Fall Is Here...& I LOVE IT!!!!

Fall happens to be my absolute favorite season throughout the year...and we are sooo enjoying in! Soon you can check out some pictures taken from our adventures out to the local pumpkin patch. There they got to pick out their own pumpkins and carry them (which was quite the treat for them!) and their absolute favorite was the tractor driven hayride to the pumpkin patch. The day we went was very busy as they were hosting their annual "apple festival" so there was a lot of things to do and see. Our friend Veronica came along to join in the fun!

Update!

Hello all! Just wanted to stop in and let everyone know how things are going. We are 98% moved in to our new home and are still in the process of unpacking boxes but things are coming together wonderfully! At first, it did not feel like "home" yet but NOW IT ABSOLUTELY DOES AND WE LOVE IT! There is so much room for our little ones to run and play and they seem to really love it too! Every day we get one step closer to being organized and having the house arranged like we want it which is very exciting. Some day very soon I hope to post some pictures of the inside of our home so check back soon. Unfortunately, our computer is not moved yet so it's more difficult to post but hopefully that will happen soon too!

WE ARE ON THE MOVE!!!

For those of you out there who might be wondering...THIS PAST WEEKEND WE STARTED MOVING IN TO OUR NEW HOME!!!!! It's an exciting time but also very stressful as we have been working very long and hard to try and get as much done as quickly as possible...and we are TIRED! I must admit that I am definitely not enjoying packing our current house as much as I am unpacking in our new home!!!

Logan, Brooke and Chase aren't sure what is exactly going on. All they know is that they have seen a lot of activity and boxes going out and new spaces opening up but they are doing well with everything so far. They have been with us throughout most of this transition and it is very sweet to watch them back at our new home. They enjoy running around and playing and every chance they get they LOVE TO HELP! I let them help me unpack boxes and throw away all the trash. Also, I will be carrying a box and allow them to put their hands on it as if they are helping me. Afterwards I praise them and they really think they are something special...(and they are!) but it is very cute:) On Saturday, my cousin Crystal and her family helped watch my babies so we could work most of the day and for that I owe a huge "THANK YOU" to them!

Doug's Dad, Mike, came up over the weekend to help us too and I think we managed to wear him out. Mikey did accomplish some firsts while he was here. He was the first person to ever stay the night at our new home and he was also the first person to take a nice relaxing bath in our garden tub! You deserved it Mikey because you have REALLY helped us out so much throughout this process...THANK YOU! Well, back to the grind, we will update again soon!

FOR ALL YOU LADIES OUT THERE...READ WITH PRIDE!

By the time the Lord made woman,

He was into his sixth day of working overtime.

An angel appeared and said, "Why are you spending so much time on this one?"

And the Lord answered, "Have you seen my spec sheet on her?

She has to be completely washable, but not plastic,

have over 200 movable parts, all replaceable

and able to run on diet coke and leftovers,

have a lap that can hold four children at one time,

have a kiss that can cure anything from a scraped knee to a broken heart

and she will do everything

with only two hands."

The angel was astounded at the requirements.

"Only two hands!? No way!

And that's just on the standard model?

That's too much work for one day.

Wait until tomorrow to finish."

"But I won't, " the Lord protested.

"I am so close to finishing this creation that is so close to my own heart.

She already heals herself when she is sick

AND can work 18 hour days."

The angel moved closer and touched the woman.

"But you have made her so soft, Lord."

"She is soft," the Lord agreed,

"but I have also made her tough.

You have no idea what she can endure or accomplish."

"Will she be able to think?", asked the angel.

The Lord replied, "Not only will she be able to think,

she will be able to reason and negotiate."

The angel then noticed something,

and reaching out, touched the woman's cheek.

"Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model.

I told you that you were trying to put too much into this one."

"That's not a leak," the Lord corrected, "that's a tear!"

"What's the tear for?" the angel asked.

The Lord said, "The tear is her way of expressing her joy,

her sorrow, her pain, her disappointment, her love,

her loneliness, her grief and her pride."

The angel was impressed.

"You are a genius, Lord.

You thought of everything!

Woman is truly amazing."

And she is!

