How Can I Top 2011??????

With the end of 2011 just hours away, I am reminiscing about all the things we did this last year.  We've been very fortunate this year to be in a good time in our lives.  Life is so cyclical and you never know when you might be on the top of the curve and get sent plummeting down to the bottom.  It makes it so awesome to be at the top for once!!!!  Here are my highlights from 2011.

January


My babies turned seven!!!!

I cannot believe they'll be eight in three weeks.  But more importantly, Target's January 75 percent off clearance sale is exactly one week before their birthday each year.  I'm ready, ladies.

I'm still wearing those flip flops I got for $3.  That's noteworthy for sure.

February

I took a trip to Hawaii to visit my friend Leslie in February last year.  I am already scheming another trip to Leslie in April.  Life isn't worth living without some sort of travel scheme in the works.

March

My sister and I went to Sedona to get in touch with our spiritual New Age selves.

All four children started soccer on three separate teams, thus beginning the Sports Phase of my life.

April

We spent a week in Del Mar, California, making super awesome sand castles.

May

Austin and I had our very last Half Day Kindergarten Adventure.  I get weepy just thinking about the fact he goes to school all day now and that time in our lives is over.  We had so much fun!!!

There was chicken drama.


June

Austin turned six and got a clear MRI on his brain tumor.  It was a very good month.

July


I had chicken drama.

We started our annual Lunatic Tour to Michigan.  This was the first time Greg let us stop in Colorado.  He doesn't let us stop often.  Can you tell?

August

We ended the Lunatic Tour at the Grand Canyon.

The kids started full time school, leaving me kid-less for the first time in seven years.

September

The kids started soccer AGAIN.  It just never ends.

October

I had chicken drama, resulting in chicken death.

Even scarier than that was these creatures.

There was more chicken drama.

November

We spent Thanksgiving in California and Greg took the kids to the Santa Monica pier.

December

We had the greatest Christmas yet.

Stay tuned for 2012.  

How can we possibly top 2011?


Have I mentioned that I am going to Greece in 2012?   Oh, yes.  Yes, I am.  Laurie and her Aunt Sue have booked us in the family suite aboard Royal Caribbean to continue our ill-fated cruise of the Mediterranean.  With our track record, we should be able to collapse the entire European Union or sink.

This should be FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WOOHOO!

2012 here I come!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Happy New Year!!!

Boys..You Can't Tie Them Down

Laura's boys went home the other day and told Laura that I told them they could have a chicken.

Laura said, "Michele, did you tell them they can have a chicken?"

I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOO.  Those sneaky boys.  They cannot have a chicken.  I only have fourteen right now.  I'm sure what Laura needs is an animal that poops copious amount of stinky feces.

Although I do have an extra rooster right now because those Foster Chickens that were left in Bob's driveway are two hens and a rooster.  I can part with the rooster.
 

Laura dropped the boys off yesterday so she could spend time in the hospital with Don.  Wyatt came also and he has a sprained ankle and he's on a walker and is not supposed to be on his foot.  Yeah.  Keep a six year old boy, with two six year old brothers, down.  Try it.  While Wyatt was feeding the chickens, the other boys were climbing to the top of Bob's tennis court.

I had an epiphany yesterday that those of you with all boy triplets have it eight million times harder than those of us with mixed sex triplets or all girl triplets.  All boys are sort of like a cross between a mob of sumo wrestlers and flying trapeze acrobats.  I had to keep Wyatt from going in the trampoline, getting on a scooter, and climbing in the back of Greg's truck!!!  He has no clue he is hurt.

I finally put him on the couch with the Wii.  Thank God Jo got us that Wii.  It was perfect timing.

Then I assigned him to Amanda because she wants nothing to do with boys and their antics.

"Miss Michele, Miss Michele, my eye just opened up and I CAN SEE!", Wyatt told me.

I bet he had the double vision the day before because his brain had compensated for using the one eye for five days.  I am so happy he can see!!!  What a relief.

I put Sarah in charge of all the other boys.  She likes herding boys.  She's bossy like that.

Laura is bringing Don home now instead of to the rehabilitation center.  They discovered they have a $2500 deductible for those services and since it's the end of the year, they'd get charged it twice for each calendar year.  Since Don is Greg's brother from another mother, I can assure you that there is no way he would rack up $5000 for a couple weeks.  Greg would have me throw him in the road before he'd do that, so I can understand completely.

