The King Squad

the park in Jan?

2012-01-27T08:21:00.002-06:00

Yep!

It was an unusually warm day, especially for January here in the Midwest, so we took full advantage of it and headed to the park. It is so hard to be couped up indoors all winter long, so the little squad especially enjoyed their break outdoors.
Aiden (in hat) and Ashton

Bella and Aiden

Arabella

Ashton and Aiden

Allee

They were all over the place, bouncing off everything! They had so much pent up energy just bursting out! Needless to say they had so much fun. And this was a new park to us, we had never been there, so that made it even more fun for them. They devoured the toddler section within a few minutes and ran off to the bigger section.

Albeit, the swings are still a favorite... even with the big boys!
Adrien

Lil' sis, Anastasia pushing Adrien on the swing. She thought she was such big stuff!

Yep, we took up the entire swing set, as usual! hehehe

This climber made daddy very nervous

BG on the highest slide

And then big bubas showed them the monkey bars! Yikes!

The last Christmas gift to be opened

2012-01-26T22:23:00.001-06:00

The TRAMPOLINE!

I actually bought this on black friday, it was one of those impulse buying situations. I really had no intention of buying a trampoline. Although my big boys have wanted one for years we have been leery of getting one due to the possibility of injuries. But there I was, in the rush of black friday buying frenzy, at the check out and realized that they still had trampoline vouchers. A 14 foot with enclosure for only $148. Oh but wait, it lights up too? Oh, I gotta have it! So I bought it. sigh

And the funniest part is that I told the boys (by accident) as soon as I got home with it. We were staying with Dad for Thanksgiving, so my sister, Lena, and I went shopping Thurs eve. Well, the big boys waited up for us to try to see what we bought. Lena and I were savvy to this, so we were very careful to be sneaky and make sure everything was good and covered so they couldn't get a peek at the loot we had piled in the back of the truck. So after we carefully secured all the gifts out of site from the big kids (mind you this is at like 1:30am! and we were so tired) we walk in the house to a hundred blaring questions from all the big kids about what we bought them. But we didn't give any info up. That is until Adrien asked if I had gotten his lizard any crickets. I said, "no honey I didn't. they didn't have any. and I did ask, I promise. I was waiting in line to pay for your trampoline and I asked an associate to check." doh! The look on his face was priceless. He turned to his brother and asked, "did she just say what I think she said?" LOL

disclaimer: yes, I do realize that I need to secure the bottom of the enclosure to the trampoline. we were running out of daylight on an unusually warm Jan day, so we took advantage of it!

Auntie Kathy sent a package

2012-01-26T22:09:00.000-06:00

And the big boys were pretty excited to tear into them!

Thank you Auntie Kathy for our new PJs and outfits! We love them.

See this empty space?

2012-01-25T08:56:00.001-06:00

Isn't it beautiful.

This is where the changing table used to be.
I love progress! (and decluttering).

There is a lot of changing going on in the King household. The littles are growing leaps and bounds, mentally and physically. And I do a little cheer each time we enter a new phase and especially with each milestone that brings us closer to a declutter home. LOL Even though I love many aspects of babyhood, I welcome toddlerhood. The accessories required to care for 4 babies overwhelmed our home. I rejoice for and with the littles each time they reach a milestone celebrating their journey to independence. And i also rejoice in the freedom from each babyhood accessory. LOL

Is the Folding Wagon the answer?

2012-01-23T10:04:00.000-06:00

This is what I'm considering for our next step. The little squad have outgrown the stroller; they want to walk now. However, we do still have the choo choo wagon, but rarely use it. And since it takes up soo much space in our BAV, I am looking for something more convenient. I figure at this age (2 1/2), I will only need something that will allow rest periods for those tired little legs on such days as a long zoo walk. This folding wagon does hold all 4 littles, albeit snugly, and is only $55 at Sams Club. And when not in use by the littles it will be perfect for holding the ton of sippy cups, snacks and just junk we tend to lug around with us.
Does anyone have any experience with a folding wagon? Good? Bad? Recommendations?

To the Mother with only one child

2012-01-20T23:18:00.001-06:00

I recently came across this article and think it worthy of sharing here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/to-the-mother-with-only-one-child

To the Mother With Only One Child

by Simcha Fisher

Dear Mother of Only One Child,

Don’t say it. Before the words can even pass your lips, let me beg you: don’t say, “Wow, you have nine kids? I thought it was hard with just my one!”

My dear, it is hard. You’re not being a wuss or a whiner when you feel like your life is hard. I know, because I remember having “only one child.” You may not even believe how many times I stop and reflect on how much easier my life is, now that I have nine children.

All right, so there is a lot more laundry. Keeping up with each child’s needs, and making sure they all get enough attention, is a constant worry. And a stomach bug is pretty much the end of the world, when nine digestive tracts are afflicted.

But I remember having only one child, and it was hard—so very hard. Some of the difficulties were just practical: I didn’t know what I was doing, had to learn everything. People pushed me around because I was young and inexperienced. But even worse were the emotional struggles of learning to be a mother.

When I had only one child, I truly suffered during those long, long, long days in our little apartment, no one but the two of us, baby and me, dealing with each other all day long. I invented errands and dawdled and took the long way home, but still had hours and hours to fill before I would hear my husband’s key in the door.

I cared so much what other people thought about her—they had to notice how beautiful she was, they had to be impressed at my natural mothering skills. I obsessed over childhood development charts, tense with fear that my mothering was lacking—that I hadn’t stimulated her enough, or maybe had just passed on the wrong kind of genes. I cringe when I remember how I pushed her—a little baby!—to achieve milestones she wasn’t ready for.

I lived in terror for her physical safety (I once brought her to Urgent Care, where the doctor somewhat irritably diagnosed a case of moderate sniffles) fearing every imaginable disease and injury. In my sleep-deprived state, I would have sudden insane hallucinations that her head had fallen off, her knees had suddenly broken themselves in the night, and so on.

My husband didn’t know how to help me. I didn’t know how to ask for help. My husband had become a father, and I adored him for it. My husband got to leave the house every day, and sleep every night. He got to go to the bathroom alone. I hated him for it.

When I had only one child, I told myself over and over that motherhood was fulfilling and sanctifying and was filling my heart to the brim with peace and satisfaction. And so I felt horribly guilty for being so bored, so resentful, so exhausted. This is a joyful time, dammit! I should enjoy being suddenly transformed into the Doyenne of Anything that Smells Bad.

I loved my baby, I loved pushing her on the swing, watching squirrels at the park together, introducing her to apple sauce, and watching her lips move in joyful dreams of milk. But it was hard, hard, hard. All this work: is this who I am now? I remember!

So now? Yes, the practical parts are a thousand times easier: I’m a virtuoso. I worry, but then I move along. Nobody pushes me around, and I have helpers galore. Someone fetches clean diapers and gets rid of the dirty ones. When the baby wakes up in the middle of the night for the ten thousandth time, I sigh and roll my eyes, maybe even cry a little bit for sheer tiredness—but I know it will pass, it will pass.

It’s becoming easier, and it will be easier still. They are passing me by.

I’m broken in. There’s no collision of worlds. We’re so darn busy that it’s a sheer delight to take some time to wash some small child’s small limbs in a quiet bath, or to read The Story of Ferdinand one more time. Taking care of them is easy. It’s tiring, it’s frustrating, but when I stop and take a breath, I see that it’s almost like a charade of work. All these things, the dishes, the diapers, the spills—they must be taken care of, but they don’t matter. They aren’t who I am.

To become a mother, I had to learn how to care about someone more than I did about myself, and that was terrible. But who I am now is something more terrible: the protector who can’t always protect; the one with arms that are designed to hold, always having to let go.

Dear mother of only one child, don’t blame yourself for thinking that your life is hard. You’re suffering now because you’re turning into a new woman, a woman who is never allowed to be alone. For what? Only so that you can become strong enough to be a woman who will be left.

When I had only one child, she was so heavy. Now I can see that children are as light as air. They float past you, nudging against you like balloons as they ascend.

Dear mother, don’t worry about enjoying your life. Your life is hard; your life will be hard. That doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong—it means you’re doing it right.

Cousins

2012-01-19T23:18:00.000-06:00

Allee, Dakota, Adrien, Aiden, Alex, Ashton, Lauryn, Arabella, Abbygail, Anastasia

Breakfast at Aunt Lena's

Lauryn helping BG with her preschool homework, she is learning to write her name. And A-N-A-S-T-A-S-I-A is a very looong name to learn to write.

Big brother Adrien showing the little squad sparklers

Allee found a wig...

The 3 big boys fell asleep in the living room floor watching a movie. They always stay up soo late, hardly get any sleep when they are together. And unfortunately for them, they have some little sisters that want their big brothers bright and early, first thing in the morning. Abby and BG just couldn't wait to pounce of them...and they did just as soon as I got this pic.

We went out for a big family dinner and afterwards the kids played in the arcade.

Adrien helping Bella drive

The littles loved the shooting games

My beautiful neice, Lauryn, holding Drako (Adrien's bearded dragon)

An outing with Mrs Becky & Mr Randall

2012-01-15T15:19:00.001-06:00

A horse drawn carriage ride

and a choo choo ride.

This is just one of the outings the little squad got to go on while Alex and I and the big boys were on vacation.

Adrien's Chrsitmas program and 1st band concert

2012-01-14T16:12:00.000-06:00

The 5th grade class

My handsome son, Adrien (in the suit)

The class put on a play as part of the program, and he was a cast member.

And also in the 5th grade band. He is learning the percussion section, which means they switch around and play all aspects of the drum section. He seems to be enjoying it.

And of course we had to get a pose with the little squad afterwards.

We missed Alex's band concert this year because we were on vacation in Mexico. Pics to come soon!

Big boys piano recital

2012-01-13T15:51:00.001-06:00

Mrs Linda Short's piano students that participated in the recital (she is pictured top left). She is simply amazing; she makes learning and playing the piano FuN. It means the world to me that my boys enjoy learning!

Adrien Crowe King

Alexis Crowe King

So proud of them!

Mr Randall and Mrs Becky with the little squad

Daddy and his little Baby Girl, Anastasia. Her hair band had fallen so daddy was fixing it. I just love this pic cause you can just see the adoration of a daddy's love and attention.

This was the second Christmas program in one evening, yes, we went straight from one to the other. The little squad was running out of patience for sitting still and getting restless. So as soon as both big bubas played we waited out the rest of the recital out in the hallway.

Anastasia's preschool Christmas program

2012-01-12T15:51:00.001-06:00

She is growing up so fast, right in front of my very eyes! I still think of her as my little Baby Girl, but seeing her up there on that stage, she just looked so big. How can this be?

She seemed to have so much fun. She really enjoys preschool. Every night she asks if she gets to ride the school bus in the morning. I always hear her singing new songs that she's learning at school. It makes me so happy to see her liking school.

And of course Mr Randall and Mrs Becky were there too; they certainly have become just a part of our family. And that makes me very happy!

Ms Princess Bella

Mommy and her little girls, Allee and Bella

And the star of the show.... Anastasia!

So, we tried getting a pic of the little squad after the show. It wasn't working... and as you can tell, Anastasia was getting a little inpatient!

But we did have a few laughs trying

Then we all got in the pic together.

Daddy and Mr Randall in the back
Anastasia, Mommy, Bella, Adrien, Aiden, Mrs. Becky, Allee and Ashton

Anastasia also got to participate in our church Christmas program. She's the Shepard in brown, 4th from the right.

