Monday, December 28, 2009

Merry Christmas - Part Two

Christmas morning as a family!
We had a wonderfulo morning - a little crazy, as usual with 3 toddlers! They LOVED their stockings (my mom made them!)
Jason and his new sign for his shop. His most exciting present thought was new tool boxes for his shop and some new tools. Spoiled guy! :)

I got some very nice gifts too! I guess I would say I got spoiled too! :)

Cameron and Daddy!

My boys - LOVE these guys!
It was funny how much Madison loved the trucks we got for the boys! She is going to be her Daddys girl I think! She was playing with trucks all night at the McKinneys too! I don't know about her! :) She was having tons of fun getting inside the dump truck - as you can see!
Cam and his stocking - He LOVE LOVE LOVES balls! He really has a good arm at throwing too! He might be our baseball player!
Blake and his stocking. We haven't really seen a toy that he just loves yet. He LOVES his blanket though! :) He just kinda wanders around, quietly and does his own thing.

Madi and her stocking! They all three LOVED their stockings from Grammy!
My three Christmas Miracles!!! :)

Merry Christmas-Part One

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2009!!

We had a wonderful Christmas celebration this year! Back to the busy holidays! It was hard at times, I was really missing my Grandma and Grandpa!! We spent Christmas Eve morning having breakfast with Brian and Sheila, very yummy and lots of fun!! Christmas Eve evening was spent with Jason's family. It's always a fun time, visiting, lots of kids and good food! We also went to the Christmas Eve service together as a family. The kids did great! They sat through our churches the night before and then the next one. I was very proud of them. Of course they had to have a LOT of crackers to keep them occupied! :)

Me and My Honey (and Cams head!!)

Braden reciting the Christmas story for us! Very impressive!


Nathan also had it memorized but he read it to us instead.

Brian, Sheila and Briscoe (soon to make an appearance!)
Miss Madison Joy - Love this spunky little lady!!


My Boys! They are getting so big and handsome!

Cameron

Grace and Tyler

Cam and Grandpa Curt

Aunt Boo and Blakers
There were a lot of babies at this party! :)

Brogan!

Monday, December 14, 2009

The weeks that Jason is home are SO full and happy! It's been a great week! It was so sweet to see how excited the kids were to see him this time. Usually the first day they are happy to see him but they just want me. This time they were so happy and excited and stayed that way all week. They just toddle around saying Daddy, Daddy! So cute!

I got a break Wednesday to just run some errands and take my time doing things in town. That's always nice!! Life right now seems to just be hurry hurry hurry. I LOVE the time when I can just be slow and not rush onto the next thing! A couple nights while Jason is home he sends me into bed early to just veg - which I LOVE!

Thursday we hung out together adn had a good slow day. Jason was able to accomplish a couple things too.... :) Brian and Sheila came over for the evening! We don't get to do as much with our friends lately so it was so nice to hang out and visit! The kiddos always love to play with Brogan too! So fun to have a friends and cousins!

Friday Jason and I got to go to Boise for the day! YAY! My Mom and Dad watched the kiddos so we could take the day. We did some Christmas shopping and errand running. I love that - we don't do that much cause Jason HATES shopping. So it's fun when it happens! :) We went to dinner at the Texas Roadhouse, one of our all time favorites. All around a great day!

Saturday I got to go to Boise again to go shopping!! How great is that??? I shopped until I dropped!! First I stopped at my parents house to help do a little Christmas decorating. Then Kristen and I took off to do check off our Christmas list! We had so much fun, although she didn't make it the whole day! ;) It can be hard to keep up with my shopping habits! I got snowed in Boise and stayed the night with my parents. Jas had the babies all day and all night until I got home. I missed all of them SO much! It was hard to stay the night away but my sweet hubby wanted me safe! Can't beat that!!!

Sunday was a wonderful family day! Lots of vegging and hanging out together! There's nothing I love more than hanging with my man! And of course our kiddos! They are getting so big - we just try to soak up every minute!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

14 Months


This post is a little behind - but it's here non the less! The time just keeps on flying by! It feels like ages ago that the babies had their first birthday. It was only 2 months but they just keep changing so quickly, growing so fast!
The last few months has been a struggle with these kiddos. A lot of it is due to Jason being gone so much! It's stressful being a 24-7 single parent! They are starting to act out more too - I suppose that comes with the territory though..... :) I think we are just experiencing things sooner than most people because there are three of them! Most kids at this time are not having to learn that they have to share and they have to be nice. There is not an older more understanding child - they are all the same age and they want the SAME thing! We just continue to work with them, teach them to share, not to hit and to love their brothers and sister! :) Although they do just get at each other, it's so sweet to see that they already love each other also! They crawl up to one another and try to give hugs and kisses! It's SO cute! I love it- it does my heart good!

