Christmas 2009!

Santa was very good to us this year! The girls were really into when he was coming, how was he going to get in, why does he only come at night when you are sleeping. All the usual 3 year old questions! We did christmas eve at Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jimmy's house with all our Zink cousins. The girls were a little shy at first but then they warmed up and played great. All the kids do a polyanna with each other so they got to give and get some gifts. It was interesting watching them each open a different present, it is something they are not used to!
Christmas morning, Ava slept an hour later than Lila and Liv so we had to hold them captive in our bedroom until she woke up! Then the fun began. The girls ripped through their presents in no time and we started taking everything out of the packaging! Santa brought roller skates, a train set, new bath toys, board games and puzzles. He also put a bunch of princess stuff in their stockings including princess press on nails. Very funny to see Mike putting those on the girls! We went to my parents' house for dinner and opened plenty more gifts there. All in all, it was a pretty good holiday. Here are some pics.


Playing with Daddy and new toys

Building our new train set

Their new puppet theater

Gram and Pop brought a roller coaster!

With cousin Bobby

Ooops!

I posted without adding the pics! Read on to see what I am talking about!

Tis the season

Here are some pics from our weekend down the shore. We tried to catch the Cape May Christmas Parade but for the second year in a row we got rained out! Aunt Tia, Mike,Dom and Aunt Suzy had a sleepover with us at the beach house. Sunday was beautiful so we headed over to Ocean city. Santa was on the boardwalk! Had pizza for lunch, got a treat at the fudge shop and went on a horse and carriage ride!
Friday night, Mike and I took the girls to Storybook Land. It was so cute! The girls really loved it! They were running from display to display and they were on their best behavior! It was a little pricey to get in but seeing the girls love it so much made it worth it!! Here are some pics!

Happy Turkey Day!

Aunt Pip sent this to us and it is so funny that I decided to copy it and post it here! Enjoy!

TWAS THE NIGHT OF THANKSGIVING,
BUT I JUST COULDN'T SLEEP.
I TRIED COUNTING BACKWARDS,
I TRIED COUNTING SHEEP.

THE LEFTOVERS BECKONED -
THE DARK MEAT AND WHITE,
BUT I FOUGHT THE TEMPTATION
WITH ALL OF MY MIGHT.

TOSSING AND TURNING WITH ANTICIPATION,
THE THOUGHT OF A SNACK BECAME INFATUATION.
SO, I RACED TO THE KITCHEN, FLUNG OPEN THE DOOR,
AND GAZED AT THE FRIDGE, FULL OF GOODIES GALORE.
GOBBLED UP TURKEY AND BUTTERED POTATOES,
PICKLES AND CARROTS, BEANS AND TOMATOES.

I FELT MYSELF SWELLING SO PLUMP AND SO ROUND,
'TIL ALL OF A SUDDEN, I ROSE OFF THE GROUND.
I CRASHED THROUGH THE CEILING, FLOATING INTO THE SKY,
WITH A MOUTHFUL OF PUDDING AND A HANDFUL OF PIE.
BUT, I MANAGED TO YELL AS I SOARED PAST THE TREES....
HAPPY EATING TO ALL - PASS THE CRANBERRIES, PLEASE.

MAY YOUR STUFFING BE TASTY,
MAY YOUR TURKEY BE PLUMP.
MAY YOUR POTATOES 'N GRAVY HAVE NARY A LUMP.
MAY YOUR YAMS BE DELICIOUS.
MAY YOUR PIES TAKE THE PRIZE,
MAY YOUR THANKSGIVING DINNER STAY OFF OF YOUR THIGHS!!

Monday at school, we did a craft that involved the girls writing down what they are thankful for on construction paper feathers and then making an indian headband. This is a list of what the girls were thankful for : snacks, popcorn, leaf piles, mommy and daddy!! Love that list!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! All our love!!!

Happy Halloween!

Here are some pics of our recent halloween adventures! The girls were Ariel, the little mermaid and Mike and I were the mermaid mommy and daddy! I have to get some more pics from Gram and Aunt Jenny's cameras. We have enough candy here to last until next halloween! I don't have pics from our party at family circle yet. But we did about 5 halloween events over the last week!! Go big or go home!!

