Easter!

We really had a fabulous Easter. The kids were just a "little" excited about waking up to some Easter baskets, and all three of them arose at 5:50 in the morning. A little too early for this Mommy and Daddy.


After Mommy and Daddy got our coffee, we released the kids into the front room to hunt for hidden eggs. Molly was determined to "beat" her brother and sister to the booty. Paige preferred to take her time. And Garrett preferred to eat the contents of each egg before trying to find another.


The kids enjoyed going through their baskets while I made a big breakfast for everyone. I made whole wheat pancakes with berry coulis and turkey sausage in an effort to get something healthy in them and offset all the sugar they consumed.


Then we got the troups dressed and ready for church. Of course Easter was the perfect excuse for me to buy coordinating outfits!


After church the kids had their second eggs hunt of the day (their fourth in total). Here they are all lined up in their respective age groups and ready to collect more treasures! Can you tell that Molly was just a "little" excited?


Then it was off for the hunt! And, once again, Garrett felt it was more important to eat the contents of each egg he collected before even bothering to get another one.


After it was all said and done, it was interesting to watch Molly convince them to "trade" goodies with her so she could get her preferred treats!


Amazingly enough, the festivities didn't end there. We thought we would be spending a nice, quiet Easter at home as a family, but when we were at church we were invited to hang out with two other families that didn't have extended family around locally. It was so much fun. Each family brought the side dishes that we had planned on making and our hosts provided a ham and tri-tip. The food was fabulous and the company was even better. The kids even behaved amazingly well at the "Children's Table".


Molly had a wonderful time with her little buddies, Ava and Keilani. Garrett spent most of his time hanging out with them on the trampoline. They had a blast and Garrett was loving all the attention that the girlies were pouring all over him.


Paige preferred to do her own thing, and furthered her title of "little monkey" by climbing everything in sight and hanging off the basketball hoop.


It was truly a fabulous day. Hanging with our "church family" was such a fabulous extension of Christ's gift to us on Easter. We are just so thankful for the relationships God has gifted us!

Pre-Easter Festivities

The day before Easter, the kids and I enjoyed some "pre-Easter festivities". We worked on a craft project and decorated some foam eggs. And then of course, we died some hard-boiled eggs. This was no small feat considering dye is... well... DYE. And I have two 2-year old's that want to get into their craft projects with both hands. Also, Steve was busy working on some tiling, so I was solo. I'm happy to report that only 3 of the 13 eggs got broken, and no clothing was dyed.


After Garrett and Paige went down for their naps, Molly and I made some Easter cupcakes. They were carrot pineapple cupcakes with cream cheese frosting (see here) with toasted coconut nests with candy eggs in them. So fun!


It definitely got the kids excited for Easter! Although I must admit that I think I will enjoy it a little more in 1-2 years when it's easier to manage the twinados!

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break for Molly's preschool. A little part of me was dreading having all three kids all week, but it ended up being such a fabulous time. Many of the regular speech therapy and dance classes were also on hold for the week, which allowed us to do something fun every day! We did play dates, went to Funtastics and took a trip to the zoo. And of course, as always, the zoo was the biggest hit!


The kids particularly loved watching the animal show that the naturalists put on. Afterward they got to touch a menagerie of beasties, including a rather large lizard and a boa constrictor. I really want to cultivate their love for animals.

Headshots

I wanted to get some simple headshot photos of my kids because I had this image in my head of three canvases hanging all in a row. It didn't really turn out the way I was envisioning, but I got some sweet smiley pictures of the three of them.


Paige was in a bit of a mood and so I ended up spending the majority of my time shooting her trying to get her smiling. I got a fun series of pictures showing the variety of her expressions and had to put them into a storyboard. So many people don't get to see this side of her personality because she's so shy. But she can also be so much fun and these pictures capture that.


And of course there's always her more serious side...

SMOM Spring Picnic

This weekend I took the kids to the SMOM (Sacramento Mothers of Multiples) Spring Picnic so Steve could catch up on some projects at home. It's always a lot of fun and the kids enjoy all their friends from the club. Molly loves hanging out with her buddies, Caleigh and Alessa, twin sisters who live close to us. They were having so much fun that we hated to break up the party, and Molly got to go over and spend the night at their house after wards!