Madison is all walker now! She looks so cute doing it to cause she is so small! It looks funny seeing such a small person cruising around! She has been much happier since she started walking too! She LOVES it! She just walks and smiles and looks back to make sure you are as impressed as she is. SO cute! She is a whopping 17lbs 2oz now - still not even on the charts! HAHA! She is at the 45% for height though so we may have a good basketball player on our hands! She is a funny little girl! She is a handful but a blessing just the same! Madison has learned to say please in sign language and is working on thank you. She can say : Momma, Dadda, hi, cracker and dog. Everything else I don't understand yet! :)
Blake is not walking anymore yet. He can do it - just chooses not to I guess! :) He LOVES to cruise around on his knees! It's the funniest thing. I am not sure why he likes it so much but he does. He is even starting to get calluses on his knees from doing it so much. Blake is starting to have a bit of a jealous attitude and a little temper start to show. He is getting VERY possessive and does not like to share Mom OR his toys. I do feel for these kids, they have had someone constantly steeling toys or pushing or climbing on them since - well since they were inside me! I understand the frustration but can't allow it just the same. So we have been working on that the last couple weeks. They all love to "give loves" to each other! That just makes my heart so happy! It's so cute!! Blake is at 20lbs 10oz now. Still on the small size for weight but was in the 75% for height. I think he might be a tall one! Blake doesn't talk much, he is our quite guy. He says momma, dadda, dog and hi. They all have pretty much the same vocabulary so far. He says please and thank you very well in sign language. He can do the touchdown hands too! :) Daddy thought they should know that! :)
Cameron is getting really close on the walking. Still a little unsure of himself! But he loves it when he does it. He continues to be my happy go lucky kid! He is so funny all the time! He has started whining a little more lately though. :( wanting more attention than he gets! There is just not enough mom to go around! He is my little snuggler too! I LOVE that! Cameron is 21lbs 11oz and all chunk! Although, he is at about the 50% for height and weight. Cameron signs please and thank you very well too! He says: Momma, Dadda, Papa, dog, hi and cracker. Cam loves to laugh. You won't really even know he's around, having a conversation and start to laugh - then in jumps Cameron laughing just as hard as he can to show you he is there! :) He loves to clap and do any kind of trick he can to make you laugh and pay attention to him. He can also do the touchdown move. Very important skill!

Each day grows busier and busier! And most days more and more challenging! But I was reminded today about how blessed I am. I have triplets! Triplets that came 2 months early with NO complications!! They are now growing and healthy just like they had a normal start. There are a lot of multiples stories that are not that happy. As hard and as challenging as it gets, I have three amazingly healthy, beautiful babies!!! God is so good! I am thankful for the reminders he gives me right when I need them!

Christmas Trees

I LOVE the Christmas season! Such a special time of the year! A great time to be reminded of our Savior and the ultimate sacrifice He came to make for us! I am SO thankful for His love and salvation! I need it!!!

I also love the traditions, the family, the snow, the decorating and everything else that goes into this time of the year! One tradition we have - although we have had to miss the last few years for one reason or another - is going with our friends up into the hills and getting Christmas Trees. I LOVE doing this. I have turned to the dark side since we got married and have wonderfully perfect, pre-lit, fake tree. However, I do like to have a real one for the porch and fresh branches and twigs for the house! So we went with everyone one and found a great tree! We had to forge to creeks and climb a couple hills but we got to it and it looks great on my front porch! Jason hung some lights (that are now falling hopefully we can fix that soon! ) and it looks great! :) The day was so fun! The kids had fun with Grandma and Grandpa McKinney and Jason and I enjoyed a day to ourselves!! Kristen and Sage came along for the first time which was a lot fun too! I am glad they are married and living close and can do all this fun stuff with us! There was quite a bit of snow up there too which made it feel even more like Christmas. The leaders of this outing did go as far up the mountain as we could - the snow got deeper and made the last leg of the trip a little scary for my taste!! There was a drop off on one side of course and the snow was deep and slick on the last part of the road. So the slip and sliding towards the bad side of the road had me nervous. Although my husband tells me we were never in any danger I still get scared! But that's cause he almost killed himself just months after we were married fourwheeling in his truck. But that's a different story...... :) Anyway, fun day - fun traditions! Now - to finish the decorating.....

