Top Tooth Gone!

Ellie lost her first top tooth! This makes it her third tooth to date. I'm not quite sure this tooth was completely ready to come out but Jake succeeded in getting it out. It's been wiggly for awhile and last night he gave it a good yank so that it was barely hanging in there. Ellie didn't like that but it left the tooth just dangling so there was really no choice but for Jake to pull it out. The highlight was the dollar that the Tooth Fairy left last night!

Carter was very distressed by Jake yanking out Ellie's tooth. He says his teeth are stuck and never coming out. I don't think he will ever let Jake near his mouth now! He's still discussing it this afternoon so he apparently found it very traumatizing. I wasn't there to see what it was like as the tooth was being pulled. Loose and wiggly teeth are one thing I just can't deal with so I was hiding upstairs during the whole process! I couldn't even look in Ellie's mouth until the bleeding had stopped. I just hope she keeps the other front one in until the new one starts to come through!

Halloween Party

We had the MVMOM Halloween Party this Saturday. It was a great opportunity to attempt to coerce the kids into their costumes and give them a trial run. This year we will have Gabriella from High School Musical (Ellie), Woody from Toy Story (Carter), and Jessie from Toy Story (Ava). Ava wouldn't wear her costume for the party but did wear her hat.

Ava had fun decorating her cookie

Doesn't he just look like a cowboy with the low hat?!

Woody and Gabriella

The "parade"

I love how Carter is holding Ava's hand!

The entire gym filled with people

Special thanks to the wonderful Bonnie Korman who took all the photos for the party and got the pictures of Carter & Ellie. I only snapped the one pic of Ava the whole party.

The party went great! I feel I'm starting to get the hang of this with it being the third party I've planned for the group. It's hard to tell if the activities I choose are hits or not but I've heard good things so far so I'm guessing that the party as a whole must be alright! The kids had fun but it gets to be a long morning for them when we are there to set up at 9 and don't leave until 12:30ish. They were all ready to load up the car when everything was packed up and Carter didn't even make it home. The church we hold the party is about 15 minutes away and he didn't even make it 5 minutes before he crashed in the car! All and all, we had a fun morning though! Next up, the Holiday party in December. Wonder if they'll like Santa this year......

Birthday Celebration!

Ava and Carter are 3!! We celebrated their birthday Saturday night. I made lasagna (which seems to be my standard birthday meal for them. I know I made it for their first birthday party and it was either lasagna or manicotti last year for their second birthday. I'm very consistent!).

We did a separate cake for each twin and then Jake got his candles tossed onto one of the cakes after the twins blew their candles out. I had big plans of decorating a cake with a Dora face for Ava and a cake with a Diego face for Carter. However, with the Halloween party that morning and having to cook dinner that afternoon, I just didn't have the energy to attempt such a task in me. There was a whole container of orange-tinted buttercream frosting left from the party and since I couldn't just throw it away, I used that for their cakes and shoved their Dora & Diego figurines into the cake. Hey, at least I tried!

Here's all the pictures of the present opening and cakes. Please excuse the fact that they are only wearing underwear. We are still working on the concept of cold weather and the need for clothes.

Carter did not like when we sang happy birthday to Jake. We didn't even attempt to sing it to Ava and Carter but it didn't matter who the song was for, he didn't want to hear it!

I think I have a picture of Ellie with the exact same expression when we sang to her at a birthday. I will have to see if I can find it!

Redemption

It ate at me all last week that I forgot to have Ellie practice her spelling words. Every time I went to the fridge last week, I saw the new list and constantly reminded myself to make her practice.

Friday morning, I grilled her. This week was a review week but had 25 words from previous tests along with five "super challenge" words. Despite her resistance to my quizzing her, she managed to rock the test! She got all the regular words right and 4 of the 5 challenge words. The one word she got wrong, present, was one she struggled with at home and as it was 8:53 when I asked her that one and 8:54 is the time she needs to head out the door to get to the bus stop on time, I let it slide.

But I just have to say I feel redeemed. I didn't fail her last week! And since this week is EM (formerly known as MEA) and she gets out two hours early today and has the rest of the week off, there is no spelling test. Hooray for that!



In other Ellie news, I don't believe I have posted a picture of her in her new glasses. They are purple and super cute. My favorite pair she's had thus far.



Now off to finish off our busy week. Ellie has the next two days off of school. Jake took Thursday and Friday off from work. Friday is the triple birthday (hence Jake's time off. He apparently can't work on his birthday, which is compounded by the fact that it is also the twins' birthday and on a Friday this year). Since it is also supposed to be Fall Break for me, one of my online classes had no assignments and my Saturday class does not meet. However, I have to plan, organize, and pull off the multiples' group Halloween Party on Saturday. I also filled my to-do list with numerous household projects and school projects I can work ahead on. Of course, to rain on my parade, history teacher has decided to lay it on real thick this week, so I have to add all his numerous deadlines in with all my other projects. Oh well, I'm loving the productivity levels I've been having with all these things to do! The old Alissa might just be back! (Although Mom, I promise to try not to reach the point where I knew you used my chapstick because while you placed it in the exact same spot on my dresser, you had the label just a little bit off from the direction it was supposed to face. I realize that I might have been just a bit insane with the OCD tendencies back then and will try to control that from happening again!)

More as we tackle our week of fun and get things done around the house! Til then, toodles!

Dancing Prince

He's a dancing prince. We just don't have any dress-up clothes that are princely enough so unfortunately the Belle dress is what he chooses. He sure loves the noise from those high heels though!