Women have strengths that amaze men.

They bear hardships and they carry burdens,

but they hold happiness, love and joy.

They smile when they want to scream.

They sing when they want to cry.

They cry when they are happy

and laugh when they are nervous.

They fight for what they believe in.

They stand up to injustice.

They don't take "no" for an answer

when they believe there is a better solution.

They go without so their family can have.

They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.

They love unconditionally.

They cry when their children excel

and cheer when their friends get awards.

They are happy when they hear about

a birth or a wedding.

Their hearts break when a friend dies.

They grieve at the loss of a family member,

yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left.

They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart.

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you

to show how much they care about you.

The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning.

They bring joy, hope and love.

They have compassion and ideals.

They give moral support to their family and friends.

Women have vital things to say and everything to give

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE TINY FLAW IN WOMEN,

IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH!!!

My friend Mandy e-mailed me this today and it really struck a chord with me so I though I'd share it with all of you. To all of my women family members and 'gal pals' who follow our blog, you are all remarkable and special ladies and don't you forget it! Take the time to pass this along to all the special women in your lives who mean so much to you...and don't realize their worth!

EASTER PICTURES...ENJOY :) ;) :)

PROGRESS ON OUR HOME

We have a well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! On Tuesday, the well drillers arrived and made their grand attempt to make their way with all their heavy machinery through our MUDDY, did I happen to mention MUDDY field where they needed to be to drill our well. Of course within the first five minutes....they were stuck. Luckily, my father was my eyes and ears and went out to find out what they were thinking. It didn't take him long to figure out their plan...they wanted their equipment out and they were going to throw in the towel! Talk about a rapid rise in this gals blood pressure. I called our builder and said "Steve, they are saying they are going to get their truck out and leave and NOT drill our well because it's too muddy!!!!" Now imagine that in a much more anxious and panic stricken voice. Steve being the sweet guy he is tried to calm me down and he was on his was out to evaluate the situation. In the meantime my Dad asked the well drillers "If we can get you back to the spot you need to be can you drill the well?" They said "well yes, we want to work but this is not the only place we are unable to get in to drill". My Dad said the guy said "Yes" like yeah...but we both know that's not going to happen. So my Dad came inside and started making phone calls. He was able to contact the farmer who has always cash rented our land and called in a favor. Let me just tell you all...Keevin is my HERO! He was here in no time at all with a big CAT tractor and pulled all of their trucks back to the drilling site where they were able to hit water with their first attempt! The entire process took less than two hours. All of this stress and worry for a measly two hour job! CRAZY!!! I feel like a giddy little girl in a candy store! I cannot believe that in approximately 1.5-2 weeks we will be moving in to our new home!?!?!?!?

Thank you to all of you who said little prayers for us...God was listening! We will have more updates as they become available but tentatively our plans include collecting a water sample to be evaluated on Monday (overnight) then once the results are in and provided the sample passes then we call for our final inspection. Once we have our move in slip in hand we will be quite busy for a while getting all tucked away in our new home. WE CAN'T WAIT :) :) :) :) ;) :)

QUICK HOUSE UPDATE....

OK, so you are probably wondering why I haven't mentioned any updates on our home building recently...well that is because this gal has been PRETTY FRUSTRATED while trying to wait for Indiana weather to decide to comply so we can have our well drilled. Due to the massive weight of the well drilling machinery the ground needs to be either frozen or dry enough that it will not sink...not going to happen! I think that our builder has realized this and he and the well driller are going to make their best effort to get our well drilled TODAY! They are going to have a tractor and a back hoe on stand-by if needed to pull the drilling machine out. Works for me! Of course, I am not holding my breath as if I'd done that in the past I would not be here to type this post (I realize this is a negative attitude right now but I promise it is brief and not my usual! Just speaking through my frustration with this situation!!!) but I am holding lots of hope that this really does happen and IF it does than we are ready to call for final inspection and should be moving in very soon. So....what I need from all of you out there........send up lots of prayers today please that they really are able to get the well drilled (and actually show up to attempt it~~~oops negativity again :), and cross all your fingers and toes and what ever else you think might help!!!!! I'll let you know soon how it goes!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!

