Back to the Daily Grind.

For those of you who haven't heard, Lance and I just got back from a much needed vacation in Las Vegas. We flew out on the 5th and came home the 8th. It was heavenly. I forgot my camera (still kicking myself) so I had to rely on one of those cheap disposables, which I only had when we went to the Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon. The pictures didn't turn out too bad but I won't bore you with too many vacation photos. We went with 2 other couples (Mike and Ellie and Aaron and Jess) and our (single, attractive, available) friend Tara. The 3 girls are friends of mine from high school (probably not for much longer after they see my blog).

Tara, myself, Ellie, and Jess in front of the gorgeous view of Lake Mead. Sorry girls for posting your photos without asking. I think you all look beautiful. If you want your photo removed you have to send a request, in writing, and it will be removed in 5-7 business days.These photos were taken by Mike, who actually remembered his camera. Mike, if these photos are copyrighted, you'll have to let me know how much you charge to allow me to publish them.
This is Hoover Dam. About half way down you may be able to see a ventilation shaft. The next photo was taken from inside of the ventilation shaft, looking out. We took the dam tour and it was very educational.That is about the extent of our photos. The rest of the trip was also amazing. I would have loved to show you MGM, the Venetian (my personal favorite), the Bellagio, Treasure Island, Caesar's Palace, the Stratosphere, and whatever else we saw, but unfortunately, my photographic memory only gets me so far. So I guess you'll all have to go and experience it yourself.

Lance actually won a little cash playing one of the slot machines ( I won't mention that he lost a little playing Blackjack). He also went on a thrill ride called the Big Shot. It's the worlds highest ride at 921 ft above the Vegas Strip. You're shot 160 ft straight up into the air at 45 miles per hour. He has a photo but won't let me post it. The rest of us were too chicken to go on it.

We really enjoyed the site seeing, ate a lot of good food, did a lot of walking, and had a great time with our friends. We are already planning a trip for next spring.

Thank you to my parents and Ray and Vicky for watching the kids.

Vampire on the loose.

Our youngest and smallest child has developed a crude way of defending herself. She also uses this technique to prevent predators from stealing her prey. Sometimes she just does it out of pure joy. Brooke was the first to get teeth, has the most teeth, and uses them frequently.

Ryan will bite on occasion but mostly I see him go in for the kill, then his conscience takes over, and he turns to me for help instead. My son has developed empathy.

I have never seen Gaby even attempt to bite, at least not a human. Walls are a different story. "Gee, I don't know how my kid could have gotten lead poisoning?". She didn't care much for the taste and stopped after 3 bites. I would welcome any advice to curb Brooke's bad habit. Both Gaby and Ryan are peppered with the bite marks. If we catch her in the act, we tap her on the mouth and firmly say, "No biting". Most times though we don't actually see her do it. We just find one of the others screaming in pain. The other day, I actually punished Gaby by putting her in her crib after she wouldn't stop screaming for quite a long time (I was trying to comfort her but she was just plain angry). Then I undressed her for her bath and found 3 fresh bite marks on her back. I had thought she was just throwing a tantrum because Brooke took her toy.

Crazy Cake.

Here is the finished product. I will also include the recipe for those of you that have never had the pleasure of enjoying Crazy Cake. Not only is it easy but it is very moist and doesn't have a lot of fat.

Crazy Cake

3 cups Flour

2 cups Sugar

1/3 cup Cocoa

1 tsp Salt (optional)

2 tsp Baking Soda

2 tsp Vinegar

1 tsp Vanilla

3/4 cup Oil

2 cups cold Water

Sift dry ingredients into a 9X13 pan. Make 3 holes. Pour vinegar into one hole, vanilla in the second, and oil in the third. Pour water over everything. Mix until smooth( a fork or whisk works well). Bake at 350 degrees for 35 min.

This cake is good without frosting or even with a dusting of powdered sugar. My mom also made her own frosting by mixing peanut butter, powdered sugar, and a little water. My husband likes it with the Coconut Pecan frosting that is usually on German Chocolate Cake (which I buy at the store).

Often when I make this cake my mom reminds me that I once added too much vinegar for some reason and it tasted awful.

Ashlyn's singing debut.

Here she is singing Happy Birthday to me and baking my birthday cake. She is making a Crazy Cake which I grew up making. It's perfect for kids because you put all the dry ingredients in a 9X13 pan, and then make wells and add the wet ingredients. I also let her play in it with measuring cups (and her hands) until we added the wet ingredients. We love this cake.

Here is a photo my mom brought over of me on my first birthday.

Let there be LOVE.

This would have made a great Valentine's Day post but today is my birthday so I'll put it on now instead. Use your imagination and you'll see the word LOVE, spelled out by Ashlyn. We have a great day planned. Ashlyn is going to bake me a cake (with a little help), then I am scheduled for a massage this afternoon, and Lance is bringing home pizza tonight. What more can I ask for?

A cure for the winter-time blues.

I got this idea from the Parenting magazine and it was a huge hit at our house on a Sunday afternoon when it was too cold to go outside. It said to make forts out of your couch cushions and ball up socks to use as "snow balls", then have a snow ball fight. Ashlyn and I teamed up against Daddy and we kicked his butt. The babies mostly got caught in the cross fire but they giggled when a snow ball bounced off of their head. Anyone who knows Lance can guess how much he enjoyed this game. I had to set rules up from the get go that he was not to turn into Rambo and that he should go easy on Ashlyn, at least. Of course, I was his favorite target so I didn't need to worry too much. Eventually I just put the basket on my head so my face was protected. We will definitely play this again.

