Memory Lane Monday- Halloween

I have always loved Halloween. I don't think I can nail down one specific reason. Maybe it's the candy or the opportunity to become someone other than me for a night. It could be the pumpkins, apple cider or the hay rides. Or maybe the sound of the leaves crunching under my feet as I walked down the sidewalks in my quest for candy.

Now that I am a mom, I derive great joy from taking my kids to the pumpkin patch (and then bringing those pumpkins to "life"), drinking hot apple cider after spending an afternoon jumping in the leaves and, of course, dressing them in cute and creative costumes and drinking in their excitement as they run from house to house in THEIR quest for candy!

I have, of course, taken full advantage of the years where I have had the privilege of making the "BIG DECISION". . . . which of course is the choice of costumes.

Dressing triplets is always fun and the first Halloween was no exception. I had been milling over costume ideas for weeks. Three peas in a pod, the three little pigs, three blind mice. . .they were all good ideas, but I wanted something more original. Then one day, as I was browsing through costumes online for inspiration, it came to me. . . .

A hot dog, mustard and ketchup!

Starring Maren as the "Hot Dog"

Lukas as the "Mustard"

Jacob as the "Ketchup"

And the triple stroller as the "Hot Dog Cart"

The following year was not quite as creative, but it certainly summed up life with 21 month-old triplets:

The Rieben Family Zoo
Featuring Mommy and Daddy as the "Zoo keepers"
Jacob as the "Elephant"
Lukas as the "Lion"
Maren as the "Zebra"

The Rieben Zoo on the move. . .

Sadly, I was literally a world away (bringing Joshua home from Uzbekistan) the next year and missed the glorious event, but the festivities continued on without me. . .

Representing Griffindor:
Jacob as "Neville"
Maren as "Hermione"
Lukas as "Ron"
Will (our best buddy) as "Harry Potter"

Last year was another summary of life as we had come to know it:

Five Busy Little Bees

The Queen Bee

My Baby Bumblebee

My So-stinkin-cute-you-WANT-him-to-sting-you Bee!

*Note: The other two bees decided to buzz off before I could get a decent picture of them!

Sadly, I have a feeling that my years of choosing the costumes are slowly drawing to a close, BUT, I did manage to sweet talk them into one more year. I don't want to give away the surprise completely, but here is a hint. . . .



Have I mentioned how much I love Halloween!?!

Memory Lane Monday- Sisters

I know, I know. I've been a slacker. And I am sure that you thought another Monday would pass us by without a Memory Lane Monday post, BUT, I didn't want to become too predictable!

I am the oldest of six children. As the first child, I spent two, wonderful years being the lone object of my parents affections, so, naturally, when my younger sister, Claire, joined the family, I wasn't thrilled. This tiny little person absorbed so much of my parent's time and attention with her crying, constant need of feeding and her smelly diapers. To spite me, she liked to wake my parents over and over throughout the night leaving them too exhausted to play with me. At least, that's the way I saw it. And so the plotting began to get rid of this undesirable addition to the family.

It took a few years for my master plan to materialize, but finally the day came. I was 4 and Claire was 2. While our mother was busy in another room I grabbed a child-sized suitcase and stuffed it full of clothes and other odds and ends necessary for survival. You know, crayons, coloring books, a stuffed animal and a blanket with "silkies" (an addiction that both Claire and I have always shared). Once the packing was complete, I checked to make sure the coast was clear, then I grabbed my sister's hand and we quietly tiptoed out the back door. With the suitcase in one hand and my sister's hand in the other, we walked quickly down the sidewalk towards our destination.

After what seemed like an eternity (two year old's don't walk very fast, you know), we finally arrived. The Super America Convenient Store seemed like the perfect place to leave my "unwanted goods." Upon arrival I promptly helped my unsuspecting sister up onto the bench outside of the store, placed the suitcase beside her and turned to head back home. Luckily our father, who was on his way home from work, happended to drive by right at that very moment. He continued on to our house, thinking that my mother must have been at the store with us, but he arrived to find her in a panic. She couldn't find us anywhere.

They piled into the car and drove down the street to the convenient store where my sister still sat upon the bench, completely oblivious. I had not made it very far when they pulled up to collect my sister and within moments found myself in the car as well, face to face with what I would eventually come to call my mother's "death stare."

Although the details are a bit fuzzy, I can imagine that I spent a good amount of time alone in my room that afternoon and chances are, my mother didn't let us out of her sight for quite some time after that (now that she knew that I was serious about getting rid of my little sister, she wasn't taking any chances). Fortunately for Claire, this was my first and last attempt at dismissing her from the family.