Earlier this week on Wednesday, Doug's Aunt Marie and Uncle Glenn came up from southern Indiana to visit with us. It's always nice to see family we aren't fortunate enough to see as often as we'd like! Following our very tasty dinner out at Logan's Steakhouse, Marie and Glenn assisted us in coloring Easter eggs which the kids really enjoyed...especially Chase and Brooke! Logan on the other hand found it interesting but not half as interesting as playing with his toys. Here are some pictures capturing the fun...

*Note the little blue hand...that belonged to Chase who quite enjoyed stirring up the egg coloring! It looked like he was turning into a little "Schnarr Smurf" :)

*Also, for those very observant blog readers out there...did you happen to notice an abundance of blue, green and yellow eggs...well that is not your eyes playing tricks on you...we could not get our orange and red coloring to take??? Too bad but they still turned out pretty.

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Saturday, we loaded everyone up and headed down south to Doug's parents house for a quick visit and to spend Easter Sunday with his side of our family. It was a nice trip. This morning we went to church where we enjoyed a lovely service. Following church, all the family came over to Doug's parents home where we enjoyed a nice home cooked family pitch-in meal! Talk about some good food...excluding the Herring of course (for those of you who do not know what this is, it's a "German" thing. It is a fish that is cut up and pickled and it stinks and looks even worse...NO THANKS! After dinner, all the little ones went outside to hunt Easter eggs. This was the first time my little ones had ever done this so get ready for some cute pics...SOON! I hope your Easter was spent remembering WHY we celebrate the holiday in the first place along with some fun family memory building time with family.

SO IT"S HAPPENED...

For the longest time I have really tried to prevent my kiddo's from hearing, seeing, being around others who say the words "MINE". That is one thing I never enjoy is to see a child who throws a tantrum and will not share! I have always felt very fortunate that my little ones love to share with one another and are very loving, affectionate, and caring towards one another. Well, just this past week I've heard those dreaded words more and more not from one or two of my children but all three of them have decided to take part!!! AAAAAHHHHHHH! It's not horrible and I can get them to stop and share still at this point but "WHY!, WHY!!!, WHY!!!!!". I suppose no matter how hard you try you just can't keep them sheltered from everything....

Why Logan, Brooke and Chase????

So, the other day I was surfing the "blog world" and visiting my favorites that I frequent and the Murray Crew posted about how they decided on their quadruplet boys names (yes...you read that right...4 boys that are absolutely adorable!). You can read more about their family and find many laughs by clicking on their name listed above. Anyways, back to the point of this entry, Jen and Brad (AKA Murray Crew) threw out the idea for everyone who visited their site to blog about how they came up with their children's names...thus the purpose of this entry.

That is always something that we are asked regarding Doug and I having our three sweeties..."how did you ever come up with six names (firsts and middles)?" Then it is usually followed up with "we struggled to agree on our one child's name". Well, for Doug and I the names actually came pretty easily. We initially found out the genders of baby "A" ~LOGAN~ and baby "C" ~CHASE~ at 16 weeks gestation. Baby "B" ~BROOKE~ on the other hand did not reveal herself until a few visits later. Now, being that I was only 16 weeks, they could not tell with absolute certainty that "A" and "C" were boys but they were "pretty sure" as I recall. Every time I went in and had an ultrasound they reconfirmed that their genders were in fact what they had determined. For quite some time I was convinced that I was going to have three boys as we were thinking that there was a strong chance that baby "A" and "B" were identical due to how and where they were laying...needless to say, NOT THE CASE! I was absolutely pleasantly surprised right around 19 weeks to find out that "B" was in fact a girl! Two boys and a girl...it couldn't have been more perfect if we'd tried!