This is the Halloween event at Evesham's rec center. Olivia was not really into it until she got a soft pretzel! They had a few games set up for the kids, candy stations, and decorating pumpkins. It was cute enough, the girls liked it.

This is the SJMoMs Halloween parade at Freedom Park. It was a really cute event! The girls had a blast with all their friends. They had a costume parade and then went trick or treating to all the moms!!

Here we are at Fright Fest at Great Adventure. We love going to GA in the fall because everyone goes to see all the scary halloween stuff and the kid's areas are always empty! The girls had the run of all the rides and play areas! And we stayed late - 8 PM!!!

Happy Third Birthday Girls!

I can hardly believe that the girls are three years old! It is so amazing to me! We were looking through their baby pictures the other day and it doesn't seem possible that they were so little!!! They have grown into smart, adventurous, vivacious young ladies! Although trying at times, they are definitely the light of our lives! We celebrated by having lunch at the Pop Shop in Collingswood with Mommom, Poppop Joe and Great Pop. A great kid spot with really good food for the adults! The girls had fluffernutter sandwiches and ice cream sundaes! The waitress made the whole restaurant sing happy birthday to them! But the party didn't stop there. We came home and I set up the girls big present from Mike and I - a Little Einsteins bounce house! And it is the size of our whole front yard! Grammy, Poppop George and Aunt Suzy came for pizza and ice cream cake and more presents! Then on the next Saturday, we had not one but two parties at the house! One party in the morning for their twin friends and one in the afternoon for family. We did Dora and Diego theme so we had a taco bar for dinner with all the fixings! And crazy me rented a margharita machine for the day! It was really busy but really great. thanks to everyone who celebrated with us! And thank you to everyone for three years of love and support! It means the world to us to have so many people love and care for our girls!

Pics from DC

Checking out the displays in the Natural History Museum

Watching Sat morning cartoons in the hotel!

Mom and her girls!

Dad and his girls!

Showing off their souvenirs!

I'm liberated!

Well, from diapers that is! The girls are doing amazingly well with the potty. They wear underwear all day, in the house or out! The only place they still wear a pull up is the babysitting at the gym and that is only because they make them. I know that the one day I send them in underpants, someone will have an accident and I will never hear the end of it! But everywhere else we go, it underpants all the way baby! In fact, we just spent the weekend in Washington DC with the girls and they did great with the potty. Of course, we explored every bathroom in the Smithsonian collection of museums! But we had a great weekend. We stayed in a suites hotel 2 blocks from the metro station. We just pushed the girls in strollers onto the trains. We did the natural history, american history and air and space museum. Then on our way out of town we hit the national zoo. The girls were so good the whole time. Looking at fossils and dino bones, seeing Julia Child's kitchen and an old gunboat that Lila told me was as old as me! Uh, I don't think so! They especially liked the airplanes at A&S. Mike was digging that! He was very proud when the girls were looking at a display and said "the astronaut don't have he gloves and helmet on"! They also learned that fossils were"rocks with dino bones in them". Friday night they stayed up until 10 pm! They slept on the special bed or the bed that "hiding in the couch". The room had a sleeper sofa and we put all three of them on it! they slept ok until one of them touched the other and then we had to get up and go move them!

The girls are totally obsessed with Ariel (the little mermaid) right now. I took them to see the little stage version of it at Discovery Museum. Since then, Olivia runs around saying she is "little mermaid Ariel" all day! All three of them want to be Ariel for halloween! We are down the shore this week and went over to the outlets today in AC. We went to the Disney store and got the girls Ariel nightgowns (which they are wearing to bed right now), shirts and dresses! Actually they are still awake and it is 9:30. I guess it is all the salt air!

We started our Family Circle Playgroup this week. It is a parent led type of preschool. I stay with them and have a schedule of when I am responsible for the day's activities. The first day went well. I wouldn't say they were excited to go, but they went and had a good time. Of course, they didn't talk to any of the other kids! Just each other! Kinda why I am doing this with them.

