Friday, November 4, 2011

Off to the Orchard

Every year my whole family packs up and heads out to Murphy's Orchard for my brother Christian's birthday. We have done this for the last 15 years or so. I make chili(it's usually cold. This year it was 80 degrees). We bring cupcakes and we pick apples and pumpkins. The kids love this more then anything. They run from tree to tree picking apples and eating everyting in sight. The most wonderful part of hanging out at Murphy's Orchard in Bert, NY is that they are family owned and operated. They have owned the property since the days of slavery. In fact they have a fully functional Underground railroad in their barn. The kids think it's so cool. They have been amazing to us. They allow us free reign of their facilities and the charge is miniscual. I have purchased 20lbs of apples. 10 pumpkins and a whole array of veggies from their garden for less then $30! That's awesome! We celebrated Christian's birthday on a very warm day this year. I felt bad for the kids. They had sweat running down their faces as they ran around. We enjoyed our day regardless. Emerson ran non stop that was until he saw the horses. He had a connection I have never seen before. I'm thinking riding lessons are in his future. Grif was over the heat but liked eating the fruit. Max and Alex loved the running from one end of the feilds to the next picking and eating rasberries. Austin was the wrangler. He handled the bags of fruit and kept tabs on the boys! We had a blast! Can't wait until next year!

The Air Show

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My mother and I took the boys to the Buffalo Niagara Air Show in Niagara Falls New York in September. It was a first outing for my mom with just me, Austin and the triplets. This was inetersting to say the least. First we spent 2 hours in the car trying to get close to the show. By the time we finally arrived...OVER, that's right, I said OVER!!!!!! We watched from the car as the stealth bomber flew overhead and fighter planes swooped in and out of the sky. But the final show took place as we were being directed to park. The good news is, we got to walk around and in and out of planes on the ground. I don't think the boys were any the wiser to what they had missed. They just loved the adventure of it all. I think me and Grandma did too! and yes...if you notice, Emerson is punching Austin the the man berries!

Thursday, November 3, 2011

I'm Baaaaaack!

OK, I know...it's been forever! Well we have had a ton of new and exciting things happening in the Stinner household since my last post 2 MONTH Sago!!! First and foremost the triplets have started school. That's right, my babies are full fledged students. Well actually they only go for a few hours a day but they do go every day.
They LOVE school. I think it was good to wait but I may have done them some disservice by keeping them home so long. Emerson had a rough go of it the first few weeks of school. Every time I walked up to the the door his teacher gave me the "Guess what he did today?" look. I was in a constant state of panic. He is recieving speech and special ed services through the district for his speech delay so we figured it was just a matter of time before he settled in and guess what? HE DID! Emerson is the music buff! He sits in the front of the class and is the first to raise his hand to work the "Smart Board" . He sits patiently and listens to the teacher explain the days happenings and sings the ABC's and counts with fluency. His speech is coming along nicely. He is able to communicate better. Everyday I am shocked at the new things he knows. I a one proud mama. Maxim adores school. He is my shy boy and sits in the back. He is deffinately further ahead then the other two. He can count to 100 and recite his ABC's without messing up. I asked them to make sure he gets challenged on a daily basis. I think when kids are advanced they get labled as problem children that just act out when they are bored. So far he is doing great. Alexander is my social butterfly. He has no problem making friends and likes to be the center of attention. He reminds me a lot of Austin at this age. He is lovey dovey and is always willing to give hugs. He is too smart for his own good and truth be told a little bit of a tattle tale. He is settling in nicely. Griffin is home with mama now. He loves to get ready and jump in the car to take the boys to school. He knows this is our alone time. We go to the zoo, park and often shopping. Believe it or not he LOVES to shop. During the day it is quiet out. There are no crowds and no drama. He often reads his books or watches videos on my cell phone.
Austin is now a BIG 3rd grader! I can't believe my first son is so BIG. When did that happen? We already had a brief meeting with his teacher who said he was a joy to have in class. He is quieter this year and working hard to get good grades and be a good listener. He reads constantly and is taking Tai Kwon Do. He is turning into a nice young man. As far as David and I...we are great. Business has picked up and David is busting his butt. I am doing my mommy thing. I sit on the PTA board for Austins school and I love it! It's hard finding time for each other but we are hoping to sceduele some grown up time soon!

Friday, September 2, 2011

Emerson's Surgery

On August 22 Emerson had a tonsil and adnoidectomy. He had been having issues for the last year. He had a raspy voice, snoring, restless sleep, food obversions, gagging issues and a general decline in his food intake. After taking him to a specialist I was told his tonsils and adnoids were enlarged by 90% and were blocking his airway. The doctor was concerened with sleep apnea and said he could possibley stop breathing while sleeping. They suggested we get them out ASAP. SO we did. He came through the surgery with flying colors but had a bad reaction to the anestesia and became combative. The nurses had to put him back under in order to stop him. Once he saw me, he was fine. Whiney but fine. He wanted to go home. It had been a very long day. After 2 hours in recovery we were able to take our little bubba home. He rested for several days before returning to his regular rambunctious self. Now after almost 2 weeks he is just the same old Emmy!

