7-Year-Olds

Another year has come and gone! This last year seemed to go so fast, and the last few months have been really strange since we have been at home due to the governor's "Stay-at-Home" order because of COVID-19. I'll be honest, I worry about a lot of things, but I never even realized that a worldwide pandemic was something to worry about! Although the situation is not ideal, I have to admit that I've enjoyed a slower pace without rushing the kids off to school and trying to keep up with other activities for the kids and ourselves. The last few months have given the kids a chance to play a ton, which is something they always long for. We've also gone on numerous bike rides and scooter rides around the neighborhood, which is something we didn't do very much before we were stuck at home because we would just take our riding toys to the park instead.

 

 

They have spent a lot of time climbing this tree since the "Stay at Home" order began

For Christmas we bought the older kids plane tickets to Michigan so that I could take separate trips there with them during the winter (usually we just do one big trip to Michigan in the summer). Jack and I went in January and we had a great time. Alexis, Faith, and I traveled to Michigan on March 11, but we almost didn't go because COVID was just starting to pick up in the U.S. Although it was a weird trip because we didn't go many places due to the virus and I was very worried about us catching it while traveling, I'm now glad that we went as the girls had a great time. It is one of those things that will always stick out in our minds as the last thing we did "before the virus." That same weekend, Micah took the boys to his parents house so that he and Jack could ski one last time for the winter.

Jack on the airplane

Faith and Alexis on the airplane

By the time we all got back to ABQ on March 15, schools across the nation had been closed for a couple of weeks, including schools in New Mexico. This soon changed to schools being closed for the rest of the school year, so we were thrown into "distance learning" with several video calls a week with the kids' teacher and some other students from their class. I was very glad that the kids were in the same class during "distance learning" since it minimized our video calls and we didn't have any schedule conflicts.

First day of distance learning

Journaling during our "homeschool"

Last day of distance learning

Last day of distance learning

I have definitely seen the benefits of being a triplet / having triplets during this "Stay-at-Home" order. Although they definitely do their fair share of fighting, they can keep each other entertained for hours! I'm constantly amazed at the new things they come up with to play. Because of this, they have mostly been okay with staying at home. In fact, they sometimes complain when I say we have to leave the house to pick up groceries or do a Target drive-up order. Kids are funny.

If you have to wear a mask, you might as well make it fun!

 

Although this summer looks different as we aren't doing swim lessons, tennis lessons, VBS, or any of the other things, we are still planning on spending some time in Michigan with my family. I think we are all looking forward to that as even if we mostly stay around my parents' condo, at least it will be a different home than the one we've been in for months on end. Plus my parents and my brothers co-own a cottage on a small lake, which is great to spend time at as well.


I haven't written about the kids since their 6th birthday, so here are some updates on the last year:

Three cakes for three special kids!

Alexis: She continues to be a Daddy's girl. Although everyone loves their 1-on-1 time with Daddy, she requests it the most. She still loves her stuffed Snoopy, but she also loves her newest Beanie Baby husky which she named "Little Howler" (this was a replacement for the same Beanie Baby that she called Baby Husk that she had lost). Both girls never really got into dolls, but they treat their stuffed animals like babies. Alexis is outgoing and she loves to talk to adults. She is a great big sister to Graham.

Alexis reading to Graham

Alexis had her heart set on a Tie Dye cake, and we both had a lot of fun making it.

Jack: Jack is definitely the early riser in our family. In the last couple of months we have convinced him that he doesn't have to wake us up if he gets up before us, so he now goes downstairs, turns on the lights, and plays or reads until someone gets up. This is AMAZING! Lately he has been finding ways to play with just Graham, which is great for both of them since they like to do "boy things" like fly around little airplanes or play with Nerf guns or swords. Jack is really strong and he can do at least 5 pull-ups in a row. He recently figured out how to climb up the brick wall in our backyard by pulling on both sides of the bricks that stick out vertically and scooting his feet up. Jack loves to create things from paper, such as pretend wallets, large creations for his walls, books, etc. He also still enjoys music.

Jack loves Graham, even if Graham isn't always the nicest little brother in return

Jack built this 361 piece Lego helicopter all by himself on his birthday. It took 5 hours, but he was determined!

Faith: Faith loves to organize things and she is a perfectionist. She also loves to plan and make lists. (...I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree 😅). She always wants to know what adults are talking about, and she often says things that make her sound older than she is. She still loves her stuffed Husky and sleeps with him every night. Husky is Faith's baby. She loves to help me around the house as she feels proud of her contributions. She loves to create things, such as a Pin-the-tail-on-the-Unicorn for her birthday. She is also a great big sister to Graham.

