Three Year Check Up

This week we took the three to see their pediatrician. She was very pleased with their language skills. They did fine counting. They are growing. The mamas got all their questions answered. It was a good appointment.

Below are their stats. The only real difference, percentage-wise, is Mazie's weight. She's always been below the chart; now she is at 10%. Yay Mazie! We are so proud of you, and your brother and sister.

Elliott
Height: 38 3/4" 75%
Weight: 36.6# 75%

Lucia
Height: 37" 50%
Weight: 30.2# 50%

Mazie
34 3/4" 10%
25# 10%

Strike Up the Band

Having three children at one time killed any sponteneity that H and I had. We must plan for just about everything now. However, this weekend we were crazy-spontaneous. We woke up Saturday morning and by noon the girls were at Nana's and Elliott, H, and I were headed to Auburn.
Elliott had a great time at the game. At first he played with his Hot Wheels car but then he figured out where to look to see the game. His told us his favorite things were: "the football, the flags, and the drums."
We are going to try to take all of us to a game before the end of the season. War Eagle!

The Bean Counters

We got this activity from Cousin Avery and Uncle Jon. Jelly Bean counting. I give each child a Dixie cup and I put jelly bellies in the middle. We do different counting methods. We'll count together. I'll make them count to a certain number by themselves. Sometimes I'll tell them if they can put seven beans in their cup then they can eat them.
Counting objects is not a skill that comes easily at this age. We just always try and if they need my help, I'll do it with them. Counting aloud is easier for them than counting objects. Still, I think it is good to expose them to skills just beyond their reach, as long as we don't frustrate or overwhelm them.
We count pretty well to 20. When we are counting objects we definitely stay under ten. Avery can count to about 400, I think. (Last time I heard, which was several months ago, she could count to 40.) Out of our three, I'd say Elliott is the strongest counter, but they all do just fine. So, we'll keep plugging along with our counting beans.

Camera Phone Dump

I am doing a phone camera dump. I suspect this is how it will go for a while. Above is a picture of Mazie, ready and waiting to go to the eye doctor. She has on her money that H recently bought the children, her Minnie Mouse sunglasses, and her Sunday best. The girl wants to get on the road.

We eat a lot of Nillas in our house, specifically Mini Nillas. One of our favorite things to happen is to get twins--two Nillas stuck together. Occasionally someone might get triplets. Imagine Mazie's delight when she reached in to the box and pulled out sextuplets.

I took the girls out for a fun day. We went and got their hair cut. We played at the park.
We ate lunch.
We went to a bakery and got cupcakes.
We went back to the park.
We went to a health food store that had shopping carts just for them. We had a wonderful day together. Elliott enjoyed spending most of his day with Nana and Papa.

Lucia plays a lot at night before she finally gives in to sleep. She does all sorts of things. Her favorite activities are singing, leading school for her animals, and putting her animals to bed as seen below.
A lady near where we live makes this Halloween spider. She did it last year too. It has been a source of great glee and entertainment for two autumns now. The three always want to drive by the "fider." This year they talk a lot about whose window, or side of the car, the spider will be on. The good thing is, we have to drive by the spider, turn around, and then come back home. So, everyone gets a turn to have the fider on their side.


Mazie and I went to the eye doctor for checkups and both got good reports. She and I spent a little time in the big city, going to lunch with our friend Aunt Whit and doing a little shopping. We had a lovely day together. He she is captivated by candy.
She was enthralled with the babies.
Mazie picked out her Halloween costume: a flying horse.
Here is Mazie waiting for her lunch.
Lucia still loves her puzzles. She got the puzzle of the United States for her birthday.


When I take them to the park in town, Mazie will climb to the top of the ginormous slide but then doesn't want to go down the slide. Elliott has only made it halfway up the steps.

Dirt won't hurt

We took our new trucks to a sandy spot in the road to play in the dirt. Lots of fun and something different to do. They ran their trucks, filled their trucks, and dumped their trucks.


We hope you've been able to get a little dirty lately. Thanks for checking in on us.

Quick Tip

We have a deep freeze. I don't think we could survive without it. It stays full. Mostly of milk, meats, and vegetables. Though I recently bought about 20 pounds for frozen fruit from a church in a community near us. The sight of my freezer's contents usually overwhelms me, so recently I pulled everything out. I used small boxes (about the size wipes come in) and organized everything. Then, the most helpful thing I did was to make a list of everything in the freezer. I put squares out next to the items we had several of. As I pull something out, I check off the box. If it is an item I have a lot of, like 18 bags of corn, I just write a hatch mark out to the side. I always know how much I have. I'll have to make a new list every few months as I add more things and get rid of others. I clipped a pen to the shelf above the freezer so I never have to hunt one. Maybe this will help someone from going freezer crazy.

The Creek

We've gone down the dirt road to the creek twice the past few weeks. I wish I'd thought of it sooner in the summer. The water is clear and cool. It is a fun thing to do when we are at home on a hot day.They enjoying jumping in, throwing rocks, catching butterflies, and cooling off.

On The Day

On their actual birthday, we stayed home and had a fun day. We played with some of our new toys. We ate breakfast outside on our new trays.
Grancy was here and she went with us down to the creek.



We opened gifts from family like the bike helmets from Grancy and the science kit from Cousin Avery.
When Avery came to see us last month she had this fun magnetic doodle pad. Lucia, Elliott, and Mazie each loved it. Avery was so sweet to get them each one for their birthday. I love his expression in this picture.
Look at him using his left hand. Lucia always uses her left hand; Mazie always uses her right hand. Elliott switches things up. We like to tell him he is ambidextrous.
Clearly he loves the helmet from Grancy.
She got them the helmets to go with the Big Wheels. I have so many fond memories of my Big Wheel. I hope the three love theirs too.
No, she did not get Elliott a pink one. Only one was put together on their birthday, so they had to share that one.

Here they are enjoying the gifts from NanaLin and Grandpa. The singing cards were a huge hit too.
Elliott loves his Buzz. I think Buzz loves him too.


The girls got doll clothes for their Bitty Babies. I can't think of a more perfect gift for them.




We had strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and vanilla ice cream.



We also had an impromptu bonfire and sparkler celebration.




For their school celebration the next day we sent strawberry cupcakes with sprinkles.

On their birthday we also had a video chat with Avery and her parents.

We had a wonderful day celebrating the precious gift of these three wonderful creatures.