We are in the middle of planning a big Dora and Diego bash for the girls' third birthday. I can hardly believe they are almost three years old! It has gone by so fast!
Here are a few pearls of wisdom courtesy of Lila:
"I make peepee with my poopy so poopy can swim"
"Aye, Aye captain" when I told her to get her shoes on.
"I'm watching this show, then we are going." when I told her it was time to go to playgroup.
"I don't like it too hot, Mom" when I was getting the tub ready for their bath.
Some days I think they are 3 going on 33!

The first rule of potty club...

...is don't talk about potty club! The past two days, the girls have worn underpants outside of the house! This is huge!! We went to AC Moore, BuyBuy Baby, Chikfila, and Discovery in them. Only four accidents, that is pretty good I think! As soon as we get somewhere I make eveyone go on the the potty. That is what fascinates the girls - "Chikfila has a potty?"!! Yeah they have a potty, this isn't 1809!!! Of course, Ava peed in the play structure in Chikfila and all the other kids stepped in it and had wet socks and were slipping and sliding all over Chikfila! We left shortly thereafter! I went to BJ's today and didn't buy diapers!! Keep your fingers crossed that we can keep up the underpants!

Besides sitting in the house waiting for someone to use the potty,we have actually been doing some fun stuff! I took the girls down to OC this week to visit our friends who were renting for the week. Got some beach time in, dinner and ice cream. In a monsoon, but ice cream none the less! Mike and I have taken the girls to Great Adventure, the farmer's market, boardwalk, swimming in the pool. Mike is working 1/2 days on most Fridays, so we are able to head out for adventures with the girls! We also like the concerts at the Promenade. The girls run around and play and we get to listen to some good music. This weekend coming up is the wine and seafood festival at Bellview Winery. Nothing like good wine, good food, and good friends accompanied by the sweet sounds of The Blue Method! That's right, our annual trip to see Uncle Mike play his "tar". If anyone wants to join us, the info is on their website www.bellviewwinery.com.

Tonight in the car Lila said the funniest thing. And I quote "OK ladies, ready to rock and roll?". What is that? Where did she get that from? And why is she calling her sisters ladies? That kid is too much. She tells me while she is on the potty "Poopy is sleeping but pee pee is awake." What a mind she has. Olivia is still full of drama and a princess. She wakes up in the morning, does her "morning peepee" and puts her princess dress on. And Ava is well, still Ava!! She is getting much more verbal which is good, it helps her get less frustrated. But she is still active. I need to look into gymnastics or something for this year. We are starting Family Circle Playgroup in Sept. It is a parent led playgroup. We are going just one day a week and I stay with them. I even have to teach every few weeks! But it is a start to get them used to a school setting. We'll see how it goes!

A great day!

Today was just such a great day with the girls! Just one of those days where everything goes great! It started with a trip to the gym, for me to workout and for the girls to play in the Fun Zone. No problem, got dressed and headed out. I met up with my friend Devonne at the gym and her boys were in the fun zone too. They are only 4 weeks younger than the girls! Devonne had the great idea to, as she put it, "drive thru McD's, get a totally irresponsible lunch and head over to Jelly Bean Jungle." Sounded good to me. We picked up lunches and went to junglebean, as the girls call it. All the kids were so good we ended up staying there until almost 3:30!! Lila had a breakthrough while we were there - she asked to use the potty! And she did!!! That is major for our potty training!! The girls love to play with Kelley and Slater. All the way over, they kept asking in the car "where Kelley and Slater?" I had to assure them that they were right behind us!! It is funny that they have friends and that they actually talk about them after the fact. Since things were so good, we walked down the shopping center and got a treat - TCBY! We parted ways shortly after but not before Devonne treated all the kids to magic wands from the dollar store! They were thrilled and ran around turning everything in cows, frogs, you name it! Since our motto is "go big or go home", we came home, picked up Mike and went to meet Aunt Jen at Johnson's market!! After some hot dogs for dinner, we went out on the hayride to pick some fruit and veggies! We got peaches, corn, blueberries!! The girls LOVED it! They were very serious about it too! We got peaches first (most of which are under ripe but that's not the point, right!), they get right back on the wagon and say "corn now mommy"! Daddy was in charge of picking out the corn and we got 8 big ears! Then came the big winner of the night - Blueberries! Everyone knows about Ava's obsession with blues. She eats so many of them every summer she ends up with a pretty serious diaper rash. We got out there and I told the girls to just pick the really blue ones. And they did. It was great to see them with thier pint containers, checking out each blueberry bush, selectively picking the best berries. We took a water break and Lila decided she wasn't done yet. Mike took her back out while we waited for the wagon to come back. She picked one more berry and then was done! The girls hung on pretty good since it was 7:30 by then. We headed back and grabbed some cookies on our way home! It was just such a great day with them, no whining, no crying, no meltdowns. I love these days!! Everyone is sleeping sound right now, including Mike! And I am not far behind! There is another whole day a head of us tomorrow!