The picnic was at a fabulous park that's almost completely fenced in AND had awesome shade structures over the play ground (a must during these hot Sacramento summers). Garrett and Paige enjoyed playing, and it was fun to watch them hanging out together and even walking around holding hands. Sooooo cute!


Of course, the highlight is always the Easter egg hunt. This is the first year that Garrett and Paige "got" the egg hunt. Paige preferred to carefully inspect each egg before making her selection. Garrett, on the other hand, preferred to "dash and grab" and had a hard time understanding that he had to leave some for the other kids.


It was another fabulous event by SMOM! Special thanks to Christy for all her hard work putting the event together, and for everything she does for the club!

Date night!

When we were dealing with the stress of caring for Steve's mom in hospice, and her eventually passing away, we were blessed greatly by the support of our friend's from church. Several families went together and paid for basketball tickets, parking fees and a babysitter so we could have a date night to unwind after the stress of the of the past couple of months. Well last night, was the night! We got to see the Kings play the Lakers! This was a particularly special game because the Sacramento Kings may be sold and moved to southern California, and this may have been their last game in Sacramento!

Date night started out with Thai food, and we loved the great conversation and the fact that we didn't have to cut up anyone's food for them. I also had a beer and got ID'ed, which made me feel particularly young. Ha ha ha! Then we were off to the game. We had seats at the TOP of the stadium (read: nose bleeds). But I brought my camera and 400mm super telephoto lens which more than compensated for the distance. Steve and I had a blast shooting pictures and we both have a new appreciation for sports photographers. Those long lenses are HEAVY and my wrist hurts this morning from holding it.


The game went into overtime and the stadium was vibrating with excitement. The Kings did eventually lose, which was unfortunate (although Steve is a Lakers fan), but it couldn't have had a better evening. Thanks to all our friends for the extra special night out. It was needed and appreciated!

When the cat's away the mice will play...

On Saturday, I was busy with my Mother's of Multiples club and Steve decided to take the kids to the RV show at Arco Arena. The kids had a blast pushing all the buttons in every RV and were pretty amazed of the "homes on wheels". Steve was even able to get a few pictures of their day together. Best husband/father ever.

Preschool heads to the zoo!

Last week was Molly's preschool field trip to the Folsom Zoo. I had to drag Garrett and Paige along with me, but they were more than happy to join in the fun. And of course Molly was more than happy to spend a sunny day hanging out with her close friends, Ava and Keilani!


The kids loved watching a bear rip into his afternoon snack. Garrett kept shouting, "Touch bear!" and I had to explain that hugging a live bear wasn't in his best interest.


I used the opportunity of having other mommies around to do a little "out of stroller" training. Usually when we're out in a busy place Garrett and Paige aren't allowed out of the stroller because it's so hard to keep track of all three of them. But I was really impressed that they stuck close to me and listened so well! They may have earned themselves some more time out of the stroller!


We also got to spend a little time playing in the park playground. This is also something I don't do much, because Garrett and Paige go in two separate directions and aren't quite old enough to be "safe" on the play structures. This day proved to be no different because as I was helping Garrett across a balance beam, I looked over and saw Paige five feet up the climbing wall. Of course I had to take a quick picture before running to make sure she didn't fall off.


All in all... it was a great day. And the best part was that the kids were so exhausted that they had nice long afternoon naps!

Spring Convention

Last weekend I had the privilege of going to the Spring Convention for the Northern California Association of Mothers of Twins Clubs. It was hosted by our Sacramento club and I had been asked to do a talk on photographing your children. I probably wouldn't have gone if I wasn't speaking, and am I ever glad that I went. It was the perfect break that I needed. I walked into my hotel room and this was the first thing that I saw. My roommates had already got the bar set up!


Let me tell you... these twin/triplet mommies know how to let loose. And there was so much free stuff given out during the convention. There were over a HUNDRED raffle baskets including everything from kids toys to gift certificates to restaurants to double strollers. I won a basket of best selling books and chocolate which was a nice treat.


And here's the ladies from my club that attended. The convention was for all of northern California and there was probably around 150 people there. You may be able to tell from some of the outfits that it was an "Alice in Wonderland" theme.


The workshops covered everything from what to do during minor medical emergencies to craft projects to do with your preschooler. Saturday there was a talent show complete with karaoke machine. It was seriously a blast. But the highlight was spending some quality time with friends (both old and new) and not having to cut up any body's food other than my own. Fabulous!