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Happy (Late) Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was a very fun filled week!! Jason got to be home so that made it especially nice!! I started off the week getting to go see New Moon with Kristen and do a little shopping - SO fun! We got lots of fun visiting in too which is always nice! We don't get to do that as often as I like so there is always so much to catch up on! Wednesday I got to spend a couple hours with Jen visiting over coffee - much needed visit! Thursday was a yummy Thanksgiving dinner at Aunt Boo's. She always does a WONDERFUL job on the dinner - we love being there! Last year we weren't able to be apart of Thanksgiving or Christmas cause the babies were too little. So this year was especially special! :) My family also came so we had the whole McKinney clan and the Martindale clan. That is always nice, that way we don't have to switch off or jet really fast to the next get together! Friday was up there as one of my FAVORITE days!! Sheila and I got up and went shopping ALLLLLLLL day! We had so much fun! I can't remember the last time I have gone shopping, all day, no time limits and money to spend......Can't beat that! Saturday we went with the whole gang to get Christmas trees. That was SO fun! Curt and Rene' watched the kids for us so Jason and I got to spend a lot of time just being together and visiting. That is such a rare thing for us right now that it was SO needed and SO good! Such a struggle to have him gone SO much!! We found a great tree and lots of extra branches and twigs to decorate the house up with. The rest of the week was pretty quite at home, the babies got sick so we just stuck close and hung out. Jason helped me get some decorations up which was so sweet of him! Now I just need to finish.......









Sunday, November 22, 2009

Yea for Cameron

Cameron is a semi-walker now. He has taken 4 or 5 steps here and there but only when the moment is just right. Most of the time he won't even try and then all of the sudden he takes off. He's a funny guy! Just wants to keep us on our toes I guess!!

Madison is crusing ALL over the place! She is so funny to watch teeter-totting around with her arms out for balance! I LOVE this stage! So cute to watch them try. She is SOSO proud of herself to. She looks at you with a huge smile on her face as she walking around and keeps looking back at you to make sure you are still watching her.

Blake is still trying too. He hasn't quite decided he likes it as much as Madison but he's getting there. He can go for quite a while too if he doesn't get too excited. Sometimes when he gets really excited about it he trys to run or something and down he goes. He REALLY likes to walk on his knees - so that's his main mode of transportation right now! :)

That's the quick update for now on my little cuties!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Going Private

Hey guys! I think I decided I am going to make my blog private. SO....if there is anyone out there that reads my blog and wants to continue to stay up on the crazy life of the McKinneys leave me a comment here on the blog (or facebook) with your email address so I can send you an invite to the blog. You will then have to log in to read the blog so hopefully that won't scare you away. Anyway - I will do this in a week so let me know if you want to be on the list.

Thanks!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Walking!

Well, Blake made it to the ranks of walking! It's so cute to see how differently they all walk even! :) He started taking some steps a week ago. None of them are walking on their own, we stand them up and they take 4 or 5 steps. He is very in controll though so it should be anytime! We have hardwood so that makes it pretty slippery. He get's soo excited when he starts cruising! I love it.

Cameron took his first 4 steps courtesy of Uncle Jacob this morning. He has totally not been into trying. We try to stand him up and he just sits down. So good job Uncle Jacob. I am still not sure he is THAT into it but that's ok! Everyone can go at their own pace! It's fun to watch them learn and explore!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

When Daddy is in Charge

Mommy gets VERY VERY good care! :) I got a bad cold (from the babies) and ANOTHER cyst ruptured! But what a wonderful man I am married to!! He pampers me and meets my every need. Although, he has refused to even touch me because he does not want to end up sick. :) He does a wonderful job taking care of all 3 babies too! They play and eat
and sleep and have lots of fun!!

This is what also happens when Dad is in charge for the day:




















A tipped over chair and diapers (clean) all over the floor, and a pile of dirty diapers on the changing table! :)


I don't know if you can tell but the bottom shelf of the closet is now on the floor!










So-the house is messy but the Momma got a lot of rest and the babies had a great day with Dad. So whats a little mess???

