Easter 2011

I did it!! I remembered this year!! If you remember, last year I totally spaced it. And the fact that Lauren has been reminding me NOT to forget this year like I did last year just might be the reason that I remembered. Who ever said that kids forget have never met Laruen. She has the memory of an elephant. Our Easter extravaganza started Sunday night with Easter egg dying. (I did remember Easter, but I never said I did it on time, opps) This year was so much fun because both Lauren and Evan where way into it. It was cute.








I LOVE THESE KIDS!! How lucky am I!

My theory is, if they don't make a mess then they didn't have fun. So judging by their mess, they had lots of fun!



After they went to sleep, Chad put together their Easter baskets. He wanted to do it like how his mom did it for him. He had such good memories of searching for his basket and just how his mom put it all together. So it was his job to do it. I love it, I thought it was so sweet that he wanted to so badly.


Here is the finished products.

Then we hid the baskets. After Lauren came home from school, we let her and Evan loose on the house to find their baskets. It was cute and fun.
Evan found his first.


After a game of "hot and cold", Lauren found hers too.




I think that this way of doing the baskets was such a hit, they loved it and were so excited. It just might be a tradition that's a keeper.


Oscar was even a fan! But to be fair, Oscar has kind of a sweet tooth. I love my kitty.



(Don't you just love my new kitchen floor, I do..totally off the topic, but I had to point it out). After we got them all high on sugar, we took them outside to hunt for their eggs. I am so impressed with my kids. I love that they spent the whole time helping each other find eggs instead of going all crazy looking for all the eggs for themselves. What sweet hearts I have! It makes me nervous that this little #3 that is cooking is going to be a bit of a hoodlum. Well see, you never can tell.





So Easter might have come a little late this year, but at least it came. And judging by my kids faces, they didn't seem to mind at all.

What we have been up to while I have been MIA..

I have wanted to blog for so long, but to tell you the truth I just didn't have it in me. It has taken all my mental and physical energy just to get up in the morning and get Lauren and Evan fed. The Qubo channel has been going almost non stop at our house for months now while I lie on the couch moaning and desperately trying to find the will to get up and make lunch. Evan illustrated how horrible it has been for me this third time around just last night. He started coughing and ran to the bathroom, lifted up the lid and stood over the toilet. When I asked if he was going to throw up, he said, "no I just coughing." We laughed about it, but every time I start to cough just a little bit, I have to run to the bathroom because inevitably something is going to come on up and out. So as you can imagine, all my energy has been spent elsewhere and the blogging world had to be put on hold for a little bit. But life in the Triplett house didn't stand still, even if I did. Here is some of the things that have been going on.

Lauren lost an other tooth. She has been working on this one loose tooth for a while now. She doesn't just yank out a tooth once she feels it's loose. It takes weeks and weeks before that sucker pops out. She waits until it falls out on it's own, wiggling it back and forth in the mean time.


Here is a couple shots of her little snaggle tooth a couple of days before it popped out.

And here is her cute little toothless grin. Love her!! Her tooth fell out in the middle of the night and we can't find it. It is somewhere tangled in her blankets. I wonder if she swallowed it? Huh? Anyway. Her little smile is so cute with one missing tooth on top and one on the bottom.

Our Kitchen floor. A while ago, we got some laminate floor that looks like tile. We just hadn't gotten around to laying it down yet. I was so excited because I have never had a kitchen floor since we moved in!! There just always seemed to be other more pressing things that needed attention. But finally, after a good break down, we put money aside to make sure I had a nice kitchen floor. Good things come to those who wait. Slowly, room by room, project by project, my house is starting to look like a home. We just don't have the luxury to re do a whole room and then some in just a matter of months. We need to pick and choose what is most important and hold off on the rest. But I don't mind. I love my house, and these little improvements just make me love it more.


Next, I want to paint the walls and cupboards. I like my kitchen now, and I can almost imagine it with a fresh coat of paint and newish looking cupboards and it makes me know that one day I am going to just love my kitchen!!


Evan and I in the kitchen on the half finished floor. I really didn't get an after shot, but my in some of my Easter pictures, you can see the finished floor. I will do a post on Easter next :)
Every time we do a project, we write our names and date in the wall or behind something. Some where in our walls is the rose Chad gave me when he proposed and a picture of us. We have gone from just the two of us to almost 5 of us. I love that we have grown into a family in this house.



Here is Lauren and Evan drawing and writing little messages behind where the oven normally goes.