Greg immediately went on Craigslist to find Don a hospital bed for their downstairs.

"Look!  Here's one for only $125.  I bet only two or three people have died on it!  That's a smoking deal!", he said.

I'll Be The Guinea Pig

Laura came and got the boys yesterday morning.  Wyatt was released from the hospital.  Then we replaced them with Greg's mom, uncle, brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew.  Greg put together a giant Mexican dinner and Jill and I watched Under Our  Skin, which is a great documentary about chronic Lyme Disease and how it is misdiagnosed and not managed correctly, mimicking symptoms of ASL, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's, among others.  What an interesting movie!!!!  That link is to the full movie on Hulu.

I am making Jill an honorary member of my Documentary Watching Club.

Yesterday was Don's birthday.  He is still at UMC and they are meeting today to determine when he will go to the rehabilitation center.  Wyatt was able to open his swollen eye finally last night.  He is seeing double vision out of the eye, so Laura is trying not to freak out about that until he sees the eye doctor.

I was telling Laura my biggest fear is that Greg would become incapacitated because there is no way I'd be able to physically lift him or help him in anyway.  I told him he'd have to go live in a home for good.  At least Don is nowhere near as ginormous as Greg and once he comes home, Laura should be able to help him.

"I would definitely send you to a home.", Greg told me last night.

"I'd like you to go to a home right now!!!", I countered.

Greg is practically already in assisted living since I do EVERYTHING.  Have I ever mentioned THAT?  

In addition to all that, I've started a training class for an employment opportunity.  I figure if this works out for me, then maybe once Laura gets settled into her new normal, she can do it also and bring in some extra income while Don is out of work.  If I can't find the time to do it, then there is no way she'll be able to find the time so I'm the guinea pig.

As I type this, Greg is hauling the Christmas tree out to our burn pile.  Evidently, Christmas is over.  I gotta go make sure nobody catches on fire.

I See Danger Everywhere

I told  Laura's boys yesterday that nobody was allowed to get hurt at my house.  I want to take bubble wrap and wrap the kids up now.  I'm seeing danger from a completely different perspective and pretty much everything 6 and 7 year old  boys do is dangerous.   I mean everything.

Even Greg said to put away the electric scooters while the boys are here.

I pulled Greg's old recliner out of the garage and sat right in the driveway to monitor everyone.  How's that for some crap in the driveway, eh?

For the last eight years I've had Jehovah Witness ladies visiting me monthly.  I let them in when I was on five months of bedrest when I was pregnant with the triplets and eight years later, they still come to my house.

They pulled up yesterday and got out, came to me in my recliner in the driveway, looked at the screeching hooligans, and fled.  They didn't even give me a magazine!!!!!

While all that was going on, our tenant called and said her dryer was out, so Greg ran right over.  He assessed the situation and determined it was a bearing (sp?) and told her would need to take the dryer to our house to fix it.

She said, "I have three year old twins.  You are going to TAKE the dryer?  Do you understand how much laundry I have?"

I'll let you know when I stop laughing about twin laundry.  I laugh at her twin laundry.

Wyatt was released yesterday and Laura got to sleep in her own house last night.  I told her to just let me keep the boys anyway because it would be too much for her.  She needed to get her house in order and let Wyatt rest without his brothers egging him on to get up.  He also has a sprained ankle and will be on a walker for 2 weeks.

They are talking about releasing Don to a rehabilitation center because they don't think Laura can handle getting him to OT every day.

He can barely get up and go the bathroom right now and they live in a two story house and the bedrooms are upstairs.  My friend Angela, who is in my Joy Lunch Club, is a physician's assistant and she does physical therapy in rehabilitation centers, so my friend Misti recommended Laura call her to hook Don up with the best care.  If you live in Las Vegas and your need medical care and you aren't Misti's friend, you will die here.  That's what I've learned over the years.   You have to be Misti's friend to survive.

I got all six kids to sleep before 10 pm last night and it is 7am right now and I can hear noise in the boys' room.  I gotta go drink a gallon of coffee right now.  Goodbye, friends!

When Life Throws A Pole In Your Path

My friend Laura's family had a major go kart accident on Christmas. The go kart was their boys' Christmas present.  Her triplets are Austin's age and Austin's surrogate peeps who he went to preschool with for 2 years.

