HELLO AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

I apologize for being "MIA" for so long...a lot has been going on! I had great intentions to post a nice Christmas message followed by a welcome 2008 New Year message and somewhere in the haste of everything going on it was not possible so I apologize. That being said...we've got a lot to catch up on so forgive me if this post is incredibly long. I will post several pictures in the next couple of days so check back soon!

First things first, I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season this year and was able to spend some precious quality time with friends and family. We were very fortunate this year as Doug and I took a week off from our jobs to spend time with our families. It was so nice...very rushed and way too short but very nice none the less:) I always feel like I need a vacation following the holidays to recoop and get everything put back together.

On Christmas Eve we spent time with my extended family as we do every year. Our little ones had such a great time. They LOVED opening up their gifts that they received and couldn't wait to tear into the next thing. It was too cute. They ran around, played with their toys, and were quite the little social bugs. Once the night came to an end it was time to put them to bed. I was supposed to pack as we left for Doug's hometown early on Christmas morning but I was SO incredibly tired and poor little Brooke was very congested that night and she was having difficulties sleeping so I rocked her in the very comfy rocking chair and we both fell fast asleep...which is where we stayed until I was awakened when my brothers arrived at 06:00AM. I had asked them to be there early that morning so my immediate family could share in our Christmas together. Due to my falling asleep instead of packing, I spent the next hour packing while the guys loaded up the van so we could be ready to head for our next engagement. Fortunately, we did still have enough time to enjoy our Christmas morning and it gave the little ones a chance to wake up later so they were not cranky. All in all, it worked out very well. I have to share that I was really blown away when Brookie opened up the gift that my brother and his girlfriend bought for her. It was a small Cabbage Patch doll that came with a bottle so she could feed her. When Brooke saw her, Christmas was all over. She was no longer interested in opening any other gifts and she carried that doll around everywhere feeding her and loving on her. It was so adorable!!! I hadn't really thought she had reached the age where she would get into baby dolls yet but I was SOO wrong! That was the best gift she could have received and still today she carts that doll around and feeds her all the time. She also has a stroller and a shopping cart that she enjoys pushing her dolly in. Too cute. The boys did not really receive one gift that stood out for them. They really liked it all. They would play with one thing for a while and then would take off and play with something else for a while.

So after we had our Christmas that morning we were on the road heading to Doug's hometown by 9:00 AM. We arrived at his Aunt and Uncle's house shortly before noon which is where they were hosting the Christmas party for his extended family. It was really nice to see all of the family as we do not get to see them often enough and it was especially wonderful to see his Grandma Keiffner. Her birthday falls on the day after Christmas and she is 90 years old so we value all the time we get to spend with her. She is always so sweet and her face just lights up with joy when she sees all of her Great Grandchildren. She is truly a special lady to us!

Christmas night, we celebrated Christmas with Doug's immediate family. His brother Chad, wife Janet and their daughter Jessie were all in town from Tennessee so it was really wonderful to spend some quality time with them. We had not seen them since July last year and I must say little Jessie has sure grown fast. She is approximately 15+ pounds now, is crawling, coos and "talks" all the time and is one of the happiest babies I've ever seen. Such a sweetie! Look here to see cute pictures and the "happenings" in their life http://www.jessiesjournies.blogspot.com/.

Early (very early) on Dec. 26th, Joann (Doug's mom), Janet (my sister-in-law) and myself got up before the sunrise to head out shopping. The guys stayed home and took care of the kiddos. We were back home by 9AM so we all ate breakfast, managed to sneak in a nap and then it was time to head off to Grandma and Grandpa Schnarr's house to celebrate our last Christmas get together. It was so nice to see both of them!!! Grandma Schnarr's birthday was a couple of days prior to Christmas and we unfortuantely were not home yet so we had to wish her a happy belated birthday:) We ate a wonderful lunch/dinner including shrimp cocktail with homemade cocktail sauce, Merkley's BBQ (GOOD STUFF!), ham salad sandwiches, chicken salad sandwiches, potatoe chips, a 7-UP salad, fresh grapes, spinach dip and bread, along with fresh, made from scratch carrot cake (Grandma's special:), a cherry delight and fresh baked cookies. We all ate until we couldn't eat another bite but it was SO good as it always is. My children LOVE popcorn shrimp so I tried them with some of the shrimp cocktail...they couldn't get enough of it! They ate so well. I was so proud of them. They really enjoyed themselves as they ran around playing, getting into Grandma and Grandpa's prized possessions (that they weren't supposed to be in to), loved on their Great Grandma and Grandpa for a good while and really enjoyed playing with all of Great Grandpa's fun animated Santa's and Frosty's that dance around and sing. It was really cute. Grandma had a nativity scene, ceramic none the less, sitting in the middle of her coffee table in the living room. We would tell Chase "no touch, just look". I wish I had a video of this but he would walk all around that table, would not touch a thing but would study every little piece so intently and get as close as possible to not be touching. It was too funny!