Reading to Grandma and Graham

A leaf project she decided to do for fun

Other things...

• School - This year the kids attended Desert Willow Family School for first grade. They were in school T-Th from 8:00-2:40 and Friday from 8:00-12:20. Mondays were homeschool days and they also had homework T-TH. It was a lot of work for all of us, but they learned a lot and they enjoyed their class and their teacher. I got to spend a lot more 1-on-1 time with Graham this year, which was nice. 

• Reading - Everyone has become a great reader during the last few months, and I contribute a lot of this to reading with their grandmas on FaceTime during "distance learning." They were able to read books that they were more interested in, and since both grandmas didn't have much going on the kids could sit with them for 30-60 minutes and read! They can basically work their way through any book, and I now hear the girls read aloud at the breakfast table or after they go to bed at night. Jack enjoys reading too, but he is more interested in finishing chapter books than just reading random picture books. For their birthday they received five books from the "Bad Guys" series, and Jack finished the first three quite quickly.

• Math - Desert Willow has their own curriculum so this year the kids really focused on addition including stacked addition, adding any numbers up into the trillions and beyond, rounding numbers to the 10's, 100's, and 1000's, etc. It was challenging, but they were so proud when they reached the end of Addition 1.
• Writing - I am constantly finding random notes, signs, etc. around the house that the kids make.

Jack's note to the neighborhood: Do not get the virus - Stay Home

Faith probably writes the most notes

Alexis wrote this after Micah wasn't feeling well (after a 4 hour, 23 mile, run in the foothills)

• Climbing - Before COVID hit, I was taking the kids to the climbing gym after school once a week. They loved it and they were getting good! Thankfully they are still young, so even if we have to take a break from climbing for awhile they can still get back into it.

• Skiing - All three love to ski and they went a few times this winter with Micah.

• Taekwondo - In August the kids started Taekwondo at the YMCA near our house. Overall they enjoyed it, but we ended up only doing it through November. In December our family battled many sicknesses so we weren't able to make it to practice, and then the kids didn't seem interested in going back. I was fine with that since we were so busy with schoolwork and it was always a battle getting them out the door to practice. But they have fond memories of their time in Taekwondo class.

• Piano - In August the kids started taking piano lessons and they loved it. Getting them to practice during the week was challenging since they were so busy with schoolwork, but they loved the 1-on-1 lessons (and the best part for me was that the teacher came to our house so we didn't have to sit around her house for 1.5 hours every week!). Since COVID, I have tried to keep up the piano lessons using the little that I remember from learning in elementary school. Thankfully they are beginners so I can figure it out, but getting them to practice without them (or me) getting frustrated is a challenge. We have taken the last few weeks off, but I hope to re-start again soon.

• Night - It takes the girls hours to fall asleep at night, and not having to wake up for school in the morning has only made it worse since they can sleep in. Some nights one of the girls will be awake as late as 10:30 or 11! We put everyone to bed between 7:30 and 8:00, but they just don't seem that tired.

• Fighting - Some days / weeks it feels like there is constant bickering and fighting. Someone always feels left out and they get really annoyed with each other. Mainly being stuck at home definitely hasn't helped any of this, but I get tired of being their referee (and many days I just make them sort it out on their own).

• Pretend Play - They continue to play elaborate games, which sometimes seem to take more time and effort to create / set up than actually play. But a lot of the fun is in the creating for them. For awhile they were really into playing camping, which included packing their backpacks with random stuff. The other day Faith wanted to celebrate Husky's birthday so she made all sorts of decorations, party invites, party favor bags, etc. When they actually celebrated the "birthday" it only took 10 minutes, but it took her hours to make everything. As long as they are busy and being creative, I am happy!

• Lost Teeth - Faith has now lost 4 teeth, Alexis has lost 3 teeth, and Jack has lost 3 teeth (including the two he had pulled when he was 4-year-old). They all have adult teeth growing in on top and it makes them look so different!

I can still remember the day that Alexis, Jack, and Faith were born like it was yesterday. I can still picture the tiny babies that they were, and it is amazing how they have thrived over the last seven years. Although many days I am exhausted, especially since we haven't been able to get away from the house much, when I get to the end of the day I often think about how how great these three really are. They are truly miracles.