had a little pre-emptive 90th monthly photo shoot since George and I will be out of town on the 4th. (I’m also going to have Larry take a picture of the boys on the 4th, but this is my insurance in case the boys don’t cooperate.)

They were sad. I was sad. I miss my boys already.

IMG_5465

(They perked up after I mentioned the many British souvenirs we’ll be bringing back for them.)

PS We will be taking advantage of being away from the house by having some work done on it. At random times. And we have an alarm system. And we have very attentive neighbors. So there.

Last day of first grade.

Yesterday was the last day of first grade. When I went to pick up the kids, Oliver and Millie’s teacher was walking them to the car, crying with Millie. One of the hard parts about going to a school where the teachers are coming from a foreign country is that they can’t stay forever. So I wasn’t able to get a picture with the boys with each of their teachers, but it’s okay. I’ll survive without having every single aspect of their lives documented.

Last day (standing the same order in both pics):

IMG_5436-2

and first day:

SAMSUNG CSC

Want to see more last days? Here you go.

Excuse me while I hyperventilate

Today is the last day of first grade. Um, excuse me? How did that happen, exactly? Well, those official “end of the year” pics will be coming later, so I can get photos of the boys with their teachers. But we had an end of the year play date after school yesterday with Miles’s class, and I got some nice pics of the boys. If I may say so myself.

and then Miles got in another tree by himself and the light was so pretty and I couldn’t resist.

This one’s my favorite. How lucky am I to have three that are this adorable?

IMG_5419

The boys with Miss Claire, who taught Linus in PreK-4, Oliver in Kindergarten, and Miles in first grade. I’m not sure how I’m going to cope with not having her as one of our teachers!

IMG_5388

Oh, Ollie and his weird smile. I think he’s really self-conscious because he hasn’t lost either of his front teeth yet.

Friday five

Five things for today:

– Miles has a dance competition tonight. I don’t know what’s going to kill me first, this or the movie we’re working on. (Coming soon…very soon.) I’m not sure if I’m going to see the tango for the first time, but if it’s anywhere near as cute as the merengue or the swing, I’m doomed.

– I’ve been having pain in my achilles’ tendon for a couple of months now, and I finally made an appointment with an orthopedist to get it checked out. It turns out I have, as I suspected, achilles’ tendinitis, so I’ll be starting physical therapy next week to get that worked on. I was oddly proud when the doctor told me I had the tightest achilles’ tendon he’d felt all day! (How many achilles’ tendons does he feel in a day? A lot, I guess. He is the practice’s ankle expert, after all.)

I can’t run until it’s not pissed off at me anymore, so now I go to the gym and die of boredom on the bike or elliptical instead. I know lots of people think treadmills are boring, but you can run or walk or do intervals or go fast but on a bike or elliptical, you just…ride a bike or do whatever it’s called on an elliptical.

– A couple of weeks ago, when we came back from DC, I started a rotation on a new team. It’s really cool to learn a different side of things from what I’m used to. And on that note, if you have a passion for WordPress and helping people, we’re hiring.

Screenshot 2015-05-15 10.45.56– Yesterday was George’s birthday and at his request, even though it’s spring in Louisiana, I made beef and barley stew. I have to say, it was incredibly delicious. I used this recipe from Williams-Sonoma, but subbed out beef broth for all of the water, I used bone-in short ribs for most of the meat (took the bones out at the very end) and threw in a parmesan rind. Oh, and a dollop of red wine. I was using all of the tricks I could think of, and they worked. Man, it was good.

That’s four. Hmm. Here are some random photos, then.

Linus invented a game. I can’t figure it out, it’s way over my head.
The boys finally WANT to read. The trick was just figuring out what…
Dinner out with my triplet mamas!
My ankle got x-rayed.
New shoes for our trip to England, which is coming up soon! They will hopefully work for the “hiking” we’ll be doing (i.e., walking from pub to pub) in the Lake District.

Coming soon…an original motion picture

Linus is the brains behind the boys’ newest project, a movie involving Power Rangers and a ninja and some other stuff. I’m just the hired help.

We filmed over two days and now I just have to edit it all together and add special effects. I’m a little nervous about that part, since I only have iMovie. Maybe I can convince Uncle Evan to give it a little pizzazz. (Hint.)

It was actually pretty awesome to watch Linus and his brothers create this. There were costumes, a script, the fights were even choreographed!

part of the script
If this doesn’t shred your heart into a million pieces…I don’t know what’s wrong with you.

I was able to get some behind-the-scenes photos. I guess I’ll use these in the inevitable “behind-the-scenes” documentary.

And what you’ve all been waiting for…the movie’s trailer that I put together last night. Gotta build up some buzz, you know.

Mother’s Day 2015

It’s only 9:45 in the morning, and it’s already a winner. I got to sleep in (thank you melatonin) and I was presented with a plethora of cards and gifts upon arising.

Look, I love presents. A lot. But I can honestly say that there is nothing I love more on Mother’s Day than a pile of handmade cards and drawings. I want no other gift.

Some highlights from today include:

A family drawing from Miles, with a list of what he loves about me and George on the back (they combine Mother’s Day and Father’s Day since they won’t be in school in the summer, but George lets me keep them on my desk.)

A photo of Linus with his hands in a heart:

IMG_1803

A card from Oliver with some nice (I guess) things about us in French:

oliverMD2015

There’s also a list of 10 8 things that Miles loves about me (he assured me he ran out of time, not things)

milesMD2015

and then Linus, who brought the tears:

linusMD2015

You have to love the honesty of kids, don’t you?

I’m not going to publish this right away, because I’m still waiting for the other requirement of a great Mother’s Day: a photo of me and the boys. Preferably one with only four chins between the four of us. We’ll see how that goes.

Editor’s note: it went fine. Always get a friend who understands how to minimize multiple chins to take your photos. Also, I think I need a new dress.

MEGAFIST™

The boys got this awesome new machine the other day, it’s called MEGAFIST™.  Here’s a demonstration of how it works:

I’ll admit, sometimes it’s buggy and will switch into MEGAHUGZ™ mode without warning. Or even more ominously, MEGATICKLE™. You gotta be careful with technology.