Christmas Day 2011

2012-01-05T22:31:00.000-06:00

Following such a late night Christmas Eve, everyone slept in on Christmas morning. Then spent the entire day playing with all their new toys. We stay in PJs all day and just lounge around.
We did save a few things to open Christmas morning tho. Adre gathers everyone to open a present to 'the little squad' from Santa...

What is it? What is it?... as the excitement grows...

Yay! Mickey Mouse! Mickey Mouse!

But wait, Adre says, check this out. He's not just any Mickey, he's a Dancing Mickey!

Ashton and Aiden enjoying their phones

We watched some of our new movies, like Tangled!

Now Allee has a phone

Aiden looks too handsome in his sisters pink cowboy hat, lol

Ashton curled up with a couple buddies to watch a movie

The little boys exploring their new play laptops

Look at that beauty! BG is looking so grown up, especially playing with this mini computer

The boys put together a quick marble track

My little pony, Allee is showing off one of her 'nay nay'

Now this may be more of a gift for me, rather than them, but I let them open it anyway. hehehe I gave the little squad a jewelry box stuffed full of rings, bracelets and necklaces. I searched all the local thrift stores for all the best costume jewelry and they are having a blast with it all. I leave it on my vanity and as I'm trying to get ready on weekend mornings, I just hand over this trinket box and it keeps them busy long enough for me to get ready. Awesome!

After a morning of playing hard, we all sit down to enjoy a Christmas Dinner (or 'lunner' as my big boys call it, which just means a meal between lunch time and dinner time, similar to a brunch. lol)

Later that evening... my 3 butterflies!

and the big boys set up a huge marble track and of course the littles couldn't resist.
Take note of Aiden's butterfly wings, he couldn't let the girls have all the fun. hehehe

Gifts with the Bakers

2012-01-05T22:30:00.000-06:00

Christmas evening Mr Randall and Mrs Becky brought their gifts over for the squad. They brought so much it was like Christmas all over.

But this time there was no hesitation, the little squad snatched up their present and tore into them.

Lex was more intrigued by the bubble wrap. hehehe, is there anything better than popping bubble wrap?

Adre too. pop, pop, pop

hmmm, what does Mr Randall have?

What is it?

Baby dolls!

and bottles too

They love their Mr & Mrs Potato Head from Aunt Carrie

But Aiden prefers to wear the glasses himself

and Ashton too

another look at my butterflies

Our Christmas Tradition

2012-01-01T21:48:00.001-06:00

I actually had to think hard about this. What is our Christmas family tradition? At first I didn't think we even had one, but then I realized that we actually do. And it's a real unique and fun tradition too. I guess I just took it for granted since we do it every year. I think of it as the norm, but come to find out we're the only family I know of that does this!

First of all, this year we created a new tradition. We hand made ALL the ornaments for the tree. More out of necessity (since I didn't want to put out my breakable ornaments with my curious little squad), but I ended up loving the home made ones. So we'll have to see how next year goes as to whether we'll continue this one or not. I'm actually thinking about creating a winter wonderland area next year. I'm searching for one silver and 2 white trees (of different heights) to put up in the sun room. How FuN would that be to create an entire room for Christmas? And I'm still trying to decide if I want to still put up our normal tree in the house as well. hmmm... decisions, decisions. But I do have an entire year to decide. lol

We hang our stockings on the fireplace.
And I do put a few wrapped gifts under the tree early, but for the most part we have to wait for Santa to bring the gifts.
On Christmas eve we go out to eat and enjoy a nice sit down meal as a family, usually with some friends too. And then the children get to open one gift each before going to bed. We put out milk and our home made special cookies for Santa.
Next year I am going to institute the Christmas Eve pajamas tradition. I already bought all their Christmas PJs and an adorable snow globe for each of them. So next year I will let each of them open their PJs and snow globe on Christmas Eve. Then they'll have something new to play with and get to wear their new PJs to bed, that way I'll have cute PJs in all my Christmas pics! YAY! For next year, I also bought a recordable book of The Night Before Christmas and we are going to record the big boys reading it to them on Christmas Eve. That way I will have it for every year thereafter and I know I will treasure it forever. I can already imagine the chaos of the big boys trying to read as the littles point and squeal and "read" along with them. awww, I just can't wait!
As soon as all the children are tucked into bed and settled into sleep, the elves get busy. We bring out all the gifts, and usually have to retrieve the big boys gifts from friends houses (to assure no peeking before Christmas! hehe).

Like I said earlier, this year was such a treat to have my big boys as Santa's helpers too. Here is Santa Adrien putting gifts under the tree.

And filling the stockings. We laid the stockings down on the fireplace so the littles could reach them.

A job well done by Santa Adrien.

The big boys each took turns laying with Anastasia while the elves prepared the house as she has a tendency to get up. So Adrien helped while Lex stayed with her. Then they switched.

Santa Alex arranging the gifts under the tree.

Oops! His hat fell off... hehehe

Once we get everything prepared, we wait for Santa...

Santa usually gets to our house around midnight (which happens to be the time Daddy celebrated Christmas growing up in the Philippines). This year Santa was played by Mr Randall (and we are currently searching for a Mrs Clause suit for Mrs Becky to join the fun next year).

We very excitedly wake up all the children (yes, at midnight! well, i think it was closer to 11 this year), telling them that Santa is here! Santa is here! We kinda pretend that we just happen to catch Santa as he delivered presents, but he's in a hurry so gotta make it quick cause he's busy, busy, busy. This middle of the night sleepy stupor is how we pulled off the Santa illusion for sooo long with our big boys. I love it!
As you can see, Anastasia was not shy, she was very excited. She ran down the stairs, right into Santa's arms. So cute! But the little squad wasn't so sure. It took some convincing to get them near Santa.

Lex even gave Santa a hug to show the littles it was OK.

And Anastasia didn't want to let go

Bella was very curious. She was so shy tho. She just stared at him, then look at the santa door hang, then back at him. She just kept looking back and forth, like she just couldn't believe it was REALLY Santa! Wow!

The boys were scared, they didn't want anywhere near him.

Family pic with Santa

Now for the good stuff: Santa gives each child a gift from his bag (and I actually found a red 'Santa Sac' for next year, so long black garbage bag. lol). I usually have Santa give the most special (or most wanted) gift. This year Santa gave the little squad each their Dora backpack.
Of course, Anastasia is the first to go up for a gift.

Next was Bella's turn

Then Ashton, notice that Nana stays between him and Santa.

Then Aiden, and notice Big Bro Lex stays between him and Santa too.

And lastly is Allee. She was so shy. But so dang cute. She wanted that present so bad...

and finally snatched it up...

Then turned away so quick! hehe

So our family tradition is to hold Christmas at midnight, have Santa hand out one gift to each child. Give them a chance to meet him for a few minutes. Then they get to open the rest of their gifts, right then and there. And what a chaos that was! But oh so fun; we were buried in a sea of wrapping paper when everyone was done.

I put the opening of gifts in a separate post, coming soon.....

ps: I just finished the next post on opening gifts, so I put it in line with this one so you can just keep on reading and looking at precious pictures of my squad opening presents! I do so adore my children!

opening gifts

2012-01-01T21:45:00.000-06:00

Lex and Adre

Bella and momma

Nana has the boys tucked away trying to get them to open some gifts. It took them awhile to warm up.

Bella wanting momma to help open her gift.

Anastasia is sooo excited. I just love this age, Christmas is so magical and perfect!

Wallah, we got it. And it's the neatest music box; the old fashion twist turn knob makes the screen scroll thru images while it plays music. As a side note, I thought I would like this one a lot because it didn't have any batteries. Well, after turning that knob 50 some odd times that first day alone, I was trying to figure out how to rig up some batteries for it. lol.

I wish I'd gotten a better pic of this one, Lex got a t-shirt with a real guitar on it.

I love that smile (and dimples)! I don't get to enjoy it as much anymore since he got braces. Which, by the way, he is scheduled to get OFF this May. Woot, woot.

I don't even know what he got here, but Adre is pretty excited about it.

The girls helping momma open her gift from the big boys.

How sweet is that? Adre made this out of legos! I was planning to put it on my bedside table, however, he is current;u using it to hold up sections of his marble track. hehe

Anastasia got a Buzz! Oh boy, does she love Toy Story.

Allee opening her purple Care Bear. Each of the girls got one in their 'color', Allee is purple, Bella is pink and Anastasia is orange. And the neatest thing is two of them actually communicate with each other, I think they are called 'play along' Care Bears.

Isn't that smile adorable. Seeing such huge smiles on the children's faces makes it all worth it.

Adre got the Just Dance 3 game he wanted.

And Lex got a whole box of white fudge covered oreos that he wanted. Doesn't that smile say pure joy?

A snow ball maker/tosser and snow block mold.

And what would be one snow ball tosser without another?

Oh boy, what an amazing gift from Nana. A dress-up dress and lots of jewelry. Ooohhh, awesome!

The boys were still having a hard time, but did eventually warm up and get into it.

Mrs Becky took them aside and opened some gifts (with the girls help of course).

Aiden was adorable with a red box

Oh yes I did! Right then and there, in the midst of the chaos of opening gifts, those 2 little girls had me paint their finger nails as soon as they opened their new bottles. oh, they sure are girlie girls!

This is my gift from Lex, I just loved how he decorated the box. He actually cut holes and had the ribbon coming out, very original.

A new necklace!

Anastasia with Mommy Carrie

I got to wear Allee's tiara

while Bella tried hers on.

The boys are finally starting to get into the spirit of opening gifts

While the girls are trying out every new toy they get

the boys are slowly, very slowly opening their presents

Anastasia got a Barbie from Aunt Darla

Mr & Mrs Potato Head!!!! from Nana. They love them!

This gift is from Daddy and needs some explaining. A month or so ago the big boys were throwing a big bouncy ball in the house and broke a couple light covers on a chandelier. More so to teach them a lesson (since they are not suppose to be throwing any balls in the house), he took all their money away to pay to replace the broken pieces. Mind you, this was right after their birthday so it did include ALL their money received for their birthday, plus what they had been saving. So, after donating half then having to pay for the broken chandelier, they ended up with NO money. Well, Dad figured they had learned their lesson, cause I honestly have not seen even one ball get bounced in the house since, he wrapped their money in a card and gave it to them for Christmas. Awe, so sweet!

I just love the look on Lex's face! Well, see he has a money collection; he has collected one of every bill from a one to a hundred (actually the $100 he won in a spelling bee in kindergarten). So he was very excited to get his collection back!

Each of the boys got a plush Woody.

And daddy got a shop vac!

They are getting buried.....

ooohhh, butterfly wings!

Daddy got me the perfect sweatshirt! I'll be sporting my school spirit in style this year at the football games.

More toys!

Let me explain..... It is what you think, it is cactus leaves and yes, it is my Christmas present. I just LOVE cactus juice. And since we just got home from vaca in Mexico where I drank it every morning, I've really been craving it. And since I can't get any cactus in my small town, my sweet hubby (and boys) drove over an hour to buy me some and wrapped it for Christmas. Such sweetness!

Mr Randall looks like he is enjoying watching the little squad as much as they are enjoying opening all their presents.

Adre saved his biggest for last!

And was not disappointed!

Cookies for Santa

2011-12-29T21:54:00.000-06:00

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

2011-12-25T23:49:00.001-06:00

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!

2011-12-25T14:56:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T19:52:00.002-06:00

Press release:

2011-12-23T08:29:00.002-06:00

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

2011-12-18T14:50:00.001-06:00

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?

2011-12-16T01:52:00.003-06:00

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

2011-12-15T10:26:00.001-06:00

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.

What is it like to have quadruplets?

2011-12-13T01:46:00.001-06:00

It's celebrating triumphs over the little things... like when they learn to soothe themselves at night, hold their own bottle and then actually feed themselves. With one child these are considered milestones, but with multiples they are victories.