On Friday, Dec. 28th, Doug's Mom and Dad offered to watch our babies so we could go out on a "date". How often does that happen?!?!? It was very nice and THANKS AGAIN MOM AND DAD FOR TREATING US TO A WONDERFUL NIGHT OUT!!! We traveled to the French Lick, Indiana hotel and casino. We really had a great time. We gambled for a while, ate dinner, toured the hotel, took lots of pictures, and then headed off to tour the West Baden Hotel. That hotel is just immaculate and should you ever get the chance to visit I would highly recommend it! If you have a few minutes go here http://www.frenchlick.com/ to see what I mean. Sadly...I must admit that we did not win any money gambling but we only spent 10.00 and we gambled for quite a while so I thought it was well worth it!!! I do wish thought that for one night I could have the luck that Doug's dad possesses!!! That man has to be one of the luckiest people I know. When we traveled to Las Vegas several years ago he walked up to a slot machine, put a dollar in, pushed the button, and won 400.00+ dollars. That was prior to us sitting down to eat at the Rain Forest Cafe, while there he wanted to have a cigarette so he stepped out, put in another dollar into a different slot machine, pushed the button and won 300.00+ dollars. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN??? I had sat out there playing the slot machines for quite a while and just won enough to keep playing. I tell you...some people have all the luck:)

On Saturday, Dec. 30th we headed home to prepare for our return to work. Monday was a short day for me but it was very busy! That night was New Year's Eve. Unfortunately, Doug had to work so we were unable to ring in the New Year together. He was out "fighting crime" while the little ones and I played games, ate some very tasty, unhealthy food, and visited with my family. They had a wonderful time and really surprised me as I did not make them go to bed at their normal 8:00 bedtime. Rather, I let them stay up until they became clumbsy and slightly fussy a little after 11:00PM at which time I went and laid down with them and they were all three asleep a few short minutes later. At midnight, I was laying in the bed cuddling my babies. They were all sleeping but I wanted to share the New Year's with them:) After that I got up and enjoyed my first and only alcoholic drink while playing Uker (a card game) with my family. It was a fun time.

This past Saturday, I taught a prenatal class during the day and then Saturday night Doug and I traveled to Noblesville, IN. where our local Mother of Multiples group got together for our annual Holiday party~ADULTS ONLY. There were 25 couples in attendance all of whom have triplets ranging from newborns to 8.5 year olds. We went last year too and once again, we had a great time! It is nice to get together with such wonderful families who are always very supportive and understand all that raising triplets encompasses:) A couple of the women that belong to the group have grown to be some of my closest friends. This year we played the MOM's (mother of multiples) version of the Newlywed Game. There were 10 questions, 5 directed to the women and 5 to the men and then we had to compare our answers...outloud none the less which was quite funny but I wasn't prepared for that at first. Doug and I did not do very good. We only got one question right but in our defense, I thought some of the questions were difficult. There were a few that were directed to the women and I struggled to come up for an answer for them so I was thinking to myself..."how the heck is he supposed to get this right when I can't even answer the question myself?" It was a fun icebreaker game for such a large group though and you definitely got to learn a few things about the others:) Then we played a version of Family Feud. I really liked that game as we were one of the two winners. Yeah...a gift card for Lowe's. That certainly comes in handy right now as we're building. After most of the others left, there were a handful of us left and we had two games of Uker going. Good times. We did not even get home that morning until 4:30AM. I cannot remember the last time we pulled an all nighter like that! Whew, was I tired ALL DAY the next day!!!

OK, so now on to some updates on our construction! There has been SO much going on I don't really know where to begin. First things first, our roof is done...finally! Also, we passed our inspection without any problems so things are moving rapidly again. Last week, the insulators completed our entire house in 4.5 hours. WOW! Also, our front door arrived and should be installed very soon. Today, our gutters were put up, they started dry walling, and have started bricking the outside of our home. From what I am told (it was already dark by the time I got home from work so I could not see it:(, the brick layers are all ready 20 brick high all the way around. Doug was out there helping them all day today, not because he had to but because he wanted to and is very excited. I really feel bad for him though because he had to work last night so he did not get off work until 6:00 this morning and he did not go to bed at all today. Now he is working some overtime tonight until 1:00AM. Needless to say, he was already pretty tired at the start of his shift so I'm praying he makes it home safe and I'm going to make his sleep in in the morning! Speaking of sleep...that sounds pretty good to me right now. I think I'm all caught up again. I will hopefully have a lot of pictures up very soon so be sure and check back soon.