Sleeping!! A couple of weeks ago, at about 3 in the morning, we had to call an ambulance for me. I was in so much pain. And let me tell you, I know about pain. I have had Kidney stones twice, a ruptured cyst on my ovaries, and I have had two babies. So when I say that this was literally the worst pain I have ever ever ever been in my whole life, you can gage it against all my past pains as a barometer. I couldn't move my head or neck. After much consideration, we realized that I had all of the symptoms of meningitis. It turns out that I had a sever sinus infection with a very sever migraine. Although when I told the ER doctor all my symptoms, he too was convinced that it was meningitis. I am glad it turned out not to be. Well, I was home by 5 AM, all shot up with Demerol and ambien and I went strait to bed. I wouldn't wake up for two days..literally. I have never in my life slept for two days straight. I only got up every 4-6 hours asking Chad if it was time for more pain medicine. Then finally, I woke up with faint pain and not all encompassing pain. I could have cried with relief! It was seriously a nightmare and I am so grateful for Chad and all that he did for me during that time. But when I woke up..the kids where happy clean and fed, the animals had full bellies and were content, the house was..um..not..burned to the ground. It was still standing. Although it did look a bit like a crime scene.




A wonderful father he is, the best around! A close to perfect husband with endless patience and a big heart chalk full of sensitivity and understanding he is. A good cook and house keeper, he is not. But I love him for all of his flaws (which, lets face it, if that is the worst I can say about Chad, then I am a lucky girl) as well as his strengths. It did show me that when I feel like I am not making a difference, I really am. I was down and out for only two days and look what happened! Lauren let me know that I am not allowed to sleep that long again because daddy is good, but "he doesn't do the soft stuff as well." So, that in a nut shell, is our crazy life the past couple of months. 4 more weeks until D day!! yeah, I am counting down.

Baby Shower for Reece

I know that it has been a while since I logged in and posted anything. In lieu of a long post about all my pregnancy aches and pains, let me just say that I have been sick sick sick. And after months and months of marathon vomiting sessions and one ambulance ride later, I think I might just be doing better. Aside from the never abating pain in my back and ribs, life is now taken a level of normalcy. A good little breather before our little guy makes his debut. So instead of dwelling on the negative, I will jump into the positive. My sister was in town not to long ago. After our little Christmas fiasco and the consequential discussion afterward, I really think that she is trying hard to maintain a relationship and not letting the epic guilt trips that my mom can lay on keep her from seeing her sister (me). While she was out, she offered to throw me a baby shower, which is awesome because Chad (brace for a little bit of bad news) just got laid off and we have nothing for a baby. It has been almost 4 years since a little one grew inside of me. So the offer was a good one that I jumped on. I was just nervous that no one would show up, given my history with that side of the family. But in the end, it was a nice turn out. I didn't get to see as many faces as I would have loved to see, but the ones I got to see were such a beautiful site.

Here is me and my super cute sister in law Kari. We are due at the exact same time!! Which is so fun for me. But given that I have a history of going 2-3 weeks early, and she has gone over her due date with her first, chances are that the stork will visit me first. But still, it is going to be fun. She is also having a little guy. I just wish my sweet sister in law lived a little closer.

My ever growing and very cute niece Rylee, my sister in law Shari, and my sister in law Traci. I believe that when we have challenges and trials in our life, we get strength from somewhere else. I might not have the kind of relationship I want with my mom and brother and sisters (although I see a light at the end of the tunnel with Natalie..I am cautiously optimistic.) I have amazing in laws. There hearts are so big and they have loved me through good times and bad. Just being sisters...I am lucky. Because I also have a great Mother in law, Nancy.


I consider myself very lucky all in all. (if I look super uncomfortable in these pictures, there is a good reason, it is because I am.)

And get ready for this family connection...this is my step-mom Rita's mom Judy and Rita's son's wife Sarah...got that. I thought it was so sweet that they came.

My cute cousin's Jennifer and Angie.

More cute cousin's Kayli and Jill. Jill, herself just had a baby 2 weeks prior to the shower, so it really meant so much to me that she would take the time to drive up and come. I miss my family. I wish so much that I could go to family reunions and weddings and showers, but I just can't. I really hope that my family understands my deliema. I really do hope and pray for a change. I wish my mom's heart would be softened and that she will reach some kind of understanding. I wish she could see how much Chad and I love and care for each other and how happy I am in my own home life. I am sad that she had never seen Evan and chances are will not see Reece. It breaks my heart to think of how much she is missing..and for what..to be right? I am more sad for her then I am angry anymore. Any way, I got off track. Check out these cute little baby boys that were there at the shower. It made me really get excited to see my little man.


There is something so sweet about a little baby. There is nothing on this earth more pure and innocent. I can't wait for that same sweet innocence to come home to our house. (which could happen as early as next week..) To hold a little slice of heaven in your arms, is there no greater gift?