It's always having to plan ahead. Do I have enough diapers? Will they have enough high chairs? Will I have enough patience? What if I have to pee?

It's knowing that it takes me 4x the time to get ready to get out the door. And that by the time I can get 4 diapers changed, dressed, shoes and 4 secured into car seats, the chances of at least 1 pooping or spitting up is 4x likely.

It's figuring out how to get all 4 from the house into the van, then into the doctors office and wondering if there will be room for all 4 car seats or the huge 4 seat Runabout stroller. Or if the room will be childproofed because I can't hold all 4 babies or contain all 4 toddlers at once.

It's realizing that I can't console my baby that just got immunizations long enough because I have to get the next one going. And what about the other 2?

It's always being out numbered.

It's knowing meltdowns are contagious and knowing that I don't have enough arms to comfort them all or even contain them all.

It's always sticking to a routine and following a schedule is survival.

It's living in survival mode.

It's understanding that naps are essential for sanity (my sanity, that is).

It's chaos.

It's having to be beyond organized.

It's knowing that the center of the vehicle is the safest place in an accident and knowing I can't put all my babies there.

It's realizing (with deep sadness) that a diaper change constitutes one-on-one time.

It's letting out a big sigh once all 4 are securely fastened into car seats, not due to the amount of work it took to get them there, but because now I can finally let my guard down and relax (a little) just knowing they are all safely contained.

It's being efficient.

It's making 4 sippy cups at a time

It's having to be stricter than I would like to be because if I give an inch to 1, then they all expect it.

It's knowing they deserve more attention, to be held more, comforted more, snuggled more than I can possibly provide.

It's knowing that sharing is a process that starts in the womb.

It's knowing they are learning to be independent, and to soothe themselves and each other.

It's being stared at in public and trying to avoid fertility questions from complete strangers.

It's realizing that 4 is not really that many, because most of my friends (at least my friends since having quads) also have 3, 4, 5 or more.

And it's realizing that this life is their 'norm'.

It's group hugs.

It's lots of giggles.

It's hearing the pidder padder of 8 tiny feet.

And it's appreciating that although they are 4x the work, there's 4x the kisses, 4x the hugs and best of all, 4x the love.

They laugh a little louder

They cry a little softer

They live a little stronger

because they stand together

..... Quadruplets!

I've never had just one child since I started off with twins, so I can not say what it is like to have a single child. At the time I thought twins were overwhelming and stressful (little did I know that they were just my warm up for having quads!). With my twins I was able to adjust my life to their schedule and still enjoy a semi-normal life. Eight years later my single did not seem to interrupt my life much. I was able to continue on as normal with some simple adjustments. However, at 3 months she developed colic and we had a very frustrating couple months! Besides dealing with her nonstop screaming, I was in the midst of a hormonal roller coaster with my InVitro cycle. And needless to say that our entire world turned upside down with the arrival of our quads. My life as I knew it ceased to exist; my entire world became about caring for 4 tiny babies and trying to maintain some normalcy for the other 3 (which was impossible). Now since then I have certainly regained a good part of my life back, but I'm not sure I will ever get back my BQ (before quads) life (and I'm certainly not even speaking of my before children life). I think about how comparatively easier life was BQ, and day dream about sleeping in (just occasionally), sitting at a booth at a restaurant (instead of making a scene by pulling several tables together just so we can all sit together), driving a car (as opposed to our BAV), but then I remember those sweet wet toddler kisses x4 and realize I wouldn't give those up for anything. Yes, my life is hectic and full of chaos much of the time, but it is also more full of laughs and love than anyone can imagine. And I love MY LIFE!

taken in part from: http://my-triple-blessings.blogspot.com/2011/11/3-whats-that-like_29.html. So go on over and check out Alicia's blog too.

Chillaxin

2011-12-12T14:52:00.000-06:00

I just found this cute chairs and ottoman set at a thrift store. I had intended to put it in the girls room, but the boy snatched it.

The quad squad have been using straw sippy cups since before they turned one. IDK why, I guess it's just that my twins used straws and it seemed easier, so I started the quads on straws too. I seem to tend to like the straw sippy cups better because they seem to leak less, but I have not found a truly leak proof sippy (that last anyway). Anyway, now that they are getting older I'm starting to think about them learning to drink from an open cup (heaven help us! lol). So I just found these rim sippy cup that is suppose to help the transition to an open cup. The girls figured out pretty quick that they have to tip the cup up to get any milk...

but my lazy boys did not like this concept. They prefer to hold the straw by their teeth and not even have to utilize their hands (which can be used to hold other things or play).

Of course, we will continue using our straw sippy cups, but will practice with the new ones. I've no plans to actually switch to an open cup any time soon.
ahhh, milkshakes are one of the quad squads favorite things

Is it easier to have just 1 child?

2011-12-10T00:40:00.000-06:00

MoMs (moms of multiples) have been known to think so. I know I'm certainly guilty of thinking so on occasion. Especially in the midst of my chaotic moments. Such as at the park when I can feel the adrenaline rushing through me as I constantly dart around the playground trying to keep an eye on each of my 5 toddlers while I see other moms seemingly relaxed, lounging and enjoying quiet conversations. And I'm sure they look at me and wonder why in the heck I had so many children to cause such a chaotic life.
However, these views and opinions from either side of the fence are often just based on a glimpse of a moment. For the mothers with one child, they may be viewing a crazy overwhelmed moment from a mother with 2, 4, 6 or more children. For MoMs or the mothers with lots of children, they may be viewing the perfect moment of the mother with one baby being breastfed whilst sitting quietly as if she has all the time in the world to relax. Neither of these moments are the complete story. Perhaps until we can walk in the others shoes we should hold our judgements.
The fact is it doesn’t matter how many children you have, parenting is made up of both good and bad moments and hopefully not too many of the bad ones.
We should be wise to the fact that some children are more difficult than others, some more demanding, some more energetic, more confident, more full of spirit, and not forgetting that most go through a difficult stage at some point or another. Others may have disabilities or learning difficulties. It’s all too ignorant to judge that mother on the glimpse of a moment where she yells and loses her patience as her child (or children) decide to “act up”. She may have just gone through a whole week of sick children to care for whilst feeling poorly herself, suffering from lack of sleep. Maybe that mom has something else worrying her mind. That one moment of craziness doesn’t mean it’s her permanent state of mind. What about all the glimpses you miss of her playing with her children, cuddling up with them, reading to them, laughing with them, sitting around the family table enjoying home cooked meals?
So, if you're having a good day with your child(ren), don’t think that others with a child at that moment having a melt down tantrum or children running wild, or indeed a mother with anything less than perfect make-up, hair and clothes, means the mother is a bad parent or getting it wrong.
I do not buy into this perfect parenting malarkey. It’s the hardest job in the world to be a parent. I feel most of us are trying to do the very best we can with the family arrangement and circumstances we have. So next time you see a stressed out mother, try giving her an encouraging smile or a nod of understanding rather than a look of disapproval or disgust.

taken in part from: http://twinstips.com/whats-it-like-to-have-one-child/

What is a busy day like in the life of the King Squad

2011-12-07T00:03:00.002-06:00

7:30am: Mom and Dad go to work and Lex, Adre and BG go to school. while the 4 little toddlers stay home with Mrs Becky.
2pm: pick up Lex early from school for orthodontist appointment (45 min away)
4:30pm: arrive home, quick change and get ready for evening
5:15pm: drop off Lex for school basketball try-outs, rush home to get toddlers ready for evening
5:45pm: get BG to her school Christmas program.
5:55pm: finally get a row of seats to fit all of us (by asking people to scoot seats both directions to give us enough empty seats together - yikes!) And embarrassing, we are always such a grand entrance, causing such commotion! As I am trying to finagle 4 toddlers thru the very narrow aisle, bumping the people that were kind enough to move for us, I can hear "oh look, there's the quadruplets!". We just create so much attention. And the quads EXPECT the attention, as we walk anywhere they all wave and say hi as if they were in a parade because they notice that people stare at them. Anyway, back to our evening...
6pm: enjoy BG singing in her very first preschool Christmas program (she looked so tiny up there, but oh so adorable) all the while entertaining the 4 little toddlers (mostly with fruit snacks). And watching the proud paparazzi daddy up front snapping tons of pics of his little baby girl.
6:45pm: pick up Lex from basketball and rush to their piano recital.
6:55pm: arrive at recital and lucky enough to find a whole empty row in the back just right for us - Yes!
7pm: trying to enjoy the piano recital of 30+ students, with many interruptions by restless toddlers. ugh (more fruit snacks... and raisins... and milk... and holding... and distracting... and 'shhhh's!)
7:20ish: so proud to listen to Adre play 'Up on the roof top' on the piano, and all toddlers clap and cheer. Toddlers become increasingly antsy, started looking thru "books" (hymn) and Bella would sing, loudly, as if she were singing along with the hymn. Cute? yes, but not during a quiet piano recital. sigh
7:44ish: praying they call Lex name to play before the toddlers totally loose it.
7:45ish: so proud to listen to Lex play 'Jingle bell rock' on the piano, and all toddlers clap and cheer and Bella yell very loud "yea buba!". Too cute! I so love watching them grow up under the wings of big brothers. They are exposed to so much. However, they had had it by this point, they had been sitting quietly (well, as quiet as 4 two years olds could be) for 2 hours, so we slipped out the back door. Well, I'm not sure 'slipping out' is the correct term, with 5 toddlers its more like the circus. lol
8pm: arrive home, enjoy an ice cream treat for being such good little sisters and brothers for supporting big brothers so well. baths and bed time for toddlers.
9pm: Dad and big boys arrive home, home work. ugh
10pm: big boys to bed (an hour past their usual bed time). Mom and dad enjoy dinner, clean house and then catch up on emails, texts, fb, and blogs.
Midnight: I'm going to bed, g'nite all!
*as if an out of town orthodontic appointment, basketball try-outs, Christmas program and piano recital weren't enough, Alex and I had a Medical Staff Christmas dinner tonight as well. Unfortunately, we did not make it to our dinner. Sigh. Just another example of putting our children FIRST!
**a huge THANK YOU to Mrs Becky and Mr Randall for being with us tonight to wrangle the little squad.

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

2011-12-05T00:08:00.000-06:00

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there...

7 stockings takes up the entire mantel! LOL
Traditionally I have always put up my Christmas tree and decorated the house the weekend after Thanksgiving. However, this year I spent the entire weekend at my sister Lena's, to be with my Daddy. So decorating has been an ongoing process, but I think the tree in finally complete.

Last year I put up my tree as normal (actually the big boys decorated it), but I corralled it within a fence so that the babies could not get to it. This year I decided NOT to corral the tree and just see what the toddlers do with it. However, I'm not brave enough to offer up my good decorations. Therefore, Adre and I came up with a plan. We handmade all our decorations this year, that way if the toddlers destroyed them, it would not matter. But I have to admit that these handmade ornaments sure made for an awesome tree and even more so, it made for some awesome memories making them. Now I find myself hoping they don't destroy them and thinking that maybe I should put up the store bought decorations cause at least they can be replaced.

While out shopping at an antique store Adre and I came across the idea to make a quilt chain link. You know, you remember making the paper chain links at a child. We all did it. I can remember bringing home more chain links than my mom knew what to do with. And then after Christmas it got all thrown away. Well, not this one. This one is made out of quilt material. I didn't have an actual quilt that I was willing to cut up, so off to the farmers store we went. Luckily, they had this quilted material that is for making a tree skirt. How perfect!

