Cookies for Santa

Mrs Becky and Mr Randall helped the little squad make and decorate sugar cookies for Santa this year.

Ashton in green, Bella in pink, Allee in purple, Aiden in blue and BG is also in pink but has all the beautiful long hair.

take note of BG licking the spatula, cause its about all you will see her doing for the entire time, hehehe

 Adrien decides to decorate his own too

and now Mr Randall breaks out the good stuff... sprinkles!

 yummy "I like making cookies!"

Now up till this point they were just putting the sprinkles on their cookie, then Bella decides to sample the goods. I don't think any more sprinkles made it onto a cookie. hehehe

 yea, they were suppose to be for Santa, but oh well...

 Oops! Ashton dumped the entire container of sprinkles and is pointing and looking at Mr Randall like 'who did that?' LOL

 Finally, a finished cookie for Santa... by Adrien. Oh well, maybe next year the little squad will make cookies for Santa. LOL

Wallah! The finished plate, cookies by Lex and Adre.

This year was very different for me since the big boys were able to participate. This is the first year that we allowed them to "play santa" with us. So once we put the little squad to bed, we got to work helping Santa. The big boys each took turns trying on our Santa suit and posing for me. This one has got to be my favorite: Adrien!

I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about making the transition of having the big boys help me. But I actually really enjoyed it. And they seemed to be fascinated to be in the background and learn how we create the illusion of Santa each year. I even still had all their letters to Santa that had us reminiscing of years past. It was a great time and made me truly realize just how much my big boys have grown. It sure is bitter sweet watching them grow up.
Then the absolute funniest part of the evening was watching lex devour the cookies and milk as 'Santa'. He got so full, but forced himself to forge on and finish all the cookies, carefully leaving his crumbs behind so the little squad would know he ate them. Once he was all finished and feeling like he was about to burst he asked me how I ate all those cookies every year. hehehe I had to admit that I threw them away. He says, "dang it, I didn't have to eat all those?" But I sure did enjoy watching him! Buahahaha

Family Traditions

The holidays are a time to revel in the gratitude and love we feel for one another. Christmas is a time for families, friends and loved ones to come together. It also affords a rare opportunity to freeze such social gatherings in time by building long-lasting traditions. The traditions people value are what anchors them in their family. Christmas is about so much more than presents and parties, it's about solidifying family bonds with traditions that tie us together for generations to come. Family traditions should bring families together to celebrate the holidays, not cause additional stress. Christmas has become a stress for some, and financial hardship for others. Where there used to be a holiday, to celebrate Family, we have some how lost touch with our roots, and a meaningful soulful Christmas.
I would love to hear how you create the holiday magic, make time for family, reduce the stress of the holiday season, your favorite family traditions or anything else you would like to share that you enjoy about the holiday season. Thank you.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Press release:

KING TWINS PROVIDE ANNUAL DONATION TO FMH FOUNDATION

Donations come in all shapes and sizes to Fairfield Memorial Hospital Foundation, and youngsters are also learning the gift of giving. Alex and Kimberly King’s two sons Alex and Adrien King (age 11) wished to donate their birthday money again this year. They donated $100 each to “help the local hospital and its patients.”

“It is exciting to see young people giving during the giving season. These two young men are helping to grow the corpus of our funds within the Foundation. This year’s donation is being added to the donation they gave last year. They seemed excited to learn that if they match this year’s donation next year, they will be placed on our Donor Wall of Honor,” stated Charlotte St.Ledger, FMH Foundation Executive Director.

Alex and Adrien are both interested in working the medical field one day and understand that they will likely see how their investment will ensure health care excellence of the future.

“Alex and Adrien’s gifts have arrived during a time when the FMH Foundation is in the midst of the Annual Giving Letter Campaign. The Annual Giving Campaign is kicked off in November of each year around Thanksgiving and this year many donors have already given their annual gift, but there are always donations that come in through the first of the year,” stated St.Ledger.

