Enjoying Life

Here are pictures from Halloweens past. We first did the Toy Story 2 gang, moved on to Superheroes last year and this year went with the Star Wars theme.
Well Halloween has come and gone and next year seems to be heading away from themes but we'll see. We had a great time actually going door to door this year it just didn't last long. although I think the anticipation and a few dress up sessions at the preschool parade and at home were just as exciting. Ariana, Brandon, Evan and Owen all created their own faces on their pumpkins and took the seeds and such from the middle of the pumpkin. The entire holiday is mastered by David who then at the end of Halloween raids the Halloween clearance for every tidbit that could add to an even better Halloween next year. (Not to mention the large number of unneeded costumes he raids at 90 percent off). We are the only ones in our neighborhood with an 8 foot Ogre that hovers by the door.
Dave acquired ants a while back for a marvelous ant farm for Owen. The interesting part of the whole thing is I didn't want it. In the end I fed them, gave them their necessary water and watched them intently. Dave and Owen would glance if I pointed things out. Slowly but surely the ants ceased to exist.
Now we were deciding on another pet. We had lost our turtle from our 30 gallon tank not too long ago and Dave wanted to welcome a new family member. Dave preferred rats and I preferred nothing with tails. Ultimately we decided on hermit crabs. I have found that although nice for having everyone have their own, they are quite boring most of the time. Dave points out daily that rats would be much more exciting. So again I changed the water and food nightly and take care of the crabs. From time to time, if I notice something, the kids will watch. I am hoping that these guys will adjust soon to their new surroundings and not hide every time the kids look at them. (Sadly, I videotaped them at night walking around so the kids could watch them in the morning:)
Life is good and we are having loads of fun. We are very big on the holidays and we are all excited for the holiday season. I am anticipating and praying for a fabulous Thanksgiving and a great Christmas, not only for ourselves, but for all of our friends and family.

We're back to blogging

We haven't kept up on this site very well. Got distracted with heart surgery and then school starting. The kids are all loving school. Owen started kindergarten and the preschoolers started 2 days a week at Owen's old preschool. They are all loving it. Both teachers are great and we have a great start to the year.

Owen, who refused to write or try to read with me all summer, within a month is reading small books. He is just realizing he can do it and it is so fun to watch. He actually said "I'm really reading" followed by an inspired grin spreading across his face. I even teared up for a minute as you could see his confidence and motivations change. It is amazing watching these kids learn.

One month of school changed Owen so quickly. Before I knew it, he was this boy and not such a preschooler. He will hug me and warm up next to me before the bus comes, but the minute the bus comes into sight, he jumps about a foot away so his friends don't see him hugging his mom.

We have a million pictures so I am going to skip trying to show them all to you. I'll just show you Owen's first REAL school picture and then follow up later with our Halloween photos.
We had so much fun this summer and we are all ready for all our favorite holidays that are right around the corner. Halloween seems by far to be Dave's favorite holiday. Our theme this year beats the superhero theme last year and the toy story 2 theme the year before. It is so fun that these kids let Dave and Owen convince them to go with their favorite themes. I will keep you guessing but if you know Dave it won't be hard to figure out. It is going to be a great picture if they all hold still long enough:)

Enjoy Owen's photo. It is the first time I have ever noticed the resemblance between Owen and David:)

Quick Update

Sorry it has been so long. I don't have all the pictures downloaded yet from our mini trips but I will be putting them here soon. Since Evan's surgery July 11th we got home 8 days later. We went a few weeks later to the Wiggles concert in the Twin Cities along with hitting the Rainforest Cafe and Underwater Aquarium in the Mall of America(yes that was a one day trip). The following day Dave and Owen hit the Children s Museum back up in the Twin Cities that had a Star Wars exhibit. Owen and Dave had a great time. A few days later we hit the Vikings Training camp which has been trip for us since Owen was one. I believe Dave is trying to raise little Viking fans which seems to be working since you can find one of them any day shouting out the Vikings fight song.
In just a few short weeks Owen will be finished his soccer practice and games and he will be headed off to Kindergarten. It will be sad to put my little friend on such a big school bus but on the flip side I am totally ready for these kids to get to school:) This year I will be home Tuesdays and Thursday mornings all by myself when Owen is at his school and the trio is at theirs. I can hardly wait.

Happy Father's Day

Just wanted to publicly thank Dave for being the best father and husband anyone could ask for.
We couldn't appreciate you more Dave!!

We love you!!!!

Marisa, Owen, Evan, Brandon, and Ariana

In addition, I would like to send a holler out to our dads, Jack and Bob.
We are very lucky to have such great fathers in our lives.
Not forgetting our wonderful grandfathers, Papa(now Papa the Great) and (Great) Grandpa Joe!!

Weekend Trip

Well, if you all have seen Evan's caring bridge site, you know that we have postponed his heart surgery until he is rid of this lingering cold.