I folded the material and cut it into 2" strips, then cut the strips 8" long. So I had 2"x8" pieces. Then Adre looped the pieces together and stapled them into links.

And it looks gorgeous on the tree. I think I will be using this for years to come.

Next, we researched handmade Christmas ornaments and found some awesome ideas at:

http://familyfun.go.com/christmas/christmas-decorations/christmas-ornaments/
http://www.bhg.com/christmas/ornaments/easy-ornaments-kids-can-make/#page=3

And made several kinds.

Yep, it's just simple construction paper, cut into different length strips and stapled together.

These are my favorite, Adre made 6 different ones. So cute!

This one is cardboard roll (from wrapping paper, paper towels, toilet paper) cut into pieces, hole punched, and threaded with craft fuzzy sticks.

It's funny how we started this project as a means to protect our precious Christmas ornaments from the destruction by toddlers, but ended up with invaluable memories and handmade ornaments that I will treasure for many years to come. Because come to find out, the toddlers haven't even touched the tree (or ornaments). Now the wrapped presents under the tree are a different story...

Introducing...

2011-12-02T22:26:00.001-06:00

Drako! The newest member of our family.
He is a baby breaded dragon, approximately 6 weeks old. He is sitting in an egg carton, just to give you an idea of just how small he is. With any luck he will grow to be about 2 feet long.

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Adrien's room

2011-12-02T20:30:00.001-06:00

I never showed you his completed room.

Pretty girls in the park

2011-12-02T03:27:00.000-06:00

Bella, BG and Allee playing in the park

I just love those boots!

Adrien, my budding photographer, capturing memories of his little sisters too

Thank goodness for 90% off halloween craft supplies

2011-12-01T20:22:00.000-06:00

Adrien working on crafts with the littles

finished ghosts

and turkeys (these were actually made at the library story time)

St Louis Zoo

2011-12-01T03:04:00.000-06:00

I took this pic on the way out of the zoo, Aiden did not want to cooperate!

We usually go to the Mesker zoo in Evansville since it is only an hour away, but we decided to take a drive to the St Louis zoo ( 2 1/2 hours away) to see the elephants. But when we got there, this is what we saw: nothing. But soon they did come out and the littles were amazed.

We even got to see 2 young elephants playing, galloping around, chasing each other. Now that was a sight, I loved it! However, my squad seemed to be a bigger attraction for the other guests than the elephants.

Now this was hilarious, and unfortunately I took the pic a couple seconds too early. This is the hippopatumus exhibit. We are viewing them under water as they swim around. They are huge, one will fill the length of that viewing glass. The littles can see one off to the left side but are mostly looking at some little fish near by. Then all of a sudden the hippo swims by, brushing the glass, and about scared the crap out of the littles, esp Ashton. Who, as you can see, has his face pressed up against the glass and looking down (not noticing the hippo until he was right on him). But I sure did get some snuggles out of that one! hehehe

I wish we lived closer to the St Louis Zoo, I'd be there all the time. Heck, I wish we lived closer to ANY zoo for that matter. We live so far from anything exciting, but I guess that is what makes it so special when we do get to visit.

Back pack, back pack!

2011-11-30T20:45:00.001-06:00

My littles have turned into quite the shoppers, especially Princess Bella! She goes bizirk in any store over anything that remotely looks 'girly', but especially if it's PINK! Recently we had to get Lex a new pair of tennis shoes, so we all headed to the mall. Since Dad and I were both there and we were just going to run into one shoe store we decided to let them walk. Hmmmm... not such an easy task. As soon as we hit the store Bella spotted some huge ol' PINK rain boots, snatched them off the shelf and yelled "MINE! MINE!" and ran with them. As we're trying to distract her to get the boot away, she spotted an entire section of back to school supplies with cute little purses, backpacks, and other 'girly' stuff. She was in heaven! Then the others followed. They were pulling everything down, wanted to try it all on, walk around the store playing dress up. I'm so sure the 2 teenage boys working that day couldn't wait for us to leave. (but as always, I did put away all of our mess prior to leaving). Lex finally settled on a pair of shoes, his very first pair of puma! And I just have to add that he now wears the same size as me. Made me tear up to realize just how big he is getting. sniff, sniff... Anyway, we ended up letting the quads get a Dora the Explorer back pack that is just too cute, it even has Map attached to it. Anastasia had just gotten a new princess back pack for school so I didn't get her one. I paid and walked out of the store with the quads all proudly wearing there back packs. I lined them all up just outside the store to take a pic and realized I'm one short! Where was BG? My eyes dart around, searching the area in a little panic, only to find her at the check-out counter with Daddy buying her a Dora back pack too. I just busted out laughing at the fact that Daddy just can't say no to his precious little girls. I think its sweet really.

Bella, Allee, BG and Ashton (Aiden in in back)

A little fall yard work

2011-11-30T02:34:00.001-06:00

Before:

I never really cared for these bushes by our front porch, so we replaced them. We made it a family event with all 7 children involved.
Daddy and BG working together...

and Bella and Allee digging a hole together... (please do note that Bella even wears her pink cowboy boots to do yard work. hehehe)

After:

We still have a lot of work to do, but I did not like that there were 3 of the same bush lined up on either side of the stairs into the house. So we replaced them with 4 different types on either side for some variety.

Threaded spaghetti franks

2011-11-29T14:34:00.000-06:00

I saw this recipe on FB and just had to try it; it looked so fun!

Cut the hotdogs into bite size pieces and thread the spaghetti noodles into each piece.

Then boil together until desired tenderness.

The little squad called them 'spiders'. Although they did think they were neat and played with them, when it came time to actually eat they pulled the noodle out of the hotdog to eat them separately. LOL
Allee

Aiden

My Christmas Photo Creation

2011-11-28T23:53:00.000-06:00

I finally got the squads Christmas pics taken. I was running out of time and ended up going back to Sears Portrait Studio even though I was disappointed with the service last time. And I'll admit that I was very pleased this time. Although, they did remember me and knew that I had given a not-so-awesome evaluation last visit (and had even called the manager personally). However, I was impressed that they actually discussed the issues with me at this visit in order to resolve the problems. Obviously I was pleased with my pics last time or I wouldn't have come back. Anyway, to make a short story long, I did go back there more out of convenience, but I am happy with my pics. It is no easy task getting a pic of my 7! My 11 year old boys get very bored fast and getting 5 toddlers to do anything you want is almost impossible. So, this photo session was hell! to say the least. But the photographer managed to capture some good shoots, so I am pleased. And I just love to get online and create collages and dress up my pics. It's so fun. I did order a couple collages that they put together at the studio, but mostly I like to come home and play with the pics and only order exactly the pics that I want. Besides, with all the online promo codes I saved a bundle. My total order was about $150 for 10 sheets of pics and after all my discounts I only paid about $50! Awesome! However, now I need to find some cheap photo Christmas cards????

Christmas Pics!

2011-11-23T21:57:00.000-06:00

The King Squad

Christmas 2011

Ashton, Arabella, Adrien, Anastasia, Alex, Alesandra, Aiden

Brothers

Sisters

The whole squad! Goodness, my kids sure are adorable! hehehe

2011-11-22T09:43:00.001-06:00

Just random pics

Ashton, Aiden, BG, Allee, Bella

The little squad helping mom clean out under the sink.

My gorgeous Adrien

An early morning wake-up turns into one very precious moment. My 3 girls woke up extra early so I had them sit in their chairs 'reading' their books while I got ready for work. It was nice to have them around in the morning since I usually don't get to see them.

The little squad love to play dress up. In fact, I'm so excited about this, for Christmas this year I am putting together a dress-up tote. I bought costumes after Halloween sale, purses, shoes, hats and lots and lots of jewelry. I have been searching all the thrift stores for anything they can use to dress up. I can't wait! But shhhhh, don't tell them. hehehe.
Here Bella has not just one, but 3, yes 3 different swim suits on over her clothes. (Maybe I should add the swim suits to the tote too, huh?)

Carrie and I took the squad for a shopping day at the mall. Wow! is about all I can say about that. LOL. Now, I have taken them for short trips to one store at a time, but never for an all day trip to the mall. And I have to admit that they did fabulous! I am so proud of them. Just hanging at the mall all day, letting mommy shop. However, I never actually noticed that there are kiddie rides at the ends of each aisle in the mall, nor understood why. But now I sure do. We stopped at each and every one of those kiddie rides to allow the little squad to burn some energy before getting back in their choo choo to walk around the mall. I'm so excited! knowing that spending a day at the mall shopping is now an option. Yay! Too bad our closest mall is over an hour away...
I did wear my "Yes, I do have my hands full." tshirt while pulling my choo choo around with 5 toddlers and my 11 year old twins trailing near by. We got so many comments, but by far the most common was "those aren't all yours, are they?" So now I'm gonna get a shirt that says "Yes, they are all mine!" hehehe And the funniest comment I got was "oh, now I get it. hahaha." She had seen me earlier in a store alone and didn't understand why I was wearing a shirt that said, "Yes, I do have my hands full", but then she ran into me later and just started laughing.
My sister cracked me up cause now she wants a shirt that says "Yes, they are quadruplets. No, they are not mine, they are my sisters. And you can get a choo choo at Step2.com"
Anastasia

Allee

Bella, Allee, BG, Aiden

So back at home, Allee discovered a new-to-them scooter I just picked up at a thrift store.

And this pic never gets old to me. I just love, love to see big bubee reading a bed time story to the little squad. Now every night after bath, Allee stands at the top of the stairs and yells "Bubee!" over and over until he comes up and reads to them. LOL, she can be persistent and persuasive.
I had to take a pic this particular night because they all pulled in their chairs to get comfy and cozy for their story. It's so cute!

Jello Gumdrops

2011-11-21T21:09:00.000-06:00

This is the most quick and easy science project ever that is great for ALL ages, mostly cause they get to eat the gumdrop in the end. hehehe

Materials needed:
eyedropper (or anything to drop water onto the dry jello)
bowl or paper cup to hold jello
small container of water
plastic fork (or any fork)
4 oz package of jello, different flavors as desired

Procedure:
pour the dry jello powder into the bowl (or separate into paper cups for each to have their own)
1. using the eyedropper, put 1 drop of water into the center of the dry jello in the bowl
2. count to 10
3. put another drop of water in the same place as the first drop
4. count to 10
5. put another drip of water in the same place as the other 2 drops
6. count to 10
7. put another drop of water in the same place as the other 3 drops (the more drops you use, the bigger the gumdrop)
8. count to 10
9. Insert the fork into the dry jello beside the wet spot where you put the water. Slide the fork under the wet jello, lift up, and let the dry jello fall off the wet glob.
10. Plop the glob of jello into the palm of your hand. Pop the "gumdrop" you have made into your mouth.

What's happening here?
(for the little ones) Each little grain of jello acts like a sponge soaking up water. The jello is sticky when it gets wet; the wet grains of jello sticking together make the little gumdrops.
(and for the bigger ones) The jello gumdrop is an example of a suspension, the liquid is suspended in a solid as the gelatin holds water between its molecules.

*some facts about suspensions, solutions, and colloids:
Put sugar in water, stir, and you have made a solution; you can't see the sugar because it dissolved in the water.
Mix sand and water; the sand doesn't dissolve. That is a suspension. If the mixture is left alone for awhile, the sand will settle to the bottom.
If the size of the particles is in between the size of those in a suspension and a solution, a colloid may form. Examples of colloids are salad dressing, whipped cream, glue, paint, and shaving cream.

Taken from Garbage Pail Science.
enjoy!

