First Day of Ballet School!

This fall the girls started at The Little Gym! I was so excited to start them in a ballet, tap and gymnastics class once a week. Once the winter starts, I will also take them for a gymnastics class too. They seem to really LOVE the gymnastics part of the class.

One of my favorite photos!

I chose The Little Gym for many reasons. One, it is close to our house. Two, it is VERY reasonably priced. Like, holy cow, the discounts for having triplets, sibling-discount, ect, make it SO affordable. Not to mention, if you sign up for multiple classes, you get a discount on those classes too. I feel like I need to pay them more, but shhh, don't tell them that. :) Three, the classes are small. Four, they are not super strict on anything. You can borrow tap shoes or ballet shoes from their stash of hundreds. You can wear anything you want. It's not all uptight and strict like some dance studios are. I really wanted something where they can just express themselves, get some energy out and have fun! For goodness sake, they are only three! Five, if you miss a class, you can make it up by just calling and picking another class for your child to attend. Super easy. Six, the classes are an HOUR long. And I mean a FULL HOUR. Seven, the teachers are SO sweet and SO fun! Eight, they have "practice" times during the week, which I can bring all the girls and they can all "practice" and play! Nine, I can use "ballet class" as leverage for good behavior all week. :) So you get the gist, I really am happy with my decision to start them in classes. 

The girls are just loving the classes and I am loving being able to watch them improve and learn each week!

C, N, M - BEST FRIENDS!!!!!!

Another super awesome benefit...right before the first class started, ANOTHER set of GGG triplets walked in. My mouth literally dropped. They are two identical and one fraternal just like my girls and almost exactly one year older. Her mom and I have so much in common, and it's so cool seeing another set of triplet girls! 

In the winter, Emily will also start a class when she turns three and I may separate (ekkk!) the triplets and put one with Emily. We will see. Emily got to join in with her sisters during "Bring a Friend Week" and she of course loved it to pieces! Nana and Grandma have come to many of the classes too to watch the girls, which of course the girls love too!

Summer Camps!

This was the first year that the triplets got to go to summer camp! This was the first time I had ever dropped all three of them off somewhere without staying and I was a little nervous about it. But as usual, my girls just go with the flow and don't miss a beat. Five seconds after going into the classroom on the first day, they were like, "bye, mom" and that was it. Just me, Emily and Anna for 2.5 hours. (Whoever complains about two kids... :) What a vacation that is!)

I didn't get a photo of the first day of camp, so this was on the last day of the first week:

The first week was called Wee Adventures. They had scavenger hunts, went digging for bones in the sandbox, made lots of arts and crafts and had so much fun! On the last day, a local nature center came and one of their camp counselors snapped some photos for me because I wouldn't be caught dead in a room with a snake, let alone even the same building. But my girls...no fear. They are way better than me.

The second week was sports camp! Each day at camp was a different sport. And everyday, they were exhausted and SO hungry at the end of camp. The whole way home they were begging for food and would pass out the minute they were done with lunch. I thanked those counselors for their hard work! They ran all the kids HARD and all of us parents appreciated that! :)

This was the first day of sports camp:

And on the last day they all got medals. Let me tell you, that was the best thing ever to my little girls. The medal has a football on it and they were SO excited to show it to Daddy because he would love it (since it had a football on it!). It proudly hangs in their room! :)

When did they get big enough to go to camp all by themselves?! :(

Wordless Wednesday: Our Drive in Movies...

Strawberry Picking!

Last week I managed to get out and go strawberry picking twice with the triplets, once with Grandma and once with Nana! The girls had so much fun and were very good at picking strawberries...and of course eating them. Every time I asked Maddy where her strawberries were, she would say, "in my mouth"...opps! Oh well, they had a lot of fun and that's all that matters.

My three cute helpers!

Grandma and her girls!

With our first batch, we ate a lot of them plain, since they were so sweet and then made two big strawberry pies! And with our second batch, I made 8 jars of jam/fruit topping for ice-cream, pancakes, crepes and/or waffles!

A Little Comparison...

...because who doesn't love a little comparing when it comes to photos...

My babies are growing so fast!!!

Madelynn, Claire and Natalee: Minnie Mouse 3rd Birthday Party!

On Saturday, December 21st, we had the girl's Minnie Mouse Birthday Party! I was SO SO SO busy preparing for it and up until midnight finishing their dresses the night before. Phew, was I glad when it was time for the party to begin and we could all just enjoy ourselves. 

We had a lot of people. Around 50 or so. We have big families and lots of friends, and I don't like to exclude anyone, so the more the merrier!

Papa and Annabelle

Auntie Megan, Uncle Nathan and soon-to-be Aunt Emily and Baby Ally

Two of our best NICU Nurses! So blessed to know these ladies and have them in our life!

My sweet Emily, almost two years old!

I baked some Minnie Mouse cookies and all the kids had a blast decorating them! Who doesn't love icing and sprinkles!?! It was a little messy but all the little ones did really well!

And then it was time for cake! There was no shortage of sugar here at this party! ;)

Pure Joy! (C)

And then of course presents! These girls get SO spoiled! I am so thankful for so many of my friends and family which really treat the girls as individuals. I was shocked at some of their gifts, so much thought and preparation to give three little girls each their own gift! And of course they got quite a few big things to share too! All in all they are very, very blessed and we are so thankful to all that love them!

Her dreams come true...a camera! (M)

Out of all the new toys and clothes, the highlight toys were the little cameras (seen above) that they each got and probably the tinker bell fairy set with 6 tinker bells...both from the same person!