Easter BBQ

What a wonderful Easter!
Papap & Gamma hosted a wonderful bbq.
Everyone in our little family went.

Abu & Meme.
Tio & Tia.
Uncle Jeff (not blood but may as well be).
The 5 of us, of course.

The food was OUT OF THIS WORLD.
Papap really outdid himself w/ the brisket,
the sausage, the chicken, & the ribs.

That's a whole lotta meat!
Oh, gotta mention the fab bbq sauce Papap makes.
YUM!

But I have to mention that the whole day wasn't fab.
The morning was treacherous.
The kids almost unbearable.

We even threatened to not go to the bbq.
That's how bad it was.

And to top it off,
they chose to only nap for about an hour.

I think the anticipation was too much for them.
They wanted to get all dressed up & leave immediately.
I just wanted a glass of wine.

With all that said,
the afternoon was beautiful.
Not too warm.
Beautiful breeze.
Great company.

Good times all around!
And I have the pics to prove it.
Sorry, there are quite a few.

I was trigger happy.
Practicing some portraits & what not.
But most of all,
b/c it was a wonderful day!

Thank you Jesus for you have risen!

Don't mind Sofi's bandaid.
That is a direct result of Ian's piggy bank
wanting to get to know her better.
Are they the cutest?!?


Daddy & his girls.
So sweet!



Woah nelly!
HANDSOME!


Papap putting shoes on Gabi :)


LOVE this shot!
She looks so old :(


Sliding fun!
This really captures Sofi's spirit.


And this look,
among others,
is what makes me have a difficult
time saying no to this young lad.
My heart melts.


Momma...
the one shot of the day.


So pensive...


Uncle Jeff chuckin' the duces!


Oma in all her glory.
I really like the way this photo came out.
Now you know where the blue eyes come from.


Gotta love the g-mas!
That would be Gamma on the left.
Meme on the right.


Oh boy, did the kids ever have fun playing w/ Tia!


Then it was time for the Egg Hunt.
Sofi was on top of that!


Gabi finally getting an egg.
Seemed like every time she would start going for one,
Sofi would come out of nowhere & snag it!


Go, Ian, Go!!!


Hey, you have more eggs than me!
I want one!


And the last one,
Tia & the kids.
I played w/ some editing features.
This is going to be printed.
So sweet & innocent!


We are so lucky to have the family we have.
Thank you God!!!

Sharing :)

Most of the time they don't.
But then there are times that they do.
And not only that,
they feed each other.





How sweet is that?

Now, I also have to share this.
They are all about switching up their seat arrangement.
On.a.daily.basis.

At one time,
it was all about THEIR chair.
Or THEIR carseat.

Now it is all about getting in someone else's chair.
Whether it is at the table or in the car.
Love it!

Change is good.

A Dr. Seussical of a Time

The party finally happened.
It was fabulous!
The day couldn't have been prettier.
The company couldn't have been better!

Everyone that came seemed to enjoy themselves.
I think Mr. Upstairs definitely made it
so that the party had to be canceled 3 weeks ago
and rescheduled for yesterday.

We couldn't have asked for a better party!

Friday, I got to put all the favors together
as well as some other little party related things.


Yep, that is a big 'ol glass of vino.



So as to not bore you w/ tons of pics,
these are my fave shots from the party...

This was the food spread.
Minus the stuff from Chick-fil-A which
was on the way.







The scoop on the goods...
Cupcakes from Walmart.
Decorations from Let's Party On.
Cookies from The Cookie Jar.
(Linda & Ida are fabulous to work with.)
The green eggs (deviled eggs) were
provided by my wonderful ILs.
Donna makes the best eggs EVA!

Then it was time to PAARRRTAY!




The temporary tats were a hit among all the adults.
Here, you can see Tio decide that his neck was the place
for his Cat tat.


The pinata was fun for all!
We spent a majority of the time outside.
Just like I wanted.
And the weather couldn't have been prettier!




Last pic...this is of Ian & Jude.
They are BFFs.
So cute!


Gotta say, the 3rd b-day is the funnest!
The kids got what was going on & really enjoyed themselves.
So much so, that as they went to bed,
I had the following convo w/ Gabi...