Friday, October 30, 2009

Remembering

I was sitting here thinking about this time last year a bunch of things had just happened. Going through losing my Grandpa and remembering him made me think of this time last year. Grandma was in Utah not doing well (this was mid September) and I had finally gotten out of the hospital and sent to stay with my Grandpa until the babies came. I was not sure how the was going to work. :) But my Grandpa was AMAZING! He took such good care of me! He made me all my meals and made sure I was comfortable. He would go out and get me stuff. He would come in a sit on my bed and talk to me, very short talks! If you know my Grandpa I am pretty sure he had ADD, bad! :) Looking back now I see what a special time I had with him, not knowing he wouldn't be around much longer either. And then about 9 months later I spent my time taking care of him. As hard as it was to see him decline that was also a special time that we could share! I miss him so much!

I've also been thinking about it being a year since Grandma died. Oh how I miss her!!! This time of the year is usually when we start planning our big girls shopping trip! It was such a fun time. We would meet for breakfast at like 8, go shopping until l 1 or so. Have lunch and shop for the rest of the day. Then we would usually end it with dinner! Such special wonderful times! She was such an amazing lady!

Also, we had just brought our all three of our babies home! Cameron and Madison had come home on the 23rd and Blake came home on the 28th. I tell you, leaving Blake at the hospital and coming home with the other two was the hardest thing I had ever done!!! I just knew he would feel abandoned and hate me forever and think I didn't love him! Oh, it was so hard! It was also scary to even bring two home! I was so used to having nurses around all the time to tell me what to do and tell me if they were ok. They had such a hard time breathing that it was scary not to have their monitors hooked up. But I can't tell you how amazing it was to pick up my baby for the first time and not have a million cords fighting me the whole way. Or how amazing it was to actually walk out of the hospital WITH my babies in my arms instead of day after day leaving MY babies in the care of someone that wasn't their mommy and me leaving empty handed! I was pretty scared about handling them at home too! We had to do a "test run" at the hospital the night before the were released. They have hotel type rooms in the NICU and you stay in there with your babies to make sure you can handle their more special needs. That night did NOT go well! We handled it obviously but it was a LONG, ROUGH night! :) But it all worked out. We were sleep deprived (wait, we still are!:)) but that didn't matter cause our babies came home - HEALTHY!!! I can't believe they were all about 4 1/2 lbs this time last year and now they are huge and learning to walk! Time flies doesn't it? It's so good to sit and remember how completely blessed we are - even when it's hard!!

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

13 Months

I can't believe my babies are 13 months already! Didn't I just post about their 1 year birthday??? They are growing so fast! They are learning and discovering new things daily! It is so fun to watch them. They are also getting harder these days - they are VERY into Mommy right now! Which, I do appreciate it's just hard when 3 babies are crying for you to pick them up. They are also getting real good at the temper tantrum business - they learned that from Jason! :) So I spend a lot of my time correcting and disciplining, but what mom doesn't? They are getting SO curious! Into everything they can get their little hands on!

Madison is our little strong willed dare devil! She is fearless this girl! She will climb on anything and jump off anything! She has NO concept of consequences! She is also a major mommies girl! Funny combo huh? She follows me around the house whining a crying until I pick her up and pay attention to her. We have had to work on breaking that habit cause I do have to get things done and I do have 2 other babies! :) She can be a very happy funny girl if she wants to. Key word is WANTS to! :) She has the funniest little laugh! I love to hear her talk and laugh! She is also starting to walk! She has taken quite a few steps just not quite ready to commit to it! This girl LOVES to eat too! Most days she out eats the boys! And she loves to dance to music. It's so funny how music can get her attention.



Blake has such a neat personality. He can be the most serious, just sit and stare and take
everything in boy I have ever seen. That is how he is a lot, but the the other times he gets SO loud and excited. He just bounces and screeches and jets around the house as fast as he can. It's the funniest thing to watch. He and Madison love to chase each other around the house. Blake is such a sweetie! He's like his Dad and is kinda a loner. He does his own thing and is very happy to do it that way. He is a tall skinny little fellow too! I don't think he has an ounce of fat on him! It's all muscle baby! :) He really likes music too and starts to clap and dance when he hears it. We are still trying to convince him that food is a good thing. :) He just really loves his bottles. He's warming up to the idea though. He finally got some teeth in and has one top tooth and one bottom tooth. Jason says he is going to be a flagger...... :) They all three LOVE being outside! If only their mommy had the energy to go out more often. :) Grammy bought them all snow outfits so we will be set to play whatever the weather! He is getting so close to walking. He will stand for a long time and get so excited. Then he will take one step and fall! I think he gets scared. Won't be long....


