I Heart Hats

I have been counting down the days. Thirty years ago we girls (including our cousin Eowyn) watched the last royal wedding huddled around our tiny little black and white tv. Now I watched it with my girls and of course Sir Beckett.
Our festivities today were inspired by Auntie Vicki who took off today from work to watch "The Wedding" and even contemplated ordering a wedding cake. That is pure genius and dedication. Since most every day is a day off for me just sitting around eating cake and bons bons I had to take today's festivities in a different direction. Also, I recently went to doctor and got weighed for the first time in almost a year and realized what a toll my body has taken from incorporating cake as one of my main food groups. I would have liked nothing better than to order a wedding cake but the impending summer clothes made me think the better of it.
I took the kiddos to one of my favorite bakeries for our royal snacks but they didn't have wedding cake cookies like I had hoped so I had to settle for a garden party theme with bee hive, butterfly and flower cookies. I set the DVR with half a thought that I would get up at 4 to watch it live but that was just crazy talk.
My initial plan was to have our tea party for morning snack and watch the wedding. I was listening to the BBC while making breakfast and just dying, and I mean dying to turn on the TV to see the dress and just get a glimpse of the action but I knew that would turn our whole morning schedule upside down. I would be risking temper tantrums and possibly not eating breakfast so I didn't turn it on. The best laid plans with this crew can be dashed in an instant so you kind of have to go with the flow. It was the sunniest day we've had in a long time and the kids were so antsy this morning so we had to postpone our party for a walk to the lake instead.
I didn't want to see any coverage until our party so I didn't even turn on my computer for fear that I might accidentally see something. Finally the kids woke up from their naps and it was time!!!!
The plan was for the girls to put on their party tutus. I would have loved for Sir Beckett to wear his seersucker jacket but I learned my lesson with that jacket on Easter. Just the sight of it makes him scream with fear. I have no idea why. But little Miss Addy would not cooperate with the tutus. I thought for sure she would be the first one to get dressed up. Just look what she picked out for herself yesterday. Tights over the top of a swimsuit over the top of a tee shirt.

Eloise was the only one who cooperated with the outfit change- kind of. For some reason, the girls are scared of their big tutus but I managed to get one on her. I had set up their little table with their tea set, water in the teapot, frosted cookies, balloons on the chairs, and the table set with two bouquets of spray roses. I'll let the pictures tell the story...









Unlike THE KISS, this is where is gets a little sloppy and slurpy...

Really, who left the teapot on the table? We had to move quick to save the cookies.
Noses have been running all week. Why would they stop for a party?



It's not a real party until someone climbs on the table. And subsequently falls off.



My little Addycakes- on spot with her bunny ears fastener.

The kids were not really watching the tv, until Kate appeared in that dress and Beckett was mesmerized (or it was the music).

Just a few highlights, in my opinion.
-The hats and fasteners which is a new favorite word in my vocabulary. I just died over the hats. I'm a hat girl. More of a baseball hat and sloppy beret kind of girl. But to wear one of those hats. I was breathless.
-The yellow coat worn by the queen. Fab. Love her glasses with the purse too.
-The dress. At first I wasn't sure, not what I was expecting. But how beautiful and I'm sure the TV, even HD, does not do it justice. The back of it is what sold me. From the front, I would take it or leave it but the back? Blown away.
-Prince Harry. Need I say more?

Easter 2011

Well you could have blown me over with a feather when it came to picking up eggs on Easter. We had the kids all pumped up about getting the most eggs, ganging up on their big cousin Oliver, we even did some trash talking about "The Eastsiders" (where we live in Milwaukee) coming to rock the egg hunt. Hmm, I guess we didn't practice picking up eggs with distractions such as a swing set or wood chips or a pile of grass with a bulldozer at my sister's house...
Since the eggs for the babies had different contents than Oliver, we had to set up the eggs for the babies in the side yard and the eggs for Oliver in the back yard. My mom and sister were making fun of me and what a mean mom I am. I filled the eggs with goldfish, Cheerios, raisins and dried peaches. No candy. They don't need candy. My mom filled some of the kids eggs with stickers which was an awesome idea because they LOVE stickers but the problem with the stickers was that they didn't make noise when shaking the eggs. The kids learned real quick that the good eggs are the ones that made noise. So that being said we put like 100 or 150 eggs for the trio in the yard...
It was slightly chilly out and the ground was wet so of course I was worried about the kids getting cold. Nothing like collecting Easter eggs in snowsuits. See Eloise in the background? She never even picked up a basket. Just headed straight for the swing set.