Playing with Bubees

2011-11-20T22:12:00.000-06:00

I have seriously been saving childrens clothes for 11 years now. That makes it my longest standing hobby. hehehe I love seeing the baby boys wearing the same clothes as my big boys did. I always get all nostalgic the first time I see those clothes again; it always bring back such good memories of my big boys from when they were little. And saving all their clothes sure has saved me from having to do much clothes shopping for the baby boys, which is really nice since I have 5 others to buy for. LOL However, the down side of saving totes upon totes upon totes is the storage space it takes up. I have moved those totes around umpteen times over the years and my latest was into our spare bedroom. It became such a monster of a mess cause all I'd done was add the quads clothes to the clothes I was already saving. UGH. Plus I always buy way ahead of time when I find good deals. Bottom line? I had a TON of clothes in that monster of a room. But, I finally got it all sorted out. I got rid of ALL the clothes that the quads have outgrown. Well, with the exception of that one tote I kept a few special pieces; their going home outfit (all 7 of them) and first birthday dresses, etc.

Anyway, the point here is that under that monster of a mess was the big boys old bunk beds. Which is a story in and of itself. They always slept together, it was so cute. They always had seperate beds, but crawled into bed with eachother as soon as I left the room after tucking them into bed each night. I always knew this, but loved to see their bond. So when they were 4 years old THEY decided they each wanted their own bedroom, to sleep seperate from eachother. hummm. So we took them bed shopping to set up their new bedrooms. But when we got there, they picked out bunkbeds. Seriously, bunkbeds? When I asked them about this they informed me very matter of factly that they wanted their own room but they would still sleep together. Duh! lol We did end up buying the bunkbeds but they continued to share a room (and bed) until just very recently. However, they did loose the previledge of sleeping on the bunkbeds because they were so wild with it; jumping from top bunk to bottom (it's a T shape bunk), climbing all over, trying to swing from the ceiling fan...

Anyway, back to the current story. Once I got all the clothes sorted, got some out of the house and stored the rest in the closet, the big boys rediscovered the fun of bunk beds. Except this time they taught all the toddlers how to play too. Oh, and the fun they had.

Bella, Aiden, Adrien, Ashton, Allee, BG on the top bunk

The 4some climbing the ladder to the top bunk

Lex showed them how to create a fort by tucking a blanket in the top bunk. They loved it! And took a time out to look thru a few books.

Now for the real FuN, a pillow fight by the littles from the top bunk to the big bubbes on the bottom.

Pumpkin Carving 2011 and the haunted house

2011-11-18T10:41:00.000-06:00

Adrien carved our family pumpkin this year all by himself. He is simply amazing!

I took a big group of boys to the Ghoul School haunted house; six 6th graders and three 5th graders. I would never have imagined how much FuN I could have hanging out with a bunch of preteen boys. I haven't laughed that hard for so long since I was in college. It was by far the most hilarious evening I've had in a very long time.

We went on the last night of the season so it was super busy, over a 2 hour wait. But I will admit that it's the time waiting in line that was the most entertaining. I'll just give one example of a very eventful night. Some of the boys wanted to stay in the van, warm and safe from the wondering villains. So when Mike Myers came by we sent him over to the van. Oh man, I'm warning you this is hilarious stuff. He walked up to the van, pressed his mask to the window and swayed side to side, squeaking the window with his mask. I could hear the screams from across the parking lot. Some hid under the seats while others scrambled trying to get the van doors open. Crap was flying all over the van as they threw anything they could get their hands on at the window. I could see the door shaking from the shivering hands trying to get it open. And they ran! I thought I was going to pee my pants from laughing so flippin hard.

Supportive, protective parent/chaperon? Oh, heck no! Not this night. I joined the scare team and was out to scare the living daylights out of these boys. We'll see who signs up to go with me next year, huh? LOL

This is the only pic I got and its some of the boys as we finally got to the front of the line. Lex is the one with his back to me.

There is 5 days in a week...

2011-11-17T20:26:00.000-06:00

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5... Monday, Tuesday, 3sday, 4sday and 5sday" says Anastasia

Pumpking Patch 2011

2011-11-17T05:15:00.003-06:00

Allee, BG, Bella, Aiden, Ashton

OK, this just cracked me up. This is one of those background boards with figures painted on the front. Your suppose to stand behind and stick your head through. But my littles wanted to stand on the painted side, so I took the pic this way. LOL

Running the obstacle course with Aunt Carrie

Beautiful Anastasia picked out her pumpkin

Wagon ride out to the pumpkin patch

Aiden found his pumpkin

the pumpkin patch

horsey ride

Aiden, BG, Bella, Allee, Ashton

attempt at a pic of the squad, but the sun was not cooperating. ugh

and again

There's a section of old fashions little tractors that he squad, yes the entire squad, big and little, enjoyed.
Bella

BG and Ashton

Allee

Ashton

Adrien

Daddy with Allee

Ashton, BGs back and Aiden in the background

Alex

BG and Adrien

Bella

The whole little squad gathered together, what a sight. I felt bad for any other child that wanted to play cause we took up just about all the tractors.

The King Squad on the haystack ride

The King Family

The King Squad

Mommy and her squad

Daddy and his little squad

My 2 little mean. You know, going to the pumpkin patch used to be about finding that one perfect pumpkin. We would search and search trying to find that one special pumpkin that just begged us to carve it and set it on our front porch. But now-a-days, it's all about finding the strangest pumpkins. I end up buying 10+ pumpkins, all very different; different colors and different shapes. And I've grown to really like our collection of strange pumpkins every year.

So since the lighting was off when we first got to the patch, I attempted to get the pic at the end of our visit when the lighting was perfect. No such luck. By the time we were leaving, my little squad, well Allee, was having a melt down.

But there it is: our traditional squad pic at the pumpkin patch.

Protective big bubees

2011-11-16T12:25:00.000-06:00

Normally all preschoolers ride a seperate bus just for all the preschool children. However, since we live out of town and have 2 older children riding the regular school bus, they made an exception and allow Anastasia to ride to school in the mornings with her big brothers. This means she is on the same bus with ALL ages of children, including grade school, middle school and high school. Then she takes the preschool bus home since she only attends half day.
The big boys were so excited to have her on the bus with them and were very protective of her. They sit her in between them and she loves it. Seriously, riding the school bus with bubees is the highlight of her day.
After their first day, Adrien was frustrated on how the other children were talking in the presence of his little sister. He even said to me "they saw her getting on the bus, they should know better than to say things like that where she can hear it". He was so upset that she was going to hear inappropriate things. So I asked him what he did about it. He said he put his earphones on her and turned up his ipod so she couldn't hear them. lol, so cute. Well, then the next day he forgot his ipod so he said he had to talk really loud to her the entire way to school so she couldn't hear anything anyone else was talking about. "and that was exhausting" he said.
That is the sweetest thing ever. I just love my children, all of them.

My BGs first day riding the school bus

2011-11-14T23:07:00.000-06:00

We had Anastasia evaluated for preschool as soon as she turned 3. She was accepted, but put on a waiting list. My reason for wanting her to even go to preschool this early is so that she can have some Anastasia time with other 3 year olds. She gets submerged in with the quads and is constantly surrounded by 4 two year olds. Eventho Mrs Becky has exceeded our expectations with her academically, I think socially she would benefit from hanging out with kids her own age. The school that Lex and Adre attend also offer an excellent preschool, and she gets to ride the school bus with big brothers. So that is why we wanted her to attend this particular preschool. However, once she was put on a long waiting list (I was told she was #30), we decided not to hold off waiting and enrolled her in a local Christain preschool. She did awesome, loved going to school, and we liked her teachers. However, Mrs Becky was having to get all 5 toddlers up, dressed, fed breakfast and out the door by 8:30 (and the big boys do not leave for school until 7:40, so this really only left her 50 min to accomplish all that). She only attended her first preschool for 1 month before we got the call that she was moved up the waiting list and could start now. Reluctantly, we dropped her from the first preschool to attend the same school as her big brothers. Today was her first day. We were ALL so nervous to put her on that BIG school bus, everyone that is except BG. She was excited as can be. She woke up early, got her new 'first day of school' outfit on, fixed her hair "pretty as a princess" and went out to wait for the bus along with her big brothers, Lex and Adre. Oh, but not before waking all the babies up so they could come watch her get on the bus too. Luckily, Alex and I were able to be home for this monumental event. So we had the ENTIRE family outside waiting for that big yellow bus to come take my precious Baby Girl away. sniff, sniff. Mommy Carrie and Mrs. Becky were there too.

This is my absolute favorite pic to depict just what a special moment this was. Those big boys adore that little girl. As soon as they saw the bus coming they each held her hand and she just simply walked right up and onto that bus. Not a fear in the world. I guess everything is ok with 2 big bubees at your side.

I had her pause at the door for a 'mommy picture moment'. With teary eyes I snapped a couple pics

Then she waved bye-bye

And Daddy waved her off as the bus drove away.

Allee tried to get on the school, and the baby boys cried as the bus took their big sis away.

Big Splash Adventure

2011-11-13T17:25:00.001-06:00

We had a mini vaca and took the squad to an indoor waterpark for the weekend. It is still such an adventure to do anything as a family of 9, but especially an overnight stay. But it sure is worth the wonderful memories. However, just getting a hotel room is a challenge. The fire code occupancy restrictions do not allow for a family of 9 to stay in one average room or even 2 for that matter. I called for reservations for 10 (since my sister went too) and they were gracious enough to allow us to squeeze into their biggest suite since the quads don't actually sleep on a bed (they sleep in their own peapod tents). This makes me wonder what we will do in the future tho once they outgrow their tents...

Big Splash Adventure park in French Lick, IN is an awesome get-away.

The entire squad enjoyed every minute, and I certainly loved watching the little squad explore the water park.

But I was absolutely amazed at the little ones for going down the slides. I did not expect that. I thought they would go down WITH us, but heck no. Of course, Allee started it off. She climbed right up to the top (following other kids), sat herself down, and off she went. Amazing! The boys followed soon behind. Bella had to watch for awhile, then she was off too. And eventually BG was able to slide solo too (after a few rides with Mommy Carrie). I stood at the bottom of the slide (where I could watch as they walked up the stairs and got in the slide, never loosing site) and I got to see the most precious expressions of sheer joy as they came out of the slide.

Ashton and Allee

Bella just loved exporing it all

Ashton

Aiden

Bella

I just loved this one, those boys have so much FuN together

Allee trying out her swimming moves

3 of them.....

4 of them.....

and all 7 of them!

Bella and BG on the swings

UGH! Now this was so frustrating. They all have their own puddle jumpers, which in my opinion is the best safety float out there. BUT, because other kids there were wearing these blue life jackets Bella thought she should have one too. So I ended up letting her wear one and then she couldn't even float in it and got so frustrated and scared she didn't want to get back in the water. Sometimes those little girl attitudes are just too much for me! And this is only the beginning...

This is our room. I loved the bunk room; it was perfect for us. There was two sets of bunkbeds side by side with their very own TV. So the entire squad hung out there.

BG and Lex looking over the top of the bunks

And of course the little squad enjoyed some good ol' fashion bed jumping and pillow fighting.

Then we tucked them all into bed (at around midnight - Yikes!)

With an early morning breakfast

more water park for the day, then headed home. My Pretty in Pink Princess Bella sleeping on the drive home

Our surprise when we got home was a nicely teepeed house. hehehe

Happy 11th Birthday Lex and Adre!

2011-11-07T17:12:00.001-06:00

Adrien Crowe King and Alexis Crowe King turned 11 years old on Oct 6th!

We started the day off with fresh blueberry muffins, a candle, and a happy birthday song.

Our family tradition is that the birthday person(s) gets to be king/queen for the day and choose what the family does for that day. And they get to have whatever they want for dinner. So the boys had Chef Daddy in the kitchen grilling up some halibut and fried rice (hibachi style).