Due to the extreme high risk for potential complications associated with carrying multiples (ie preterm labor/delivery, preeclampsia), Doug and I were very reserved to assign any names for quite some time. We were simply too afraid but we did spend many nights discussing potential names and we narrowed down our lists over several months. At 24 weeks gestation some of you likely recall that I was admitted to the hospital due to preterm labor after failing to be managed by oral medications at home and that is where I stayed until we delivered at 32 weeks gestation. During the first several weeks of my hospital stay I was not sure they were going to be able to get my contractions under control and I really feared that they were going to have to deliver me. It was a very trying and stressful time but we endured. Each Monday when I would increase in another week of staying pregnant, Doug and I would usually celebrate with dinner and spend some quiet time alone. One of our favorites was Fazoli's pasta and we would always finish it off with a piece of their cherry cheesecake...YUM. Once we hit 28 weeks pregnant, Doug and I got to celebrate in another way...we confidently decided on our babies names. When I was admitted at 24 weeks all I heard was how if we could hold off delivering until 28 weeks or greater the risks of our babies suffering from long term problems such as cerebral palsy, brain damage, brain bleeds, etc. decreases significantly. Being admitted at 24 weeks, making it to 28 weeks seemed nearly impossible but I am soo thankful for having such a gracious God who made great things possible for my family, extremely knowledgeable and caring doctors who took amazing care of us and a very specialized hospital that was able to provided all pertinent medical care for myself and my precious babies!

Growing up I have always loved the name Logan...though I had once entertained the idea of naming my little girl Logan..."Logan Caroline". Doug would not go for that! He loved the name Logan but only for a little boy. So, it was an easy compromise to settle on "Logan Michael". Michael is Doug's father's middle name as well as Doug's middle name so we decided to carry on the tradition with the firstborn having "Michael" as his middle name.

Doug and I had several girl names that we really liked but my heart always guided me back to "Brooke". I just think it is beautifully simple, very delicate and feminine. Quickly we both agreed on "Brooke Caroline". Her middle name had been picked out since I was a young girl...hoping one day I would be blessed with a daughter, I wanted to give her my Dear Granny's middle name. She was someone very special to me and Brooke's middle name is in honor of her. Besides, I've always loved the name "Caroline" but I did not want it as a first name as I did not want people to shorten it and call her "Carol" or anything similar to that.

I have to admit that Doug and I were most challenged when trying to decide on Chase's name. We both had a fairly long list of possibilities Chase being high on both of our list's BUT my mom worked for a bank. The bank was formerly known as Bank One but during our pregnancy they were bought out by......you guessed it "Chase". So we did NOT want people to think that our child was named after a bank because HE IS NOT!!!!!!! So after much deliberation, we did decide that ultimately we LOVED THAT NAME and felt that it fit his VERY ACTIVE in utero personality to a "T" and we could not imagine naming him anything else...thus his name "Chase Douglas". We also struggled to decide on his middle name. We tossed around the possibility of naming him after my father and brother Josh whose middle names are "Dale" but it simply did not work together. And we both agreed we each got to pick a family name to pass down so we wanted to be fair. Also, we wanted Chase to know he is just as important as Logan (whom received a family name~daddy's name!) so he too was named after his daddy.

It really was not an overwhelming or truly difficult task for us. I found as you start to consider names, you secretly fall in love with a particular name and then every other name you think about just simply will not do! I will tell you that Doug and I did have backup contingency names JUST IN CASE "A", "B", and "C" were born and did not look like a Logan, Brooke and Chase to us. Doug's father could not believe that we even considered that...I swear he thought we were crazy but it's true! Just for fun I will tell you what our backup names were. Logan's other possible name was going to be Keagon Michael, Brooke's was Lauren Caroline and Chase's was Logan Douglas. I cannot even picture them as those names now...they just don't fit. I love the names we have chosen my sweet babies LOGAN, BROOKE AND CHASE...

Luvin' my sweeties!!!!!!!

Have you ever seen anything more precious??? We spend a lot of time sitting in this chair cuddling and rocking...I ABSOLUTELY CHERISH THESE MOMENTS! Someone tell me that they'll stay babies forever...

A HORRIBLE TRAGEDY AVOIDED...THANK GOD!!!