Potty Time, Potty Time Across the USA!!!

So here is the potty update - today was an accident free day! At least in the house! We don't try to go out without diapers yet. Lila even went on the potty without prompting today which is a big step for her! I'm not sure how we are ever going to leave the house with Liv, though. That girl gets on the pot every 10 minutes! And she goes! Actually she is really getting this potty thing. She just walks over sits and does her business. I still have to kinda watch the clock and remind Ava and Lila but they haven't had any accidents today and when I remind them they do go. So we are on the right track so far - Wish us more luck!!

I don't ask for much...

...so this was great! Wednesday I took the girls to Wal-Mart. As I went down the aisle to get milk, they spotted the cereal and each wanted to pick out a box. No big deal, we eat alot of cereal so it won't go to waste! Olivia and Lila pick out Cookie Crisp and Ava picks out Pops. I don't pay much attention to it until we get in the car and Olivia is saying she wants the toy. Then I realize that the Cookie Crisp boxes have a toy in them. We get home and as I expected, Pops does not. I open Lila's box and give her the toy. Then as I am opening Olivia's box, I'm trying to explain that we only have 2 toys so we have to share and guess what? Olivia's box of cereal has 2 toys in it!!!! Can you beleive that? Totally cosmic! That made my week!

So the reason we were in Walmart was to pick out big girl under pants! I figure they should at least try before they turn three! Yesterday we spent all afternoon in the house in our big girl underpants (me included!!!). Every 5 minutes I yell out "who needs to go peepee?" and see if anyone is interested. Olivia did really well, she made the potty more times than not. She even did 3 poops on the potty! Ava is about 50% of the time. One time she just barely made it on the pot! But she tried! And Lila is too wrapped up in TV and toys to stop and go. The only time she actually went on the pot was when I made her sit there for 15 minutes and read a book!!! Oh well, it is a start! All in all, I think it was a succesful first day of underpants! We are not ready to venture out with out diapers yet, but I hope they can stay in underpants when we are in the house to start! More updates to come - by the way, yes our life really does revolve around poop and pee now!!!

Happy Fourth of July!

Enjoying water ice at Aunt Kathy's house!


Waiting for the Marlton parade to start!

Vacation Highlights

Here are a few of my favorite moments from our California Adventure!

The morning that Mike and I were woken up by a wild turkey right outside our bedroom window. And as if a wild turkey isn't crazy enough, he had about 7 guinea hen friends with him!! Did I mention it was 6 am!

Me, Lila and Ava all in the airplane bathroom together. Talk about family togetherness! Then Lila wanted to know "Mommy, do you pooping?". To which I replied "no just pee pee." To which she turned to Ava and said "Ava Mommy no do the pooping, just the pee pee." She decided that everyone waiting outside the bathroom needed to know also, so she repeated it all the way up the airplane aisle!

Lila sitting at lunch, using her straw to "turn me into a frog(or puppy or kitty)". She says " I turn you, I turn, You into...Oh, what am I saying?"!!!!!

Eating ice cream at Ghirardelli square. Lila can no longer get her ice cream out with the spoon so she picks the whole thing up starts drinking it! Ava soon follow
ed suit!