Look at those smiles! And for good reason. They got a PS3!

Thanks to Uncle Ef and Auntie Maricris!

We didn't celebrate on their birthday (well, expect for a small family celebration at home) because we were so busy with soccer and football season. So just recently we celebrated with their friends. I took a group of five 6th graders for Lex and five 5th graders for Adre, along with my 5 toddlers to Laser Tag and Mini Golf. What a hoot!

Adre and his group playing mini golf

And Lex and his group playing mini golf

Megan came too

Lex playing guitar

I think Nic got the most tickets

and won this

Adre and his friends playing thier favorite game, Big Bass Wheel

Bella trying on some glasses the boys won as prizes

Aww, well ain't that sweet

2011-11-06T00:21:00.002-05:00

3 Pink Tutus

2011-11-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

Arabella, Anastasia, Alesandra

Misty Titzer pics of my 4 little men

2011-11-04T00:32:00.001-05:00

This is by far my favorite pic that Misty took. She captured a spontaneous moment that I will forever treasure. My sweet, sweet baby boys, Aiden and Ashton:

Adrien

A silly Ashton moment

Lex and Adre

Alex; he is looking more like a man, growing up so fast

Aiden, Adrien, Alex, Ashton

Misty Titzer Photography

2011-11-02T22:27:00.002-05:00

www.mistytitzer.com

Happy Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T23:07:00.001-05:00

Snow White and her 7 Dwarfs with the Queen/Witch

Pumpkin Festival 2011

2011-10-29T07:00:00.000-05:00

The King Squad

Why did the King Squad cross the road?

To get to the Pumpkin Festival, of course!
Remember now, we live in a small town. So this is a small town pumpkin festival, and it is perfect, just perfect for our family. I am able to go there with my 7 and just enjoy it, not constantly worrying. They had a row of old fashion games for the kids to play.

The big boys were trying to explain to the little squad how to throw the bean bags thru the openings of the pumpkin. But they just weren't getting it. So Lex went behind and stuck his head thru the nose. Then they had no problem throwing the bean bags at him. LOL Those 7 have fun just being together, I love to see that. It warms my heart.

Next they moved on to the sac race. Which, by the way, took much longer to set up than to run. hehehe. But it sure does make for a good pic!

and the winner is...

Bowling with pumpkins...

or 'throwing' pumpkins. lol

The little ones just walked right up to the bottles and threw the pumpkins on top of them to knock them down. They sure were having a good time.

Then they discovered the buckets of candy... There were prizes at each game station for the kids to pick out on their own. Well, you should have seen their faces when they realized that those pumpkin buckets had candy in them, and they could just help themselves to it. Oh boy!

BG trying the hula hoop, the original way...

then she tossed them over the pumpkins.

ok, now I made a fable attempt at getting a photo.

hmmm, it didn't go so well...

but I kept trying...

So I gave up and we went to eat some lunch. They had corndogs...

and shake-ups.

We even ran into Kung Fu Panda...

Which is were it went down hill. My precious, precious, sweet little girls wanted to see the Panda, but was too scared to get near him. So the melt downs started. UGH. We quickly grabbed our pumpkins and headed home.

Purdy girlies

2011-10-28T10:21:00.000-05:00

I think these little school girl outfits are so adorable.

Arabella and Alesandra

Bella, Allee and BG

Ashton, Aiden, Bella, Allee and BG

They are all getting so dang BIG!

On our way into church, they are all doing so well now just walking themselves in. At first I practically had to drag them in, pry them off me and shove them into their class room (it wasn't that bad, but it sure did break this mommas heart to leave them). But not now, just look at them, walk right on up to the church and check themselves in. Dang it, they are growing up! lol

Then after church they can even get themselves to the van, even open the van door and get into their car seats. They attempt to buckle themselves in but have a hard time with the latches.

With cooler weather upon us, we decided to make some adjustments around the house. We moved some of the outside playground equipment into the indoor playroom. How exciting! We moved most of the toys from this playroom to the basement playroom.
Here they are playing in the new toy box.

BG checking out the slide

Oh, and yes, it was a problem only having 3 ride-on horseys. Allee was quite upset here. But now this set up is old news and they just play with it all.

I just love this pic! Daddy has all 5 toddlers on swings and is trying to keep them all swinging. I wish I had it recorded cause all you hear is them all calling for daddy to swing them all at the same time. lol

Catching up

2011-10-27T21:55:00.000-05:00

I sure have a lot to catch up on. The potty training week put me behind, then we had 2 of our laptops crash at the same time. ugh. So that left us sharing one, which meant that I did not have much access to the computer. But here I am, so I'm gonna get right to it.

These pics are from hanging out at the park during the big boys soccer games. Oh, and can I just say that I am so happy that we do not have any sports right now. We have been going non-stop, from sport to sport, or even more than one sport at a time, with NO break since last January when basketball started. But right now, since football and soccer ended, neither Lex nor Adre are playing any sport. It's just so weird to have evenings at home. hehehe. Anyway, on to pics!

Arabella sporting her pink boots!

Allee climbing the wall

Looking at these pics I have a hard time believing those are my babies, they just look so BIG.
Aiden with that silly hat on, the boy LOVES hats.

Aiden, Ashton, BG, and Bella

Allee and Bella swinging

Aiden

Princess Bella

Anastasia

What a beautiful girl, if I do say so myself. lol

Aiden and Allee

and now they switched drivers seat

and now Bella got on

Oh, and they love the merry go round

Aiden on the slide

Bella and Allee

Bella

Allee and Bella

check out those boots, I just love them!

Megan holding Bella and Allee, she has gotten good at being able to keep up with all the toddlers and can now even hold two at a time.

Arabella eating raisins, her favorite snack.

Peyton (Megan's friend) pushing Allee on the swing

A rare pic of my princess Bella laughing. And its not that her laughing is rare, cause that girl is always giggling, its rare for momma to catch it on film.

and this is why she is laughing, daddy. That girl loves daddy's attention.

Look at that smile on my sweet Aiden's face.

Ashton

I just love those pigtails. And here you can really see those boots, just too cute!

Ashton

BG getting a push from mommy Carrie

Daddy and Bella tickle Anastasia as she swings up, and they all laugh so hard.

Megan sportin Lex's football jersey number at his last football game. She even got to be ballgirl and hold the football during the game.

This is the suggestions so far

2011-10-26T23:41:00.000-05:00

A MOM'S PRAYERAuthor Unknown
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my sanity to keep.
For if some peace I do not find,
I'm pretty sure I'll lose my mind.
I pray I find a little quiet
Far from the daily family riot
May I lie back--
not have to thinkabout what they're stuffing down the sink,
or who they're with, or where they're atand what they're doing to the cat.
I pray for time all to myself
(did something just fall off a shelf?)
To cuddle in my nice, soft bed
(Oh no, another goldfish--dead!)
Some silent moments for goodness sake
(Did I just hear a window break?)
And that I need not cook or clean--
(well heck, I've got the right to dream)
Yes now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray my wits about me keep,
But as I look around I know--
I must have lost them long ago!

"Only love can be divided endlessly, and still not diminish." Author: Anne Morrow Lindbergh
(*I love this one, I have never heard it, and it is so simple and so true and puts my heart at ease knowing that I can divide my love among all 7 of my children and not have it diminish.*)

"A mother holds her children’s hands for a while, but their hearts forever" Author: Unknown

“You were born together,
and together you shall be forevermore…
but let there be spaces in your togetherness.
And let the winds of the heavens dance between.”
– Kahlil Gibran

“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying,
“I will try again tomorrow.”- Mary Anne Radmacher

While we try to teach our children all about life,
our children teach us what life is all about.
Angela Schwindt

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." Author: Jane Howard

"In a houseful of toddlers and pets, you can start out having a bad day, but you keep getting detoured." Author: Robert Brault

"Parenting, I've come to understand, is about loving my child today. Now. In fact, for any parent, anywhere, that's all there is."
(a read the entire article and it broke my heart reading about 'dragon mothers'. you can find the link to the article under comments in my previous post)
And of course... There was an old woman who lived in a shoe...

PLEASE, keep the suggestions coming! Thank you

Poems needed please

2011-10-25T15:59:00.001-05:00

It's that time of the year again, and I'm so excited. It's time to print my blog into a book. I just love blog2print. I've had my blog printed twice now. The first includes all the blog post on my quadruplet pregnancy thru their birth. The second is the first year with quadruplets. And now its time to print their second year, except this time I have more pics than are allowed to be printed in one book. Ugh. They allow up to 1500 pics per book and I have over 2200 pics. Wow! So, reluctantly I am printing 2 separate books for this year. Anyway, as part of the book creating process I can choose pics for the front and back cover. Which I already have chosen. And there is a text box on the back cover that I would like to put a poem about quadruplets or big families or lots of children or the like. So if you have a saying, quote, or poem that you think would be nice for my back cover this year (I need 2), please pass it along. Thank you.

Quadruplet comic strip

2011-10-19T22:48:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I feel this way when we are out in public. I do understand that quadruplets are not a common site and I know that I would have been totally amazed too (if I had ever actually seen a set of quadruplets prior to me having my own set). And most of the time I honestly do not mind the attention, or all the questions... well, except when they get kinda personal. But there are times when I'm in a hurry or more commonly, the quads are on the verge of (or even sometimes in the midst of) a total meltdown and people will still stop me with questions. I don't usually even mind the "you have your hands full" comment, even though I've heard that one a million times already. Or "I bet they keep you busy" and I don't even mind the "are those all YOURS?". However, what I do mind is the 'I feel sorry for you' look or sometimes people actually do say that one out loud to me or "I'm glad it's you and not me". Or even a simple "I'm sorry" or my favorite "I'll pray for you!". I guess I don't understand what people are sorry for or exactly what it is that they are praying for. So I want to set the record straight and publicly state that I AM HAPPY! I love my life. I am not saying that it is an easy life, nor a frustration-free life (but who can honestly say that?). It is true that I did not seek out to have quads, nor would I have chosen to have quads (if given the choice). And it is also true that 4 children the same age is challenging. However, it is also true that I get to experience 4 times the love, laughter and fun (actually 7 times). And something else that is more special than anyone can imagine: the quadruplet bond. I am in awe of and feel privileged to witness this pack they seem to have. It's not always visible, they can sibling rivalry with the best of them. But when it comes down to it, they are a pack of wolves (quadruplet wolves that is, lol). The most recent encounter I was able to witness was when a seemingly harmless toddler bumped into one of them and accidentally knocked him down. Now this is a constant occurrence in our home and no one thinks twice about it. So I didn't even think twice about it this time. But this was an outsider. The next thing I knew the 4 of them had encircled this innocent boy and were acting like they were about to convict him of a horrible crime. I had to intervene to release the poor boy. LOL

So pleeease, pleeease, don't you feel sorry for me. I am truly happy and I truly love my life! And I especially love each and every one of my 7 children!

“There’s four to wash, there’s four to dry.
There’s four who argue, there’s four who cry.
Two are in the mud having a ball,
The other two are holding crayons and marking the wall.
My patience grows thin, the days seem endless and I wonder,
“Why was I chosen to be the mother of quadruplets?"
The answer comes clear at the end of each day.
As I tuck them in bed and to myself I say,
There’s four to kiss, there’s four to hug,
and best of all there’s four to love.”

Future contruction worker or interior designer?