So in lieu of surgery updates, here is a recap of our (not-so) last hurrah before surgery.

We planned a little weekend trip up to the cities.

First up....the Underwater Aquarium at the Mall of America....


Wow! Look at those big fish!

A shark! A sea turtle!

Come here, stingray!

Next, off to the Rainforest Cafe for dessert....


Everybody loves the frog!


Then it was time to head to the hotel. But on the way....



We had to take a small pit stop at a Walgreen's to ride out a tornado warning with a bunch of hail. Exciting!

Finally, we got to the hotel, ate some dinner, and then hit the waterpark!!!


Time to go down the waterslide!

Here comes the bucket of water. Watch out, Brandon!


By the time we were done, it was time to all cozy up in bed and watch a Veggie Tales movie until we fell asleep. In the morning, we ate a quick breakfast, and then headed back to the waterpark!!!!


What fun we had at the waterpark!


After that, it was time to check out of the hotel and head to the Como Zoo!!!


Thorpe family meets the orangutan family (notice the little baby in the middle)

Sleeping gorilla (hey, that kinda looks like Dad)

Time for snow cones and a seal show!

What a wonderful family trip! Of course, the minute we got home, the kids were asking when they could go again.

Thanks, Mom!

Evan's Procedures

Evan had testing today which included all the simpler pre-surgical testing. Tomorrow he goes in for a heart cath which is an outpatient surgical procedure. Last year we had a small complication and had to stay overnight. please pray for a complication free day:)
If you'd like to see updates we will be updating tomorrow and Wednesday with news regarding Evan at:

www.caringbridge.org/visit/evan

For American Idol Fans

Look who I bumped into in my first 5 minutes in Fargo? Mr Daughtry was opening for Bon Jovi in Fargo, ND. The rumors were that Bon Jovi was also in our hotel but I believe that was just a rumor. I will post more on my wonderful weekend trip along with my awesome gal pals. A few people just wanted to see this picture.
I would like to shout out a huge THANK YOU to wonderful Miss Kristi Ruen for sacrificing her picture time with MR Chris so we could take the picture. Fortunately she was blessed with a second interaction with Mr Daughtry who winked at her. :)

Quick update

Hello I am short on time...seems like most of the time now...so here are some quick updates.

1. I lost my job. Unfortunately my very nice, very awesome bosses had to close their store. I really feel bad for them but I think Dave enjoys me being home and I am not looking to replace that job any time soon.

2. Evan's pre-surgical evaluation is coming up on April 21st and 22nd, we should know his surgery date that week I presume. We are not looking forward to it at all. It seemed so much easier when he was a baby. I wish we were already done. I do feel good about the his new doctor. He had to get a new surgeon since his previous surgeon retired.

3. The former babies now big kids have moved on out of their cribs to toddler beds. Please take my advice and leave all your kids in their cribs until they are at least four. My barely 3 year olds are slowly, very slowly adjusting to their beds. We have found it works out well only if we take away their naps. When we take away their naps unfortunately we find their personalities change in an aggressively whiny way. I know this too is just a phase but it is not a fun one.

4. Potty training is going along slowly. Ariana is pretty much done and has moved on to the big girl stage. She just resorts back to her diaper phase when the boys have success on the potty and she doesn't feel she is getting the attention she used to for her accomplishments:)

5. The best news is that I am heading out of town for a 3 day weekend with my Mothers of Multiples group a week from today. I couldn't be more excited. They are fabulous ladies, who know how to have a lot of fun. Here are some photos from last year. The one in the hat is Melinda and the other gal is Steph who eventually cut off all that hair of mine. See those big relaxed smiles on our faces, those are coming back again a week from today.

A Birthday Marathon

Have you ever hosted 4 birthdays in one day? It can be quite busy:) Next year we are planning on having someone else host it and we will just show up and let them lead the activities. We did have a great time! I want to send out a big THANK YOU to Chad Smutzer for always working our parties. Our extended family deserves a thank you as well, but they always know they will be helping:) Poor Chad shows up every year and we always seem to put him to work!!

We rented out a indoor playground called Pipsqueaks again this year and had a great time. Owen had a party from 3:30-5:30pm and the triplets had theirs from 6-8pm. We had 4 themes running: Star Wars, Spiderman, Batman and a princess theme. They each had clothing supporting there designated themes. The kids couldn't be happier. Ariana even requested another princess party, specifically the pinata and candy again:)
I will conclude with a lot of photos. We'll take a break from the numerous photos for a while after this entry:)
Please note that Dave himself made the batman and R2D2 cakes.

Star Wars theme for Mr Owen.













Anticipation of triplet party led to this...



Princess Theme for Miss Ariana







Spiderman theme for Mr Evan






Batman theme for Mr Brandon







This is the last photo just giving an insight to one room with three themes:)