Olivia jumping into the swimming pool at Aunt Pip's house, whether someone was there to catch her or not! She seems to have lost her fear of the pool and was jumping right into the pool! Of course, she had her backyardigans arm swimmies on!

Ava running around yelling "fire!" the night Uncle Chuck lit the fire pit to let the girls roast marshmallows. They ate them before they ever got near the fire!

Mike and I enjoying a beautiful morning in SF. Walking around while we waited for my parents and cousins to bring the girls into meet us. Then riding the carousel with the girls on Pier 39! They were so excited to see a carousel with an "up top" as they called it!

Lila and Ava debating who was "ready for go" on the airplane.

Ava saying "der gapes" (there grapes) every time we passed a vineyard. Then Liv usually followed with "I no see gapes" to which we responded "there are plenty around!"

Watching my girls see new things and experience new things for a whole 8 days! I know they won't remember it but I hope some day they appreciate it! I know I will remember it!!!

Big People Day

Today was a big people day. Pip & Chuck took the girls to a Discovery Museum-type place in Napa called Scientopia. They then took them back to their house for lunch and a nap. While they were busy doing that, Kass, Joe, Lisa and I visited a few wineries for tastings and went out to lunch. We had a really good day and so did the girls.

Here are some pictures from the trip...

Lisa and I on a cliff over the Pacific after visiting Stinson Beach
The girls at Stinson Beach
I won't mention this to Dollar Rent-A-Car
Family portrait
Me and a knight from Castello de Amarosa winery

the Castello de Amarosa
The gilrs hanging out in Yountville
Ready for the pool
All dressed up

More Updating

Yesterday was father's day and we spent part of it at V. Sattui Winery. They have a gourmet deli and BBQ stand that we got lunch from. The girls had a little pizza while they ran around Sattui's grounds. Lisa and her dad went in and did some tasting and buying before we left. While they were in there, Mom-mom, myself and the girls hung out in our grape house. Basically they have some benches underneath some wood beams covered in grape vines. Here are shots of the girls in their grape house.


We then went to Aunt Pip and Uncle Chuck's to swim and eat dinner. We ended up being there until nearly 9 as Chuck got the fire pit going with s'mores. Here are the girls sitting by the fire.


Today we wen to Six Flags in Vallejo. The park has rides as well as animals in the park. The girls got to ride Thomas the Tank Engine and see walruses, sharks and penguins. They had a good time, but it was just very hot, so we eventually had to leave.

We had everyone to our rental house (as Ava calls it "the California Beach Home") for dinner and the girls just went to bed. Another full but fun day.

Tomorrow we are off to Stnson Beach, about 1.5 hours away, for a beach day.

California Update

So far, all is well on the trip. We got the girls up at abot 6:30 EDT yesterday morning. They hopped right up and were ready to go by 7. We got through security with each of them walking through the metal detector with Lisa and all of our equipment being scanned. The TSA people gave the girls stickers that said "Junior TSA". We then used the badges to confiscate some computers that came through.

By the time we got to the gate and got the girls a muffin, we waited only about 15 minutes until they let us pre-board. I sat in row 7 with Olivia, Lisa was in 6 with Lila and Great Pop and Ava was in 25 with Pop-pop Joe and Mom-mom. They all did amazingly well and better than I could have expected. The only time Liv vried was when the guy that had to share our row sat down. Needless to say, I had to sit in the middle seat between him and her the entire time. At one point, Ava and Livi switched seats and Ava would not sit next to the guy either. I think they gave him a complex.

The flight was actually not too bad, but the drive from the airport to Napa was tough. They were at their bedtime and we were stuck in traffic, What should have been about an hour an ten turned into an hour and 45. Once we go to California (that is not the state, it is Lisa's Aunt Pip's house, according to Olivia), they pepped up...especially when they saw the pool. They swam until after 6 PDT which is two hours past normal bedtime. They were troopers, alright.

