It's been a while..

Good news! We're back in action! I tried doing better bringing my camera with me to take pictures, and temporarily misplaced it, folded up in the stroller! Ooops! We've had a fun few weeks while it was lost! We went to visit the whole Ladd crew in Jonesboro and had a great time! It is so much fun having all the little ones there playing together! This weekend we were busy reorganizing our pantry to allow more room for Margaret Anne's GF food, and planting new flowers and bushes in the yard! Austyn has spring break this week which means no preschool, no dance, and no wednesday night chuch, so there will surely be some more pictures of the happenings this week! Here are some pictures since the camera has been found!

Look at this little missy! She decided yesterday she was going to start standing up! Can you believe this is our "baby"??!?
Here is our Sunday afternoon project! While Austyn and I planted flowers in the front, Daniel made a new flower bed in the back! It is still lacking some of the flowers, but hopfully those will get done this week!

We have found our new favorite after supper activity! Austyn has total confidence riding her bike, when were down at the elementary school where it is flat, so we've been taking the girls down there to ride around for a little bit and play on the playground!

The ducks and chicks are at the tractor supply, so we've gone a couple of times to visit them! If it weren't for our HOA rules, we would definitely have had a chicken coop in our yard with 6 chickens! the girls LOVE to watch them, and margaret anne was pretty determined to be in there with them a time or two.

The girls were all up and dressed early this morning, so I took a quick photo op in the back yard before we left! No, of course I could not get them all 3 to look at me AND smile when we were outside, but I think it's still pretty cute! And thank you again aunt staci for having triplets, so margaret anne and chloe can have plenty of matching outfits!

There is little bit all smiley! Were finally getting enough hair in the front for me to clip a tiny tiny bow on it, and it sort of stay on!

This picture doesn't really need many words... she loves to have her picture taken! It's seemingly difficult to get one without an arm or leg of the others in it, too.

Little miss margaret anne wasn't up for much smiling, but I LOVE this one anyhow!

My parents have pictures of me with my "Texas" bloomies on when I was younger, so we've made sure to take some of each girl with their names across their rear! Today we were even color coordinating with our outfit (Margaret Anne's name is in blue) :)

Love, the5Ladds

We are Gluten Free!

Look at our sweet Margaret Anne! Despite having NOTHING to eat or drink all morning, she was a trooper getting her biopsy done last week and she did great. And, if we never see any of our children in the Vandy Children's pajamas again, it would be a blessing, but she did look pretty cute!

With some help from our wonderful friend, Jackie, we now are rocking along as a gluten free family. All of the girls have been doing a great job eating, and really have liked the food! And, the change in MA's personality is getting better and better every day! I even noticed last night, she looks like her little cheeks are filling out again! Not to say it's always going to be easy, but thank goodness we have a solution to the problem!

So.... Margaret Anne and Chloe got their "birthday present" a little bit early :) We decided we're going to have a joint party for them, and instead of renting a slide, we found one online for practically the same price! Since it's not warm enough yet, the girls broke it in in the living room and LOVED IT!

Although the weather is changing more than our girls shoes (which is A LOT), we really enjoyed a warm afternoon this week! Sunny, and warm enough to be barefoot... In this house, we are very ready for spring and summer to get here!

Since Austyn only goes to school 2 days a week, they are celebrating Read Across America week and Dr.Seuss's birthday for 2 weeks! Today is The Cat in the Hat, and Austyn decided to wear her "minnie mouse helmet". We were so proud since it is pretty out of character for her to participate in the silly outfit days! So far, were 3/3!!! woohoo!!

The early bird gets... some alone time!

