Whipped Cream!

Caleb found the spray whipped cream in the fridge and we had some fun with it. He made whipped cream cup cakes with sprinkles for his 'friend' Caiden. We froze the cup cakes and took them to Caiden last night and he was very excited to get them. Caleb insisted that I have a whipped cream nose too and that we take a picture to show dad.

Monkey off my back

I think I am finally caught up with the blog. 18 posts in two weeks..whew! It has been a big weight on me and unfortunately I know I have missed a lot of funny great stories over the last few months by not updating on a regular basis, but hopefully I can keep up now. yeah for me!!

This is what it has come to....

Its no secret that we breed monkeys here at the Gardner house. Caleb scaled the pantry to get to the hidden treats at a very early age and the triplets are not going to be any exception to that rule. Most recently they have been climbing on the kitchen table. We had been doing our best to keep the chairs pushed in until Cohen and crew figured out how to move the chairs out and over to what they want. What they want is to get whatever is on the counter, in the sink and on the stove, most of which is dangerous.

Today was the last straw. I decided to make bacon and was SO looking forward to a BLT sandwich for lunch. I needed to run to the store and when I got back there was no back and guess who ate it?? Mark admitted to having some, but the rest was eaten by the little monkeys.

Mark and I discussed it and we needed to take further action. The plan was at nap time for me to go back to Lowes for bungee cords. According to Mark I got the fancy kind but I was worried about them getting hooked on the regular ones. Plus, the ones I got would be easy to unhook so that we could let Caleb in and out of his chair easily. The straps did not go so well....for some of us.

Cohen very upset about the straps on the chair.

Boom! Boom!

The weekend at the lake was SO much fun. Tons easier than we thought it be. The babies enjoyed all of the steps up and down. They have very plush carpet so by the end of the weekend Cohen would just slide all the way down. Cohen is a HUGE dog lover so he was super excited that there were two there. Cecilia liked the
a lot too, and Christian really was indifferent. Everyone loved to play pool or similar games with the pool balls. The trick was to keep the kids off the table and the balls on it.

As usual the babies went to bed around so they unfortunately did not get to see any fireworks. That was fine with me since Christian, even though he looks and acts a whole lot like Caleb is afraid of his own shadow.
The kids all loved to play at the sand beach and I even convinced Caleb (well actually it was a bribe/threat). The babies were left with Mark and when we got back I was instructed to not ever leave him and the babies alone on the beach again. Apparently it got a little stressful since they loved the water so much. We loved that they loved it, but sand is such a pain in the butt to clean up.

The fireworks display is always the highlight of the weekend. Other highlights were the karaoke machine and the Breathalyzer. We were all up too late and got up way to early, but hey, it was fun. My only regret is that I did not get any pictures of the kids in the sand or really anything at all.

Bath time- Christian and Cohen

Bath time-Christian, Cohen and Cecilia

Nolan, Caleb and....all of the fireworks
Blue lipped Caleb and mom on the boat waiting to watch the awesome fireworks display

Road Trip!

Every year for the 4th of July we go to Mark's Aunt Lisa and Uncle Steve's lake house right outside of Columbia, MO. This year I talked Mark into going and as time got closer he was the one reassuring me that it would be ok. Going there is really not much different than going to the lake of the ozarks, but it is closer to home so that is nice. There are usually about 30 or so people there which makes for an exciting time. WE decided that we would not wait until closer to the babies bed time to leave since Cecilia refuses to sleep in the car anyway. We went ahead and turned all of their seats so they were facing forward and that way we could throw food at them at dinner time. As it turned out Mark actually got off work early so we were able to load the car while they were napping and on the road by 3ish. They weren't sure what to think about sitting forward, but they had little devilish grins that showed they were really excited about it. They were fine for awhile, but were not interested in their sandwiches or fruit I brought so when we stopped so Caleb could go to the bathroom I pulled out the m&m's. They were a huge hit and stopped the crying for a little while. The M's tied them over until we got there but Cohen was not happy.

When we arrived we were given the coveted 'cave room' This is the room below the garage that is cold, dark and quiet. The bonus is that it is also the play room so it has the roller coaster and tons of toys/books. On the way to our room there is a sunk in fire place that we were worried about falling into, but they were really careful around it.

While Mark unloaded Cohen discovered that they had a dog (who quickly wanted to be away) and the steps up to the loft and down stairs.

Caleb watching a movie trying to drown out the screamers with his headphones
Christian and Cecilia which chocolate covered faces

Cecilia and Cohen (very unhappy..screaming for more m&m's)

Bows!!

The babies have really started to want to play with all of Cecilia's bows. Keep in mind she has a whole basket of them along with a hanging ribbon full and has no hair. I really shouldn't say that she has no hair, but most of it is on the back of her head and the little hair that she has on top only holds a small bow. When I put the small bows it is like sharks attacking and it is immediately ripped out. Some days I am worried that the little bit of hair on her head is going to get ripped out with the bow, but so far so good. I actually have just given up on putting bows in her hair for the time being.

This particular day was different though because everyone wanted to wear bows and lots of them. Here is Cecilia modeling 3 or 4 and yes, we do know that Christmas was 6 months ago.

Christian has the best hair for bows and seems to like his white one. Caleb kept yelling at him to take it out so it became a funny game.

Oh, and mommy can't be left out. Caleb is photographing the models.

Cohen wanted NO part of the bow pictures

Happy 60th Dad!! June 20th

My dad turned 60 this year!!! We took him out to dinner with my grandparents, Jason, Sarah, Emma and Logan. We left the babies with my mom so we could actually eat and enjoy our time out.

Being the nice daughter that I am I found this hat and made him wear it throughout dinner. He was a good sport and the kids really got a kick out of the hat since it had 'candles' on top. We wished him many more great years and ate till we were stuffed.