OK, I know by the title you are probably wondering what in the world happened. Well, let me just tell you that yesterday we had something happen that I could have never imagined and I am SOOOO THANKFUL that things happened as they did. Let me just start by reminding everyone that recently we had to put crib tents on our little ones cribs because they can all climb out just as quickly as we put them in! Here are a couple of pictures of what the crib tents look like

Well, at around 03:30 PM we layed our little ones down for their nap. They played in there for a while with no obvious complaints. Then approximately 30 minutes later they all were crying and it was pretty apparent that they were not going to lay down and take an afternoon nap which was ok because they took a really nice morning nap. I realize by now most children are only taking one nap but we still have them rest twice a day even if they do not nap. Well, sometimes when they cry out like that they just want mommy or daddy to come in and lay down with them so Doug did. When he walked into the room nothing looked out of the ordinary, they were all three crying so he layed down on the floor in front of their cribs and everyone was laying down. Well, as he layed there he heard something weird coming from Chase. He said it sounded as though he was wheezing so he went over to his crib to check on him. When he got over there he found that Chase had somehow got his head stuck in this tiny hole from the side panels of the crib tent and it was strangling him!!! He immediately pulled the tension away from Chase's neck opening his airway completely and then tried to free him. He couldn't get him out so he hollered for me. I was laying down sleeping because I had a horrible migraine yesterday so I was taking advantage of "nap time/rest time" and felt comfy having Doug there to listen for our kiddos. I woke up to Doug frantically hollering for me to come help him so my adrenaline was pumping. When I got into their room I realized what was going on...OH MY GOSH!!!! Doug said "I can't get him out" and I said "cut him out!!!!". Talk about panic! When we got him free from the side panel his neck was really red like he had just been freed from a noose and his voice was really hoarse. I immediately called his Pediatrician whom asked if he lost consciousness? I said no. He said then watch him for any unusual signs or difficulty breathing and give him Popsicles, ice chips, Tylenol and Motrin for pain control. Here are some pictures I took after the fact to show the severity of the situation!!! I was so scared.

Even now that the incident is behind us I can't help but keep thinking about the "what if's". What if our babysitter had been here by herself, what if I had been here by myself, and more importantly...what if no one walked in and found him in time? My heart aches and I get teary and I feel "empty inside" just thinking about that!!!! I cannot imagine my life without my children. It is very frustrating to me that this product is SPECIFICALLY made to protect and keep babies safe and it's the same product that nearly took my child's life!!! I am Sooo thankful Doug went in when he did and acted on his suspicions to check on Chaser! And I am most thankful that God was watching over my baby and kept him safe!!!

MILESTONES, LIMITATIONS AND A HUGE CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PRINDIVILLE'S!

On Saturday, my sweet baby girl Brooke hit another milestone...she can now put her shoes on and take them off all by herself (and on the right feet even :)! I am sooo proud of her and now that she has done it once there is no chance she'll let anyone help her! She is becoming such a big girl!

OK, now I must start this next part by saying..."Thanks MOM, you really do know what you're doing!!!!" :) In a previous entry I talked about how much my kiddos enjoy watching the PBS and the NOGGIN channel. Well, there were times I wondered if they were a part of the cartoon because they may as well had been IN the TV with how close they would stand. IT WAS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!! So my mom informed me of a little trick that she used to do with me and my siblings which is...(I really think we should trademark this because it works that well!) we made an outline on the floor in front of the TV with tape and informed the little ones that they are not to go past the tape on the floor. If they passed the line we would mute the TV and they'd quickly move back behind the tape outline as they wanted the sound. We had to do that several times the first two days but now they will rarely go past the line. It's awesome. They'll sit down right at that line but will conform their little bodies so as not to cross over the line. Then the other day the dog crossed the line and all three of my little ones were not happy about it. They kept looking at Mama Claudia to see if the sound on the TV was going to go bye bye and finally we had to make the dog move because they were really stressing over it. It was cute.

Last but definitely not least...CONGRATULATIONS AND WELCOME TO THE WORLD LITTLE JACKSON COLIN STEPHEN PRINDIVILLE!!!!!! I received a call from my dear friend Angie on Friday informing me that she was holding her sweet bundle of joy! He made his grand entrance via cesarean delivery on Thursday at 10:11 PM weighing 7# 4oz and 19 1/2 inches long. It was very apparent that Ang is on cloud nine right now and is thoroughly enjoying her sweet baby boy! I do not have any pictures to offer at this time but will hopefully have some soon. My intentions are for me and my kiddos to pack up for a couple two or three days and go see Ang, Jerry, Kevin and baby Jackson very soon! Ang, if you're reading this, I love you all very much and am sooo very happy for you! You did it girl and I can't wait to meet him! I know he'll be absolutely beautiful.