Austin, Wyatt, Lucas, Jaxon

After all the Christmas gifts were open Laura's entire family and extended family went outside to watch the boys drive the go kart up and down the street.  All their neighbors were out with their families, enjoying all their new toys.  The go kart was a two seater and Lucas went first and drove it slowly down the street and back.

Then Jaxon got in the driver's seat and Wyatt got in the passenger seat.  Don was standing on the back of the go kart with his hand on the kill switch and he was leaning over showing Jaxon how to drive.  Jaxon confused the brake and the gas, hitting the gas full throttle, accelerating the go kart at full speed like a rocket down the street, causing Don to lose the kill switch.  The go kart stopped when it hit a pole, ejecting Wyatt from the passenger seat and sending him airborne, where he landed on his face on a piece of steel, fracturing his left eye socket and his skull above his eye.  Don went flying over the top of the go kart, just like a rag doll, and snapped his leg in half.  His tibia was protruding through his skin.

One of the neighbors, an Eagle scout, rushed to aid Wyatt.  When he picked him up, he was unresponsive except for a gurgling moaning and his eyes were back inside his head.  Don tried to stand to rush to Wyatt only to have his leg fall backward.  At this point, the Eagle scout rushed to Don and placed his leg in a tourniquet to stop the blood flow.

Laura saw the entire thing happen and she told me that she thought her child was dead.  Two ambulances came and transported them past two hospitals to take them to our major trauma hospital, UMC, the same one Austin had his brain surgery.

I found out about all this at about 2pm yesterday which sent me into a tailspin.  I love Laura's children as if they were my own.  We had no idea what was going on yesterday and I spent hours talking to friends and crying and praying for Don and Wyatt.

I got up this morning and drove over to the hospital.  Wyatt was still in the PICU at that point.  They were monitoring him for brain swelling.   It was surreal to be walking down the same corridor I walked down when Austin was in the PICU.  Wyatt was only three rooms down from the room I stayed in with Austin.

I am happy to report that Wyatt's brain is fine.  Gosh,  I love this kid so much.  The eye doctor said that he can see out of his eye.  They moved him out of the PICU today and he is staying in the regular pediatric floor now.

When I got there, Laura was not in the room, as she's been running from one side of the hospital to the other to see her son and her husband.  Moments later she brought Don in to see Wyatt for the first time since the accident.

Don is not doing well.  He had surgery last night and he'll need surgery again in two weeks.  His leg is in a halo and he cannot put any pressure on his leg for 3 months.  They told him he'll be out of work for at least 5 months.  Don works for R.e.p.u.b.l.i.c Services as a sanitation worker and he HAS to be able to walk to work.  Laura is a stay-at-home mom and Don is the sole source of income for their family.

In addition to being physically hurt, Don is wracked with guilt and remorse for ever getting the go kart.  There are no words to adequately express the level of pain he is in for his child.  It surpasses any physical pain he is in himself.  It's the kind of pain that radiates from a person and touches you in your soul because you know in your heart that he's just wishing he could take it back and just rewind everything and get that moment back right before it happened.  My heart hurts for him.

Kids are so much more resilient.

I knew Wyatt was going to be okay when he beat me at Chutes and Ladders three times.  I told him I didn't care if he had a broken noggin, I play to win!!!!

They let the brothers in to the PICU to see Wyatt today.  This picture warms my heart.  I have never seen a better sight than the three boys together.  As you can imagine, since Jaxon was driving, he was really really upset and has been distraught beyond belief.  My friend Misti texted me and said that maybe it would be best for Jaxon if he was told the accelerator stuck and that it was not his fault and Laura and Don agreed that Jaxon should not have that kind of guilt placed on his shoulders at the tender age of six.

Laura has held it all together like a soldier.  She's in the zone.  I know the zone.  I've been there.

Plans keep changing by the minute, but as of right now, Greg and I are taking Jaxon and Lucas tomorrow and we'll have them until the weekend.

What's two more??????

I told Greg a few minutes ago, "If you could go get that big ass Korean van tomorrow, that would be swell."

Please pray for Laura and Don and Wyatt, if you are the praying sort.  I need my friends better.  I am so thankful that they are all alive, I cannot express it enough.

It Was Really Something

Here is 3.45 seconds of the 5 minutes my kids tore the wrapping paper off all their gifts yesterday. Then my camera died. I had to actually watch the video twice to see what my kids got because Greg wrapped way ahead of me and I had no idea what he bought them.  I noticed that Greg doesn't speak at all in the video, so I'm not sure he was awake yet.  They were done with their presents before he had a cup of coffee.