Livi and Ava decided to get up around 5 this morning and explore the house while everyone slept. Kass found the wandering around and corralled them back into bed. So, by the time 9 rolled around, they were all pretty tired. We took them to Target to get supplies and let them get a toy. Then we got onto Silverado trail and took a nice ride up the valley. They passed out shortly after.

In the afternoon, we had their cousins Christie and Ashley's graduation party which they seemed to love. They ate barbecue ribs, swam again, then had cake and ice cream. The only issue we'e had with them so far is what is happening now...they don't want to go to sleep. They are making Lisa stay in the room with them until they fall asleep. They went from being TSA agaents yesterday to hostage takers today. Double agents.

I will upload some pictures once I find the thing I brought to connect my camera to the computer.

A long overdue post!

So here is your long awaited update!! I know I promised beach pics so I'll add them to this post! We've been busy hanging out with our friends and hitting the beach. Two weekends ago we went to children's garden with the girls friends Kelley and Slater. That is a great place, the girls have so much fun there. We went late in the day and for some reason thought it would be a good idea to all go out to dinner after! Actually the kids were great but you had to see all 9 of us at a table in Fridays! Needless to say the parents all had an adult beverage with dinner (should have been for dinner!). Next up was Ben's birthday and after all that fun, we headed to Ocean City boardwalk for dinner and rides. Olivia will only ride the rides that all 5 of us can go on! But Lila and Ava love all the rides! Our next big trip was Sesame Place. Aunt Jenny and Baby Ray went with us. As soon as Aunt Jenny sends me the pics, I'll post them! So then we went to Kelley and Slater's house for a BBQ. There were 4 sets of twins, our girls and 3 other kids! But they all were great and played until 9:30 at night! That is WAY past the girls' bedtime but they hung in there! There was another trip to OC somewhere in there and a few playdates! Whew! (Deep Breath) And to top off all this fun we have been having, we leave for California on Friday! We apologize in advance to anyone who is on the plane with us!


Lila loving the sun and sand!



Livi sporting her sun hat!
Ava flashes her famous smile!
Mommy's little Jersey Girls!

Pictures and Updates

Last week my parents were in CA for Ashley's graduation from Berkeley. At first I panicked, but then I decided to make the best of it. I loaded the girls up and took them to the Camden Children's Garden. We made out great, the girls had so much fun. Even though Lila told me on the way there "children's garden is far far away". Here are a bunch of pics from our adventure.


This is where triplets come from!!
The girls on the train. It was a big hit!


In the big chair in "jack and the beanstalk" garden.
On the big ant in the dino section. The girls climbed on and told me to take their picture!!
Mike is working on getting some pics from the shore over Memorial day weekend. We went down the shore and packed it all in one weekend. Cape May Zoo, rides on the boardwalk, a few visits to the beach and of course - Yum Yum ice cream! And to avoid the traffic on Monday, we drove up to AC, hit the outlets and had an early dinner at Rainforest Cafe, which is now the girls favorite place!! They actually ask to go there! Stay tuned for more pics!

I think we are done being quarantined!

It looks like the plague may have passed! First Ava had bronchitis. Then I had bronchitis. Then I went to the ER with a virus on top of it. Then Ava went to the ER with pnuemonia! And an ear infection! I went back to the dr today and got 5 more day of antibiotics! Turns out I still have a "rattle" in my lungs. Crazy week! I think things are settled down now. Ava is back to herself, causing trouble and being a wild woman! I jumped right back into laundry today!!!

Another Great Adventure trip

We were going to spend mother's day working around the yard, but since it was so nice, we took a drive up to Great Adventure. The girls were given the options of flowers or Wiggles World and the chose the latter. We had a great time and they went on some of the big rides by themselves like the kiddie swings and the kiddie scrambler. Of course, only Lila and Ava went on the scrambler as Olivia was in no mood for more rides after the swings. She held it together while on the ride, but as soon as I picked her up after it was over, she broke down and cried. She and I went to the jungle gym area while the other two rode the scrambler multiple times.

In these pictures from the swings it is kind of funny to see that the girls' expressions pretty closely match those of the M&M's shirts they are wearing.