And no Pollard family vacation can be called a "real vacation" if we don't catch something! I like to call 'em "critters" because it makes us sound really Southern!

I must say I was really impressed that the boys were first, fast enough and second, not scared at all of these little crabs. They both caught at least half a dozen of them by hand after Mommy showed them how to find them, stalk them and then grab them (gently of course)!

Unfortunately, I was only able to get a picture of William holding one of his crabs. Who knew that after approximatly 38 minutes of being handled, the crabs would get ... well, a little crabby. Both of the boys were pinched a couple of times at the end and they didn't seem to care too much for it. Since I also was pinched, I knew it didn't hurt them. When I asked ... "did it hurt you or just scare you?" they both were quick to say "it scare me!"

We had so much fun!

The Beach ... a preview ...

No time to post tonight as I am tired from my vacation! Do I really have to go to work tomorrow? Anyway, we had a great time at the beach. Here is a quick peek at the pictures ...

NO FEAR!

And perhaps the best part of this story is that "Milli" was waiting for me in a pitcher outside my office door one morning last week! I think it is great that someone on my team brought this to me. No one in Dallas ever brought me bugs! :)

It is pretty cool that the kids love stuff like this. It is so fun for me! The only problem with "Milli" was that William wanted to keep her/him ????? William, maybe when you get older and can take care of her we will get you another one. By the way, Mommy used to get paid to raise these things when she was in college working in the Entomology lab!

Milli is a Giant Millipede, has 200-300 legs and can live up to 3 years. According to some, millipedes make good pets

http://www.petco.com/caresheets/invertebrates/Millipede_GiantAfrican.pdf

Who knew! Maybe someday William!

Quenta

Aldridge Gardens

We love Aldridge Gardens! It is a free park in the B'ham area and we usually take a pic-nic lunch and stroll around for a couple of hours. Great place for pictures too! The kids enjoyed covering each other ... and us ... in pine straw! It was a little challenging to get them to keep it out of the grass! We did a little "critter" hunting ... with some success! :)

Our first earthworm!

The kids always like to "help" pull the wagon!

And they enjoy dancing with the Rabbit!

We even managed to spot a snake ... I think it is a Midland Water Snake???

Happy Easter!

Well, this is only a few weeks late! I uploaded the pictures in a timely manner, just never got around to actually posting them! :)

We had a wonderful Easter that started off with the kiddos opening their baskets Sunday morning and then off to church we went. We finished the day with Sunday dinner at my parents house and Easter Egg Hunting with our cousins.

The highlight of the day? Well two of them really ...

1. In church Sunday morning, William was praying out loud. When the kiddos started talking, we encouraged them to pray out loud along with us. We would say a few words, they would repeat them back to us. Guess I wasn't thinking about what would happen when they heard other people pray. Normally they go to nursury during the service, but we had a special service Easter morning and we wanted the kids to be part of it. When our Associate Minister (Charlie) was praying, little William prayed right along with him. It was precious. The gentleman sitting next to us commented on it after the service ... he said "Your son praying was one of the most touching moments of the service. He was really listening." And to think that I was worried that it was bothering those around us!

2. A day or so after Easter, here was Jackson's prayer:

"Thank you God for ... my bed, my milk, Glowie, all our friends ... and Jesus who died on cross and came back. Amen"

You know what? They really are listening! Amidst all the fun and commercialization that is Easter, my children are the ones who really get it.

Thank you God for Jesus who died on the cross and came back.

Quenta

Addison and her cousing Kate checking out the money the found in an egg that Granddaddy hid! Addison in the dress that Grandma Jack made (she made the boys shirts too!)

All 5 cousins in one frame ... Kate, Abby, Jackson, William and Addison ... only missing one!

William

Granddaddy and his grandkids ... looks like he is the pied piper!

My parents with the kiddos!

Kate and Abby

Job Security

Al and I jokingly refer to certain "events" as job security for him ...

1. kids all 3 crying at the dinner table when no one wants to eat what Daddy cooked

2. Sunday mornings when we are trying to get the trio ready for church (which starts at 8:30 am) and no one wants to wear what Mommy picked out

3. simultaneous melt-down at any time

4. three 2 1/2 year old kiddos who all want to sit in Mommy's lap at the same time

5. same three who don't want to stay in their beds at nap time

6. any attempt to leave the house without someone having a poopie diaper

And the list really goes on-an-on. When it gets really frustrating, Al just smiles and says to me "Job security!" See, when things are all nice and perfect, I start to think ... maybe I could do this stay-at-home Mom thing. Then the kiddos do something normal for 2 year olds and I think ... Nope! I'm crazy to think that I am cut out for staying at home.

Well ... today was just that sort of day! Daddy is sick. I mean really, really sick. Like Mommy called in to work sick because Daddy couldn't take care of the trio. So I have been with them all day ... pretty much by myself ... just like Daddy does every day.

Yesterday, the weather was perfect and Daddy took the kiddos to the zoo for a couple of hours. At dinner, the kids each told me all about it ... the animals they saw, how much fun they had, how much they love Daddy! And I started to think to myself ... Wow, this is getting easier and easier. Look at Daddy out having fun with them every day. I want to go to the zoo. After all, I was the wildlife biology major ...

Today, I take it all back. Bring on the 100+ emails per day, the back-to-back phone conferences, webinars and meenting, the projects, and even the payroll bank rec! All of that is CAKE compared to how challenging a day with triplets can be.

Don't get me wrong. I love my kiddos and all-in-all we had a great day today! But it is 10:15 pm, the van is still in the front and needs to be pulled into the garage. I just fed the dog. The kitchen is still a mess from dinner. I have birthday gifts to wrap for tomorrow. Clothes to wash, fold and put away ... and a whole list of things I thought I should have been able to get done today and just couldn't quite get to!

But we did have a good day! Of course, I did go the the YMCA ... how else is a girl going to get a shower with 3 little ones? So I had a little break in the morning. And they did take a 2 hour nap ... as did Mommy! But we had a nice dinner, went for a walk and even made a trip out to Target this evening.

And once again, I am overwhelmed with how good God has been to my family. I really do have the best husband and best father for my children ... Al amazes me every day.

Honey, I love you!

Q