hellooo elastic waist!!

seriously...denim is a horrid fabric. even the stretch denim is no longer a friend of mine. earlier in the week i had to suffer through a conversation with 2 of my small framed friends; listening to them go on about how they can't buy stretchy jeans b/c they just fall right off after wearing them for a couple of hours. excuse me!! since the birth of my first, almost 10 lb. child...i cannot say i have had that problem. things shift during pregnancy, and in my case, never return to their place of origin. the give offered by stretch denim has kept me a part of the jean wearing world. i am no longer welcomed in that world. over the last month i have noticed that none of my jeans fit. some are so far from fitting, that i wondered if they ever fit or if it was just a dream. instead of backing off from the costco cake and delicious fountain coca-cola, i decided to buy a new pair of jeans. i humbled myself and went past the size i used to sport and headed to the back of the rack. (they shove that size to the back b/c it is always cuter in the size 0.) i find a pair that look like i could cram 2 of my husband in to them, and i think to myself "these will be way too big...see it is not so bad." not so much. as if jean trying on is not hard enough...is it really necessary that everything from the thighs up gets pulled upward in a jelloish motion? it does not feel good when you need to shove random areas of stretched out skin back into the jeans and do squats to try to get your thighs back in place. the only problem i have with stretchy jeans falling down is when the upper quadrant of my now disfigured backside rides up above the waistline of the jeans....there is no stopping gravity at that point. i have pleaded my case to brian, begging for some repair surgery....trying to remind him that since he has to look at me...it is really for his benefit. no deal. i have considered calling around to see if there are any doctors that need practice in this area..i would be a willing experiment. but for now, i have dug out the overly large gray sweat pants that i wore when i had three children in my uterus. apparently, my skin misses them and stays saggy in their honor. yesterday i picked them up from preschool and they had each made a valentine. my percentage of the class comes running up to me to show me their valentines inside of beautiful pink enevelopes. my soul says "this is why your body is a mess!! how worth it for 3 little valentines." swelling with pride i look at the envelopes, only to see that not 1 is addressed to me. how rude. well, when i come to their school events in my mom jeans and they look humiliated. i will remind them (while busting out old cheerleading moves) that it wasn't always like this. there was a day that i could slide into "front of the rack" size jeans without effort or body part misplacement. these mom jeans are for them!!!

the shower of eden???

greetings, friends. the hart's have returned to bloggerville and will now be typing from our new home (which we love!!!) i am sitting in my office, drinking some coffee and the children are playing in the basement. who knew such peace could exist? here is a quick story from this morning....

i was finishing up my shower and emma decided she wanted to get in. i hop out, she hops in. claire meanders in and also wants to take a shower. so in she goes with emma. emma clarifies that i will indeed still be in the bathroom "in case the water turns fire hot". yes, i say, i will be right here putting on some make-up. they begin to chatter together, pretending things, etc. i hear claire say, "mommy left the soap in here." my ears perk up (since i am only 2 steps away) because the girls have been known to dump out a whole bottle of hair wash in one shower. 2 gleeful girls start saying "fill up your cup!....it is a bubble land." i am starting to question their intelligence...wondering why they think that because they are in the shower, i cannot hear them. then i hear claire so, "oh..i soapeded up MY hair and now you have to do it too, emma. we both made this bubble land. here is your soap, rub it in your hair." to that my little adam (emma) replies.. "ok. but don't tell mom." brilliant children.

you know you are behind on laundry when....

*you ask your 3 year old to run upstairs and put on some big girl panties...later that night when you are getting her p.j.'s on, you see she has been wearing a bathing suit bottom all day long.

*your children are taking turns jumping into the dirty clothes pile and saying "WHEE!"

* your daughter's legs are cold and she cannot find any clean pants so she puts on a dress and puts her legs in the arm holes to keep warm.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!!!!

conversation with claire.

claire: "i know the most righteous kangaroo."

me: "the most righteous kangaroo?"

claire: "yes."

me: "wow. who is the most righteous kangaroo?"

claire: "roo."

me: "and what makes roo righteous?"

claire: "he just loves God so much, and is so much nice."

there you have it, my 3 year old has an understanding of rightousness and apparently roo walks with God. who knew?

