Latest Stats of the Trio!

Since it is Jan of a new year, I thought I would post the kids latest stats - they are growing like crazy!  I can't believe that they started out as tiny 3-4 pound preemies born almost 6 weeks early!

Logan -  3 feet 8 inches tall ( 58% )
               37.2 pounds  (16% )

William -  3 feet 4 inches tall  (3% )
                 35.8 pounds  (9% )

Jessica  - 3 feet 3 inches tall (3%  )
                32.6 pounds (3% )

Beluga whale Juno was checking the crew out during our visit to the aquarium this weekend!

 

It was a pretty normal, busy week for us here at the Dudley household. The kids had school, Dave is back working second shift (1:30pm - 1130pm) for a few months and I was working hard getting the house back in order from the holiday chaos. Not too much was actually blog worthy. LOL However, one of the fun parts of the week was when I went out to lunch with friends to a Thai restaurant on Wed. It was very yummy and I am excited to go back again soon.

Lucas spent the day in East Hartland CT with the wilderness school on Saturday. He spent the day cross country skiing and hiking. He was exhausted when I picked him up at 6pm!

 

Dave and I took the crew for the afternoon to Mystic Aquarium. It is only about 15 minutes away so we go quite often! The kids really enjoy going and seeing all the fish and visiting the beluga whale exhibit and the sea lions!

Sunday was winter soccer for the trio and I went to a Scentsy party my best friend was having. We ended the weekend Skyping with my sister and niece and watching the Patriots win their football game!! The kids get soo excited when we Skype! I love that technology allows us to visit with family even though we live far apart!

This week is supposed to be another pretty quiet week, but I don't want to jinx myself! We are leaving on Fri for the weekend to PA to celebrate my Grandma's 100th birthday!!!!! We are also going to see Disney on Ice!! Expect lots of pics next week!

Sledding!

After we got over 10 inches of snow last week, they predicted only 3-4 inches, all the kids want to do everyday is sled down the front yard!  It has the perfect little kid sized hill.  They have a blast!  Dave had to use snow to create a bumper at the bottom so they would not sled into the street! 

Even Lucas has been enjoying sledding!  LOL

It is 2013!!!  My last post on this blog was the middle of August in 2011!  It has been a very long time.  Life has gotten very busy, but I have missed using the blog as a family scrapbook of sorts.  I am excited to start back up this year.  My plan is to update on Mondays and whenever something else note worthy happens.  I post pretty regularly on Facebook, but several relatives and family friends are not on that media site, so I want to give everyone a chance to see what we are up to!  I hope you will enjoy keeping up with us this year!

 

We had the kids pics done this past fall after they turned 5! Yes, you read that correctly - 5!!!  They also started going to half day kindergarten in Sept.  We have them all in the same class and I get 3 1/2 hours of kid free time every weekday.  They love school!  It has been an adjustment, but I think the kids and I are into a great routine. 

 

 Love my Trio!

Lucas is now 16 years old!  He is. a junior at Ledyard High School in the Agri-Science program.  He is doing OK in school and looking forward to learning how to drive here very soon.  He is in year 2 of his braces and the end is almost in sight.  He is also very active in the drama club and just finished playing a role in the fall play - The Diary of Anne Frank.   He did an amazing job! He is also getting ready to start rehearsals for the spring musical.  He is turning into a great young man that Dave and I are proud of!   

 

 

Dave and I are doing well as well.  Dave is working for QuEST Global as a test engineer at the Pratt and Whitney plant in Middletown CT. He is really enjoying it and doing well.  He has earned a couple pay raises over the last 2 years.  It is a 45 minute commute, but I think he uses the time to get ready for the chaos that awaits him at home!  LOL

 

What about me, you ask? I am keeping very busy maintaining the house, taking care of the kids, and going to the gym a couple times a week.  Definitely a little stressed and overwhelmed some days and my insomnia is at an all time high, but otherwise doing well even though I turned 40 this past year! 

 

That is just a quick update on us for my first post of 2013! 

 

Merry Christmas!

Big Kid Beds!!



Anyone need a crib or two or three?  They are all in great shape!

I have been researching loft beds and bunk beds for the little kids since they will be 4 in Oct!  There all lots of different makes and models and you can spend lots of money, but I was looking for something that was safe, inexpensive and will last a few years.  We window shopped at several furniture stores and our last stop was Ikea after a fellow triplet mom recommended we check out the Kura beds there.  She sent me photos on Facebook of how she set up two beds for her trio and Dave and I thought they looked cool! 
   So on Wednesday after we dropped the kids off at school, we came home and removed the back seats to have room for our purchases and drove 45 minutes to our nearest IKEA store

total spent = $800!  Yikes! 

   . 
The kids were soo excited!  We told them we would put them up on Fri and this morning they were ready to get started!

Ready to help you Dad!

We also shopped for twin mattresses and IKEA had some for a great price.  I think they will work great!  he kids enjoyed trying them out this morning!

It took Dave and I a little over an hour and a half to put the boys' bed together. We had LOTS of help!  LOL
I think it turned out awesome!  and more importantly  - the boys were very happy!  They decided that Will gets the top bunk and Logan the lower for now . Any bets how long that lasts? 