2011-10-16T20:36:00.001-05:00

Allee completely ripped the under bed drawer out and took it apart, bolts and all without any tools. She is simply amazing... And that's all I'll say about that. Lol

I took the drawer out of her room so now she just rearranges the cribs. Sigh

Potty Training: Day 5

2011-10-14T23:31:00.001-05:00

was absolutely fantastic! I think they got it! Actually, I know they got it. I am so proud of them. Today I was able to go on about our normal routine and just have fun. We stayed home during the day but I did some reorganizing around the house so I was not on top of them all day. I kept the potty chairs out in the living room and just occasionally reminded them "don't forget to use the potty." I even fully dressed them, but in loose pants that would be easy for them to pull down and up by themselves. All I would hear was a loud "wipe!" when they were done. It was like music to my ears. Neither of them had any accidents. Well...*sigh* with pee anyway...
Incident #1: I was in the kitchen cleaning under the sink (cause my OCD will not let me just relax, even tho I am on vacation, sigh) when Allee came and told me she pooped. I jumped up, so excited and started toward the potty chairs when she says, "Nooooo" and points toward the playroom. Seriously? So I follow her to the playroom and she proudly points to her poop on the floor. I look at her like wth? And she's all smiles and clapping and just so proud. So how could I be upset at that? I just asked her to please go sit on the potty and finish (mostly just to give me time to clean up the mess before someone else found it and got curious...). It took me maybe all of 30 seconds, ok maybe 1 minute to clean it up and get back to wipe her. But dang! By the time I got to her she had managed to get poop all over BOTH potty chairs, both her legs, her hands (cause she was trying to wipe it off her legs) and the floor. Geesh!
I put them all down for nap and was feeling great about how potty training has gone and felt such an accomplishment of our week. When.....
Incident #2: All week I have gotten the girls out of their room as soon as I heard them awake, except today. See today is the last day of my vacation and so I really wanted to finish the reorganizing I have been doing around the house. So I was alittle late getting to them, about 15 minutes late or about 5 minutes too late as it turns out. They can usually stay in their room playing until we get them up. They have lots of toys in their room to play with, but today they decided to play with something else. I went up to the second floor to get the boys up and called up to Anastasia on the 3rd floor and asked her to open the door to let the girls out of their bedroom (Anastasia is in one room and the little girls are in another, across from each other on the 3rd floor). I turned and started walking down the hall to get the boys changed when Anastasia says "oh momma, you gotta see this!" As I'm running up the stairs I can hear her say, "No Allee, no no!" I enter the room and first of all get smacked in the nose with 'the' smell, then look down to see my precious little angel, Ms Allee covered, and I do mean covered in brown. Now my little princess Bella only has brown on her hands. So I have to conclude that Bella was the painter and Allee was the canvas. UGH. On the bright side, both diapers were dry, so they did not pee (nor poop) in their diaper! So it was a successful potty training event. LOL
After everything and everyone got cleaned up, we actually packed up and took the squad to dinner. Since I did not want to repeat the multiple trips to the public restroom from last night, I packed a potty chair with us. Oh, but yes I did. I brought their old BIG diaper bag with the chair and all clean up and changing supplies in it. We requested a table in back against the wall. Since we are a party of 9, with 5 toddlers, we usually get the party room anyway, if one is available. So we usually get put in the back anyway. Bella was the first to ask to go potty. I simply pulled out the potty chair and placed in on the floor between our table and the back wall. She didn't know the difference and no one in the restaurant even seemed to notice. Overall, she and Allee used the chair a couple time each without incident. Once we were done I packed up the chair (pee and all). I know, gross! But what's more embarrassing, carrying pee in your bag or dripping pee down the booster seat?
Whatever it takes, right? LOL
So this concludes my daily potty training updates. As long as things keep going this well, I will only update occasionally (or for funny stories I will want to remember). I think this week went much more smoothly that I ever thought imaginable. Day 1 was great, full of excitement; day 2 was ok, lots of determination needed; day 3 was awful, full of resistance and power struggle; day 4 was good, they were starting to feel in control; and day 5 was fantastic, they took control and were in charge of their bladder. I feel like this week was a success in that both girls learned to control their bladder and acquired a full understanding of using the potty. However, they still have accidents and I expect they will for a very long time. Anastasia still has an accident on rare occasion and she's been potty trained for over a year now. But they DID IT, they are potty trained, the rest is just practice. I do think the key to their success is their prior readiness. They were ready and willing to potty train. I merely provided the means for them to learn. Now my boys on the other hand, are not ready. So I will wait. And once they show signs of readiness, they will potty train too.
So here is a pic of my work station. LOL. I set everything up within arms reach that I would need and placed the potty chairs right under it all. It worked very well, I always had everything I needed right there.

Since I was not training the boys at the same time, I used their potty inserts as a back-up. So as soon as they used the potty I was able to switch a clean insert so the potty was always ready. Well, except when I got really behind and all 4 were soiled. Yikes.

Snack time! Allee climbing up the ladder in the pantry to grab a snack after she successfully used the potty.

PS: after this first 5 day period I transitioned to mostly using the regular toilet. As they gained confidence and control of their bladder they were able to hold their pee longer, thus were able to make it to the restroom. I also transitioned from a candy treat after each use of the potty to a single fruit snack, then nothing. The girls have gained such independence and confidence that I swear they have grown up a couple years worth. sigh. They must 'feel' so big now, cause they sure 'act' older. It's like they all of a sudden grew up.

Potty Training: Day 4

2011-10-13T23:14:00.000-05:00

was great!
I felt so beat down from yesterday that I was dreading day 4. By the end of day 3 I was seriously doubting myself and wondering why I was doing this. I mean really, there is no need to potty train at age 2, right? I felt like I was just torturing us all, and for what? To save a couple diapers a day? At that point I was ready to buy diapers thru college. LOL. Needless to say, I went to bed feeling defeated. But then this morning both girls got up rearing to go and that renewed my sense of determination. They both used the potty first thing in the morning and seemed so proud of themselves. And the rest of the day was a blast. I really enjoyed it. I honestly can not say that about the first 3 days. Our life has been ALL about the potty, all aspects of the potty, until I'm just sick of it. But today we had FuN! We still stayed home all morning and stayed close to the potty chairs, but we also integrated some of our normal routine and activities.
The first day I had them sit on the potty chair alot. Then each day was less and less. And today I didn't ask them to sit on the potty, I just kept reminding them "don't pee in your panties, remember to use the potty". And if I saw them fidgeting or acting like they needed to go, we rushed to the potty chair. There was actually times throughout the day that both girls used the potty all on their own without any prompting or reminders or even my knowledge. Now that is exciting! (See, I have been stuck in potty mode for too long now when that is the most exciting thing that has happened to me all week, some vacation, huh? LOL). Allee did awesome, she did not have any accidents all day. Bella had 2, but considering how many times she pees in a day, that is still very good. And she pooped on the potty today. She is a rock star!
This evening we all had to take Adrien to soccer practice. Seems like a simple task, right? Well, let me tell you... it is not! First off, practice is 30 minutes away and we also had to pick up dinner for the big boys, drop off Lex for football practice and pick up a friend that goes to soccer practice with us. Bella usually uses the potty every 30 minutes. Practice is 1 1/2 hours long, then the drive home. UGH. I feel like I packed the house just to leave the house for a few hours. It reminded me of when they were infants; trying to be prepared for all I may need while out. I packed the potty chairs, rags, bag, baby wipes, bleach wipes, and several changes of clothes. I was ready to go...
I got them up from nap and had them sit on the potty but of course they didn't go. We got loaded up, and I put both girls in the front row so I could reach them. Within a few minutes Bella wanted to sit on the potty. So I sat her on it while we went through the drive thru, but she didn't do anything. Ugh, so frustrating. Then of course, Allee wanted to sit on her potty too, but did nothing. sigh. It was a looong drive when the entire time I kept repeating "don't pee in your panties, tell mommy and we'll use the potty" over and over until they were giving me a dirty look every time I said it. LOL. But they did not pee in their car seats. Yea! After dropping the boys off at practice we took the little squad to McDs for dinner. All was well... until I asked if they needed to pee. Of course Bella said yes, so I took her to the public restroom. Oh did she love that. But still didn't pee. So we washed hands and went back to our table. Then Allee said she needed to go. So I took her and she loved it too, but didn't pee. We washed hands and headed back to the table. I got them all settled back in and just as I sat down, Bella asked to go again. sigh. So I took her, and she did pee. Hands washed and back to table. Now Allee has to go and she did go this time too. Just as we got all settled in BG needed to go. Then the girls each asked to go a couple more time. UGH, now that was frustrating! I'm hoping as they get better control of their bladder I will be able to limit their restroom visits. I do know that they were just playing and curious about the restroom, but I wanted them to know that I am receptive and will be responsive to their need to potty. After eating we went to the park and played for a little while and even took a short walk. And yes, I was that momma that carried the potty chair with us. But I am very happy to announce that neither girl had even one accident all evening. That is a huge deal. I am one proud momma! Now bring on day 5..... hehehe

Potty Training: Day 3

2011-10-12T23:24:00.000-05:00

and I'm exhausted!
Today was by far the toughest day thus far. I think the excitement wore off and the little girls were like "been there, done that, and now it's over!" And I'm just ready to get back to our normal life. The first day went so smoothly. I was full of patience and the girls were full of excitement. And more so, we spent the entire day within 10 feet of the potty chair. But it was a success in that it trained them to recognise the urge to urinate. That was the easy part. The second day I tried to integrate some of our normal routine, which included leaving the house. I think it was just too much to soon. So today, the third day, I stayed home all day again. Both girls only had one accident each, so in that it was a successful day. However, both of them seemed to hold their pee and avoid using the potty. Overall, Bella is doing awesome. She seems in-tuned with her urge and willing to use the potty. She even pooped on the potty today, which is a huge step! But she has a very sweet disposition and a willingness to please (for the most part, lol). Now Allee on the other hand is very head strong, independent and wants things done her way, period! So this has got to be her idea. I have to be careful because if I get into a power struggle with her, she will shut down. And I think that is what happened today. She definitely is in-tuned with her urge to urinate, she just refuses to do it. She holds her pee and I was trying to get her to agree to use the potty when she had a total meltdown - Allee style, like only Allee can meltdown. sigh. Poor girl, I feel so bad for her. She even climbs up on the changing table and asks for a diaper. When I finally did get her to sit on it, she did an immediate release and peed so much. Then she seems so proud of herself. I had to totally bribe both girls with candy today to get them to use the potty.
sigh. I hope tomorrow is easier...

Potty Training: Day 2

2011-10-11T23:15:00.000-05:00

When I went upstairs to get the little girls up to kick start our day 2 of potty training I found them already up and in Anastasia's room reading books. So cute! The 3 of them were just hanging out looking through books and telling eachother about them. These precious 'sister moments' are the best!

After I stripped the little girls they decided they wanted panties today. So I said OK. They ran downstairs in their panties and jumped on their brothers beds to wake them up. I just think its so cute to see those tiny panty bottoms!

I had not planned on getting them dressed today. I was going to just try panties (and no other pants) to make it easier for them to use the potty. But they insisted on getting 'pretty dress' on since Anastasia got to wear one for her first day of preschool. So here they are all dressed, hair fixed and ready for day 2!