new (but boring) post

i have been waiting for something funny or entertaining to happen for me to blog about. so far, no luck. so today, i will share my day thus far. actually, i will back up to last night. i stopped by our house (the one we are building) and had to hike down to the place where the key is hidden. it is dark, and cold, and steep and to my surprise....newly graded!! i start out thinking that i will walk down on the retaining wall. i discover that the steps are too tiny for my foot to fit. no fear, i will descend the mini mountain (in the dark and cold, remember). step 1: i realize that i am sinking into the freshly spread dirt. this is not a small amount of dirt, either. step 2. i realize i am launching downward. the rest is a dirty blur, really...except for the loudish snap/crack noise. i am not going to lie to you...no part of it was coordinated. after looking up (picture on all fours) to see if the neighbors-to-be witnessed my fall; i crawled over to my house and tried to catch my breath. there was a decent amount of pain involved at this point. i was surprised to see my foot was still attached. fearing i would have to spend the night at the bottom of the incline, in the frigid temps...i was relieved to find my cell phone safely in my pocket. (you never know after such a high impact fall!) i call my trusty neighbor to please retrieve me. with her assistance, i hop into the warmth of her basement. i appreciated her looks of concern until a meanish smirk appeared. she comments " i wish i could have seen it". followed by some sort of cackle. the pain subsides a bit. i attribute that to my past in athletics. i decide i am ok. i am thankful i can walk on it, because we are leaving for disney in 2 days. could you imagine 3 triplets, 4 strollers and a wheelchair? no problem, it is fine....fast forward through the night. i roll over in bed and catch a glance at the alarm clock. 7:35 am. anna's school starts at 7:50 am. i quietly curse brian's name (for he forgot to set the alarm) and rocket out of bed. nope. not so fast. the foot is not great this morning. i hobble around, bribing anna with money if she will please put her socks on and brush her teeth. she reminds me it is library day. crap. i know the location of one book, but the other book is MIA. she reminds me again that last week she did not get to check out new books b/c we (me) did not remember library day then, either. nuts. i tell her to hop in the van and i will come back home, locate the book and bring it to school BEFORE library. i hop anna into school, hobble back out (f.y.i no bra, no brushed teeth. not good) head home and get the girls breakfast. hop into the shower. it is now 8:20 and the girls start school at 8:55 and i have a dr.'s appt. in grandville at 9:15. no problem. dress the girls, do their hair, put on shoes, put on coat, warm up van, dress self, do hair...out the door. typical fight about whose day it is, followed by my speech of it is too early for this fighting, everyone is taking a nap today...yada yada yada. backing out...lauren is snack girl today. back into the house. throw some goldfish in a storage bag. lauren cries b/c "that is not a good snack" and ashley's mom made fruit kabobs. if i had a kabob right now, i would poke it in my eye. drop off at school, off to the doctor. flu shot, pnuemonia shot, more blood work. dr. to lindsay "why are you limping?" l replies "i wiped out last night." dr. removes sock, notes the greenish top to my foot and says "that doesnt look good." off to urgent care for x-ray. off to lab for more blood. head back to get the girls. realize anna forgot her hat and gloves..detour at her school. get girls, locate missing library book..back to school. now, i have turned on the fireplace and sit down to blog. the girls are finding "teensy-tiny" things to hide in various places. anna's bus is about to arrive...that means that is all. have a great day!! i will update when i hear the x-ray results.

high school reunion

my 10 year high school reunion is coming up in 2 weeks. i still have not sent in my response card, because i cannot decide if i am going or not. 98% of the time, i am definitely not going. brian says we should go because i may never see these people again. most of them i have not seen in these past 10 years anyway...will i regret not seeing them for another 10? i would like to see the guest list...that would make my decision easier. i would also like to observe the reunion from a secret room. my motives for going....#1. i am curious. i wonder who will go, what they will look like, what they are up to. that is it, really. one reason. i enjoyed high school...but the me i was then is not the me now. i have nothing to prove. (oh wait, i could show everyone that i discovered eye brow waxing. if only someone had told me back then!!) i have not invented anything. i do not own a helicopter. my claim to fame is that i had triplets. i am not sure i am up to the people pretending they did not know i had triplets (it is hudsonville...everyone knows), followed by "did you KNOW you were having triplets??" (nope, they just kept coming) and "were they natural?" (nope, i had a c-section). i hardly recognize the girl from the class of 1997. will i still feel the need to be the bubbly, joking," keep the conversation going" girl. (ok, so sometimes i still do). i am sure everyone feels like a different person than they used to be. if not, that is a bit sad. so...should i go- should i not? your opinions are appreciated. too bad i can't share some pics from back in the day. wooo-baby. you would be proud to say you knew me.

last saturday, while brian and i were running some house building errands, the girls spent some time with their beloved harlene. on the way to church on sunday...we drove past the georgetown cemetery. lauren says, " harlene's mom is buried there!! she tooked us to see her.". claire says, "yeah, we had to drive in there, because we were not sure which rock she died on." after stuffing our laughs for sensitive claire, i tried to explain that i don't think harlene's mom died IN the cemetery and she informed me, "yes, harlene told me, she DID die on one of those rocks." i guess we will leave it at that.