                           Dave was able to get Jess' bed together in about 30 minutes!  He was really rushing since he had to leave for work and Jess really, really did not want to sleep on the matress on the floor!

1 very happy little girl!

All in all, Dave and I got everything together and the beds made in record time!  The kids took a little longer to go down for nap, but I know it is just because they were soo excited! 

I miss my  babies!  *sigh*

Lucas' Graduation from Wilderness School!

Lucas spent the first three weeks of July at a camp in East Hartland CT called the Wilderness School!  They lived totally outdoors  for the whole 20 days.  He was in a crew of 11 kids and 3 counselors. They hiked 6-8 miles everyday to get to campsites. They canoed for a few days, hiked into MA, did rock wall climbing and rappelling, a zip line course, worked for a day at a soup kitchen, spent 36 hours on  solo expeditions, and on the final day they ran a 8.45 mile marathon! It was a very intense program, but Lucas had a great time!   He is even looking into going on a 30 day expedition next summer!  He was also able to use some of the hours away as part of his Agri-Science Project for school!   We missed him lots while he was gone, but it was a break that both Lucas and I needed!!

Here are a few pics from his graduation - it was 2 groups of kids - 16 in total.  I hope to put some of the pics Lucas took on here as soon as I get his film back from the shop! 

Happy Birthday David!!!

It was a great day for Dave's 45th birthday!  Cousin Michele was here to celebrate with us.  We all went to the aquarium for the morning/early afternoon and then I left to go get Dave's surprise - a special cake that Jolley Bakers made for him!  He already knew that his b-day gift is some new motorcycle gear, so I wanted to really surprise him and planned a special cake!  Anyone that knows Dave knows he is a huge Star Wars fan, so what better way then an R2D2 cake to celebrate!  It is an awesome cake! Look at all the details and a real working light!  Love it!!!!

As you can see, he was shocked!

a better posed pic for the blog and to throw up on facebook!


After the kids and I surprised him with his cake,  Michele and I took him out for dinner and over to the casino to have fun!   A big Thank You to Rachael Roach who came over and watch the crew for me so that I could celebrate with Dave!

Swim Lessons and Gymnastics Classes at the Mystic Y! - photo frenzy

What have we been up to you ask?  The kids and I have been going to the Mystic Y twice a week!  I have been exercizing and they have been taking swim and gym lessons!  The kids have really been working hard at improving their swimming.  I also take them once a week to open swim where they use their Puddle Jumpers and swim all be themselves.

 Gymnastics class was fun, but mostly lots of running around to different stations. Can you tell which one the crew liked best?

The summer schedule at the Y has many classes cut , so we are excited to be starting a real gymanstics class in July at a gym in Niantic!  It is for 3-4 year olds and is 40 minutes long.  I talked with the owner and he gave me a discount on classes and only charged me 1 sign up fee! I hope it goes well and I think we may just stay with them for classes and use the Y just for swim class.

June Means Strawberries and Jam!

That picture is 12.5 pounds of strawberries!  The crew had a blast picking them at Grant's Berry Patch in Lisbon.  It takes about 30 minutes to ride up there and it took the crew about 30 minutes to pick all the berries.

I decided that besides making great strawberry shortcake, we were going to try our hand at making jam!  I found a very simple recipe - basically just strawberries, pectin and sugar, so I thought why not.  The kids had a great time helping me through the process.  Here is Will taking his turn mashing up the berries for cooking.

The berries getting cooked with the added pectin and sugar -

The final product!!  It is super yummy and I even did the reduced sugar recipe!  I almost don't want to use store bought again!  LOL 

P.S.  We ate thru these 2 jars in about 2 weeks and I have since made about 6 more jars! 

Will Also Loves to Read!

Jess' Turn to Read!

Logan Loves to Read!

Time to see the Dentist!

Last week the trio had dental appointments.  We took them at 2 years old, just to see the place and get into the seats and a very quick look to make sure all was well.  They went again in Oct after they turned 3 and it too was also a very short visit.  Now at 3 1/2, this was their 1st actual cleaning appointments!  Our dentist has 3 hygenists so we were able to book 3 slots all at the same time!  The kids did great and really enjoyed the visit!  The hygenists were able to let the kids relax and talked to them and explained all the tools.  The kids each got to pick out flavors for polish and floride.  Jess and Will did well sitting by themselves and Logan just had to have me hold his hand the whole time!  They each got a treat from the treasure box along with new toothbrushes and toothpaste!  Will and Jess were cavity free, but I have to take Logan back on Mon to have a very tiny cavity repaired.  All in all I was so proud of  them and they were proud of themselves! see-

Dave's New Toy!

Dave has been riding a motorcycle to work whenever he can since he bought it in Hawaii in 2001.  Last fall he took a spill and totaled the bike.  He was unhurt, but the bike was not worth repairing being as old as it was. He had been begging for an upgrade anyway, so this spring I let him start to look around and price what he wanted.  He found this 1995 20th Anniversary Goldwing from a dealer in MA. It was in our price range and in excellant condition!!!  It is a much bigger bike then the Honda Shadow he had, but he is thrilled!  I too will admit that this bike is a much more comfy ride!  We are looking forward to enjoying it for many rides and many years! 

Can you say acting like a kid in a candy store?  LOL   I love you babe!