Addy was very focused and cleaned up about 1/4 of the yard- only collecting eggs that made noise when she shook them.

And we now we lost Becket to the lure of the swing set. Check out the totally AWESOME red truck that Sarah and Jim restored. The plan is she is going to sell herbs and flowers out of it this summer at local Farmer's Markets. The best part is that she can barely drive it because it is really hard to steer so I picture her pulling up to the market aand fruit and vegtables flying as she hits stands, people scattering and everyone yelling- Get out of the way, here comes that crazy lady in the red truck again! So if you see this truck with a totally cool, creative and super chatty friendly woman at a local market in WI, buy something from her! She probably owes money to the other farmers whose produce she decimated on her way in.

This is the perfect day for Eloise- first time on a big girl swing- with lots of mulch underneath to pad the falls.

Beckett found the bulldozer, filled it with Easter grass and then plucked grass one piece at a time to try and fill the bucket.

I didn't get a picture but we had all 3 in the wagon with Oliver pulling. Addy stayed in the wagon and broke open eggs to cherry pick all the goodies.
We spent all this time and energy on the eggs and all Beckett wants to do is make piles of mulch and throw it the tree.

Finally it warmed up a bit so we could take off their snowsuits. This the weather and picture I was waiting for...
Of course, Addy was the first one at the table waiting patiently for cheese.

This was the display on the buffet that Eloise could NOT wait to get her hands on.
What was really funny is that they didn't even go for the candy first. The eggs were the first victims. Then Addy found the jelly beans and was eating those saying, "yummm, yummm." So despite my best efforts they did get to eat treats besides Cheerios and raisins.

Happy Easter!!!

Guess they are born with it

My computer is in the shop getting fixed so I've been without a computer for a few days. It is truly amazing how much mindless time I spend on the Internet and how much more I can get done when I'm not incessantly searching for houses or decorating ideas for the new house I don't have yet.
I even had enough time to think ahead a few days and wonder how in the world my kids are going to know to pick up eggs on the Easter egg hunt. I figured they would need a little coaching on the finer points of picking up eggs and putting them in the basket so I set up a little practice session this afternoon with their afternoon snacks in the eggs (Cheerios and Goldfish). I figured the practice would need to be in a space where they would not be distracted to really understand the concept of hunting and gathering. So I gated off the upstairs hallway for the session and lined the hallway with 18 eggs.
Also, they need to be incredibly skilled because they are going against a 4-year old who has a couple more hunts under his belt and I wanted to be sure they put in a top performance. I demonstrated with one egg, ran the 4 steps to the end of the hallway and by the time I unlocked my phone and hit the record, this is all that was left...



Guess hunting and gathering eggs is an innate behavior and does not need to be taught or practiced. I don't think the stealing, ummm Eloise, is necessarily an innate behavior but more of a multiples' survival skill. I'm just a little worried about what is going to happen on Sunday now that they know the contents are edible. I have a feeling they will collect one, sit down and eat the contents and move on to the next egg. In which case, they will get schooled by their older cousin.
Hmm, might have to set up another practice session tomorrow. If Rich does two workouts a day then certainly his offspring can do one a day to gear up for the big game. Might need to add a few obstacles like laundry baskets and taping the eggs shut to really tune up their fine and gross motor skills.
See, too much time on my hands...

This is getting Ree-diculous, per Rich

Today is it snowing/sleeting again. Along with the snow yesterday I think Rich is about ready to pack up all of his speedos, bike shorts and running tights and jump the first plane back to Texas. We'll be back in August for his sister's wedding so I think he will get his fill of 90 to 100 degree heat then. Congratulations Laura, can't wait!
As for me, the weather doesn't bother me too much. It would bother me more if we had a yard for the kids to play in or we were in a house and I was ready to start gardening but for now, just more the same in our daily routine. I just hope it warms up enough on Sunday for an egg hunt and the girls can wear their new skirts I just got in the mail today. But I do love cold weather clothes. Not the cold weather but the clothes. I love layers, hats and boots and honestly was quite tickled that I got to wear all 3 this afternoon on my jaunt to the pharmacy.
Speaking of pharmacy, looks like we are all healthy again over here. Addy had a fever over the weekend with no other symptoms. Just a really high fever- 104 rectal (sorry darling- it is the most accurate method) but has since recovered and luckily none of the others in the house caught it. We took her in to the pedi yesterday just because her fever was so high and it looks like she had a virus that they have seen a lot of in the office. Just a short high fever and done.
Because of her fever she missed going to breakfast and the nature center with my dad and Bambi on Sunday. When we got to the nature center Eloise had an episode similar to the zoo episode where she was scared of the animals and refused to be put down. You should have seen the little monkey clinging to Bambi. And the only live animals they have are a couple of turtles and a fish. The rest are stuffed but that was enough. Hope she gets over this soon because it is going to start limiting the places I can take the trio by myself because she can be a handful
Addy had a pajama day on Sunday which I think we should institute more often. She stayed in her pajamas and didn't even get her hair brushed. Big mistake. One day of not brushing for her means some mad snarled hair the next day which almost required the scissors. See...