So overall today has mixed reviews. Yesterday went so well, but we not only stayed home, we all stayed within 10 feet of the potty chairs. So there really was no reason to not use the potty. However, today we tried getting back to more of our regular routine. I did not give juice and just waited to see what they would do. I didn't ask them to sit on the potty, I just kept reminding them over and over that they needed to use the potty if they needed to pee. Well, 3 hours passed without even one pee episode. Sigh. So I broke out the juice. Bella had one pee accident and Allee hid under the piano trying to sneak a poop on the floor. They both are holding their poop; not going on the potty and waiting until their nap time diaper to go. So frustrating. But still they are getting the concept of using the potty and that is what matters. It's just going to take perserverence on my part at this point.
After nap we had to load up and actually leave the house. Hmmm, now that is an adventure. Trying to get out the house with 2 potty training toddlers. LOL. I had them sit on the potty right after removing the nap time diaper, but of course neither went. Then I packed up 2 potty chairs, baby wipes, clorex wipes, a bag and several changes of clothes. We were off to take Lex to football practice. Within 10 minutes of leaving the house we had to stop and let Bella use the potty. And she did! Look at that adorable face! She is so proud. And I couldn't be more proud of her, she is doing so well.

Then of course Allee wanted to sit on the potty too since sister got to, but she didn't do anything. She has this habit of just dribbling drip drops and holding it in.

And another shot later of them both sitting on the potty, watching a movie, waiting for Lex to get done with practice.

Preserverence right? Well... Allee kept just letting a few drops out at a time and holding the rest. So we put the potty chair in the wagon and had her sit on it while we did our family walk. The first part of our walk is over bumpy grass and gravel, so it didn't take long before she peed it all out. LOL Here she is checking out her good deed!

Whatever it takes, right?

I am so glad I have this blog and am able to document all these 'special' moments. I know I will look back someday and wonder WTH was I thinking?!? LOL

Anastasia's first day of preschool

2011-10-11T22:21:00.000-05:00

Today was the first day of preschool for Anastasia. She started a 3 year old class that meets just 2 days a week for a couple hours at a local church. And the timing could not have been any more perfect. It never even occurred to me that potty training the girls would make Anastasia feel left out. Using the potty independently was the one big thing she could do that the baby girls could not. And now they are using the potty too. But today she got to do something that they will not do at least for another year (and maybe 2). And let me tell you, she had such a look of proudness as she got to walk out the door to leave with Daddy to go to preschool and the 'babies' had to stay home. She LOVED having daddy's total attention and seemed to enjoy her 'moment' so much.
Daddy actually took time off work to come home and take his Baby Girl to her first day of preschool. I'm not sure who was more proud, daddy or daughter!

Anastasia at school

Mommy got to pick her up tho. And just when I thought she couldn't be any more proud than she was when she left for school, she was even more proud coming home. It is wonderful to watch your child feel such accomplishment. She wanted me to take this pic of her holding her craft project she completed at school to send to daddy. They gave her 6 buttons and asked her to create a face, and she did a pretty good job. So I did better than just send daddy this pic, we stopped by work to visit him. That way she also got to show off her awesome new princess backpack that daddy took her shopping for last night. She actually got to go and pick it out. She is growing up so much. *tear*

Potty Training: Day 1

2011-10-10T23:33:00.000-05:00

I pulled the rugs up, removed all the throw pillows, and told the little girls no more diapers when I put them to bed last night. I got 4 potty chairs ready, tons of clean-up rags and baby wipes (for them to help clean) and bleach wipes (for me to clean up). I've read so many different techniques and options and opinions and recommendations. I even talked with a daycare provider that has trained multiple toddlers at the same time for 20 years. I have a plan. I'm gonna just let them go naked! (And luckily we are having warm weather.) My master plan? Is to have them sit on the potty, a lot, watching Potty Time Elmo video; allowing them to become aware of their urge. Hmmm... yes, that is the plan in it's entirety. Doesn't seem like much after all the research I did, huh? I'm just going to concentrate on the girls but let the boys follow as they want. I'm ready... Then why don't I feel ready? Yikes! (this is the e-mail I sent out to my fellow quad momma friends this morning as I was trying to make myself get up out of bed and face this D-day, the first day of potty training my 26 month old quads!)
So I did get up and prepared my work space. I cleared a big area and placed 4 potty chairs in front of the TV. I got them all up and dressed from the waist up. We went downstairs and sat on the potty. I played Potty Time Elmo on the TV. I gave them their milk and even fed them breakfast, all while sitting on the potty. Oh, but yes I did!

We have had these potty chairs for like a year now. They will occasionally pull them out, stripe all their clothes and diaper off and sit on them reading books. Just playing and getting used to the chairs. And I can not remember a time that the chairs were out and the boys did not participate. Until today. They never asked for their diaper off nor did they even attempt to take off their diaper. They did sit on the potty chair with sisters, but I guess it was only for morale support, because they had absolutely NO interest in potty training. Not even when the bribery treats came out. So needless to say, I did not even attempt to potty train the boys today. Now, I will be here all week, so if they begin to show any interest I will attempt to at least begin the process of potty training with them. However, I do remember that I did start the process with my older boys when they turned 2, but they were 3 before they were trained. Therefore, I am in no hurry with the boys. I have let the girls set the pace too; they have just shown all signs of readiness. So there is no reason to delay them.
I have to admit that I was relieved to not have the boys interested because they have been my biggest reason for not looking forward to this whole potty training process. All I could imagine is them peeing EVERYWHERE! I honestly do not feel that the boys are ready, but I did think that they would want to be naked too and join in on the fun (especially the idea of getting treats). So I imagined I would be busy cleaning up their messes and not having the time to concentrate on training the girls. But that was not the case, and I'm so happy about that.
I was able to devote all my attention on the girls. I tried to get them to sit on the potty as much as possible. I gave them salty snacks to make them thirsty and lots of watered down apple juice. This in and of itself is a treat since they do not usually get juice; I give them only milk. I had milk in one type of sippy cup and I brought out a different type for the girls to have juice in and just put milk in the other 3s cups (so they did not know the girls had something different).
Here they are taking a break from the potty chairs. But the girls do not have a diaper on. Once I took the diaper off in the morning I did not put one back on, even when they asked for one... Cause yes, Allee did ask me to put her diaper on at one point. She even tried to trick Nana by climbing up on the changing table. lol

It was rough at first, I felt like it was hopeless. All I did was clean up pee spills. It was frustrating to say the least. But I have to say that all the prayers I asked for from friends must have been working cause I kept my patience all day. So thank you to everyone that prayed or sent good vibes or thought about me; I appreciate it.

Bella pees all the flippin' time. I mean seriously, the girl was peeing about every 20 minutes. She mostly peed on the floor, but did pee in the potty if she happened to be sitting on it at the time. But she didn't know it. It was just random. Well, she did manage to get pee in the potty so we threw a 'woot woot pee party dance' and Adrien gave her a bag of fruit snacks (and everyone else one too just so they didn't feel so left out). She was not impressed. So the second time she just so happened to pee on the potty and gave her a piece of candy. Now she really liked that cause the girl is a candy-lovin-fanatic! But awhile later and after I had to clean up a couple pee spills off the floor she asked me for another piece of candy. Apparently she did not understand why she got the candy before. So I explained the process to her that she must put pee on the potty to receive a piece of candy. It was as if I could actually see the light bulb above her head, her eyes got all wide and she says "OH!" She turned to look for her potty chair, went straight to it, sat down and peed! No kidding! And that was that. I think she maybe had one or two accidents after that, but none since. Amazing! I guess I just had to find her motivation. LOL
Now this next pic is a little disturbing... but let me explain. LOL. I told you Bella pees like every 20 minutes, it's crazy. I didn't want to stop training just because it was lunch, and it had been like 15 minutes since she peed last. So I knew she was going to go any minute now. I had ordered pizza and it was here, so they wanted to eat. So what else could I do? I put the girl on the potty chair at the table! I know, I know! but she didn't think it was weird, she went with it. So that's just how we rolled, roll with the flow doing whatever it takes to get potty trained. hehehe

Now Allee, she doesn't hardly pee. All morning long, from 8am to noon, she only peed twice. The first time on the floor and the second time in her potty, but only cause I was holding a sucker in front of her that she really, really wanted. lol
I am not sleep training, so I did put diapers on for nap. Once they woke up from nap I got them up right away and took the diaper off. They sat on the potty with a snack, juice and movie until they both peed, which didn't take long at all.

I'm very happy to announce that neither girl had an accident all evening. They both played and played and I would remind them to use the potty. And they did! It was so exciting. We all did the 'woot, woot pee pee dance party' every time one of them went. Now I am a little scared of tomorrow since today went so well, but I'm ready, dang it!

Homecoming Parade 2011

2011-10-08T04:06:00.001-05:00

Lex got to ride in the Homecoming parade this year as part of the Jr Mules football team.

He's #62 (the one throwing candy toward me)

And the little squad (with Mrs Isle, Becky's mom) enjoying ice pops while watching the parade.

We don't actually ride that thing anymore

2011-10-07T17:35:00.000-05:00

we just pull it around with us everywhere we go!

Yep, that's the boys riding and the girls pulling and pushing! LOL

Seriously tho, the little squad are enjoying walking on their own more. But for our long family walks they do still actually ride IN the wagon. lol I just think it is so funny how the little girls think they have to take care of the little boys. And it is so true. Even at such a young age those girls mother hen those boys.

Our favorite animal at the zoo is...

2011-10-07T08:49:00.001-05:00

The Giraffes!

I just love how interactive the giraffes are!

BG (orange), Ashton (red), Aiden (blue), Bella (green) and Allee (purple)

Lex and Adre Birthday

2011-10-06T22:54:00.000-05:00

My big boys turned 11 years old today!
Around our house we usually do not celebrate birthdays with big parties or extravagant gifts, instead our family birthday tradition is the birthday person gets to be King/Queen for the day. That means that they get to make the choices (within reason) of what the family does that day, mostly this consist of what food we have. So today Lex and Adre were the 'Kings'. Therefore, we started the morning off with freshly baked blueberry muffins (at their request, of course), topped with a candle and the singing of 'Happy Birthday' by mom and dad. Their dinner request was a special meal prepared by none other than Chef Daddy himself! Fried rice and grilled halibut. Yummy! They also wanted Mrs Hazel's homemade peach cobbler (which she made even tho it was her day off!). Thank you Mrs Hazel! And a caramel turtle ice cream cake (thank goodness I could just buy that at the grocery store! hehe). Mrs Becky and Mr Randall were kind enough to hang with us this evening too.
I am currently experiencing slow internet access. Therefore, I will share pics once I have good internet service and able to upload pics.
Also, as if my twin boys birthday wasn't a busy enough of a day, I scheduled a photographer to come to our house this evening to take pics of the little squad. But I have been wanting to get prof pics done for so long now, and needed to schedule them before it gets too cold to go outside. I can't wait to see the proofs. I dressed the 3 girls in pink tutus, tights and hair bows. I think I'm the most excited about this 'sisters' pic! Then I dressed them all in fall theme outfits and took some pics outside with all the beautiful fall colored leaves. Then we again changed clothes into Christmas outfits, with the girls in their "pretty dresses" (as they call them). But they were DONE at this point. So I ended up having to sit down and just have them all crowd around me. I'm not sure about that pose as I was completely not ready to have my pic taken, but we'll see. That was just the first trial anyway. She will be back Sunday to try again. Then I want a pic of all 7 children together. Yikes! Not looking forward to that one.
Of course I will share as soon as I get them!

ice cream cone cake

2011-10-06T06:09:00.001-05:00

Can I just get one descent picture PLEASE?!

I do keep trying to get a good pic of the 4 of them together, or even the 5 of them, but it just seems impossible these days. *sigh*

Ashton, Bella, Aiden, Allee

Mr Randall and Adrien making a peach and apple cobbler (from scratch!) Yummy! That's Adre peeling all the peaches.

Megan made these awesome ice cream cone cupcakes and the little squad really enjoyedd them.
Anastasia

Alesandra

Arabella

Aiden, licking his fingers!

Ashton

Allee...

look at that icing covered face!