An update before the crazy gets any more out of hand!

With Halloween a few days away and a BIG surprise trip less than 1 week away, I thought it best to try and get caught up on the last few months.

Even though everyone is back in school (Chase was tracked out for 3 weeks at the end of September/early October) I can't seem to find the time (or energy) to sit down and actually get this stuff on paper! So here it goes:

July

I feel confident that we got it covered between Chase's birthday and him starting Kindergarten. Update on that: after a ROUGH week #2, we turned a corner with the help of Dunkin' doughnuts and some extra love from Mom. Now, he is rocking it at school and is already in his second quarter. More on that to come.

August

Since Chase was in school, I had to be careful not to spend too much time at the pool during the day with the littles because it was a hard enough transition for him to think about missing time with them, if we had too much fun during the day without him, it was even worse for him. Now, don't take that to mean that we didn't have fun without him because we had a great time. Play at the Y, story time at the library, visits with Mom-mom and Pop-pop, our days were filled and before we knew it, we were piling in the car to get Chase from school and head to the pool for some swim time. We also said good-bye to our beloved Rokky. At just over 16 years old, he lived an amazing life and we were grateful to have the chance to say a proper good-bye. We have not gotten another dog and I'm not sure there will be a time in the near future where we will. We have been blessed with our family pets and they will be hard to replace so we will have to wait and see what the future holds for us.

A visit to see Wool E. Bull at the Durham Bulls baseball game

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One last shot with our beloved Rokky - RIP 7/15/1998-8/21/2014

September

Happy times for Mom - the triplets went back to preschool - and 3 mornings a week. Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 9:00-Noon they are in school. We are at a new school this year and LOVE it! Did I mention I LOVE IT! Their teacher, Mrs. Sara, is fabulous and they literally run into the classrooms! They are making great progress and I was relieved to hear from her that she is impressed with their academic, social and physical abilities. She wasn't sure because they were triplets if there would be delays but she is reporting to me that all three seem to be above average, if not leading the class, in all three areas. (insert sigh of relief from Mom here). While I try hard not to compare them to each other, Chase or other kids, it is so hard not to worry about their progress in terms of development. Each boy has his own style and ability but is successful in his own right.

Labor Day weekend saw us take a trip to the beach and the kids had a blast! We are so thankful to Meme and Popi for allowing us the use of their fabulous place.

My sand creatures - C, A, G, J

Mid-month, Chase finished his first quarter of school and got his report card. Mom will brag just a moment about his high marks and his great test scores on a standardized test he took right at the start of the year. What Jason and I both find surprising is that he scored higher in Reading (and its related areas) than he did in Math. With his natural affinity for Math, we just assumed that would be his strong subject but he is excelling in Reading which makes me equally as happy.

Chase also received an award at school for showing outstanding character. He was recognized as one of 10 Kindergarten students (out of 125) and attended an award ceremony before school one morning. It just so happened it was held the morning of my surgery so Grandma went for Mom and Dad and got some great pictures for us.

Chase's Character Award at school 9/10/2014

During his 3 week break, we took advantage of the later start to our mornings and some free time to explore the area. A couple of days when the littles were in school, Chase and I would have some fun just the two of us - including but not limited to - smoothies after a 1 1/2 mile long run, 9-holes of golf with Grandma, lunch with Mom-mom and Pop-pop. We also made a trip with some friends to the Greensboro Science Center which houses an aquarium, zoo, dinosaur exhibit and Human body center. It was a great time and a wonderful day trip to take with Grandma coming along and Nana joining us from Winston-Salem. We also did some hiking at Blue Jay Point and saw a pre-season Carolina Hurricane's hockey game.

We are ready for college football! G, A, C, J

Skipping rocks at Blue Jay Point

Pre-season Hurricane's game

Monkeys at the aquarium at the Greensboro Science Center (A, J, G, C)

We had planned a trip to Meme and Popi's beach house but the weather turned cold and we decided it would be much more fun if they just came here instead. So Meme got an extra day and night at home and we enjoyed pretty weather here at our place with soccer and lots of backyard shenanigans.


October

Fall is officially here and the weather has been PERFECT! We started with some cool weather and rain but then the rain stopped and the weather has been gorgeous. We spend most of our time outside either riding bikes, throwing ball, shooting baskets, hitting golf balls - well, you get the picture. Chase is back in school. I got a trip to South Bend to watch Notre Dame play North Carolina with just my Mom. We drove to Ohio and spent the night with my brother and his family (who I haven't seen since June when they moved) and then the adults headed to the Bend for a glorious weekend of football and sunny skies. I got to see my Aunt and Uncle from California who were generous enough to let us stay at their place. A little campus walking, Irish ice hockey and family and friends were just what the doctor ordered for this Mom. Jason and his Mom held down the fort while I was gone. That included dentist appointments for all 4 boys, a field trip to a farm with the littles and soccer for Chase on Saturday. We all survived and had a great time. We have visited some indoor play places, attended Fall Festivals and I coached the littles' soccer team (where they dominated the league!) We celebrated the 67th wedding Anniversary of my Grandparents as well.

Rookie Soccer Fall 2014

While Mom is at the game, we cheer at home - J, A, C, G - we needed our rally caps for this Irish win!

Perfect Day at Notre Dame Stadium

67 years of marriage!

My little pumpkins - G, C, J, A

Spider-Chase

Bat-Graham

Giraffe-Anthony

Bat-Jack

Jack - scaling the wall of the inflatable

Anthony and Graham having a shooting contest

Dark Knight, Robin and Batman with A, J, C, G

As the end of the month rolls around and Halloween approaches, I have a bag with several costume options for the boys because they just can't seem to make up their mind. We will be joining friends this year to trick-or-treat and then we have to get our stuff ready for a big trip. You'll have to stay tuned to hear what it is and how it went!