When Mutsi's in Town...

we all get a little silly.

A Few Photos To Share

Mia broke one side of this crown so Shaun ripped off the other side to make it even. She cried and cried that Shaun broke off that one side so Shaun taped the crown to a pair of sunglasses and all is well...totally still wearable!


Cole "hewping" Shaun.


Anderson drew this picture of his two preschool teachers. Mrs. Debbie is on the left and Mrs. Angie is on the right. He explained that Mrs. Angie has a square head because she's Mrs. Robot Angie. Anderson likes robots. I like their toes.


Just a few school supplies.


Everyone riding the bedtime train. Anderson, Mia, Cole and Carter.

Halloween 2011

I was getting quite a collection of costumes and it was getting close to Halloween so I decided to dig in to past costumes for the kids this year. Anderson really wanted to be a ghost so I found some white fabric for $1 and made his costume with my mom's help. Thanks mom!

Cole was nothing but happy to be Larry the Cucumber this year.


Others weren't so happy about being Officer Awesome and a Butterfly...

...until it was understood that candy would be involved.



A spooooooky ghost
"wait, you couldn't see my eyes"
There. A spooooooky ghost.

Off for more candy!

Luckily, Papa and Mutsi were here and my dad carved our pumpkin for us. Don't worry, we helped...a lot.

Angie and Macy

Angie and baby Macy came for a visit! We took them to the square and walked the Compton Gardens Trail. We had fun showing them around Bentonville and just having them here! Thanks for coming Angie and Macy!

Lessons Learned On The First Day of Preschool

1. Searching through piles of clean, unfolded laundry for children's clothing is not a productive way to spend your time in the morning the first day of preschool.

2. Everything that was in it's proper place the night before will mysteriously be missing the morning of the first day of preschool.

3. No matter how cute you think it is, do not let the kids hold their lunch boxes in the car on the way to preschool. They will open them up and eat the food, forcing you to make an emergency stop at a gas station for more lunch food on the first day of preschool.

4. Gas stations do not carry fruit. They do carry very expensive pop-tarts. You will not look like a star mom when your kid opens up their lunch box to reveal pop-tarts on the first day of preschool.

5. It will take 2 hours to get everyone ready on the first day of preschool.

They loved preschool and went right in with no problems. Their teachers are awesome and I think we'll do well at Creation Corner. Now, let's see what the second day of preschool holds!

"I Wobot"

Potty Training Triplets

First, I did not mean to potty train all three of them at the same time. That was not the plan, but as usual, the plan changed. I felt that Mia was ready, but Cole was the most persistent (meaning I could NOT keep a diaper on him). So we started with Cole, but Mia and Carter were not to be put off. I also did not plan on putting diapers back on them once I got started with one. Cold turkey was the plan. However, at one point, galoshes were necessary to walk around this house, so diapers went back on. It's been more of a transition from diapers to underwear and that has worked much better. This new stage, out of all the new stages we've gone through so far, has been most difficult. I didn't think I would live through this one. We're still transitioning to underwear but they're doing really well now. I don't think Carter would be as far along as he is with it if the other two weren't doing it also. I really should just let them make the plans from now on.

Not Sure Why We Even Own All of These Beds

T-Ball is Over!

A tropy AND a medal

Receiving his trophy from Coach Dan

We made it through our first season of T-Ball. It was fun and I saw a lot of improvement in the team by the end of the season. Anderson even slid into home base in the last game. He loved making new friends and was a really aggressive fielder. He enjoyed playing pitcher best and wanted to be where the action was.

And the award for first-child-to-receive-stitches goes to...

MIA!!







She was climbing up some bleachers at one of Anderson's T-Ball games and slipped, hitting her lip on the metal stands. I was by myself with all the kids trying to corral Carter and Cole while at the same time trying to get Mia's lip to stop bleeding (and Mia to stop screaming). Lips bleed a lot! Shaun got there a while later and we discussed if she needed stitches. I didn't think so, but we texted a picture of it to Shaun's dad to see what he thought. He thought we should take her in and I'm glad we did. The doctor said she'd have had a droopy lip if we didn't. She got one stitch and a piece of candy. She had to be restrained with what Shaun described as rolling her up like a burrito. She was screaming and thrashing around during the process, but had calmed down by the time she got home. Her lip looks great now. Congrats Mia, on earning this prestigious award!

Kansas City

We had a fun little 3 day trip to Kansas City with just our family. We loved it and will be making it a yearly trip. There was so much (free stuff) to do for kids!
Such as:
This is a view from our hotel room where we could look down onto the splash pad/fountain show. We didn't have time to do this but it sure looked fun. On one of the nights they showed Harry Potter on a big blow up screen in the grassy section. We watched it from our hotel room.

This is the lobby of the hotel. We fit right in at the Westin Crown Center...or not. Cole Anderson and Mia taking a break in the lobby.

This rainforest exhibit was just what we needed after a 3 1/2 hr drive. It was all hands on with a bit of climbing, coloring and dress up. Mia, Shaun, Carter, Anderson and Cole setting out to explore the rainforest.

For dinner we tried a diner that someone suggested to us. Fritz's is a train themed restaurant where a train actually brings you your food. Pretty awesome if you ask us. Cole is displaying his conductor's hat.

The next day we found the Independence Visitor Center. Again, another nice hands on area for the kids. That was the theme for this trip-everything we did had to be hands on! Carter, Mia and Cole driving the wagon.

Kaleidoscope was a lot of fun. This is part of Hallmark's Visitor Center and has tons of fun crafts for the kids to make and take home. The babies were a little young for this, but Anderson had a good time. I think they'll be ready next year. Anderson is in the glow-in-the-dark painting room here.

Last, we made a stop to Science City. This also was a ton of fun. We spent a good half day there. We were having so much fun that we didn't get too many photos of this. Anderson's learning all about helicopters here.

Carter at 2 Years

Here's Carter's stats at his 2 year appointment:

33 3/3 inches tall
24 lbs 8 oz

Carter is a man of many moods. I'm never sure what I'm going to get from him at any given time. He's very quick and can out run all of us. He usually keeps pretty close to me in new situations but sometimes surprises me by breaking loose and trying something new. He seems to love water and water activities. Carter also loves to color and can entertain himself with an art project for a good amount of time. Carter has a spunky side that has left me flustered at bed time. He leads the war on anti-sleeping and can demolish a room quickly. He's an early riser and likes to make sure that Cole and Mia are up too. Carter has a great laugh and smile that are very infectious.

Mia at 2 Years

Mia's stats at her 2 year appointment:

33 3/4 inches tall
25 lbs 9 oz

Mia has turned into quite the little mother. For instance, Cole wanted to play outside and was heading toward the door when Mia yelled across the room, "Cole! Shoes! Shoes! Cole!". She loves her baby dolls and likes to carry all of them around along with her blankie, sippy cup and whatever else she can fit into her arms. She likes to change clothes often and gets excited to wear bows in her hair. As girly as she seems to be, Mia can also play rough with the boys. She's often running full speed into someone or something. In fact, she was the first one to get stitches.