Olive

Our sweet olive. 

Yup, I used to dress her... that was pre-kids!

She is so loving and loyal, always by my side.

We got Olive almost a year after we got married. She fit in the palm of my hand when we picked her up from the breeder. I used to carry her in my purse when I'd run errands because she was so little that no one even noticed, and I hated to leave her home alone :-) 

When I labored with Colin (I stayed home as long as I could), she sat right by me. For hours. Never left my side until I finally went to the hospital.

I remember nursing Colin when he was a baby and how she'd always curl up right next to us.

She has always been so gentle with each of our babies. Never once have I worried about her snapping or biting. She gives them unconditional love, just like she gives to all of us.

She sleeps with Chris and I, curled up at the bottom of the bed, under the covers. If I get to sleep in a bit, she'll sleep in a bit. That girl could sleep all day! But if I get up early, like this morning when I got up at 6 a.m., she'll get up with me too. 

My shadow. 

Yesterday was her yearly check-up and I brought Colin and Carter along, thinking that they'd enjoy seeing the goings on. They did.

And then just as the doctor was telling me how healthy she is, I happened to notice a bump on her inner thigh that for whatever reason I hadn't noticed before. 

"Wait doctor, this wasn't here before. What is it?"

She was sure it was probably nothing.

But it was something. It was cancer.

We'd waited while the doctor took Olive to the back to check the lump under a microscope and by the time she came back, Colin and Carter were both bored and entangled in Olive's leash, causing a scene. I gave the doctor about half my attention as I worked to untangle them, not thinking she was about to tell me our dog has cancer.

But I know from experience, that when cancer strikes, you are never ready to hear the news. You never expect it.

She had emergency surgery to remove two tumors this morning (one bigger than the other) and now she is curled up by my side (as always when I blog), with a ton of stitches. :-( She's also started taking chemotherapy medicine to start fighting the cancer.

Once they biopsy the tumor(s), we'll know more of what we're dealing with and how to proceed. I pray that we caught it early enough so that it hasn't already spread.

 I know she's a dog..... but to us she is so much more. She's our Olive and we love her so.

Road trip, sometime around 2007

Chris and I were looking through old pictures of her puppy years, before we had a whole bunch of kids and smiling and laughing. She was our baby back then.

The snow just keeps coming....

and my boys are thrilled, thank you very much!

It has been so beautiful here this week! Finally it really feels like winter. I'm not into the cold temperatures, but if it has to be cold, I'd way prefer snow to grey dreariness. This week I've loved watching the snow fall outside while taking care of the boys. Today, light fluffy flakes fell continuously all day long.

Thankfully, it warmed up just enough so that the boys could actually go outside and play in the snow. Getting them all dressed for the elements is quite a scene. They all need assistance and so it can take awhile. 

 Chris today, starting to dress the trips.

Both times that we've been outside this week, Finn has been the first one ready. He's SO cooperative as if he cannot wait to get outside and into the snow. Then, he doesn't want to come in. So cute.

Off they go!

 Everett chose not to go this time. Sometimes, putting on a coat and gloves just isn't his thing. Instead, we watched from the window and had some great one on one time playing. As we played I realized how rare it is that I get time alone, just to play, with each of the triplets. It was SO nice. 

I think Finn is trying to catch snow on his tongue.

Building "the fort".

Good times!

Snow Day!

Dear boys,

Today we were basically snowed in. Colin, your preschool was cancelled and besides that no one seemed to be braving the roads to do anything.

So we sat inside and watched the snow fall. It snowed all day long! Unfortunately, it was too cold to go outside :-( Boo! Although Colin, you went out for a few minutes with Chris to shovel.

Chris with the snow blower and Colin with his "snow blower"

The trips watched Chris and Colin work from their usual perch. 

There were moments when I thought you boys were going to crawl the walls out of boredom and that I was going to loose my mind. Like when you were all running around chasing each other and screaming, stopping only to pull stuff off the counters or pull on the curtains

But we also had fun. We juiced kale lemonade, made bread, beet juice pancakes (Colin's recent favorite!), smoothies, and made play dough. Given that you boys were all up before the sun today, we had a lot of time to fill!

