Goodbye Jule

Jule in her last days

Ella loves her yogurt - and loves to get creative with how she eats it

We got new chairs - each one with our own names on them - not that we can read and of course we all still want to sit in the same one at the same time

We learned how to knock on the door and love to stand there and knock until someone opens the door. Then we yell "Hi!," wait a few seconds, then yell "Bye!" and close the door. And then repeat this about 50 times. Somehow it is equally hilarious every time we do it.

Helen is relaxing in Alex's chair

Now she realizes she has an audience

I cannot believe how bad I have been about taking pictures and posting to the blog. Time just seems to evaporate every day. There are so many adorable moments during the day that I would love to capture but I never seem to have enough hands. I should hire someone to just follow us for a day and take pictures of all the amazing things the kids are doing now. They are becoming such little people - not babies anymore! Of course they will always be MY babies.

This has been a hard week. On Tuesday, we had to put our dog Jule down. She has had cancer for about a year and it finally got to the point this week that we had to do something. It was not an easy decision and we miss her terribly. She was 11 years old which is an old age for a lab. Cecil has had her since she was a year old. He took her on as a rescue project. A family had bought Jule and her brother (Romeo - Jule's full name is Juliet). After they had had the two dogs for a year they realized that they were in over their heads and needed to get rid of one of them. So they asked Cecil to take Jule. When Cecil went over to meet her, the house was a disaster. The back yard was completely dug up from the dogs digging holes. All along the bottom of the house, the siding was chewed off from the dogs chewing it. Both dogs would leap onto the couch with you when you sat down. Cecil knew he had his work cut out for him but he also could tell that she was a good dog and able to be trained.

So he brought her home and started working with her. He already had Indi at that point and Indi was not happy at all having another dog in the house. He asserted his alpha dog status over Jule and she happily submitted. I think Jule was happy to have a big brother to show her around. She turned into a very sweet and lovable dog. She was always so gentle and listened so well.

When Cecil and I met, Indi was 6 and Jule was 4. So they have been a big part of my life for the past 7 years too. My favorite dog story is the year Cecil and I decided to make Christmas cookies. We probably made about 12 dozen and stayed up late to decorate them. By the time we were finished we were exhausted and the dogs were sound asleep. We figured the cookies would be safe to dry overnight and we would put them away in the morning. The next morning that turned out to be a bad decision. Cecil's first clue that something was wrong was when he came downstairs and the dogs were not anxiously awaiting to be fed. Cecil looked at the table and all that were left of the cookies were about a dozen in the very middle of the table that they could not reach. We had put newspaper down on the table first to protect the table and they had presumably just started pulling on the newspaper to get the cookies down. All the fur around their mouths were just matted with frosting and sprinkles. And there was a ring of sprinkles on the carpet around the table. They knew they were in trouble but they had this look on their faces like "We know we are going to get it big time, but it was so worth it!"

We found Jule's cancer about a year ago when I got back to Florida. I took the dogs in for their annual check up and they noticed a lump on Jule's paw. They started asking me questions about it - how long had it been there, does it bother her, is it growing - and all I could answer was "I have triplets." It turned out that it was a cancerous lump and the cancer had spread to her chest as well. The lump on her paw has been growing for the past year making it difficult for her to walk or do much of anything. But she would always wag her tail when you walked into the room and always kept her sweet disposition. Even with 3 kids and another dog in the house, it still feels empty here without her.

So that is one excuse for why I've gotten behind on the blog. There is no excuse though for my failing to take a single picture on our trip to Ohio last weekend. We went home to visit my family and for the annual Agent Orange party (don't ask); we brought two cameras and did not remember to take any pictures. I feel like it is all happening so fast, and I am going to forget all of these little moments.

I am resolved to be better about taking pictures now. In a few weeks the kids are starting montessori - their first school! It is in the mornings, and I think they will really like it but it is hard for me to think of them being in school already!