Well we had our first week when I forgot to blog, but I think I have enough pictures this time to make up for it!! It seems like we've had crazy busy weeks lately and not much time to sit down and breathe! But, this is just the sweetest picture to me! Now that Daniel isn't going in to work as early, we had this great idea that we'd wake up and have a nice breakfast together.. have some tent time to start our day. The girls have realized though that the earlier they get up, the more time they get with Daddy before he goes to work... this day, it was Margaret Anne :)
Last weekend Yaya and Pop came to visit which was obviously a ton of fun! The girls LOVE to get to see them when they come in town since it doesn't seem to be often enough! I just love this :) Nothing too special, just sweet!We walked in the bathroom and the girls were "doing hair". We can't complain too much, because unlike my parents, our children's hair was still connected to their heads! None the less, the night ended with 2 girls with heads full of curlers! We were a little worried about Margaret Anne's hair the next morning since it is so short and soft, but (probably luckily), she pulled them at some point during the night and set them on her dresser! The next morning at church, Austyn was in the bathroom and started screaming, and when sweet, sweet Miss Erica came in to check on her, the only problem was "MY CURLS ARE GOING AWAY!!!". Good thing I was taught well to curl hair, so we can do it again whenever she wants!I have to admit, I'm not sure what it is about me, but I LOVE to recieve packages on my front door. It doesn't matter what is coming, but I'd shop on the internet always- if there is free shipping- just to get the box on the porch. It's almost silly how much anticipation I have about it. But, Saturday we got our package of little baby legs and tights that we ordered from The Wholesale Princess and we love them! I think the girls would try to plan their outfits everyday around a different pair. Sorry this isn't a good picture, we were having a dance party in the living room while supper cooked so getting them all in the lens was challenging enough!This was Austyn's input for the week... She loves to get the camera and set all of her ponies or barbies up and take pictures of them... It doesn't bother me, until I grab my camera for that perfect moment, and the batteries are dead! Austyn helped me during morning nap to make this valence for her playroom! We only broke one needle on the sewing machine, but I was really proud that she could listen well enough "slow down"... "ok a little faster... NOT THAT FAST!!!" for us to get through them! And, she was proud of them in the end!Obviously, Margaret Anne was jealous that Austyn got to climb the ladder for a picture, so she had to, too. She, however, is fearless, so she went one step higher.Little bit has decided that she can crawl, if she really wants to! She is no where near being all over the house, but if there is something in eye sight that she wants, she can pick up those sweet, chubby little thighs and get there! We keep thinking, where is our little baby going? We celebrate the little accomplishments in our house... Margaret Anne gets to sit up to the table now, instead of using her tray!! Obviously, she is pretty proud of herself! If it crosses your mind, say a prayer for her- we found out today that she has Celiac disease (not my autocorrect fb posting of celibacy disease) and she is having a biopsy done Wednesday morning. We're hoping once we get this diet under control she will be able to grow again and get back to her spunky self that has seem to go dormant these past few months.Last but not least, I am not a photographer that catches all of the perfect shots, but sometimes, ordinary things our children do hit me like a ton of bricks. I looked down after church and Austyn was clunking around the house with my high heels on and I thought to myself... "Megan, take your steps thoughtfully. She is growing up trying to fill MY shoes." It's my job to lay a good foundation, and give her a path to follow, because if I don't, she'll follow someone else. These little feet, this precious little life, is watching me, and trying to be like me always. WOW. If you're a parent, I hope you think about this too :)

Be praying hard for our sweet Margaret Anne... Love you guys!

Apparently when we want things to happen, we should blog about them!! We have good news.. With some itty panties and a whole lot of m&ms...
Margaret Anne is potty trained! She has even been at church a few times with out an accident! We are so proud of her, not to mention how helpful it is for mommy and daddy to only have 1 in diapers!

And.... Chloe got her first tooth! Even though we aren't wishing these days away, and we don't want our sweet baby to be growing up so fast, she sure is cute!

Austyn has had an exciting week, too. We went to the store and let her get her Valentine's cards. She has been looking through them ever since they put them out at the grocery, on the "fun isle". We settled in on the princess ones with tatoos. But let me tell you, having your 4 year old writing her name on 20 cards is a serious test of patience for someone who likes things to be done in the right way! On some of the cards, its like a word search to figure out who it is from, with letters all over the oval. The good part, though, is that she is proud of her work. I guess if at 14 we're still writing our name like that, I'll be concerned :)

And, for anyone who remembers the Little Golden Book "Bunny's New Shoes", you'll appreciate this next picture. Austyn asked if she could be spunky and wear 2 different color hair bows to school. What a cutie pie :)

And, this was my project for the week. Finishing my Valentine's wreath. These decomesh wreaths have become my new obsession. I'm pretty sure they could never be TOO poofy or have TOO much stuff stuck on them.

Because we're not willing to give up precious time with our children to do things for ourselves (I'm not saying its wrong if you do, that's just not for us)... We decided to bring the gym home to us!

We're about to start Insanity!! We didn't realize the serious meal plan that goes along with it so we've taken a few days to get our meals in order for this week, but look out Monday! We're hitting the ground running! We have a bet to see who can lose the highest percentage of weight in the next 60 days while we do this, and hopefully we'll be rockin our swimsuits at the pool (or lets be serious, running around our back yard through the sprinklers and princess hopscotch that we have, since our girls can't swim) in just a couple months!

And after all of the craziness that goes on in our house every week, crying, screaming, squealing, laughing, look at those sweet little faces. That is love! That's what we're in this for!

And how did I get this far and not mention it? The girls are all pumped because Yaya and Pop are coming in town tomorrow night for the weekend! Austyn and I are going to do "good teamwork" in the morning and get the sweeping and mopping done so the house will hopefully be nice and clean when they get here! Drive safe yaya and pop!

Finally February...

We've been waiting for weeks to wear the Valentine's Day outfit that Nonnie and Pops got for Chloe (the bigger girls obviously haven't been able to wait on the glittery shoes and they are already "warn in"), but now that it's the first of February we've got them on! Austyn has decided to go back to dance class and has assured us that she will be on the stage in June! So far, she's gone in 2 weeks in a row and had a great time! We went to the circuis last week, but by the time we decided to take pictures 2 of the 3 girls were down for the count! oops! Hopefully blogging will help us be better at taking pictures! All of the girls had a great time though... Chloe and Margaret Anne especially loved the cotton candy and Austyn ate her entire snow cone (and has used her elephant cup/bowl multiple times since then) And, cross your fingers, hopefully next time we post Chloe will have her first tooth, and Margaret Anne will be potty trained! Well keep you posted! Thats all for now :)