I was stunned by how the play dough activity held your attention. I've made play dough with Colin many times, but for you trips, this was a first. I'd always assumed you would just eat the play dough, but I need to give you guys more credit. You did try and eat the play dough a few times, but mostly you just played and enjoyed the novelty of it all. We'll be doing play dough more often from here on out!

Lets hope it warms up just a bit so that we can go out and play in the snow tomorrow. I know you're looking forward to it!

Also, it's supposed to snow again tonight and tomorrow, so you may as well just sleep in. No sense getting up extra early on these freezing cold, snowy days..... your bed is much more comfortable... trust me....... please??

Colin's first official chore

When I first had Colin, this book was my go to reference for everything! I was constantly referencing it for advice and information because being a mom and having a baby was so new. Now, I almost never reference a parenting book, mostly because I don't have time. However, I recently unpacked a box of books left over from our move last summer and came across many of the parenting books I'd so enjoyed and depended on before.

So one night before bed, I picked one up, dusted it off and started scrolling through. I noticed that there are still great nuggets of information to be gleaned, although my perspective as a reader has soooo changed. I found myself reading from a more confident perspective.... not that I think that after four boys I know what I'm doing. Far from it! Many days I feel more clueless than ever. But I'm okay with the state of not knowing. I feel more confident in my own intuition, my own way of mothering as the moments arise. I know now, that the best teachers I have about how to be a mother, are my boys. Each one is different. Each one has their own unique way of being in this world and each one shows me daily, what they need from me.

But so I was reading through this book, and noticed a section about how even young children can start to take responsibility for age appropriate chores. Hmmmm, hadn't thought about that before. But I love the idea of my boys becoming comfortable with chipping in around the house :-)! I'm going to need all the help I can get as they get older, eat even more food and make bigger messes! So the very next day, I explained to Colin what a chore is and asked if he'd be interested in having a special job that he'd be responsible for doing each day.

Holy moly was he ALL OVER IT.

So his job is to wipe down the table after lunch each day. He's got a special bucket that holds his spray bottle, sponge and towel. Each day after the lunch table is cleared, he gets to work. And takes it very seriously.

So far, this routine has lasted well over a week and is still going strong.

I have to wonder though, how long he'll think chores are cool..... I'm not getting my hopes up.

So serious!

Well hello Finn. Would you like a chore?

Love is in the air

Today we decorated for Valentine's Day.

While the boys worked, I asked Colin if he knew what Valentine's Day is about. I explained that it's a day about love and he immediately interrupted and said, "Oh like, so... no hitting or biting on that day?"

I'll go with that.

(biting by the way, comes up in conversation a lot in our house lately because one of the triplets- who shall remain nameless- will occasionally use biting as his go to weapon of choice if he wants a toy, is mad, or feels threatened in any way. It hurts!!!! So we're working on it and in turn, talk a lot about using our words and not biting, hitting or hurting each other). 

But back to our lovely Valentine's Day art projects....

Finn- did the most coloring of the trips. He was really into it!

Everett- did the least drawing of the trips. He was not into it.

Carter, at the head of the table, supervising.

Apples and painting

Working hard

Here's some of our finished decorations. I wrote the children's names on each of the hearts that they colored. I'm so proud of their work. It will be fun to get to look out this cheerful window each day when we eat our meals at the table.

Then it was back to playing,

and I even caught evidence of their brotherly love when they didn't know I was watching.

 It's always there. 

These boys teach me so much about forgiveness and moving on. They'll intensely fight over a toy or cry because someone hurt them in the heat of the moment (and possibly left a bite mark!). They may be furious and yell, scream or demand the person gets a time out or something.... but then it's over. And when the fight is over, it's really over. 

They never look back, never hold a grudge.

And the hugs, camaraderie and laughter always quickly return.

Stay that way with each other boys.