It was like a shark feeding frenzy, but here's what I've learned over the years.  I've watched Christmas videos of myself when I'm trying to control the crazy and I sound like a harping fishwife.  It's much easier to get in a life preserver and just float during the tsunami than try and swim against it.

Now I just sit there and relax and let them go at it and then when it's all over, we actually look at what they got.

Sarah got a fake dog.  She wrote an essay in class and read it aloud and started crying that her father won't let her get a dog.  Her teacher actually told me in her conference that she cannot believe my husband will not let this poor child have a dog.  That almost swayed me into getting one.  Almost.

In addition to a new wardrobe, Amanda's doll got a horse, a bed, and a living room.

Santa left us a tetherball in the driveway.  Santa was cussing like a sailor at midnight when a screw broke and he slammed the pole into the ceiling.

Our neighbor across the street came out to fetch his newspaper and came across the street to see our new toy.

"Isn't awesome?", I asked him.

"It will go well with the rest of your crap in your collection out here.", he said while laughing.

Doesn't everyone have a basketball hoop, swingset, tetherball, and assorted variety of a dozen bikes, scooters, and skateboards in their driveway?

Our neighbor Jo bought the kids a Wii.  They are crazy about it!!!!  She's the greatest.

Greg made a turkey and I swear to you I walked by and he was melting a POUND of butter for the stuffing.  A POUND.

We ran around and cleaned up and then Greg's mom and Uncle Bill came over.

I drank half a pot of coffee to live through the next tidal wave.

The kids asked me if it seemed like they got more or less this year?

Greg got me a coat, rather than my customary velvet leisure suit from Sam's Club.  This should go well with my black wardrobe.

Wake up!

My neighbor Andy made me this beautiful clock.  I absolutely cherish it.  Andy is an avid woodworker and has delighted me with gifts in the past.  He was diagnosed with Parkinson's this year and Jo told me this could possibly be his last work.  I absolutely love it so much.  It means a lot to me.

Uncle Bill got the kids a keyboard and two full soccer/hockey nets and all the hockey sticks and pucks and WOW, wait to the neighbor gets a load of that setup in the driveway.  That'll be some crap, all right.

Greg got the girls two matching Dolly and Me outfits.

Santa got Gregory an erector set.  He is so into building stuff.  He's better than me.  I look at his erector set and my eyes cross.  There was much, much, much, much more but I don't even know what it all is yet.  It will take me a week to figure it all out.

It was truly the perfect day for us, however, the day ended on a sour note because something bad happened to one of my closest friends.  One of her triplet sons and her husband are in the hospital after a tragic accident.   I am not going to blog about it today, but just know that it is consuming me to the point of making me ill. I just don't want to lump it in with our festive, fun day post and diminish either event.

I hope the rest of you had a great and wonderful, safe day.  I hugged my kids extra tight last night and thanked God for everything we have and prayed like I haven't prayed in years for my friend's son and husband.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!! Where's The Shovel????

The kids started opening at 6:55am and were done with over 50 presents at 7am.

I WIN, LESLIE!!!!

HO HO HO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Twas The Night Before Christmas And Nobody Would Go To Sleep

I am waiting for the children to fall asleep so that I can begin putting Christmas together. So far the boys have come out of their room three times. Gregory told me he wanted to check one more time on NORAD to see where Santa is at. North Dakota. SQUEE! Austin just came out again to tell me I better hurry up and go to bed.

We spent Christmas Eve at Greg's mom's house.  Uncle Bill is here from Texas.  I am happy to report after three long, long, long years since Hurricane Ike hit Texas and Uncle Bill's home was underwater and Greg drove out to help him, he FINALLY sold his home and moved to high ground.

He has had a rough three years and he is doing much better now.  We are so thankful.

The kids opened their customary one present at Grammy's house.

Sarah's American Doll got a new soccer outfit.

Amanda's doll got the Beauty Salon kit.

She was convinced that if she curled her doll's hair, it would stay curled forever.  She couldn't possibly know what a perm is, could she?  She said Sarah's doll has an appointment for tomorrow and she will curl Sarah's doll's hair first.

The boys got walkie talkies.

Copy that?

Where are you Santa???????

WE'RE WAITING!!!!!!!!!!!

Ohmygosh, they just came out again.

Santa may never get here if people do not go TO SLEEP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!