Do they know the lens is missing? Or is that the look they are going for?

Looks a driver just hanging out waiting for a fare...

Found one. Probably delivering her to the couch for her hourly back massage. So sweet, she probably will pay him in lovies which is usually what they push around in the strollers.

It's not annoying...YET

Seems that my camera is working again but now my computer is overheating. I've tried to finish this post 4 times and my computer keeps shutting down. Ugg. But at least it freaked me out enough to back up all the files.

Addy is picking up new words everyday and encouraging the other two along the way. Now Beckett says, Mama, Dada and pooh. Of course. Anytime I change a diaper, the other two peer over my shoulder yelling, "pooh, pooh, pooh" hoping to catch a glimpse of the good stuff. Despite my best efforts, they haven't really caught on to yelling, "pee-pee" instead. Then they fight over who gets to take the diaper to the garbage. Rich is getting a little concerned that Beckett is too interested in collecting garbage, throwing away garbage,and garbage trucks. I think it must be a boy phase they all go through.

Eloise is going through a Russian phase. All the little girl says is "Da."
-Do you have a wet diaper? Da.
-Do you want a snack? Da.
-What is that? Da.
-Can you tell me what that is? Da.
-Did you bite Beckett in the arm and make him cry? Da.

At least it is better than what Addy learned to say yesterday. I was trying to make dinner and almost lost my mind with the constant demand for cheese and pointing and yelling so I put up the gate to lock the kids out of the kitchen. Addy stood at the gate and yelled, "NO, NOOOO, NOOO, NOOO." Rich and I were cracking up. I was wondering when she would pick up on this word.

So less than 24 hours into her learning the word she has only used it sparingly and appropriately and I think it is pretty cute, for now at least. We could hear her yelling- NO, NOOO, NOOO last night after we put them to bed. I'm pretty sure Beckett had crawled into her crib.

She along with the other two have become quite the tattletales. Like this morning I ran down to get diapers and came back in the room and Beckett was crying holding up his arm, pointing at Eloise and Addy was sitting in a chair laughing. I determined that Eloise bit Beckett purely from the slobber on his arm (no marks)and her propensity to be a little T Rex when she feels like it. Addy was sitting on a chair laughing and then she pointed at Eloise and said- baby, baby, baby. Much like this picture I captured in bathtub. In this case I'm sure he stole her Big Gulp, I mean her toy.


Bath time is prime tattle time. For some reason after one child gets their hair washed they point to the child next to them whining reminding us that someone else needs their hair washed too. Almost like -Look they have dry hair, torture them too. Except for hair washing, getting out and the occasional accidental bucket of water on someones head, they are pretty happy in the bathtub. Eloise is really the exception. She refuses to sit down and will only stand in the bathtub clutching the side in a death grip. She must have one hand on the side at all times or she will pierce your ears with a scream that echos. Because of that, most of the high jinks in the tub involve Beckett and Addy.





Addy is trying desperately to get herself dressed. She can get pants on but can't they then pulled up over her butt. Butt, by the way is another word she picked up the other day.


Right before getting into their cribs while reading books all of the kids do some pretty sweet things from bringing lovies and milk to one another to giving back rubs.

What a lucky guy. A passy and a back rub from his sisters. I swear we will get rid of the passy after he turns two. Remind me to invest in industrial strength earplugs because it is going to get ugly.

Addy is the quintessential bedtime staller. She frequently signs to eat, drink, or wants more kisses or whatever. This is the sign for an Eskimo kiss through the bars.

Eloise has been into kissing lately too but she usually wants to kiss with a lovie in her mouth. Those things are stinky so she is not always the most popular kissing partner. Loverboy is all about kissing. He thinks it is the funniest thing and another bedtime stall technique.

After I said goodnight and closed the door I could hear Addy say- NOO, NOO, NOOOOO. Beckett was either trying to get more kisses or had flipped into her bed. Like I said, the whole NO thing is rather endearing and not annoying... YET.