Cameron is our funny man! He just laughs all day! He laughs at himself if no one else is paying attention or he laughs when anyone else is. If he is wanting to get some attention and other people are laughing or talking he just starts laughing AS loud as he can so that everyone will look at him. Yea, he likes the spotlight! :) He is always coming up with new funny faces or sounds or tricks to do. He does the Indian thing with his hand on his mouth. He drags his finger off his lips to make another noise. (These are hard to describe in writing! :)) He clucks his tongue and the list goes on! He is also my very sensitive kid! He cries at the drop of a hat! Madison pretty much keeps him crying! You can hurt his feelings very easily! He is also our little short chubby boy! It's so funny to see the differences between him and Blake! He's SO cute though! :) He keeps me laughing most of the day! He hasn't even attempted walking yet. Still a little unsteady. He walks around with push toys and things but hasn't quite worked up the nerve to try. All in good time!

We love these cuties!! Can't believe how fast they are growing up! Enjoy every minute - it goes by SOSO fast!

Friday, October 16, 2009

I'm Feeling

Sad! I'm feeling lost, overwhelmed, stressed and way behind on life! This is a hard season, going through loss! I miss my Grandma who has been gone almost a year now. I'm not ready to say goodbye to Grandpa too! The roles they played in my life are so amazing. I just wish they could still be here.

I do have to say how thankful I am for the Grandparents and Aunt Jean that I do have left!! I have been amazingly blessed in this life to have not just 1 but 2 sets of AMAZING Grandparents! Each set so invloved and so much a special part of our lives. Most people don't even have one set of Grandparents that involved. SO I have been blessed. But, that also makes it just that much harder to say goodbye and let go. I am glad that Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Jean are here, loving us and their Great Grandbabies!

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Just a quick post

to document Madison first steps!! She took about 4 steps yesterday evening while playing with Jason and I. She has refused to even try since then - go figure! :) But hey it's the still counts! :) She is growing up so fast, such a cutie!

Monday, October 12, 2009

Loss....

is such a hard thing! Grandpa Martindale passed away on Saturday night. I was staying in Boise with my Mom and Dad since Jason was out of town. My Dad took me to go say goodbye on Friday night, I am glad I had that chance. It was one of the worst experiences of my life though. Grandpa look AWFUL! He looked like he was dead. It was so hard to see the man that I love so much and have had so many wonderful memories of laying there - all 75lbs of him - looking like that. He had lost 100lbs in less than a year. Even though it was hard I cherish the time that I could just sit and hold his hand. He said a couple words and squeezed my hand.

We will miss him so much. Not even a year since Grandma died! They were they cornerstones of our family! Because of that though they taught us how to be a great close family and I pray that will continue even though they are not here to enjoy it with us.
Grandpa was such a funny great man! It's hard to explain him! A few years ago he pulled quite the stunt! Picture a old man, a classy, successful businessman. He decided (with the help of my cousin Stacie) to see what it was like to be a bum. He got some old, dirty tattered clothes, blacked out his front teeth and made a sign that said "Will work for Beer!" He then stood on the the street corner (in front of their business) with sign for hours. I can't remember what happened just that he did it!






He also started our Winnebeggo fund for his grandaughters. Every month we paid dues and have saved money for about 10 years now. He was very good with money and investing and wanted us to learn the same thing. So he would have meetings with us, help us invest and make decisions. It was a great thing for us girls!
He also taught us how to gamble! Yep, that was Grandpa! Every Christmas, Grandpa would spot us $20 and we would play for hours!! He loved it and we loved it! We looked forward to it every Christmas! I got pretty good too - would walk away with some after Christmas shopping money!! Also on Christmas after a DELICIOUS dinner, Grandpa always had a game of bingo ready for us. He had envelopes of money from $5-100 and we would play until it was gone. Each winner got to randomly pick an envelope if they got a bingo! So fun! He also started a tradition of everyone taking a turn to talk about their year and the blessings in it!

For about 10 years Granpa had been sending out a newsletter to all the kids. He would write some of the funniest things! Sometimes serious sometimes just silly. We loved them - he was such a character! Always full of Grandpa's advice!
The stories could go on and on about the things (some good some bad :)) that he taught us, the things he did for us and the time he spent with us. He was a wonderful man! My Dad said that he accpeted the Lord last year afer Grandma passed so we are holding to that hope that he did and is now in heaven and happy!! He will be soo missed!! I am not ready to say goodbye and I can't describe the hurt. But - we have to! So I will just try to remember the good times and remember how blessed I was to have both Grandma and Grandpa Martindale! They left such an amazing legacy for us to carry on!

Thursday, October 8, 2009