Parents, Alex and Kimberly King, are employed by Fairfield Memorial Hospital as Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs) and often share with their children the many blessings the hospital provides the patients and the local community.

Pictured are Alex and Adrien King presenting their donation to Charlotte St.Ledger, FMH Foundation Executive Director.

(the big boys donate 1/2 of the money they recieve for their birthday and we match it)

The school may never be the same

We attended the school open house, and took the entire squad. The place may never be the same. lol. If nothing else it did give the teachers a sneak preview into their future. hehehe Everyone always thinks it's soo cute to see quads... then they realize they are toddlers! They were into everything, especially the 'smart boards'. The smart board is similar to a projector that the teacher used to use to draw on and then project on the screen in front of the class, except this is an interactive touchscreen computer. The teacher runs it either from a laptop at their desk on a handheld device while roaming around the classroom. The student stands at the board and actually writes the answer or points to the correct answer. The teachers always set up presentations on the smart board for parents to see how their children are using them to learn in class. Well, the little squad LOVED it. The teacher in the first room that we visited was kind enough to allow Adre to let them draw on it so then they expected to do it in every room. Yikes. In one of the rooms Anastasia even managed to shut down the hard drive. UGH!

What is it like to have 7 children?

It's a dozen eggs for breakfast, a loaf of bread for lunch and a large box of spaghetti for dinner.

It's a 12 passenger van.

It's calling ahead to go out to eat.

It's when taking a couple out at a time is considered one-on-one time and my undivided attention is a rarity.

It's compromise.

It's giving up 'me' time and struggling to make marriage a priority.

It's expensive.

It's sharing and very little privacy.

It's noisy.

It's fun.

It's an 8x12 note paper for a grocery list, as opposed to a post-it pad.

It's always having someone to play with or snuggle.

It's never a dull moment and always feeling behind.

It's appreciating the simple things in life: a quiet family movie night or an Eskimo kiss from my toddler.

It's trying to come up with an appropriate come back for the statement "Those aren't all yours, are they?" that I hear over and over in public. The astonished tone tells me its not really a question.

It's a never ending to-do list.

It's definitely having my hands full.

It's trying to explain to my older children the disapproving looks and comments we receive in public (while trying to understand them myself).

It's having to wait your turn for a good night kiss.

It's a line for the bathroom.

It's a fireplace mantel full of stockings.

It's noisy (oh, did I al ready say this? well, it's worth writing twice!) LOL

It's a family dynamics that could spin the heads of most psych majors, yet bonds that are unbreakable.

It's older brothers reading a bed time story to the toddlers, then tucking them into bed.

It's looking around the dinner table at 7 of the most beautiful faces I've ever seen and feeling so blessed and filled with such gratitude for each one of them.

"Only love can be divided endlessly, and still not diminish." ~Anne Morrow Landburgh

I may not have asked for this crazy, chaotic life, but we don't always get what we ask for, we get what we can handle!

A once in a life time experience

At least I hope I only have to do this once. I took my squad to attend a formal wedding all by myself!

My nephew got married and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. So I didn't have a choice, since Alex has to stay in town to be on call for the hospital. I packed the BAV, loaded my squad and drove 3 hours to the church to witness my nephew accept the love of his life as his wife.

Of course I was running late; I pulled into the church parking lot 20 minutes before the ceremony was to start. Then I had to get all the little squad dressed since I did not take the chance of them getting their nice outfits dirty (while eating snacks during the drive). So a quick dressing of all 5 toddlers, straighten the big boys and one last check of myself before heading inside. Most everyone was already seated by the time we got in and we spotted papaw right off. BG ran up, jumped on his lap and gave a huge hug. I called BG to come on and ushered the quad squad into a pew. I got the big boys seated on each end with the little toddlers in the middle. I stepped back to take this pic:

And then realized BG was not with us. I went back up to retrieve her from papaw, but she wasn't there. I quickly looked around to find her... but couldn't see her. I called for the big boys to see if they had her, but they didn't. So the 3 of us split up and searched inside and outside, while the panic grew in me. And about the time I was about to shout out at the top of my lungs and order a complete lock down of the church until my little baby girl was recovered, it dawned on me! Abby! BG loves Abby (my niece), so I think to myself (still in a panic, mind you) that if I find Abby I bet I find BG. So I call out for Abby and sure enough, there is BG sitting right next to her. Phew! As the adrenaline drains from my mind, I sit down between my quad squad, relax and ready for the wedding. Sigh. Then, Allee tells me she has to go potty. Seriously? So I scoop up both girls (cause we all know what would happen if I didn't have Bella potty too), rush to find a restroom just as the preacher announced a 2 min warning.

