This spring part of Harper’s dance class included an official recital, with a big stage, a custom leotard, and about 120 other kids ages three and up. Since Craig ordered the costume, each week she runs up to her teacher, Miss Jess, and asks if the order was in yet. She was so excited to not only see it but wear it. The last day of spring session everyone had a mini performance during the standard class time, with parents invited in to watch each kiddo perform skill routines. Because the girls are split out into two separate classes across the hall from each other, with Harper dancing and Reag ..read more

It’s been a bit since I shared the random quirks that raising five year olds brings each day. It is a never ending surprise how they will react to things and handle situations, but sometimes that is the fun part! For example, for the past two months, Emerie has nursed a broken and dying fingernail. Of course, it’s also her middle finger, which she will proudly display upon request. And I’m sure most of you can guess exactly how this mass catastrophe occurred, and probably which kid contributed! Going back to age three, Emerie lost a fingernail pretty early into our second daycare experience, c ..read more

This year I want to give a shout out to all the great, hard working and dedicated moms in my life. I have many ladies that I consider adoptive moms, and growing up I was luckily to have each of them for a multitude of reasons. My biological mom, of course raised me, taught to me walk and talk, excel at school and manage money intelligently, and be independent, in addition to doing that as a single mom for what I would say are the tougher years in a kids life (teenage), and coming out alive afterwards. I was an angel…for most of it. My mother-in-law, who raised a kind, sarcastic, supportive man ..read more

Well, we finally made it out of town for a short weekend, to the Alaska version of the beach. You know, the version that is beautiful, but cold, and only has rocks, not sand, and is in no way the epitome of warmth, relaxation, and quiet! Did it end up being rainy? Yes. Close to freezing temperatures? Why not. High crosswinds that made it feel twice as cold!? Well of course! But also loads of fun for the girls and nice to get out of town for a night to refresh from a busy winter of work? Yes, that too! Family road-trip time with snacks and smiles. We rescheduled the girls’ birthday weekend trip ..read more

Over the past few weeks we’ve had some grumps rummaging around our house, not wanting to settle down for bedtime and acting crazy; and the fighting! But we’ve also had girls mostly sleeping overnight in their new bedroom setup; which is in fact, a miracle. Harper and Emerie haven’t missed a single night since it was built, with Harper waking once or twice and going back to sleep with a bit of coaxing and Emerie getting up and using the restroom, then going back to her room and back to sleep without any assistance. Other than the one potty incident that required her (and me apparently) to sleep ..read more

Last fall we started looking and preparing for the next bedroom upgrade, from toddler beds to kid beds. A whole five minutes ago we were in three, tiny cribs and popping in and out all night long to keep them there. The girls live in the high percentage for height and while their toddler beds looked huge in comparison to their little bodies when they were three and a half, now they stretch out and their feet nearly hit the bottom rail. Completing the next bedroom upgrade has proved to be a saga in our triplet led life. After looking around locally and finding no options, I began the online sho ..read more

Once again, it’s time for the contrasting and comparison between the girls during age four. It’s been quite the busy year, and one that is much more back to normal post COVID, which has been wonderful. Timing wise the girls are much easier to handle, meaning we can do more things and be a bit more “normal”, or at least survive doing normal things without required extra hands. It was very hard to narrow down my favorite “triple photos,” as I call them, over the past 365 days. There are so many! I settled on this collage after unsuccessfully narrowing the count below three, and all are taken wit ..read more

It seems like yesterday that we had the girls fourth birthday, and yet here we are, a full year later already! As expected, Grandma Sue and I attempted to create three masterpieces for the girls’ birthday cake again this year. Considering I believe last year’s accomplishment was quite grand for turning four, we upped our game for age five and added props. This year’s cakes took a lot of time, but it still felt easier than the prior one, simply because the girls are older now and don’t need as much constant attention so we could prep while they played and “helped.” A couple days prior I starte ..read more

Last week we released two of the three kittens (Wallace and Winnie) to go spend their lives at the cousins’ house. At the last minute we switched up which kitten would stay with us, much to the dismay of Harper, opting to keep one of the orange boys and letting the black haired beauty go. Winston is the kid cuddler of the group and sleeps next to Rory, our poor adult cat whose life was ruined by the arrival of new family mates (his words, not mine?!). Some nights I also find him cuddled with a kiddo in their bed, or on the pillow next to Reagan, who is almost always in our bed at some point th ..read more

Craig and I had an epiphany a few weeks ago, and decided to make a scheduled work trip into a full family trip to Juneau, with the girls spending day times with Grandma Sue, Auntie Amanda and Papa Lon while we both went into the office each day. The house was filled with excitement, unsurprisingly, at the thought of 1) riding on an airplane; 2) going to the mysterious Juneau; and 3) seeing Grandma Sue’s house. In fact, over the past year these children continued to call us out about the lack of visiting the infamous Juneau, a detail that is problematic according to all three and cause for comp ..read more