UPDATES AND MANY THANKS!

Sorry for such a long delay since the last post!!! I promise to try and do better but there has been soooo much going on here in the past couple of weeks. First and foremost, I must say that we are incredibly BLESSED to have such loving and supportive families who are so good to help no matter how much they have going on in their own lives and despite that many miles between us! We cannot tell each of you enough how very much you mean to us and how much we APPRECIATE all you do for us!!! THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts. Now for those of you out there wondering what prompted that...as most of you know we are in the process of building our house. Well, in order for Doug and I to have the home we want we decided to do some of the work ourselves including painting, laying our wood laminate floor, staining and hanging the trim and the list goes on and on... I've mentioned before that both of my brothers have helped us emensely as Josh did all of our electric and Jay did all of our heating and air. THANK YOU AGAIN AND AGAIN guys...I love you! They have both done an outstanding job and our builder has been so impressed with their work that he has talked about utilizing their services with his future builds. My Dad has played a "helper" role the whole way through making himself available whenever possible and offering a hand to do whatever was needed at the time and played a larger role during all of the painting. THANK YOU DAD, WE REALLY APPRECIATE ALL YOU'VE DONE DESPITE BEING IN PAIN WITH YOUR BACK!

A couple of weeks ago, Doug's Dad came up for a solid week to stain majority of our trim. He worked very long hours (12-16) doing this task and was so sick of the stain color he could not see straight but he trucked on :) (He's already warned me not to post any pictures of him on this site...oops, I don't listen!) I only did it because I want everyone else to see how hard he's been working! He also played a major role in painting our home and laying the wood laminate floor. I think he kind of enjoyed that though. Without all of his hard work and dedication to getting these tasks done we would be sooo far behind and Doug would be completely sleep deprieved so Mikey, please know how much we appreciate all you've done and continue to do and THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

About four days following the time Mikey arrived, Doug's brother Chad, his wife Janet and their little one Jessie came up to dedicate their specialty to our cause. I tell you what...you get the Schnarr boys all together and you can get A LOT of work done in a short amount of time! I was absolutely amazed. Chad is very crafty with woodworking/trim work so he and Doug spent many hours cutting and hanging our trim. They also finessed all of the wood laminate flooring to match up perfectly with the cabinets and look beautiful...which it does! They dedicated many hours to setting all of our cabinets and in their spare time they set the beautiful tile I picked out for infront of the fireplace. All the while, Janet and I were tending to the little ones. Unfortunately, they were only able to stay for about four days (four full working days!) but in those four days the house really started coming together and feeling like "home". I cannot thank them enough for sacrificing their vacation time to come to Indiana and work as hard as they did. It really means SO much to us so THANK YOU TO YOU BOTH and Jessie too for being so much fun!

My Uncle Tom has always been the kind of guy that if you need help, call him and 9 times out of 10 he'll be right over to help. Tom has been a HUGE help to us during this process as well. He too helped with the painting, he hung all of the internal doors, and many other things that I wouldn't know as I'm not back there to catch people in action very often. Tom is a wealth of knowledge and really has some great ideas so I always like to hear his opinions. THANK YOU TOM FOR ALL YOU'VE DONE TO HELP US!

There are several other pictures that you should be seeing in the slideshow including one of my Best Friends Angies babyshower a couple weeks ago. Ang could welcome her precious bundle of joy anyday so I am very excited for her! Best wishes Ang!
The other pictues you're seeing were from when me and My Dad took the kids to the hospital to have their eir tubes placed. Everything went great!

THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS...

I thought I'd share in some of our little one's favorite things at 20 months old. It's never a dull moment around here and laughter fills most of our days!