Gabi: Mommy, the birthday party is over.
Mommy: Yep, sure is.
Gabi: Mommy, can we have another birthday party?
Mommy: Yep, next year.
Gabi: *Squeals* OK!!!

Now, I don't think she understand the time concept
quite yet so she went to bed a happy camper.

SUCCESS!!!

Time Out...Supernanny Style

I know we struggle w/ discipline
from time to time.
It's hard to do,
especially times three.

We have watched Supernanny,
even before kids.
It is interesting.

And having been a teacher,
many of her methods applied.

Well, we started watching her again.
Gotta love me some Jo-jo!
I even went as far as to watch the episodes
I have missed, on the computer.

We have also known about the time out technique.
Kinda used it, but not really to a "T".
Until about 2 months ago.

Sofi was having HORRIBLE temper tantrums.
Bad.
Aweful.
FUGLY.

And we needed guidance.
Supernanny gave it to us.
(thanks to Andrea for having typed out the steps below)

TIME OUT

1. Warning

(eye contact, eye level, firm tone of voice)

2. Explanation and time out

(one minute per year of age)

3. Walk away

4. Explanation after time is up.

5. “I’m sorry”, hugs and kisses

6. Move on

Important: Do not engage in conversation or argument while the time out is going on. Every time the child gets up, silently place them back and reset the timer. If at the end of the time out, the child is not yet calm or ready to talk, let them have another minute or two to calm down.

Here is a clip for you to watch.

It works.
You have to be consistent.
Every.single.time.
Otherwise the kiddos will learn that you aren't serious.

We use to threaten time out & then not give it.
Not any more.
Don't worry,
we still flub up.

It's the nature of the parenting beast.

We also use this for mealtime as well.
Our timeout spot is closer to the table.
And it has made our once veggie refusing Gabi,
actually eat veggies.

We put the amount we want her to eat
which is normally a bite or two, where she can see what she needs
to gobble up.

If she refuses, we put it on the fork & tell her she has until we count
down from 5 to eat it.
Most days, she eats it before we ever hit the number 4.

Some days, she gets time out.
And those times, she comes back to eat her portion.

Yep, there have been a couple of times that she has all out refused.
We just bring her back to the table & try again, starting the process over.
These times are becoming rarer though.

Ian & Sofi only needed a time out or 2 to get the picture.
They are great eaters.

BUT, you have to be CONSISTENT.
If you aren't,
forgetaboutit!

Hopefully this will help someone else.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention.
We never, ever, ever, never...
give them another food option.

What is on their plate is what they are going to eat.
I ain't cookin' twice or 2 different meals.

NOT.GONNA.HAPPEN.

Triplet Stats

When our monsters were born,
they were big for triplets.
Small by regular standard babies though.

In birth order,
here are their stats for each year.
I attribute their size to Momma's milk.

Sofia Genevieve, 4lb 9oz & 18"


Sofi (1 yrs old) - 20lb 13oz (50%) & 30.5" (90%) long.


Sofi (2 yrs old) - 31 lbs (90%) & 37" (95+%)

Sofi (3 yrs old) - 34 lbs 13 oz (84%), 39.75" (95+%)



Gabriella Marie, 4lb 4oz & 18"


Gabi (1 yrs old) - 22lb 6oz (75%) & is 30.5" (90%) long.


Gabi (2 yrs old) - 32lb 9oz (95%) & 36" (90%)


Gabi (3 yrs old) - 37 lbs 4 oz (93%), 39.6" (95%)



Ian Giovanni, 4lb 1oz, 18.5"


Ian (1 yrs old) - 18lb 15oz (5%) & is 30" (60%) long.


Ian (2 yrs old) - 28lb 8oz (50%), 35" (75%)


Ian (3 yrs old) - 32 lb (54%), 38.25" (63%)


That's what I call some big kids,
considering they were born at 33w 6d.
We are proud!
And Dr. N is impressed!

They even did well w/ their shots.
2 vaccines since we have spread them out.
MMR today, first time.
And a blood draw that they didn't even cry about.

Did I mention we were proud?