Fourth of July, Cauley Reunion, and More

Much to his father's chagrin, Alex insisted on having a bow in his hair just like his sisters. He's testing out his monkey backpack (with a very long tail for a leash) on the Fourth of July before we head to the aquarium with Cecil's grandmother and aunt.

Helen thinks her backpack is awesome!

Helen is so cool in her shades

We fit all 7 of us in the Mighty Blue Minivan!

Grandmother and Ella - we are not sure who is trying to keep track of who

This was the day Alex started saying "turtle" and "whoa". Here's Alex and Ella checking out the fish.

Alex is showing me the fish. How cute are they lined up with their backpacks on??

Grandmother and Ella check out the fish

Daddy and Helen

We are not sure which was more fun - seeing the fish or running around the aquarium dragging an adult.

Mommy and Helen

Helen being coy

Back home Alex found Grandmother's gardening hat

Helen having a meltdown over some perceived injustice

At the Cauley reunion, Helen was a charmer

Alex loved climbing up onto anything and everything. He loved getting to play with lots of other little boys too.

Hi Mom!

The Cauleys

Alex looks on enviously at his cousins' video games

After a trip to the lake with our cousins, Helen got swimmers ear. Here I am with her on the couch trying to get her to lay on her side while I put drops in her ears. The only way to accomplish this is to put on Mickey Mouse or Little Einsteins. Whenever I would say, "Helen, time for your eardrops" she would put her head to the side and put her finger in her ear. Alex and Ella would go plop themselves in front of the TV because they knew it meant they got to watch Mickey too.

Ella picked up the Pottery Barn catalog and sat back in the chair to browse through it.

Sweet Alex

Happy Helen (seriously, how adorable is she??)

Ella and Helen - growing up much too fast and getting way too big

Ella enjoying her yogurt

Alex loves his yogurt too

Helen is always the neatest with her food

Daddy and Helen reading the Sunday paper

Helen trying to put her sandals on (she already successfully put her own hat on)

Before heading to the pool, Ella found my running shoes and thought she would try them on. She just has a little bit of growing to do.

Ella at her last swim lesson - she graduated!

Helen showing her stellar float

Happy Helen in the car

Mr. Blue Eyes

No denying these kids have blue eyes - Precious Ella (I'm not sure why she is not wearing any clothes but I'm sure this is a great story there)

Our new choo choo wagon on the way home from the pool

Summer Fun

Before heading to the beach, we like to hydrate with our water bottles

Daddy pulls us in the wagon

After the beach, we rinse off in the shower outside with Daddy (here with Helen - don't worry, Helen is the only one who is naked outside)

For some reason Ella loves wearing her hat when she's inside - just not when she is out in the sun

Alex is too cool with his shades on

Helen hams it up for the camera

Ella is trying go incognito in her shades

A rare moment of mommy being on the other side of the camera

Ella likes to sit in the big chair like mommy and flip through her books

Helen relaxing with a book on the stairs (until Ella came along)

Naked babies eating - everyone was wet from playing outside in the pool so we stripped down to diapers before coming inside

Everyone is doing great! They are getting so big and so much smarter. Now that they can understand what we are saying, we have to start spelling things like "food" "beach" and "eat." Scary. They are talking more now too. Even Alex is getting better although we are still going to speech therapy twice a week. In his first session, he did not make a sound. In his second session, we got "more" "down" and "bye" from him. It's a start.

They are finally finished with swim lessons. It is so much more relaxing going to the pool with them now knowing that when they get in over their heads, I have a second or two while they flip on their back to float to get to them. It is amazing to see how one will go too far off the step and before I can even reach the kid, he or she is on his or her back floating. Helen is our star floater. She has a great float and will even laugh at you while she is laying there. So we love going to the pool and the beach.

We decided to start them in "school" in the mornings in the fall. I think they are really going to love being in a new environment and learning new things. It is going to be harder on me than it is on them. I'm gearing up for it now to be able to leave them their every day :(