School Time

Well, it's about that time. School is starting and it's right around the corner. We have shopped until we dropped. I filled 4 book bags with paper, pencils, markers and crayons. I have 4 very excited boys to start school. I on the other hand am worried and a little sad. When I took the triplets to their pre-school orientation/supply drop off I stopped off for a coffee. I glanced in the back seat expecting to see 3/5th of my babies watching a movie. Instead I saw 3 BIG boys with long legs dangling in their car seats. It's a good thing I had sun glasses on because I strated to cry. Where did my babies go? 4 years ago right now they were 3 teeny tiny premature babies in incubators fighting for their lives. They barely weighed 3lbs each and were less then 16" long. I look at them in complete AWWWW sometimes. They have come so far. We have ALL come so far. I know school is a right of passage. I know they are ready. I will smile and hand them off to their teacher. But don't be suprised if I am found sitting underneath their window at school crying my eyes out(I'm bawling as I write this). My babies are growing up!

It's Party Time!

This year we decided to tone down the Birthday festivities. There would be no equpment rental and no stress. Just close family and friends to celebrate the triple trouble turning 4. First we had a mini party on their actual birthday that consisted of breakfast birthday cake and a trip to the fair. unfortunately the kids and I had a terrible stomach virus so we had car pukes and whiney kids. It turned out to be a better then expected day though. The triplets rode the rides with Austin and we had help from my sister Adrianne, my mom and my dear friends Mike & Kelly. Griffin was a bear but got over it when he was able to run free and visit the petting zoo. Unfortunately I forgot my camera. UGH! I can only do SO much! We had the party on August 20th right here in our yard. We set up the bounce house and cleaned the pool. We cooked food and had my incredible friend Jenn make 3 diffrent cakes since my lil monsters are incredibly different in their likes now. All in all it was an amazing day with perfect weather. The kids didn't seem to mind the scaled down version of their day. I really don't think they noticed at all. They ran around, swimmed, beat up the pinata and played, then got hopped up on cake until they crashed! Thank you to everyone who came out!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Triples!

Well, it's that time of year again. The Erie County Fair was going strong and my babies are turning(now turned)4! Where did the time go? Every year on their birthday I write them a "Love Letter". I do this for them and for me. I want to remember where my state of mind was when they turned...4! So here it goes...
Emerson- Awww MY Emmy! You are my monster boy. You are so smart and so sweet but you have a temper like your mommy and for that I'm sorry. Of all the gentics I could have given you my temper is something I wish would have skipped a generation. You are my snuggler. You love to curl up on my lap and say "tick me mom". I of course ablidge. You have this raspy voice that I hope will not disapear after your tonsilectomy(August 22, 2011). You make me smile when you carry your "Gonky" around. It is old and ragedy but you love it so.You adore Curious George, memorizing movies and you swim like a fish. I look at you and see this sweet little man who doesn't want to potty train but stay my baby for just a little while longer. I love you My Emmy. Love, Mommy
Maxim- My Max. You are so smart. The things you do just shock me. You can master any video game we put in your hands. The iPad is your drug of choice. You have won ever level of every Angry Birds game. You have just mastered the potty and love a good HIGH FIVE after pooping! You have your blankie that you carry around with you and curl up in when your tired. You are the only kid that sleeps through the night and in your own bed. You love to be smooched and have the sweetest little voice. You promised to always kiss your mommy before bed and to love me with ALL YOUR FARTS! I love you more then words can describe! Love, Mommy
Alexander- My sweet Alex. You are "the man" of the group. You have been potty trained for 6 months. You talk like your grown and you are the one the other boys send to me with messages. You have these amazing blue eyes that say "give me what ever I ask for". It ususally works too. You are obsessed with Spiderman and have been wearing a costume for 2 weeks straight. You will go anywhere and try anything. My little adventurer, You love to spend time with Austin and Grandma. You show kindness and compassion for others. You are a monster at times but can always make others smile. I love you Bubba! Love, Mommy

