Halloween Preview

I just couldn't resist sharing the boys' Halloween costumes. We went to a Halloween themed birthday party last weekend for their friend Dominic and came in costume....despite the temps being in the mid 80s! From left to right is Cameron as the Star Wars Clone Trooper, Ryland as Buzz Lightyear, Mason as Woody, and Cole as the space alien from Toy Story. I am enjoying what might be my last year picking out the theme for the triplet's Halloween costume...I'm sure they will have their own opinions by next year (as if they don't already!!)

Our Night Out With Bono!

So the honor of being "Student of the Week" would not be complete without a little extra homework (for me, really).....Cameron brought home a stuffed monkey named Bono one day last week and told me as part of his reward for being student of the week, we needed to go out somewhere and celebrate with Bono (oh yeah, and write a page about it complete with a photo) to return to class the next day.

Nothing like a little impromptu night out with my 4 boys (and let's not forget Bono) at Chuck E.Cheese! Hmmm...next time I'll think twice before getting all excited about this honor! Anyways, I actually have some photos to share so it warranted a post.

Super Cam!

Just when I thought things couldn't get worse, they didn't......matter of fact they have completely done a 180 and there is no one more amazed than me! I have written here and there about some of the behavioral challenges we've experienced with Cameron, most recently in school, and now I have an exciting update. As if a light switch was flicked on 2 weeks ago, that child has not had a bad day in school since then. He has received 1-4 (the max) tickets every day at school for the past two weeks for good behavior. I would say probably 4 of those days he earned 4 tickets, which is extremely hard to do.

He has gone from "Class Clown" to "Golden Boy" seemingly overnight. I have no idea to what I owe this amazing transformation, but I am overjoyed. In fact, at tomorrow's weekly Friday Spirit Assembly for the entire elementary school, Cameron will be recognized as the student of the week from his class. He really has worked hard for this and deserves this so much! I got completely choked up and my eyes welled up with tears when I read the note the teacher sent home inviting us to the assembly so we could watch him receive his award. I know this doesn't seem like a big deal to most people, but this honestly felt like a day we would never experience with him and I couldn't be prouder of him. In fact tonight, he commented to me that he was really proud of himself for doing so well in school......and with that, the dots have FINALLY been connected.

News Link for Fire

Not that it is a large article or anything, but here is the online article about the fire yesterday in the Riverside County Press Enterprise.

http://www.pe.com/localnews/temecula/stories/PE_News_Local_D_webflames.1e19234.html

This is just so sad that this family lost everything. It is hard to sit in my family room without repeatedly looking out my back patio door....it's just one of those images that I know will be burned in my mind forever.

Here Come the Firetrucks....AGAIN!!

Oh boy, has today been an exciting day! I feel like I've been hit by a truck, complete with pounding headache, as I come off the major adrenaline rush that filled my lunch hour. As I was talking to my mom on the phone earlier, I was walking into the family room and turned to look out my back patio door only to see the most gianormous huge (cannot emphasize the largeness enough!) billowing clouds of black smoke less than 100 feet away. I can only describe it as being like a HUGE WIDE TALL tornado funnel but instead made up of black smoke. I could only make out half of the neighbors house diagonally behind us (and our homes are close together) because the rest was enveloped by these sinister thick black billowing clouds dancing high into the sky above.

Horrified, I abruptly hung up the phone just as our neighbor across the street began to frantically pound on our front door. I ran for the door, only for him to affirm the obvious that there was a huge fire behind our house. Cameron was in school but the triplets were all downstairs with me, so I quickly grabbed each barefooted boy and threw him out the front door. Luckily, a quickly gathering crowd of bystanders each grabbed a boy and ran across the street with him. I grabbed my shoes and purse and ran outside just behind them. I jumped in my car and drove to where the triplets were waiting with their newfound stranger friends. Everyone helped me to pile them into their carseats.

The next 10 minutes or so, we watched as firetruck after firetruck after rescue vehicle piled into our little 3 cul de sac community. I am not kidding when I say that nearly 30 fire vehicles came racing to the scene. The first trucks actually missed the turn for the street behind ours and instead pulled to our house....that's how close the fire looked to our house. Neighbors started gathering and we quickly tried to account for people and pets in each neighboring house. Even before the fire trucks arrived, our tiny streets quickly got clogged with nosey people that just had to see where that enormous fire was coming from....I have truely never experienced such a spectacle before (even when taking the triplets out in public LOL!)