Friday night, pizza night

Friday night is pizza night in our house.

Always.

It signals the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend. Wahoo!

Colin is now at the age where he can help make the dough and then the rest of the pizza, and the babies are at the age where they love to watch/ "help".... mostly they like to steal bits of cheese for snacking.

I love that they are all so interested in the process.

Here they are, ready to help make the dough. Colin is demonstrating that his hands have been washed. :)

Christmas 2012

Finally I'm posting some pictures from Christmas. As I've said, the boys were sick for much of the holiday but we still managed to have fun (and unfortunately, unknowingly expose our loved ones to the flu!). Sorry! We thought it was just a cough....

After this lovely morning, we headed to the Millers. The boys got to spend time with their cousins from Canada which they're always so excited about! Here are the Miller cousins by the tree.... although I had a pretty hard time getting any of them to look at me :)

Colin, Adrian, Gabe, Carter, Finn, Everett

My guys! You can tell that Colin is starting to not feel well.....

 Opening gifts on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas day, thinking that Colin was getting better, we heading up to my parents house. Probably not the best move since all the boys started throwing up after only a day there. But during that short window of time where everyone seemed pretty healthy, we had fun. Taking a cousin's picture at my parent's house proved just as hard. haha

Macy, Colin, Everett, Carter, Finn. We were bribing them to sit with Pirate Booty, which is why they all have their mouths full!



The boys got water bottles, just like big brother Colin uses... and thought they were hot stuff. Oh my goodness, they were so excited about these "big boy" water bottles!

Carter, still clutching his water bottle, with my Dad.

If you have to be sick in bed, nice to have a lovely Christmas tree by your side. My mom always put a Christmas tree by each of our beds growing up.... a tradition that continues to this day.

Waffles heal all?

Brothers- in good times and when fighting the flu

Not a lot of blogging going on because we are STILL not well in this house! The boys were healthy for about five minutes before Colin (and myself too this time) caught another flu bug. The above picture was taken when all the boys were sick though. I was heading upstairs and saw my camera laying there (never a good spot to leave your camera....) so I went to pick it up and take it back to my room when I saw Colin lean over to comfort Finn. One of those moments that as a mom makes your heart swell a bit. I love when I see them care for one another, in between fighting over toys. They didn't even notice me quickly snap their picture. Poor Everett, he was so sick. Thanks in large part to being a preemie, he somehow always has the most respiratory involvement whenever illness strikes our home. He was so miserable. 

.........................

Last night was the BCS bowl game. We were SO excited to cheer on the Irish. 

Finn wore his football onesie under his green outfit all day.

Everett wore his ND hat, on an off. 

My brother Gavin was at the game and sent a video to Colin from outside the stadium, which Colin watched about fifty times. 

Yup, we all couldn't wait for this game!

And then we realized that ESPN wasn't going to stream the game online... a BIG problem for us because we don't get cable. (We've been trying life with only a Roku box). 

There was a bit of panic (okay, A LOT of panic) in the Miller household, along with the thought about whether to take the boys to the bar down the street (ruled out for many reasons including the fact that's a completely INSANE idea). The game didn't even start until 8:30, well past bedtime.

So Chris kept trying to figure out a way.

Notice what is happening in the background as Chris tries again and again to find the game online....

Those trips.... they are always up to mischief, especially when we are distracted. Poor Colin is on the couch, too sick to participate in the naughtiness. :(

Silly boys.

We ended up watching the game by skyping my father in law and watching it through the camera on his computer. The quality was pretty good actually and it was fun to feel like we were watching the game with my in-laws, who are huge ND fans.... although by now you know how the game ended.

Painfully and poorly for Notre Dame.

This morning we drown our sorrows in waffles (actually the boys didn't even know or care the results of the game). Plus Colin was home sick from school and not enthusiastic about much of anything.

I think when I told Colin that ND lost, his response was something like, "Oh"

Someday you'll care though boys.... I just know it. You are your father's sons.

ND blood runs deep in your veins.