Washington DC

Now I know I said "To be continued" a long time ago but these kids are growing so fast and they keep me SO busy that I barely have time to sit down. So here is what happened in a nut shell: When we planned our trip to Virginia beach we never intended on going anywhere afterwards. We had planned to take a few days to get there and a few days to get home. We would only stop to rest at a hotel for the night somewhere in between destinations. On the thursday before our saturday departure I mentioned to David that I would really like to take the kids to The Smithsonian. Well, apparently that's all I had to say because my husband started planning a trip to Washington that second. We would stay at the Hilton downtown right near the Air & Space Museum so we could walk to the Museums with ease. The only problem was we had only brought one double stroller and one single. Meaning one of the triplets would have to walk everywhere. Unfortunately this lead to all 3 of the triplets not wanting to be in the stroller. UGH...Not a well thought out plan. Until we plopped Alex up on top of the stroller and away we went. NO WE WEREN'T A SPECTICLE!!!!! Hahah. I swear we got more looks then the museum exhibits. The first day was great. The intense heat had broke for a while so it was under 100 degrees. This made it perfect site seeing weather. We went to Air and space but they were closing so we spent only about a half hour then headed out to "Mall" where we marveled at all the big museums and people. We walked to the Washington Monument and even got a far off look at the White house. Austin wanted to know if "Barack" was home but we couldn't tell. The Dahli Llama was visiting though. He asked why they would want a Llama in the white house? This caused me to chuckle! The next day we headed out again to Air & Space and even checked out the Natural History Museum. We quickly realized our kids are just way to young for this adventure so we left without seeing much. To them, the excitement was people watching. They watched us and we watched them! They loved the HUGE monuments we went to and thought Lincoln was cool. The spiders that were everywhere outside were cooler then the monument it self though. Most deffinately the street vendor foods won out as the coolest part of the vacation. I think we'll wait a while before venturing to our nations capitol again. Perhaps when they are teenagers or have children of their own!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Family Vacation...Stinner Style!

















I was longing for the day I could bury my feet in the sand dip my toes in the ocean once again. After last years vacation to the Jersey Shore I was convinced only purely insane people would take 5 small children across state lines for a vacation. Then the "itch" started. You know what I'm talking about. In the dead of winter you start dreaming about the sun on your face and the smell of ocean air. Well, that feeling struck around January for me. I was feeling claustrophobic. I thought about it and discussed plans to rent a beach house with David. We would have to wait until July in order to fit it in with every ones busy schedule. So we made plans.

Fast forward 6 months. As I packed for our summer vacation to Sandbridge, Virginia Beach I remembered the days of freezing cold and thought to myself "HA..we're really doing it". We rented a private house so we literally had to pack EVERYTHING. Bed linens, food, towels, toys, bathing suits and tons of SUNSCREEN! As we packed our van tight the excitement built. We are really headed on a 2 day road trip that will take us to a beach paradise...just US.

I guess we were lucky. Our very first Puke didn't happen until 3 hours in. Max looked up from the iPad and said..."My bewwwy hurts". I reached for a small cup and caught mess perfectly. It was all downhill from there. We had puking and screaming and fighting. It was like World War 3 in my back seat. We would just get everyone calm and someone had to pee. That would cause the whole car to be disrupted again. We stopped at a preplanned hotel in Harrisburg, PA. The kids were happy to get out and destroyed the room in 2 seconds flat. They thought that was the vacation, little did they know...

5 minutes before arriving at the beach house Emerson projectile vomited all over the van. It was terrible. The temperature was around 98 degrees so I'm sure you can imagine how that went. We arrived in time to clean him and save everyone else before the vomit train proceeded through the whole family.

When they saw the beach house they were in AWWWWWW. 3 floors of new territory to explore. Then right there in the center of the house...a BIG SCARY OPEN SPIRAL STAIRCASE. This would prove to be a challenge but we worked it out. Then we opened the sliding doors to reveille...THE OCEAN. That's right, right outside our door was a beautiful beach that led to our own private ocean. OK, so the ocean was private and neither was the beach really but it was families and locals. What an amazing site. The kids ran from room to room excited for their new surroundings.

The next 6 days would be spent hanging out on the beach, eating seafood and swimming in the ocean. The kids were all fishes. They loved the water and believe it or not had NO fear of the giant crashing waves. I was stressed at times but it seemed to all work out. We encountered passer buys that were curious about our little band of boys and several people asked questions but it was very harmless.

We had several crab encounters including feeding them chex mix and getting yelled at by a woman walking 5 yippie dogs that we were littering. By the way, her dogs peed all over the beach! We saw tons of dolphins jumping in the distance almost waving at us. Pelicans flew over head every 30 seconds and practically blocked the sun! Who knew they were SO BIG! We had one shark siting. It was harmless. Perhaps a small nurse shark, we couldn't really tell she was far out. However you could hear the surfers screaming to shore to worn everyone. Then there was the spiders. EWWWWWWWWWWWW! Whenever you have water, you have bugs. Whenever you have bugs, you have SPIDERS and BIG suckers. I was cleaning up our beach mess when I picked up one of the kids shoes. A HUGE wolf spider jumped out and bit me on the palm of my hand. I don't know who was more shocked...him or I? From then on, we checked our shoes for critters!

We built sand castles, dug holes and collected shells. Most of all we started memories that will last a life time. My boys enjoyed it so much that we will probably make it a yearly event. Hopefully they grow out of the puking stage though. We loved our vacation so much that we decided to extend it and head to Washington DC for a few days on our way home...but that's a whole different story!!!!!

TO BE CONTINUED...