I could see it was getting increasingly difficult to even get out of our now logjammed streets so I opted to go to Cameron's school with the triplets and wait the half hour there until he got dismissed. By the time I returned, the fire was mostly out with only smokey hot spots here and there. It turns out the fire was at the next door neighbor of the house diagonally behind ours. I got to check out the damage from a deck of our neighbor's house that was directly behind the fire. The entire house is gutted....there is NOTHING left inside. The shell is still standing but the roof is partially collapsed. I walked over there this afternoon with the boys and there are still tons of firefighters and firetrucks camped at the scene looking for hotspots. One truck has it's huge ladder extended up to the top of the two story house where a few firefighters are piece by piece dismantling the house. As of last check, the cause of the fire is unknown. Ironically, the house that burned is the only house in our community that is (was) identical to ours right down to the color of shutters.

The family that lives (or lived) at the house was fortunately not home at the time of the fire and I am unaware of any injuries or missing pets. The homeowners were there by the time I walked over later and they obviously are in shock. I will try going back later to see how I can help. I believe they have 2 small children as well.

I must say it is a day like today where your life can really flash before your eyes. I was certain when I walked out of my house today that I would never walk back in it based on the severity of the neighboring blaze. I walked out with my kids and the clothes on my back and that was all that mattered to me. I know I will hug my boys just a little tighter tonight and I hope you will do the same with your loved one.

Cameron's First Day of Kindergarten!

The day I have been anticipating for quite some time now is finally here....today was Cameron's first day of kindergarten! It was a day of mixed feelings...so happy for him that he will be learning so much, making so many new friends, and opening a new chapter in his life. I can say that managing 3 boys, instead of 4, during the week as Cameron attends his full day kindergarten program will definitely reduce the stress level for me somewhat (though Cole seems to be amping up his efforts to make up for that reduction....that's another whole post!). Cameron needs the mental challenge that the more structured school environment will provide, not to mention he is a very social guy that has had to resort to playing with a bunch of 2 year olds all summer long.

Grandma E. came over this morning to watch the triplets so Anthony and I could take him to school together. The day was very brief...maybe 2 hours long....as the purpose was primarily as an orientation for the parents and a quick test run for the kids. Judging from the comments and stories at entirely inappropriate times, I would say the teacher will have her work cut out for her this year. I guess for her sake, it is good that she is expecting a baby in December and will get a nice few month long hiatus in the middle of the school year. Cameron's teacher seems very nice and he seems to like her so far.

Cameron already knew 2 people in his class...one girl he went to preschool with and another boy that lives across the street from us. Much to my dismay, Cameron spotted another fellow preschool alum on the playground when all 7 kindergarten classes converged on the playground for recess. This would be his potty mouth partner in crime from his pre-K days.....and here I *thought* we might finally move on from that chapter!! But no, the all things potty marathon is to be continued for another year I am afraid!

Enough jibber jabber, here's the pics:


Here's Cam getting ready for the short walk to his first day of kindergarten (too bad it was 100 degrees on that walk home!)

Cameron was the first person to arrive in his new classroom. That's his teacher (Mrs. M for blogging purposes) greeting him at the door and giving him his name tag.

Here's Cam's new home away from home for the next year.

And finally, here it is....the new family away from home for the next year (Cam is sitting just below his teacher)

July 14, 2007

Okay, so I'm a little delayed in posting this, but Ryland was the first of the triplets to become potty trained on July 14th. Although the most reluctant to practice wearing underwear, Ryland totally blindsided me by agreeing to wear underwear three weeks ago and never looked back. He used the potty 6 times that day (mostly on his suggestion) and remained completely dry all day (other naptime/nightime). From that day on, he continued to use the potty with no accidents during his waking hours. The only thing he would not do is poop on the potty, which he requests a diaper for.

I must say other than several interruptions a day to celebrate and do the whole potty dumping/hand washing ritual, Ryland's potty training has been entirely effortless on my part. (Unlike big brother Cameron....kind of glad I didn't have a blog back then to document that laborious task!) Ryland has experienced one potty training relapse so far. We went to Legoland amusement park two weeks ago and after nearly falling into the toilet in the public restroom, we urged Ryland to go ahead and go potty in his pull up. Despite repeated protests on his part, Ryland finally exclaimed "I DID it!!" Well, he did it AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN after that....once he knew that was an option to go in his pants, he took the liberty of going that route a few more times.

I am happy to report we seem to be mostly back on track with only a few accidents. In fact, I think his renewed interest may actually have to do with a public restroom obsession (definitely did not get that from his germaphobe parents!)....a recent mini family vacation provided him ample opportunity for him to express his desire to try out every new public facility we entered. Mason would immediately parrot Ryland claiming that he needed to use the (public) restroom too.....unfortunately, he will have to master the at home potty before we let him indulge this fancy!!!

And on a final potty training note, Ryland pooped on the big potty for the first time today....didn't think you'd read a potty training post without a little TMI, did ya?!