Small Moments

Life with a 5 year old and three 2 year olds is BIG…it is LOUD…it is CHAOTIC.  

All. Of. The. Time. 

Not being one that is prone to chaos, I have to admit that I struggle against the craziness and I often find myself wishing to leap forward just a few years to when I hope (pray) that things are more manageable.

But on Monday, January 2, I had a “small moment” that brought me to tears and it made me realize that within the insanity that is our life, there are pockets of sheer bliss.  Those are where my focus should be.

So with that, here are some small moments from Gausman Holidays 2011. 

•  Watching Matthew watch the Lego train at the Christmas tree farm after we tromped through the cold and mud after picking out our first Christmas tree as a family.
• The way the triplets rushed to the tree to hang their baby Jesus ornaments after coming home from Sunday school one Sunday.  The way each knew exactly which one was theirs.

•  Joshua’s Rock and Roll Snowman

• The way William carried around the giant talking Rudolph singing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer…all of the words…at the top of his lungs…all of the time.

• How much Matthew LOVES the stuffed Abominable 
• The look of pride on Joshua’s face as he marched out of his Winter Party wearing the Rudolph hat he had made during craft.

• Our morning searches for Harry the Elf.

• Our daily watchings of Chippey, Snowflake, Zart & Wordsworth. 

• Walking into Christmas Eve service with the aforementioned stuffed Abominable (Matthew), Hermie the Elf (William) and Sam the Snowman (Paige.)

• Paige’s ability to eat her brothers under the table at Christmas dinner
•  A New Year's Party complete with cake pops, ice cream, crepe paper streamers, homemade signs, hats, noisemakers and a parade in our pajamas....at 3:00 p.m.

•  A child’s wonder at floats made completely out of flowers.

•  A January 2^nd nap in my bed with Matthew cuddled in my arms and Paige asleep beside me.

Here’s to many more small moments in 2012.  Cheers.

November 6th again

On November 6th, 2008, we found out we were having triplets.  So, November 6th is always a momentous day for us.  Check this old post for the first anniversary pictures. And, by way of comparison, here they are this year.  Wow, what a difference a few years makes.

We'll try to post more updates soon.  But, couldn't let this day pass without celebrating.

Love is….

Love is a homemade Transformer crafted for a father by his 5 year old son as a thank you for taking him to a birthday party.  

Let's face it...she's cute

I (obviously) have four children.  But I only have one little girl.

She used to be a Zen baby.

Grandma Gausman & 6 month old Paige

Now, well, let’s just say the word most often used to describe Paige’s disposition on her daycare’s daily sheets is sassy.

Don't touch my Easter candy

And while she does love dresses (sometimes)

Note the shoes

She hates, and I mean HATES it when I try to do anything to her hair.  Now, I have found that (much to Carl's chagrin) if I let her sit on the counter with her feet in the sink she is marginally more tolerable of my attempts to wrestle her hair into adorable pigtails.  But sitting on the counter leads to grabbing the faucet, the cans that need to be rinsed out for recycling, and anything else she may be able to reach.

In Paige’s defense, her hair is a bit hard to deal with.  There is a lot of it and it isn’t stick straight like Matthew’s or even pleasantly wavy like William’s & Joshua’s.  She has inherited my not-quite-straight-not-quite-curly-stuck-in-some-horrible-in-between-place locks.  Her hair is impossible to comb, hard to brush & she’d rather just flip it out of her eyes than let me do anything to it.  She pulls out headbands & barrettes and little butterfly clippie things don’t stand a chance around her brothers.  So most days I just try to pull back the sides in a simple half pony tail and hope for the best.

But, she was beginning to look just a tad bit to wild-child for my taste 

And her bangs were practically under her eyes so the other day I picked her up early from day care and we traipsed out to my stylist for a haircut.  I warned her that she would need her fastest scissors for Paige.

But you know what?  That little booger did awesome.  She sat nicely and they even put a few layers in the back so it will lay a little nicer.  

So what's a girl to do after an afternoon of beauty?  Head for the nearest Starbucks for a cake pop & coffee (vanilla milk) of course!

Because she is Paige,  she wouldn't sit nicely for a picture so you can't really tell how cute the haircut is...but trust me, it is way cute.  And she knows it!

Kindergarten Looms

I’ve been inspired by my friend CB.  You see, he took an extended break from blogging but jumped in last week with a tale of his family’s vacation adventures. I’ve had great fun reading his postings  and it has made me realize I don’t need to make any magnificent reentry in to the blogging world, I just need to start writing.

But this time, instead of laboring over posts for weeks, trying to get it “right”, exercising all of my editorial prowess, I’m planning on just posting little tidbits here and there. (typos be damned). So, look for (hopefully) more frequent updates with snippets of our daily life.

So....kindergarten looms.....

Joshua starts kindergarten on August 17. How did this happen so quickly? In my head he’s still 3; 4 at the most. The mystery of the missing time will probably never be solved but kindergarten is coming just the same.

It was important to us that Joshua not have to participate in before and after school care. Not that there is anything wrong with before and after school care, it just seemed like too many transitions for Joshua. So, Carl & I have rearranged our schedules and practically moved heaven and earth to put us in a position where one of us (usually me) will take him to school and pick him up every day. As you can imagine, Carl & I are ecstatic. Joshua won’t have to ride the bus and we’ll get extra time with him before the triplets get home in the afternoon. And perhaps the most exciting part, I’ll be home earlier so maybe, just maybe, we'll have dinners that don't always involve the microwave & canned fruit. It is a win/win/win for all involved.

Except, Joshua doesn’t see it that way. A few nights ago we were talking about after school snacks. He told me he wanted to ride the bus and have his after school snack after he got off the bus. I told him no, I (or Daddy) would be taking him to school and picking him up.

He paused and said, “only for the first few days though, right? Then I get to ride the bus.”

I told him no, he wouldn’t be riding the bus (the four blocks) to school.

He then told me that because he couldn’t ride the bus I wasn’t his best friend.

Now, if that’s not gratitude, I don’t know what is! Someday you'll understand, my son.  Until then just look at it as an opportunity to get in just a little more Leapster time!

Coming up on 2

Hi everyone! That is, if anyone still checks this woefully maintained blog. I've been told that some of you do, so this post is for you. :)

In case you aren't keeping track, the triplets are about to turn 2 (and Joshua will be 5 soon thereafter, but that can't be possible.....). We have been very remiss about sharing pictures and haven't done a good job of trying to post out here. In honor of the upcoming birthday celebrations, I thought I'd post a few recent pictures. These were taken at their day care, and really turned out pretty well. Here we go....

The Fabulous Four

The Three Amigos

Joshua

Matthew

Paige

William

You may note that Paige had no interest in smiling when she was surrounded by her brothers, but was happy to smile when she was by herself. :)  

Anyway, we'll try to post some pictures of the birthday kids after the big day.  And I have a post to write (that has been waiting a long time to see the light of day) about where we've landed with Joshua's mix of real music.... So, hopefully there will be more here soon.  Until then.....

Fall pictures

We spent some time outside today playing in the leaves, and I thought some current pictures might be a nice addition to the blog. So, here you go.... Enjoy!

Joshua throwing leaves up in the air...

Matthew does his part to get the leaves picked up.

Paige enjoys the leaves!

William watches from the sidelines.

Paige is already looking forward to getting her license to drive.