Our kids are growing up

I'm sure many of you remember the stage your children were in at the age of ours. You're probably saying that it's no big deal. Well right now, it's a big deal to us that our children have reached a couple of small milestones.

From Luke

We just started Luke with potty training this past week. We've got a stash of stickers to give him when he uses the potty. He gets 1 sticker for #1 and 2 for #2. He's usually does #2 in his pull-up, but there has been once he has done a #2 in the potty. On the other hand, he has done very well with #1. About the only time we need to throw away a wet pull-up is after he has been sleeping a while.

We have a sticker board for Luke that we have taped on the wall. When Luke gets a sticker, he has to show it to all of the babies and then he sticks it on his board. It's getting pretty full now.



Mark and Becky have started to crawl. Becky's the fastest, but Mark is getting there. Jared is doing the rocking thing, so it won't be long before he starts crawling. Becky is also able to sit up on her own.

From Becky

Also, we have a picture we just had to share. Robert has already shared it on Facebook, but some who follow this blog don't get onto Facebook much if at all. After mommy and daddy got done with their corn-on-cob one evening, we decided to break it up and let the babies gnaw on them. The totally loved it.

From Triplets

Southern Utah Vacation

We took the latter half of July to escape the heat of Arizona and visit family in Southern Utah. We mostly stayed in Cannonville at Robert's Parents' home. We had a very enjoyable time there. It was good to see everyone and we had a lot of help taking care of the triplets and Luke also.

Our kids had a lot of fun playing outside:

From Becky

From Mark

From Jared

We helped out with the water station at Robert's Parents':









That same day, we went to Willis Creek as part of the Fletcher reunion:

From Luke

The next week, we went to the Pioneer celebration in Tropic. Luke had a really good time, and a really good sunburn:

From Luke

We don't have a whole lot more pictures than that. Many others were much better at taking pictures than we were. We were too busy with babies to take any at the Broderick reunion on July 30, but we had a really good time there too.

We have made it back home and are now trying to get back to our normal schedules. It is taking a while, but we're getting there.

Trip to the Zoo

Things get so hectic around here that we hardly have any time to do anything other than take care of the kids. It pretty much take 2 adults most of the time to keep track of all of them. We are very fortunate to have Shelley's mom so close. We are very grateful for her. She comes over every day that Robert is at work.

Because of this busy schedule, it has taken an episode of insomnia to have the time to update the blog. Robert promised on Facebook that we would post some pictures of our zoo trip. It has taken us a few days, but here they are. Clicking on the photo will enlarge it. You can also click on the link under the photo to view the whole album.

From Triplets

From Luke

New Pictures of the Kids

We got some new pictures of the kids that we wanted to share. We got a new table that Shelley's brother, Cris, built for us:

From Triplets

From Triplets

From Triplets

From Triplets

We also got some cute pictures of them outside:

From Triplets

From Luke

From Luke

Then, we gave the triplets a bath for the first time in little bath seats last night. Really cute:

From Triplets

Late Posted Easter Photos

Yeh, yeh, we know, Easter was a week ago. When you are raising triplets, time sort of slips away from you. Of course many others can find other excuses, the triplets one is just been our big one lately.

We had all of our children wearing Easter outfits. Shelley didn't feel well enough to go to church with three babies, so we weren't able to show the babies' outfits at church, but we did show them off at Shelley's parents' place.

From Triplets

From Luke

We spent the evening of Easter Sunday at Shelley's parents'. Easter fell on our Sunday of the Matthews' dinner rotation, so we were also in charge of Easter dinner. After dinner, we took the kids out to see what the Easter Bunny had left for them. They got lots of candy. We all had fun.

Luke Turns 2

Yesterday was Luke's birthday. He is now officially 2 years old, though it seems like he's been that age for at least a few months already. He got a scooter and protective gear from mommy and daddy and a really neat card from Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher. We'll celebrate his birthday with Shelley's family tomorrow evening.

From Luke

In the morning, yesterday, we took him and the babies to see the Dr. for a well visit. The doctors say they are all growing up very well. The babies had shots, which they didn't like, but their getting over the pain.

The weights of all the children are:

* Luke - 31.8 lbs
* Mark - 11 lbs 11 oz
* Becky - 13 lbs 6 oz
* Jared - 13 lbs 3 oz

After their Dr. visit, we took everyone to the zoo for Luke's birthday. We met a friend their, Tiffany, with her foster son, brandon. We all had a good time, especially the kids, (well the walking kids, the babies were just there for the ride.)

From Luke

In the last hour, we let the boys play in the water. Luke had a total blast, even though he got very cold.

From Luke

The triplets have had their blessing

The triplets had their blessing last Sunday. Robert was pretty nervous, but made it through quite well. Both sets of grandparents were there and all but 1 of Robert's siblings were there and all but 1 of Shelley's siblings were there. The circle was pretty large and they were barely able to put a hand in to hold each baby.

Grandma Matthews made some really nice blessing outfits for the babies. They looked really spiffy.

From Triplets

Pauline and Michael of Robert's family had to leave right after the blessing to make it home at a decent hour, but the rest gathered at our house after church for a stuffed potato dinner. Our house was pretty hoppin.