Woolsey Family Chronicles

The snowy scene from our front door
Ava playing in the snow in the backyard

Ava very excited when she woke up in the morning and saw the snow
This is the Christmas spirit - the lights, the snow through the back windows
From the front of our house . . .

Lauren, Kendall and Ava eating some of Auntie's Pasta

Molly and Ronin

The Polar Express - Ava and her old pals

Hot chocolate on the Polar Express

Wendy, Kari and I on the Polar Express

It snowed 8 inches in Cameron Park last Monday. Chris got up at 4am to catch a plane to Miami that day and all I heard at the wee hours that morning was “oh my gosh”. We looked out the window and our yard was covered in the most beautiful fresh white snow, and it was still snowing. School was cancelled and Chris couldn’t get down our driveway to make it to the airport. So instead he took Ava and Sage out to the road where all of the neighbor kids were throwing snowballs in the street and sledding down driveways. Later our friend Kathy brought everyone hot chocolate out to warm them up. It was like a scene out of a Normal Rockwell painting. I have to say that this is what I have always loved about our neighborhood – all of our neighbors know each other. The moms and dads are friends and the kids are friends with each other. It is like what I would imagine a neighborhood out of the 50s would’ve been like. Chris caught a flight out at noon, but he did get to enjoy the snow that morning with Ava and Sage.

We have a bathtub pooper culprit but we don’t know who it is yet. For three baths in a row someone has pooped in the bathtub. It isn’t Elsa because she is always first out, so we have been able to narrow it down to Preston or Violet. Each time it happens Preston and Violet are just sitting in the bathtub both looking up at us with this guilty look, which has made it difficult to determine who is dreaded bathtub pooper. It takes about a half an hour to sanitize all the toys and the tub. Now we are afraid of bathtime. This too shall pass.

Last night Ava, Chris and I went with some of our friends to the Polar Express in Sacramento. We all hopped on a train and rode it to the “North Pole” where Santa was waiting to board the train and pass out bells. The story was read on the train. My friend Kari got knocked in the face by the bell by her son and I felt a near child abuse moment when Ava gave a friendly old Santa’s helper a dirty look. Other than that, the Polar Express was a success. Or I thought it was a success until this morning Ava said that she was “a bit disappointed in the North Pole” and “thought she was going to be able to watch the movie on the train.” I would’ve normally been furious that I took her on a nice excursion and she was complaining about it the next day but both of her points were valid: the North Pole was extremely cheesy and we couldn’t even hear the book being read very well so that was disappointing. We still had fun though.

The kids are all keeping us laughing throughout this holiday season. Ava has taken to spelling in the middle of sentences which is interesting. She will say, "can we go to the p-a-r-k and p-l-a-y?" or "mommy am I being g-o-o-d?" She breaks out into spell almost every sentence she utters, which means I can no longer spell things out that I don't want her to know about. The babies are so cute and sweet right now. They are learning new words to say (not spell) each day and are so fun to take out and be with. I always say that they are just the best behaved little kids, but because there are three of them, this is a hard stage for me.

When I was first pregnant with the triplets Chris ran into a mom of triplet boys who were three years old. Chris told her that I was newly pregnant with triplets and she said, maybe in jest and maybe not, "i wouldn't wish this on anybody," referring to having triplets. Chris didn't tell me about that comment for a long time. Today we ran into this triplet mom again and this time we had our triplets with us. She said, "look at this, now I am by myself shopping and you have your triplets with you!" She told us that her boys started all day Kindergarten this year and her whole life changed. She has days to herself now and she said that all of the years of hard work are paying off and the boys are giving back big time now that they are five and in Kindergarten. I think my triplets give me back so much every day, but I must admit it will be nice when they are in school and I can have some true time to myself. I won't rush to get there though. Elsa, Violet and Preston are still cute little babies that I can hold and cuddle and rock and love. I will never get that back when it is gone.

I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Ten more days until Christmas, according to Ava who is keeping close track.

Until next time, the mothership is signing off.