"How old are you?"
Making an important phone call at Bucee's
We all had so much fun on their birthday weekend. Their favorite part was sleeping at Aunt Laina's apartment. They still ask to go to her apartment!
Mother's Day Out (School)
They also started Mother's Day Out last month. It's the same one that their cousins went to and now Nonna works there. They were so excited to go to school! They love going and seeing their teachers, their friends and Nonna! They are learning so much and I have a nice little break twice a week. They've learned about Noah and his Ark, Jonah being swallowed by a whale and Moses. Every week they come home with a new bible story to tell me about. They've told me all about Moses' mom putting him in a basket in the river, then how God spoke to Moses through a burning bush because the Pharaoh was so mean. Last week they told me about Moses banging on a rock to make water come out because His People were thirst and tired. It's so great that they're learning all of these bible stories! They also have a memory verse every month. September was "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." October is "God's way is perfect." I love it!
They don't cry when I drop them off, which is awesome! Every morning on the drive to school Emily says, "Mom, you are going to drop me and my brother and sister off at school and we will play puzzles and then you will come get us, right?" She needs to be reminded every time that I will in face, come to pick her up. Then Ella sings, "Grown ups come back" from Daniel Tiger and everyone is reassured that I will be back to pick them up.
Emily
Emily is growing into a strong, independent little lady. She wants to do everything by herself, including things like open the refrigerator door (I can no longer do this by myself) and help pour milk, food, or anything else that needs to be done. She says "I will do it!" She puts on her own shoes, helps her sister with her shoes, wakes up her brother every day by turning on his light, tries to hand feed the dogs, helps outside in the yard and inside with laundry and dishes. She's a very big helper! She's also hilarious! She makes me laugh all day long. She says everything that I say. She's says things to her siblings like, "I am very frustrated right now" and "you better not do that or you will go to time out. One... two... three... ok go to time out right now!" Emily loves to cuddle and she still loves her daddy more than anybody else. She loves to color and build things. She works very well by herself. Every night when I'm tucking her in I sing Free Fallin' by Tom Petty. She calls it her Mama Song and asks for it every night and before every nap!
We had to drop Tripp off at school one day and take the girls to the doctor. Emily was so worried about her brother and missed him so much, so she took his stuffed lion in with us.
She often makes "friends" with things that aren't real. Like this dog...
She loves Elena of Avalor (she calls her Aunt Laina) and her "Aunt Laina guitar" that Aunt Rachel got her for her birthday
My friend Lauren let the girls feed Livia Rose and Emily talked about it for the rest of the day
She loves Edward
Recently her favorite thing to do is color. She has a box of markers and crayons that stay on the fire place that she opens multiple times a day. She grabs a coloring book and can sit there forever coloring. It's one of the only times she's calm and quiet. She also likes to color herself!
She got to hold a chicken at a birthday party and loved it!
Ella
Ella is a tiny, self-proclaimed princess who makes sure everyone is following the rules. She repeats rules to her siblings as they're breaking them, and even has to remind herself aloud of the rules sometimes. She is not a great rule follower, but we're working on that! She speaks so clearly, in full sentences and with a Brooklyn accent that came out of nowhere! It's hilarious. She corrects people constantly. She has an amazing memory and when her siblings get something wrong she is quick to jump in and tell them. Ella loves to play pretend (she is always a princess) and forces her brother to be her prince. She's very demanding of him, but he doesn't seem to mind all that much. She calls him "my prince" in everyday conversations, even when they aren't playing pretend together. She loves Princess Aurora and anything pink. She told me recently, "Mom, I just love pink things!" She loves flowers, too. She picks all of the flowers from our yard, and flowers from the neighbors' yards when we go for walks. She likes to talk about how she's growing so big and she's going to go fishing with Daddy and Pawpaw and catch a rainbow fish. She says, "It will be so colorful and I will take it home and eat it!" She is definitely in that 3 year old stage of wanting to test limits and see what she can get away with. It's hard, but we try to be very consistent with putting her in time out! At bedtime I sing her "Why They Call it Fallin" by LeeAnn Womack.
Super Ella
She got a new baby for her birthday
Giving Ainsley a check up
Feeding baby Livia
Ella gets sad a lot. In this picture, we were at McDonald's and she was sad because it wasn't cold outside and Tripp got a hamburger. She's very dramatic
She likes to skip naps and then either gets very cranky or falls asleep at bad times, like on a bus!
Princess Aurora
Dr. Ella at a Teddy Bear Clinic
Catching up on the latest gossip at the car wash
She pet a guinea pig and held a chicken
Tripp
Tripp is a goofy little boy who loves to cuddle, but also loves to fight with his sisters. He will do almost anything to make you laugh. He lives in his own little world most of the time and has mastered completely tuning out everyone's voices. He loves food and will eat literally anything you give him. Anything! He is just like his Daddy with food. Anytime he has pasta he says, "You need to put cheese on this." Whenever he wakes up from his nap he will do something sweet like give me a kiss and then tell me "you need to get me a snack." He does not regularly say "Please" and "Thank you." He prefers to just give commands and then add a "Please" to the end when I raise my eyebrows at him. He is so sweet, though. He gives me lots of hugs and kisses all day long and holds my hand anytime he watches TV. Tripp has absolutely no interest in using the potty, but in the next few months he will be forced into it whether he likes it or not! Tripp has no fear. It's scary because he will do anything with no hesitation. I have to keep a close eye on him at parks because he always comes close to falling off of something. He can sit on the floor all day long and build things with Legos or blocks. When I tuck him in at night we sing "I Hope You Dance" by LeeAnn Womack. He sings it with me while he sweetly touches my cheek. It is my favorite part of the day with him.
Batman
He is the only one who isn't scared of mascots
This guy loves food! We were leaving my parents' house and he grabbed a bowl of limes and started eating one. Then he decided he would just take the whole bowl home!
Sam's on a Saturday was his favorite. So many food samples!
More food...
Tripp is really good at drawing. He draws people! The top picture is of Mark and the bottom one is of me.
He won't go to sleep without his puppy. We gave him this when he was in the Nicu and it's a very important part of him!
One of his favorite people is Pawpaw
He often picks flowers and then gives them to me. He immediately asks for them back every time.
So excited to hold a chicken!
My two favorite guys!
Big Kid rooms
For their birthday, they got big kid beds and rooms. The girls share a room now and Tripp has his own room with a race car bed! Tripp loves being by himself. He sleeps so well! The girls have gotten closer since the room change. They ask every night to have their beds pushed together. Within 10 minutes we have to separate their beds because they just play. They talk, sing and laugh until they fall asleep. It's so sweet.
Group pictures!
Most mornings before school we take a picture at the front door to send to Mark
The girls watching the cars being washed
Walking into school
Pumpkin patch
They each got to pick a pumpkin to take home
They painted their pumpkins
Standing with their pumpkins!