Now I have to stop here and explain that I had built up this day to the toddlers by telling them that we were going to see the "White Princess". This is a big deal since my 3 little girl's worlds are all about 'princesses' right now. So the idea of getting to see a real live princess had them so excited.

So I rush into the back school house to use the restroom, fling the door open and run smack into my 2 nieces, who happen to be dressed at miniature brides. My little girls gasp at the site of the 'princesses'. I finally usher them on toward the restroom, but as we round the corner, there she was... the 'White Princess'! My little girls stopped dead in their tracks, completely stunned, staring at her in disbelief. They were so amazed! And so shy, they were too scared to even talk to her. It was too cute watching them be completely astonished by a real live princess. LOL. So I finally tear them away long enough to use the potty. Cause at this point the wedding is on hold til we get back to our seats. ugh.

Then when the 'White Princess' walks down the aisle, my little girls jump up, clap and cheer!!!! And of course the boys follow suite too. It was soo cute, but I was so embarrassed by the commotion.

I told them the story of the 'White Princess' to make the day fun and exciting for them instead of having to sit quietly thru a ceremony that they did not understand. But I didn't realize just how excited they would be. LOL 

 Jason and Misty Crowe

 Lauryn and Shelena (my nieces)

 They had so much fun

 Anastasia spent most of the reception trying to finagle time on the lap of the 'White Princess'. And Allee and Bella kept bringing cookies to her. They just wanted any excuse to get near the princess.

 The little squad had so much fun at the reception. Here is Abby and BG dancing. Those two are inseparable.

 Ashton getting a hug from and Allee talking to papaw

 OK, now this is so precious, but this pic does not give it justice. So I will explain. My girls are still in awe of the real live princess. So when the bride and groom take to the dance floor, my girls were amazed. As Jason twirled Misty, my girls were twirling around them in circles. It must have felt like they were dancing with the princess. Such happy little girls. At one point I found all my girls lined up laying on the dance floor on their belly, head propped up by hands, just gazing at the dancing princess.

 And of course, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to get a pic with papaw.

 The colors where watermelon and zebra strips, so I asked Misty to show me her zebra stripes. LOL

After the reception we loaded back up and drove the 3 hours home. Yikes, what a long day, but so worth it!

Then just 4 days later we drove back to celebrate Thanksgiving dinner with family.

Lex had a school assignment to ask the oldest person he had Thanksgiving dinner with questions about their childhood. That was 90 year old papaw. And it really made for some great conversation. Papaw told us all kinds of stuff about his childhood. But when he talked about not having many toys and having to make his own toys (like balls from the tops of socks), Aiden brought him one of his toys. He sat the toy on papaws lap, turned it toward him and showed him how it lights up and plays music. He sat their with him for a long while just playing the toy for papaw. It was the sweetest thing ever. I just love my kids!

 Allee found an old wig

 The 3 big boys (including my nephew Dakota) stayed up very late and fell asleep on the living room floor. In the early morning I captured this pic of Abby and BG ready to pounce on and wake up the boys. And they did!

 Usually at home the toddlers are not allowed to take their 'bebee' lovey out of their rooms. But while away from home (and routine) they carry their 'bebee' everywhere. So after a couple days I couldn't take it anymore and had to wash them. The girls enjoyed helping me get the washer ready but threw an absolute fit once we had to close the lid. That was the longest couple hours while their loveys got cleaned and dried of the entire trip. ugh.