My Mini-Me

So often everyone gets caught up in exclaiming how much Carter is like Jake. They have the same white-blonde hair and blue eyes. Both were sturdy little guys when they were little. And their temperaments are even similar. Except for Carter's round Ramaker melon, he is a mini-Jake.

I feel it necessary to point out that there is a little girl in this house who looks an awful lot like her mama. We had the same darker blonde hair and beautiful dark brown eyes. We may not be exact matches, but she resembles her mother.

You are such a lucky little girl Ava!

Indian Summer

We have had an uncharacteristically warm October. September was cool to the point of having to crack out the almost too small clothes of last winter to get through each day. I wait to buy the twins' clothing until my multiples group's fall sale, which wasn't until the end of September this year. Normally, that would be fine but this year September was so cool that I actually went to Target one day and bought Carter a few pairs of sweats and long-sleeve shirts in his new size just so the kid would be warm and not baring a midriff.

Then comes October, with days in the 70s and 80s. Of course I have already packed up most of the summer clothing since September was so cool. Luckily I left a few things out because these kids are wearing t-shirts and shorts each day.

The weather has been so nice that we decided to have an outdoor meal this past weekend. We grill year round, but to be able to be outside playing while grilling and to even eat our meal outside, in October nonetheless, was quite the treat!

It apparently was so warm that clothing was optional!

We also had our fall photo shoot on Sunday. Here's a sneak peek of one of the photos. I spent a lot of time picking out coordinating fall outfits only to have a day that reached 80! So while we look nice with the fall colors, we are all actually sweating in our attire. Last year we froze, this year we perspired! Just can't win!


Photos taken by Annie Torrini Photography. I changed it up this year and decided to try someone different. Her blog is http://www.atorriniphotography.com. You can see a few more sneak previews of our shoot there. We are the "W" family.

Staying on Top of Things

Going back to school has been good for me in that I've really had to be on top of my organizational skills. I love to organize and have everything in perfect order and having such limited free time has really enhanced these skills and given me that little spark I was missing since staying at home.

For example, we have the fridge with all things important to Ellie. The monthly calendar, the weekly spelling list, and underneath whatever other odds and ends she brings home that we can't toss out yet.

Then there is my planner, which I use to line out all the due dates for each class every week. I also write in other things we have going on as well and have it color coded by activity.

Next is the wall calendar, which takes the color coding to freakish levels. However, it is very handy to look at the calendar and know that all purple is me, orange is Ellie's school, pink is Ellie everything else, green is the twins and so on. I am a little bit OCD and now you have some of the proof.

Finally we have my desk area. I feel like this is where I live most afternoons. With two online classes and another that has a large component of online activities, I spend a lot of time on the computer completing assignments. Add to this my post-it note system along with all the other modes of organization and you get a paper nightmare that I also have to keep in order!

But I seem to manage it all. At least for the most part. Every now and then, something slips past my notice. Unfortunately, last week it was Ellie's spelling test. We usually do a final practice of words Friday morning before the test. Last Friday, the morning was running smoothly and we had some extra time. I grabbed some of the math flash cards she's been bringing home that we haven't had time to work on yet. We got through several sets before she had to go. I was feeling so proud of myself after she left.

I went to put the flash cards back on the fridge and glanced at her school calendar. There right in front of my face were her spelling words. The ones we forgot to practice. Talk about feeling awful! Luckily Ellie didn't seem to care that we forgot to practice and seemed to think 10/14 was an ok score. Thank goodness they haven't learned about percentages yet! Oh well, to try to step it up this week!

Daddy's Boy

Carter loves his daddy. Lately Jake is one of his favorite topics. "I want to show ... to Daddy." "Where's my daddy?" "What's daddy doing?" You get the idea. Although Carter likes to snuggle up with me, I think Jake is his favorite right now.

Here is Carter trying to exercise like Daddy:

This is a typical night at our house. Carter wants to be so close to his daddy that he often sits right on top of him and not necessarily on his lap!

Carter used to be a Mama's boy but definitely prefers Jake's company now. At least my girls are still attached to my side!

Growing Up Too Fast

Carter has been very big into discussing birthdays lately. One of his favorite topics is how he is going to be 3 on his next birthday and how he wants a Diego birthday cake. It wasn't until the other day that I realized that their birthday is only in a few weeks.

Where have my little babies gone? It is so hard to believe that they are almost 3 years old! I feel like the last 3 years have both aged me considerably and sailed by in the blink of an eye.

There are some advantages to 3 (or almost 3) year olds. The conversation topics are rarely dull. Their imaginations run wild and it is so fun to observe what games and ideas they concoct. And of course, we are reaching the height of the independence era. They would rather do everything themselves, especially Miss Ava. I love seeing their different personalities.

Ava is the boss and everything is her way. She likes to play Barbies and babies and doesn't mind playing by herself. She also has decided that clothing is optional. I'm sure you've been wondering if I ever dress my children and the truth is that I try. Ava will wear clothes out in public but the minute we are in the door, she strips to her underwear. I'm not sure why this is but hopefully she will decide clothes are a necessity when it gets colder out!


Carter is our cool little man. He prefers to have company with him at all times. While Ava is off playing quietly, Carter can be found right next to me chatting my ear off. Everything is "Watch this Mom!" He is very into jumping, somersaulting, and tossing balls around. Dumping everything out of my neatly organized containers is another favorite pasttime.

I find it so hard to believe that these two are almost 3. I still remember the day we came home from the hospital and how petrified I was to be in charge of these two fragile little babies! Now they are nearly official preschoolers. How time flies!