• First and formost, our days absolutely MUST start with the little ones running to the refridgerator FIRST THING to get their favorite drink in the whole entire world...Dannon's Danimals yogurt drinks! They MUST shake them up themselves and then they make a mad dash to the drawer where we keep our straws so that we can open it for them. BEWARE if this routine is not possible for some unforseen reason such as heaven forbid Mommy forgot to get more from the store...
  

• Our children continue to LOVE the Noggin channel and PBS with their favorite cartoons being The Backyardigans, Dora, and Diego. They enjoy all the singing and dancing that goes on during these shows. I like them because 1) my kiddos really enjoy them and 2) they teach good lessons to children. My personal favorite is the Backyardigan's which I find just absolutely adorable!
  

• They love calling one another "Bubby" or "Bubba" despite having a "Sissy"...to them she is "Bubby" too!




• Little Miss Brooke has become quite the "Little Mommy" around here! If the boys are doing something they are not to be doing she does not hesitate in letting them know that they should not being doing that. I find myself sometimes telling Brooke, "OK honey, Mommy knows. I will take care of it..." It's rather funny to see her pointing that little finger at her brothers and saying "no-no". Both the boys will occasionally try to be the enforcers too but it's much more rare to see that as opposed to Miss Brookie.




• I have noticed here recently that all three of our sweeties will run to each other to comfort one another should someone get hurt or even be upset. That really warms my heart when I see that! It's funny to me though because they do not seem to have a problem with making one another upset and they are fine with that but you let me or Daddy say "NO" or scold one of them and that be the cause of them getting upset and they (the other two) do NOT like it.




• Our kiddos are very affectionate with us and also one another which I absolutely LOVE! They love to cuddle, give kisses, blow kisses and give hugs.




• I've mentioned this before but Brooke absolutely loves her baby dolls right now. She will spend most of the day washing the babies hands and face, feeding the baby, carrying it around, pushing it in a stroller or in their toy shopping cart. She's very caring towards it and it's absolutely adorable.




• Logan loves to play with puzzles, Lego's, and anything else he has to "think" about. I so can see him being our little engineer or scientist some day~very scholarly.




• Chase really loves his cars and trucks right now. He has a tote full of them and he loves to dump them out and he will play with most all of them for quite a while.




• They all three love their Little People from Fisher Price, their Crayola Color Wonders (I love these as they CAN NOT make a mess...the markers only write on a particular type of paper!), and their farm animals.




• They also enjoy walking around the house with other peoples shoes on. It doesn't matter how big or who's they are but if they're sitting unattended they are fair game:)
  
  
  

• Another thing that our little one's really like right now is to go "Bye-bye". They get so excited and can't wait to get their coats, hat, shoes, etc on so they can go with me. They also eagerly get into their carseats so they can watch their Backyardigans on their DVD player while in transit.

I could go on and on but I will end this post by saying how very much I absolutely love and adore my children and that every day they bring so much joy and excitement into my world...I look forward to the many new things they learn and do all the time and they will never cease to amaze me! How did I ever get so lucky???

Please Take a Moment and Watch...

I recently found these videos from a website I visited...what an eye opener!!! Take a moment as this can save your child's life! Visit Kyle Miller's story and Belle's story. Also, to parent's who have children 35 pounds or less... visit Madison's site.

EAR TUBES ARE IN PLACE...

Today I took Brooke and Chase to have their ear tubes placed. Both surgeries were successful and Brooke and Chase did excellent! By this evening they were both running around, laughing and playing and no one would have ever guessed that they had been in surgery earlier in the day. WHEW, I am so glad it is over!!!!! Now all three of my little ones have their ear tubes in place so hopefully we can say "bye-bye" to ear infections and being sick so often. On a good note btw, in the last entry I mention how ill my little ones were...well not any more :) They are all feeling much better now :) :) ;)

Logie Bear, Where are You???