Then afterwards we took warm baths and had hot cocoa. The only downside is that we are still finding balled up socks throughout the house that got lost during the battle. Oh well, missing socks are a daily occurance at our house anyway.

Eat, Drink, and be Merry.

This is a new bib that we are test driving. It is made by Baby Bjorn and I ordered them from Target. I am so tired of picking up food off the floor after the babies eat. Also they keep taking their bibs off, creating an even bigger mess because then they get their clothes dirty. I have mountains of laundry as it is. (If you happened to notice that my children mostly wear pajamas, this is why. They are nice and warm in the winter, so we just change their diapers, and they wear the same clothes day and night, between baths).

So far, they love the bibs. As you can see, they think that the proper use of this garment, is a feed bag. They walk around eating cheerios out of them. The bibs are made of a softer plastic and have a molded lip at the bottom for catching crumbs. Once they are done eating you can just rinse them and hang them to dry (the bibs, not the kids). The neck has a connector that makes it pretty hard for any baby to remove them. We'll see how long that lasts. So far, so good. They also come in lots of bright colors.We have 3 little winos in the making. One night the babies were disguising their sippy cups by putting them in boots and then drinking out of them.

Here Ashlyn is practicing her yoga moves. Lately, I have been making an attempt to get back to my former, and better habits. Namely meaning exercise. Try enjoying the serenity of yoga in a calm, relaxing atmosphere. If you can do all of that and not bust out in laughter while watching her do this, you're better than me. This isn't even the best part. Whenever I am in any position that requires me to get down on the floor, she is either crawling under me or trying to lay on me. At least she keeps me motivated. At least 3 times a day she asks me if we are going to do our "estersizes".

Shoulda seen the one that got away.

Daddy and Ashlyn went ice fishing this afternoon. This was her first time. Over all she liked the fishing but informed me that she doesn't like the ice part. Lance said he left her for a second, by the truck and told her to stay there, when he turned around she was laying on the ground. After that she insisted on being carried whenever they were walking on the ice.

Let there be laughter.

I planned to write this post, describing in detail, my crazy morning. The title was to be, "Diary of a Mad Momma". I turned on my camera to document exactly why my head feels like it could explode any second. Instead I found these photos. My mom must have taken them yesterday while I was out enjoying a few hours away(grocery shopping, and completing my skills testing at the hospital). So instead of hearing me rant and rave about the joys of parenting toddlers, thanks to my mom, you get to see these guys.

I do have to tell you one cute thing they were doing this morning. Gaby started it and taught them all. She, for the past couple weeks has been bringing me bits of junk off the floor, and when she hands it to me, I say thank you. Unlike Brooke who thinks our floor is an all-you-can-eat buffet. This morning, Gaby started trying to pick dust off of our radiators (they aren't hot enough to burn them) and bring it to me. Just what are you trying to tell me, Gaby?
Happy Wednesday!! It is Wednesday, right?

We needed a makeover.

I decided to give our blog a face lift. It's a new year and we have a new house, so why not a new blog. Plus I always felt bad that I titled our blog Triple Blessings and left out Ashlyn. She is a huge part of our family and I wanted to include her in the title. So I changed it to Triple Blessings + One. I hope no one thought we were having another baby.

Ashlyn has loved playing dress up lately. She loves Princesses and anything girly. Whenever she is starting to drive me crazy I say "if you don't stop it, I'll sell you to the gypsies". She always used to say, "no, I don't want to go with the gypsies" until the other day I said "why not, you would like it, they wear dresses, and beads around their neck, and dance". Now she says "mommy can I go with the gypsies, pweeese".
Here is Brooke modeling one of my sweat shirts. It seems we all are in need of a makeover.

Gaby is "striking a pose", practicing for her future days with Vogue. She was clomping around the house, wearing one of Ashlyn's pretty sandals. One of the kids' favorite toys is definitely shoes. Snow boots, their own shoes, Ashlyn's shoes, rain boots, mommy's shoes, and even daddy's boots usually end up strewn about the house. Ryan says, "I gotta find a way out of here, away from all these crazy girls". Yes, he is standing on his booster seat looking out the window. He and Brooke have both been caught climbing the chairs again.

Eating and Sleeping.

We are attempting to add a little culture to the babies lives. One way to begin this, is to introduce containers from which we eat, aka bowls. Up until this point, I have been leery of putting anything else on their trays that could eventually end up in my face. But, since they won't be allowed to eat off of the table when they go to preschool ( which is light years away but who knows how long it will take to teach these kids table manners) the time has begun. This is the second time I've attempted tableware. It seemed to go the same way each time. Gaby immediately picked up her bowl and dumped it's contents onto her tray. "What is this pink thing anyway?" Which is why you don't see it in the picture, because it is immediately taken away if it doesn't stay on the tray. Ryan did well and because, it seems, he is having a growth spurt ( I can tell this because he has been eating everything in front of him, asking (whining) for more, and eating everything on his sister's trays whenever he gets the chance) he also felt the need to lick the platter clean. Sorry, Bud, that you are captured per photo eating out of a pink bowl, but mommy hasn't had time to buy you a boyish one yet. I'm sure it will taste the same.Brooke picked daintily out of her bowl, taking her time and weeding out all the chunky pieces. Just like she always does. It explains why she weighs 2 lbs less than the other 2. What I don't understand, is how she can manage to extract the slightest amount of texture out of every bite, yet is the only one of the 3 that will eat anything and everything off of the floor. I have rescued bugs, wood chips, bits of lint, and (thank God) a screw, out of her mouth, and who knows what has actually been ingested. Hopefully it had lots of protein.The kids decided today that nap time would be in their new "bunk beds". They have been very into climbing lately. Anyone really good at baby proofing? I seem to be lacking in that area.