Although we didn't always see eye to eye growing up, we eventually learned to love and appreciate each other and now that we are older, we are the best of friends. To say that I am grateful that my plans were foiled that day would be an understatement. To not have had the privilege of knowing Claire would have been a great tragedy as she is one of the most amazing people I have ever known!

Memory Lane Monday

This is Johnny

Johnny (along with his brother, Frankie, who later passed away) joined our family shortly after Richard and I were married. You could say that he was our first "baby."

During my long days of bedrest, Johnny was my constant companion.

Around the 30 week mark, I hit a wall. Hit it hard. I was in constant pain and miserably uncomfortable, but I was determined to carry my precious cargo as long as I possibly could. One night, as I lay in bed, hot, itchy, uncomfortable and, once again, unable to sleep, I reached my breaking point. I could feel the sobs welling up inside of me and, not wanting to wake or worry Richard, I hefted my enormous body out of bed and waddled down the hall to the bathroom. Once the door was shut, the floodgates opened and I was unable to contain my misery any longer. Silent sobs wracked my body as I pleaded with God for mercy and strength. As I sat, sobbing and pleading, something flew under the bathroom door. It was a dead mole. . . followed by a frantic orange paw, searching for it's prey.

It was more than I could take. . . .I burst into fits of hysterical laughter. And as I sat there, laughing and sobbing, I peed my pants (not hard to do when you are 30 weeks pregnant with triplets). It was in that moment that I recognized and appreciated that God truly does have a sense of humor and knows exactly what we need when we need it. For me, it was a dead mole and a crazed cat, reminding me that, even in the most miserable of times, laughter truly can be the best medicine!

Memory Lane Monday- Go Fish

In the early days of our marriage, Richard and I enjoyed many shared hobbies, but none more than fishing in the Maury River together. On lazy Saturdays we would gather our fishing poles, bait and tackle and a nice, big tub of fat, slimy worms and drive down to the river. The Maury always bestowed her bounty upon us generously, at times yielding as many as 7-8, small-mouth bass to each of us. Of course, the irony in this beloved hobby is that Richard is allergic to fish. . .deathly allergic, that is. This being the case, our catch, obviously, did not accompany us home. This simple fact also required that I free the slimy, panic-stricken fish from the hooks that held them captive, a task that I quickly became quite proficient in.


It has been years since we have pulled out our fishing poles and spent lazy days waiting for the fish to bite, but this is one Rieben family tradition that will not be left to gather dust for long. Now that the troops are old enough to man a pole, I don't believe that there is a fish within a fifty mile radius that is safe!

Memory Lane Monday

This was our first home.

Richard actually purchased it (for $57,000) shortly after moving to Buena Vista (pronounced Byoo-na Vista rather than Bway-na Vista. . .we just refer to it as BV), Virginia where he had accepted a position at Southern Virginia University (I had just transferred there from a community college in North Carolina to complete my last two years of school). We were married in September 2002 at which point I had the privilege of joining him in this cozy little bungalow! We had so much fun making this house a home together. We painted, we renovated, repaired and beautified.

Looking into the living room from the kitchen

Looking into the kitchen from the living room

Our bedroom (I wanted this room to be "fun." We were newlyweds and definitely had romance covered! This is the "toned down" version of the bedroom. Prior to selling it, the trim and baseboards were the same color green as is on our bedspread. Knowing that the blue was probably going to be overwhelming enough for potential buyers, I decided to paint the trim and baseboards white again.).

The first winter we lived in this house, it was so cold that we slept on an air mattress in the den (the only room that did not have drafty windows (all of the windows were original to the home except for the windows in the den, which was an addition to the house). It felt like we were having a sleepover every night! Our next door neighbor had a mullet. He also had a band. We called them the "Mullet Band" and often found ourselves drifting off to sleep to their not-so-quiet tunes. Rather than feeling perturbed by the "Mullet" and his band (yes, we actually referred to him by this name. . .not when talking to him of course, we called him Jeff then, but between the two of us (and maybe some of our close friends) he was the "Mullet"), we often found ourselves laughing and even dancing, to their interesting selection of music and enjoyed our frequent, private concerts.

This is where we fell in love. This is where our family began. This is where our triplets were created. This is where many wonderful and cherished memories were made. I miss our cozy home in the Blue Ridge mountains of Virginia. I miss Southern Virginia University, where I graduated and then worked, with my husband, until October 2004 when we moved to Ohio to be closer to family prior to the birth of our triplets. I miss it, but I cherish every memory that was made there and look forward to telling my children and grandchildren about "where it all began."

Southern Virginia University (Winter 2002)