OK, so today I have come to the realization that I have given birth to not only dare-devilish monkeys who climb on top of EVERYTHING but Logan has now managed to take on another title..."Little Logie Houdini". Why, you ask. Well, let me tell you. Today, while I was at work and he was home with Aunt Claudia (while the Cat's away the mice will play...), when it was nap time they all three were placed in their cribs as they have been every day before but today Logan decided it was high time for some change. Claudia was sitting downstairs and heard something upstairs. She thought it was our dog, Xavier, as he usually hangs out on the stairs but for some reason she decided to get up and look. Much to her amazement, Logan was standing at the top of the staircase walking around on the landing with his trusty sidekick, "teddy bear" (his beloved bear blankey that he MUST have before he will even consider going to sleep). Claudia said she was obviously shocked and asked Logan to sit down which he nicely obliged but needless to say I think it got her heart pumping a bit.

Later in the day when it was time for their afternoon nap, same thing, upstairs to their cribs, tucked in, given drinks... Well, a few short minutes later Claudia said she started hearing this "clang, clang, clang..." of the metal gate that we have at the end of the staircase like Xavier was trying to push it open with his nose. After the morning events, she definitely went to check it out and low and behold...there sits Logan. This time he had managed to get out of his crib, make his way out of their room, down the stairs, and he was sitting with his legs dangling between the slats of the gate swinging his feet back and forth while holding on to "Teddy bear" and the bars like he was in prison. OH, Logie Bear...what am I going to do with you. Wait, I know...CRIB TENTS. Yep, today proved that the time has come for the crib tents that we purchased a while ago following the first time we heard Chase hit the floor (aka. fall out of his crib). When I first put the kiddos in their cribs this evening prior to bed, it took all of two seconds for Logan to gracefully climb his way out of his crib. Although I must say, he has proved to be a great teacher... a possible career choice??? Brooke and Chase must have been taking notes during all of the "great escapes" today and by this evening they had worked up enough courage to give it a try. Truth be told, it likely would have worked out just as nicely for them had mom and dad not been in the room while they were doing it.

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Well, there has been a lot going on around here so I thought I'd take just a minute to fill everyone in. Unfortunately, all three of my sweeties have been sick :( Chase has a sinus infection now with a horrible cough and occasional fevers. Brooke gave me a little scare last night. She was also recently diagnosed with a sinus infection and started on a different antibiotic which she had been on for two days. Then last night sometime over the course of two hours she spiked a high fever of 103.4 with a horrible barking, deep chest sounding cough with slight wheezing. I was up with her for quite a while trying to get her feeling better and finally was able to do so but it did scare me so I called me Pediatrician today and they wanted to see her. She now has a horrible ear infection on top of her sinus infection so they changed her antibiotics around and I'm hopeful this will get her feeling better. Logan had some wheezing and bronchial irritation so they started him on breathing treatments 3-4 times every day. The first couple of treatments were painful as he was afraid of the machine likely because of the noise or the mask with the "smoke" coming out of it. Either way, he was not pleased about doing the treatments and he wasn't afraid to tell us. Whew, that little guy can be so strong when he's angry! I'm happy to say, now he sits quietly on whoever's lap giving the treatment until the treatment is over. A HUGE IMPROVEMENT!

Due to all of the kids ear infections, Chase and Brooke are scheduled to have ear tubes placed next Wednesday. Logan already has them and they have worked wonderfully for him so I'm happy to see this day come. I was informed today during Brooke's visit with the MD that once we get her poor little ear's cleared up that likely everything else will too. We'll let you know how things go.

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As far as our home construction goes, things continue to move along nicely. Our entire house is bricked and is BEAUTIFUL! They are very close to being finished with the dry wall. I have finalized wall colors for paint. All the flooring has been ordered. Our cabinets are in the local warehouse just awaiting us being ready for them. On Wednesday, all of the patios, front porch, sidewalks and the landing off the garage were poured (concrete). And, I'm very close to picking out all of our lighting as I've really stared narrowing it down here recently. I am beyond happy with the progress and so far the way the house is coming together is completely exceeding my expectations! I'd like to throw a HUGE THANK YOU out there to my SWEETIE for ALL YOUR HARD WORK AND DEDICATION TO GETTING OUR HOUSE BUILT. YOU HAVE GONE ABOVE AND BEYOND WHAT YOU NEEDED TO DO AND I CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH. I HOPE YOU KNOW HOW VERY MUCH I APPRECIATE ALL YOU'VE DONE! I LOVE YOU!!!

Christmas Pictures as Promised

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.