Lilly's First "Try"-athlon!

 So here's another new annoying trend among Gen-X parents that we have of course jumped right on and that's the kids' "TRY"-athlons!  No, we don't get timed and no, we don't "place" and yes, we all win!  The "TRY" -athlons is aptly named except instead of a true "tri" in our case (because I'm still only FOUR for cryin' out loud) it should have been a "DO"-athlon but since we are so unwilling to attach any kind of negative or conceivably negative label on our kids we say "TRY" instead of "DO" when the "tri-" (meaning 3 activities) was actually a "du" (meaning 2).  You pickin' up what I'm puttin' down?  So anyway, I "DID" it I did my first run/swim race and all in all, I had a pretty good time!

 I got my own official number both on a label and in permanent marker on my arms (which took about a week to come off!)  This was mostly for ornamental purposes because they neither timed nor tracked me because it was a "TRY"-athlon!

 Nonetheless I was pretty excited to partake with about 500 kids my age and up to 18!  (Those kids actually "DID" do the tri- part of the "TRY" and were timed and whatnot...)

 All participants under the age of - I dunno, 12 probably - were required to wear Coast Guard approved life vests so here is Anna, helpin' a sister out!

 Leg one of my "du" DONE!  Next we RUN to the changing station to get out of our wet suits and back into running gear!

 Looks like we got a straggler!  Go, Anna Jane, GO!!!

 Sooooo, is this where I start?  Oh, whoops - we're supposed to change first.  Obviously Mommy and Daddy should have known this because...because...because they run so many "triathlons?"

 Super cool.  There's a team of people who get me dressed.  Awesome.  Faster!  FASTER!!

 And now after the real finish!  Photog Mama missed the run.  Why?  Because she was schlepping a 9 month old and a 3 1/2 year old along with our big bag of crap, the double stroller, my wet clothes, etc.  So she missed it.  But she didn't miss that big ol' cheesy grin on my face.  So PROUD!

 See my medal?  Mommy tried to get me to do the medal chomp that was so popular in this past Olympics but I didn't understand why I would want to bite my medal.  Neither did Mommy understand why all our our elitist athletes did either, but hey.  Whatever floats your boat when you're the BEST in the WORLD! (HOLLA!  Take THAT, FRANCE and every other country in the world that calls us fat and lazy!  We kicked your ASS in the Olympics!  What!  What!  And then we landed on Mars!  Woop!  Woop!  I'm going to have a Big Mac now because I live in the Land of the FREE!  Boo Ya!)

 The face of a future Gold medal chomper?  Why not?  In this country all your dreams can come true with a little government assistance!

 And because I am AWESOME I took my baby sister over the finish line so she could see what it was like.  I did it all on my own. 

 Because I am the BESTEST biggest sister EVA!

Way to go, little Bean!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Waka Waka!

 Mommy starts an awful lot of posts with "Sorry it's been so long!"  Shyeah!  This stay at home stuff - NOT for the faint of heart!  How does a stay at home Mommy get anything done?  Don't ask MY Mommy!  She doesn't know!
We got haircuts!  We got haircuts!  We got haircuts!!!  Mama took pictures with the iPad and guess what?  Can't post 'em on Blogger.  Figures!  It was quite an experience, though!  Mommy still wants to figure out if she can so she can storytell with pictures so we're going to save it.

 We 3 love to play together.  We have been so BUSY lately!  So busy we can't even SLEEP!  We woke Mommy and Daddy up for a collective 2 hours last night.  Wasn't that nice of us?  Just look how fresh-faced WE are!

 We don't know what Y'ALL have been up to - but we've been up to a whole lot of this: chillin', playin', screamin', eatin' candybars...

 That's right, even Jacky gets a candy bar!

And just regular old all around cuteness!
School is going great so far.  Have our open house tomorrow.  Mama can't wait to hear more from Ms Nancy on how Anna JANE is doing!  (That's her "school name"!  It's so cute!  And so Southern!)  Ms Nancy did say to Mama that, "Anna Jane tried that first week to show me what's she's made of, but then I showed HER what I'M made of and she didn't want none of that!"  Amen, Sister!  Stay strong!  This little nugget will try to bust ya!
When Mommy tucked Anna Jane into bed tonight she said to Mommy, "Snuggle me for just THREE minutes!" then she grabs Mommy's neck and gives her an Anna Bear hug and lots and lots of kisses kisses kisses!  It's the best part of our going to bed routine!  And then I (Lilly, in case you forgot) - I, Lilly - gather about 13 books, Big Dog, Little Dog, Puppy Dog and Binky, somehow fit it all on to my bed, put myself under the sheets and fall asleep like a contortionist around all that stuff.  But it works!
Did Mommy tell you about the time Anna had so much crap on her bed that she fell off in the middle of the night?  On to the hardwood floor?  DID NOT EVEN WAKE UP!  Does that give you some idea of how hard we work during the day?!?!  That she would sleep through a 2 1/2 foot drop on to the hard floor?  No mansy pansy Mommy's allowed!  We got time to make up for now that you're home, Mommy!  Woop!  Woop!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack

Happy Jack Bathtime Fun!

 Find me a baby who doesn't love a bath!  This kid is no exception!  He loves the bath!  He also loves to crawl around the shower while Mommy is getting ready in the morning.  So since he does that just about every day he doesn't get baths as often as us girls did.  But when he gets them he gets sooooooo excited he makes THIS cute face!

 Yup!  THIS cute face!

 And now THIS cute face is all clean!

And a gratuitous butt shot, because baby butt shots are always cute!
So we've skipped over Jack's 10 month birthday but he's 10 months now!  He is crawling EVERY - EVERYWHERE and he can climb stairs, and he can "cruise" so we think he'll be walking pretty soon!  He loves to play with us.  He can sit in the playroom for what feels like forever and just play, play, play with us!  He loves when I pick him up and bounce him (and Mommy and Daddy say a silent little prayer that I won't drop him - haven't yet!).  He learned how to click his tongue a couple weeks ago and that's his current favorite party trick.  He also gets on our nerves like baby brothers do (sorry Uncle Mark but it's true, when you were little you occasionally got on Mommy and Uncle Dan's nerves - all that cuteness was just too much for them I suppose).  Honestly, it's kind of funny when we start getting irritated with Jacky because then Mommy says stuff like "He's just a baby" or "Girls, he just wants to play with you" - all the same things Mommy's Mommy used to say all the time.
On another note, since we're talking about getting on nerves and whatnot - me, in all my 4 1/2 year old glory - I have learned how to ROLL MY EYES and HUFF at Mommy.  Awesome.  I think Mommy will always remember the first time I rolled my eyes at her, which was just last week.  Seriously, she did not expect this for at least 10 more years!  What?!?
Mommy is taking a little hiatus for the rest of the week!  Her BIRT-DAY is this weekend and she will be in Gatlinburg celebrating with some of her most coolest awesomest friends ever!!!  Can't WAIT!  A whole weekend of Mommy/Girl time!  Woooop!
Have a great week!
Love,
Lilly, Anna and Jack